BLOG SALE! Tons of Blush and a Naked Palette!!!

SO! I've finally decided to try and thin my collection a bit...we'll see if I can bear to do more later but for now this is it...things that I paid good money for but barely touch. I like to feel like I have any shade for any occasion but I am now realizing that all I ever use any more is my high end stuff (Chanel, Dior and Burberry mostly) so having all this excess feels even more wasteful! Also I want to get more high end stuff haha. 

Click To Enlarge:

Pricing:

Tarte blushes - $20 each (Sold: Peaceful, Tipsy, Natural Beauty)
Milani baked blushes - $5 each, $20 for the set
Armani lipstick - $25
MAC blushes - $15 each
Sula blush - $5
Lovely:EX blush - $7
Blush w/ pouf (Japanese) - $7
Canmake cream blush - $10
Naked palette - $40
Stila color changing blush - $15

Email me at grimrock @ gmail.com (remove the spaces) for any questions about shades, pricing, etc. as well as regarding shipping. I'll ship anywhere in the world.

Everything is in barely used condition, some of the Tarte blushes don't even looked used (though they all were at least once). I don't have anything here to sterilize them and though I promise I used them hygienically I suggest using some sort of sterilization method when you receive the item.

Burberry Rosewood Eyeshadow Single

I think I have found the perfect everyday, nude eyeshadow and her name is Burberry rosewood. Just the right amount of shimmer, not too light not too dark...a beautiful cooler taupe with a subtle hint of rose to it. Applying it was so nice, it was so smooth and soft...I just wanted to apply it all day! Of course that would be silly and wasteful, but it sure did feel nice going on! 

This eyeshadow is a must have because it is a no brainer for days when you want a nude look or just don't know what eyeshadow to go with. Aside from using it as an overall lid color it's great for my favorite "safe" way of adding color to my eye look. I just use a taupe base and put a bit of the colorful stuff on the outside corner, a touch of color to make things interesting, but I don't feel like Mimi from the Drew Carey show!

Although this shadow is pricey (well, it is Burberry after all) I don't think the value is too bad because this color is just so useful that it won't go to waste gathering dust in the back corner of your makeup storage. Also, it's a bit larger and only a couple bucks more than say, a NARS single...so even though it's fancy shmancy it's not really too over the top price wise. Not to mention the quality of the compact vs. NARS, whereas NARS' compact is a black matte plastic this is a VERY reflective (and surprisingly not very fingerprint attracting) gunmetal. It's metal too, not just painted plastic and has a generous mirror. It also has a nifty magnetic closure that isn't too weak and isn't too strong, it feels very secure but you won't pull anything opening the thing. Like most high end cosmetics it also comes in a cute velvet sleeve, printed with the same signature Burberry tartan as the powder and the top of the compact.

I can't wait to try more colors in this range, pretty much everything is mature and wearable! My only wish is that they'd come out with some palettes some day, it's pretty painful to have to pay for a bunch of singles here. I'm really starting to get addicted to the Burberry beauty range, I've tried the lipglosses which I also love and next I want to try a blush! I really can't recommend this line enough, especially for girls and women who want a more sophisticated/refined look or who work at a conservative job but still want to hoard everything in site! 

My only wish is that this would be easier to get, as it's only at 8 Nordstrom stores nationwide, but never fear the collection is online as well with free shipping and returns! It sucks you can't swatch things in store, but at least if you don't like it you can just pop into your Nordstrom and return it easily enough (or send it back if you don't live near any Nordstroms).

Dior Spring 2012 Garden Party Eyeshadow Quints

Initially I wrote off these eyeshadows as being too colorful for me, but boy was I wrong. I mean, they are pretty colorful but they are not over the top and are perfect for Spring. I know some people are sick of pastels, but I am certainly not one of them. I got Garden Roses first and fell in love and had to get Garden Pastels even though I don't usually wear most of those shades. The colors are just so pretty and feminine that  although I usually stick to neutrals/taupes I just couldn't resist these palettes!  I love all the colors, but I think each palette has it's "star" color. In Garden Roses it's the purple in the middle, which is the perfect shade and has a lovely blue sheen. In Garden Pastels it's the blue-green with the golden sheen.

The finish is just so pretty, it's a shimmer of course, but it looks like a delicate sheen rather than sparkle city. But if you hate shimmer then these still really aren't for you at all. I love the formula for these shadows, very thin/soft yet pigmented so it "melts" right into your skin, and you only need to use a bit to get full opacity.

The only downside is that eventually with use the pretty embossed rose design will disappear, thankfully the colors are beautiful anyway so it's not that bad, and the rose design is pretty high so it will take a while before they disappear completely.

The bottom line is that if you like the colors and you like an interesting and unique shimmer you'll be needing to pick these up. BOTH of them.

Garden Roses

Garden Pastels

Bath & Body Works Halloween Liplicious Lip Gloss

I know it's a bit late for these, but I thought it'd be fun to talk about these Halloween lip glosses a little bit for halloween. Well, not really much to say about them, they are sweet tasting, sticky and don't last too long, the colors are a lot of fun though! If you can find these on clearance at your Bath & Body Works, don't hesitate to pick them up!

Sana Hadanomy Collagen Cream

I'm getting super into skincare now that my wishlist of color makeup is dwindling and will most likely soon be only a couple things from LE collections and seasonal collections. I think I probably should have been getting into skincare more before though, since one should probably care for their skin before embellishing it with color makeup. Also, I don't like to/can't really wear foundation or anything like that (even BB cream makes my skin flaky on dry spots) so I really feel that I should make my skin look good on it's own.

It's no secret that I have a love affair with Asian/Japanese skin care and makeup, well it may be kind of vague from my blog here though since I don't have a whole lot of actual posts about it because it's either hard to get, expensive or both. However this Sana Hadanomy collection is neither of those since the most expensive item in the lineup is about $17 and all the Asian markets in my area carry the line, and I actually got them on sale even!

Anyhow, on to the actual REVIEW. I'd been eyeing this line for the longest time because it's just adorable, and I absolutely love cute packaging...the product has to be really awesome for me to ignore it being ugly! But this "cream", which is more of a gel, is not only cute but it is awesome! It does a great job keeping my face's moisture retained and it smells gorgeous when you put it on. It's a citrusy rose scent, usually when I get a rose scented cream (even from Guerlain) it's very overpowering, but this just smells refreshing and delicate. I could sniff it all day! If you have a Japanese market (or an Asian market that sells Japanese goods) definitely be on the lookout for this. It's roughly $16 and pretty darn big as you can see from the picture. 

Stila E! Live From The Red Carpet Breathtaking Beauty Palette

Anybody who is anywhere near a Nordstrom Rack needs to get themselves there ASAP and pick up this Stila Breathtaking Beauty palette for something like $9.75 (or maybe all of them, why the heck not the price is right). It comes with 6 decently sized neutral eyeshadows (in cinema, best picture, film, academy, theater and drama), 1 all over shimmer in Kitten (aka a full size eyeshadow, it's not much good on the face) and 1 convertable color for lips/cheeks in Breathtaking. 

I haven't tried any of Stila's normal non-palette eyeshadows yet, but I understand that these are better quality than the $14 Travel Girl/Beach Girl sets, possibly as good as the normal Stila eyeshadows. The deal on this palette just keeps getting better and better as the convertable color is amazing AND the palette even comes with a full size Lip Glaze in Guava. The lip glaze alone is worth $22, although it is thinner and longer than the only other lip glaze I own they both contain the same amount of product. 

I really like these eyeshadows (I am including Kitten as an eyeshadow here), they are silky and have minimal fallout. The liners are a bit dark and sparkly for me though so I haven't used them yet and I am not sure when I will. Also the convertable color is just wonderful, I can see myself using it apart from when I want to use the palette. The lipgloss is sheer and I realized too late that it was probably meant to be worn over the convertable color on your lips...oh well, I'll try it that way next time :). 

B+C Laboratories AHA Mousse Cleansing Foaming Face Cleanser

I finally ran out of my Biore (Japan) Marshmallow Whip foaming face cleanser, so I was on the hunt for a new one. I really like Asian skincare, Japanese in particular, so I looked at the Japanese market. B&C Laboratories AHA Mousse Cleansing was a couple dollars more (it was about $14) than my old cleanser and most other ones, and a bit smaller too...but being the packaging freak I am I went for this one because it was the cutest. Now, I am not TOO shallow of course I wanted something that would have an effect I wanted too, so I was also interested because it had a sticker/label that said that it has "Mild fruits acid peeling & deep cleansing" and is for sensitive skin. Well, my skin isn't particularly sensitive but when something says "acid" "peeling" and "deep cleansing" I don't want it to be too harsh especially when I use it every day. From what I read AHA would be really good for what I want for my skin, so I hope it helps!

When I first pumped the foam into my hand it was kind of "limp" and watery, quite unlike Marshmallow Whip which is pretty dense (almost like shaving cream). However, when I started to massage it on my face it lathered up into a very luxurious foam where Marshmallow Whip somewhat thinned out on your face. AHA Mousse Cleansing has a strange but somehow pleasant scent, which is nice...it's kind of a "spa" scent in a way. I've only used this once so far, but I hope it shows some results, either way I am pleased with it and will most likely rebuy unless I hear something else is amazing.

There are a few other things in the line which I may check out if this product shows results. I forgot what they were exactly (I didn't look too closely) but there were only 2 or 3 of them.

MAC Pinch o' Peach and Pink Swoon Blushes

Since I am trying to beef up my natural/subtle blush collection I turned to MAC since they have such a wide variety of blushes, I was specifically interested in the "Sheertone" finish, because...well...it's sheer! They also come in a few cute (and matte, yay!) colors, such as these two, Pinch o' Peach and Pink Swoon, they look pretty similar here, and they ARE similar but like Springsheen and Peachykeen they definitely look different enough. Pinch o' Peach is a slightly peachy light pink. Like the name states, it's just got a pinch! I saw a lot of complaints on MUA that it really isn't very peach at all...but I think the name makes it pretty clear how peachy it's intended to be! I tend to like my blushes more coral or peachy, so this is a great blush for me to wear when I feel like that look but I want it more pink and more subtle!

Pink Swoon is a pretty basic "Barbie pink" sheer matte blush, I think this is a great color to brighten up your face, can't go wrong with it! If you like pink blushes or a dolly look I think this is a good one to have in your collection for dramatic eye/lip days or just if you don't feel like fussing with blush much. It's a very simple color, and not quite as nuanced as Pinch o' Peach but that's a good thing in my opinion. Sometimes you just want a simple, sweet dolly look with no frills. 

I am really into matte blushes right now, especially if it's a subtle look, because I don't want it to look like I am ONLY wearing shimmer. When I wear a subtle blush, most of the time I want it to look natural (note: I do like and wear subtle blushes with shimmer though). It's too bad matte blushes are so hard to come by most of the time, thank goodness for MAC, Tarte and Illamasqua!

I think if you are rather pale like I am then this sort of blush will not be too sheer for you, however if you already have a lot of color in your cheeks, or are not very pale you may not be pleased with the results, however you can layer and get a decent pop of color. I really like that these are kind of fool proof, in that you can slap a lot on and you won't look like a clown! I mean you might be able to put that much on, but I think you'd really have to work at making them look garish. These blushes, or blushes very similar to them should be in every girl's makeup stash, in my opinion. 

Pinch o' Peach

Pink Swoon

Illamasqua Blush in Hussy

This is my first Illamasqua product, nothing else really called out to me before and I was put off by their "edgy" product names...I am not too pleased with this shade being called "Hussy" but it's pretty tame compared to some of their other/past product names ("Throb" and "Load" I'm looking at you...). I just couldn't turn down this shade and formula so despite the name I picked it up~. It leans a bit more orange in these pictures, but it definitely is on the pinker side of the spectrum.

I am loving matte blushes (and eyeshadows) lately, and this is no exception! It apply smoothly and not chalky at all due to being very finely milled, however powder gets ALL OVER the compact when you put your brush in it. Not a huge deal, but it's kind of irritating. That won't stop me from getting more Illamasqua blushes though, it's not very easy to find so many nice shades of matte blush.

Tarte Amazonian Blush in Dollface

After I got MAC Stunner blush I realized that I really need more subtle/light colored blushes...I've just about hit my limit on bright ones because really...how many shades of bright coral/peach/pink can there even BE??? Also I don't ALWAYS feel like a bright blush, or want to spend time trying to apply it carefully...and I do sometimes wear bold or bright lipstick, and rarely eyeshadow that is not a neutral color. 

So my first subtle blush after making this decision was Tarte Dollface since I am sort of collecting the Tarte Amazonian Blush line. I only need 2 more and then I'll have all of them I want (and pretty much most of them anyway, plus one QVC exclusive shade). These might be my favorite blushes because they apply well, last all day and are not overly shimmery or sparkly, in fact most of them are matte. I also appreciate that when you get it from the pan on your brush you don't get a powdery mess everywhere but the blush is still very soft and pigmented. 

As usual my phone messes with my pictures, even though these are very heavy swatches it's still not that bright or coral, it's a nice peachy pink. It's the sheerest Tarte blush I own, but I bought it knowing that, and that was also part of the reason I bought it since sheerness helps with a subtle look, and is buildable without looking clownish.