NAKED 3 Palette Review

I have to say, I am in love with this palette! I was a little unsure at first because I really loved the original NAKED palette, but I didn't love the NAKED 2 palette as much (but I still love it). So I figured the NAKED 3 palette could go either way. Some of the things I love about the NAKED 3 palette is that it is so different from the other two. The other two have overlap in shades so I always felt a little jipped. The NAKED 3 palette has this "rosy gold" theme, yet the shades vary in depth, dimension, and hue. There are lovely matte colors, but my favorite are the shimmery. Glitter makes everything better, after all. I think Darkside and Blackheart stray away from the rosy gold theme slightly, but they do have hints of it and are a great addition to the palette making it one that can be used for everyday looks as well as bolder night time/date night looks. My only complaint is that there is only a matte highlight. To me, a highlight has a satin finish or is shimmery. Of course there are times that a matte highlight is nice, but I would much rather ditch Limit because it is so similar to Nooner and have a shimmery highlight much like the ones in the other NAKED palettes. I will definitely be posting more looks using the palette soon!

LOTD: LORAC PRO Cream & Brown

You know me, I have to prime my lids! I used LORAC's Behind the Scenes Eye Primer, then Lt. Bronze on my lids and into the crease slightly, Nude from my crease to my brows. I also put Nude in my tear duct area. I like to put my highlight down before the crease color because I think it helps it to blend better. I then pat Pewter on the outer half of my lid and brought it up into my crease. Lastly, I took Espresso and blended that into my crease. I used Ulta's Automatic black/brown liner and Benefit's They're Real mascara over my Sephora Full Action mascara. To add some color to my look I used Revlon's Lip Butter in Red Velvet. On my cheeks I have be a bombshell's The One Stick in Sunset with Tarte's blush in Dollface dusted over it. Here's the end result:

LOTD: Simple Purple Smokey Eye

Today I wanted a deep purple eye look. Normally, I would achieve this using Primer Potion, Urban Decay's Verve, Too Faced's First Dance in the crease, and then e.l.f.'s Long-Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow in Festivity over the matte purple, BUT in an attempt to rekindle my love with Urban Decay's Smoked palette I used Rockstar. It created a much more bold look with sparkle. This eliminated my need for both First Dance and Festivity. Here's what I ended up with:

Perfect Palette Tag

I saw this tag a while back on Beauty Broadcast and have been wanting to do it ever since. I am a huge palette lover because you get more bang for your buck with palettes and you get to try so many different shades as well. This post was hard! I think ideally there is only one palette per topic, but so many were tied. So here’s my list:

1. Best Packaging: Define best haha! For cute packaging I have chosen the Too Faced Sweet Dreams palette. For practical packaging I have chosen the Urban Decay Smoked palette. That packaging is pretty dang durable!

2. Best Color Payoff: LORAC PRO palette & Urban Decay Smoked palette. Both palettes offer saturated color with unique pigmentation.

3. Most Versatile: Too Faced Sweet Indulgences & original NAKED palette. There are so many different looks that can be created from each of these palettes. A day look can easily be turned into a night look. I love that!

4. Best for Traveling: Balm Jovi by the Balm because it is so compact AND has lip and cheek products as well. Also, any small palette like the LORAC PRO and Unzipped palettes are great because with them every day, as well as more-bold, looks can be created. Plus, they are so thin that they can be put in any nook or cranny of your suitcase if need be!

5. Biggest Regret: Sephora Collection Colorful Palettes in Pin Up Show 13 and Eternally Purple 04. I believe I paid the full $24 for each of these and I have not used the Pin Up Show palette a single time. The colors on that palette are impractical and it’s absolutely ridiculous that I bought it in the first place. Upon review, it does have a beautiful burgundy that would have been a great fall color. The Eternally Purple palette makes a little more sense because purple is my favorite color and I wear it quite frequently. However, I don’t know that I’ve used that palette more than three times…if that! I think I mostly haven’t utilized them enough is because they are out of sight and out of mind.

6. Best Color Names: Any Too Faced palette! They all have adorable names. It makes me want to name shadows for a living, although I would never come up with half of the creative names they do.

7. Least Used: Sephora palettes & Urban Decay Smoked palette. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Smoked palette! I think it’s just gotten passed over with all of the palettes I’ve since purchased. I guess you could call it the middle child. I’ll try and use it this week and post some LOTDs from it.

8. Most Used, Most Loved, Desert Island: NAKED & NAKED 2 palettes. I can create a number of looks from these two together or separate. Love, love, love them!

I appreciate this tag because I was able to reevaluate some purchases and I will definitely be making a more conscious effort to use the palettes that I have neglected in the past. If you are reading this, you are officially tagged. Leave a comment with your answers/ a link to your blog or YouTube channel. I’m curious to see/read which palettes fall under the above categories for you! Have a great day!! :)

Review: J. Cats The Big Lip Pencil

I got this lip pencil in my December Ipsy bag. It came in the shade Red Rose. This is what it looks like:

First of all, I don't think it's named appropriately. It should have been named Clown Red. When I think of a red lip, I think of romance and seduction. There isn't anything romantic about a clown at a kid's birthday party. This also transferred like crazy, and unless you're needing to kiss a stack of envelopes, there's nothing good about it transferring. It also left my lips dry and had no dimension. It just seemed like a flat color. Not matte or shimmery, just there. Again, this product can only be purchased online. It retails for $3.99 and comes in 12 basic shades. I personally won't be purchasing this product.

FOTD: the Balm

Yesterday I got ready at 2pm...Don't judge me haha! Because of that I went for a quick, simple look. I used Urban Decay's Primer Potion all over my eyelids, then the Balm's Blink 1982 on my lids and up into my crease slightly. I then used Presto in my crease and then Adagio as a highlight. I finished my eye look by using Ulta's Automatic Eyeliner in Black/Brown and only used a coat of Sephora's Full Action mascara. For my face I used a sample of bareMinerals Ready SPF 20 Foundation in Medium Beige over my Olay CC cream. I used the sample instead of my loose bareMinerals foundation. I then used my be a bombshell The One Stick in Sunset on my cheeks. I used it like I would my Maybelline Bouncy Blush. I dabbed it directly onto my cheeks and then used an e.l.f. small stipple brush to smooth it out. I would usually apply a blush on top of the cream blush to make it last longer, but I wanted to see how I liked the color on its own. Lastly, I lightly dusted my face with Tarte's bronzer in Park Avenue Princess.

Here's the result:

I catch myself quite frequently using the same face products. Two days ago I went through my basket of samples and new products. I set out some things that I wanted to use and weed out, so yesterday once I finally got ready for the day I got a chance to use them. I actually really liked The One Stick in Sunset. It was a different enough color without being too outrageous. I will definitely be using it more. I am not sold on the packed bareMinerals foundation powder though. I feel that I used far more than I would have normally, and it left my skin dry. The loose foundation is easier to manipulate on my face, so I won't be making the switch on that. However, I could see how it would be nice to have a compact in my purse for touch-ups whereas now I just leave my foundation powder at home. The Balm shadows are super light and a little goes a long way. I had difficulty blending them, and you can see I wasn't completely effective in doing so. I think I will have to try them with different primers to obtain a more optimal look with them.

LOTD: Sequins

It's kind of gloomy here today, so I decided to brighten things up with sequins. These shoes are from Target.

And this shirt is from the Loft.

Have a good day!

Review: be a bombshell Lip Crayon

I received this lip crayon in the shade Shameless in November in my Ipsy bag. It is so shimmery that it looks as though it has a demi-matte finish, which is quite unique. This product somehow looks darker towards the borders of my lips and lighter towards the center, which is pretty perfect. However, it does go into every crease and line, so I wouldn't want to wear it if my lips were super dry/uneven due to peeling. The pigmentation is wonderful and it only took one go around to get saturated color like I did. The shade Shameless is a deep pinky-mauve and is great for this time of year. I was impressed with how little it transferred shortly after application. It wore well, too.

I had never heard of the be a bombshell brand, so I was grateful for the chance to try one of their products. I checked out their website and their lip crayons are retailed at $14 (another reason why Ipsy is so great!) This product wore very well and left my lips pigmented even after I ate. I liked that it hardly transferred and did not dry my lips out. Unfortunately, this product can only be found on their website, and although I feel that it would last me a long time, I don't know that I would be willing to make an online purchase just for one lip product from them, especially at that price + tax + shipping and handling, but I do consider this product worth purchasing again, in different shades. Hot Damn would be great because I'm always looking for a bright red lip product that has good staying power, doesn't dry out my lips, and wears well. With all that said, I would compare this product to Neutrogena's MoistureSmooth Color Stick, which retails for $8.49. They can be found at most, if not all, drugstores and can be purchased with coupons and other discounts. So, if the price of the be a bombshell lip crayon frightens you, know that this product is high quality and will last a long time, but that Neutrogena's version can be purchased for a fraction of the price, has a couple more color options, and is of comparable quality.

I also received "The One Stick" in Sunset from this brand in my December Ipsy bag, so I'll have to give that a try soon. If you have used any of be a bombshell's other products, let me know which ones and if they were game-changers or no bueno! Maybe if I fall in love with more than one of their items I can justify making an online purchase from their website. As always, thank you so much for reading! Have a beautiful day! :)

No Bueno: Not-So-Empties

As you can see, these are not empty, but they are what I'm throwing out this month. With the exception of the mascara just being old, the eye shadows are products I don't care to use again. I am all about drugstore products, but these just don't cut muster. They lack quality and are products that crease, despite using a top-of-the-line primer.

What are some products you're chucking this month?

What's in my Makeup Bag: Travel Edition

With the understanding that we were driving to my grandparents' house for Christmas in a small car, and having over-packed countless times, I made a conscious effort to scale down this trip. This is all the makeup I brought! I decided on the Too Faced palette because it had lots of different colors I needed and it also had bronzer, blushes, and Shadow Insurance in the bottom. The sturdy tin container was great for traveling as well. I wasn't worried about it at all!

In addition, I packed my NAKED and NAKED 3 palettes with a few individual shadows from the NAKED 2 palette so I didn't have to bring the whole thing. I had to bring my go-to original NAKED palette and the new palettes were needed so I could get better acquainted. (I also brought my Balm Jovi palette, but it's under my NAKED palettes.)

In the smaller pouches I put products in one:

And tools in the other one:

I got this Urban Decay bag as a bonus one time and I like using it for my jewelry. I best way I have come up with for packing jewelry is to go through each outfit and put the jewelry in this bag for that outfit and then move on to the next. I thankfully had room in the bag for the necklaces and earrings I received and purchased while on my trip.

This is an Ipsy bag I got right before I left and I put all my lip products in it and left it in my purse. It worked great! I think I'll keep it in there because it kept everything so much more organized.

As you can see, I brought lots of red lip products! 'Tis the Season! Hope you all had a lovely holiday season! Thanks for reading!