Smackdown: Tarte "Park Avenue Princess" Lipgloss vs. Burt's Bees "Sunny Day" Lipgloss

I'm really excited for this smackdown. As you may have gathered if you are a regular reader of my blog, I like my more natural cosmetic products. I definitely have products that are the opposite of natural, and use them a lot. But for my day to day looks, I try to steer it towards good brands.

Two of my favorite brands for natural products are Tarte and Burt's Bees. And when I noticed that they both have a bronzy, shimmery lipgloss I knew I had to compare them. Tarte's "Park Avenue Princess" Lipgloss is brand new for summer. And Burt's Bees "Sunny Day" Lipgloss has been around for years.

I hauled the Burt's Bees lipgloss last week, so I got it for next to nothing (regular retail $8.99) .Tarte's "Park Avenue Princess" retails for $19. Tarte's "Park Avenue Princess" comes in a 0.27 oz. tube, where Burt's Bees is 0.2 oz. So, you're getting a little more gloss with Tarte.

Both of these glosses have a scent, and they smell very similar. A sort of light vanilla, honey smell.  Tarte's "Park Avenue Princess" has a stronger smell, though. The application is the exact same, with a doe foot applicator wand. The shapes of the wands are a bit different, but they feel the same on the lips.

Both of these glosses have a golden shimmer. Tarte's "Park Avenue Princess" has a bit bigger flakes of gold in it. The hue of these glosses is very similar, however, there is clearly more color payoff with Tarte.

We start to run into major differences when we talk about the formulation of these glosses. Burt's Bees is definitely more of a dry formula than the Tarte. Tarte, although is a bit more moisturizing product, isn't terribly comfortable for me since I can feel the gold flakes on my lips, and it's a little more tacky. For those reasons, I think formula wise, I like Burt's Bees better. I've swatched them below for you to see for yourself what they look like. And, although the Tarte clearly has more color payoff, once sheered out on the lips, they look very alike. I'm going to let the Burt's Bees win this one, for better formula and smaller price tag! 

What's New: Ulta Sculpting Palette

I very rarely purchase Ulta brand cosmetics. I have a few things, but to be honest I'm never truly impressed with the stuff I get from the line. Plus, I truly don't see other beauty bloggers and gurus reviewing the line much either, so I never know what to expect as far as quality goes.

When I saw this giant size compact on my last trip to Ulta, I was instantly drawn to it. It's just like the one from it Cosmetics and pixi, but was on sale for only $6.00 (regularly $14.00), and unlike the high price tag of it cosmetics and pixi palettes of the same nature, I could afford this one on the spot!

I went home right away and looked it up on Ulta's website for reviews. At the time, there were only 2 reviews on this palette, both with a 5 star rating. I couldn't find any swatches or videos reviewing or even hauling this product, so I decided to just open it and give it a go.

This palette is comprised of 3 shades in one pan. A blush, a bronzer, and a highlighter. The idea is to use these colors on your face in strategic places to make your face appear to have more definition. Highlighting with the light shade, contouring with the dark shade, and using the blush shade on the apples of your cheeks. I contour/sculpt my face every day, and didn't have an all-in-one palette until now. I must say, it's pretty handy.

There are 3 different colors available for this palette. All 3 of them look similar to me aside from the blush colors being different. The bronzer and highlight shades look very similar. The shade I picked up is called "Rosette".

I've swatched all 3 colors from the "Rosette" palette below to give you an idea of color payoff and pigmentation.  I'm excited to really put this product to the test. It will also be a handy travel item this summer despite it's huge size, it's nice to have all 3 contour shades in one place.

Tip Tuesday: On trend for Spring/Summer - BOLD colors!

One of the hottest trends right now is hot hues for your hair and eyes! With the recent release of the Urban Decay Electric palette, things have gone retro, and people are rocking bold, bright colors! I personally have a hard time putting my looks out there are doing some bold colors, so I thought I would start small. I hauled a palette yesterday, and I cannot stop playing with it! So many fun colors, and so many possibilities!

The Wet n Wild 5 pan eyeshadow palette in "Art in the Streets" has awesome pigmentation, and can be used for hair as well as eyes! For a pop of color to any look, take the pigmented colors along your lower last line. And you can use them for all kinds of great costume or Halloween looks as well!

So, what do you think about the bold color trend? Your cup of tea, or no?

Review: theBalm Smoke Balm Palette Part 2

I did a full review a few weeks ago on a shadow trio that I found from theBalm at Kohls. And, I have been loving that one so much, that I decided to get the other trio palette as well. These shadows are so easy to work with and have a smooth, buttery texture. For a lot more info you can click here for the review on the other palette.

The three shades that come in this palette are:
Blaze, a dark charcoal semi-matte shade.
Spark, a cool matte medium brown shade &
Flame, a silvery champagne shade with lots of sparkle.

While the shades from these palettes are not the most pigmented I've ever worked with, they are certainly build-able. I personally like shadows that are build-able much better than uber-pigmented ones. They are much easier to work with, are much more forgiving, and don't cause harsh lines.

Again, these trio shadows retail fro $12 at Kohls and I haven't found them anywhere else. I personally think that these are well worth the $12 price tag and are such a fun addition to your shadow collection.

Friday Haul Part 2: Burt's Bees, Revlon, Vaseline & more!

Earlier today, I told you on Facebook about a HOT text offer from Target where if you spend $25 on your beauty purchase you get $5 off! You can use this coupon on cosmetics, skin care, hair care, and fragrance. I came up with an awesome scenario and had to share with you since this deal is over Tomorrow night.

Plus, there is another HOT deal combining a new coupon for Revlon from here with an in-store coupon at Walgreens for free ShadowLinks!

Buy
2 Vaseline spray n go body lotions
1 St. Ives spray lotion
2 Burt's Bees lip color products (I found some on clearance!)

$5.99 Vaseline aloe spray lotion
$5.99 Vaseline cocoa spray lotion
$5.99 St. Ives coconut spray lotion
$4.48 Burt's bees lip gloss in "Sunny Day" (on clearance, regularlt $8.99)
$3.48 Burt's bees lip shine in "Flutter" (on clearance, regularly $6.99)
-$6.00 (3 $2 off coupons for Vaseline and St. Ives lotions from here)
-$2.00 (2 $1 off Target coupons for Vaseline from here)
-$3.00 (2 $1.50 off coupons from here)
-$2.50 (2 $1.25 off Target coupons for Burt's Bees from here)
-$5.00 ($5 Target gift card for next purchase for buying Vaseline & St. Ives)
-$5.00 (Text BEAUTY to 827438 for coupon)
$2.43 for all 5 high priced items!

Now, go here and print off a high value $2.00 off any Revlon eye product coupon and head to Walgreens where Revlon is buy 1 get 1 50% off through Saturday.
Buy
2 Revlon ShadowLinks

$2.99 x 2
-$1.50 (Buy 1 get 1 50% off sale)
-$4.00 (2 $2 off coupons from here)
-$2.00 (coupon from booklet next to register at Walgreens)
FREE

Note that the coupons will probably have to be adjusted since Walgreens does not give overage. I also have a review of these here. And they aren't the highest quality Revlon item, but for free, why not?

Friday Haul: ecotools, eclos, Tarte & more!

Happy Friday! I hope you are all doing well today. This week the drugstores are a total dud for me. Not much to speak of as far as great deals there. So I ventured into Ulta looking for some deals, and I, of course, found some.

I initially went in to only get ecotools cosmetic brushes at buy 1 get one 50% off, and pair that deal with my $1.50 off 2 coupon form here. And the $3.50 off $10 coupon from Ulta here. But as I was browsing, I found some FREE after rebate items from eclos! I have one product from this brand, and it's decent. I like that they are paraben free products, and that most of their ingredients are understandable and I know what they are! So, I picked up 2 items that had "TRY ME FREE" stickers on them! Here is how it will all work out:

$6.99 ecotools Deluxe Fan Brush
$5.99 ecotools Eye Enhancing Duo Set
$10.99 elcos Daily Facial Cleansing Oil
$17.99 eclos Aqua Balm Finishing Spray
-$2.99 (Buy 1 get 1 50% off sale on ecotools)
-$1.50 (Coupon on ecotools from here)
-$3.50 (Ulta coupon from here)
-$10.99 (eclos Try Me Free Rebate for Cleansing Oil)
-$17.99 (eclos Try Me Free Rebate for Aqua Balm Finishing Spray)
$4.99 for all 4 items after Rebates!

Then, since I was at the mall already, I decided to head to Sephora and see what they had going on in there. I love looking at the little displays next to the registers for pint size treasures. I happened upon this cute little set from Tarte. This is a travel/trial sized duo of Tartes Brazilliance as well as their Park Avenue Princess Bronzer. This was $10 and I think well worth the price to try these items out. Plus, the cute lady helping me gave me 2 free samples of Ren skincare!

I also happened upon the bareMinerals store while I was there :) They launched their new liquid foundation on QVC a few months ago, and it's just now available in the store, so I thought I would check it out and see if it was worthy of my money. As I was asking about it, the sales accociate told me that she had some samples and asked if I wanted one! YA! So, she gave me a sample of the color that she thought would suit my skintone, and I can't wait to try it out!

That's all for my haul this week! Sorry to disappoint on the drugstore shopping, but there were truly not any awesome deals that got me shopping there this week. I feel like I made up for it with the free after rebate items, though. I hope you can find some of these deals where you are! Let me know what you score.

Smackdown: Revlon ShadowLinks vs. Sally Girl Eyeshadow Connecting Compacts

There is no denying that these 2 products have been compared before. But, I owned the Sally Girl eyeshadow connecting compacts, and have for years. So, when I hauled the Revlon ShadowLinks last week, I knew I wanted to compare them for myself, which is why I intentionally bought the shades that I did in the Revlon ShadowLinks.

 

The packaging for both products are VERY similar. They both have a see-through plastic top with a hinged opening. They shut with a simple clasp design, and the sides of each individual shadows has a groove that you can slide into another like shadow. Note: You can not link the Sally Girl with the Revlon :)

The Revlon ShadowLinks retail for $2.99 per shadow, and are available at all drugstores and wherever else Revlon might be sold. The Sally Girl eyeshadow connecting compacts retail for $0.99 and are only available at Sally Beauty Supply stores and sallybeauty.com.

 

Revlon ShadowLinks in "Oyster" & "Taupe"

Sally Girl eyeshadow connecting compacts in "Champagne" & "Black Brown"

To be honest, I heard from a number of different beauty gurus that the Revlon ShadowLinks were hit and miss/crap. But, I got great deals on the ones I hauled, so I thought this would be a great post, so I could save you all the trouble. I obviously didn't pay $2.99 for the ShadowLinks, so for me the Sally Girl eyeshadow connecting compacts were more expensive, but if you aren't a deal shopper, this information is irrelevant.

I think for now, I'm going to let the swatches speak for themselves.

I want you to keep in mind, that we are smacking down 2 inexpensive products, so the money issue isn't terribly relevant. But, think of things on a much higher scale and the savings could be huge! The Sally Girl eyeshadow connecting compacts are 1/3 the cost of the Revlon ShadowLinks, and they are clearly more pigmented! The Revlon shades are even built up, where the Sally Girl eyeshadow connecting compacts are one touch to the product, and one swipe of my finger! Say you wanted to build a compact with 6 of these shadows. The Revlon would cost you nearly $18, where the Sally Girl eyeshadow connecting compacts would cost around $6. I obviously think the Sally Girl wins this smackdown for me. This truly goes to show you that more expensive price tags do not equal higher quality.