What's New: Maybelline The Nudes Palette

Today, I'm bringing you pictures and swatches of a brand new,  12 pan palette from Maybelline! This is just starting to hit drug stores, but can be found right now at Bed, Bath & Beyond. It retails for around $10 there and they are going fast!

I picked mine up about 5 days ago and have been playing with it ever since. So, I do have an opinion about this product even though its fairly new. It comes with a variety of shades with a variety of finishes. On the back of the packaging, it outlines how the palette is divided into quads, trios, and duos. I find this to be pretty helpful when creating looks with these shades.

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the color options in this palette. They have a great range of cool tones and warm tones, along with some wonderful matte shades. The colors are build-able and can come off quite pigmented if used with a primer. For around $10.00, I think this is well worth the investment and time trying to find it! Look for deals when you start finding it at your local drugstores. Maybelline products normally have a great sale attached to them :)

What's New: Physicians Formula Natural Nude Shimmer Strips All-in-one Palette for Face and Eyes

Hey everyone, and happy Wednesday. Today I'll be reviewing a new product from Physicians Formula. This is their Natural Nude Shimmer Strips All-in-one Palette for Face and Eyes. They also have a warm version of this palette. This one is more fair-skin friendly, so I like it better than the warm.

The packaging of this compact is rather bulky, but adorable. It has a fishnet design with a little bow where you open it. The flip side of the compact,  holds a mirror with a face brush, and sponge-tip applicator, and a guide for you to use this product. Note: The design on this compact is printed on rather than being an actual fabric material, unlike the "nude" eye shadow line from Physicians Formula.

This product has 12 different shades in one pan, that can be used individually or together to create unique colors. As you can see from the name of this product, it is intended for use on your face as well as your eyes. The guide in the back explains which shades are intended for use on your face and where they should go.  The top row is very light and can be used as a highlight on your brow bone, tops of your cheekbones, cupids bow etc. The middle row is intended for use as a light, shimmery blush and the bottom 2 rows are bronzy shades that can be used to warm the face or contour (if you like shimmery contour shades). All 12 shades can be used as eye shadows, and are certainly pigmented enough to do so.

Below are swatches of all 12 shades for you to get an idea of color payoff and pigmentation. As you can see all 12 shades have shimmer, but none of them are a chunky or glittery. They are very flattering shimmers. And, even on my pale skin, the lighter shades show up very well!

I've also swatched all shades together so you can see what a swirl of your brush could get. I think it's a lovely pink/bronze shade that is very subtle and pretty!

For a drugstore product that had a lot of different uses, I think this is stellar! The pigmentation, and shimmer in this palette rival that of high end brands for sure. So, I give it a 5/5!

5/5 Winks!

Whats New: elf Blush Palette

I decided to go back to a little whats new today. I've told you about this product in one of my hauls in the past, but I decided to take some more in-depth photos and swatches for you.

There are 4 shades in this palette. There are two different palette options on the elf website, light and dark. I only purchased the light one, and I'm liking it so far. Three of the shades are pink, with one being a bronze color. So, this would be a great item to take traveling with you if you like options when you travel. The only shade that has any sort of sparkle is the bottom right shade. The other three are matte. These are decently pigmented, but not overly or surprisingly so.

One of the features of this palette that suprized me, was the fact that you can pop each shade out from the palette housing. Making me wonder, if elf is going to do something like sell the shades or new/other shades individually in the future.

 

Overall at $6, I think this is a great buy. You get four shades and they are all very pretty and blend-able. It's also a decent size, yet compact enough that I don't think it would be hard to travel with.

What's New: Wet N Wild Coloricon 5 Pan Palettes

Wet n Wild is best known for their eye shadows. The original 8 pan and 3 pan palettes are my all time favorite drug store eye shadows because of the awesome pigmentation and great value compared to even other drugstore brands! So, when Wet n Wild comes out with new shadows, I'm like a kid in a candy store! I get all sorts of giddy and can't wait to buy them. So, about 4 months ago when they came out with these new 5 pan palettes, you know I had to have them! I purchased "Floral Values" and "The Naked Truth" back in February and they have been fun to play with. Then, yesterday, I was able to score a great deal at Rite Aid (more about that on Friday) so I picked up the "Tunnel Vision" And the "I'm His Breezey" palettes. I've swatched them below so you can get an idea of the quality. The pigmentation of these palettes are hit and miss. I feel like all of the shadows in "Tunnel Vision" are greatly pigmented and the other three have some shining stars and some duds. Overall, for the price, these cannot be beat! I own some very high end shadows that don't hold a candle to some of my Wet n Wild shadows! So, take a look next time you're at the store and see which ones you think you'd like. I'm definitely recommending the "Tunnel Vision" palette if you are a fan of dramatic black smokey eyes!  

 Tunnel Vision

I'm His Breezey

Floral Values

The Naked Truth

Whats New: The Big Easy Liquid To Powder SPF 35 Foundation from Benefit Cosmetics

This week's whats new, is a creative and fun packaged product from Benefit Cosmetics. The Big Easy Liquid To Powder SPF 35 Foundation!

From Benefit:
Big Easy contains ingredients known to help balance moisture and control oil, while the cushiony liquid-to-powder formula melts in like a cream, yet finishes lightweight and velvety like a powder. This multibalancing complexion perfector self-adjusts to your exact shade to even out skintone and conceal imperfections. It also contains ingredients known to soothe and comfort the skin and help fight free radicals.
 

So far there are some very mixed reviews of this product. I have put it to the test for 3 days straight, and I've not had stellar results. At a $38 price tag, I was expecting fabulous, and it just didn't deliver for me.  It has very little coverage. It wears off on me after only a few hours. It smells HORRIBLE. And, for the price, it's just straight up not worth it in my opinion! It did, however have a light feel and it did seem like it transformed to a powder finish like Benefit claimed. Which, sounded wonderful to me! But unfortunately the cons outweighed the pros for me with this product.

The swatch below is heavy, un-blended and it's in the shade "Fair".

 I'd love to know your thoughts if you've tried this. For me, it was a total pass, and I'm so glad that I bought it from Sephora. They are great at taking things back!

Whats New: elf Moisturizing Foundation Stick

It seems like elf always has new products popping up on their website these days! I love trying new things, and since they had a great deal last week I was able to pick a few things up for half price.

One of the items I got was the elf Moisturizing Foundation Stick. I love foundations in stick form, and yes, it's still cold here in the midwest so moisturizing sounded great for my parched skin!

This foundation retails for $6 for 0.49 oz from the elf website, and comes in 8 different shades. I got the shade "Ivory", and it matches my skin tone pretty well.

The application is pretty easy and mess-free. All you do is swipe it on your face where you want the most coverage, then blend away using fingers, a sponge or a brush. The feel of this foundation is a powdery feel once it is blended out. But, it still feels hydrating

The packaging is nice and sleek. It comes in a black matte stick that twists up to reveal the product. Mine wont twist down unless I press on it to help it along, but that doesn't really bother me.

Overall, I really like this foundation. It feels nice, it applies smoothly, and it has decent staying power. A bargain at only $6!

Whats New: Physicians Formula Nude Wear Glowing Nude Blush

I feel like my blog has been seriously lacking in the Physicians Formula area! I mean, it's truly one of my absolute favorite drug store makeup brads. So, I decided to do my Whats New Wednesday on a little Physicians Formula!

The Physicians Formula Nude Wear Glowing Nude Blush, is a pinky/peach blush that has four quadrants of color. Two of them are pinkish, and the other two are more peachy. You can wear one individual shade, or sweep your brush and mix all four together. Or, even do a combination of two or three of the shades! The possibilities are endless for this blush!

This retails for $12.99, and is sold wherever Physicians Formula is found! I like to get Physicians Formula cosmetics at CVS when they have a sale, but I've seen the brand at Target, Walmart, Christmas Tree Shops, and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Let talk about the packaging, shall we? How adorable is it? The little rose-gold bow is such a fun touch. I really adore a lot of Physicians Formula cosmetic packaging, but this one is the cutest! It has a magnetic closure on the front and the back of the packaging. The front has a the pan of blush, and the back has a little cut-out that holds a flat brush and behind it, there is a nice sized mirror. The out side is a faux leather texture that is a peachy nude color.

Below are swatches of all four quadrants of color, then a swatch of them all mixed up.

Skin Care Week Whats New: Güd Cleansing Wipes

Hey everyone. This weeks "Whats New" is somewhat keeping in trend with Skin Care Week. New Güd Cleansing Wipes are a natural and fast way to cleanse your skin after a workout or for a quick refresher during the day. I happen to think that these are genius. Of course these aren't a replacement for a shower. But if I've done a light workout at home, and don't have time to shower and dry my hair, and the whole 9, these are perfect. I have 3 kids at home, so these are a great way for me to get in my workout, and not smell horrible until I have the time to shower. These would be a great addition to your gym bag, or to take to work with you just in case the elevator broke and you end up having to hoof it up several flights of stairs. These retail for $2.99 for a pack of 10 and are found at most drugstores. 

So what do you think? Do you have a use for a product like this in your routine? Let me know in the comments!