Makeup Geek Foiled Eyeshadow Set and Vegas Lights Palette Bundle - Swatches & Review

Happy Friday! 

It's been quite a while since I posted a blog post. I've been going through a lot of stress with college and decision making for my future. It's one of those things where I want to start keeping a blog up so that I don't mentally go insane (since makeup calms me down!). I've decided that the first blog post to restart this blog would be about a package I got in the mail this week. 

Excuse me while I drool

My birthday is tomorrow (April 11th) and my anniversary with my boyfriend was last week. He was gracious enough to buy me this packaged deal for these two occasions, and I couldn't be more excited. 

If you didn't know these are from Makeup Geek -- The Foiled Eyeshadow Set and Vegas Lights Palette Bundle! Makeup Geek's description: "If you're looking to score a great deal on Makeup Geek's latest and greatest products, this bundle is perfect for you.

This bundle includes all ten Makeup Geek Foiled Eyeshadows (no palette included with these shadows) plus the limited-edition Makeup Geek Vegas Lights Palette (which includes 6 shades)"

Find these items here

For months, I had been hearing how lovely both of these items were, and I definitely knew I wanted them both. I wasn't too keen on spending the money for them (due to the $120 price tag). Looking at it with no break down, that price seems absolutely outrageous. As I stalked the Makeup Geek site, though, I found myself calculating what It would be like to buy them both separately. 

• $9.99 per foiled eyeshadow (or $89.00 for the bundle of these) x 10 = $99.99 ($89.99 for the bundle)
• $37.99 for the Vegas Lights Palette 
• With the bundle ($89.99 + $37.99 = $127.98)
• Without the bundle ($99.99 + $37.99 = $137.98)

Granted, these prices aren't extremely different from the deal I got, but I think it's important to see the amount of money you could potentially save. 

Now onto the actual review. I've never tried anything else from Makeup Geek (Where have I been?!) other than these shadows, so I can solely go off the knowledge I have from other shadows in my collection, not from the brand itself. I've always wanted to order from there, but I love seeing/swatching things in person, causing me to be hesitant to buy makeup online. Anyways, I need to get over this because spoiler: these shadows are AMAZING. 

The Vegas Lights Palette is up first. This limited edition palette is for my warm color-loving girls. 

Makeup Geek describes this as: "The Makeup Geek Vegas Lights Palette features 5 new and exclusive eyeshadows, plus our existing Bada Bing eyeshadow to provide a sultry lineup that will be winning you compliments with both your day-time and night-time cosmetic creations.

Perfect for on the go, the Vegas Lights palette closes tightly and includes a mirror. The Makeup Geek team spent quite a while designing the palette itself to be durable and elegant. It features pressed foil printing on both the outside and the inside for a subtle glow that captures the spirit of Las Vegas." This palette is limited edition, and it states that with the exception of the shadow Bada Bing, these shadows are exclusive to this palette. 

Casino - Shimmery saturated metallic gold with orange undertones

Sin City - Shimmery golden apricot/golden medium orange

Roulette - A rosy, burnt shimmery sienna

Mirage - Pale matte beige with yellow undertones and a silky finish

Desert Sands - Matte, medium terra-cotta

Bada Bing - Deep brown with flecks of gold

T-B: Roulette, Sin City, Casino

T-B: Bada Bing, Desert Sands, Mirage

These shadows are unbelievably soft and buttery. They go on super smooth too. All 6 of these shades were only one swipe of color, so you can see how amazing the color pay-off is! My favorite shadows of all time are Lorac's from the Lorac Pro Palette and these Makeup Geek shadows are equal, if not better than Lorac's. That's saying so much because of the affordableness (that's not a word..) of their shadows. Granted, in this palette you get less shades, so that is something to think about. I think these colors are unique in the sense that you get a lot of heavily warm shades all packaged in one place. These shadows are also not glued in, so if you wanted to ditch the palette, you could always try putting them in a Z Palette. Overall, this is a great palette for what it is. If you are someone who doesn't like super warm shadows, I wouldn't necessarily recommend you go out and grab this, but it's a very nice palette. 

Side note: if you are planning to get this, I would grab it soon as it's been out for a while, and it's limited edition dependent upon the stock. Click here to grab the item mentioned above.

Rating: ★★★★.5 

Next up are the foiled eyeshadows. Makeup Geek describes them as "With these rich and intensely-hued shades, the new Makeup Geek Foiled Eyeshadows go beyond your standard line of cosmetics, introducing you to a new and powerful cosmetic experience. 

This cutting-edge formula offers a creamy texture that is a hybrid between a powder shadow and a cream shadow that is on a level of its own. 

The intense pigmentation combined with an opaque, metallic finish make these shadows a dream to work with. These can be applied effortlessly in just one swipe with no primer required! Our lineup includes a diverse array of rich colors and a smooth silky formula that we believe help elevate pressed eye shadows to the next level of exceptional quality. "

Caitlin Rose –  Bright amethyst purple with a foiled finish

Center Stage – Bright royal blue with a foiled finish

Flame Thrower – True brightened warm copper with a foiled finish

Grandstand – Medium rose gold with slight taupe undertones and a foiled finish

Houdini – Deep emerald teal green with a foiled finish.

In The Spotlight – Soft pink with coral undertones and a foiled finish

Jester – Bright mossy green with slight gold undertones and a foiled finish

Magic Act – Light gold with yellow undertones and a foiled finish

Mesmerized – Deep medium taupe with strong purple undertones and a foiled finish

Showtime – Rusty brown with warm undertones and a foiled finish

L-R: Houdini, Grand Stand, In The Spotlight, Jester

L-R: Center Stage, Showtime, Caitlin Rose, Flame Thrower, Magic Act, Mesmerized

There's not much else I can say that contradicts those statements. They are the most buttery, creamy, beautiful eyeshadows I've ever touched. The texture is so spot on with these, which makes them so unbelievably unique. Dabbing them with your finger picks up an unreal amount of pigmentation. It's absolutely insane. These shadows are only pans, though, so if you don't have a Z Palette, it's important you buy one to fit these in so they don't get damaged. Z Palettes average about $20 a piece. (The Z Palette you see in the first picture of this post was purchased by me via the Makeup Geek website, if you are interested). Click here to grab the items mentioned above. 

Rating: ★★★★★

Overall, I think this packaged deal is so worth the money. I'm so excited to create new looks with these products for you guys to see!

Give me feedback on what I should post about next and what you think of this blog! I'm super open to constructive criticism. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Head over to my instagram for a daily dose of makeup I create: @taylorleamua 

Facebook: facebook.com/taylorleamua

Business Inquiries/Appointments: taylorleamua@gmail.com

Have a spectacular day 

xoxo, Taylor 

NYX Butter Gloss Collection ("review")

Why hello lovelies!

I apologize for the lack of posts in the past few weeks. I've been so busy and overwhelmed and am surprised I even have enough time to write this now! But that's besides the point, onto the collection!

A few weeks ago I went to Ulta and was browsing around, like always. They were having great deals and great sales so I took advantage of that. Now, going into Ulta and not buying anything (or only one thing), is a difficult task to do. So I practically bought the whole store myself (oops, not really though). One thing I seemed to find that was on sale were the NYX Butter Glosses. For a while I've been eyeing these and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to stock up on colors since they were BOGO 50% off. (That's an awesome deal if you ask me)!

I swatched a few of the colors on my hand and narrowed it down to six glosses that I will be telling you about. This isn't necessarily a review because I haven't tried them long enough to where I feel comfortable sharing my final thoughts (just yet). But here we go!

I've decided to go, from what I feel is, lightest to darkest.

So the first shade I'm showing you is BLG04-- Merengue which is a light baby pink with more blue undertones. This was the first shade I knew I wanted to get because it looked amazing when swatched.

BLG04- Merengue

This shade seems to fall under a nude-y pink because of the original shade of my lip color. Obviously you can see how pigmented they are on the lips (at least for a lip gloss, in my opinion) which adds and added bonus.

The next shade I picked up was a lighter (of the two I got) nude. This is definitely nude compared to the pink I just showed you. BLG05 -Creme Brulee seems to be a staple lip gloss in any collection because you can wear it on its own or over top of a nude lipstick.

This shade does have a more blue undertone rather than orange and I feel like it can suit anyone. Although, people with darker complexions may be more interested in the next nude considering it is the darker option.

BLG05-- Creme Brulee

 Now if you're looking for more of a deeper and orange (warm toned) based nude BLG07-- Tiramisu might be more up your alley. When applying it, it has a tinge of a salmon shade when applied to my lips and that's probably because of my natural lip color. Both of these nudes are very wearable for almost all skin tones and complexities, in my opinion.

 BLG07-- Tiramisu

Now onto the "darker" shades...

Looking at the picture above, as you can see, I wanted to pick up a variety of colors that looked good with my light skin tone (not all pinks and berries go well with my skin tone/hair color, unfortunately).

Continuing on, the very left shade (picture above) first struck me as a really orange and unwearable color in my book. I swatched it on my hand, though, and was pleasantly surprised. The shade turned out to be more of an electric-neon red, I guess you could say. 

BLG06-- Peach Cobbler

It does appear to be less pigmented on the lips then some others mentioned above. I say this because when taken out of the tube, the color is very vibrant. Yes, the color is vibrant on the lips but it's more sheer than I would have hoped. Still, it's a great color, maybe just not for the fall season (unless you don't have a preference when you wear your colors for the seasons)! 

What also might be throwing this off is that I'm not entirely used to having a shade like this with my lips because I'm more suited with very blue based products, to match my skin tone of course. Nonetheless, still an amazing color. 

Now if you're looking for more of a deeper pink with a berry tint, this next shade is for you.

BLG01-- Strawberry Parfait is a beautiful color and is almost a step down in deepness compared to BLG04-- Merengue.

 This has to be one of my favorites solely on the color alone and the beautiful pay-off it gives. To some people with more naturally mauve lips, this color may come off as a "my lips but better" color. It truly is beautiful and a lot of people could pull this color off.

BLG01-- Strawberry Parfait

Finally we are on to the last one! Woo Hoo! 

I just had to buy a darker one, and of course a true red, to check out. I felt like this last color was a great "settlement," even though I didn't settle, ( I truly wanted it). This is more of a blue-based red for those of you curious.

 BLG12-- Cherry Pie

Looking at my lips in the picture above, you can see that the pigmentation is pretty good, especially just on bare lips. I feel like this is the right amount of pigmentation to wear by itself or to wear with a lipstick. The beautiful cherry color looks amazing on, too!

Overall this is an amazing line! I really think that these colors are very user friendly and are easily applied (you may still need a mirror, though). There is a definite smell to these but it's not like a "grandma scent," and it's not overpowering. 

The best thing about these is the texture...OH MY do these lip glosses make your lips feel good. They have a tacky texture but not in a bad way. It's not overly sticky or drying, the perfect about of tackiness! 

If I were to give them a grade I would give the line an A-. Considering I haven't tried the whole line I can't judge the other pigmentations but the ones I picked out seem to be winners! If I hadn't gotten the BOGO 50% sale, I would pay full price for them (if not more). These are definitely glosses you should keep your eyes on and check out because they are worth it! 

Thanks for reading! Too-da-loo :)

DUPE ALERT: Mac Rebel

Why, hello there!
Quick blog post because I'm too excited to wait.

So as we all know, Fall is here, (finally!), and that means it's time to break out all the "deeper" and "darker" makeup (even if it's too hot to wear sweaters and scarves, sad face). Recently, I've purchased the lipstick Rebel from Mac. I know, I'm late on the bandwagon on this one, but I wasn't sure if it would look good with my hair color and/or skin color. But, low and behold, I went into Mac (I get in so much trouble there) and tried it on, and I ended up really liking it. It is more out of my comfort zone and I didn't think I had any other color like it (until now).

Today, I tried to clean out my lipstick collection and found another "plummy" shade. At first I just threw it aside and then decided to take a double look at it. I swatched it on my hand and was shocked by the color. I rushed to go get Mac Rebel and I found myself a pretty close dupe! Yay!

Left: Mac Rebel // Right: Wet 'n' Wild 908C

Mac Rebel: $15.00 // Wet 'n' Wild 908C: $1.99

Now that's an incredible difference in price.

These two shade may not look like too similar in the packaging. It seems as though Mac Rebel is more plum and 908C is more of a red-ish shade. But, once you swatch it, it becomes a whole different story.

                                     Top: Rebel // Bottom: 908C (both above pictures) with flash

Left: Rebel // Right: 908C (above without flash)

In my opinion this is an amazing dupe, especially when swatching them. But I really wanted to put them to the test and decided to apply them to my lips.

 Without Flash // Top lip: Mac Rebel // Bottom Lip: 908C (excuse my peeling nose)

With Flash //Top lip: Mac Rebel // Bottom Lip: 908C (excuse the uneven lipstick line)

Now I did notice that Mac Rebel did apply much more easily and smooth. While both of them had the same pigmentation, I felt like 908C was a little drying on the lips and felt the need to apply some sort of moisturizing lip balm/gloss to my lips. Overall, though, these are incredible dupes of each other.

These lipsticks do act as stains if you have them on your lips long enough. Even when I tried to scrub my lips with a makeup remover/soap it left a baby pink tint on my lips (which was not what I was expecting).

Have you found this dupe already? Do you have any other dupes you'd like to share? Should I make this a series when I find more dupes?  Leave them in the comments below as well as suggestions for future posts! 

Time for sleep, Goodnight!