Birthstone: Opal

Blergh! I've caught another cold and feel rather crappy at the moment. Those of you who have read my latest couple of blog posts know that I've already been ill once this fall, so I guess this is round two for me. I'm going to load up with a lot of vitamins, which hopefully will speed up my recovery.

Anyways, last week I started my new job which is awesome. I haven't done any selling yet because we were just packing everything up and organizing the products into drawers and shelves. My co-workers are great and though I've only worked two days so far I already feel at home. :)

The look I've got for you today is the October birthstone look, which is inspired by the opal. Of all the birthstone looks this has been by far the most difficult to turn into a makeup look, because the opal contains all the colors of the rainbow, shimmer but is still just mostly a pinkish white stone. Makes sense? Well, anyway, I've always thought of opals as pastel rainbows so I decided to take my look down that track. And here's the result!

Pastel rainbow deluxe! It was unfortunately a very cloudy day and my camera didn't pick up the shimmer that well, but I'm sure you get the idea.

Despite all the colors this is a rather wearable look. Soft and colorful in the same time.

Face

*Skin Base Foundation 02 (Illamasqua)

*Studio Finish Concealer NC15 (MAC)

Eyebrows

*Brow duo Dark brown (Anastasia Beverly Hills)

Eyes

*Jumbo pencil Milk (NYX)

*Diamond eyes (Sugarpill)

*#441 (Inglot)

*Birthday Girl (Sugarpill)

*Mochi (Sugarpill)

*Acidberry (Sugarpill)

*Goldilux (Sugarpill)

*Slink (Illamasqua)

*Medium Pencil Sophie (Illamasqua)

*#391 (Inglot)

*24/7 Glide on eye pencil Freak (Urban Decay)

*Eye Booster Ultra-black (Physicians Formula)

*False eyelashes #28 (Red Cherry)

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I just realized there are only two birthstone looks left! Oh my... :P 

Thanks for reading and hope you'll have a lovely day!

Paranormal Palette Review

My sweet boyfriend has been abroad and brought me home some (or actually a lot) of presents, among them the Illamasqua Paranormal palette. :)

The shadows of this palette are rather unique since their texture is not really powdery but definitely not completely creamy either. It is something right in between a regular powder eyeshadow and a cream shadow, which makes them more pigmented and provides us with a long-lasting, water-resistant formula.

As usual, I swatched these first on bare skin and then on top of NYX Jumbo pencil in Milk, but to be honest, I couldn't see any difference. They are highly pigmented both with and without a base and the ultra-light formula makes them easy to apply smoothly and even easier to blend.

Paranormal - dark, rose pink with a rather subtle shimmer.

Aura - warm peachy copper with a golden sheen.

Possession - cool, pistachio green.

Trance - soft shimmery violet

My favorite in the bunch is definitely Possession, but Aura (which I thought I wouldn't like that much) was also a positive surprise. Paranormal is quite a cool color and I can imagine it looking amazing with gold and black! As for Trance it is the most boring of these shades. It is a pretty color, alright, but we have seen this purple shade a million times before.


Pros: The eyeshadows are very easy to work with, have great color payoff and a very pleasant texture with a water-resistant finish.

Cons: The lightweight formula easily leads to overdosage, overdosage leads to creasing, creasing leads to hate and hate leads to the Dark Side... So watch out, ok?

Price: £34 

Overall this is quite an exciting palette, especially if you're into pastels, and if you want to try eyeshadows with a texture that you (probably) haven't encountered before you should definitely get it.

I really hope that this review has been helpful and that you all will have a lovely day! :)

Shimmer Polish Jennifer - Swatches and Review

 Press Sample

*Product(s) Featured provided for review. Please see Disclaimer/Legal Page for more information** 

Well hello there Lovelies!! It's been days since I've posted - I am sooo sorry! This past weekend was filled with a rash of activity, and inconvenience. I had a ton of errands to run, which is fine - I'm used to that. Buuuuut....we've had huge thunderstorms here as well, and the one night I had to swatch, the power was out for hours upon hours. We were burning a ton of candles (which made my house smell incredible, but also makes me sad since my Savory Scents candles are now very low), but that's not exactly optimum swatching conditions. Not to mention open flames near all those lovely flammable polishes and acetone. The one swatch I did manage, ended up damaged beyond repair in a frenzy of lighting candles, closing windows and doors, and replacing flashlight batteries during the first big storm. Normally I would be annoyed, but I loved that polish so much that being able to wear it twice in a row was actually pretty sweet.

Today I have that incredible polish to share with you! In case you hadn't already guessed (ha!), it's Shimmer Polish in Jennifer.

Shimmer Polish has been on my lemming list for a long time, and Jennifer was at the top. One of those "I must have this polish or I will surely shrivel up and die!" kind of lemmings. Imagine my utter joy at finding Jennifer in my package from Shimmer! *Insert happy dance here*.

Jennifer is filled with different sizes and shades of iridescent and pastel blue glitters, with some pink, copper, and black glitters mixed in. I'm a sucker for glitters blue in any incarnation, and iridescent glitters are my first love (my first glitter polish was an old Maybelline with nothing but pink iridescent glitters....I still have it!).

One of the things that I love so much about Shimmer polishes is that despite being glitter bombs, they're so beautiful and classy. You really can't go wrong with them. Jennifer is certainly no exception and definitely at the top of my list. Let's take a look!

Although Jennifer is opaque in 2-3 coats, I decided to layer her over Julep Bess, a sky blue creme, in order to bring out the pastel colors in the glitters. This is 2 coats of Julep Bess, 1 coat of Shimmer Jennifer, and top coat.

I still just....wow!...when I look at this glitter. Such a beauty! And so versatile! Jennifer looks amazing by herself,  or layered over pretty much any color.

Jennifer's formula is fabulous! This girl applies so smoothly that it's hard to believe it's a glitter bomb. I had no issues with clumpy glitters, thickening polish, or balding/dragging. Application was perfection as well, with no issues to mention. The glitters disperse evenly with every brush stroke and coverage is excellent. The glitters lay flat on the nail, and despite being loaded with glitter, Jennifer does not dry very textured at all. I used my regular top coat and my mani was smooth as glass.

If you're a glitter fanatic, you simply NEED this polish. Jennifer is perfect over a darker color for some serious color flash and sparkle, and subdued enough to wear alone or over a soft base color at work. This is a polish that I'll be reaching for often and regular. Do you see why I was actually excited to have to re-do this mani after I mucked it up during that storm? I'm having trouble writing this at the moment since I keep getting distracted by the polish. Soooooo amazing.

Jennifer is the second Shimmer Polish I've tried, and so far we're 2 for 2. I'm very impressed with the formula, application, and color combinations on these polishes. I have 3 more to share with you, and I'd be lying if I said I'm not excited as all get out to try them.

You can check out Shimmer's insanely fabulous glitters by visiting ShimmyShimmer.com. You can order via email (You can find all the info you need under the Contact/Purchase tab)- just check out all the blog posts and pick your colors. Full size bottles retail for $12 (worth every penny if you ask me), however I don't think minis are available. I highly recommend picking up Jennifer, and of course, Kim (swatches coming soon!)! You can also follow Shimmer Polish on Facebook for updates, sales info, and swatches.

What do you think of Jennifer? Do you have any glitters from Shimmer?

I'll be back later today with an infamous and simply incredible polish for Try It Out Tuesday, so be sure to check back soon! As a random side note, I'm planning on working hard to actually respond to comments. I've been so bad about that, and it makes me feel horrible!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber



*Product(s) Featured provided for review. Please see Disclaimer/Legal Page for more information** 

Press Sample

Lollipop

As you probably already know I adore my Sugarpill eyeshadows. I wanted to try on a very different combination of vibrant shades so I wrecked my brain and inspiration picture stash for ideas. Eventually, I came across a look by Linn, a.k.a. MrBarbie at Dayviews.com that I decided to recreate (with a few modifications...). :)
If you're a member on Dayviews you can find her picture here.

Well, now onto my version of this look.

I decided to name this look "Lollipop" because that Lollipop song kept popping up in me head frequently during its creation. Buttercupcake is adorning the upper lid accompanied by Dollipop on the lower. They definitely make a candylicsious duet!

To get Buttercupcake to blend into my skin a little better, and to give my crease some definition I used Taupe notch by Makeup Geek as a transition color.

If you don't have the perfect Barbie-pink shade of lipstick you can do like this: 1. Make sure your lips are adequately moisturized. 2. Wipe off any excess lip balm and then apply NYX Jumbo pencil in Milk all over your lips. 3. With a lip brush apply a hot pink over your lips, making sure that Milk doesn't show through anywhere. 4. As a finishing touch, apply a little more Milk to the center of your lips and finish with a clear lip gloss.

Haha, I guess this is NOT my style at all but I kind of liked the result anyway. :) Sugarpill-Barbie/Pin up. Or something.

Face

*Skin base foundation 02 (Illamasqua)

*Studio finish concealer (M.A.C.)*

*Loose powder (Isadora)

*Blush Matt glory (Make Up Store)

Eyebrows

*Corrupt (Makeup Geek)

Eyes

*Jumbo Pencil Milk (NYX)

*Medium Pencil S.O.P.H.I.E. (Illamasqua)

*Taupe notch (Makeup Geek)

*Corrupt (Makeup Geek)

*Buttercupcake (Sugarpill)

*Dollipop (Sugarpill)

*Tako (Sugarpill)

*Blanc Type (M.A.C.)*

*False lashes #111 (Ardell)

Lips

*Fearless (Makeup Geek)

*Jumbo Pencil Milk (NYX)

*Clear gloss (Isadora)

*IMPORTANT: Since M.A.C. has decided to start testing their products on animals I can no longer recommend you to buy these products! The reason why I'm still using them is because I bought them before it came to my knowledge that M.A.C. would become a non-cruelty free brand. I won't however buy any new products by them since animals are more important to me than looking good. 

You can read my full post on the subject here. 

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Warning! This song is going to attach itself to your brain and getting it out again may require violence or an exorcist.

Thank you so much for reading! :)