Sunsets & Berries: Pacifica Power of Love Eye Shadow Palette* Review

Thanks to my Pan That Palette challenge this year, I have not worn or bought an eye palette other than my theBalm Nude' Tude for the past seven months and some change. A lot of you commented how you couldn't even imagine committing to about a dozen of the same shades for such a long time - and I feel you, because eyeshadow boredom has now become a thing for me, and it's painful. Which is why I was happy and excited to be shaken out of my ennui by this new arrival from Pacifica Beauty, the Power of Love Eye Shadow Palette* ($20 for 0.22 oz, available at pacificabeauty.com, ulta.com and Target).

Power of Love is a compact palette of ten coconut-infused mineral eyeshadows, which the brand describes as 'velvety rich, long lasting, creaseless' and having ' a soft, cream-like finish'. Like all of Pacifica products, they're 100% vegan and cruelty-free. The shadows are housed in a slim, streamlined carboard palette with a clear top so that you can see all the shades easily at a glance. One thing that slightly annoys me about the design is that even though the brand lists the shade names on the back of the outer box, the shadows are not actually named within the palette so I have no idea which name goes with which shade if that makes sense - it's like they wanted to name them but didn't commit to doing so all the way through. Huh.

Now, the shade selection is what got me really excited about playing with this palette. It's a predominantly neutral eyeshadow palette (my personal preference) that contains shadows ranging from light to dark in terms of depth, thus making it easy to create an entire look without having to look for complimentary eyeshadows elsewhere. However, it also features some fun pops of color: a khaki green with golden shimmer, a gorgeous wine shade, and a turquoise with a gold sheen. Those combined with the fun hippy packaging make for a lovely summer eyeshadow palette - just the thing I needed.

Unfortunately, as soon as I started swatching these eyeshadows on my arm, I noticed some issues with the formula. In short: the quality is not consistent. Like, at all. Let me break it down for you, starting from the top row, going left to right:

A light peach, shimmer/ pearl finish. Medium pigmentation but smooth and easy to apply.
A warm bronze, shimmer/ metallic finish. Slightly more pigmented than the peach, again very buttery and easy to pick up on the brush and blend out.
A matte beige brown, sheer to medium pigmentation, smooth and blendable.
A satin khaki green with golden sparkles, very sheer, hard pressed in the pan, difficult to pick up on the brush.
A satin berry with pink undertones, sheer, hard pressed in the pan, difficult to build up. Doesn't even come close to the deep wine shade I was expecting when I looked at it in the pan.

A matte navy with a slight purple lean, sheer to medium pigmentation, soft and smooth but not very buildable.
A pinky mauve with a high shimmer/ metallic finish, pigmented, soft, smooth, creamy, a dream to apply and blend out on the eyes. This is THE stand-out shade of the entire palette.
A satin ivory with pale yellow undertones, very sheer, difficult to pick up on the brush or build up on the eyes.
A satin turquoise with golden sparkles, again very sheer and difficult to work with.
A satin/ pearl cream leaning light pink, sheer but a bit more pigmented and easier to apply than the yellowy ivory.

Sooo... Let's see - how many shades from this palette did I actually count as reasonably pigmented? I believe it's 4 (maaaybeee 5) out of 10. That's not great, you guys. And the ones that I said were sheer - they really ARE sheer. What you see in my arm swatches (bare skin, swatched with a clean finger) is sometimes 7+ swipes of the shadow. Who has time to do this many layers on their eyes for the colors to even show up? On top of that, all the sheer shades are quite hard in the pan and all got hard pan on them just from rubbing my finger across the surface during one swatch session. When it came to applying them to my eyes, I got quite a bit of powder kick-up by digging in my brush so hard just to get something onto my lids. Yeah. Not cool.

That being said, I do think I got some really pretty eye looks out of this palette. My first take, which I intended to be a bit more colorful, turned out to be somewhat sunset-over-the-ocean themed. I used the yellow ivory on the inner corners, light peach on the lid and navy in the outer V, blending it all out with the matte beige brown, which by the way is a perfect transition shade for my fair skin. On the lower lashline, I applied the golden turquoise shade; it pulled a bit more green on me than I would have liked so I added a bright cobalt blue pencil liner to my waterline. It turned out quite pretty - but it did take me much longer to execute because I had to keep layering for intensity, and some shades looked a bit more muddy on my eyes than I would have liked (namely the matte navy and the turquoise).

For my second look, I decided to play with the ever so trendy pinky berry shades. I used the lightest pink in the inner corners, the stunning metallic mauve on the lids, and the satin berry in the outer corner and crease, again blending everything out with the matte beigy brown. I accented the lower lashline with the warm bronze and finished the look with a subtle aubergine wing (Pixi Endless Silky Eye Pen in Deep Purple). I really, really liked how it came together, and actually got a lovely compliment on my eye make-up while wearing it ('Excuse me, but your eye look is absolutely stunning! Are you self-taught or did you go to school for make-up? I would love to learn how to do that!). The longevity on both looks (on top of my usual eye primer) was very good and I didn't notice any fading or creasing throughout the day.

So overall, my feelings on the Pacifica Power of Love Palette are pretty ambiguous. On one hand, I wish the quality (pigmentation and texture) were even - or at least somewhat similar - across all the shades. On the other, the few eyeshadows that do have a good formula are absolutely beautiful and make for a gorgeous look on the eyes. But is it worth it to buy an entire eyeshadow palette for just that one stunning make-up look? I don't think so. I will probably be passing this palette on to a loved one who is still a beginner when it comes to eye make-up; at least with those sheerer shadows, it's more difficult to mess up.

What is the one eyeshadow palette you have been reaching for the most this summer? Have you already jumped on the berry eyeshadow trend? I'm seriously considering picking up MAC Cranberry eyeshadow in the near future.

Disclaimer: Product featured in this post is a press sample I received from the brand's PR for review consideration. All links are non-affiliate. All opinions are 100% honest and unbiased, no matter if the product featured was purchased with my own money or provided free of charge. Thank you for reading!

Blueberry Stained Lips: Pacifica Devocean Natural Lipstick in Beach Goth*

Growing up, I always loved the summer season in my mom's kitchen, because it meant all kinds of delicious lunch pairings of pasta/ dumplings + fresh fruit: pierogi with blackberries, knedle with strawberries or plums (which I made a few weeks ago and bragged about on Instagram here), and then possibly my absolute favorite, łazanki (small pasta squares) toppped with wild (low bush) blueberry sauce and lots of whipped sweat cream. I would devour that dish in minutes and then lick the plate clean, giving myself a purple mouth that remained stained for the rest of the day. This is exactly what Pacifica's Devocean Natural Lipstick* ($10 for 0.07 oz/ 2g, available at pacificabeauty.com as well as Ulta and other green beauty retailers) in the shade Beach Goth reminds me of - those strange blueberry lips of summer.

(By the way, don't you find the name Beach Goth a little amusing? Just imagine that poor goth girl clad all in black being absolutely miserable and sweating her eyeliner off on a sandy ocean shore. Or maybe I just have a twisted sense of humor :)

Pacifica Beauty describes their Devocean lipstick range as 'highly pigmented color [that] glides on smoothly, will not feather and lasts for hours'. Devocean lipsticks contain coconut oil, shea butter, jojoba esters and vitamin E, and like all Pacifica products, are vegan, cruelty-free and gluten-free. The lipstick is packaged in a lightweight slim plastic tube with the color of the outer box loosely corresponding to the shade inside, and a label on the bottom of the tube specifying the shade name (thank goodness!). I quite enjoy Pacifica's design aesthetics: colorful, whimsical, somewhat bohemian - it definitely stands out from other brands. The lipstick has a beautiful sweet coconut scent when being applied to the lips, but it doesn't linger for very long afterwards.

Beach Goth is definitely not for the faint of heart - I mean, what did you expect with a name like this? It's PURPELH. I was admittedly a little intimidated when I first opened the tube but game to try it out anyway. As I expected, it swatches a lot different from what it looks like in the tube: what looks like an intense dark purple in the tube applies more like a wash of cool purple with a mauve undertone. The finish is a jelly/cream (crelly?), no shimmer whatsoever.

L-R: Pacifica Devocean Lipstick in Beach Goth, Lancome Color Design in Wine Party, Revlon Superlustrous in Black Cherry

The texture of the Devocean lipstick is very creamy but thin; in fact, despite Pacifica's product description, I would say the pigmentation and formula in between a lipstick and nicely tinted balm. In terms of feel, it's definitely not as thick and onctous as standard cream finish lipsticks (say, Revlon Superlustrous or YSL Rouge Purs) and instead reminds me of something like Guerlain Rouge Automatiques. It feels hydrating and comfortable on the lips but it's prone to wearing off easily on teacups and the like and would require frequent reapplication to retain the intensity of color. I can live with that though - can you see how full and luscious it looks on my lips? You can still see vertical lip lines but they're softened and there's no product gathering in there. The lips look smooth, even and natural, not like they're covered in a thick layer of product.

In general, I really enjoy somewhat sheerer lipstick textures, so it's no surprise that I really enjoy my new Devocean lipstick. However, the shade Beach Goth - like that blueberry stain of my childhood - is a combination of strange and wonderful on me. My fair cool-toned coloring makes it difficult for me to wear neutral/ cool purple blushes and lipsticks without looking bruised/ chilled to the bone but Beach Goth somehow walks the line without pushing me too much into the undead territory. I have nothing like it in my stash, and it takes some guts to wear it outside the house - but makes me feel cool and a bit different. I also really like Beach Goth in smaller doses, lightly patted on or layered with another warmer lipstick, lip liner and/ or gloss.

If you're looking for a moisturizing, lightweight lipstick, I think you'd love the Pacifica Devocean range - and if your skintone is warmer than mine (or you simply like unusual shades), you'd certainly look killer in that Beach Goth purple. For a more classically flattering color choice, I'm also eyeing the MLBB Tenderness or peachy pink XOX shades. What is your experience with natural lipstick lines? What is your favorite sheer lipstick/ tinted balm formula?

Disclaimer: Product featured in this post is a press sample I received from the brand's PR for review consideration. All links are non-affiliate. All opinions are 100% honest and unbiased, no matter if the product featured was purchased with my own money or provided free of charge. Thank you for reading!

I Couldn't Resist: bareMinerals The Posh Neutrals Eyeshadow Palette

Admittedly, I've become a bit of an eyeshadow palette snob: these days it takes a spectacular one to set my heart aflutter. But, you know my love of bareMinerals READY eyeshadow formula, documented here, here and here, so as soon as I saw that they had released two more Limited Edition colorways in their Neutral 8.0 range, I knew I had to get my hands on one.

After much deliberation, I settled on READY 8.0 Eyeshadow Palette in The Posh Neutrals ($40 for 0.24 oz), which I belive has the most clear cool undertones out of the three variations. The name is a bit ridiculous and reminds me of my Spice Girls fan days, but I guess that doesn't really matter - for inside the sleek rose gold compact, you find eight beautiful neutral eyeshadows in a variety of depths and finishes.

The shiny compact comes in a simple cardboard envelope with the names of the shades on the back (though notice the inaccurate shade representations both on the outer box and the back of the palette itself) and three eye look suggestions on the inside. I like the packaging of these palettes, even though they're a bit of a finger print magnet - the compacts are small but sturdy and come with a big mirror inside, which makes them the perfect travel eyeshadow palettes. I traveled with both The Finer Things and The Posh Neutrals now (I took it with me on our recent trip to Colorado) and I was very happy with my choice.

I like the rose gold theme, however now it slightly bothers my collector's soul that I have given away the yellow gold Power Neutrals palette, because together with the silver Finer Things, they would have made a beautiful precious metals trio. But, alas - I'll have to deal with the fearful symmetry of just two READY 8.0 palettes.

Now for the important part - the eyeshadows inside. Similarly to The Finer Things, The Posh Neutrals has quite a range of different formulas and textures. Here we have a silky matte (warm beige Promise), mattes with microglitter (Curtsy, white with silver flecks, and Romance, blackened aubergine with gold and copper glitters), satins (light peach Debutante, dusty mauve Waltz and silver sage Caviar & Cake), and high shimmers/ metallics (warm taupe Valet and Sizzle, a light bronze with silver microglitter).

It's a bit difficult to spot those differences in finish in photos, so I've decided to include a couple shots in full sunlight, hoping to capture the more complex shimmers. In terms of pigmentation and texture, these shadows differ quite a bit between the finishes, with the one matte and two metallics being the most opaque and soft, the satins equally soft but less pigmented, and the mattes with microglitter the most sheer and dry in consistency. None of these shadows are bad though - I find all quite easy to work with, even if I have to layer to get more pigmentation. Overall, I like all of them, but find the darkest Romance and bronzy Sizzle the most problematic, as the microglitters have a tendency to migrate and fall down my cheeks.

Shades swatched in diffused natural light in the same order as in the palette.

Swatches in direct full sunlight.

In terms of shade selection, I think The Posh Neutrals is going to suit light to medium skintones the most, both on the cool and warm ends of the spectrum. You can absolutely create a complete eyeshadow look with just this palette, although I wish there was one more medium depth transitioning/blending shade; in lieu of that, I've been using Promise, the only matte in the palette, to soften the edges and tone down the shimmer of other shades. I find the satin shades, especially the muted tones of Waltz and Caviar & Cake, to be the most unique and difficult to replicate, although fans of bareMinerals READY taupe shades will be very content with Valet and Sizzle as well.

Here's a shot comparing The Finer Things and The Posh Neutrals - you can see that the latter has more watercolor tones and less contrast than The Finer Things. I'm sorry I don't have The Power Neutrals anymore to give you an idea of differences between the two, but from my memory (and photos), The Power Neutrals was both a bit more grey and warm. On my fair cool skintone, I do prefer the muted pastel shades in The Posh Neutrals palette.

My favorite eye look using The Posh Neutrals palette is the silvery sage Caviar & Cake on the inner two thirds of the lid with plummy Valet in the outer third and softly in the crease, further blended out with matte beige Promise around the edges. I also applied flecky white Curtsy in the inner corner, light bronze Sizzle along the lower lashline, and used the darkest Romance wet to line my upper lashline. It's quite subtle, but luminous and pretty, and when I tilt my head, you can just about see the copper microglitters of Romance between the lashes.

I hope this was helpful to anyone trying to decide between The Posh and The Sexy, or just generally on the fence about these two new palettes. From what I've seen on Temptalia, they are supposed to be limited edition, although The Power Neutrals was a limited release at first too, and then became a permanent part of the range. Have you been tempted by the new READY 8.0 palettes?

Healthy and Beautiful Lips: Red Apple Lipstick in Audrey

So many products still to be reviewed in my incoming basket, so little time! I first heard about the brand Red Apple Lipstick via some of my favorite green beauty YouTubers, mostly Ashley from That Is All, previously mentioned here. She was recommending one product in particular: the Mineral Lipstick in Audrey* ($23.50 for 4.5 g/0.158 oz). So when the opportunity arose to try it out for myself (by which I mean that the brand kindly sent it for review - as always, full disclosure people!), I jumped at the chance.

Last month I also reviewed another product by Red Apple Lipstick, their matte Mineral Eyeshadow in Clean Slate, which (as you may remember) really exceeded my expectations. One of the big selling points of the RAL products is that they're vegan, non-GMO, cruelty-free and free from harmful chemicals, as well as parabens and gluten. While it may seem like a completely unimportant detail to someone who's not sensitive to these ingredients, I have friends and family members who are allergic to parabens and gluten intolerant, and let me tell you, it can be not only a huge pain the butt, but also uncomfortable and at times painful. So I do appreciate that there's a make-up line out there that caters to people with allergies and sensitivities (you can catch RAL on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram if you want to stay in touch!). And I do think my lipstick should be non-toxic, since I probably end up licking most of it off my lips. Anyway.

The lipstick comes in a rather sleek round plastic tube with a textured/ nubbly bottom part. I really like this design, and it definitely feels well made. There's a standard label with the name of the shade stuck on the bottom, so if you had a couple of these, it'd still be easy to find the color you were looking for.

The shade Audrey is described as a 'beautiful, pink-based neutral', with 'amazing shine' but no sparkle. It is a true description, if a bit vague for a true lipstick junkie. I would describe Audrey as a natural rosey pink leaning warm, with a glossy cream finish. It's the perfect shade of pink for everyday wear (school, office, running errands, meeting with friends), and I can see it suiting a variety of skintones.

In my shade comparison, you can see it's the closest to Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick in Warm Me Up, but slightly lighter and warmer. When I was taking the photos, I did not think to compare it to another lipstick I'd been wearing frequently last year, which was NYX Round Lipstick in Tea Rose. It's a pretty much spot-on dupe, with one major difference: the formula of the Red Apple Lipstick is roughly 100 times better than the NYX. Like the NYX, it's incredibly soft, creamy and glossy, unlike the NYX, it doesn't just sit and slide on top of your lips, but almost melds in, slightly filling in vertical lip lines and plumping the surface.

It also does actually moisturize my lips, which is not something that often happens for me with lip products. While I normally prefer my opaque lipsticks to have a bit less slip for better longevity and more precision, it wasn't a huge issue with Audrey, I guess partly because it is a more neutral shade - but if you wanted a razor sharp lip contour, I'd suggest pairing it with a lip liner. Also, as expected, the color did wear off through eating, but when I pressed my lips together and moved the product around a bit, I still had enough pigment and slip left to give me a hint of color all over.

L-R: Red Apple Lipstick in Audrey, Maybelline Warm Me Up, Elf Mineral Lipstick in Rosy Raisin, MAC Viva Glam V

The Red Apple Lipstick in Audrey gets two thumbs up from me - so much so that I promptly tossed NYX Tea Rose in the trash. There's just no way I would reach for Tea Rose over Audrey if I wanted that neutral warm pink lip! There are only two downsides to Red Apple Lipsticks for me: one, I find the fruity scent somewhat similar to the toy make-up I used to have as a little girl, and two, there just aren't enough shimmer-free shades in the range for me. I do know however that they're coming out with new collections constantly, and there are even blushes and foundation in the works this year!

Have you guys ever tried anything from Red Apple Lipstick? Are you concerned with the safety of ingredients in your lip products, and if so, what are your favorite brands?

Disclaimer: The product marked with an asterix (*) is a press sample I received from Red Apple Lipstick for review consideration. All links are non-affiliate. All opinions are 100% honest and unbiased, no matter if the products featured were purchased with my own monies or provided as free press samples. Thank you for reading!

Alternative to UD Naked Basics: My DIY Matte Eyeshadow Palette

Oh, the inner turmoil and third-guessing yourself when deciding whether to pull a trigger on another neutral eyeshadow palette... Remember my hesitation over the Urban Decay Naked Basics 2 palette? In the end, I didn't buy it. In fact, apart from the Limited Edition Rouge Bunny Rouge quint, I haven't bought another eyeshadow palette this year, the main reason being that I really, really want to avoid getting repeat shades I may already have as singles or in other compacts. So, I decided to bypass the whole palette issue by way of my handy dandy small Z Palette, and put together my own perfect matte eyeshadow set. Wanna see what's inside?

What we have here is a mix of drugstore, mid-end brands and one lonely MAC eyeshadow in Embark, a warm dark brown. The two largest rectangular pans are Inglot, which makes one of my all time favorite matte eyeshadow formulas - here's another post with other shades and swatches, but I reach for no. 337 and no. 344 the most. Conversely, my least favorite (and second to most expensive) matte formula in this palette is the MAC eyeshadow - I don't know what happened to my Embark, but it's rock hard, patchy and poorly pigmented. I thought that maybe it formed that hard layer on the surface like some older powders sometimes do (although it's been barely used and always stored in a MAC palette), so I tried to scratch it off, but it's pretty much the same underneath. What gives? I'll experiment with it a bit more but if I can't find a way to work with this texture, it's probably going to go in the trash.

The three smaller rectangular pans come from my new drugstore acquisition, the Physicians Formula Matte Collection Eye Shadow Quad in Canyon Classics - I think I paid about $8 for it on Amazon. I bought it precisely with the thought of depotting it into the Z Palette, and while that process wasn't entirely pleasant (see the damage from a pin in the corners? Yeah, spare yourself the trouble and just melt the plastic underneath straight away), I'm very happy with these shadows.

They may not be as creamy or opaque as Inglot, but they're still very, very good for an inexpensive, widely available option. I'm sorry I forgot to include swatches of these, they do however swatch true to pan, and yes, these two medium warm browns are very, very similar indeed - I wish they included something a bit different. Overall, it's a great neutral medium-depth quad that should suit a variety of skintones, and the ivory shade is even light enough to show up on my fair skin.

You may recognize the other, slightly deeper and more yellow ivory eyeshadow in the round pan from my Project Make A Dent - it's an Annabelle Eyeshadow in Vanilla Chilla. I'm a bit over it and actually, the Physicians Formula is way nicer both texture and shade-wise, but I'm still working on it! The last round pan is another new discovery, a Red Apple Lipstick Mineral Eyeshadow in Clean Slate* ($18.75 for 0.055 oz/ 1.5 g), a medium matte grey leaning purple.

Red Apple Lipstick eyeshadows are gluten-free, paraben-free and vegan, can be used both wet and dry, and already come in a single pan form to save you the trouble of depotting. You can also purchase their two eyeshadow compact called Twosie separately, and they also have small Z-Palettes with their own cute apple pattern available as well. I wasn't really expecting a whole lot from Clean Slate, assuming that lipstick was probably the star of the Red Apple Lipstick product line, but boy, was I pleasantly surprised.

Red Apple Lipstick Mineral Eyeshadow in Clean Slate definitely rivals my favorite Inglot mattes. It's incredibly smooth, buttery and beautifully pigmented, and blends like a dream - but doesn't blend into oblivion like some mattes are wont to do. It does have quite a bit of powder kick-up in the pan, just like the Inglot mattes, but that's probably the only downside to the formula (well, not really. I don't even mind it that much). It looks beautiful on the eyes and wears all day over eyeshadow primer. Yeah, I don't think I'll be buying any more MAC mattes any time in the future; give me Red Apple Lipstick's shadows over MAC any day. You can also catch RAL on their Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram if you have any questions or like silent stalking like me.

L-R: Annabelle Vanilla Chilla, MAC Embark, Red Apple Lipstick Clean Slate, Inglot 344, Inglot 337, Too Faced Velvet Revolver

The last tiny pan in there that's super similar to one of the Canyon Classics shades is Too Faced Velvet Revolver, possibly my favorite shade depotted from the Natural Eye palette. I'm very happy with my Do It Yourself (more like Assemble it Yourself) matte eyeshadow palette, and I think it's an incredibly useful thing to keep on hand when you need some basic neutrals to create a complete eye look. A lot of smaller eyeshadow compacts (duos/ trios/ quads/ quints) often lack these basic highlighting and transitioning shades, so a staple little palette like this is indispensable for everyday usage.

What are your favorite neutral matte eyeshadows you reach for over and over again? Do you have a premade palette, keep your depotted shadows in a freeform palette, or do you use singles? I'd love to know!

Disclaimer: The product marked with an asterix (*) is a press sample I received from Red Apple Lipstick for review consideration. I purchased all the other eyeshadows myself. All links are non-affiliate. All opinions are 100% honest and unbiased, no matter if the products featured were purchased with my own monies or provided as free press samples. Thank you for reading!

Red Ochre Cheeks: Laura Geller Blush-n-Brighten in Boysenberry

The educational value of this post is that I had no idea what a boysenberry was, or what it looked like. According to Wiki, it's a cross of raspberry, blackberry, dewberry and loganberry - except now, I have no idea what dewberries and loganberries are, and what's worse, I'm getting hungrier by the minute, looking up photos of boysenberries on the vine, boysenberry jam and boysenberry pie. Which as it turns out, isn't even relevant, because the Laura Geller Blush-n-Brighten in Boysenberry ($27.50 for 0.176 oz/ 5 g, mine is a GWP mini size) is definitely NOT the color of a boysenberry (deliciously reddish maroon); it's the color of red ochre. Why so confusing, Laura?!

This Blush-n-Brighten in Boysenberry is an adorable mini I scored with a Beauty.com order. I've previously owned another shade of Laura Geller's Blush-n-Brighten, called Apricot Berry (is that a fruit as well? Some photos of that shade here and here), which I purged last year because of its similarity to a diferent blush I own; but I did enjoy the formula of the Blush-n-Brighten a lot, so I was happy to give another shade a go.

As you can see, this baked blush looks mighty interesting in the compact: there are marbelized veins of reddish brown, cool taupe, deeper berry and light pink. There are no shimmer particles visible, unlike the golden swirls in my Milani Baked Blush in Berry Amore. Boysenberry is, in fact, a smooth matte blush, and a very pigmented one at that - one swipe of my Hakuhodo cheek brush is enough to doll up a cheek. The matte formula of Boyseberry is creamy, not powdery, blends well, and lasts without fault throughout the day.

Are you already biting your fingernails in anticipation of the swatches? Well, I kind of gave it away in the title, because the way Boysenberry swatches on the skin is nothing like it looks in the pan. It's a red ochre shade, or a burnt orange - warm, earthy, with a tinge of brown. I tried swirling my fingers through the pink parts on the edges of the pan, but nope, there are no hints of coolness, no pink to be found.

Boysenberry is the warmest and most orange of my neutral blushes; Inglot Cream Blush no. 86 comes the closest but has more red tones, as does Milani Berry Amore, which is the only shimmery blush in this line-up. NYX Mauve leans the most cool/pink (mind you, on my cheeks it's still a warm neutral shade), while NARS Douceur has more muted brown and red tones than Boysenberry.

I'm going to freely admit that at first, I was quite disappointed at how orange Boysenberry swatched on my fingers - I was hoping for more of my typical peachy pink business. But after wearing it on the cheeks, I'm quire happy with this red ochre shade, especially for summer wear: it perks up and warms up the skin, giving me more of an outdoorsy sunburnt look and less that of a delicate porcelain doll. It's definitely somewhat unusual, and borderline clashy - and I'm cool with that.

Have you recently discovered any unusual blush shades that work well with your skintone? What are your favorite warm neutral blushes for the summer?

Products I Regret Buying Vol. 3

It seems that I like to write these disappointing products posts every two years or so (Volume 1 here and Volume 2 here), so now's the time for another update! We all love a good make-up rant once in a while, so here's me venting my frustration about some nearly useless make-up products I dug out from the murky bottoms of my stash:

Following a recent post on my favorite lip glosses for spring and summer, I had a good rummage through my lip gloss drawer and came up with two products I haven't touched for probably close to two years, if not more. First off, a Lancome Juicy Tubes in Rio Mango ($18 for 14.16g/ 0.5 oz) - I know for some it's a cult classic, but it does feel a bit heavy and sticky on my lips, and to top it off the shade Rio Mango has absolutely no color to it; it's basically clear. Also, mine has completely separated and despite kneading the tube like crazy, I couldn't get it to its former consistency. I think at this point it needs to go in the trash - and I won't buy this again.

Similarly, I absolutely can't recall the last time I wore the Revlon ColorStay Mineral Lip Gloss in Continuous Coral ($6.99 for 0.15 fl. oz) (probably here...?). It was never my favorite formula but I guess when I first got it, I was determined to make it work; these days I probably wouldn't have bothered and simply returned the darn thing. It smells like cough medicine, sits heavily and more like liquid lipstick on the lips, and the shade is just wrong on my complexion. In the trash it goes! Next!

Speaking of Revlon, the Brow Fantasy in Dark Blonde ($7.99 for 0.31g/ 0.011 oz of pencil and 1.18 ml/ 0.04 fl. oz of gel), a brow pencil back-up I whipped out a month or so ago, turned out to be at least a partial fail. While the pencil side performs reasonably well (however, not completely in love with the shade), the gel is just horrendous: it dries in white chunks on the tips of my brow hairs and makes me look like I have some weird isolated case of brow dandruff. I'm going to use up the pencil side, but I don't dare to touch the gel side anymore.

I'm also desperately trying to use up the Physicians Formula Eye Booster 2-in-1 Lash Boosting Felt Tip Eyeliner + Serum ($10.95 for 0.088 oz - are you kidding me with that name, PF?! Life's too short for this shiz). A couple years back, everyone was raving about the original Physicians Formula eyeliner with the skinny nib, but I couldn't find at my drugstore and so purchased this instead. Well, the 'bold' felt-tip applicator is very hard to maneuver on the lashline, and the product skips and fails to deliver an even, inky black line. No comments on the serum front. This kind of turned me off trying the original skinny one as well.

Now for some eye bases/ cream eyeshadows: I didn't exactly purchase this little pot of Graftobian Luster Creme in Orchid Odyssey ($4.79 for 1/8 oz), as it was a gift with purchase of their HD foundation (which I love), but I still regret it taking space in my collection. While the shade is a beautiful, glowy lavender with a slight pink shift, the formula of the Luster Creme is so greasy and sheer that it completely fails as an eye product. I suppose it may be usable for theatrical make-up, but I simply can't make it work, and believe me, it's not for the lack of trying.

I have very similar feelings towards NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Cottage Cheese ($4.49 for 5g/0.18 oz). I still hear people rave about these on YouTube from time to time, but I don't see how this would not crease on just about everyone - the formula is just so oily, and the shade I've got is not very pigmented either. I was trying to use it in my inner corners for a while, but I don't know why I should bother - a waste of time, really.

Lastly, here's a nearly full pot of Everyday Minerals Jojoba Base in the shade Alabaster  ($14 for 4.8g/ 0.17 oz), a supposedly moisturizing loose mineral foundation. On me, Jojoba Base fails to cover anything, but quite successfully manages to turn me a weird pink shade all over - and you guys know I have pink undertones in my skin. The shade Alabaster, instead of evening out my skin, almost enhances any redness I already have on my face, making me look ruddy. This also gets shiny on me within an hour or so, an all-time record I think. I'll try to use it up as face powder, but we shall see if I won't run out of patience.

And there you have it! Hopefully this was useful to some of you, or at least you had fun hearing me rant. Have you bought any disappointing products recently? What other make-up products should we all avoid like a plague?