NYX

Like Butter, These Bargain Glosses Make Everything Better: The $5 NYX Butter Glosses

February 13th, 2013 by Karen 23 Comments

NYX Butter Gloss Peaches and Cream — Wearing NYX Butter Gloss in Peaches and Cream ($5), one of 12 new Butter Glosses for spring 2013

Just in case you were wondering, if you wear one of the new $5 NYX Butter Glosses while eating cinnamon walnut French toast with a heaping scoop of butter, you will not — I REPEAT! — will not experience butter overload.

(As if there were such a thing.)

On my lips, each of these 12 new moisturizing, non-sticky lip glosses feel all smooth and slick like little sticks of butter…but they don’t taste or smell like butter (whew!)

Nope, more like brown sugar and vanilla, yum!

Yes, yum. 🙂

I’ve had mixed luck with NYX lip product flavors and scents in the past, know what I mean?

Not these though. As far as my nose and palate are concerned, NYX nailed these. On a sensory level, these Butter Glosses represent probably the best experience I’ve ever had from the line. Both the brown sugar and vanilla notes are faint, too, just barely there, and dissipate quickly after 1-2 minutes.

One swipe from the doe-foot applicator leaves behind a sheer layer of color and satiny shine, while a second layer ups the coverage to medium.

Either way, these don’t last all that long on my lips. Most of the time I get about an hour.

NYX Butter Gloss Product Shot — From the left: Strawberry Parfait, Eclair, Peaches and Cream, Merengue, Creme Brulee, Peach Cobbler, Tiramisu, Apple Strudel, Vanilla Cream Pie, Cherry Cheese Cake, Maple Blondie and Cherry Pie

NYX Butter Gloss Swatches — Swatches from the left: Strawberry Parfait, Eclair, Peaches and Cream, Merengue, Creme Brulee, Peach Cobbler, Tiramisu, Apple Strudel, Vanilla Cream Pie, Cherry Cheese Cake, Maple Blondie and Cherry Pie

NYX Butter Gloss Strawberry Parfait — Strawberry Parfait

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NYX Shows Its Softer Side With the $18 Spring Fling Palette for Eyes, Cheeks and Lips

June 1st, 2012 by Karen 20 Comments

NYX spring fling palette

Wow, the first day of June already!? That leaves barely enough time for an NYX Spring Fling before summer. 🙂

The powders in NYX’s new $18 Spring Fling Palette are some of the softest I’ve ever felt from the brand.

So soft, in fact, that I think they might even be a little too soft for everyday use.

With its 12 powder shadows, two blushes and two lip glosses in a sweet, subdued mix of neutrals and pastels, the only thing missing is a pair of kid gloves to handle them.

nyx spring fling swatches
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NYX The Crimson Amulet Collection Harbors a Bewitching Bevy of Nudes and Brights for Lips, Cheeks and Eyes

May 31st, 2012 by Karen 13 Comments

nyx crimson amulet dark shadows

If you’re not already a fan of multi-product palettes, the NYX The Crimson Amulet Collection ($25) may confirm your worst fears about pre-stocked makeup kits.

Creams placed next to powders, gah! A dizzying array of 24 eyeshadows in a mix of matte and shimmery finishes lurk within this tomb, along with a teeny liquid liner indubitably designed for elfin hands.

Recently launched to coincide with the opening of the movie, Dark Shadows (four-word summary: Johnny Depp disco vampire), the limited edition palette of products for cheeks, lips and eyes harbors a supernatural society of bewitching nudes and brights!

nyx crimson amulet dark shadows front

I like the balance of serious colors and playful party shades, as well as the overall quality of the pieces and the number of products you get for the price.

If you maintain a pro-palette position, I think that’s enough right there to sway you.

But experienced NYX adherents might have a different take, one that flits between excitement over the eerily enticing Gothic packaging (isn’t there something very Flowers in the Attic about it?), and hardcore frustration.

I know I’ve definitely seen most of these colors before, like in the Nude on Nude palette, Butt “Naked” Eyes, Bohemian Rhapsody Casting Call and Haute Model.

Wisely for NYX, the palette has a built-in fail-safe: value.

For $25, you get 36 pieces! — all of high quality.

I think the HD Studio Eye Shadow Base, cheek products and lip products rock, but I would have liked to see more pigment added to some of the eyeshadows.

Unfortunately, the tiny liner seems like a bit of a throwaway product (dude, I can barely hold it properly, and I have small hands!), but I guess that’s what greatness like LORAC Front of the Line Pro is for. 🙂

nyx crimson amulet dark shadows open

nyx crimson amulet dark shadows tutorials
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In the Bronzer Olympics, the NYX Matte Bronzers Get the Gold

May 30th, 2012 by Karen 13 Comments

nyx matte bronzer
Wearing NYX Bronzer in Medium

To the uninitiated, spotting the differences between the new NYX Matte Bronzers and the many other compact bronzing powders currently on counters is like trying to tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi blindfolded without tasting either one.

In other words, it’s tough.

After all, like most of the bronzers vying for our attention this summer, these new ones from NYX promise to do the same things — deliver a natural-looking, honey-like glow for your skin.

But if MAC is trying to rule the department store market with their Pro Longwear Bronzing Powders, NYX is going after drugstore divas and budget-minded babes with their five new Matte Bronzers.

At $9 each, the prodigious 0.33-ounce pans shout “BARGAIN!” from their perches in drugstore makeup aisles. For the price of one MAC Pro Longwear Powder, you could get two of these from NYX and still have enough change left over for a drugstore ice cream cone (do you like mint chocolate chip?). 🙂

I’ve been wearing three of the five shades this week, and impressed doesn’t come close to describing how I feel. Blown away is more like it.

nyx matte bronzer

nyx matte bronzer
Clockwise from the lower left: Medium, Deep and Light

None of that “BS” Oompa-Loompa orange business here. No way. The golden russet glow these bestow upon skin is worthy of beach barbeques and pool parties.

Very long beach barbeques and pool parties.

How long?

Well, starting with that first buttery cob of sweet corn, they last past the late-night singalongs and woozy revelations (like “S’mores are so genius!” and “Whoever invented nude wedges deserves a medal!”), and all the way until you’ve said your goodbyes before packing up the cooler to head home.
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The NYX Illuminating Bronzers: Has NYX Invented a $9 Time Machine? Inquiring Minds Want to Know

May 30th, 2012 by Karen 50 Comments

nyx chaotic illuminating bronzer
Wearing NYX Illuminating Bronzer in Chaotic on my cheeks

Shimmery bronzing powders in almost blush-like shades of luscious peach and pink aren’t exactly uncharted territory. Chanel, for example, has been there, done that, a few times before.

But NYX weaved quite a tapestry together with their three new Illuminating Face and Body Bronzers. By combining eminently flattering shades with a pearly finish and a soft, comfy texture, and then keeping the price well below department store, they created something greater than the sum of its parts.

All it took was a few swipes of Narcissistic (a beige), Chaotic (a golden peach) and Magnetic (a peachy pink) to get me hooked on all three.

nyx illuminating bronzer compacts

The marketing material doesn’t say, but I wonder if NYX co-created them with Cher, because they are, after all, designed to “turn back time.” 🙂

How so?

By bestowing a natural radiant glow to the skin that also diffuses incoming light, helping skin appear softer and, or so I hope, younger.

Yeah…I can’t even begin to tell you how appealing that sounds now that 37 is officially less than two weeks away!

But seeing as how I can’t really stop this train I’m on, I’ve been doing my best to ~~slow it down~~ embrace the inevitable with positivity and panache.

Now, when people call me “ma’am,” I try to own that sh*t! — but that does not mean refusing a little makeup help along the way.

Like Fox Mulder with his aliens, I really want to believe, LOL!

What do you think? Do I look 10 years younger wearing Chaotic, my favorite of the three shades, up there at the top?

Okay, how about 5? 🙂

nyx illuminating bronzer open
The NYX Illuminating Bronzers, clockwise from the lower left: Narcissistic, Chaotic and Magnetic

nyx illuminating bronzer swatches
Swatches from the left for comparison: NYX Illuminating Bronzer in Narcissistic, Chanel Soleil Tan de Chanel Luminous Bronzing Powder in Sable Beige, NYX Illuminating Bronzer in Magnetic, NARS Blush in Luster, NYX Illuminating Bronzer in Chaotic and Chanel Soleil Tan de Chanel Luminous Bronzing Powder in Sable Rose
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It Looks Like NYX Got Crafty With Their New Multicolored, Multitalented Blotting Papers

February 19th, 2012 by Karen 15 Comments

I remember a time, intrepid makeup moppets and whippersnappers, when blotting papers were rare, or at least before they hit it really big and went mainstream.

That year was 1996. Or ’97. Thereabouts.

One of my coworkers and I were on our break when she pulled a powder blue packet of Shiseido blotting papers from her purse, and I was like, “Ooh! What’s that?”

She tore one in half and handed it to me. “Blotting paper,” she said, “for soaking up shiny oil.”

Brilliant! 🙂

I’ve been a regular user of blotting papers ever since, and now they’re carried practically everywhere, even at drugstores.

The newest ones I’ve tried hail from NYX. The budget line just released three themed packs for $6 each (100 papers apiece).

Each pack caters to a different skin care issue, like, the Blemish Control pack’s papers contain salicylic acid to help zap zits, the Green Tea papers contain antioxidant-rich green tea powder to soothe and nurture mature skin, and the Tea Tree papers help to prevent blemishes with (surprise!) tea tree oil.

They’re pretty straightforward to use, as you can imagine. Just remove one of the sheets from its packaging, and press it against your face to absorb excess oil and eliminate shine.

The papers are a good size for me and kind of delicate, like thin paper streamers, and one is usually enough to absorb all of the excess oil on my face.

The Green Tea and Blemish Control papers are unscented, while the Tea Tree papers have a fairly strong medicinal tea tree scent. I’ve been bouncing between all three packs and like them equally.

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