Drugstore Beauty Finds

If You Throw Me a Line, Make It Velvet Rope: New NYX 10 Color Eyeshadow Palette in Velvet Rope

November 11th, 2010 by Karen 42 Comments

karen of makeup and beauty blog wearing the nyx velvet rope palette 2

Oh, my goodness! Look at all that purple. Is this a Prince video or a beauty blog? 🙂

Today I left the thugs to their gangsta’s paradise while I escaped yet again to my purple one. I could go on and on about how much I love purple eyeshadow, but the No. 1 reason why I think every girl (or makeup loving boy, for that matter) should play with purple is because of how great it goes with everything.

Alright, I admit I’m plum biased, but I think purple looks great on almost everyone. Whether brown, green, gray, blue or hazel eyes, the right purple on your lid or lash line can make those peepers

POP! Yeah, I use that word a lot…but you know what I mean.

Now, brace yourself for a plethora of purple, and behold the new NYX Velvet Rope 10 Color Eyeshadow Palette ($9.75)!

nyx velvet rope eyeshadow palette runway collection review swatches photos

It’s one of four newcomers to NYX’s permanent “The Runway Collection” family of slim, trim eye palettes, each of which hold 10 pans of powder eyeshadow in coordinating shades.

You may be thinking, “Did Barney explode in that palette?” Haha! I assure you, he did not.

As you can see, most of the shades are purples, but NYX incorporated a few other colors to spice things up.

For more mulberry mayhem…

Despite being a budget brand, NYX does some things very well, one of them being eyeshadows. I think they’re among the best!

Not knowing these were from NYX, I would have never guessed they were less than $10, not being as smooth as they are with this kind of pigment. I’m beginning to think of NYX as the Marshalls of the eye makeup world — proprietors of great value products.
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How About a Lift from the NYX Eyebrow Push-Up Bra?

November 8th, 2010 by Karen 32 Comments

karen of makeup and beauty blog reviews the nyx push up bra eyebrow pencil
NYX Eye Brown Push-Up Bra on brows

How do you feel about glitter brows?

My gut reaction when I saw the NYX Eyebrow Push-Up Bra pencil ($10) was a big, fat OH, HELL YEA! I’ve probably worn glitter just about everywhere else, so I figure brows won’t be that much of a stretch.

The dual-tipped Eyebrow Push-Up Bra, called that because of how it’s supposed to lift brows, is one of five fall products from NYX to shape, define and highlight eyebrows. The side with the darker tip, the one for defining sparse areas, sports a sheer taupe with silver glitter; the other side’s a creamy, peachy pink that appears to lift the brows when applied beneath the arch (also works as a brow highlighter).

nyx push up bra for eyebrow
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My HiP Face of the Day with the L’Oreal Midnight Muse Eye Shadow Duos

November 4th, 2010 by Karen 39 Comments

karen of makeup and beauty blog wearing loreal midnight muse collection 1

As much as I love a good bargain, budget beauty doesn’t always deliver. With some drugstore beauty products, you just don’t know what caliber of quality you’re gonna get.

The HiP Eye Shadow duos we looked at last week from the new L’Oreal Midnight Muse collection showed a lot of promise, and you showed a lot of interest, so I took two of them (Enchantress and Darkwave) out for indoor test drives today.

Now I know why these HiP shadows have so many fans. 🙂

The matte and high-shine shimmer shadows in both duos are easy to blend and exhibit very little fallout. These are top-shelf drugstore beauty products. We’re talking glass case material here, like the kinds of products that deserve their own display at the very front of the beauty aisle.

loreal midnight muse review swatches photos fotd eye2
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$5 Wet N Wild Color Icon Kits Were Built with Xmas Shopping in Mind

November 4th, 2010 by Karen 52 Comments

Wet N Wild Color Icon Kit in Sugar Plumb Fairy

I wonder how much it costs to mail a letter to the North Pole. I ask because I’d really like to thank Santa for releasing these Wet N Wild Color Icon Kits ($5) for the holidays.

Being just $5 each and coming with six coordinating shadows and a mini-eyeliner, the four kits give new meaning to the words, “travel friendly.”

Well, the liner’s nothing to write home about. I mean, it’s nicely pigmented, but it feels a little rigid against my skin. The shadows, on the other hand — oh, the shadows! Rich, bold and just as buildable as the the company’s fab Color Icon Singles.

Again, these are just $5, WOW!

Of the four kits — Sugar Plum Fairy, Golden Goddess, Snow Sprite and Night Elf — I’ve tested two of them so far.

Wet N Wild Color Icon Kit in Snow Sprite

Snow Sprite
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Well, Hello, Weleda Pomegranate Regenerating Body Care Kit! You’ve Put Me in a Holiday Mood

November 2nd, 2010 by Karen 25 Comments

weleda pomegranate regenerating body care kit

Weleda Pomegranate Regenerating Body Care Kit ($10) smells just like a holiday party! Some may find the fragrant three-piece body care kit a little too eau de potpourri, but for the most part I like it.

The limited edition set, with products scented with a blend of apple cider, cinnamon, orange and pomegranate fragrances, comes with wee portions of Weleda’s Pomegranate Hand Cream, Body Wash and Body Oil from their Pomegranate Body Care Collection. They’re designed to target aging skin (doesn’t all skin age?), and the small tubes contain just enough product for about three to five uses each.

Now, these are perfect for dry winter skin. The Creamy Body Wash moisturizes more like a lotion than a sudsy wash, while the Body Oil feels thick and luxurious (my shins and feet it). As for the Hand Cream, it leaves my paws a little greasy, but I can live with that since it also leaves them baby soft.

I’d seen the line, which has been around since 1921, at Whole Foods and Target a bunch of times but just never got around to picking it up. Now I wish I’d tried it sooner!

They’re all about flowers and herbs and made sans pesticides or other harsh chemicals. From what I’ve seen of the ingredients and considering the reasonable price, I’m impressed. All three items in the set contain plant oils and extracts up high on their ingredient lists.

weleda pomegranate regenerating body care kit

weleda pomegranate regenerating body care kit box
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The Buzz on Burt’s Bees Holiday Kits at Target

October 31st, 2010 by Karen 26 Comments

I was at Target today buying Halloween candy when I stumbled on these cute holiday kits from Burt’s Bees. There’s a whole bunch of them for lips, body, hands and nails, ranging from $14.99-19.99. Some even come with little purses, too.

Ahh, the temptation! I want the $19.99 manicure set. It comes with a jar of Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Cream, Cuticle Cream, a lip balm and a little purse.

But for some reason I feel like I should be starting to think about holiday shopping for other people and not getting any of these for myself…which is bizarre because it’s only Halloween. I’ve already been seeing Christmas decorations all over the place. Target had a small but growing Christmas area. Can you believe it? Before Halloween? I guess they couldn’t wait for Thanksgiving this year.

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Aren’t These L’Oreal Midnight Muse Collection Shadow Duos Kinda HiP?

October 27th, 2010 by Karen 82 Comments

The L’Oreal Midnight Muse HiP Studio Secrets Professional Shadow Duos, clockwise from bottom left: Moon Goddess, Luna Noir, Enchantress, Dark Wave

It’s not like I needed another reason to swing by the drugstore, aka my home away from home, but these limited edition $8 L’Oreal HiP Studio Secrets Professional Shadow Duos gave me one anyway.

Here are four of the six HiP (High Intensity Pigments) Studio Secrets from the Midnight Muse collection that arrived on counters in September.

Clockwise from bottom left: Moon Goddess, Luna Noir, Enchantress, Dark Wave

I love their names…Moon Goddess, Luna Noir, Enchantress and Dark Wave. Don’t they sound like a coven of witches (BOO!)?

Clockwise from bottom left: Moon Goddess, Luna Noir, Enchantress, Dark Wave
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L’Oreal Wants You to Millionize Your Lashes with Voluminous Million Lashes Mascara

October 25th, 2010 by Karen 72 Comments

karen from makeup and beauty blog wearing loreal voluminous million lashes

L’Oreal wants you to “millionize your lashes,” and I guess they’re just assuming you’ll know what that means.

Go on, millionize them! I dare you. 🙂

If you’re confused, so was I when I heard the slogan for L’Oreal’s new Voluminous Million Lashes Mascara ($9).

Would I grow a million new lashes if I used it? Because if so that sounds like potentially too many… Or would my lashes grow in volume by a million times?

And why stop at a million anyway? Why not billionize your lashes? Let’s face it… A million just doesn’t go as far as it used to.

Overlooking 1) the silly slogan that doesn’t tell me anything about the product and 2) the fact that I’m a total word weirdo who obsesses over turns of phrase, I really tried to keep an open mind when I took Voluminous Million Lashes Mascara in Black out for a test drive.

The first thing I noticed about it: great brush. You know how some mascara brushes just don’t know when to stop? They grab too much product. Well, this one gets it right. I don’t even feel like I have to swipe it against a paper towel to remove any excess before applying.

How is that possible, you might ask? The Clean-Sweep Wiper System, BAM! The brush passes through a “web-like structure” and comes out of the tube loaded with the right amount of product for a single layer.

loreal voluminous million lashes review tube
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