Stila Stay All Day® 10-In-One HD Illuminating Beauty Balm REVIEW

I got deluxe sample of this Stila BB cream (1.3 oz, $38) last week. I was so excited to try it since I've recently become obsessed with BB and CC creams! Supposedly it is a 10 in 1 BB cream, but I couldn't find a list of what those 10 things were on the website or the bottle.

I tried this BB cream on and was disappointed by the coverage. When I put on a BB cream, I do expect it to have a more natural and sheer look than full-coverage foundations, but this BB cream was so sheer that I felt like I was applying a lotion with a bit of a sheen. It is moisturizing and feels silky and moisturizing on the skin.

On my face, I couldn't detect a color difference, but on my hand, you can see that it is not an exact match. There is only 1 shade. In direct sunlight, there is some shimmer in this BB cream, but it really just adds a nice luminous glow to skin and does not settle in pores.

This also says it is water resistant for 80 minutes. I put it on my hand and rinsed it off with water. I think it actually is water resistant since I could still see the shimmer afterwards. I'm not sure if it would last a full 80 minutes in water, though.

I have acne prone skin with some redness and hyperpigmentation, so I really like BB creams with at least enough coverage to hide the reddness. According to the Stila website, you are suppose to apply a foundation or tinted moisturizer over this and use the BB cream as a base, so it does make sense that this BB cream is sheerer than I anticipated.

This BB cream alone would be really nice for those who have decent skin already and just want to add a glow to the skin, but for people like me who need more coverage and correcting properties in their BB creams, this may work better as a base.

Has anyone tried this? Let me know what you think!

Deborah Lippmann: Cleopatra in New York!

Hey everyone,

my first Deborah Lippmann polish: Cleopatra in New York ($19)! I got it in the Sephora Superstars kit this past winter and finally got around to trying it. For a nailpolish that retails for nearly $20, I had very high expectations. You may be wondering if the polish is worth it's hefty price tag. Well, keep reading and I might be able to answer that for you.

This particular polish is called Cleopatra in New York and is a sheer black base with 2 types of hexagonal gold glitter flecks. You have to start with a black base. The actual polish itself may look black but is actually really sheer. I like this! I received compliments almost immediately.

Really pretty, right? It's even more striking in real life.

(L to R) OPI Natural Nail Base Coat, China Glaze Liquid Leather, DL, OPI Top Coat

I first added 1 layer of the base coat, 2 layers of China Glaze, 1 thick layer of DL and 1 layer of top coat. I dabbed the DL instead of spreading the polish around. This way, I was able to get the glitter to stack on top of each other for a layered look. I may try 2 layers of the DL to get more of a layered look. The DL goes on thick, but as it dries, it becomes flat. The polish dries very quickly, too. It's been 5 days since I first applied this and I have some chipping at the tips, but not that much.

Overall, the DL polish was really great! I really found it a pleasure to work with, and I can definitely tell this is a high end polish.

Do you own this polish or any other Deborah Lippmann polishes? Let me know what you think!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Urban Decay Anarchy Face Case

I was so impressed with the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette that I decided to try the Urban Decay Anarchy Face palette ($29), and it was on sale at Sephora! I thought it was a great deal since it comes with 5 eye shadows (Redemption, Fray, Vaporize, Provocateur, Revolt), a deluxe sized 24/7 eyeliner in Perversion, a full sized super-saturated high gloss in Scandal, 2 blushes and a highlighter all packed into a nice double-decker case. It's a great concept, but this set has some hit and misses. I definitely don't like it as much as Naked 3 and don't find myself reaching for this set quite that much, but it really is a good price.

 

Top Layer

The top layer consists of the High Gloss in Scandal, 5 eye shadows (Redemption, Fray, Vaporize, Provocateur, Revolt), and eyeliner in Perversion. There is a large mirror in the lid, which I really appreciate. 

(L to R) Redemption, Fray, Vaporize, Provocateur, Revolt

(L to R) Revolt, Provocateur, Vaporize, Fray, Redemption

The shadow colors are really pretty, but I was so disappointed because these were some of the worst items in the palette. Provocateur and Vaporize fell short of my expectations.

Revolt- Metallic silver. It's very shiny and if you are going for a foiled look, then this is awesome. I think it would be a great way to add some drama to any look

Provocateur- Glittery mauve. I am SO disappointed in this shadow even though it is the prettiest color, in my opinion. It was dry, gritty and had LOTS of glitter fallout. You can see how gritty the shadow is in the swatch. It wasn't even that pigmented. If any of you have Naked 3 and don't like Dust from that palette, Provocateur is so much worse. This is my least favorite item in the set.

Vaporize- Glittery dark brown. Sadly, this shadow was gritty, dry, and had quite a bit of fall out as well. It wasn't as bad as Provocateur, but I was unhappy that 2 out of the 5 shadows in this set were not silky and smooth like most Urban Decay shadows I have tried.


Fray- Matte peachy beige. No fall out and the texture was smooth and silky. Nice base color.

Redemption- Satiny dark brown. The color is very close to Vaporize but without the glitter or fallout. Silky texture once again.

(L to R) Perversion, Scandal

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide on Eye pencil in Perversion is wonderful. It is a matte black and is so pigmented and creamy. These eyeliners are the only liners I can actually use on my waterline. I did have some problems removing this swatch from my hand with my regular makeup remover wipes, but I didn't have any trouble removing it from my lids.

Indoor light

Sunlight

The Super Saturated High Gloss Lip Color in Scandal is full sized and not part of the regular High Gloss line. Not going to lie, this was a very large part of the reason I bought this kit. Normally, these lipsticks are $19! It is a really nice raspberry fuchsia. Despite the shimmery outer covering of the High Gloss, the lipstick itself isn't the least sparkly. It is very shiny, though. This is called High Gloss, and looks shiny, but it does not feel or look particularly like gloss on my lips. There is a slightly tacky feel when I press my lips together, which is not uncomfortable. After about an hour, I did start to notice some fading, but it did wear for around 4 hours.  It's not a very unique shade, but I do like this a lot.


Bottom Layer 
The second layer consists of the two blushes, Fetish and Quickie, and a highlighter, Craze. The High Gloss sits at the base of this second tier even though you can see it from the first.There is another large mirror on the lid of this layer. You have to fully close the first layer to open this second. I did not really like how when accessing this second layer, the top layers would often tip the case over backwards. The layers aren't the easiest to open, and the second layer is harder to open than the first. That being said, I really like these blushes and highlighter.

(L to R) Fetish, Quickie, Craze

(L to R) Fetish, Quickie

Crazed

Fetish is a warm coral-y red blush. It's really beautiful and although it might look intimidating for those who have lighter skin tones, if sheered out, it can work. Quickie is a bright pink. I was surprised by now pigmented it was. I have medium toned skin, but I had to be careful when applying this. I think this might look better on cooler skin tones and even then, it would have to be applied sparingly or with a fan brush. Craze is a golden highlighter. I really liked it. It gives a really summery glow that shows up just the right amount on my skin.

Over all, this is a B- palette for me. I was disappointed by the shadows and everything else was good, but not exceptional enough to really impress me. Some of the the better items were the High Gloss, eyeliner and blushes. The eye shadows seemed to be the main focus of this palette and I think I would be less likely to reach for this kit because of the disappointing eye shadows since I would have to fumble through the eye shadow layer to reach the majority of the better items.

Do any of you have this palette? Tell me what you think!