'What The Heck?' Product Regret: e.l.f. Aqua Beauty Radiant Gel Lip Stain in 'Rouge Radiance' | A Review

e.l.f. Aqua Beauty Radiant Gel Lip Stain in 'Rouge Radiance,' $4

Good day to you all! Does it feel like summer yet, to anyone out there? I wanted to post a quick review on what I initially hoped would be a seemingly perfect, inexpensive summer lip product from e.l.f., as I have twenty or so minutes to kill before I have to gear up to drive back to my city.

So, e.l.f. has an Aqua Beauty range of products that they released last spring, and this collection is said to be limited edition. However, upon looking at the site, I'm seeing that all of the products are still available, and much of the line is just now starting to pop up in Target stores.

e.l.f. has an absolute crapload of shades available in their Aqua Beauty Radiant Gel Lip Stain range on their site, with a whopping six total shades to choose from. However, I've only been able to track down three of those shades in any physical location I've been to. The only one that I ended up taking home with me, and the same one I featured in a recent haul, is in the color Rouge Radiance. Read on in this review if you are thinking of picking one of these up, and want to see whether or not it might be something you'll like! As you can see from the title, this product was a bit of a regret for me, ultimately because of ingredient sensitivity, though that doesn't mean you won't like it! 

Bare Lips, no product

Two layers of e.l.f. Radiant Gel Lip Stain in 'Rouge Radiance' | Left shows initial application, right shows product after it sets

Recent Drugstore Acquisitions + Urban Decay Swap!

     I'll start with the swap, then I'll go on to the rest of my purchases. With my friend, a couple weeks ago I swapped out my Urban Decay Vice 2 palette that I had never used, for the gorgeous Urban Decay Full Spectrum Palette. I needed some bright hues in my life, and thought this would fit the bill. I had wanted to purchase the Electric Palette for such a long time, that I just felt like trying the first Urban Decay selection of rainbow hues that my eyes passed over, because well, they can do no wrong, right? Well, I still can't say how sure I feel about the Full Spectrum just yet, as I've only used about a third of the shades in the palette on my eyes thus far. I was, upon first impression, a bit disappointed with the performance of some colors moreso than others. It's still on Sephora's site on sale for $35, if you want to check it out.

Now, getting more experimentation with e.l.f. products. I had really wanted to try their Illuminating Palette after seeing how the formula blended into the skin, not to mention my enthusiasm after seeing the complete absence of glitter or sparkle particles in any of the powders! I had also heard great things about a couple of their newly launched lip products, and decided to try out their Poreless Face Primer as well! I have more from other brands as well! Just take a look at these beauties!

Acquisitions | MAC, Sephora, & Drugstore + Mini Reviews!

     Hello dolls!  After the course of some thorough research, I have been experimenting with different products, not to mention a few different brands that are completely  new to me, trying to get a better idea of what to incorporate into my freelance kit. As you can see, a good majority of my findings were drugstore, or at least drugstore price (post disclaimer: these were all purchased by me).

Glowy Everyday 'Naked' Makeup | Coral & Pink

I've been going through a huge coral phase as of late. As well as crazy color pairings to go along with it (coral and lavender? coral and chartreuse green? Eh??). However, I think that my skintone much prefers coral as an accent in itself to an otherwise clean, understated all-purpose neutral look, which is what I was going for here when I decided to utilize the always-beautiful Urban Decay Naked Palette. It has been a few weeks since I took these pics, and for some reason I completely forgot to write down what I used for base makeup.....eeek. So I don't remember what I used. Sowwy. **Proceeds to droop head in blogger's shame.**
     But as for the color products, I definitely have that covered. :) Including the base makeup, this look was super simple, and could seriously take only 10 minutes to put together! Here we go! Continue reading for the products I used!

Evening Makeup: Purple Smoke & Nude Lips (A Pictorial)

     Hello there! How are you all doing today?  So, this is my very first attempt at an eyeshadow pictorial. All eyeshadows used for this look are from ELF's new and limited edition palette: their Essential 18-Piece Eyeshadow Palette. I used this palette in my last FOTD so that you and I could see exactly what the warmer neutral shades in this palette have to offer. For this pictorial, I decided to play with some of the cooler more colorful shades for a glammed-up look that's perfectly appropriate for those evenings out. (And, y'know, also for those evenings at home, dog-sitting and eating mint moose tracks ice cream? Yes? Maybe? Ok 😊). 

     This palette, being mostly neutral, also has a gorgeous matte mauve-lavender and deep matte navy shade, which I really wanted to incorporate into this look (which, yes ma'am, I did). The pigmentation on these mattes ended up surprising me, in a good way. For this post, I will be focusing mainly on the color cosmetics, and not the base skin products. 

'Fantastic Five' Series: Top 5 Lip Balms/Treatments

     Hello, good day, bonjour!  This post is all about my top lip balm picks, and I know a bit of time has passed for this follow-up post since the first post I wrote for my first blog series, 'Fantastic Five'. In this series, I will be showcasing my top 5 products in any category. Well, here's post #2 in the series! Lip balm isn't exactly a superfluous makeup product like other types of products, so, naturally, I'm always trying new ones, therefore it was difficult for me to choose only five.

E.L.F. Smudge Pots: A Review

        Hello all!  It's been a minute since I've been on here. The only culprit of that is my career change, and I unfortunately had to put my first passion (which is the blog you are reading right now) on the back-burner for just a couple weeks. Well, now that I'm all settled in at the new workplace, I would like to announce that updates on here are hopefully now on the regular!

       Alright, now that housekeeping is out of the way, I wanted to share my thoughts (or an in-depth review, rather) on these muy fabuloso products from e.l.f. If you aren't familiar with these spectacularly splendid Smudge Pots, allow me to introduce you. They are a somewhat new product to the e.l.f. Essentials line, and are at a perfect price point at only $2 a piece (I just checked, and they have raised the price on these to $3, which is a bit of a rip-off since it is their Essentials  line, which is their bulk of exclusively $1-$2 products, and these are not in their Studio or Mineral  line, so...coupon codes and sales, darlings! They're your best friends! *wink wink*), and....get ready for it...these little suckers give their MAC counterpart a run for their money.

       e.l.f. was definitely on their A-game  with these. I've been a long-time user of MAC Paint Pots, too, and I wanted to wait a bit to do a review on these anyway, because I wanted to test to see if they are as long lasting in their containers as they are when on the eyes. It's a tough test for some products to pass. And I'm glad to say that I have not been singing any blues of these drying out in their jars to a crispy mess like the Maybelline Color Tattoos.

E.L.F. Haul

       Hey chicas and chicos!  Last week, e.l.f. was having a sale where all of their bestsellers and new products on their site were half off, so yeah, you already know I decided to make an order and take advantage of that! I had practically been itching for a while to try more of their baked shadow singles and their new smudge pots, and ended up placing a bit more of a hefty order than I had originally planned.