July 2010 -

Jul 30, 2010

The Worst Drugstore Makeup

July 30, 2010 By Carleenp 1 Comment

I have been working for awhile on a series about the best drugstore makeup. So far, I have written on the Best Drugstore Eye Shadow and Best Drugstore Blush. In the works are features on lip products, foundation, powder, overall brand etc. Also popular has been the syndicated posts on the Best Drugstore Mascara and Best Affordable Foundation. So, I found it interesting to see this Total Beauty feature on the the worst drugstore makeup.

I haven’t tried everything on the list, but I sort of agree with Maybelline Lash Stiletto. It gives an odd look, although some folks love it, and I didn’t necessarily hate it. The same with Revlon Lip Sugar. I actually kind of liked that one, but it did feel weird.

One I kind of disagree wit is Sally Hansen Lip Inflation. I am OK with that product. It isn’t the best plumper out there, but I didn’t find it to be sticky the way some total Beauty Readers did.

And what I totally agree with is the NYC gloss. That one is indeed a sticky mess!

Anyway to see the whole list on the Total Beauty website, click on through below.

Cheap Makeup Gone Wrong

See which low-rated makeup products you should avoid

This is a TotalBeauty.com cheap makeup article

Total Beauty readers give us the lowdown on 16 low-rated drugstore makeup products.

See products

So, if there a drugstore makeup item that you just hate? I think everyone has one. Listit in the comments for us all to see!

Filed Under: Beauty Bytes, Links and Roundups, Makeup Tagged With: Affordable Makeup Series, Beauty Bytes, Total Beauty

Jul 21, 2010

Stila Road To Radiance Swatches

July 21, 2010 By Carleenp Leave a Comment

Stila is putting out a cute series of limited edition travel themed makeup palettes. The first is Stila – Stila Girl Travel Palette-Road to Radiance. The palette includes 4 eye shadow shades and 1 convertible color for, get this, only $10.

Launching alongside each palette, a travel journal detailing each Stila girl’s adventures is available on StilaCosmetics.com. Each diary entry includes the hottest spots in the hottest cities to visit this summer. You can read the travel journals here. Stila travel journals.

I swatched the Stila Road to Radiance: Across the U.S.A. palette, which includes the following:

· Stila Eye Shadow in Snow Bunny (described as shimmery champagne but I think it looks more like a pale blue shimmer)

· Stila Eye Shadow in Southern Belle (mauve)

· Stila Eye Shadow in Valley Girl (pink)

· Stila Eye Shadow in City Chick (alloy)

· Stila Convertible Color in Hibiscus

Below are swatches:

I found that the convertible color worked great on both lips and cheeks. when on my arm, the eye shadow seemed a bit less pigmented to me than Stila shadows often are, and I suspect that might be the case in order to keep the price at what it is. Regardless, the shadow wore quite well for me when I tried on my eyes and the shades are pretty and work well for a daytime look. Or beef up the use of the darker shade for evening. At $10 the Stila palette is a good value.

Disclosure: This review is based on a product given to me by a representative of the company. For more, please see the disclosure page.

Filed Under: Blush, Eyeshadow, Makeup, Palettes and Collections Tagged With: Blush, Eye Shadow, Palettes, Stila

Jul 20, 2010

Avon Glazewear Lip Gloss Swatches

July 20, 2010 By Carleenp 2 Comments

I covered this on Girl Gloss awhile back as well, so if you saw the photos there, it might feel a bit like Deja Vu. I wanted readers here to be sure to see them too! Avon sent me their Glazewear lip gloss line, which was new to me. I do like Avon quite a bit, but since the days of the Avon representative coming door to door are pretty much long gone, I sometimes tend to forget about them. These lip glosses made me realize that I really should pay more attention!

Glazewear is available in three styles, all with sponge applicators: Intense, Shine, and Sparkle. Each comes with five shades, and there is a clear Glazewear available as well—giving 16 total glosses. The pigment in the intense shades are outstanding. The Shine shades are also vry well pigmented. Sparkle shades are on the sheer side, yet they too still have a fair amount of pigment that they couple with sparkly dazzle. None are sticky, and all are unflavored. The lip glosses provide moisture and feel nice in the lips.

Below are Avon Glazewear swatches of all 15 tinted shades. These are in the same order as shown as in the box that is pictured above. First shown are the Intense and Shine shades. From left to right: (Intense shades) Crimson, Cherry Liqueur, Intense Plum, Brown Sugar, Sweet Maple (Shine Shades) Mauve Movement, Darling Pink, Tickled Pink, Iced Pink, Island Glow.

Below are swatches of the sparkle shades: Mocha Latte, Rave, Apple Cinnamon, Mirage, Dazzling Diamond.

As you can see, the pigment is good throughout. I recommend the gold and white sparkle glosses for wear over a long wearing lip liner such as one of the lovely MAC lip pencils (link is to previous review), or over lipstain or lipstick. The clear works well over lipstain or other lip color as well.

Overall, this is a nice line of lip gloss. Best yet, these normally run at a very affordable $6, and are also sometimes found on sale for as low at $1.99. Nice!

Note: this review is based on products provided to me by a representative of the company. For more, please see my disclosure page.