Thursday, September 15, 2011

003 vain rambling

time for another installment of vain rambling, where i dedicate my rambling of a few beauty products all in one post so i dont have to do many little posts individually for each product.

DSC_4240i have been loving fishtail braids lately. they are easy to do and they make you look effortlessy ready. i also have been trying to wear more bold colors on my lips. which is REALLY new for me, because 1. i rarely wear lipstick on a regular basis and 2. when i do they are nude/natural colors. my colors of choice have been mac vegas volt (which i wore HERE, if you want to see it on me) and revlon colorburst plum (what im wearin in the pic above)

DSC_4103i picked up revlon's carbonite at my cvs, which everyone in the beauty world probably has heard about and seen already im sure. if you havent heard of the shade, it is supposed to be a dupe for chanel graphite (which i dont own) but i have seen the comparison and i think they arent dupes at all. chanel is prettier (in my opinion anyway) but the revlon one is nice too. i personally love gunmetal shades so i love this color.

DSC_4096just a nice dirty gunmetal shade. i would say it is a frost finish.

i went to tjmaxx in search of theBalm products all because of Danielle and Ebru and their spectacularly good finds. they found much more products than me (so go check them out.) my tjmaxx had a decent selection of products, but i would say about 98% were tainted or shattered/destroyed :( which really is a shame because i would have bought more if they were in better condition...

thebalm
look at the blush set!! i would have gotten that but there were so many dents/fingerprints on it :(

i was, however, able to pick up this (untouched!) duo pack:

mary lou-manizer highlighter and betty lou-manizer bronzer
DSC_4209this retails for $48 as you can see on the packaging, i picked up up for $20.

DSC_4211the packaging is retro and clever. i know a lot of people absolutely adore the packaging. i am indifferent. i dont hate it but i dont love it. like i said, i think it is clever but i usually love sleeker/plainer designs. the compact is very sturdy and it comes with a mirror.

betty lou-manizer
DSC_4218-horzbetty is a warm bronze with a golden sheen. if you only like matte bronzers, you wont like this. i havent used it too much yet, but i dont think it is overly shimmery. i think it has a nice balance of sheen and color to it. it is also extremely pigmented and smooth. i was actually realy worried about this product, i thought it was going to be similar to illamasqua burnish bronzer (which i did not enjoy and swapped years ago, WAY too shiny) but from what i remember of burnish, i find it isnt anything like it.

mary lou-manizer
DSC_4213-horzmary is a pretty yellow-gold champagne highlighter. it is absolutely beautiful. like betty, it is incredibly soft and pigmented. i have used this everyday since i bought it and i am so glad i picked it up. i really dont need that much of this to give myself a soft glow.

swatches:
DSC_4228 betty lou-manizer on left, mary lou-manizer on right.

comparisons:
DSC_4233from left to right, nars laguna, betty, mary, nars albatross, dior amber diamond (all shades mixed together)

laguna doesnt have as much of a sheen as betty. also laguna seems to be a dirtier/browner shade.

albatross has more of a white/yellow gold sheen going on while mary is more of a champagne and warm gold sheen. amber diamond really isnt even close to mary since it is more of a amber/bronzey sheen.

have you had any luck finding theBalm in your area? share what you have found in the comments. if you say shady lady palettes i will be extremely envious since i have wanted those palettes for the longest time and look out for them like a hawk...

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