Collection| NYX Butter Glosses

NYX Butter Glosses ($4.99) are my favorite glosses to wear besides MAC Cremesheen formulas. 

Though my collection is modest, you should see the 3 backups I have of Creme Brulee. It's the perfect milky nude for warm skintones especially in the NC20-40 range. 

They're pigmented to be worn alone but also a great topper for lipsticks or liner. 

I have: Creme Brulee, Angel Food Cake, Maple Blondie, Fortune Cookie, and Peaches and Cream.

Here they are swatched (2-3 passes) and under indirect outdoor lighting. 

Here they are under direct sunlight. Don't mind the sodium packet and spoon in the background...my husband's diet is less than ideal and that keg won't grow on its own!

These are my HG lip glosses. Why?

• They are non-sticky and slightly moisturizing, meaning I can wear them alone and feel confident enough to skip out the door.
• They don't gloop up when reapplied and last for around 4 hours if I don't eat or drink.
• There's a large color range to choose from.
• They smell like dessert...a sugary sweet scent that isn't overpowering or fake. 

The only bad part? More pigmented colors tend to bleed outside of my lip lines (curse these small lips!!!) I remedy that by applying only the smallest amount onto the middle of my lips. 

Let's admit it, anything over 20 bucks for a lip gloss is preposterous. You can find these at drugstores carrying NYX (and definitely Ulta) to collect all of the shades if your heart desires without breaking the bank.

xo Be

Review| Makeup Geek Eyeshadows

With all of YouTube and the general makeup community obsessed with Makeup Geek eyeshadows, I had to try out all of the warm crease shades. At $5.99 per pan, they are often compared to MAC eyeshadows in terms of quality, formula, and size. 

I had to wait for most to come in stock which can attest to how popular these shadows are. While I have a lot of warm neutrals from MAC, I don't think of them as the best eyeshadows out there. I prefer a more creamy/buttery texture that adheres to the skin longer.

I have two MAC pans: Tempting and Soft Brown, which I've depotted into my newly purchased Z palette (they came with stickered round magnets!) so that I can use them on the daily. I've swatched all of my MUG and MAC shadows together so you can see just how similar they are. All swatches are two passes with no primer.

From left to right: MAC Tempting, Cocoa Bear, Latte, Burlesque, Frappe, Creme Brulee, Shimma Shimma, MAC Soft Brown, Peach Smoothie. 

As you can already tell, the more shimmery finishes are comparable to MAC in terms of opacity and pigmentation. I found the most disappointing texture to be Cocoa Bear. While a very beautiful warm crease shade similar to MAC Saddle, it was a little powdery to my fingers. They all apply very beautifully on the lids so it wasn't a huge let-down.

Here's another view (Peach Smoothie is not showing) where you can really see the subtle differences between all of the matte shades I bought. The strange thing about MUG shadows is that they last much longer than my MAC shadows on the lid (around 2-3 hours more.) None of them are patchy, chalky, or drier than MAC eyeshadows. For $5.99, you can build a bigger collection for half the price!

I wouldn't say that these are of excellent quality...but very good eyeshadows for the price. Meaning, they perform a little bit better than MAC eyeshadows but aren't the best you can get on the market. However, I find them perfect for every day wear and don't cost too much to build a complete palette. 

Will I be purchasing more? Only a few. I don't need all of the colors available and I do enjoy MAC's variety of colors much more. However, these are perfect for a starter kit. If you have a warm complexion, or love warm browns for the crease, MUG's matte formula is excellent for the price. 

xo Be