Etude house Feburary 2015 Pink bird (feat. Chocolate collection, Precious mineral moist any cushion)

 I know Valentines has already pasted, but HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYONE! Even if you don't have a boyfriend or a husband, it can also be a day to love yourself and treat yourself to something sweet, something pretty.  I'm excited to show you Etude House's latest collection, the Chocolate and some other new products even I was surprised to see in the box!  When I saw their collection on Etude house korea's instagram, I freaked out so hard because I really wanted to get the Too Faced chocolate bar palette but all the colors I had something in my collection that could have been duped so it was no point.  So When I saw Etude house's adorable and affordable collection, I was like..."I NEED EVERYTHING!"

If you don't know what Pink bird box is, it is not a box you can buy but a box kindly created by Etude House themselves which they send to hand selected bloggers to bring readers their latest collections.  Sadly you can not buy these boxes, but I will leave links to sites I trust online which you can get these products :), with affordable worldwide shipping of course!

The funny little short story behind this box, I got this box literally when I was still half asleep.  I had to run to the front door at 11:00 am when the mail man surprisingly was super early. After my usual mail lady who delivered all my memebox had been switched to a different route, the new mailman comes at 3:00 pm which is super inconvenient since that is the time I go to work, so I'd have to either wait til my parcel goes to the post office or even wait for the next day to pick it up.  I almost fell down the stairs because I was so scared the mail man would leave.  So I finally got to the door, still in my PJ's, hair worse then a bee hive and I still couldn't see clearly since my eye poop made my vision still fluzzy.  At my front door I see a mail man and a little pink package.  I was like oh nice! My very last Memebox (bittersweet moment), but I got upstairs and it was actually my pink bird box.  I was still half asleep but I was screaming for joy silently hehe.

Sorry for the super long store, hope you don't mind.  Hey at least this is just a blog post and you didn't have to go through a 7 min video hearing me babble right :)?

Maybelline January 2015 haul, first impression, swatches

 After watching tons of Youtube videos on the newest products hitting the drugstore, I couldn't help myself but to buy a few things for myself. Out of all the drugstore brands, Maybelline has the biggest collection that is new and fresh.  These are the few things I bought.  I didn't get everything since I don't need everything, but I most excited for their lipstick collection!!  They are so pretty~

Click read more to see what I got, swatches and first impression.

Cyber Monday ELF 50% off haul

 Not only do I wait for the coastal scents 50% off everything sale, I also waited for ELF's 50% off which only happens one or twice a year (including their annual birthday one which usually is 60% off but it was only 50% off this year).  So when it happened on cyber monday, I jumped on it! I actually had to go to work really early that day and only had half an hour to pick the stuff out and pay for it!

 The first thing that was on my mind was the newest waterproof eyeliner crayon.  I could have just got the champagne color since I thought it would be beautiful on the waterline but even as a highlight would be good too. The four colors I got was pitch black, champagne, brown and purple.  What I like about these is that you don' t have to sharpen them, just twist them up :). They are crayons so they aren't skinny pencils so these would be great for all over the eyes, or if you are that awesome, use them as a liner but it would be a little bit messy to do. These are $3 each from the studio line but I got them for $1.50 each.

 I've been itching to get myself some lip liners so when I saw these again on the website, I had to get it! I got myself the colors natural and red.  Red would be perfect for the holiday or just for those that love to wear a red lip :). Can't want to try these and they have a brush on the other side of the pencil with a lid so this is convenient! $3 each ($1.50 from the sale)

 The long lasting lustrous eyeshadow was something I was debating on since I saw swatches of these but they were really shimmery and I usually don't wear shimmer on my eyes on a daily basis but I just broke down and got three out of the seven colors they offered.  I got toasted (warm golden brownish color), soiree (pinky purple shade), and confetti (white sliver shimmers).  My most favorite would be toasted since it is a shade that i could wear this everyday.  The consistency is really interesting, I don't think there is anything else like this on the market.  If any of you knows the consistency of the elf studio cream blush or the maybelline bouncy blush but a little bit more moist and much easier to apply! It does stay nicely on the skin but the shimmer does move a little so this isn't something that you would want to wear alone so make sure you use this with powder too!

 If you didn't know that the studio primer came out with three more shades to their line, then now you know.  They came out with three new shades to their already popular studio primer which would be radiant glow, tone adjusting (green) and lavender (purple shade for brightening).  I was really intrigued by this since I did like the original primer but because the bottle and the amount of product you get was very little, I didn't bother on continuing to repurchase.  I have to say that I like that changed the bottle.  The outside doesn't look any different but the inside, they used a different method to pump out the product.  Just like their HD blush, this bottle uses the suction so every time you pump it, the little lever thingy goes up and up so you wouldn't waste any product.  The problem with the old bottle is that it just pumps out with a straw and you don't even get to all of the product and you already run out.  $6 per bottle (got them for $3 each)

Also to their really popular contour blush and bronzing cream, they added two new shades and Turks & Caicos really caught my attention.  I saw a lot of other peoples haul videos and everyone said that this gives a nice flush of color but when I opened the compact, hell to the no can this be "natural!" There so much shimmer! Even in the bronze.  I really hope that this is an over spray because I can't do it.  I just can't.  I'm not a fan of shimmer on my face unless it is a fine fine shimmer that gives a nice glow.  We'll see about these. $3 from the studio line

The last product would be their essentials smudge brush.  I actually picked way more stuff then this haul but I ran out of money on paypal LOL so i had to delete a lot of stuff but I forgot about this so I was surprised that I got this.  I quite like it though and since it was only 50 cents so it wasn't a big mistake :).  These are surprisingly soft! And stiff enough so you use it as a smudger.  I do recommend these but one thing to keep in mind that the glue would wear off and the metal would sometimes come off of the wooden handle.

Overall I'm happy that I finally got my package and really wasn't expecting it to come anytime soon since the Hurricane sandy happened and their HQ is in New York and on their facebook they said that black friday orders would be shipped on December 7.  

What is your most favorite elf product? Which product are you dying to see me review?

ELF studio single eyeshadow

Raspberry truffle-Dark chocolately raspberry color with a rusty iridescent

Sea Blue- dark primary blue with blue iridescentTotally teal- teal color with sliver and teal iridescentSunset-burnt peachy gold color with gold and peachy sheen

Elf's description

"The beautiful soft texture melts into the skin for a vibrant color that lasts. Convenient and easy to apply, just layer the color to achieve the desired intensity. Apply wet or dry for a fabulous look that never creases or fades. "

Packaging

I personally don't own any NARS eye shadows because, well their frinkin expensive! And i'd have to really fall in love with one product to buy something that's $25+ for an eyeshadow. It has the same black sleek packaging, but one advantage to elf's take on their Nars knock off packaging is that it has a little peek whole to let you see what color it is in the pan. It also has a really tiny mirror inside which i find super pointless but good to have :). I love that it snaps really secure so if you put it in your make up bag, it would open up and make your bag all dirty :3.

Color pigmentation/ payoffWhen i first opened my three newest single eyeshadow (Totally teal, sea blue and sunset), i was stunned! I was drooling over the gorgeous colors, but when we go to swatch i was quite disappointed. I was hoping the colors would be silky, but it is quite chalky. As you can see in the pictures above, when applied dry its terrible. Applying it with a primer is the best and applying it wet is a little bit of a hassle if your trying to do a big area. Most of them have a slight sheen and iridescent which makes them super pretty :D.

Coastal scents online nightmare

Wow, i just finally got out of the coastal scents site. I've been getting ahead with the black friday sales. Coastal scents right now is having a 50% off everything on everything on their site. I have never, ever been this frustrated with buying something online. Can you imagine going on a site and everytime you click, its like "site is not working"! F*** SOO ANNOYING! It took me 1 and a half hour to buy 12 hot pots. ARGH! Anyways, if you guys are interested, go check it out but be warned! P.S. If you have been wondering where I have been lately, not uploading on this site, i've actually been working hard earning points at Luuux to get free stuff. Duh XD. I've been trying to get the mulberry alexa bag but it seems its going to take 2 years at this rate :(. Otherwise I will be back soon here after i get super frustrated from that site LOL.

ELF studio pigments

As you might have known, ELF came out with mass new products on their website and one of them was their studio pigments. I thought, ehh its just another eyeshadow in loose form no point in buying the. But you know me, when i buy something I'd like to have the whole set (or almost the whole set) which is bad because that just makes me spend more money. So they come in the same package as their Studio cream eyeliner and the same jars too. They do come with a small brush but it is completely useless for eyeshadow since it is so small. The colors I got from top left and clockwise was Mystic Moss, Naughty Noire, Magical Maroon and Passionate purple.
Mystic moss- dark mossy green with gold shimmers Naughty Noire- Black with sliver shimmer
Passionate Purple- Dark royal purple; kinda reminds me of my fav. color from ELF quad in sliver lining. This color is seriously gorgeousMagical Marron- Dark plumly purple with sliver shimmer. The color kind of reminds me of ELF studio pressed eyeshadow in raspberry truffle, but this one has more of a cooler undertone to it.
Swatches used dry.

Swatches used on Elf Mineral primer

As you can see, these pigments are lame without a primer. There would be almost no color if you don't use a primer. So I recommend you either use them wet or with a primer.

Conclusion-price: C ($3 each)
-packaging: B
-product quality: C+
-Overall quality: C+
-Buy again? No, I could do without them

88 warm palette

Yet another super rav on Youtube, the 88 warm palette is the sister of 88 color palette. This one I like a whole lot better because more the 80% of the colors are usable and aren't chalky or unpigmented. This is the first palette I got out of all the other ones, so this one is quite special to me.

*Tip: Don't get it from coastal scents because plus shipping is about $30. If you get it on ebay, its just $20 included shipping and its the exact same thing.*

Each color is about the size of a Canadian dime, so about 0.5 in radius which isn't big but it is big enough to last you a long long long time. The warm palette comes with a lot of browns, grays, white, purples and a whole lot more. The finishes are matte, frosty, and metallic. When you look at the swatches, you'll notice that there aer colors that you can't see at all. This is because a lot of the lighter colors are very chalky and isn't workable =S but the shimmery/metallic colors are super pigmented.

Swatches from row left to right:

Conclusion:

-price: C-

-packaging: C

-product quality: B-

-Overall quality: B-

-Buy again? maybe, if i ever run out of any of the colors

88 color palette

Yet another thing I was introduced by Youtube. This comes with 88 colors with a mixture of shimmery, frosty and matte colors. Most people buy from coastal scents, but I bought mine on ebay. It is the exact same thing, just it doesn't have the printed label on the packaging.I had the impression that the palette would be much bigger, so it was surprising to me that this is actually quite small. Each eyeshadow is the size of a CDN dime (around 0.5 cm in diameter). The palette comes with a nice quality mirror and two sponge tip applicator but those I threw away.

As you can see here, the palette is a lot smaller then a regular sized paper.

Swatches from the left to right, top to bottom.

A lot of the lighter colors are not pigmented and are very hard to the touch. Most of the shimmery and frosty color are the most pigmented. So whether if this worth almost $30 from coastal scents or $20 (both included shipping), that would be your choice.

Conclusion:
-price: B+
-packaging: B-
-product quality: B-
-Overall quality: B
-Buy again? Maybe