mdr♡makeup

Hey beauty lovers!

I thought I'd do something simple and complete a tag to give anyone who follows my blog the opportunity to get to know me a little bit better.

Hey beauties,

I've been so excited to share my thoughts on the new ColourPop Cosmetics Ultra Metallic Lip liquid lipsticks. A friend and I made a purchase the second the new line was released so I've had a little bit of time to test them out.

Top to Bottom: Maneater, Kween, Flitter, JIC, Lights Out

The ColourPop Ultra Metallic Lips retail for US$6 each, just like their brother and sister - Ultra Matte and Ultra Satin - lippies. They can be purchased exclusively on www.colourpop.com. Originally, the Ultra Metallic Lip range only carries four different shades: Maneater, Zebra, 3-Way, and Kween, but has since expanded, with 7 new shades added to the collection: JIC, Salt, Flitter, Lights Out, Mugshot, DM, and PYT.

I purchased 2 shades of the original 4 release shades to test out the formula: Maneater, which is described as a rose gold, but on me pulls more of a light- to mid-tone bronze, and Kween, which is described as a burnt red with gold glitter, but on me pulls more of a true red with gold glitter. The Ultra Metallic Lips are closer in formula to the Ultra Satin Lips, as they do not dry down all the way like the Mattes, are extremely comfortable to wear, and have just the slightest bit of transfer.

Starting off with Maneater, this shade is a true metallic liquid lipstick. The shade has no glitter but is instead riddled with very fine microshimmer pigment to give it its metallic sheen. The formula of Maneater is super smooth, creamy and opaque with one swipe.

Kween is a metallic liquid lipstick, but has the help of chunky gold glitters to give it more of a metallic look. Unfortunately, while the colour is stunning, the formula is extremely dry, streaky, and not too pigmented. Thankfully, because the formula is more akin to the Satin Lips, I am able to layer on the colour for a more opaque coverage without it feeling cakey, sticky, or like it's going to crack off my lips. After hearing the thoughts of friends and watching the reviews available on YouTube, I have come to the conclusion that the Metallic Lips containing a lot of chunky glitter (3-Way and Kween) have a much drier formula than the ones that don't (Maneater and Zebra).

Overall, for my first experience with metallic liquid lipsticks, I was definitely not disappointed by these products, but I wasn't exactly all that impressed with them either. I am absolutely in love with Maneater, but I think that the glittery shades could use a little more work formula-wise. Of the two shades from the original I picked up, I would definitely recommend getting Maneater. The formula is extremely close to the Ultra Satins and it seems to be the most pigmented of the original 4 metallics.


Of course, I couldn't just stop there - everyone was asking ColourPop to release metallics that would work for lighter skin tones, so of course they did! The second release of Ultra Metallics included the shades JIC, Salt, Flitter, and Lights Out. The shades were totally up my alley considering I have fair-light skin, so I had to go ahead and purchase a few more. From this release, I picked up JIC, Flitter, and Lights Out. I decided to skip on Salt because it was a bit of a deeper shade and I didn't think I would get too much use out of it.

JIC, an acronym for "Just In Case", is described as a cool-toned ivory with a ton of pink and silver glitter. I think it's more of a very, very pale pinky-lilac shade - almost an off-white shade but the shimmer definitely gives it that gorgeous pale pink colour.

Flitter is probably the most mesmerizing shade in this release. It's a beautiful pink metallic shade with a gold shift - almost holographic.

Lights Out is a stunning pale, metallic gold shade and is probably the most wearable of the 3 shades I picked up from this release.

I won't go into detail formula-wise for each of the three shades in this release simply because I think the formula in this release was consistent across the board. Again, the formula is more akin to the Satin lippies, but the opacity of this release was once again not on par. These aren't products that I would recommend you wear alone, as they are pretty sheer when applied on the lips and, because of the paleness of the shades in this release, don't look as great if you build them up to an opaque colour on the lips.

With that said, I do absolutely love these shades as lipstick toppers. All three of the shades I picked up are fantastic over nude lip combinations (my favourite being the MUFE Aqua Lip liner in 3C with MAC Yash or Honeylove on top). These metallic shades give a lot of dimension to the lips and definitely make your lips look much (and I'm talking "did you get lip fillers?" much) fuller.

Overall, I did like this release much better because, although the opacity of the shades wasn't that great, the colours were absolutely gorgeous and I was able to find a way to wear these metallics on an everyday basis without it being too bam in your face metallic. I find myself using the shades from this release more often than the shades I picked up from the original 4 metallics.

Have you tried the Ultra Metallic Lips from ColourPop? What are your thoughts? Do you have a better metallic liquid lipstick alternative that you think I should try? Let me know in the comments below!

Xo,
Marian

Hey beauties!

Sorry for my super long hiatus! I've been working a lot so I haven't had much time to post. I have, however, had time to shop lol. This is the first of three ColourPop hauls - I'm still contemplating whether I'm going to share all three, but I will let you know when I decide.

Before I start, here's a little update on my life and why I've been M.I.A. for such a long time: As I said, I've been putting in a lot of hours at work. I was typically working 4-5 days a week and they would usually be one after the other, so I didn't want to spend my days off worrying about what I was gonna post. I am now on a 2 week vacation from work and I'm starting a new job at the beginning of August (yay)! I will have an updated posting schedule for you guys within the next two weeks once I figure everything out, so stay tuned for that.

ANYWAY... here's the haul:



I placed this order a little over a month ago when ColourPop was having their US$4 eyeshadow flash sale. I picked up a variety of different products, including products that I had never tried before.

Top: Super Shock Shadow in "Nillionaire" Bottom: Super Shock Shadow in "Alchemy" (Jaime King x Colourpop)

Top: Matte X Lippie Stix in "Cami" Bottom: Matte X Lippie Stix in "She Bad"

I've also been wanting to try out the Lippie Stix from ColourPop but none of the shades in the existing collection really wowed me until they released the Matte X formula. I had been really wanting to try Cami but was waiting to place a bigger order to purchase it so I could save on shipping and this was my chance!

The first shade I bought was obviously Cami. It's described as a "neutral, mauve pink". It's so stunning on the lips and the formula of the Matte X lippies is amazing - unbelievably pigmented and smooth. The second shade I bought was She Bad. I was hoping for a light, pinky-peach nude that would work for me, as I am a bit on the light to light-medium side in terms of skin tone, but this was a little bit too light for me. She Bad is described as a "light beige nude". I found that this shade works perfect for an ombre look and use it right in the centre of my lips in combination with deeper shades.

Top: Ultra Matte Lip in "Bianca" Bottom: Ultra Satin Lip in "Magic Wand"

The last two products I purchased were formulas I had tried before and just wanted to pick up to add to my collection.

I purchased the Ultra Matte Lip liquid lipstick in "Bianca". I've been wanting to get my hands on this shade since it came out in the mini set so I decided to pick it up with this order. I love the colour of Bianca - I've been on the hunt for the perfect pale mauve-y pink and this definitely fits the bill. Unfortunately, the formula of this particular shade is very inconsistent compared to all the other Ultra Mattes I own. The formula is thick, sticky, and crumbles almost instantly. It also leaves the strangest bright fuschia stain on my lips when I go to remove it. Really upset about the formula inconsistency of this Ultra Matte because I really do love the colour!

Lastly, I purchased the Ultra Satin Lip liquid lipstick in "Magic Wand". This shade was originally going to be a part of my initial order of Ultra Satins, but I thought that because it was the lightest shade in the range, it would be too light for me, so I opted for Echo Park instead. After seeing so many swatches, I decided I still wanted to try it out. It turns out that Magic Wand and Echo Park are really similar on my lips - almost to the point that I can't tell which one I'm wearing sometimes. Magic Wand is described just as a "light nude", which I can attest to - it really is a true nude, while Echo Park is described as a "warm, peachy nude". I can definitely say that Echo Park is just a hair darker and warmer than Magic Wand, so unless you're trying to purchase the entire collection, I don't think you need both shades in your collection. I am glad to have gotten it though because the colour is stunning and the Satins are my favourite ColourPop lippie formula!


Here are swatches of everything I picked up in this ColourPop order. From top to bottom:
Super Shock Shadow in "Nillionaire" // Super Shock Shadow in "Alchemy" (Jaime King x ColourPop - DISCONTINUED) // Matte X Lippie Stix in "She Bad" // Matte X Lippie Stix in "Cami" // Ultra Matte Lip in "Bianca" // Ultra Satin Lip in "Magic Wand"

I did place an order for and receive two of the *NEW* Ultra Metallic Lip liquid lipsticks from ColourPop when they were released and will do a separate review on those very soon!

ColourPop has really been upping their product game lately and releasing one new thing after another (Pst... They just released the Ultra Glossy Lips!!). Let me know what you've been hauling from them lately in the comments below!

Xo,
Marian

Hey beauty lovers!

My apologies for this week's delayed post, but I ordered this palette super early Monday morning and wanted to review and swatch it for you guys in this week's post! It arrived Tuesday afternoon, which was expected as all of my Sephora packages usually arrive within 1 to 2 business days - I know, I probably should have given a heads up that this post was going to be late for the people who actually care, but it's here now and I couldn't be more excited. So, without further ado, here it is:


The brand spankin' new Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance eyeshadow palette was just recently made available for purchase on www.sephora.ca for C$55.00. These palettes are, to my knowledge, not yet available in Sephora Canada retail locations and I am unsure whether they will be releasing it in stores.



The Modern Renaissance palette has 14 shades, 3 shimmer and 11 matte, and a double-ended eyeshadow brush (BONUS: It also has a decent sized mirror!). After swatching, I thought that each of the shadows were super pigmented and creamy. The most pigmented shadows were, as expected, the deep reds and oranges. I did find that the lightest matte shade, Tempera, was just the slightest bit chalky, but nothing that bothered me too much. In terms of wear, I have worn these shadows both with and without a primer underneath and both times my eyeshadow didn't budge, smear, crease, or look muddy at the end of the day. I always apply any shimmer shades with a flat shader brush dampened with MAC Fix+ to intensify the color and reduce fall-out, which definitely worked on the two shimmer shades in this palette. With the shadows I have used on my eyes, so far, all of them applied smoothly with great colour pay-off. You really only need a light hand when using this palette. The shades were quite easy to blend out and I found that it was very easy to correct any mistakes by going over an area again with the desired colour (be careful if you do decide to layer shades, as it can begin to look muddy - mixing the reds and browns can also create a bruised eye look!). The double-ended eyeshadow brush included in the palette was, unfortunately, nothing to rave about. I loved the duo fibre dome brush - it was great for placing and blending out shadows in the crease and was super soft, but I found that the blending brush didn't blend out my shadows as well as some of the other blending brushes I own, shed fairly quickly, and was quite prickly for an ABH quality brush - not soft at all. The idea of double-ended brushes for anything other than travelling is also a no-no for me, as they are quite difficult to store without damaging at least one end of the brush.

I would imagine that many people would purchase this palette solely for the red shades in here alone; however, this is a very Autumn-inspired palette with a good mix of "bruise" shades. A few concerns and warnings for anyone who does decide to purchase this palette is to be very weary of the placement of the red shades on your eyes and the colour combinations you decide to use. Placing a red shade on your lower lashline can make you look very washed out and sometimes ill looking. If you do decide to add a pop of colour to your eye look this way, make sure to smoke it out with a neutral to warm mid-tone brown shade. Also, be careful which shades you decide to use in combination with each other, as any eye look achieved using the reds in this palette can begin to look like a "bruised"- or "black"-eye when all the colours have been blended together. With that said, I think that if you're careful with the pigmentation and colour combinations, the looks that can be created with this palette can absolutely be stunning and bring an unexpected pop of colour to your make-up look.

Overall, I'm super impressed with the quality of this palette and would 100% recommend it to my girls/guys who are on the hunt for some stunning red and orange-toned shadows. The palette in its entirety was very highly pigmented, smooth, and easy to work with, and I enjoyed using at least one end of the double-ended brush. The eyeshadows stayed put all day without smudging and didn't crease even when I decided against using a primer.

I really want to use the more vibrant red shades in this palette, but I find myself wanting to wait until Fall to bust those out. Let me know if you have any ideas as to how I can incorporate those shades into a Summer look and leave me any links to tutorials that you loved using this palette, I could use the inspiration!

Xo,
Marian

Hey beauty lovers!

Because I haven't really been purchasing make-up lately, I only have a few products to include in my favourites this month. I'm trying to refrain from purchasing any non-essential make-up products (by non-essential I mean products that I purchase that aren't for the purpose of replenishing something I've run out of) until the Sephora Rouge/VIB sale in November, so every month until then, I'll try my best to include little extras like fav YouTube videos/books/movies/shows of the month.

Anyway, with that said, here are the products that I've been loving for the month of May (and then some):

1. NARS Velvet Matte Skin Tint

2. BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Champagne Pop/Moonstone

3. Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara

4. Miscellaneous Favourite: YouTube Video/TV Show