Beauty Product Reviews

This was the first NARS blush I tried, and it's lovely! It's a beautiful pale pink that looks so subtle and natural on the cheeks. The silver sparkle tends to get lost, but if you build the product up, they do appear on the cheeks. They're not chunky or glittery, they just add a really nice luminescence to the skin. So beautiful!

Strawberry Shortcake is a pretty apt description for this shade-its a medium, slightly warm pink, pretty similar to what comes to mind when you hear "strawberry shortcake." It's one of my favorite lip butters because it applies the best-there's still minimal bunching, but not as bad as the others I've tried. And it still has great pigment and the glossy sheen these are famous for. This didn't wear super long but then again, it isn't meant to. It doesn't do much when it comes to moisturizing the lips--it doesn't dry them, but I didn't notice improvement, either.

Gumdrop is not as purple as it looks in the tube. On the mouth, it's a sheer, milky, pinky-lavender with a glossy sheen. My lips are more pigmented, though, so those with paler lips might find this to be a truer purple. This shade is a bit stiffer than my other Lip Butters-still soft and creamy, just a little more solid. This product looks okay from a normal distance, but I notice that up close, it definitely looks uneven, and it only gets worse if your lips touch, as they're bound to do. This product is sheerer and designed to be less long-wearing, but I still pulled around 3 hours of wear, which isn't bad. When it comes to moisturizing my lips, I found thisto be just average-my lips weren't worse for wear, but it's definitely not as good as a balm.

Bordello shows up on my skin as a nude champagne pink with gold shimmer. It's pretty enough, but I don't know if I would've bought it on it's own (I got it with the BoS III palette). I had fallout as soon as I applied it, even with a primer, and found it difficult to blend. I don't think at this price point I could justify a shade this common with those kinds of issues. It's pretty, and it didn't fade, but it was messy to work with.

I absolutely love Smog. And for someone who prefers pops of colors to neutrals, that's saying something! But this eyeshadow simply impressed me. It's an opaque, medium brown with gold glitter, and I think the glitter is what makes this shadow extra-special. I can see this working really well as an alternative to black or grey for a smoky eye for a night out. The wear is fantastic too, I was able to make it to 12 hours with a base! It did fade a but around the edges, though. It also felt just a bit dry to the touch, but it applied without a problem. I definitely think this is a shade that could work for many people, even fans of color.

Sky Line Pink is a frosty, sheer, cool, nude-pink. The frostiness and lightness of this shade created a really cool, mod look. It went on creamy and smooth, and felt nice on the lips. However, while it didn't feel drying, my lips were a little worse for wear. The wear time wasn't phenomenal, about 2.5 hours. However, unlike the other pearl lipstick I've tried from Revlon, SLP didn't bunch up or settle deep in the cracks of my lips.

Pink Plum is a cool, medium toned pink. A big gripe people have with this line of blush is that they're "not pigmented." These *are* designed to be sheer. I noticed that, on my palest of skintones, it can go on extremely faint, but it can be built up to be a little overpowering. I like that it gives off a sweet, fresh-faced look. It doesn't give all day wear, it looks a bit faded by 5 hours.

Rockstar is a great, versatile shade. It's a gorgeous, rich mauvey-plum. It goes on great, and isn't stiff or difficult to blend. There's no shimmer/glitter, but there's a velvety aspect that keeps it from being a dull matte. The wear is good (6 hours with some fading) but not great. Purple shadow gets a bad rap in the cosmetic industry, because the pigment is generally difficult to work with. However, Rockstar is smooth, buttery, and bold, which is great, because I love to wear purple. Def repurchase!

This foundation promises to be a "translucent base" with "natural coverage." I found this to be true; Fit Me! Is a very lightweight, sheer face product, and it had that "letting my skin breathe" feel while adding some life and brightness to the face. It won't do much beyond that. It's designed to look so natural that it "allows the skin's natural highs and lows to shine through." It will soften undereye circles a touch, but it won't hide freckles and likely won't do much for acne, or uneven pigment, either. It feels runny and a little oily in texture, but it doesn't actually feel oily on the face (and is allegedly made without oils). It wore well, a full 8 hours without oxidizing or caking, or otherwise looking bad. It doesn't come with a pump though, which is a little annoying.

Apricot Fantasy is true to it's name: it's a *very* frosty, sheer warm peach/apricot color. It's a unique hue for a great price, but it had some problems. Apart from it being sheer (I prefer opaque lipstick), it went onto the lips unevenly and settled into lip lines. However, it goes on creamy and isn't stiff, and feels comfortable and isn't drying. Sadly, the wear is low: it needed reapplication around the 3-hour mark. The worst thing about this shade, though, was how deeply it settled into the lips: even when the color was removed from the mouth, the pigment was lodged so deep into the cracks of the lips it was near impossible to get off all the way! So this is *definitely* a shade that requires pre-wear lip moisturizing.