Review: FX Brazilian Smooth

Hi lovelies! Today I thought I would do a review for a product I found while shopping in Walgreens. I was there to pick up my regular beauty/personal items and came across this while it was on clearance. I am not entirely sure how much the regular price of the product is, but I saw it at Wal-Mart for $5-$7. I picked this up at Walgreens on clearance for $2.17.

The product claims to "reduce up to 95% of curl and frizz for sleek straight style." Once you use the product, it is supposed to last up to 7 days. The directions say to wash your hair but do not condition. Then, apply the product evenly throughout your hair and comb it out. Next, dry your hair and straighten your hair with your flat iron. Lastly, wait 24 hours and wash your hair. After you complete these steps your hair will be smooth and straight for 7 days.

I took before and after pics of my hair. My hair does not have curl, but it has a few waves and is frizzy. The frizz is a product of damage from coloring my hair. No matter what I do to my hair (condition, deep condition, stop using products) it still stays frizzy. Right now it is at the elastic stage. Anyway, here are the pictures.

Front View

Right Side

Left Side

As you can see from the above pictures, my hair is pretty frizzy/wavy. Now, here are the pics after I followed the directions on the bottle.



The product definitely smoothed my hair like it said it would. This product also made my hair crazy soft; softer than when I use my conditioner. I follwed the instructions and washed my hair 24 hours later, but my hair was not as smooth. I even let it air dry. I have heard this product has worked for others, but it didn't work for my like I expected it to. I don't know if it is my type of hair or what? The product works well when I first apply it but not as well 24 hours later. Honestly, I don't know if you can tell a difference from me using the product and just straightening my hair with my GHD. You be the judge. Below I will post a pic without this product and just using heat protector and my ghd.

It looks as smooth to me. Does it to you?

I have used this product a few times and have always had the same results. Have you tried this product? Was it a success for you? Please let me know if it was!

Putting It to the Test: Maybelline Color Tattoo

I'm sure most of you, if not all of you, know about the Maybelline Color Tattoo cream shadows. Many people are comparing these to MAC's paintpots. Not only are they a good dupe for the paintpots, but they are also better, in my opinion. Don't get me wrong. I love my painterly paintpot, but I prefer the colors and wear of the Maybelline compared to MAC. Maybelline claims that the color tattoo creams are 24 hour wear. I decided to put this to the test to see if they can hold up for 24 hours without primer on oily eye lids. The color I chose to test out is Pomegranate Punk. This test ran for a full 24 hours with pictures throughout the 24 hours.

Bare eye. No primer.

After application. Pomegranate Punk and Mascara.

4 hours in

12 hours. See the bit of creasing?

24 hours and after sleeping.

As you can see, the product didn't start creasing on me until around 12 hours. Even then you couldn't see it with the eye open. Honestly, I couldn't see it until the picture was taken. This was after me doing dishes and cleaning the house and sweating. At the 24 hour mark hardly any product was left and there was definitely more creasing. If I had applied a primer this would probably have stayed on longer without creasing. I do believe it holds up longer than most 24 hour products claim; however, if you have oily lids you may want to consider using a primer so it does not crease on you. Most people would not leave on a product for 24 hours anyway, so this product will definitely last 12 hours or more.

I love these shadows, and I plan on getting one in every color. They make excellent bases and shadows alone. Do you have any of the color tattoo shadows? Which one is your favorite?

Truth or Dare Cosmetics Review + Look

Yesterday I received the indie pigment order that I've been waiting on. This brand is called Truth or Dare Cosmetics. I found this brand on facebook. Jennifer makes the pigments, jars them, and ships them all on her own. She is a very sweet girl with excellent communication. If you like what you see you can check her out at TOD Cosmetics . Her store is reachable through her facebook fan page. She has a ton of colors that range from neutrals to brights, and she is adding glitters. I already have my eye on one of the glitters because it reminds me of MAC 3D Silver, which I LOVE! Anyway, her prices are about the same as other indie companies. Her full jars are $6, and you get a LOT of product in them. She also has a deal where you can try before you buy and all you pay is $1 for shipping. She will send you 5 random colors to try. She also has sales/deals. That's when I purchased mine. She was having a half off sale. So, I got all of my jars for $3 a piece. I haven't played around with these a whole lot, but from what I have, I love them. *NOTE* if you do not like glitter/shimmer then you may want to skip this. She does have mattes, but her colors mainly have very fine glitter/shimmer in them. With that out of the way, here are the swatches and the look I did.

You will see three layers in the swatches. The top is bare skin, the middle is MAC Painterly paintpot, and the bottom is NYX JEP in Milk.

These were my "try before you buy" samples. From L-R: In Flames, Brown Sugar, Haptic, Fierce, and Snoop

As you can see, the JEP really brings out the colors of these.

L-R: Scandal, Oh No!, Lime-Aid, Spook, Bright Eyes, and Wander

I also put Spook and Wander over NYX JEP in Black Bean. It really brought out the undertones of them! Check it out.

This is Spook

This is Wander

L-R: Brew Haha, Swamp Thing, Oops, Love, and Sweetness

As you can see from this picture, Sweetness is pretty sheer until you put it over something like the JEP in Milk. I bet this one would be amazing foiled! I also tried swap thing over Black Bean.

The glitters in these pigments are absolutely amazing, and I am so upset that I could not capture them the way they needed to be captured. However, if you check out her page she has plenty pictures that do capture the glitters in these. I must say that I am quite surprised with these pigments. Usually when pigments have fine glitter in them the glitter goes away as soon as you apply it to your eye, or it falls off immediately. That's not the case with these. I had absolutely no fall-out with these, nor did I have glitter fly everywhere and leave the pigments. I have a feeling that this company will become one of my favorite companies for buying pigments. If you would like to see one of the colors up close, please let me know. Now, on to the look.

It is cold and rainy here today, so I decided to do something bright.

Products Used:

Eyes:

TOD Bright Eyes (inner half of lid)

TOD Lime-Aid (outter half of lid)

TOD Wander (crease up to brow bone)

TOD Swamp Thing (lower lash line)

Revlon Matte Vintage Lace (highlight)

Maybelline Eyestudio gel liner in Blackest Black

L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes

Face:

MAC MSF Natural in Medium

Rimmel Natural Bronzer in Sun Light

NARS Deep Throat blush

MAC Vanilla Pigment

Lips:

Revlon Lip Butter in Lollipop

Makeupgeek Eyeshadow Review + Look (Pic Chunky)

I received my makeupgeek eyeshadows that I ordered. I have read a lot of good reviews about them, but why wouldn't they be good? Marlena is amazing! I am happy to support her. Anyway, I ordered seven of the shadows. I went for more colors than I did neutrals. I have a TON of neutrals that include the 28 neutral palette, the Naked palette, and 1.5 MAC palettes full of neutrals. So, without further ado, here are the makeupgeek shadows.

They come in little sleeves like the MAC pan refills

Vanilla Bean

Cocoa Bear

Dirty Martini

Fairytale

Wisteria

Poolside

Peacock

Top: Vanilla Bean, Cocoa Bear, Wisteria
Bottom: Fairytale, Poolside, Peacock, Dirty Martini

My Thoughts:
The feel of these shadows are amazing. They are so soft and feel like velvet. The swatches were 2 swipes on the shadows. Cocoa Bear wasn't as pigmented as I expected, but the rest were. These are the same size as a MAC eyeshadow and cost much less! You can get a MAC refill for $11 USD and these are $5.99 a piece. In my opinion they are worth it. I have never had a shadow that was as silky as these are. Look how pigmented Poolside and Peacock are! Um. Gorgeous. Will I buy again? Most definitely. I will be buying a lot more of these! If you are looking for a cheap alternative to MAC eyeshadows that have the same, if not more, pigmentation then check out makeupgeek's. You will not be disappointed. Now, on to the look.

Products Used:

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

NYX JEP Black Bean

Makeupgeek in Dirty Martini

Makeupgeek in Vanilla Bean

MAC Soft Brown

MAC Carbon

Maybelline Eyestudio gel liner in Blackest Black

L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes

Face:

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Foundation in Soft Beige

MAC MSF Natural in Medium

Rimmel Natural Bronzer in Sun Light

NYX Peach Blush

MAC Vanilla Pigment

Lips:

Revlon Lip Butter in Tutti Frutti

Sleek Makeup Palette Review (Storm and Sunset)

I've had these palettes for a while. I've used them quite a few times. I've even used the Storm palette on some bridesmaids I did makeup on. The storm palette consists of neutrals, and the sunset palette has more colors. On to the review. All pictures in this post can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Each palette looks like this on the outside.

This is the back of the palette. I'm starting with the Storm palette as you can see. Here is the inside/colors of the palette:

This palette is definitely more neutral than the Sunset palette is. I have used this palette the most. However, I haven't used this one a lot on myself. Some of the shadows are inconsistent/chalky. I do not like the black in this palette at all. You will be able to see from the swatches that the black is not opaque and is kind of chalky. NOTE: One swatch is missing because I could not get it to show up on my arm.

This is the top row. There are two swatches for each color. The one on the left is without a primer, and the one on the right is over MAC painterly paint pot. As you can see, the colors are mostly shimmer. The black is matte and the light brown is matte. The light brown color shows up better over a primer versus on its own.

This is the bottom row. You can see from the picture that the black hardly has any color at all. This surprises me considering how opaque the black is in the Sunset palette. The other colors are pretty consistent and show up the same on their own or with primer.

My Thoughts (Storm Palette):
I do like this palette although the black is weak. This is a great palette neutrals with some darker colors, i.e. blue and green, to give it a little kick. The only disappointment I have in this palette is the black. Would I buy this again? Yes. I do not believe that the weakness of the black should be the deciding factor. The eyeshadows themselves are very silky and some except for the mattes. The mattes aren't as silky.

Next up is the Sunset palette as shown.

I am definitely more drawn to this palette because of the gorgeous colors in it. You would be amazed to see what these colors do for blue eyes. Here are the swatches:

This is the top row of colors. Every color in this palette is opaque, even the lighter colors. You can see how much more opaque the black is in this palette than the Storm palette.

This is the bottom row. Once again, these are swatched with no primer on the left and MAC painterly paint pot on the right. The only matte in this palette is the black.

My Thoughts (Sunset Palette):
This is my favorite palette of the two. Which I'm sure I've already said. This palette is perfect for blue and green eyes, but it would be gorgeous on everyone. The shadows are more consistent in this palette. Would I buy this again? Most definitely. I believe that this is one palette (considering I only have these two) that is worth investing money in. If you have a chance to get this one, do it! I know you won't regret it.

Here is a look I did using the Sunset palette: I do not have any close-ups of the eyes, though.

I hope you enjoyed this review. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.