March 2020 - Reviews and Other Stuff

Month: March 2020

Viseart Eyeshadow Collection Review + Swatches

March 31, 2020 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

There’s something about Viseart eyeshadows that made me so curious to try. At first, I was really fascinated by their pigments even before having to swatch them on my arm. Whenever I glance at Viseart palettes at Sephora, I’ve always thought that the pigments look very vivid, rich, and totally enticing. On top of that, their packaging looks unique and totally different. It made me wonder how they fare especially when compared to other big-name eyeshadow palettes out there.

With time, I’ve managed to collect a few Viseart Eyeshadow Palettes and here’s what I think about each of them.

Tryst Eyeshadow Palette (49 USD) – This palette has 9 shades which contain mostly of 7 metallic shimmery shades that are not too blinding and 2 very wearable matte shades. I would describe this palette as somewhat of an all-season type where you can find shades that are Fall/Winter-ready and also shades that you can rock for Spring and Summer. I do think that most of the shades in this palette are warm-toned and I also think that any complexion can wear them, so overall, I find this palette to be very wearable and the one that I tend to reach out constantly.

Petite Pro 4 Apricotine (30 USD) – This tiny and bright 8-shade palette is screaming Spring and Summer with its very gorgeous and very pigmented tones of apricot and melon. Although it’s a little challenging for me to pull off the peachy tones, I still find these shades to be very wearable when applied well. Also, this palette has some very flattering neutral tones that are definitely worth wearing and trying.

Paris EDIT Eyeshadow Palette (39 USD) – This is one of those eyeshadow palettes that will make you happy even before actually trying or using it. A palette designed and was released during Valentine’s Day, you can’t help but stare at the beauty of this palette over and over again. This has 12 shades that consist mostly of 4 mattes and 8 shimmers which are all very pigmented and silky. As a Valentine palette, I definitely find the shades to be rose-toned and definitely romantic. The overall size of this palette is not too small and not too big either and it’s wonderful for traveling.

Petit PRO 1 Eyeshadow Palette (30 USD) – This petite palette contains 8 shades and they are mostly neutrals. I feel like this is a starter Viseart palette and the shades are very pigmented and you can create different eye makeup looks even though this fits on the palm of your hand. There are 4 mattes in this palette and there are also 4 shimmers that complement each other.

Theory Eyeshadow Palette in Theory VII Siren (45 USD) – A Fall-ready eyeshadow palette with 6 microshimmery shades. This palette is one of my faves if not my most favorite from the Viseart Theory Eyeshadow line because of its gorgeous rose and coppery tones. There are only 6 shades in this palette but each pan is large and all the shades are beautiful and are very smooth to apply and blend. You can create a neutral eye look or a rosy warm metallic look with this beautiful bold palette.

In Summary, the Viseart Eyeshadow Palettes are free of parabens, phthalates, mineral oil, and are cruelty-free and gluten-free. I am very impressed with their quality especially with their pigments that are extremely rich and long-wearing. I love how they curate the shades in each palette and each has consistently good quality and has very very minimal to zero fallouts. Texture-wise and shade-wise, these Viseart eyeshadow palettes don’t need a primer and they stay put for hours on the lid, even if your lid is oily. My lid gets oily for sure but these palettes never creased on me and they never irritated my lid either which is really nice because I tend to be very cautious with eyeshadows since some can give me a terrible allergic reaction. If I have to compare these palettes with some other palettes out there, I would say that these palettes’ quality is definitely the pro-type, high-end, and they have a very similar feel and performance to the Natasha Denona eyeshadows, Charlotte Tilbury’s, and yes even similar to Tom Ford’s. Therefore, I highly recommend these eyeshadows.

Are you a fan of these eyeshadows too? What are your favorite eyeshadow brands?

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Product Fails Part 1

March 27, 2020 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Since we’re now mostly working from home, I managed to spend some time sorting some of my beauty and skincare products. It’s been a long time since I talked about some disappointing beauty/skincare/haircare items. So, I will be mentioning them in this post. However, this post will only be part one as I am still in the process of sorting some stuff. Expect to read several parts of this post in the future.

There are four products mentioned in this post. I used to really love one of them, but now I’ve changed my mind. There is also a product here that I thought would work well for me, but it just didn’t. So, here they are.

Benefit Cosmetics Foolproof Brow Powder (0.07 oz: 24 USD) – I had been testing some brow powders because they seem to be easy and quick to use, plus they seem to also give that natural volumized-brow look. So, I thought this Benefit Foolproof Brow Powder would be a good option, however, I was really disappointed at this because of two things. First, the brush applicator just doesn’t pick up any product. Instead, it accumulates oil and transfers it into the powder. Second, the powder itself isn’t pigmented enough and it doesn’t adhere to the brow well. The two supposed to be ombré tones you see in the compact will not transpire on your brows. Overall, this was a real disappointment. I find the Benefit Brow Styler Eyebrow Pencil & Powder Duo to be much better than this even though it doesn’t have a spoolie because the Benefit Brow Styler gives a natural volumized-brow look provided that you are lighthanded on your application. For a more volumized brow, the Hourglass Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil and the Shiseido Brow Ink Trio Pencil (both seen HERE) are also very good options. They are linked below at the end of this post.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz (0.003 oz: 23 USD) – I used to really really love this and so are the rest of the ABH brow products. But lately, I have shifted my feelings toward some other brands because this Brow Wiz and the Brow Definer have such unreliable flimsy packaging. I couldn’t count how many times these broke on me during my travels. Worst of all, the breakage happens on the spoolie part which gets stuck at the cap, deeming the spoolie unusable. I prefer the packaging of Hourglass or even Burberry which are more robust and reliable during travels. But, with those being said, I still like and recommend the quality and formula of the ABH brow products, I just wish they’d improve their packaging and design.

Living Proof Perfect Hair Day Triple Detox Shampoo (2-24 oz: 13-59 USD) – I had high hopes for this product. I thought this was going to be my go-to for greasy hair days, and that this was going to be my most preferred charcoal shampoo. Well, this could have been but if that meant using a ton of this product before I could get rid of the excess oil off my hair, well, that’s going to be very costly. I felt like the 2 oz tube only lasted 3 to 4 usage on me. I had better luck with the Pantene Charcoal Shampoo (reviewed HERE) as well as the Briogeo Scalp Revival Charcoal Shampoo (seen HERE) which smells so good and so invigorating.

Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning Mask (8-32 oz: 36-115 USD) – I like a lot of Briogeo products, but not this one. I have given this product a chance many many times, but it just didn’t work for my hair. This made my hair so greasy and so heavy no matter how much I use. I do have straight hair which makes me so cautious about using thick and heavy hair masks especially the ones with coconut oil in it because those tend to weigh my strands. For hair masks, I love the ones from Christophe Robin, Kérastase, and the good ‘ol Neutrogena Triple Moisture Mask.

Have you ever tried any of these products before? What are the beauty/skincare/haircare products that disappointed you lately?

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Armani Power Fabric vs Hourglass Vanish Airbrush vs Pat McGrath Sublime Perfection Concealer Review

March 24, 2020 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Hi there, who’s all dressed up and got nowhere to go? 🙂 Oh, what a time we’re living in right now. I hope you are all doing ok. In this downtime, I’ve been testing three concealers, which are the ones from Armani Beauty, Hourglass, and Pat McGrath Labs. These three are my current concealer faves although I also have some other holy grail concealers in mind and I will mention them to you guys in this post. For these concealers, I will be comparing them against each other and I will tell you which one I think is the best.

On a side note, I tend to apply and blend my concealer using the beautyblender most of the time. However, I do have a special liking of the Sephora #80 Pro Contour Highlight Brush which is a small, tapered, rounded, soft brush that is not only great for contouring and highlighting the nose but can also double as an undereye concealer brush. Anyway, check out my three current concealer faves that I’ve tested and compared.

Armani Power Fabric Concealer in 4.5 (0.2 oz: 34 USD) – I first got a sample of this concealer months ago and I really like its consistency and coverage. Per Armani Beauty’s description, this concealer is meant to be long-wearing, color-correcting, and has a high-coverage. Its finish is matte but with a second-skin feel that won’t crease or cake. While those things are all true except for being “high-coverage”. This concealer does cover the redness and blemishes, but only to a certain degree. If you have very dark spots, this won’t do it. However, for good-to-slightly-problematic skin days, you can definitely rely on this concealer. What I really love about this concealer is that this is so easy to blend which is somewhat similar to the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer, although this concealer tends to set faster than Nars’. Because this is easy to spread or blend and is very light, I like to put this on my undereyes and this gives a more awake look that seems natural. Also, I love that this never creased on my undereyes, and on top of that, I love that this comes in a lightweight tube with a signature Armani logo on it.

Armani Beauty recently released a very interesting concealer, which is the Armani Luminous Silk. I can’t wait to test it and will report to you all soon.

Hourglass Vanish Airbrush Concealer in Sepia (light-medium, neutral undertone 0.2 oz: 34 USD) – This concealer comes in a beautifully-designed sleek tube complete with an H-logo on top. I like that this also feels lightweight like the Armani Power Fabric and that one side of this concealer is flat, so you can store this horizontally, which prevents the product from rolling and falling on the floor. The coverage of this concealer is meant to be full and the finish is natural. This does have a weightless feel and is definitely waterproof and totally crease-resistant as well. Also, this concealer is made of clean ingredients. When it comes to the coverage, I find that this is also great for good skin days and for those days with mild to moderate breakouts, but just like the Armani Power Fabric Concealer above, this won’t do well for dark spots. I also think that this sets a bit faster than the Armani Power Fabric which makes this concealer a bit difficult to blend. However, this does feel like a real second-skin and is definitely pigmented but for dark spots, you’ll have to look into the next concealer I’m about to review below.

Pat McGrath Labs Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection Concealer in LM8 (light-medium with yellow undertones 0.16 oz: 32 USD) – This Paraben-free concealer has a natural finish that looks quite radiant and with a creamy consistency. This also has a full-coverage, which means this will really cover your age :-). Although this doesn’t feel as lightweight as the Armani Power Fabric and Hourglass Vanish Concealer above, this doesn’t feel heavy either. I would describe the feel of this as similar to the Tarte Shape Tape and perhaps the It Cosmetics Anti-Aging Concealer which are both my holy grail concealers. What I also love about this concealer is the way it adheres to the skin, which has that sort of sticky and flexible property that you only need a little bit of it and you’ll be good to go. Furthermore, this concealer won’t crease, won’t break, and is very reliable overall. I may not like its heavy glass tube packaging which feels like it could fall and shatter anytime soon, but it hasn’t happened yet.

TLDR: If you ask me which of these three concealers I prefer, I would say that it depends on your current skin situation. Personally, on a good skin day with minimal blemishes and marks, I typically use the Armani Power Fabric or the Hourglass Vanish Airbrush. These two are really quite very similar to each other, and so is the Nars Creamy Concealer which is still one of my favorite concealers out there and it still holds as the creamiest overall well-performing concealer in my opinion. However, on problematic-skin days, I like to use the Pat McGrath Sublime Perfection Concealer. I did have a hard time finding the shade match with this concealer, compared to the Armani and the Hourglass ones where I could pretty much fit with almost any tones in their light-medium spectrum. Other than that, if you’re looking for a concealer that will cover your blemishes, post-acne marks/scars, dark spots, and will not only cover your age but will also cover your sins and possibly skeletons in your closet (kidding), then you will enjoy this PMG Sublime Perfection Concealer.

Have you tried any of these concealers before? What are your holy grail concealers?

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