Reviews and Other Stuff

Giorgio Armani Rouge D’Armani Matte Lipstick Review & Swatches

November 15, 2018 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Hello Friends! Giorgio Armani Beauty recently released another lipstick to love and it’s matte. I’ve been dying to try this Rouge D’Armani Matte Lipstick (0.14 oz: $38) for some time and I’ve got some shades swatched for you all in this review. To tell you honestly, I’m a big fan of Armani Cosmetics and there isn’t one product from their line that I don’t love. From their beautiful foundations down to their gorgeous lipsticks, I’m a sucker for anything Armani Beauty, LOL, and this new Rouge D’Armani Matte Lipstick has truly captured my heart.

At first glance, this lipstick is beautiful and it screams “Si Passione” with its sleek matte red-black casing and a magnetic closure. It has a bit of a flattened oblong-shaped case that you’d find typical in most Armani lip products, like the Lip Magnet (swatched and reviewed HERE). It also feels slightly heavy with an overall robust solid feel.

This Rouge D’Armani Matte is a full-coverage lipstick that feels incredibly smooth and easy to swipe on the lips. It is extremely pigmented and it’s one of the most pigmented lipsticks I’ve ever tried. Such intense pigment that you only need to swipe it once on the lips and you’ll get maximum color that will last for pretty much the whole day. This never dried my lips and this feels really weightless. It’s hard to define this lipstick’s texture and I actually find it to be quite fascinating because this feels light yet also thick and creamy, but its finish is totally matte and it doesn’t dry nor emphasize the lip lines that much. In other words, it’s complicated, LOL, but it’s a beautiful well-done matte lipstick with a breakthrough formulation that truly delivers what it’s supposed to be, and it exceeded my expectation being it as a matte lipstick.

Here are my favorites

102 Androgino – Antique Rose, great as an everyday lip color this season.

201 Nightberry – Described as Scarlet Red, but looks more like a vamp.

400 Four Hundred – Red Crimson. This is a muted scarlet red with a hint of orange, quite similar to the Chanel no. 5 lipstick (seen HERE). I prefer this shade better than the Chanel one because this has a bit more red that is intense yet more muted, and its texture is more matte.

501 Milano – Smokey rose. Had mixed emotions about this shade at first because it looked like a mauve rose when I swatched it on my arm, but when I tried it on my lips, I kinda looked half-dead, or in need of resuscitation, LOL. Without much light, this shade looks greige and I can’t pull off greige, but on a bright light, this actually looks still greige but with a bit of rose, which I then realized that I could still manage to pull off after all.

502 Kimono – Muted pink with a bit more rose.

Two things I wanna point out about this Rouge D’Armani Matte Lipstick. First, this lipstick tends to lose its shape easily after a few applications because it’s actually soft so it’s kinda hard to accurately line your lips with just this. You may wanna need a lip liner or a lip brush in the long run. Second, the colors of this lipstick at a glance may look pale in comparison to its actual application in which it’s actually super saturated in color. So it’s always a good idea to try to swatch this in store or look at online swatches very carefully. Other than that, this lipstick is one of my favorites this Fall/Winter season and I’m not kidding when I said that this lasted the whole day on me, even after lunch and dinner plus a couple of teas and coffees without any reapplication. Now that’s marvelous!

Giorgio Armani Rouge D’Armani Matte Lipstick is currently available at Sephora, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Harrods, Bloomingdale’s, Barneys New York and GiorgioArmaniBeauty.com

VII Code O2M Oxygen Eye Mask For Dark Circles Review

November 13, 2018 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

What’s Up everyone! I could probably count on my fingers the number of eye creams and other undereye treatments I’ve come to used and liked in the past. That’s because it’s one of those skincare products/regimens that I tend to forget, neglect, and frankly, it’s hard to find the right one that works, especially when my undereye issue is not just a combination of lack of sleep and overall lifestyle, but also it’s partly genetics. Apart from having dark undereye circles which I usually try to hide by using creamy concealers, I also have puffiness and very thin dry area on my undereyes that I tend to control by using some soothing eye masks and heavy eye creams. Some of them kinda work, but most of them don’t, and from time to time I would forget applying them anyway since they’re easy to overlook.

Enter VII Code’s Oxygen Eye Mask for Dark Circles (6 treatments: $58). I was thrilled when they sent me a box to try and I immediately used each treatment every night, carefully following the instruction on how to use it. To give you a bit of an overview, VII Code is an eye skincare brand with a rich history that dates back to the 18th century. They’re specialized in creating tailored eye skincare products targeting different undereye skin concerns. The O2M Oxygen Eye Mask for Dark Circles has plant oxygen extracts, grapeseed oil, seaweed, and white tea among its ingredients. The goal of this mask is to nourish and refresh the skin around the eyes, aiming not only to reduce dark circles but also to reduce undereye puffiness and minimizing any signs of aging by making the skin around the eyes firmer and looking well-hydrated.

Use each individually wrapped eye pads after cleansing and prepping your face, that is, after your favorite moisturizers or any other creams. Try to be careful not to put anything towards the eye area and don’t put any eye creams at all because the VII Code eye mask has a peel off sticky side that needs to adhere to the skin. Upon application, I noticed that this eye mask has a gel-like feel, kinda like one of those hydrocolloid bandages, and it’s really soothing. I let it stay on my skin overnight (8-hour use) and I was surprised that it indeed remained on my undereyes without moving. In fact, this eye mask adhered well all throughout my nightly usage of it. I even put some on the refrigerator and that made them even more relaxing to use. On day two, I woke up and noticed that my eye bags were looking less pronounced and I didn’t look so tired, also the skin around my undereyes seems more balanced. As the days progressed, I noticed that my undereyes didn’t look and feel so dry and that I didn’t need to apply that much concealer at all. Also, I didn’t have any problem with my foundations looking cakey on my undereyes since my skin feels and looks more hydrated.

The VII Code O2M Oxygen Eye Mask has been one of the most fun eye masks I’ve ever tried. They’re quick, practical, easy to use, and applying them is definitely not messy. Each eye mask sticks well to the skin, yet they’re also easy to remove without causing any skin irritation. They feel mild and soothing to the senses and they help to make you look and feel good about your undereyes.

You can find the VII Code O2M Oxygen Eye Mask For Dark Circles and some other VII Code eye products/treatments and eye creams by visiting their website at http://www.viicode.com or you can also purchase their products on Amazon.com.

(Disclosure: Product samples provided by VII Code. The reviews, photos, and opinions herein are solely mine)

Urban Decay Naked Cherry Eyeshadow Palette Review And Swatches

November 9, 2018 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

What’s up All! The Urban Decay Naked saga continues with the latest launch of the Naked Cherry Eyeshadow Palette. There are 12 shades in this palette which costs $49 and they all range from different levels of matte nudes, metallic gold/bronze, intense mauves, and some rich browns. I was a bit surprised at the color scheme of this palette because I expected it to have more reds, plums, and even pinks, instead, the colors fall on the black cherry spectrum which gives that Fall/Winter vibe.

Upon initial testing, I find that each eyeshadow shade has a nice velvety smooth texture that is similar to most Urban Decay Naked palettes released in the past. The shades are easy to blend and there’s very minimal to almost no fallouts. Packaging-wise, it is just like most of the Naked palettes which have a full-size mirror and a double-sided brush, one for blending and one for a more precise application or shading. However, as much as I find the brush to be very pretty and convenient, I couldn’t seem to like the side with the blending end because it’s just too large for my eyes. Also, compared to most Naked palette brushes, especially when compared to the last Naked Heat eyeshadow (swatches HERE), the blending brush size of this Naked Cherry is just a bit too large, so it won’t work for people with small eyes.

This Naked Cherry Palette is long wearing even without any eyeshadow primer used and it also doesn’t smudge. I do have mixed feeling about the shades though, especially the first half with the lighter tones. On my skin, these shades are too light for me and not that pigmented. I think it would work better for those with very fair to very light skin tones. The second half of the palette that has the deeper hues of mauves and browns with some metallics work a lot better for my skin and I think they would suit really for those with medium to deep complexions as well. On the other hand, the shimmers of this palette are just gorgeous, and they range from metallic salmon to metallic gold, bronze, and even metallic dark browns, giving that overall metallic cherry colors. However, as much as I love the metallic shades of this palette, they don’t seem to be well-pigmented since they don’t show much on my lids. I would have to do a wet application of the shimmery/metallic shades in order for them to pop, which I admit is kind of a bummer. The deep shades though are truly pigmented and they’re a lot easier to work with.

My favorite shades of this palette would have to be Bing which is a deep matte mauve pink, followed by Devilish which is a deep plum brown matte, then Young Love which is a metallic mauve. I also love the Drunk Dial (bronze brown), Ambitious (copper brown) and Turn On (golden shimmer) which are so versatile.

Comparing this Naked Cherry eyeshadow palette to the Urban Decay Naked Heat palette, I feel like I kinda prefer the Naked Heat palette more since the shades of that palette seem to fit more with my skin tone. I feel like I could wear any shades of the Naked Heat palette at any time of the day and at any season, but this Naked Cherry will take a bit of work and some getting used to. It’s not because they would make me look bruised (my usual reaction to most reddish/pink/plum eyeshadows), actually, it’s all the contrary. This didn’t make me look like I have hematoma at all, but I just find the lighter shades to be not that pigmented, which I guess is the goal since they’re probably meant for daytime wear, however, the shades just don’t appeal to my skin tone, and the shimmers are totally not pigmented at all no matter how much I tried to layer and build them. On the other hand, the second half portion of this palette is great in terms of pigment, but I can’t go overboard or wear two or three of them together since the color combination can me look like a member of the Addam’s family, lol. The best way to wear this palette is to basically match and blend the dark shades with the lighter ones.

So yeah, I do have mixed feelings about this palette. I wish the ivories and nude shades have more pigments, and I wish the color scheme would have more reds and coppers, but I guess that’s where the Naked Heat palette comes in. So overall, I still think this palette is a keeper and it’s still a must-try for that sultry look this Fall/Winter.

Have you tried this palette already? What d’ya think?

The Urban Decay Naked Cherry eyeshadow palette is currently available at Sephora, Nordstrom, QVC, JCPenney, Macy’s, and Ulta