Big Lots Haul and Swatches

Hello again readers!

Well, I certainly have taken my sweet time in coming back. School started up again, and well, education comes first. I didn't have much time to take swatches, let alone make a blog post about them...

Anyway, years ago I thought Big Lots wasn't that great, it's just a shop that I just wasn't interested in until this past year after seeing some of the amazing deals that people have been getting with cosmetics. Now I'm kind of hooked, and I go there about once a month or so to see what kind of goodies I can get. Here we go!

Wet n Wild -  Greed

I started really getting into makeup when these palettes were still in stores (I really remember getting 3/4 of them and missing out on this one!).

Wet n Wild is not MAC or Inglot by any means, but they do have some great shadows, and their 6-pans were great! You'd get three matte, and three shimmer colours in each palette. 

Swatched Dry

In this palette, you get three mattes: a cream, an orange-brown shade, and a black. The black isn't that pigmented, but for adding a little bit of definition to the outer corner or to the crease it should work fine.

You also get three shimmers: A light silver with a small amount of gold shimmer (it looks so warm because I swatched it over the L'Oreal Caresse Shine Stain... oops!), a nice rose-gold, and a shimmery black. Once again, the black isn't the most pigmented, and really I'm never wild about shimmery blacks... however, the lighter colours are gorgeous.

You can still find these (many of these) paired with the Lust palette at Big Lots for only 3.50! 

L'Oreal Color Riche Balm - Laze in the Maze and Sundays by the Scene

Another one of those products that I didn't want at their full priced, but once I found them on sale I had to have them...

I adore the packaging on the Color Riche Balms! They are so cute, with the coloured caps and the gold plastic holding the balm. It just looks really adorable, and it's something you can easily find in your purse too. I'm also really pleased that the caps don't come off easily, as I was expecting them too, but they really do hold up to their own.

Sundays by the Scene is a clear balm with a pearl shimmer to it. I wasn't expecting a colour, since I've seen swatches beforehand, but I'm still a little bummed that it's not really a blue-colour... It'd be so unique!

Laze in the Maze is a bright, bubblegum pink. I have to be honest, I was prepared to hate it, but after wearing it, I fell in love! It's a perfect summer pink.

I had to lighten up the lip swatches, because for some reason they came out so dark, even when I took them facing the sun, what's up with that?

You can see all my peach fuzz, my bad

Sundays by the Scene adds a shine to your lips, kind of like a frosted effect.

Laze in the Maze

Something I really noticed was that the balms really liked to settle into the lines of your lips, which could be an issue if you have a lot or you get dry lips (like me) a lot. In most cases, it might not be noticeable, but if you're really looking closely you can definitely see it.

Maybelline Color Sensational High Shine Lipgloss - Coral Heat

I bought this one on a whim, and I gotta say, I am loving my nude trend!

Coral Heat is a beautiful coral pink creme lipgloss, that has just the right amount of pigment. The wear is a little slicker than the NYX Butter Glosses, but how opaque it was is similar.

It adds just the right touch of colour, and it's very flattering.

Revlon - Pink in the Afternoon and Night Sky

I haven't had a Revlon Lipstick in a while, so this is my first one I went out and bought for myself! The last one I had, was a gift.

And I was pretty excited for the eyeshadow too.

Pink in the Afternoon is a dusty, rose pink creme. I was really pleased with how pigmented it was, and with just one swipe gave a great pop of colour. It's pink enough to add more, but not too distracting either.

Night Sky is a blackened eyeshadow base with iridescent glitter. I was a little let down, seeing as it's so gorgeous in the pan, but swatching it was a nightmare. Unless you do this wet, prepare to apply layer after layer... after layer to where you want it. It's a hassle, and I wasn't wild about it... I guess I can use it for an eyeliner with some mixing medium, but I might end up just forgetting about it, no matter how pretty it is.

Maybelline Great Lash - I See Blue

I really want to get my hands on Maybelline Great Lash in Royal Blue, but seeing this for so cheap? Sold!

I See Blue is a bright blue that grabs your attention very quickly. I was really impressed with how opaque this mascara was, and was expecting to have to do at least three coats to get proper colour, but I only needed two for full effect! It goes on so great, and even if it's  not waterproof, is definitely a thumbs up.

L.A.Colors - Glossin Go Dazzling Lipgloss and Navy Blue Liquid Eyeliner

The L.A. Colors Navy Eyeliner I instnatly fell in love with at first swatch. It's a gorgeous deep navy, that gets full colour in a single swipe (you may have to go over it) and I was so excited to try it on that as soon as I got home i applied it.... And instantly had my heart broken.

The eyeliner was really runny, which isn't the biggest deal, my ELF eyeliners are runny too, but once this got in my eyes, they BURNED. Even applying it anywhere near my lid my eyes would start to water, and the eyeliner would get all over the place. I love the colour, but the pain isn't worth it.

Dazzing however, is a different story. It's a standard gloss, and I was expecting it to have minimal coverage, but I was surprised. It's a bright pink with a pearlescent shift, and it applied in one coat! It doesn't have a very good smell or taste, but it looks really great, and it's as slick as I come to expect from a gloss. Wear time is average.

Thanks for reading!

L'Oreal Caresse Shine Stain Lipgloss - Coral Tattoo

Hello again readers!

I passed up on the L'Oreal Caresse Shine Stain Lipglosses at first, because they were a pretty big hit to my wallet... I'm wishy-washy with lip colours, and if I get a wrong one, I'd much rather it be a two dollar lippy that I can still get a use out of, instead of a ten dollar gloss... However, I bought this one on Target on sale, so now I can do my review about it. :)

These have been kind of raved about in the beauty community, comparing them to a more expensive YSL lipgloss, which, I'm a sucker for getting a product just because it's a dupe of a more expensive product... Onto the product itself.

The Caresse Shine Glosses come in these nice looking tubes. I call them nice, because I'm not overwhelmed by the packaging by any means, but the gold really makes these stand out, on the shelves as well as in your collection.

The wand is nothing I haven't seen before, just a doe-foot applicator with a little indent to contain more product for application. The end is tapered of so you can do broad strokes, or go in with the tip to really define the gloss line.

With application, I was kind of pleased with how these actually work. You're not going to get a flawless opaque application on the first swipe by any means, but sometimes just a flush of colour is enough to get you by. The idea of these is you apply them as you see fit,  building the colour up until you are content with how opaque the gloss looks, just make sure you wait a minute between coats to make sure that the prior coat has had proper time to dry.

The colour I picked up was Coral Tattoo, which I was surprised that I liked so much. It's a warm, orange-red that with one swipe looks really orange, and with two swipes is a much more wearable orange-red. It's perfect for spring and summer, really, and just the colour is so beautiful to look at.

Top: 1 swipe, Bottom: 2 Swipes

Even the lightest swatch leaves a stain behind, which is great if you're going to be in the heat, or wearing this for a long time. Unfortunately, for me, it didn't all wear off at the same time, which made it a little awkward, but it's easy to just add a sheer swipe over the fading colour to bring it back.

3 swipes over lips

The swatch above is about after an hour os wear, with lip-biting included. It wore off a bit at the edges (like where I over-drew the gloss), but the rest seems to be in good condition.

I felt that the gloss was dryer than I was expecting, where I was expecting a gloss to be slick, this was a dryer formula to keep the gloss present for longer. It wasn't too much of an issue, but since it's not moisturizing, if you have a tendency for dry lips, this could just make your situation worse...

Do I personally think these are worth ten dollars? No, but if you're lucky, you can find them on sale every so often, and if glosses are your thing, treat yourself, you might just love them.

Thanks for reading!