Urban Decay Smoked VS ELF Smoke Prism Eyeshadow Palettes

Hello again readers!

This is more of a fun post, rather than a full-on review. I was going through my collection and picking out things that have gone bad (which I try to do relatively often) and I took notice on some similar shades in my Urban Decay Smoked palette, and my ELF Smoke Prism Eyeshadow Palettes. I thought that it'd be fun to put them together, and compare the shades.

First off, the packaging for both are great in their own ways, The UD Palette is larger (as it holds more shades!), with a cloth coating and a zipper opening. It's a bit of a hassle to have to unzip it and re-zip it (especially if you *think* that you're finished with your look, only to notice you didn't blend a shadow far enough and it doesn't match up.

The ELF palette is much more sleek, and easier to access. It's smaller, with a matte black plastic packaging. They both have mirrors, but the elf mirror is the entire length of the palette, making it better for the space.

The UD palette has a total of 10 shades, where six of them are shimmery shades, and four of them are matte. The ELF palette has 6 shades, all in a shimmery metallic finish.

The UD palette is better for creating a variety of looks without having to pull in shadows from other palettes. With the addition of the mattes, there are shadows to add definition, transitions, and overall a better look compared to the ELF palette, which I feel needs other shadows pulled in to make the look complete.

The only shadows that I found truly similar were the jewel tones, which are the reasons for this post in the first place. Both palettes have jewel toned violets, blues, and greens

In comparison, the UD shades are more intense, and have a deeper color to them, while the ELF shadows are more muted. It's one of those things that I don't reach for jewel toned shadows often, but if I did I would want them to be incredibly intense.

Both shadows are good quality, easy to blend, and feel really smooth to the touch.

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The UD Smoked palette is unfortunately being phased out. It's a shame, because this is the first mid-ranged palette that i ever wanted to get my hands on, it's the palette that's held my interest for the longest amount of time. It was more expensive (originally $50, down to $30, and you can still find it for $20). Most of the shadows can be bought in singles, which is great if there's only a shade or two that you're interested in.

The ELF palette is a lot more affordable ($10, but if you wait till ELF has a 50% sale you can get it for $5 like I did!) and has a lot more shimmery shades to make really interesting smokey metallic looks.

If you're someone that craves those deep jewel tones, check out the UD singles, they're really interesting and really great pigmentation.

If you're someone who doesn't reach for jewel tones often, or prefer a more muted look, invest in the ELF palette.

Thanks for reading!

Battle of the Eyeshadow Primers

Hello again readers!

I love being able to try new makeup products, nothing beats being able to test out a new product to see if you'll fall in love with it, or if you'll hate it. I've tested my fair share of eye primers, and after using a primer for the first time, I can never go back! Of course, not all of them are created equal, so I compared the ones I have to see which ones are really worth your money, and which ones are better worth a trip to the bin.

For the shadow, I used the dark green eyeshadow from Forever 21. I love the shade, but without a primer it just will never reach it's true potential. I applied it with my ELF Essential Eyeliner Brush, and left it on my arm for 8 hours.

The competitors:

ELF Eyelid Primer – Original

ELF Eyelid  Primer – Pearl

Wet n Wild Fergie Take on the Day Primer – Original

Wet n Wild Fergie Take on the Day Primer – Shimmer

Milani Eyeshadow Primer

Hard Candy Eyeshadow Primer

NYX HD Eyeshadow Base

Urban Decay Primer Potion – Original

Too Faced Shadow Insurance – Original

I put them in order with the (C)ontrol being the shadow by itself.

Obviously right out of the gate, they all look very brilliant, aside from E1, and F1, that look duller than the rest, and C which was almost completely rubbed off.

The next is after 8 hours of wear:

Clearly there is a lot of fading present in all of the swatches, which isn't surprising at all.

I have separated them into three categories: Low, Medium, and High Performance Categories.

Low  Perfomance:

Elf Eyelid Primer – Original

Elf Eyelid Primer – Pearl

Both of these primers are better than no primer at all, but only by a little. E2 started out looking brighter, but ended up fading the most. Out of the two, I will stick with E1 for swatches.

Medium Performance:

Wet n Wild Fergie Take on the Day Primer – Shimmer

Milani Eyeshadow Primer 

These both had better wear, but not as great as the higher performance products. They faded, but still retained color and shimmer well. I was surprised with Milani as I've heard many times that it's a dupe for the Urban Decay Primer Potion, but clearly that is not true.

High Performance:

Wet n Wild Fergie Take on the Day Primer – Original

Hard Candy Eyeshadow Primer 

NYX HD Eyeshadow Base 

Urban Decay Primer Potion – Original

Too Faced Shadow Insurance – Original

I was really impressed with how many did well. I found that the higher end products did hold up (as they should, since they are so expensive), and I was really impressed that the Fergie primer did as well as it did, since it's so cheap. They held color and shimmer for 8 hours.

I hope that this helped some of you make decisions on some of the products you're interested in.

Thanks for reading!

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil VS Jordana 12 Hour Made to Last Eyeshadow Pencil

Hello again readers!

So I have been sitting on this post for a while, and I'm sorry to say, but there are SO many posts that have been hiding in my computer... They're hidden in folders, inside of folders, inside of folders, so I'm going to do my best to bring them to the light.

I have been trying out more jumbo eye pencils, because I really like the versatility they provide, plus they can really pump up an otherwise dull/boring eye look. I have duplicates in colours, but I wanted to really compare the colours and the formulas, to see which is the better buy.

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils have been around for a long time. They're easy to apply, easy to blend out, and are easy enough to come by. They are $4.50 a piece, and you get 0.18 oz of product per pencil, plus you have SO many colours to choose from! Though, you DO have to set these with an eyeshadow, and even then, they might crease on you (if you have oily lids make sure you wear a primer!)

Jordana 12 Hour Made to Last Eyeshadow Pencils come in a far more limited selection (8, to be exact). They are also easy to apply, to blend out, and are easy to come by (my favourite choices to shop for these products are Walgreens and KMart!). They have the added benefit of staying for the entire day, as once they set, they are SET.  They are $4 a piece, and you get 0.10 oz of product. So, you get .08 oz less than the competitor.

Black  Bean VS Stay-On-Black

Black Bean was really hard to get even close to opaque. I kept applying, and applying... and applying, and I didn't get much payoff for my efforts.

Stay-On-Black applied really well, and with a few strokes I managed to get it fully opaque.

 I applied my dark green eyeshadow from Forever 21, since it's a colour that doesn't have good colour payoff on it's own. I applied it both over Black Bean and Stay-On-Black.

The real winner in this sceanario, is Stay-On-Black, hands down. It's cheaper, it doesn't budge, it's more opaque, and it brings out the colour of cheap eyeshadows more than Black Bean.

Milk VS Eternal White

These were a bit more evenly matched.

Milk was very creamy, and applied well. Though I have to worry about creasing with this product, the white was opaque and applied well. This blends out nicely, and creates a nice base for your shadow.

Eternal White has a drier formula, and though it lasts longer, I have to put more effort into applying it. It blends out nicely, and I do not have to worry about creasing with this product.

For layering, I used a light pink shade in one of my ELF eyeshadow books. The pink on it's own isn't much, but layered over white you really get more out of it.

Milk, since it's a creamier formula, really picks up the powder, helping it to adhere.

Eternal White is a little harder to work with, but you an end up with the same look, it just takes more effort.

I give this a tie, because they both have pros, and they both have cons, and it's really up to you which one is worth your time/money/effort over the other.

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Really, at the end of it, why not try both? See what really works for you. I prefer the Jordana pencils, but they have nothing on the colour selection that NYX offers. If you like plain neutrals, or you just want to try it out, spring for Jordana, and they also offer blue, frosty pink, violet and green glitters. 

If you want a broader colour selection, and you want to go crazy trying some different colours, then go for the NYX. There's only a 50 cent difference, so you're not saving too much or splurging too much no matter what you pick. :)

Thanks for reading!

Funky Fingers - Venom, Evenora's Envy, and Taken

Hello again readers~

Quick round of swatches from Funky Fingers. 

Evenora's Envy

Evenora's Envy is from their OZ collection. It's a basic, light teal (minty) creme. It really resembles Sinful Colors - Mint Apple, but slightly lighter and without the shimmer. It was opaque with 2 coats.

Taken

Out of all three, I hated this one. Taken is a shredded glitter in a blue base, but the glitter payoff is terrible. This is with two coats. It looks gorgeous in the bottle, but it ends there.

Venom

Venom was one that was on my wishlist, and I was happy to find it in the store. It's a violet/green duo-chrome polish. It was opaque with two coats, though reminded me of...

Color Club - Portfolio

Venom - Right, Portfolio - Left

They were almost dead-on dupes, but Venom was slightly darker.

Thanks for reading~

Sinful Colors - Shock and Awe + Comparison with Sinful Colors - Endless Blue

Hello again readers~

I picked up this polish from Target a bit ago, seeing them in a little bin. It's the only one I wanted, as the others were warm colours.

This is one of those polishes that were exclusive to Target, priced at 2 dollars each, and like I said, displayed in a bin. Not the most attractive display, but they were all bright and it caught my eye.

Shock and Awe is a bright, blue-violet creme polish.

And it applies wonderfully in two coats, I didn't have any problems with it.

Comparison to Endless Blue:

Endless Blue, Shock and Awe, Endless Blue, Shock and Awe

I was a little turned off, of how these two polishes were. Shock and Awe is so similar, just blue-violet instead of cobalt. They were too close in colour for me, though if you collect Sinful Colors polishes or have a desire to have multiple different shades, then this is just as great as the other polishes.

For me, it wasn't something I needed.

Thanks for reading~

Cream and Gel Liner Reviews and Comparisons

Hello again readers~

So for the last bit for today, is the comparisons and swatches of Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner in Black, and Wet n Wild Cream Liner in Black!

They both come in containers like this. The Maybelline Gel Liner comes in a sleek container, while Wet n Wild comes in a, dare I say it, wild container, with a rounded top. So it sits upside down, which is good for the product to stay moist on top.

(Photo is after I rubbed at each one over ten times HARD!)

Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner

Pros:
- Comes in a stylish container
- Comes with an amazing brush
- Product last a long time (both in the container and on the eyes!)
- Bold pigment (more of a matte color though)

Cons:
- A drier constancy, and you sometimes have to go over it twice, or even three times to make sure you have covered everything.
- Does smear if you rub at it, and will rub off easily.
- Needs an oil based remover to remove fully.

Overall: 5/5
This liner is great! It's not too expensive, but it does breach that $10 cheap limit. The brush is one of the best eyeliner brushes I have used, and gives amazing results every time. The only flaw is that the formula is made a bit dry, so it sometimes needs a bit of touching up.



Wet n Wild Cream Liner

Pros:
- CHEAP! It's only 4 dollars at CVS.
- It's very creamy, which makes it really easy to line the eyes.
- Easy to get to.
- Doesn't rub off very easily.
- Product lasts a long time ( both in the container and on the eyes!)

Cons:
- Doesn't come off easily, and needs an oil based remover to be removed completely.
- The brush that comes with it is not very good at all at distributing the product.

Overall: 5/5
This is one of my favorite liners of all time. It just doesn't budge all day long! It stays where it is at. I don't really like the brush at all though, because all it is good for is tight-lining the upper lash line, but the formula is so smooth and creamy it more than makes up for it.


My pick?
I would go with the Wet n Wild Cream Liner. The results are so much better, the pigment is bolder, and you just can't beat the price of 4 dollars! Plus it lasts you such a long time, even if you wear it every day!

Thank you for reading~

Incolor Fabuliner, CoverGirl Line Exact, and E.L.F. Waterproof Eyeliner Pen Review

Hello again readers!

This is the order on which I swatched them on my hand (one swatch with just the tip, and one with the side so for a total of 8 lines): E.L.F Waterproof Eyeliner Pen in Black, Incolor FabuLiner in Black, Incolor FabuLiner in Brown, and Cover Girl Line Exact in Black.

This was what they looked like this morning. It seems that the CoverGirl has the deepest color for black. Swiped the color on the side swatches in two coats.

This is what they looked like after 8 hours. Of course, my hand isn't very oily, so if you have really oily skin it might look a bit different.

And this is what happened with two hard swipes of the makeup remover. E.L.F. Waterproof Eyeliner Pen, wins in staying power for black, and the Incolor FabuLiner in Brown is still pretty rich in color! I was really impressed!

E.L.F. Waterproof Eyeliner Pen:

Staying Power: 5/5 Still really nice dark color after all that abuse!

Color: 4/5 Dark (though it could take more than one stroke to get it even all over)

Price: 5/5! It's just a dollar!

Would buy again?: Yes, I don't care if it dries up quickly, the price is good, and so is the formula! It's worth the dollar!

Incolor FabuLiner in Black Eyeliner Pen

Staying Power: 4/5. It stayed well, but did fade a bit.

Color: 3/5. A little watery, will need two strokes to get a bold color.

Price: 5/5 Just two dollars!

Would buy again?: I think I'll buy E.L.F. instead.

Incolor FabuLiner in Brown Eyeliner Pen

Staying Power: 5/5 Rich color, even after the long hours and the makeup remover. Doesn't budge too easily.

Color: 5/5 I love the color! Not a brown-black, but not a super light brown either.

Price: 5/5 Just two dollars!

Would buy again?: YES!

CoverGirl Line Exact Eyeliner Pen

Staying Power: 2/5 Doesn't really stay that well (though it likes to disagree with my photos, I've used this many times before, and know differently).

Color: 1/5 Definitely needs more than one stroke to get it dark.

Price: 1/5 It was about 7 dollars, for this formula that's not really that good.

Would buy again?: No. Too expensive compared to the others I prefer, and the formula is lacking compared to the others as well.

I hope you enjoyed!