Disney Villains Collection 2015

Hello again readers!

Disney has struck again, with their launch of the Disney Villains collection for 2015. So many different products to choose from, featuring three of our favorite villainous ladies: Ursula, Grimhilde, and Maleficent!

The Shimmering Powder in Leviathan is a silver shimmer in a plastic container featuring Ursula. The lid is a basic, glossy plastic lid that closes properly, even though when I look at the packaging it looks like it's tilted off to the side slightly. The packaging is a bit cheap, but I don't blame it too  much because it does keep the shimmer from getting all over the place, which is a very good thing.

Under the lid, there's another lid, with grooves that press into the holes. This is perfect, especially for something with so much glitter, so it doesn't contaminate my highlighter drawer. It's firm, and if by a long shot the top lid was lost, I would have this to keep the product from leaving the jar.

 The shimmer is more like a glitter. It's a fine glitter, but it's still a glitter. It makes for a very dramatic highlight, if that's the route you take. i find this to be a very versatile product because I can use it on my cheeks, or on my body for a really over-the-top glow, but if you're one for subtlety this is not the product for you.

The Shimmering Powder in Leviathan retails for $3.49.

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The Grimhilde Jealous Blush instantly fell right into my heart. It's a nice peachy-pink shade with slight gold shimmer.

The texture of the blush was smooth, and running my finger over the product I was really happy with the feel of the powder. It wasn't chalky at all, and pigment was easily picked up. It does have a bit of fallout (most powder products do), and with how soft this product is I do notice a fair bit of fallout when picked up with a brush.

The gold shimmer in the product wasn't something too noticeable. Unless I was really looking closely at my face it didn't jump out at me. It wasn't subtle, not by any means, but it wasn't glaringly obvious I was wearing a blusher with flecks of shimmer either. I really enjoy this blusher as it looks really natural on the face.

The Jealous Blush retails for $3.49.

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The Spellbound Sculpting Palette I will admit I picked up, only because it had Maleficent on it. I couldn't help myself! It has a highlighting shade, a sculpting shade, and a bright blusher shade. I wasn't really overwhelmed with the color selection.

The texture of this palette is similar to the blusher with the powders feeling very soft to the touch and easy to blend out.

The highlight isn't too bright, or too shimmery either. It has a bit of a peach tone to it. The glow it gives is pretty natural and as long as I blend it nicely I don't notice that it doesn't blend int the skin. It's not too noticeable.

The bronzer is really warm. It's not the best to contour with. I have others that I prefer over this one.

The blusher I expected to hate because it's just such a crazy fuchsia shade. Though, on the cheeks it blends out to look a little better than the swatch, it definitely doesn't natural, but it doesn't look bad either.

I wasn't too excited about this once I used it, and wish I didn't buy it, no matter how much I like Maleficent.

The Spellbound Sculpting Palette retails for $3.49.

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The Maleficent Dragon's Lair matte lipstick is a gorgeous brown-red. I love this shade, as it looks a bit like dried blood, and it applies rather well on the lips. The biggest gripe I have is that the scent of this is rather plastic-like, and it's not that appealing.

The lipstick retails for $3.49.

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Out of all three beauty books, this is the only one I wanted, and the only one I knew I'd get any use out of it. The book looks beautiful, inside and out, and I just couldn't resist adding it to my collection.

The inside includes 9 eyeshadows, a blusher, an eyeliner, an eyeshadow brush, a lipstick, and an eyeshadow primer. The primer was okay, sort of reminded me of the ELF Essential primer. Not too overwhelming, since I have better primers.

Diablo Eyeliner:
This eyeliner is just a basic black liner. It dries with a satin finish, isn't waterproof, and won't last on me at all.

Revenge Lipstick:
I really would have rather had another blusher shade, instead of this. It's a bright berry shade with a lot of glitter in it. It has that issue where I can feel all of the glitter on the lips and it's very uncomfortable to wear.

Evil Enchantress Blusher:
A very natural, neutral peach shade. Looks very nice on the face without being too overwhelming.

Slumber:

A light lilac violet.

Fairy:

Blackened Violet. Not very fitting for the name.

Dragon:

Blackened green with sparse glitter.

Slided:
Light lavender violet.

Flame:

Blue-violet. This doesn't go with 'flame' at all, what a terrible name for this shadow. I mean, if it was a green shadow, I could see it more, since her magic flames are green, or even a yellow-green. Pretty shade, terrible name.

Spellbound:

A blackened blue with just a bit of violet in it.

Vanish:

A light, off-white green shade. Really such a pretty shade for highlighting under the brow-bone or the inner corner. Very fitting for her skin tone.

Spindle:

A nice mid-tone green. Really loved the pigmentation on this shade, it was such a pleasure to work with.

Bramble:
A more vivid version of what I expected Spellbound to be with. It's like Spellbound is the watered-down, duller version of Bramble.

The beauty book's shadows are pretty sheer and better to be used with a nice base. I love the color palette, but not so impressed with the pigmentation.

The Maleficent Beauty Book retails for $9.99.

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The Maleficent Contour Brush Set features three brushes: Angled Buff Brush, Stippling Brush, and Concealer Brush. The set retailed for $10.

All of the brushes come with Maleficent's Dragon form embossed on the side, black bristles that lead into a beautiful berry violet at the ends. The color theme of these instantly grabbed my attention.

The angled buff brush was designed to go over the work of the stippling brush, but I use this as just a regular angled brush. It seemed really ridiculous to use two brushes, just for contouring. I tried it that way and wasn't that impressed.

I tried this out by using just this brush to apply contour powder, and I loved it! Very easy to apply, blended out, and looked so nice. Both natural, but sculpted at the same time. A happy medium.

The Stippling Brush says to use it as a contouring brush, but seeing as I generally use powders I hate it for that purpose. Even with contour/bronzing cream products I don't like it all that much.

I tried it for foundations, and while it works, it takes forever since it's so small. I tried it also for cream blushes and had the same issue. It's too small for any of those things, and while it looks really nice, and flawless, it's just too much work.

The best use I found for this brush, is to gently blend in concealer. It's fantastic for that! Really nice, easy to use, and doesn't buff away the coverage.

The Concealer Brush I don't really use for concealer, unless it's to fix my eye wings. I use this to pat on eyeshadow instead. Versatile brushes!

The largest gripe I have about this brush set, is that the glue that holds them into the packaging, is almost too good. It's so incredibly sticky, and I still haven't gotten all of the glue off the bottom of these brushes. Also, the base of these brushes are rather lack-luster. There's nothing amazing about them, they just get cut off. What a shame.

I love that they're Maleficent themed brushes, focusing heavily on contouring, but I don't think these are a need to have in your collection.

The brush set retails for $9.99.

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Really I'm happy with my purchases, and I really like playing around with them. Will I go back and buy more? Maybe. Maybe not. It really depends. If they go on sale, I'll probably pick up the other brush sets, maybe the lip set, but I'm not completely sure.

Thanks for reading!

Disney Dare to Dream Collection at Walgreens

Hello again readers!

This week is a little special, since I'm showing three posts this week! I didn't want to wait too long before posting this one!

I wanted to show some of the Disney Dare to Dream Collection shown at Walgreens. There were three Collections, all revolving around three well-known ladies; Mulan, Ariel, and Pocahontas. They've been circulating around recently, and now they're on clearance! So if any of these swatches appeal to you, now is your time to go out and get them before they're gone!

I did not get anything from the Mulan collection for different reasons. I wouldn't use the book, the eyeliners were sorts that I already had, and I am not a fan of shimmery lip gloss. So there are no products from that collection in this review.

Ariel Collection - Sea Darling

This one of the quads available from the Ariel collection. In my opinion, it is the least special.

The palette includes a cool-toned silver, a periwinkle blue, a turquoise, and a black. All of the shadows are decently pigmented, aside from the black. The issue with these is that they need a  primer or a base to really shine. If you use them by themselves, they will be swept away. Not the most high-quality shadows.

When I see this quad, I don't see anything to really fawn over. The shadows aren't anything unique, and aside from an affordable price of $3, I don't find this palette worth it.

Ariel Collection - Sea Witch 

This palette has a little bit more to offer. It's inspired off the Sea Witch herself - Ursula, and it's very easy to tell. With the lavender tinted white, the light violet, and the deep blackened blue, it rings true to her color palette. The wildcard, is the orange. I would have preferred another blue, or a red, or even a grey for this palette, but it oddly works. It's a little something extra, and having a nice orange shade in the palette keeps it from being too expected.

The shadow quality is the same as Sea Darling. They work best over a base or a primer. The best part about this one, is I find these four shadows easier to work with. The palette is different, and is unique, and definitely something I'd recommend picking up.

Ariel Collection - Beauty Book

In the Ariel beauty book, the colors are bright, fun, and very fitting for her personality, being 16 and all. They are really captivating, and easily swayed into your cart, to be honest.

Treasures: Matte cream.
Pigmented and soft to the touch.

Snarfblatt: A warm brown sheen with shimmer.
Pimened, and soft to the touch. I wasn't wild about the glitter.

 Whozits: A deep matte teal with sparse glitter.
The reason I bought this palette, to be honest. It felt harder, and crumbly, and it was hard to get it opaque. The pigmentation wasn't amazing, and I was left feeling disappointed.

Gadgets: Light pink shimmer.

Pigmented and soft to the touch. Very brightening on the eyelid.

Thingamabobs: Warm violet with shimmer.

Something unexpected, but I really enjoyed this shadow. 

Whatzits: Indigo.

Similar to Whozits, this shade felt harder to the touch, and crumbly. Another disappointment, because I loved how this shade looked in the pan too.

Gizmos: Turquoise matte.
Pigmented, and very soft to the touch. I have other shades like this one, but I can't ever resist a good turquoise or aqua.

Dinglehopper: Light blue sheen.
A soft blue. Pigmented, and soft to the touch. Nothing groundbreaking, but a little something different.

Oceanid: Cerulean blue.
This had a similar issue as the other bottom shades: a little harder, and a little crumbly. I'm not sure if it was just the palette that I had, or what, but I was disappointed.

Shell Spell: Bright pink.
Soft, and blends out easily. Something really fresh and bright.

Coral Fixation: Fuchsia pink.
This blush pissed me off, really. When I think 'Coral', I think of a warm, orange-toned pink. Not fuchsia. I wouldn't wear it anyway, but the name makes me want to grind my teeth. Just a peeve.

What's a fire:
Fuchsia pink with glitter.

The lipstick is a lipstick that I knew I wasn't going to wear for the color, and it ended up being pretty awful in formula. It goes on creamy - at first. But then it unearths glitter. Glitter, in the lipstick. It doesn't add anything extra when it's on the lips, but it's not something I was over the moon about either. The color isn't unique, and the glitter makes it unwearable for me since it sits uncomfortably on the lips.

**Jetsam Black is the same as New World Smolder. Review of the pencil down below!
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Overall, from the Ariel collection, I can fully only recommend Sea Witch. The others I would just pass up.

Pocahontas Collection - Great Spirit

Great Spirit is a beautiful, neutral champagne highlight. I was really impressed with how intense it can get, with just a few swipes.

I've tried it both under a translucent powder, and under another powder highlighter, and I like both ways. Under another highlighter, it gets even more intense and not for the faint of heart, but under a translucent powder it sort of dulls the shine and allows it to be a little more natural. Even with oily skin, this lasted all day for me, even with sweating, and I was surprised when I went to remove my makeup at the end of the day and it was still in tact!

With three shades to choose from, I'm sure there's going to be a shade that everyone will love, and I'm really in love with this product.

Pocahontas Collection - Spinning Arrow

In the $3 set, it comes with a large bronzer, and a brush.

The brush, is useless. It has hard plastic bristles and feels scratchy on the skin, and doesn't blend the product out nicely at all.

The bronzer however, is a gem. It's large, and a beautiful matte warm brown. usually I'm not wild about warm bronzers, but I really like this one. Once it's on my face, I enjoy how it looks, and it blends in beautifully on the skin. I was expecting to hate it, and fell in love with it instead.

Plus, it's HUGE! It's bigger than my palm, and will last quite a while.

Pocahontas Collection - Beauty Book

This palette is very warm, and makes me think of Fall every time I open it. I love how the colors all go together, even if they're not all in the same color families, and out of all three, I feel this is the most cohesive palette of the bunch. Very fitting for Disney's Pocahontas.

Dreamcatcher: A light periwinkle blue matte.
Really a nice light blue. Soft to the touch, and pigmented. A little too soft, as it creates fallout.

Ripples: A matte blue-teal shade with sparse glitter.
This is the softest shade in the palette, and creates a lot of fallout. It stains the skin a bit too, so that's something to watch out for.

Riverbend: A bright teal shimmer.
Pigmented, and smooth to the touch. This goes on almost effortlessly, and I don't find myself struggling to make it work.

Wingapo: A gorgeous peach shimmer.
I thought it was almost a peach-gold, but the shimmer isn't warm enough to be gold. It reflects the light beautifully, and catches my eye every time I open the palette.

Warrior: A nice burnt red sheen.
Like drying blood, this shade is fierce. I fell in love with it at first sight, and I enjoy working with it, because the outcome is definitely worth it. I don't have anything else like it in my collection, and I can't get enough of it. It's a little harder to work with, the pigmentation is a bit patchy, and it is not as smooth as some of the others, but I love it enough to overlook it's flaws.

Headstrong: A warm, burnt red-orange sheen.
Nice orange shades are a little hard to come by at the drugstore (though not impossible) this is a shade that is absolutely gorgeous, and I couldn't pass up. It's also a little patchy, but smoother than warrior.

Heroine: Neutral Brown.
Not quite a matte, but not a shimmer either. This looks really great in the crease, as well as the lid. Very soft, and pigmented.

Sycamore: Deep, blackened brown with gold glitter.
A really unique shade that I really enjoy. I've used it in my crease, I've used it to darken up the outter V. I love it! The glitter isn't always super visible, but I can't resist this shade even then. It's a little harder, not quite as smooth, and not extremely pigmented either.

Willow: A warm copper with sparse glitter.
Can't ever escape the coppers, but this works with this palette. It's pigmented, and smooth, and the glitter isn't a hassle.

Sun Sweet Berry: Natural pink with gold shimmer.
I really love this shade, and it has really solidified my love for more neutral/natural pink blushers, instead of bright pink, or shades like that. It looks really good on the cheeks, and warms up my face without being too overwhelming. Pigmented and soft, it creates a soft, but healthy look to my cheeks.

Voices of the Mountain: Similar to Spinning Arrow, where it's a warm brown bronzer, but it's lighter.
I love this too, and paired with Sun Sweet Berry gives a really healthy appearance to my skin, and warms it up a little (god knows I never go out in the sun much). A little goes a long way, so be sure not to use too much.

New World Smolder (**Jetsam Black): Basic black eyeliner.
In every beauty book I have ever bought, I have never been impressed with the included pencil eyeliner. It's not very pigmented, and it is easily wiped away. It doesn't stand a snowball's chance in Hell on my oily eyelids.

Always Be With You: A frosty pink gloss.
This is the wildcard for this palette. Now, I personally feel that a neutral nude gloss with no shimmer,  would have looked better with this palette. It's just too strange and different compared to how the rest of the palette feels. Even a darker color, like the color of her lips would have been a better choice. This will not look good on many people, and is just a typical gloss. The formula doesn't make up for the poor color choice.

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Overall, in my opinion, I love this collection the most. I see myself wearing this collection far more than all of the others combined, and it has taken my heart many times over. If you were ever interested in any of the Pocahontas collection, don't hesitate to pick any of them up! They're great products and worth the price!

Thanks for reading!