Highlight Your Life! Highlighter Swatches and Haul

From the top: Sephora MicroSmooth Baked Luminizer "Stardust", H&M highlighter, Becca Shimmering Skin Perfectors in "Champagne Gold" and "Opal", Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Spotlights

This is a collective haul of highlighters that I have  hoarded purchased the past month. I love highlighters, they can add so much to your face. The right shade can add illuminate your features and add a nice, healthy glow. The highlighters feature in this post are different formulas, shades and price points. I love them all and I'm sure you will too!

OCC Plastic Passion Haul and Swatches

OCC Cosmetic Colour Pencil in "Hoochie", OCC Matte Lip Tars in "

Am I down with OCC? Yeah you know me! I'm already a huge fan of the original OCC lip tars so when I found out about these new matte shades, I beelined to the nearest Sephora (which happens to be five minutes away from my job). These shades are part of the Plastic Passion Collection. I also purchased a pencil in the shade "Hoochie" (which is my favorite shade in the original lip tar collection). The pencils were advertised as being able to be used on the face and body but "Hoochie" was not reccomended for the immediate eye area. Shucks, because it really would've looked great as an eyeliner. Especially for us brown-eyed gals. Oh well, on to the swatches!

"Hoochie" Colour Pencil, Matte lip tars in "Kimber" and "Rollergirl"

I am in love with these shades! They apply with a little bit of a sheen and dry matte. You do need to apply a bit more product with these formulas though. Not something that's a big issue however. These also wear nicely on the lips, they are not super drying which is usually and issue with matte shades. I am very pleased with the formula. I still recommend, prepping and priming your lips to get the best results :). These lip tars are priced at $18 USD.

Hoochie Colour pencil (top) and lip tar (bottom)

The pencil and lip tar are pretty similar in color, except that the pencil is matte. I am looking forward to using it as a base to make up color combinations. I liked the formula, very creamy and easy to apply. The pencils are priced at $16 USD, fairly decent price. Similar to MAC's price.

All OCC products can be purchased at Sephora stores or online or on OCC's website.

Sephora VIB Haul

Here are some of the goodies I picked up during the VIB sale. I didn't go too crazy, I stuck to things that I really wanted. Keep scrolling for pics, swatches coming soon!

Urban Decay Vice 2 Palette

Formula X for Sephora nail polish in "Orbit", OCC mini lip tar set, NARS Guy Bourdin blush in "Coer Battant" 

NARS Guy Bourdin blush "Coer Battant"

Maybelline Spring and Summer 2013 Collections Haul + Swatches

I had picked up some Maybelline items from Rite Aid. The items are purchased are from collections that are limited edition.

Maybelline baked blush "Wild Blossom" (from 2013 Spring collection)
Maybelline Color Sensational High Shine lip gloss "Coral Heat"
Maybelline Dream Sun bronzing face illuminator

Maybelline baked blush "Wild Blossom"

Maybelline Color Sensational High Shine Gloss "Coral Heat"

Maybelline Dream Sun Bronzing Face Illuminator

left: Maybelline Color Sensational High Shine Gloss "Coral Heat" swatch
right: Maybelline Dream Sun Bronzing Face Illuminator swatch

Maybelline baked blush "Wild Blossom" swatch

Alcone NYC and Sephora Black Friday Haul

clockwise: naked cosmetics eye shadow base, Ben Nye Banana Powder, Ben Nye Lumiere Luxe Powder "Bronze", Ben Nye Lumiere Luxe Powder "Iced Gold", La Femme blush "Mulberry", Ben Nye Contour Powder No 2

The best thing about NYC is you have access to almost anything you want. If it is not within walking distance, it is a train ride away. I fell into the whole Ben Nye Banana Powder hype, but this a product that I'm glad I fell into the hype for. So while searching for places where I can purchase it, I came across Alcone. Alcone is a store that specializes in theater and professional makeup for MUAs. They have all the well-known professional brands (Ben Nye, Kryolan, Eve Pearl) as well as special effects makeup. The shop itself is tiny but the staff is pretty friendly and knowledgeable. I ended up getting a few goodies during two trips I made (I work blocks away from it, hurray!).

 Ben Nye Lumiere Luxe Powders in "Bronze" and "Iced Gold"

naked cosmetics eye shadow base (review coming soon)

Ben Nye Contour Powder and La Femme blush in "Mulberry"

 swatches (the La Femme blush is crazy pigmented!)

All the items were of decent price. The best deal was the La Femme blush. It is a really good quality blush with excellent color payoff. For only four dollars! I also purchased a z palette which I will feature in a depotting post.

I also work around the corner from a Sephora and I got these two items on black Friday for ten dollars each. The three colors in the bite palette are lovely and I'm especially loving "Tannin" for the upcoming holidays.

Bite lip luminous palette

Bare Minerals bronzer and face shaping brush

Haul Post

A haul of items I bought and some brief thoughts on a few of the items.

 NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss "Lala", NYX Xtreme Lip Cream "Dolly Girl", NYX Matte Eyeshadow "Haywire", Brucci Nail Colors "Steph's Pink A-Go-Go" & "Absolute Andrea", Wet n Wild Megashield Lip Color "It's A Girl", NYX Stick Blush "Magnolia", CoverGirl Lipstick "Fairytale", CoverGirl Eyeshadow Quad "Tropical Fusion", Wet n Wild trio "Walking on Eggshells"

I was very pleased with all the lip products. As you can see, I was on a pink kick. "Fairytale" is a beautiful coral color and all the other lip products had good color payoff. I would recommend these for women of color as well, these colors would look great on darker skin tones.

 CoverGirl lipstick "Fairytale", NYX Mega Shime Lip Gloss "Lala", NYX Xtreme Lip Cream "Dolly Girl", Wet n Wild Megashield Lip Color "It's a Girl"

lip color swatches

The NYX stick blush had a very nice and creamy formula. It blends nicely and I really like the color a lot. It applies a little sheer but it can be built up.

NYX Stick Blush in "Magnolia"

swatch of "Magnolia"

I got one shade from the new matte shadows collection from NYX. It swatched nicely and I will be using it for crease-work mostly.

NYX matte eyeshadow "Haywire"

"Haywire" swatch

I also discovered a new brand called LiSi Cosmetics while walking through NoHo in NYC. It is a highly  affordable brand (a lot of the products are under $15.00) and in the store they have sample products for you to swatch. The store is located in 741 Broadway in Manhattan. I bought a blush and concealer. I was impressed by the color payoff with the concealer, I got the shade "Maldives" and it is VERY pigmented so a light hand would definitely be needed. The concealer, not so much. Barely any coverage. I'll go more in depth on the concealer in a separate post about LiSi Cosmetics.