Beauty Product Showdown Thursday-Mascara

It's Beauty Product Showdown Thursday. Todays theme is Mascara!

Now, let's see who are contestants are...

Today's match is a drug store brand vs a high end brand.

Who do you think will win?

So without further adieu,
LETS GET READY
to
RUMBALLLLLLLLL


On the left hand corner we have Benefit's They're real mascara ($23). Made with a jet black formula, This mascara's formula won't smudge or dry out and enables last long while lengthening, curling, volumizing, lifting and seperating lashes. Benefit says you will see 94% increase in length and volume, 90% base to tip curl, 94% visible life, and 100% long lasting results!

After wearing this mascara for over a week I can def agree it is amazing. The first time I applied it I showed my bf my lashes and told him how do they look. He was like wow that looks like the false lashes I have and I said yeah but these are real baby! lol. I love mascaras that make your lashes not only longer but thicker and this def does the job. At the end of the day my mascara is not dry and clumpy and in fact is still a little soft (good bc I use to pull out my dried mascara and some lashes along with it). The brush is amazing and prevents lots of excess mascara from getting in my lashes so no clumps!!

The challenger is Covergirl. One of the more popular drug store brands, Covergirls lash blast mascara will give lashes a bold, intense volume for up to 24 hours with 0 smudges.

After wearing this mascara for a week as well. I def saw big differences in the two. First of all I hated the brush on here! It was thicker took up more excess mascara and I had to apply carefully to avoid getting clumps. It is fairly good in lengthening but definitely not as good as the Benefit mascara. As far as volumizing goes I didn't think it was super great at making my lashes thick. Again, as compared to the Benefit mascara it didn't do better at all! And by the end of the day my lashes were flat (sorry didn't get a picture).


So after trying each mascara in intervals for two weeks (1 day They're real the next day Lash blast and so on)...the winner hands down

is.....

Benefit's They're real Mascara!

 

I know its more pricey but if your lashes can look this good at the end of the day without even curling them at all then I def think its worth it. I am all about volume and lenthening for my lashes and Benefit's They're real Mascara does both!!!

To check out any of the mascara's in this weeks Beauty Product Showdown please click on either of the two links: Benefit Here
 Covergirl Here


Do you have a products you want to see in a future Beauty Product Showdown post? Please let me know in the comments! I would love to see what things you all are interested in!

**disclaimer-these products were purchased by me**

Urban Decay Naked Nail Set

So before I started blogging I wanted the Naked palettes so bad and I just couldn't afford them. Finally got them and my life was complete until I seen the Naked Nail Polish Set. I mean come on if you have all the Naked palettes you can't leave out the nail set can you??  Thankfully I got a sephora GC for X-mas so you know what I def had to get my little hands on right??


Isn't it sooooooo cute? Inspired by six of this seasons most popular shades Urban Decay created the Naked Nail Polish set!!! Polishes range from glitters, metallics, creams and shimmers these palette is sure to please anyone who loves neutral colors!

Bottle shots of all the colors in this palette starting with Naked, Sidecar, Toasted, Smog, Hustle and Creep

Just wanted to show you the brush on each polish. I love small ones like this because they grab less polish and I find it easier to apply while making less of a mess!

Now onto the swatches

The first three I will show are Naked, Sidecar and Toasted

Naked of course is a natural beige cream polish. This swatch was created with two coats followed by a top coat. I thought it wouldn't go with my skintone but it actually doesn't look bad.

Sidecar is a beautiful neutral color with shimmer in it. I swatched it by itself but it will look really good over a bunch of colors you want to add a little sparkle too.

Toasted is a light brown with an iradescent shimmer to it. This was my least favorite polish. Something about it just didn't do it for me. Probably would look better with a lighter skin tone.

The next three polishes are Smog, Hustle, and Creep

Smog is a rich chocolate brown color. I really wanted to not like it bc its brown and I am not a fan of brown but something about it makes me like it. Hum...

My favorite of the set was Hustle. I can't decide if it looks dark plum of dark chocolate but I am gearing towards the plum more. I just love it! It is just so pretty!

The last polish in the set is Creep. Probably should have added another coat since I didn't get full coverage at the edges but it is a black color with silver shimmer in it.

The only bad thing I will say is bc of the small size I used a lot for only two coats on my swatch of four fingernails. Can you imagine doing the whole nail?

Overall, I love the idea of doing a polish set inspired by two popular palettes. I love the variety of neutral colors and honestly I disliked only one polish in particular. This palette would make the perfect gift for the UD lover and is very reasonable for price ($26). Like I said I only wish it the bottles were a little bigger so I wouldn't use 1/4 of the polish for one mani.

Want to check out or buy the Urban Decay Naked Nail Set? You can do so at Sephora's website Here

**disclaimer-this product was purchased by me **

Milani Colorstatement Lipsticks and Liners-Reds and Oranges

There here! The new Milani COLORstatement Lipstick's and Liners! Containing vitamin A, C & E the lipsticks contain lightweight formula will give your lips full coverage. The lip liners also glide easily to line up and fill the edges of your lips.


First off how cute is the bag the lipsticks came in? I love it and have never seen one quite like this.

Today I have for you swatches of all the orange and red lipsticks in this new collection by Milani. Hope you have some popcorn handy because there are lots of pictures!!!

Just wanted to give you a quick tease of all the lipsticks I will be showing you today from the reds all the way to oranges. Isn't this a cool picture?

So without further adieu let's get started .....

The first four lipsticks are best red (BR), ruby valentine (RV), cherry crave (CC) and red label (RL)

Here is a shot of all the polishes in the same order as above: BR, RV, CC, RL

Swatched them all on my arm: best red, ruby valentine, cherry crave and red label. They may all look the same here but I you will see the differences better in my lip swatches.

Best red or 07 is a matte polish. For those aren't fans of any shimmer on their lipstick this def is a good one for you!

Ruby valentine or 08 is a vinyl red polish. Its a little lighter and shiner than best red. For those of you who want to wear a subtle red I think this color is the best for you.

Cherry crave or 06 is the darker, metallic lipstick of the group. If you love a little sparkle in your lipstick then you will love CC. This is a good one to wear when your going out on a Friday night!

Red label or 05 is the cream polish of the reds and you can see its just perfect of a red. Not as dark as CC but a little more darker than RL. This can be worn for a dinner date or something casual.

Next up is the transition to oranges with High voltage (HV), Orange-gina (OG) and Sweet nectar (SV)

Lipstick shots of HV, OG, and SV

High Voltage or 04 is a mix between red and orange colors but to me it looks more red. It is very glossy and is another vinyl lipstick.

Orange-gina or 03 (yeah I laughed at the name too) is a darker orange and pearl lipstick. Although orange really isn't my color for lipstick because I am darker skinned tone the color is actually really cute.


The last lipstick I have for you today is Sweet nectar or 01 a cream light orange color. Not going to lie but it is a pretty color that will probably look better on my sister who is lighter than me. It is gorgeous just not on me.

Overall, I love the nice smooth consistency of the lipsticks and how they just glide on your lips. I am def not a fan of the smell of lipsticks but these smell like Aloe or something I don't really quite know what but they smell lovely too! Whether your looking for a matte, metallic or vinyl red lipstick Milani will prob have what everyone is looking for.


Also just released is the COLORstatement lip liner's. Today I have one that will go well with a bunch of reds called True Red (TV) and Nude

The liner's look like little pencils don't they?

The liners glided on my arms so easily and give amazing color. I am def not someone that knows how to use lip liner so I was excited to practice it. I am so glad they were so easy to use and gave amazing color.

 
I am reposting the picture of High voltage as this was the one I used a lip liner with. Not too bad for the first time right??

Overall, the liners are easy to use especially to beginners like me, have amazing pigmentation and are long-lasting.

Want to check out any of the colors in this review or other colors in the collection? Check out Milani's COLORstatement Lipsticks Here or Liners Here 

Also available at any drug store: CVS, Target, Walgreens, Walmart and Kmart
Price $5.99


**disclaimer-these products were provided for review for my 100% honest opinion**

Dermelect Nail Polishes

Check out the Dermelect polishes I got from the Bloom.com 70% off Sale. I have never tried Dermelect polishes before but I really liked the shape and look of the bottles!


The colors I got was Powertrip, Luxurious and Provactive

Power trip is a cherry red color. I applied two coats to achieve this look and applied a single layer of top coat.

Luxurious is a pastel light purple color.

Provactive is a bright pink color. Def my favorite of the three. But then again pink is my favorite color so no surprise that I like it so much.

Overall, these polishes dried quickly, gave a nice shine to the final appearance and only coat of top coat was needed, two coats of the polish itself were perfect enough to get a great look and the polish appied uniformly. The only negative drawback to me is the price which to me is a tad bit too much for a college student like me. The only reason I got it was bc it was 60% off at the time I bought it. Maybe if they did some sort of special I would get more.

Want to purchase these colors or see what other colors are in their collection? Check out Dermelect's site Here

Price: $14.00

**disclaimer-these products were purchased by me **

Verity Nail Polish

Remember the polishes I randomly found at a beauty supply store? Well here are the swatches to them! I only got two because I had never heard of them and they were only $1.50 each so I thought they weren't going to be that great quality.


The two colors I picked was Hot bubble gum and Lite orange. There were lots of pastel polishes and bright neon one's by Verity that I was ahhhed by but since I never tried them and bc I couldn't bring too many on my carry on back home to Texas I only got these.

Hot bubble gum is exactly how it sounds a bright bubble gum pink color. It only took two coats to achieve this look and I also added a top coat. Both coats dried extremely fast and gave a pretty good uniform layer.

I was surprise how Lite Orange looked on my skin! I loved it! Like seriously loved it.

Man oh man I wish I had a bigger suitcase! Seriously $1.50 for these and the color is amazing. Dang! Now to find a place in Dallas to buy some or even to find the company site! I wish I had links but when I googled I only seen them sold at Ebay. Does anyone know where they are sold at? If I could show you how amazing the other colors looked I would. They were amazing! Instead I am left with questions on how the heck I can get more of these amazing polishes! Sad Face

**disclaimer- these polishes were purchased by myself**

Beauty Product Showdown- Gel Eye Liner

Today's Beauty Product showdown is looking at two different gel eye liners.


I wanted to compare a drug store brand ($6.94) vs. a designer brand ($20) to see which gel liner was better in my eyes. So let the battle begin!

Our challenger is Maybelline Eye Studio which is smudge proof and waterproof. It has an oil-free formula and gives a high concentrated pigment that can be applied using an angled brush.

Our defending champion or at least what I heard about is Stila Smudge pot. It can be used as eyeliner or to achieve the smokey look. When used with an angled brush, the gel which is soft and pliable will come off with perfection to achieve your desired look.

In a smaller container, the Maybelline Eye Studio for me felt more softer and pliable when I got my angled brush and just swiped it along the top.

When I used the Stila Smoked pot which was bigger, I found the liner wasn't quite as smooth as the Maybelline one.

I swiped the brush 3 times with each liner and drew an S for Stila and M for Maybelline. Comparing the two you see the Stila liner didn't come off as uniform nor pigmented as the Maybelline. I found myself having to keep applying a few layers to get my desired look with the Stila one than I did with Maybelline which was darker and evener when drawing my letter M.


I also did one swipe across each liner. Again, you can see the difference in how each liner gives in pigmentation.


With regards to longevity, both liners lasted all day. Neither really came off until I removed them with a makeup remover.

So based on my careful review of each gel eye liner the winner hands down is......

Maybelline Eye Studio

Even though it came in a smaller container, I felt it was easier to apply, the pigmentation was much more darker and its more affordable. Even though the bottle is alot smaller when you look at the prices if you were to buy 3 of the Maybelline liners it would be equivalent to the size of the Stila Smudge pot.


Drug Store brands =1
Designer Brands = 0

Want to check out either liner featured in today's review. Check out Maybelline's Eye Studio liner
Here or Stila's Smudge Pot Here


What types of products would you like to see in a future Beauty Product Showdown post? Please leave a comment below

**Disclaimer-all products were purchased by me and this review is based solely on my opinions of each products**