First Impression: Milani Bella Eyes Gel Eyeshadows

I'm throwing another First Impression post your way because I actually did a bit of hauling this past week. I've heard quite a lot of things about these new Milani Bella Eyes Gel Eyeshadows so I had to try them out for myself. The name is not only really long but also a bit weird. Are they powder or gel eyeshadows? Let's find out! Here are my first thoughts on two shades I picked up as well as some swatcharoos of both shades.

First Impression: Maybelline 'The Nudes' Palette

I recently found this new drugstore palette from Maybelline and I was really excited to pick it up! I don't own the Naked or Naked2 palettes so I wanted to try this version of a nude palette. I have my first impression as well as some swatches in this post for you guys, and I will also be posting some eye looks using this palette in future posts ^_^ Has anyone else tried this palette out?

First Impression: NARS Creamy Concealer

First Impression: Rimmel Stay Matte Primer

A while back ago I bought this Rimmel primer to try out, but I haven't had a chance to use it because I was busy using the Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser. I finally had a chance to try it out these past two days and I want to post my first thoughts on it. Keep reading for more information~

First Impression: Tarte Amazonian Clay Airbrush Foundation + Airbuki Bamboo Powder Foundation Brush

Greetings from the Dark Side!

I recently purchased the Tarte Amazonian Clay Airbrush Foundation and the Airbuki brush that is meant for the foundation. I haven't purchased much from Sephora lately, but I received a Sephora and Ulta gift card from my lovely supervisor as a early graduation gift and as a goodbye from my work-study job and I decided to splurge a bit (I will post a haul shortly)! This foundation has been on my wishlist for a long time now, and I really wanted to give it a try. I have only used it twice and I want to post this First Impression post now to before I begin my 1-month test trial. Keep reading for more information~

First Impression: Wet n Wild Fergie Take On the Day Mattifying Powder

Greetings from the Dark Side!

And Happy 3rd Birthday to The Dark Side of Beauty!

I can hardly believe that my blog is 3 years old now! Stay tuned to see some birthday giveaways this month! But enough of that for now. Let's get to some business. Let's talk about this Wet n Wild mattifying powder!

First Impression: Wet n Wild ColorIcon 5 Pan Palettes

Greetings dark siders!

Finally, after having these goodies stashed away for some time now, I have swatches of the new Wet n Wild 5 pan palettes! I managed to get all five new palettes for $10 at Rite Aid! What a steal! I know a lot of people have been curious about these so here are my two cents on these new 2014 Wet n Wild eyeshadows.

First Impression: Rimmel Stay Matte Mousse Foundation

First Impression: Urban Decay Naked3 Palette

Greetings from the Dark Side :)

I am so excited to finally try out one of Urban Decay's Naked palettes! Yup, this is my very first Naked palette. Crazy, huh? I decided to go for the Naked3 because I think the pinky gold tones will compliment my skin  more. I also like that the darker colors are purple toned ♥ These shades are so up my alley! I only swatched and tried out the shadows today so I wanted to share my First Impression with all my lovely readers :D

First Impression: Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser

 Greetings from the Dark Side!

I bought the Maybelline Baby Skin a week or so ago and I have used it every day since then. A lot of you were interested in this product so I thought I would give you all an early mini review (aka First Impression). I bought this because I heard amazing things about it from bloggers in countries were this was available. Now that it has launched in the US, I knew I had to pick it up for myself!

First Impression: Wet n Wild Fergie Jet-Set Palette

Greetings from the Dark Side!

I'm sure I'm not the only one who used to buy the huge makeup palettes back in the late 90's that had eyeshadows, lipsticks, blushes, and sometimes other crazy stuff. I used to have a bunch of them back when I first started wearing makeup. They seemed like an easy option since I didn't have much makeup, and these had a bunch of products for a low price. Most of the palettes I used were absolutely horrible; the eyeshadows were chalky and lacked pigmentation! They were truly bad products, so I decided to never buy one again.

When I first heard that Wet n Wild was releasing a palette like that for their Fergie line, I was conflicted. On the one hand, I was excited because I love Wet n Wild and I am always curious to see what they release next. On the other hand, I was not sure how I would feel about this type of all-in-one palette. I have very low expectations with palettes like these, so let's see how Wet n Wild did with their Fergie Jet-Set palette!

The Jet-Set palette has 132 shades: 72 eyeshadows, 48 lip colors, 6 blushes, 3 pencils, and 3 face powders. You can see the layout of the palette on the box below. 

First Impression: Wet n Wild Holiday 2013

Greetings from the Dark Side!

Who's excited for more Wet n Wild products?! I know I am! These are the three new Holiday 2013 palettes! these are the Eyeshadow Medley palettes (this is my first time actually using these). These are limited edition and cost $4.99 each. I'm not entirely sure what stores will carry the displays but I'm pretty sure Walgreens will have them. According to Nouveau Cheap Burlington Coat Factory has displays of these.

 No Neutral Ground:

 Lights, Camera, Attraction:

 A Great Glistener:

I forgot to swatch the middle bronze shade in this palette!

                                                                      First Impression                                                                

Each palette has three super shimmery shades (top row), three semi-shimmery eyeshadows (middle row), and two mattes (bottom row). 'No Neautral Ground' has earthier/golden tones, 'Lights, Camera, Attraction' has pink/purple/blue tones, 'A Great Glistener' has a mix of tones but is mostly neutral colors. The pigmentation is good overall, but not as good as the eyeshadows from the ColorIcon 8 pan palettes.

'No Neautral Ground' has the best pigmentation of the three and I personally like the shades from that palette the best (they seem more holiday-y to me). The palette I like the least is 'A Great Glistener' because it has the worst pigmentation and the colors are not super interesting to me. But what I do really like about this Medley palettes is that each palette has three types of eyeshadow finishes. It is better to have different finishes to choose from in one palette instead of just having all shimmers or all mattes. I still have to use these more to really get a solid opinion on them, but if you guys are interested in these you at least have a bit of information on them!

Disclosure: Products shown were sent to me for consideration and review. All opinions stated are my own.

First Impression: Pond's Luminous Finish BB+

Greetings from the Dark Side!

Yesterday, I purchased this drugstore BB Cream from Pond's. I've seen it on many blogs and Youtube channels, so I wanted to try it myself. I am not fond of western BB creams and I much prefer Asian ones. But I decided to try this BB cream anyways to see what my first impression of it was (and hopefully to find a good drugstore BB cream). If you are curious keep reading!

NYC Super Hero Chic Collection - Individual Eye Palettes (Limited Edition)

Greetings dark siders!

If you saw my post about the NYC Super Hero Chic nail polishes, then you would know that I found this Limited Edition NYC collection at Rite Aid. The most exciting thing about this collection are the LE palettes, especially #003, the 'Super Chica' palette. I swatched these for you who are curious about these. At Rite Aid, they cost me $2.99 each. That's a really great deal for 4 eyeshadows, a primer, and an illuminator! So keep reading for swatches of each of the palettes~

Haul + First Impression: MAC

Hello lovelies ♥

I made a small online order from MAC last week and finally arrived. The only reason I made an order was because I really wanted the Riri Woo lipstick. I've been really into red lipsticks this year and I had to have this. So if you want to see what I got plus some swatches, keep reading :)

1. Riri Woo Lipstick
I am not a huge fan of Rhianna or anything, but I do think she is really pretty and has good taste in lipstick colors. So I was happy to see that MAC still had this lippie in stock. I don't own Ruby Woo (the inspiration for Riri Woo) so I can't say how similar or different they are. I will say that this is quite dry. However, it has an amazing lasting power!

First Impression: Per-fekt Brow Perfection Gel

Hello lovely readers!

As someone with naturally thick eyebrows, I always find it difficult to tame the those bushy caterpillars. They look better once I have plucked and cleaned them up, but they always tend to stay out of place. On a recent trip to Sephora, this product caught my attention. This Per-fekt Brow Perfection Gel claims to "condition and tame busy eyebrows without leaving them stiff, flaking or fading". I was intrigued by a clear gel that would not only serve to condition my eyebrows, but also make them look  neater. It also says that you can use this on its own or as a seal for any eyebrow powders/pencils/gels you use. Let's see how well this actually works!

Keep reading for more~

First Impression: Wet n Wild Pop Art Craze Eyeshadow Trios

 Greeting Dark Siders! 

If you have not heard the buzz surrounding the new Wet n Wild Pop Art Craze collection, then you probably live under a rock. For me personally, this collection was one of the most exciting releases of this summer. Why? Well, I adore Wet n Wild products, especially their Limited Edition stuff. These trios are also really affordable at $2.99 each! And, if you have not seen the picture below of the 6 new trios, all six trios are full of fun, bright colors! These colors are not very typical of drusgtore eyeshadows which is why I am really excited about them. But, now let's see if these are actually worth the hype!

Can you see my Death Note mouse pad? It is so cute! I got it at Anime Expo!

                                                          Trio Swatches and First Impression                                            

 

You're 15 Minutes Aren't Up!

This trio has a satin pink, a satin light purple, and a sheer sunny yellow. This was okay, it did not have terrible pigmentation but the colors are not as bright as I thought they would be. The yellow is a bit powdery too but it is probably one of the brightest yellows I have seen for drugstore makeup. The pink and the purple are bit lackluster; they seem very basic and not all that pigmented. I am not a huge fan of this particular trio.

First Impression: Revlon Lash Potion Mascara

Greetings from the Dark Side~

First Impression: Sephora Ariel Storylook Palette

Greetings from the Dark Side! 

I am excited to show you a first look of the new Sephora Disney Storylook Palette. This is Volume 3 and it is based on Ariel from The Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid is one of my all-time favorite Disney movies, and the Hans Christian Andersen version is my favorite fairy tale. So as you could imagine, I was very thrilled to see Sephora release an Ariel collection. So without further adieu, here is my first impression of the Ariel Storylook Palette~

                                                                         Packaging                                                                        

If you have seen the Cinderella or Jasmine palette, you have an idea of the packaging is like. The palette comes inside a box. The outer box is really cute actually, and you can see it in the photo below:

First Impression: Maybelline Summer 2013 Color Tattoo Eyeshadows

Greetings!

I am super excited to share swatches for the new Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadow from the Summer 2013 collection. I am a huge fan of these eyeshadows and I own every single Color Tattoo released in the US. As you might expect, I was psyched to hear that there was new colors. However, these seem to be releasing at Bed, Bath, and Beyond stores first. I had to travel an hour away to the closest BB&B that carries cosmetics in order to find these! There are six new shades (limited edition shades I presume), all of which are frosty and beach-themed.

                                                                      First Impression                                                                

I have not used these on my eye lids yet, but from swatching them, I have a good idea of how they compare to other Color Tattoos. Firstly, these are all quite frosty and cool-toned. It is very different from what I was expecting summer inspired colors to look like. But they are inspired by the cool tones of the ocean and beach, so the colors kind of make sense. Secondly, these are all generally less pigmented that some of the other Color Tattoos. Icy Mint and Shady Shores in particular were sheer. The last major difference is that some of these are duochromatic colors (Seashore Frosts, Cool Crush,  Waves of White, and Shady Shores). It is an interesting difference!

Overall, I am like the new colors, but I don't love all of them. I am particularly loving Seashore Frosts (blue-gold-pink combo) and Cool Crush (light lavender-green-turquoise) because they are the most pigmented and the most unique to my collection. Icy Mint was the hugest let down. I was really looking froward to owning a minty green Color Tattoo; however, this one is definitely more of a light sage green and it is really sheer and patchy. Shady Shores is a cool and unique color (yellow-gold with a green duochrome) but it also looks really weird on my skin tone. Waves of White is a nice white with a blue duochrome (yet the blue duochrome changes to green and purple is some lighting). I can see this working really well as a base color for many different eyeshadows! Lastly, there is Lavish Lavender. This one is a nicely pigmented deep lavender. I am not sure how much I like the actual color, but I will have to try it on my eye lids to see how it looks on.

If you want to try these out, go to your nearest BB&B (one that has a cosmetics section) and pick these up! Each display only has two of each color D:< I basically bought half of the display myself.