Cover FX The Big Cover Up Kit

At The Makeup Show in May, we were introduced to Cover FX's latest hot item: The Big Cover Up, a kit with all 3 step essentials to prep, cover and set. Now, after having a chance to test it out we want to tell you what we think of it!

The seven piece set includes: Cover FX's Total Coverage Cream Foundation (3 shades!), Cover FX's Nourishing Foundation Primer and Anti-Aging Serum, Cover FX Translucent Setting Powder and the #130 Foundation Brush. Bonus DVD with a tutorial of how to use the system!

Here's what we love about the system:

-An easy to carry kit with all the essential needed for an even complexion.

-Three shades are included for a customized, flawless look. (There are four different kits to fit skin tones from fair to deep dark.)

-Medium to heavy, buildable, natural coverage from the foundation.

-The serum can be incorporated in your night time routine as it contains healthy, anti-aging properties.

-The brush looks like your average foundation brush, but it's chiseled to get into small areas and can still cover a wide surface area.

-A short, to-the-point, instructional video is included!

This kit is perfect for you if:

-You have dry skin or mature skin.

-You prefer a one-size fits all translucent, no fuss powder vs. finding the perfect shade of pigmented powder.

-Problematic skin that needs comfortable, natural coverage (rosacea, vitiligo, etc.)

Here are some tips we used to maximize the wearability of the foundation for our combo/oily skin types:
-The combination of the primer and foundation are too oily for us to use, so we didn't layer them as expected.

-Blot excess oil from the foundation before applying the setting powder.

-Use your own favorite setting powder after applying the foundation.

Overall, this makes a great addition to your makeup kit and regimen in a nice convenient compact. Available at Coverfx.com or Sephora.com for $75 (a $134 value!)

*This product was provided by PR for review.

Urban Decay Naked Palette! My take...

You've read the hype.

You've seen the swatches.

Now time for me to add my two cents to the pot!

PROS
-I love the color range.
-Different finishes to the shadows.
-I religiously use the dual ended pencil everyday!
-Aww a baby UDPP! Bonus!
-Mirror in the palette.
-Awesome price for the value!

CONS
-The palette is long and not ideal for my makeup bag.
-The cover isn't resistant to wear. (My gold words are being scratched off in my makeup bag.)
-Some of the finishes are.. powdery(?) requiring you to either spray the brush or a good cleanup later. (After about an hour wear or so, my friend told me I had dark shadow at the top of my cheeks. *GASP!* I used a darker color in my outer corner. I guess the first layer of shadow was absorbed by the UDPP and the darker color didn't stick???)
-This version of the UDPP creased a wee bit on me...? UDPP is queen cement for the lids. Is UD testing a new creamy formula??

Overall I love it, but it's not without fault. I don't regret my purchase, but for a higher end product, I don't want to have to 'work' some of the shadows (a pet peeve!)

Don't want to leave you guys with the straight face above. Below, I'm smiling! I am glad I bought the UD Naked Palette ;)


(Sorry, I don't remember which colors from the palette I used.)

Getting Ready for MAC's Tartan Tale Holiday Collection? Thoughts and a few swatches.

(photo credit: Temptalia)

Tartan Tale Holiday collection is being released at MAC on Thursday, October 28 in the USA. For all product information and swatches visit Temptalia.

I wanted to show you guys what I saw and what I thought of a few of the different products (even if I had to make the swatches last from Bowie, to dropping off kids and finally home!).

Name those swatches!

-At the top, the five different liners: Petrol Blue, Undercurrent, Lord It Up, Blackline and Black Swan

-To the right of the liners is Her Blooming Cheek blush

-Second row, Full Fuchsia lipstick

-Next to Full Fuchsia is Enviably Fun eye shadow

-Her Blooming Cheek blush continues and to the right is Radiant Jewels dazzleglass creme

-Next row: lipstick swatches- Courting Lilac, Deepest Wish, Cut-a-Caper (and Cut-a-Caper is swatched again at the bottom)

Now, let's discuss!

-Her blooming cheek is a deep, unforgiving pink in the pan. It's a Satin, but has a bit of frost to it in my opinion (no shimmers) just a frost that makes it a bit lighter than what it looks to be in the pan.

-Power combo that I'm looking forward to (despite my collecton of hot pink lippies that's growing)? Fulll Fuchsia lipstick (pro item) and the Radiant Jewels dazzleglass creme... I just squealed typing it! It's so hot, you'll need SPF! (Ok, sorry.. lol I'm excited and need to convey how serious that lip is!)

-Am I being biased about the three items above because they are used in the promo pic that I'm desperately in love with?

-Enviably Fun eye shadow was swatched on me by the MUA... not impressed. The tartan print is cute, but it was a light swatch.
-The lipsticks... I wasn't impressed with them as much either. I didn't get to swatch Faerie Glen, but from the description we've seen it before. Courting Lilac gives me the same vibe as Pervette lipstick.. a more lilac version? Not certain. I am smitten with Cut-a-Paper. In person it appears a peachy pink, but the fact that it photographs as an opaque gloss... totally loving it! (That's definitely what I appreciate about lustre lipsticks!)

The pearlglide liners... I'm a huge fan! I love them all! The spark of slightly contrasting glitter in them is gorgeous! (Ohhh, you can't see the glitter as well in these swatches *sad face*) I'm regretting that I didn't get backups of the pearlglide liners that came out with the Art Supplies collection!

Ehh, wasn't sure if this was worthy of showing... to the right of Radiant Jewels dazzleglass creme is My Highland Honey blush that I couldn't really see. It's a light peach, maybe a decent highlight. My face is different from my hand, so as a blush whore, I will def test it on my cheeks to be sure. Below, the last glossy stain on my hand is a neutral lipstick from one of the bag sets. I don't remember which. I wasn't as impressed, but as a neutral lip girl, I'm sure I'll check it out again! It reminded me a bit of one of my faves, Viva Glam 5.

What am I getting from the core collection....? (The gift sets are a whole 'nother story! Whew!)
-Blushes. I have to swatch the Highland Honey again to be sure.
-The power combo: Full Fuchsia lipstick and Radiant Jewels dazzleglass! Fo' sho! This one actually makes me want to check out the other dazzleglass cremes.
- Cut-a-Paper lipstick
- Pigments. In the jar they look insanely dark, but I want the blue and green pigments.

Will be checking out:
-Highland Honey blush
-Eye shadows
-Lipglasses

What will you be getting??? What did you think of the products?

OPI Swiss Collection

Is OPI's Swiss Collection old news? I hope not. Without visiting Trade Secret every week, I would never see the new OPI's. I found this small, mainly sold out collection display at a beauty supply, not in my area. The display totally had me entranced on the shimmery blue in the collection. The gorgeous, jewel tone color had me at its first shimmer. Something about that fabulous contrast of rich color against all of the stark white....

So I picked up 2- Yodel Me on My Cell and Cuckoo for This Color (Check ALU for all of the offerings.) Ahh, I can have the striking, deep, shimmery turquoise nail like the model.. a brighter turquoise or a darker one.. I got both because I really couldn't choose! I got home to to find L.A. Girl's Metallic polish in Deep Sea Mica amongst my polishes... the best of both worlds! *blank face* At the beauty supply, they were charging nothing less than the full price. *grimace*

L.A. Girls Metal Metallic Nail Polish Deep Sea Mica, OPI Yodel Me on My Cell, and OPI I Cuckoo for This Color


Same order as above

Clockwise from top left: OPI Yodel Me on My Cell, L.A. Girls Deep Sea Mica, and OPI Cuckoo for this Color

OPI Cuckoo for This Color

L.A. Girls Deep Sea Mica

OPI Yodel Me on My Cell

Here's where things get tricky, for me at least. I gravitated toward Cuckoo (for short) because it was a shimmery teal, while Yodel was turquoise and brighter. However, I think I'm a bit color blind because others definitely say Cuckoo is green. I think I've been convinced, but I will justify my initial assessment because of the blue shimmers in the deep green base. (It was described as such by another blogger and I looked at an up close blurry swatch to inspect the shimmers!) Blue-green thoroughly mixed can make a teal, right? Ahh well, who cares! I didn't need either because I had the L.A. Girls DSM all along!

**Edited to add: Not too long after I posted this and thought of ALU's comparison of Cuckoo and Zoya Suvi, Emerald Fitzgerald also came to mind. Check out this link!**

Do you have any of these? What was your favorite of the OPI Swiss collection or the L.A. Girls Metallic polishes?

If my hair wasn't loc'd... Angled bangs

If my hair wasn't loc'd right now, I'd definitely go for some angled bangs. Side swooped bangs will always be my fave, but for right now, I'm really feeling the look of angled bangs.

Well, let me get adventurous enough with my locs one day and I may just take that route for some angled bangs!

Here Macy Gray sports some angled bangs...

(Other styles via google images.)

These aren't my ideal styles for angled bangs (I think I'd prefer a longer cut for my face type) but just wanted to give some examples of style.

How do you feel about the angled bangs? I wish I could daydream more about loc'd styles, but the images aren't ever present! IRockLocs.com has given us some loc p.0rn recently, so that's major helpful! Again, being in my conservative workplace environment doesn't help me to be the change I'd like to see in loc'd styles and images. Untill then.....

Totally enjoying my Orly Galaxy Girl

Dark and vamp, but with lots of dimension! Scrangie described her RBL Scrangie polish as fairy wings, well I'll call this beetle's wings! It flashes purple, dark purple with some turquoise blue shimmer. Yum! Galaxy Girl is from Orly's Fall Cosmix FX collection. I got mine for $8 on sale at Sally's Beauty. These were snatched up fast, so if you are interested there might be a few bottles left.

See the entire range here- Part 1 and Part2.

*My nails aren't freshly done, so cut me some slack. Thanks!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Intense Lipstick #15

Check out my purple lipstick of the day! I went to New York a while back to preview the debut of these new lippies. Quite exciting to finally visit the chic boutique of makeup! I picked up this #15 lipstick (purple in a pearl finish)... purple's all the rage, right? This took a few layers to even out, which I wasn't too happy with, but I love the end result. Deep raspberry staining when you eat off the lipstick or remove it. Snag it at Sephora.com

Check out Karla Sugar for some swatches of the fab range! Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Lipstick Recap

Finally...

Operation Prince Charming by Phyllis Bourne So excited!

Purple Eye Makeup for Fall

Fall Eye Makeup

I can't get enough of purple

This is a TotalBeauty.com makeup tips article See the reasons why I'm digging purple eye makeup this season and the products I'm using to get this look. See makeup

Judge Kimberly Knowles- Legally Loc'd!

Cloaked in the judicial black robe, a beautiful woman of color with locs down her back presides as a Magistrate Judge in Washington, DC.

And who said locs weren't professional?


Kimberley S. Knowles was appointed Magistrate Judge by Chief Judge Lee F. Satterfield
on May 10, 2010.

Magistrate Judge Knowles was born and raised in Bronx, New York. She received a
Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1992 and her Juris Doctor from Howard
University School of Law in 1996.

After graduation from law school, she served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Eric T. Washington, then Associate Judge on the D.C. Superior Court. In that capacity, she worked primarily on criminal matters. After her clerkship, Magistrate Judge Knowles joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. She served in the Appellate, General Felony, Community Prosecution and Major Crimes, Fraud and Public Corruption and Sex Offense/Domestic Violence Sections, earning numerous special achievement awards. In October 2004, she was selected to be a deputy chief of the Sex Offense/Domestic Violence Section,
where she served until her appointment to the Court. As a deputy chief, she supervised the investigation and prosecution of cases involving domestic violence, the sexual abuse of adults and children and offenses committed against minors. She also regularly conducted trainings on sexual abuse and domestic violence issues for various community organizations. Magistrate Judge Knowles is a licensed foster parent and has one child in her care.

www.dccourts.gov/dccourts/docs/DCSC_Bio_Knowles.pdf
Full Court Press August 2010, DC Courts Publication

Judge Knowles accomplished a lot in her professional career and none of it had to do with her hair. Well, it would be interesting to know her personal experience and the decision to loc her hair, but until then I'm content knowing she's an achiever with locs! *Granted, we do live in chocolate city where people are a tad bit more accepting....

Ebony November 2010 Cover

Complete fabulousness! Ebony's covers since President Obama's election have been hot! I need to subscribe for the covers alone! They are all masterpieces worthy of being framed! Mary's hair! Taraji's dark lip! Nia's happy stance.. just wow!

Was that enough exclamation marks for you? Hehe. Can't wait to grab this! Thanks Muthafynest!

Very Hollywood Michael Kors Sparkling Edt

Michael Kors follows up his original Estee Lauder scent, Very Hollywood with a new Very Hollywood Sparkling EDT that launch on October 1st. Here's how he describes his new scent:

“My original Very Hollywood Michael Kors Eau de Parfum pays tribute to old Hollywood glamour. Inspired by iconic screen sirens, it’s indulgent, sexy and sophisticated. The new Eau de Toilette evokes the budding ingénue of young Hollywood as she takes her first steps onto the red carpet. It’s her moment to shine and sparkle in the spotlight.” – Michael Kors

I'm ready to give it a sniff!

The sparkling juice comes in two sizes: 3.4oz, $72.00 (available in fine department stores, specialty stores and Michael Kors Boutiques); 1.0oz, $40.00 (available at Sephora, Ulta and Michael Kors Boutiques)