Prismatic Cosmetics – Julep Highlighter ✧

I ordered the Julep Highlighter from Prismatic Cosmetics’ Etsy storefront a little under a week ago.  There are different buying options; such as if you just want the pan 37mm, the product in a compact or a 44mm pan ($10 – $14).  Prismatic Beauty creates highlighters, eyeshadows, and loose glitters and sells their products through Etsy.  Julep is a pale, mint green highlighter that is described to have a “smooth” texture.  The product is slightly scented I noticed, but it wasn’t anything that bothered my allergies (it’s a slight, sweet, floral scent).

I took pictures of Julep in the natural lighting of the living room.  I tried a couple with the flash on, but I felt like the flash washed out the texture too much.  The texture of the highlighter really is surprisingly smooth.  It was very easy to work with and to blend; you can use a brush for a more sheer, natural look or your finger for a more intense, BAM! effect (personally I used my finger for that).

That is a single swirl in the product on my finger tip.  And that’s quite a bit of pigmentation there.

That is a swatch using the product that was on my finger tip.  In my opinion, that’s nicely pigmented.  Honestly, I’m having a hard time finding anything critical about this highlighter after using it for three days straight and loving every little bit of it.

My only complaint is that the product does have a fragrance, but I am incredibly thankful that it’s not that irritates my allergies or that has caused my skin to break out.  I have to admit, I didn’t read the ingredients carefully when I ordered it or I would have noticed that it said “fragrance” in the list, so that’s on me.

Julep is cruelty free and vegan according to the item description and Prismatic Cosmetics do provide a list of ingredients.

I highly recommend trying out Prismatic Cosmetics.  I’m looking forward to trying their eyeshadows when I get a chance to do another order and their prices are pretty reasonable (eyeshadows start at $3)!  Julep is a beautiful highlighter that’s great for every day (at least I’ve been wearing it every day since I got it).

Thank you for reading!  Stay gilded foxes!

Baby Bat Beauty – Liquid Lipstick (Gemstone Collection) ✰

I ordered two lipsticks from Baby Bat Beauty’s Gemstone Collection; Tiger Eye and Amethyst.  I wore Amethyst once and then proceeded to lose it much to my dismay so I will not be including it in my review – I will be solely focused on Tiger Eye as it is the shade I still have in my possession and have worn more than once.

(I really wish I knew where I lost Amethyst.  It was such a beautiful purple shade.)

Tiger Eye is described on Baby Bat Beauty’s website as a “warm, earthy red”.  In the tube, it certainly is exactly that and even seems to have a bit of orange in it, but on me – it’s not.

To be fair, on someone else, it probably is that true warm red color, but on me and my pale skin, it shows more of a blood red and dries much darker.  I will say that Baby Bat Beauty’s lipsticks are definitely comfortable to wear.  They don’t dry out my lips too badly and I have perpetually chapped lips (probably from years of anxious chewing and picking as well as poor water intake habits).  On the website, Baby Bat Beauty says that their liquid matte lipsticks are kiss proof and with Tiger Eye, I have noticed it does not transfer while I’m eating snacks and chugging water/tea at work.  It lasted a nine hour shift and only at the end of my shift at work did I see I needed to reapply.

The lipstick has a slight scent, I want to say almost cotton candy like (it’s definitely a sweet scent).  Usually, I prefer my makeup to not be scented because of my allergies and skin sensitivity, but it wasn’t too bad with the sweet scent that was in the lipstick and after a while it does fade.

Advice – make sure your lips are probably exfoliated (I recommend Baby Bat Beauty’s Solar Strawberry Lip Scrub because it tastes delicious if you get it in your mouth) and moisturized/hydrated.  If your lips are chapped and have chunks of dry skin (like mine do constantly) the liquid lipstick will eventually clump together on those dry patches (in the lip swatch, you can see that already happening because I’ve chewed my lips nearly raw today).

Personally, I recommend Baby Bat Beauty and their products.  Their products are cruelty free and vegan and they’re trying to create more constantly!  I’m excited to see what they’ll come up with next.

Stay gilded, foxes!

Tooth & Nail Cosmetics – Sailor Moon Palette and Highlighter Review ✰

I have to be honest – I received these items back in March when I originally planned on starting this blog, but as you can tell, I didn’t start until recently.  I ordered these pieces back in January and didn’t receive them until the first week of March.  The turn around time was about a month and a half.  At first, the owner, Hannah Foote was prompt to replying the first time I inquired about my order because I hadn’t heard an update (her reason was that the original compacts were horrible quality and she wasn’t happy with them).  I ordered the Sailor Moon Eyeshadow Palette and the Sailor Moon Highlighter “Moon”.  Both are currently sold out, but Tooth & Nail currently have other Sailor Moon highlighters up for sale it looks like.

Before I get too far into this review, I just wanted to say I let my excitement over having the option to get Sailor Moon themed cosmetics in the States get the best of me when I initially ordered these two.  The company’s only disclaimer is that they don’t own Sailor Moon, but I highly urge if you’re able to (whether through a proxy service or able to order directly) to order licensed Sailor Moon cosmetic products.

To start off, I was not impressed with the packaging at all.  They are literally a palette/compact with stickers slapped onto them.  There’s also no sticker on the back of the eyeshadow palette saying which color is which (the pictures on the site showed this part) so often I have to refer to the site to find out which shade I’m using.  The plastic is thin and cheap; and the stickers aren’t even centered properly onto either.  After being told that my order was delayed because they had to order new compacts because the first shipment was bad, I was extremely disappointed.

As you can see, it’s somewhat (okay pretty) obvious, that the shadows were pressed and dried using a paper towel.  I had read that the finished pieces are often rushed and sloppy, but I wanted to make my own conclusion.  As you can see, the red shade (which according to the site is Sailor Mars) is chipped.  When I initially received the palette, that part had crumbled and come loose, so it’s safe to say the shadows are pretty fragile so you shouldn’t press down hard on them.  Better yet, just use your finger and gently swipe a few times.

 

Sailor Mars is patchy at best, Sailor Neptune is not the metallic navy that it is described as, and Sailor Venus is really the saving grace shadow of the entire palette.  I couldn’t get Sailor Jupiter to swatch probably without being patchy without several swipes.  Sailor Pluto does have a nice flip to it and did swatch somewhat smoothly.

To say the least, I was not impressed with this palette, but I do like Sailor Venus.  It’s a wonderful peachy champagne shade you can use for a rose gold look.  Still, not worth the $34.

Moving onto the highlighter.

I tried to give this one a shot.  I tried so hard and I was so disappointed (as you can tell I used it for about a week straight before I gave up).  The compact is incredibly cheap feeling and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of product for the price paid ($14).  In the compact and in person, it also looks nothing like it does on the site, so it seems there may be variation in formulas.  On occasion, I came across darker pink streaks in the highlighter and it’s not advertised as a “marbled” highlighter; so to me it seems as those it was mixed and dried very hastily.

It’s a “pinky gold” highlighter that when swatched is very similar to the Sailor Venus shade to be honest and that took a few swipes to get that much to show up.  The best way to apply it would probably be with a brush (maybe Moda’s Prismatic Oval highlighter brush) as fingers and regular highlighter/glow brushes don’t seem to pick it up very well.

All in all, I’m not exactly impressed.  I’ve stopped using the highlighter and I’ve only used the eyeshadow palette once (for Sailor Venus shade).  I welcome you to try Tooth & Nail Cosmetics, but just be wary of what you might get and to be prepared for the turn around time.

Stay gilded, foxes!