EOTD: Celebration with Sugarpill Sweetheart

So my dry spell of posts should be mostly over now, since I just finished my third year of university and will be on summer vacation for the next 4 months! As a result, I felt that it was time to celebrate. But an even better reason to celebrate is getting the Sugarpill palettes. I'm sure all of you have heard just as wonderful things as I have about these palettes, but as someone who fears colour a little bit too much, I've not bothered until now. I decided I was going to take the plunge and purchase these palettes (plus Goldilux, because WHO can resist Goldilux!). I'm going to skip on the review because there are thousands upon thousands out there, but if you'd like to see some looks that I've been doing with these palettes, please like my Facebook page!

Now, onto the eye. I only have eye pictures because I didn't bother with the full face (I spent 5 hours cramped up in a vehicle today, I didn't feel much like wearing makeup after that!).

 I just got these idea in my head and proceeded with it, but didn't get many pictures because no matter how blended it looked on my face, in the pictures it ended up looking terrible. I loved this look and I don't want it to come out as being terrible because of the pictures! Enough of my blabbing, onto the look:

Used:

• NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk
• Sugarpill Tako
• Sugarpill Afterparty
• Sugarpill Midori
• 88 Palette dark blue (liner) + Lise Watier Metamorfix Transformer
• Annabelle Smudeliner in OhMyGoth!

Follow Holding Beauty on Facebook

I decided to set up a page for the blog on Facebook for those looks that I don't get enough pictures of to make a post, or if I want to share something beauty related with my beautiful followers. There's a widget in the side bar you can like, or you can like here:

Thank you to everyone who follows me. Not in my wildest dreams could I imagine that even this many people would be following me. Every person who follows, every comment just drives me and inspires me and I'd like to thank you all so dearly.

If you ever have any requests, shout them out! I'd be happy to oblige.

Review: Makeup Geek Shadows

My makeup collection isn't tiny by any means, but since I'm a student on a budget, I don't have a lot of high-end makeup. Don't get me wrong - I'd love to own all kinds of MAC, Urban Decay, Nars, Makeup Forever products, but I can't really afford them (I have a 2-shadow MAC collection and I don't see it getting bigger any time soon!).
So when the website Makeup Geek released these shadows, I was super excited; they're inexpensive and high quality! I've been accumulating them now for some time, but I just received some more today and got super excited about them. I'm only going to be providing swatches for the batch that I received today, but I'll add what I have to say about the rest later on.

Burlesque - Sea Mist - Shimmermint

Last Dance - Poolside - Poison Ivy

Cupcake - Razzleberry

In general, I love Makeup Geek eyeshadows. They've proven to be extremely pigmented, creamy, super blendable, and long-lasting. In addition, they cost only $5.99 a pan (or $7.99 for a compact), which is great on the budget. They have some very unique colours and I have only experienced a couple that need work to get the best pigmentation.
I would 100% recommend these to anyone looking for nicely pigmented eyeshadows in a variety of unique colours.
Pigmentation: 8/10 (there are a couple that fall short)
Price: 10/10 (you can't go wrong for the price)
Overall: 9/10 (in my honest opinion, these are my favourite eyeshadows and I'd recommend them)

To read more in depth about colours and see swatches, read on...

EOTD: On Fire

I received some new Makeup Geek eyeshadows today and was really excited to try them out, so I went right to work! I read the Hunger Games recently (great book! I totally suggest it), and the whole "Girl on Fire" theme has been on my mind since. I want to redo this look when I get my Sugarpill shadows, but I decided to do something with the theme now and redo it later!

List of Products:

• MUG Razzleberry Eyeshadow
• MUG Chickadee Eyeshadow
• MUG Cupcake Eyeshadow
• MUG Country Girl Eyeshadow
• MUG Gold Digger Eyeshadow
• MUG Corrupt Eyeshadow
• MAC Shroom
• Physicians Formula Gel Liner
• Anabelle Black Eyeliner
• Ardell Demi Whispies (last picture only)

EOTD Purple Liner & NOTD Coral Polka Dots

I've just been doing some basic neutral looks lately as I'm waiting for some new fun and exciting makeup to come in the mail! But I really liked the way today's neutral eye turned out; I added a hint of purple on the lower lashline and it really complimented my green eyes.

Eyes:

• Makeup Geek Duchess
• Makeup Geek Sensuous
• Body Shop Smokey Eye Quad
• Clinique Day Break
• Physicians Formula Gel Liner
• Makeup Geek White Lies

Lips:

• Revlon Lip Butter Creme Brulee

I also have a NOTD to post which is very springy; a pretty coral with white dots.

How do you spice up a neutral look?

EOTD: Flowers of Spring

Here's just a quick post with a look from today; though the weather has not been at all springy, I'm still pushing and hoping for it to rear its head soon! This look is very obviously inspired by the beautiful flowers of spring and I loved it. Let me know what you think!

I did this look with a lot of my Makeup Geek colours and a few from my 88 palette. I'll update this post later with a picture of the 88 palette to show which colours I used.

Used:

• NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk
• NYX Eye Pencil in White
• Pinks from 88 Palette
• Makeup Geek Sensuous
• Makeup Geek Purple Rain
• Makeup Geek Shimma Shimma
• Makeup Geek Sea Mist
• Anabelle gold
• Ardell lashes #305

Vote for this look here and/or here.

Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butters Creme Brulee, Sweet Tart, Cherry Tart Review & Swatches

A few weeks ago I was looking at my flyers scrounging for good sales at the pharmacies, and I found a sale for buy 1 get 1 free Revlon Lip Butters. I had been reading some excellent things about this product and I'm notorious for ignoring my lips in a good makeup look (I'm a chapstick kind of girl... go ahead and ask me and I could recommend at least 3 of my favourites). I decided to go out and pick up four lipsticks from the pharmacy; I grabbed Creme Brulee, Peach Parfait, Berry Smoothie, and Sweet Tart.
The following week, another pharmacy had them on sale for $3.99 each! An even better steal than the buy 1 get 1 free at $9.49. So I went back and got two more Cherry Tart and Tutti Frutti.

For this post, I'm going to just review Cherry Tart, Sweet Tart, and Creme Brulee and post a follow-up post on the next three later.





Revlon describes them as:
Buttery balm with beautiful shiny color to give you baby soft, healthy glowing lips

The Formula:
I really like these lip butters; they have the formulation of a moisturizing lip stick. They slide on creamy, shiny and smooth.
As for the actual moisturizing part of these, I believe that I have significantly drier lips than the average person, but I find them drying. When you first put them on, they're shiny and gorgeous and feel great on your lips... but after about half an hour to an hour, I find they become very dry. Having a gloss over top helps this and moisturizing beforehand may assist.

Formula: 8/10 (because of drying, but so smooth and creamy!)

Pigmentation:

The pigmentation is not opaque; if you are looking for an opaque lipstick, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE! But for those of you, like me, who are slowly adjusting yourself to bright colours, these are extraordinary. They have just enough colour pay-off to make it noticeable, but light enough to be doable. For those of you who like colour pay-off, though, these are totally buildable.

Pigmentation: 9/10 (for what they are, not as lipsticks)

Lasting:
These aren't meant to be long-lasting lipsticks, but I'd say for a lip butter they last a good amount of time. I'd give mine a solid 2-3 hours of wear before I need to reapply.

Duration: 7/10 (if you're looking for this to last forever, it isn't for you)

Price:
Obviously these are excellent quality for the price, and if you have patience you can score an awesome deal like I did. In Canada these are running for $9.49 regular price at pharmacies, but I scored mine for less than $5 each.

Price: 10/10 (fully worth the price)

Overall:
I love these and wear them every day. They're the perfect product for someone like me who likes to try new things (like bright colours or red lips) but is a bit timid. I find them perfect for a daily lipstick and they're easy to apply and creamy!

Overall: 9/10 (what may be downsides for some, I'm loving in this product)

See swatches for Creme Brulee, Sweet Tart, and Cherry Tart by clicking "Read More"