Drugstore Beauty Finds

Over the course of playing with testing the new NYX Liquid Black Liner ($6), I discovered a few interesting things, like how the slender brush lays down rich, pitch perfect lines, or how the formula never skips a beat.

The thin brush is firm enough to draw precise lines with, but not so inflexible that it doesn’t feel smooth as it glides along soft skin.

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Dayum, it’s so nice out here by the pool today… Nice and hot! — like a bare-chested Ryan Gosling in tight pants.

Here, put on some sunscreen, please. I’m not letting you burn on my watch, missy. And stop hogging that pitcher of iced tea! Go on now, pass it this way. Sharing is caring.

Oh — sorry. That was strange… I got lost in a daydream there for a minute and forgot that Christmas is less than three weeks away.

I don’t know what happened. I was just sitting here with the new NYX Bronzer & Blusher Combos ($9 each), and then everything got all summer, summer, summertime.

Everything about this new line of blush/bronzer duos, from the exotic black-and-white illustration on the compacts to the free-spirited pigments inside, reminds me of summer. I think it’s an unusual release for the holidays, but I don’t mind the timing at all. I’m a ho for blushes, so it’s all good. 🙂

For me, the blush halves are the stars of this show. They’re pigmented, easy to blend, and come in the kinds of colors I see more often from lines like NARS and MAC. In fact, I think a couple of them even look like possible dupes, particularly peachy Sunrise in Bali, which reminds me of NARS Orgasm, and shimmery, plummy gold Phi Phi Island, which resembles a lighter, more sparkly version of Sin.

The bronzer sides, however, despite how dark they appear in the pans, aren’t nearly as pigmented as their blushing halves. Still, I find them pretty easy to build up when I want more color.

01 Sunrise in Bali
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NYX Xtreme Lip Cream in 01 Dolly Girl

Things that go well together…

• Olive oil and balsamic vinegar
• Macaroni and cheese
• Chocolate and peanut butter
• Music and workouts
• Manis and pedis
• Ryan Gosling and shirtless-ness (that’s not a word…)
• Dirty Dancing and Clueless, watched back-to-back with a tub of ice cream (gawd, I’m turning into a Cathy comic)
• Kittens and baskets 🙂

And things that don’t go well together…

• The words “discount” and “plastic surgery”
• Wet socks and jogging
• Cosmopolitans and empty stomachs
• Blind dates and Craigslist
• The Twilight movies and Academy Awards
• Shrunken pants and Harvard interviews
• Lip products and the scents of plastic and butter…

Yes, plastic and butter.

Yeegh!

The thought of those together makes my tummy churn, and unfortunately, it’s the way I think the new NYX Xtreme Lip Creams taste and smell. Even so, the list of things I like about these liquid lipgloss/lipstick hybrids almost outweighs their flavor and scent.

They’re highly pigmented, smooth, non-sticky, come with an easy-to-use doe-foot applicator, are available in a wide variety of bright and nudes shades, and sell for a reasonable $6 each. They also last about five hours on my lips, which isn’t half bad for something as lightweight and glossy as these. Plus, on top of all that, I don’t find them drying at all.

With these, as long as I hold my nose, we’re good to go. 🙂

Lip swatches and pics

I tried something a little different for the eye look I’m wearing here, and I’m not 100 percent sure I like the way it turned out…

That’s the Guerlain Ecrin 4 Couleurs quad in Les Roses ($59) on my eyes. It’s from the spring 2012 collection coming in January to select Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Sephora, Bloomingdales and Bergdorf Goodman stores.

I think the combination of hot pink in the crease and purple in the outer corners of my eyes looks okay in person, but here in these pics it kinda looks like I got into a fight.

Hmm… Well, if nothing else, it was fun to try something new.

Swatches from the left: 01 Dolly Girl, 02 Candy Land, 03 Spicy, 04 Buttery Nude, 05 Bonfire, 06 Pinky Nude, 07Absolute Red, 08 Skin Tone, 09 Strawberry Jam, 10 Natural and 11 Nude Peach Fuzz
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Butt why, NYX!? Why so cheeky? 🙂

I can’t say I ever expected to see the words “butt” and “naked” appear on a makeup palette, butt there they are — all saucy and snarky on the front of Butt “Naked” Eyes, NYX’s new $25 holiday palette for the face, eyes and cheeks.

Judging by the name at least, it looks like the line had fun putting together this two-tiered palette of eyeshadows, blushes, a bronzer and highlighters, butt about that name…

LOL! Okay, I’ll stop.

I couldn’t help but notice that the name shares a word in common with the recently released Naked2 from Urban Decay.

Would that mean it’s also a possible dupe for half the price?

Let’s find out!

NYX Butt “Naked” Eyes
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