Give AWAY!! Riri Woo for FREEEEEE - and tiny review

 Since I am lipstick obsessed I normally buy back ups for limited edition lipsticks. The reason being that I know that when I test it if I love it, by the time I get back around to the store it will be sold out. Then I'll cry and have to run around to 15 other stores or have my friends stalk their stores. So much unnecessary drama. The flip side of the coin is; sometimes I dislike the lipstick, but others might love it so I pop it in my kit or give it to a friend  Other times... I hate it, think it shouldn't live, and I return it. I try my best not to rerun LE items because most stores wont resell it. They have to toss it even if it's brand new and untouched.

So lucky you that stubbled upon this fairly new blog. I ordere 2 RIRI WOOS and I am not a fan

1- It is practically identical to Ruby Woo. The color isn't unique enough to be worth the struggle.
2-  The packaging isn't even special. The stick has her signature but it will fade as you use it. :(
3- OMG IT IS DRRRRYYY. When you put it on it pulls something horrible. My lips were preped and moisturized and it still was a pain.
4 - It's so dry that you have to dig into it to apply with a brush. I don't like putting reds straight on to my face because my skin is light and tends to stain. I use a lip brush for accuracy and it was just impossible to achieve more than a light stain.
5 - It dries you out so have that lip balm ready


I do love that once it is on the texture is velvety. Retro Matt is a great finish formula, but for some reason it was just bad on this particular product. The color is darling but again ruby woo is just very similar. It is very pigmented and has great color coverage though!

So here it goes! I'm using Rafflecopter since I've never given anything away so lets see how it goes. I also started reusing my Facebook so I added that to a way to earn points. Its pretty barren at the moment but keep a look out.

If this goes well I have tons of other LE BUs that need new loving homes so stay tuned,

PS: I went to the MAC Marilyn Seminar today so a post soon. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

BABY the stars shine bright - walking stick - for when you just need a little more swag

That's right! It's real and can be yours for the LOW LOW PRICE OF ONLY 36,750 yen!! Lucky for you the dollar is up so get it quick while it's only $359 american dollars.

Honestly I can't think of any legitimate excuse for purchasing this...well, con season is coming up and with all the creeps abounding a sturdy beating stick might be use full... Dont worry BABY has thought of this! and has even given us the kill stick option. Sparing no expense mind you, this stick will have a gold "B" emblem engraved on the head. Is this secretly a Malfoy family colab? 

Also is it just me or does that logo look like the clear stickers you get when you make a purchase?

Speckled Polish Illamasqua , and dupe comaprison

 In February Illamasqua launched a special type of polish for their spring 2013 collection

With nail art still going strong companies are trying hard to capitalize on the DIY factor. Everyone wants that DIY look without the three hour turn around time. This speckle polish has done just that.

Gives you a mega cute DIY look in minutes with a chip free award winning formula. Needles to say I fell in love with this polish. So much so that I got every single color. About $19 each at Sephora with San Francisco tax.

These took a surprisingly long time to release in my store. Something about a delay in the signage and the product not being able to be put out without it. Because of this I had to have an awesome friend of mine purchase some of the colors near him.

Colors;

 Scarce, Fragile, Freckle, Speckle, Motie

two coats

Mottie (green) put up a huge fight! It was very thin compared to the others and I had to pick at the glitter flicks to even get any on my nail. Fragile(blue) was easier to work with but gave me a few streaks, it shaped up after the second coat.  Speckled, scarce, and freckled all applied smoothly, the flecks dispersed beautifully on their own and I love the texture. It is creamy and just lightly sheer so you can still see the specks underneath ever so slightly.

I got about a week's worth of wear from this polish with no top coat and minor tip wear. Some chipping on my thumb and index but I use my hands at work for 8 hours so all nail polish has a hard time with that. For reference I get about 4 days from OPI with no top coat before my hands start to look hideous. 

To the packaging 

The uniqueness of the Illamasqua polish always attracts me. I adore the bottle shape, it's so easy to store  and no awkward rolling if they fall over in your drawer. 

I don't know what happened, but with this collection I got a lot of this

The caps over turn, it made me sad. So of course I tried to fix it or it was going to bug me for the rest of my life

yes this happened 

Thankfully it popped right back on, so I just placed it on in the proper direction and now she's perfect again. I screwed and unscrewed it a couple times and it's good as new, I even tried popping it back off and it refused to budge 

 My only other packaging complaint is that the bottom of the bottle doesn't have the name on it.

 

It is written under "Nail Varnish" I cant see it without glasses on and it was very hard to photograph.

THE DUPE!!

Then a few months later (earlier this week) I discovered this guy!! He is available at Urban Outfitters and only comes in Bohemian Summer (blue) so far. (sadly my least favorite of the colors)

$5 or 2 for $8 

okay let's nit pick!

I'll start by saying that if I had paid $19 for the UO I would have returned it upon first swatch. However for 5 dollars it's great for on a budget beauties. Or a good chance to try the look for a lower cost in case you're on the fence about it.

Just from the bootle you can tell the dupe has more flecks in it, but is otherwise identical. Yes and no. I would say the amount of flecks is very similar but the Illamasqua one has 3 different fleck sizes where the urban one only has 2. 

The urban polish is missing the "medium" fleck and has an over abundance of the large one.

The polish its self is substantially more liquidy and sheer. I had to do 3 coats to achieve the opacity of the Illamasqua one. Because of the larger flecks your nail gets more black in it, since the polish is thin it makes the flecks on the under coats more apparent. I like the scarcity of the Illamasqua flecks because it makes it look more egg like. The UO looks like a unique glitter top coat on your nail. This could be a pro for you if you like that sort of thing :)

one coat UO(left) one coat Illamasqua (right)

you can see the Illamasqua all ready looks creamy

pinky two coats middle three coats (see how black the flecks look?)

This is after 1 day at work all ready some minor tip wear and pieces where the flecks have ripped off.

Overall I'd say this is a good polish. Because of the consistency it feels a little grainy from the flecks and they tend to snag, something that could be fixed with top coat, even better with a gell coat. If I hadn't bought all of the Illamasqua ones all ready I would probably have skipped the blue and gotten this one(since blue is my least favorite of the colors any way). I feel like a light hand and some top coat make this one just as good. 

TL;DR

All of the colors with the exception of green (it was much thiner and the flecks were hard to grab) , applied smoothly and with tiny to no streaking. One coat was enough because although it is on the sheer side it is closer to cream. I applied two coats anyway for brightness and to add extra flecks. 

 9/10 for this one. 

7/10 for the packaging because of turn cap issues.

PS: Since I all ready have the blue I'll probably be giving away the UO one so stay tuned.

<3 Alice

SALE SALE SALE!! 20% off sugar pill

I also finally got around to using these bad boys, part of the Amelia Arsenic  X Sugarpill collection. That will be out... well no one knows, but more on that later. 

I do not have this pallet they came individually panned.

<3 ANDI

MAC and The Return of Marilyn Monroe Collection 2013

Just a quick update since I finally learned more about this. Yesterday I was invited to the Marilyn/Mac champagne launch party that will be held here in SF.

This Collection is a relaunch and exclusive to Macy's. However I was informed that it is exclusive to only 2 stores, both of which will be having events. The San Francisco store (mine YAY!!!) and the New York Store. You can buy your ticket in for 50$. The event includes free drinks, and a goodie bag. as well as a makeup lesson with the creator of the line. The cap out is 35 people per event and it will take place on Friday the 17th of May, you can pick 2pm or 6 pm, or on staurday I beleive the times are 12 and 4. I am not certian of the Saturday times since of course I picked the earlies possibe.

The launch will take place Wednesday the 15th from what I have been told so if you are near one of these stores get to it baby girls! more updates as they become available to me.

Also if you buy a ticket to the event, ask for Anthony he is a fantastic, knows all the details and can help you out.

The SF store number is  415-434-1210. Remember ask for Anthony! Good luck!

PS: no holds and no pre orders/purchase. first come first serve

UPDATE: It looks like maybe just the event is exclusive. Re update at 3pm with the complete info.

REUPDATE: Okay just called the 6 closets Macy's to me. SOOOO SORRRRRYYYY.

ALL STORES will be carying it but only 2 stores are having the event- SF, NY-

As far as online 5/6 stores said in store only, one said not sure, but to check any way on tuesday at 12am because that's when it would launch if it was going to. This is on the Macy's website. He said also try the MAC pro site monday just in case.

Also, if you go to the even they will have stock that is event only so that you dont miss out. but they have said that before and then not held stock. So you probably want to go in on Wed anyway.

<3 ANDI

Beautifully Disney Makeup, review and swatches

In March Disney parks launched a "high end" make up line titled "Beautifully Disney" It  WAS exclusive to the Parks and Vault 33 but it recently launched online. This is exiting because it eliminated most scalping that was being done, that was very sad since the line is all ready a bit pricy. It is the same price on line and in store.

NOW ON SALE BUY 3 GET 1 FREE

All Cruelty free and Hypoallergenic 

March Collection - Wickedly Beautiful

2 quads .1oz/disc - $27.95

Enchanted Kiss (eye opener)

Midnight Hour (evil eye)

2 polish sets .14 fl oz/bottle* - $19.95

Beauty rare (Princeses) - Enchanted Kiss, ocean mist, off to the ball, lookign for my prince and 

Icy Beauty (villains) - Midnight hour, mistress of evil, just one bite, Diva of the deep

*In store you can purchase these individually in the full 3oz size for $8.95

8 lip glosses .08 fl oz - $14.95

Dragon Diva - Dark purple

Soul Survivor - deep plum/ shimmer

Envy of the Ball - Magenta/ Gold Glitter

Poisoned Apple - Red

Loves first kiss - Mauve/ shimmer

Mysterious Mermaid - Sheer Coral/ shimmer

Enchanted Slumber - Sheer w/a gold shimmer

Stroke of Midnight - Sheer w/a silver shimmer

Finally getting around to doing this becasue there aren't enough reviews for this new line.  It's one of the reason I was extremely hesitant when getting it and hopefully this helps someone. I purchased the Midnight hour quad and Enchanted Slumber Gloss inside disneyland in New Orleans Square. Since the sale I have purchased all the polishes and a few more glosses but update on that once they arrive in the mail. 

Midnight Hour - I chose this one because Enchanted kiss seemed very neutral and I all ready have plenty of those colors.

Villain's silluettes (evil queen, Maleficent, Ursula)

Eye shadows don't have names just numbered 1-4, 

...... wait a mintue... dejavu here... oooohh yah!

So I depoted #4 to check. It came out very easily as it was just glued in with a smll piece of cardboard.

Popped into my sugarpill pro pallet. a pretty good fit, but the disney pans have no magnet so they dont stay in

does not work as great vice versa

well onto the shadows!

1 swipe, 1 swipe with primer (using finger)

I swatched them out of order sorry

#1, Cool Champagne color w/ silver shimmer, this color is a Satin, very smooth and easy to blend but very close to my skin color so I have to really pack it on even with primer.  Almost too easy to blend, it disappears quickly, but once again that may just be on my skin tone.

Here it is next to Mac's  Sweet Joy -Frost (Cruela) Very diffrent in pan but similar in swatch, sweet joy is more yellow mostly because one swipe does so much more. You can also see the size difference  Mac is .05 oz while DIsney is a full.1oz

#3 This one has great color pay off. Iti s a light silver with silver shimmer it swatches true and i think i will be using this color the most especially under Tiara (sugarpill). I would call this a frost since the glitter does brake down once you give it a good buff.

Her it is next to Tiara(top), #3(bottom) The color is actually more concentrated and deeper. but tiara has all the magic sparkle. No primer

#2 Is a deep navy. I woudl say velux pearl, it has a bit of a fall out issue, but it's so light and smooth once you buff it down.  This one made me sad, it is dark in pan and color can be built to that level if you pack it. Once you blend it however, it basically becomes a stain, pretty but not the vibrancy I expected.

#4 is a sparkley charcoal. It is definetly not black. This is the color you get when you are scraed of black but want black.

#4, Carbon (MAC), Myth (Labyrinth), Bulletproof(sugarpill), stella (sugarpill)

everythgin was one swipe, except for #4 it was 2 because at 1 it had trouble photographing. I will say this it is much more workable than all the others.

Enchanted Slumber - Sleeping Beauty

I chose this color beacuse it caught my eye as most unique. It looked very similar to a lime crime gloss that I adore and though I would wear the heck out of a more subtle version

Beautifully packaged

The make up has all of the new art for the Princess, to some a con, to some a pro.

A sponge tip. I prefer this on glosses with sparkle because the brushes tend to chunk up with the glitter after some time

one swipe (left), two swipes (top), Golden ticket (Lime Crime) (right)

Overall I truly loved this gloss. It is light and not sticky, very much like Mac's lip glass feel with the Urban Decay not so sticky finish. The wear is medium and it is slightly hydrating. The gloss is very sheer, but if it had been anything like Golden Ticket (Lime Crime) not many people would have bought it. I imagine it being great over different lip colors.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now on to the packaging; when you can't swatch a product you are basically forced to judge a book by it's cover. Although I loved the colors and fancy silhouettes, the quad its self was nothing to gasp over. In the display case in store you can see the issues right away. 

 

The shadows don't actually fill the pots. not a huge deal, but a big pet pieve of mine, you can see the silver and it's an eye sore against the matt black of the box. It closes with a magnet but does not stay propped up on its own, thats okay since it has no mirror. But for $30+ so cal tax, a mirror would have been nice. You can see that when the pans were put in it caused some damge to the cardboard. The circles look like they were cut by hand with a pair of safety scissors because they aren't perfect rounds and have snags all over. Again for a lower price palet not a big deal. The afterthoughts of packaging was what deterred me form buying more, especially the polish and glosses.

All of the cute details are just stickers. Remove them and it's just a run of the mill gloss tube, it is the same for the polishes. BUT WORSE! the labels on the bottom were place with scotch tape. Classy Disney real classy. The plastic inside the package and the instructions telling me not to eat or give it to my child as a toy really yell high end.

TLDR

So I give the collectio a 3.8/5. For one the products are easy to work with so great for everydya looks. They may not be as pigmented as I would want them, but if they were I don't think they would be as apealing to the masses. Not everyon wants to walk around with neon purple hair and eye shadow to match. They may have scored higher if the price was not so high and the packaging better. Most of the lose for me was on the packaging. The product itself was good and althoguh not the most long lasting it did as well as many brands that I have payed this much for , occasionally more. However if something is going to be marketed as high end and given these price tags I expect a little more. There is no way you would ever see this on Mac or Chanel. Also no returns YIKES.

Would I buy them again? Yes I am a slave to Disney, would I knock on doors and tell people to buy them? Probably not. I hope that for the next collection they fix the ltitle issues, because I all ready know I'm going to be buying them XD