The Beauty Wolf

Category: Makeup (Page 9 of 10)

TONY MOLY BACKSTAGE GEL EYELINER REVIEW

January 9, 2014 /

tmbeyesI’m not even going to mince words.Tony Moly Backstage Gel Eyeliner should be front and center on your vanity table. I’m lucky enough to live in a city large enough to have a Korean cosmetics store. I’m luckier even still that it’s literally across the street from my building. As you can imagine I’m a constant browser in that store. On that particular day the Tony Moly Backstage Gel Eyeliner caught my eye. It’s unconventional shape was the first thing to grab me. When I picked up the tester and discovered that the unusual shape was due to the fact that there was a built-in telescope brush in the lid, I was very impressed with it’s cleverness. This was pretty much me in the picture below:tmbs
I was a MAC Fluidline devotee pretty much since it’s release. I never even thought about straying because it never made me unhappy. On the day I was at the Korean cosmetics store I had found myself running low on my Fluidline that morning. I was getting to that nasty end of the pot dried out stage where it just drags on your eyes like skid marks. Even though I was skeptical about the performance of the Tony Moly I had just been amused by, I decided why the hell not, and threw it in my basket. I figured at around $10 I could safely give it a shot.

The next morning when I got to the eyeliner step of my routine I broke out my new goodie. Whoa. Daaaaaaaaaamn. Blacker than a vortex and it just absolutely glided on like a dream. No dragging, smooth as hot butter, creamy, and yet drew a perfect defined cat-eye point. Even the brush was amazing. I can’t remember the last time, if any time, that a provided brush really wowed me. I really honestly dig that little brush. I’ll put it this way, I have at least $75 worth of different eyeliner brushes from my professional makeup artist days on hand and I almost always just use the brush that comes with the Backstage Gel Eyeliner. It’s handy as hell, and it works great. It works especially well when you’re doing the Korean puppy eye. I find that this brush shape lends itself perfectly to that look. Here it is compared to it’s counterparts; Mac Fluidline and an E.L.F Studio Cream Eyeliner pot I had laying around. All swatched twice.

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As far as durability? Forget about it. Tony Moly Backstage Gel Eyeliner beats the ever loving dogshit out of it’s competition. I’m serious. Check out these pictures. These are all waterproof gel eyeliners but Tony Moly is so far superior when it comes to the stress test. Look at what happens when we push the limits.tmbewas My thoughts exactly, cat. MTE.  Look at that! Mac and Elf are done. Done. Girl, bye.

What more do I need to say? This is my new holy grail eyeliner. The price is amazing, the product is stellar, and it’s as tenacious as my pit bull with his chew toy. Five totally on point flawless turtles.
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ETUDE HOUSE PROOF 10 EYE PRIMER REVIEW & URBAN DECAY PRIMER POTION BATTLE

January 8, 2014 /
proof10Everyone has been a fan of Urban Decay’s Primer Potion (UDPP) for so long, that it’s just a given. It’s been running unchecked as everyone’s favourite eyeshadow primer. Well folks, a new contender is stepping up to try to take the throne.

Etude House Proof 10 Eye Primer isn’t exactly a new product, but it’s one not too many people might know about in North America. As I’ve written about before, Korean cosmetic houses love to take global fan favourites and reproduce them for cheaper. And I mean cheap only in price point, not in quality, because a lot of times they end up improving upon the original. I think once again that’s the case with Proof 10 Eye Primer.
It comes in a little plastic container with a doe foot applicator in place of UDPP’s squeeze tube. That squeeze tube is sometimes a mess so the wand is a welcome alternative. The doe foot is a much better delivery system in my opinion. If you’re not comfortable with applying it directly to your lids with the wand there’s always the option of swiping it on your fingers first and then applying that way.The texture of the Proof 10 Eye Primer is not as thick as UDPP, it’s slightly more watery. It doesn’t affect it’s performance at all though. In fact, it’s another welcome change for me because I find the thick concealer like texture of the UDPP takes longer to dry than the Proof 10. That being said, because the Proof 10 dries and sets so fast you have to make quick work of getting it on and spread out where you want it before it sets. That may take some getting used to if you’re used to the forgiving nature of the UDPP.
proof10swaOn the left of the Proof 10 and the right is UDPP. I’ve swatched a shadow from the Too Face A Few Of My Favorite Things palette I reviewed earlier. Both primers work pretty much equally as you can see. In person there’s no difference between the two.So here’s the real test, I scrubbed my hand with soap and water and this is what we’re left with. The Proof 10 on the left actually held onto the eyeshadow at it’s first point on contact the best, the UDPP smudged around a lot. I actually rubbed the Proof 10 a lot more than the UDPP just to make sure it was really holding up better so if it looks slightly more faded that’s why. It took makeup remover to get rid of both shadows but the shadow used on top of the Proof 10 took more elbow grease to completely erase.
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Now if that weren’t enough to sway you over, here’s the kicker. Urban Decay Primer Potion retails at around $20. You can get Etude House Proof 10 Eye Primer for the ridiculous sum of $5.79 here . LOL, bye UDPP.Etude House Proof 10 Primer Potion, you get five indelible turtles.
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TONY MOLY PURE LUMINOUS PURE AURA CC CREAM SPF 30 PA+++

January 7, 2014 /

TonyMolyCCBy now we’ve all mastered BB creams, right? Well, let’s get crazy and throw some CC cream into the mix. Tony Moly Luminous Pure Aura CC cream SPF 30 PA+++ is my first foray into the CC cream trend. What’s a CC cream? Well, from what I can tell, they’re an all in one product with a lighter coverage than BB creams. They’re supposedly formulated with more skin beneficial ingredients and sometimes provide some colour correction. As far as this offering goes, let’s take a look at the description from their promotional materials:

“All in one effect with sunscreen + whitening+ wrinkle repairs + radiance + moisture+ primer + base make-up. Capsule changes color matching to your own skin tone as soon as it’s applied to offer innocent and gorgeous look to bare skin. Creates smooth and moisturized skin. All in one cream that takes care of skin care and make-up at the same time with moisture that remains for hours. Pink flowers complex delivers nutrition to create gorgeous skin. Contains elder flower extract, sunflower oil, centella asiatica extract, cherry blossons extract, water lily flower extract, rose flower extract, lotus flower extract, safflower seed oil, portulaca extract, and macadamia oil“Whew! Ok, well. Let’s work through all of that. Basically this is another one of those “there is nothing like this I can compare it to” situations. It’s a cream that when dispensed from the pump is bright white. If you look closely you can see tiny black dots suspended within the cream. Those are the colour capsules. They break open as you rub the product in and turn the cream into a neutral beige colour that’s supposed to match with your skin tone. It’s made to match with a variety of skin colours but keep in mind, that’s a variety of Korean skin colour, so unfortunately once again my dark skinned beauties might be left out on this one 🙁 I really can’t say for sure though, so if anyone with a dark skin colour has tried this and it’s worked for you please let me know in the comments!Once the cream is all blended into your skin it leaves a lovely dewy healthy look. It doesn’t look oily or even remotely as shiny as the popular Korean sheen look, it’s just a nice subtle glow. As for coverage this is the sheerest of the sheers. I’m extremely fortunate in that I really don’t need to wear a BB cream anymore (thank you Benton!) unless I’m going for a specific look. I don’t have any real need for coverage so this works as a stand alone product for me. That is to say, you could get away wearing this on it’s own if you don’t have any real skin flaws or severe unevenness of skin tone. If you do have those issues this is a great product to layer under your BB cream or foundation. It makes a smooth even canvas to work with so you may even find yourself using less BB cream. It would also pair well by itself but with a little concealer and some powder for days you really want to go for the no makeup makeup look.
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As far as the skin benefits go, it has some really lovely elements in there. It’s also moisturizing like it claims and it goes on feeling more like a skin treatment than a makeup. Of course it’s not a substitute for your regular skincare, but it’s nice that it has that stuff in there for you. Same thing with the SPF 30 sunblock, it goes without saying that I’m always thrilled when a product has any kind of good sun protection in it. Asian brands seem to recognize it’s importance way more than North American brands do at this point. It’s really behind the times and irresponsible not to, honestly. Sorry, that’s just an issue I’m passionate about because it has real consequences both in terms of premature aging and potential cancer risks. Sun protection will always bump up the likability of a product for me so I’m glad that this has a fairly high SPF. All in all I really do like and recommend this CC cream. It has a variety of benefits and functions and works great alone and or in conjunction with your other products!Tony Moly Luminous Pure Aura CC Cream SPF 30 PA+++ gets four and a half turtles.
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ETUDE HOUSE MINNIE KISSING LIPS LIPSTICK AND XOXO MINNIE NAIL POLISH REVIEW

January 4, 2014 /

minnieThis is a mini Minnie Mini review. Ha, I saw the chance and had to run with it, forgive me.

A few months ago the Korean brand Etude House released a collection featuring the ever fashionable Minnie Mouse. As part of the collection they offered up two lipstick and nail polish shades. #01 Mini Red and #02 Bubble Pink. I went with #01 Mini Red for both and wow, am I ever glad I did.
This is a knockout blue based dark vibrant red that is far sexier than anything I would expect from the adorable cutesie packaging. We’re talking way more Jessica Rabbit territory here rather than Minnie Mouse. So, all in all, if you are tempted to channel one of the animated stars of an adult website such as https://www.cartoonporno.xxx/ this could be the perfect lipstick for you. Everyone deserves to try on a sexy makeup look once in a while after all.lipsThe lipstick is outstanding. The colour is just to die for. I like it much better than Mac’s RiRi Woo (sorry Rihanna, Minnie slays you here) or Russian Red. It’s a warm toned blue red that doesn’t have any real pink in it no matter how lightly you apply it. I really dislike buying a red lipstick only to discover it reads as magenta as it fades. This colour stays true. The formulation is very much on par with high end department store brands. Don’t be fooled by plastic packaging and cartoon exterior, this stuff is lush and gorgeous. It doesn’t bleed into fine lines and it’s pretty moisturizing without being tacky or sticky. The staying power is pretty good and definitely doesn’t melt off your lips in an ugly way like some do. As with most red lipsticks this might stain your lips a little until you use makeup remover at the end of the night to properly remove all traces of your day. Red is still a huge lipstick trend and every person that wears makeup needs to own a good red. For me, this red isn’t just good, it’s perfect.nailsThe nail polish of the same name is very much in keeping with the true blue dark red. It’s such a beautiful statement colour, especially paired with the matching lips. The swatch on the left is of my nails and the one on the right is from the Etude House website, it’s true colour is somewhere in between the two. Definitely not as oxblood as the right swatch but a little deeper than the left. I never thought I’d call anything branded with Minnie Mouse sultry, but this certainly is. As far as it’s durability I really couldn’t say with any honesty. I just broke this stuff open for the first time yesterday and I change my polish once a week. I’ll edit this post later if any major chipping becomes apparent before the week is up.

Thanks to the brilliant shade, price, and formulations, I can’t help but give this mouse five turtles.
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These products are limited edition so I suggest you get your hands on some today before they’re gone.

TOO FACED A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS PALETTE REVIEW

January 3, 2014 /

TOOFACEI know this is a super late review for something limited edition that came out for the 2013 holiday season, but it is entirely too cute not to give it it’s time in the spotlight! I received this as a Christmas gift and I was so impressed I wanted to share it with you guys.

The Too Faced A Few Of My Favorite Things palette has pretty much everything you need for for both super casual and fun night out looks. It has 20 different shadows with a great selection of neutrals and bolds. It does a really great job of being evenly balanced between the two. I also like that it has both velvety mattes and sparkly shimmers. For the most part these are highly pigmented and super easy to work with. I think both beginners and eyeshadow pros would like this palette. Same with both warm and cool toned beauties. The neutrals might just be some of the best selection of neutrals I’ve seen in any big palette and the splashy vibrant colours are both fun and entirely wearable. Really there’s something for everyone here, and that something is the whole damn thing.
The palette also includes really awesome blushes and a bronzer. I am really picky about blush shades, being as pale as I am a lot of colours just tend of overwhelm and look ridiculous. These are both nicely pigmented and yet subtle if you apply it with a soft hand. The colours are very easily build-able though if you are one of the lucky ones that can take a lot of colour. I would have still been pleased even if they had just given us all these awesome eyeshadows and blushes and left it at that, but they also give us a travel sized version of Better Than Sex mascara (it’s not better than sex but it’s better than a lot of mascaras out there) and a Lip Injection crayon. They didn’t even stop there though, as you can see in the pictures it includes a large zip travel bag that is actually amazingly cute and en trend (I was so impressed/thankful it was not a heinous floral throw away number like a lot of free bags are).toofacedpackage

toofacedsdjkfhMy swatches are so awful, I don’t know why my arm eats makeup but it really does not show an accurate representation of how pretty these shades actually are. I’m going to link you to Temptalia because she’s the Queen of swatches and her photos are spot on with their actual colour. Out of the twenty eyeshadows I am only disappointed in Party Time. After swiping on Blue Satin Sashes and being blown away and the amazing colour payoff I reached for Party Time with similar expectations and, ugh. It has very little pigment and is a chalky glittery mess. Other than that single misfire, this palette hit all the marks for me!

Sadly, it’s sold out online at Sephora, however I know my local Sephora does still have this in stock. If this palette really strikes you it would be worth making a call to see if your nearest Sephora still has some in store as well. Who knows, you might just luck out and get your hands on one.

I’m going to give the Too Faced A Few Of My Favourite Things palette 4 turtles out of 5. It’s a great compilation filled with hits and almost no B-sides.
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