Build Your Own Palette- Anastasia Beverly Hills Single Shadows

When Anastasia Beverly Hills launched their individual shadows, I was overjoyed! One of my favorite palettes in 2014 was the Limited Edition Amrezy Palette. The shadows were rich, pigmented, and neutral with just enough options for a slight pop of color. 

This year at IMATS I waited 2 hours in line to pick out my own palette. Something about buying shadows online for the first time is just so unsatisfying. I like to swatch and see everything in person. After some thought and knowing the 2 shades I had to have from the Amrezy Palette, I ended up with these 8 shadows. 

Caramel and Sienna were my two must haves from the Amrezy Palette. Caramel is such a beautiful warm neutral crease color. Sienna is a warm brown on the redder side and looks great to help blend outer corner shades.

The shadows are just as pigmented as I expected. Each shadow is $8 and with purchase of 4, 8, or 10 you get an empty palette which is usually $11.

I have to say for $10 they are great quality, lots of wearable options and a good alternative to MAC shadows.

What would shades would be in your customized palette?

XOXO
Serein

Liquid Lipstick Madness- Anastasia Beverly Hills & Hot Makeup Professionals

Liquid lipsticks have been a craze lately. Everyone wants long lasting, super pigmented, bold lips and Anastasia Beverly Hills released their highly anticipated Liquid Lipsticks late 2014. 

If you watched my IMATS Haul, you would know I picked up a few of these after waiting 2 hours! Watch the Haul HERE.

The product is very pigmented and long lasting, but they will dry out your lips! Make sure to exfoliate and condition your lips before applying this product. You can add a little balm over it when dry to bring back moisture to your lips.

My favorite shades are Heathers and Bloodline, surprise surprise. I find these lippies to be nice.

If your expecting a hydrating long lasting lip product, keep looking, this is not it, but if you don't mind a little dehydration for longevity, then you've got your product.

I feel that the Sephora Lip Creams are very comparable to the Anastasia Liquid Lipsticks and the Sephora ones are only $13 vs. $20. So if your on a budget, check out Sephora. My favorite shades are 01 and 03.

Another lip discovery from IMATS is Hot Makeup Professionals and I'm in love with the gloss New Vogue. This is one of the most pigmented glosses I've tried and the longevity is good. It's not sticky or goopy.

I'm not usually a gloss fan, but Hot Makeup won me over on their gloss. Runway is their kiss me more lip cream and I find this such a beautiful creamy products in my favorite bold red shade.

Defiantly keep an eye out for Hot Makeup Professionals coming soon!

Will you be trying the Anastasia Liquid Lipsticks?

XOXO
Serein

The Best of 2014 Blushes

Today's video is all about my favorite blushers from the past year. 

Growing up I auditioned in my teens for musicals, TV, film, and commercials. My mom was pretty laid back and never the stage mom, but the one thing she always got on me about in the car from OC to LA was, "Put more blush on." 

Now my mom never really told me what to do... EVER! For whatever reason I was against blush in my teens, not sure why. I think maybe the fear of looking like a clown or something. Anyways when going in for all these auditions, you're usually put on camera in a poorly lit room. Back in the day on actual tape, so blush was kind of an important thing. 

Many years later, I'm no longer afraid of blush, in fact I kind of have a love affair with it. Watch my latest video to see what my favorite blushes have been for the past year. 

Also don't forget to check out the whole series "The Best of 2014 Products" here.

What have you been loving this past year that will carrying into 2015?

XOXO
Serein

Makeup Revolution London Haul with Swatches

I've been hearing a lot about Makeup Revolution London lately and I really wanted to try out the line. Makeup Revolution is an incredibly affordable cosmetics company based in the U.K. You can order from their website internationally, but there is a hefty tax and shipping added to each order. 

After watching tons of reviews and hauls I decided to test out the brand especially since I'm pretty much obsessed with all thinks U.K.

The lipstick and gloss are quite creamy and pigmented at only $1.58 each! The price reminds me of Wet n' Wild here in the states, but I have to say the quality is much nicer than Wet n' Wild. 

The gloss is a nice formulation, not too sticky. I choose a clear gloss to go over some of my lipsticks I currently own, as well as possibly a glossy eye look. 

The lipstick is creamy and smooth, not chalky or clumpy at all. I really like the shade I choose, it's an everyday pink. 

After seeing some great reviews of the highlighters I decided on Radiant Light in glow and I'm very happy with this warm highlight powder. The pigmentation is nice and shimmery without being glittery. I love the baked texture of the product and you get quite a lot for $7.89. I'd compare this to a MAC mineralized skin finish. 

Now the blush palette was a great deal especially for a newbie starting out their makeup collection or kit. You get 8 blushes for $9.47. I find the blushes to be pigmented and easy to work with. Your not going to get the blotchy application that can be found in a lot of drugstore blushes. 

Defiantly use a fluffy blush brush to work the product in and blend blend blend.

Now after much hype over the eyeshadow palettes I choose the Romantic Smoked palette to test out for $6.32. The price is great! I don't think there are many eyeshadow palettes with 12 shades in it for this price.

My concern is that a few of the shades are a bit chalky, but this could be due to using a finger to swatch vs. a brush. The pigmentation was good, not too much, not too little. I like the variety of purples in the palette and I think I can work with it. For a gal on a budget, this is defiantly a great option to add to your makeup collection.

I'd prefer if the shadows weren't so narrow, making it a bit hard to grab at product if using a fluffy blending brush or my fingers, but that's just me.

My next purchase will include some contour palettes, and the much talked about iconic palettes that were sold out when I placed my order. I do appreciate the fact that unlike most U.K. drugstore brands, Makeup Revolution offers international shipping.

All in all if your able to get your hands on these high quality products for minimal cost,  DO! I know when I visit the U.K. I'll be bringing an extra suitcase to hunt down Makeup Revolution as well as some other U.K. only high street brands.

Do you have access to Makeup Revolution? What have you tried from them?

XOXO
Serein

Kat Von D Interstellar Palette

In 2014 I was introduced to the beauty that is Kat Von D eyeshadows and tattoo liner. My all time favorite palette that isn't my typical all nudes is Kat Von D's Monarch palette, so when I saw this beautiful purple based Interstellar palette in stores, I HAD TO HAVE IT!

The pigmentation is to die for, every shadow is evenly pigmented and smooth. There's 3 large base shades because we always use up our base shades before the rest of the palette (shakes fists to the heavens). The matte black at the end is the best matte black I have EVER tried that I can remember.

Recently I created a beautiful everyday look with this palette in my Best of 2014 Eyeshadows video. In my excitement for this palette, I forgot to take photos of the swatches, but trust me these are some no joke eyeshadows.

Warning: if you are new to makeup and heavy handed, please be careful and BLEND BLEND BLEND!

Have you tried andy Kat Von D palettes? What's your favorite?

XOXO
Serein

Creamiest Matte Single Shadows EVER

Colour Pop has done it again! This California, American made cosmetics company has come out with new matte shadows. I thought the satin, metallic, ultra- metallic, and pearlized finishes were beautiful, but these matte shadows hare to die for! 

This is the perfect finish for the more natural makeup lover. Mixing these mattes with metallic, ultra-metallic, and pearlized offers dimension and unlimited possibilities. 

The pigmentation is 100% vibrant and creamy. These shadows are not for the faint of heart. Check out my previous posts about Colour Pop Cosmetics.

typo: Bandit is actually miss labeled and is Farah

I've been consistent impressed with Colour Pop Cosmetics and even listed them in my Best of 2014 Lip Products as well as my Best of 2014 Eyeshadows.

Have you tried Colour Pop yet? What do you think of the line?

XOXO
Serein

The Best Liquid Foundations 2014

New Best of 2014 Liquid Foundations video is now live. You can watch the video here or below. 

Make sure to subscribe to my channel to get all of the Best of 2014 Makeup Products!

XOXO
Serein

Dior Holidays

I have been walking around drooling at the new Dior Holiday shadows for the last few weeks and I finally purchased one.

These beauties retail at $60 a pop, so I had to choose wisely and I could only choose one. My choice was the Dior 5- Colour Eyeshadow in 566 Versailles 

I choose this palette out of the 10 in the collection, because I felt that it was neutral enough to get some wear after the winter and holiday months. I mean spending $60 I want to get my use out of this baby.

The colors are rich, warm, and shimmery, perfect for the holidays and winter months for a bit of glamour. I will continue to use the palette mixing with my other more matte palettes. The silver is just beautiful and so fun to use as an inner corner shade.

The shadows are a quite hard in texture, but very bendable and easy to apply with brushes. I wouldn't say they are crazy pigmented, but they do apply nicely on the lid. The center shade in the palette (first from left above) was a little disappointing to work with as it's very glittery and difficult to transfer from brush/ finger to eyelid.

Did you pick up any Dior Holiday Shadows?

XOXO
Serein

Blush & Highlight Combo

An oldie and a newbie make the perfect flawless complexion. 

Growing up my mom always told me to wear blush. I rebelled like any teenager and avoided blush. I didn't want to look like a crazy clown. 

Well, like many things in life, my mom was right. Wear the blush. 

Blush does something to the face, it lifts, brightens, and adds color. Blush wakes up the complexion and makes us look youthful and healthy. 

A rediscovery and all time favorite blush of mine is mac's warm soul. This blush is the perfect mix of mauve, pink, brighting, slight shimmer shade for almost all skin tones. I have yet to find someone this blush doesn't look good on.

I heard that mac recently reformulated this perfection, and I'm sad about the news. I have yet to buy a new one, but when I tried it on in store, It was still beautiful with the reformulation.

Want to really brighten your face and wake up? Try a highlight. I'm loving this new discovery from Laura Geller. The Baked Split Highlight has the best of all your highlighting needs. You have a non shimmery, pearly highlight for daytime or natural looks. Swipe this on your highlight points and look like your woke up glowing. Use the shimmery peachy tone for a bit more drama and intensity. Both shades look beautiful on the eyes and inner corners as well.

In a hurry? Swipe warm soul on cheeks around the face, over the lids and add this highlight on your highlight points, few strokes of mascara, and a lip balm, your good to go and no one would be the wiser.

What are some of your favorite blushes and highlights? Did this post inspire you to dig through your makeup collection and find an old favorite? Tweet me your pics @sereinwu

XOXO

Serein

Colour Pop Trunk Show

If you read my last post where I jumped on the Colour Pop Band Wagon, you'll know I'm a huge fan of the Los Angeles based cosmetics company that produces crazy pigmented lippies & eyeshadows all at $5 a pop. 

Yesterday I attended the Colour Pop Trunk Show at Sugerfina's The Americana in Glendale location. Arriving with the intention of purchasing a lippie for a friend and possibly a few more lippies for myself, I left with quite a bit more. 

It's just so tempting when everything is so reasonably priced for such great quality products!

Forget The Fruit Cake is a new holiday lippie set featuring all new shades. These lipsticks are so rich and colorful that a makeup junkie like myself cannot pass them up. 

The packaging is slim and sleek. I actually prefer the thinner lipsticks for precise application versus traditional bullet tubes. My only complaint is that once you twist these up they can twist back down not all lined up. Not a huge problem, just the OCD in me finds it a little bothersome, but you really can't beat the color payoff and price of these babies. 

The lippies come in the most adorable packaging perfect to wrap up with a bow and give as a gift for the holidays. You could even break up some of these kits and make you own little kits for the makeup lovers in your life.

Just look at that rich formulation for each and everyone of the shades!

The purchase of the night was their Lippies To Go Kit. I was so excited they had the Lippies To Go available, as it's sadly sold out online. It comes with 5 beautiful shades one end is a retractable liner and the other is a lipstick. You get the perfect on the go touch up lip combo. No sharpener needed. Bonus, I love that they look like my grade school markers. 

This kit includes Brink, my favorite everyday pencil and lippie I own already. Now I get to throw this baby one in my purse and always be touch up ready. 

Something about the Megan Naik quad drew me in. The combination of shades are so beautiful and warm for the season. I love the gold shade all over the eyelid on its own. These shadows are unlike anything I've ever used before. They feel so soft, creamy, and almost wet. They blend really well, are super pigmented, and long lasting. I've actually rubbed my eyes forgetting about my makeup and these suckers didn't budge!

For more details, read my original review of the shadows here.

On a whim I also picked up another one of their super shock shadow holiday kits in Down With Decorum.

I feel like these pictures don't do the shadows justice! The rich browns are my current obsessions and mixing these high pigmented shades with my everyday neutral shadows are perfect to add depth and variety to my look.

My favorite use for these have been pops of color on the outer corner. Using the shimmer shades on the inner corner and lining my lower lash line with different metallic or shimmers. The possibilities are unlimited!

This picture is after I swatched the shadows onto my arms! Just look at that!

My style and typical look is very clean, classic, and neutral. I love playing with color when done subtly and these shadows offer a great affordable option to add to your everyday makeup collection and spice things up a bit. Don't let the shades or pigmentation scare you away, I was scared at first, but they really are great to use and very versatile.

Seriously for $5 your not going to regret anything and the packaging is so adorable it makes the perfect affordable gift for any occasion, especially some last minute Christmas gifts.

Have you tried any Colour Pop Cosmetics yet? What are your must haves from the line?

XOXO
Serein