Stila: Make an Impression in Moscow Review

Hello Ladies,

Well today was a pretty INTERESTING day in terms of customer service experience... you can get a hint of what's going on if you are following me on Twitter. I even considered writing a LONG angry rant post about it, and I probably still will but later. When I'm not as angry and I can think straight and I can write something that will not resemble a crazy angry post. 

Meanwhile I will talk about something that makes me happy. Like makeup, or more specifically Stila Make and Impression in Moscow travel palette. 

I recently received it in the mail after hunting for it for some time. And really, no matter how much I talk about how I am a Ukrainian and not Russian, I still wanted it for one specific reason: it is inspired by Russia. And because before I get anything Ukrainian, I probably will find something Russian so gotta take what I can get.

From left to right: Matryoshka, Nadia, Chill, Mink, Lily

This palette consists of 4 eye shadows and 1 convertible lip/cheek color. Honestly, I don't really see Russia in this palette, except Chill and Mink which I pretty obvious. When I think Matreshka I really don't think that color, I imagine something bright and red. Then there is a Nadia, and I don't get the naming for it at all. With the rest of them, the names are either objects or something associated with Russia. Nadia is a name (my Mom's name as a matter of fact), and yes it is a Russian name but what's the association? Nadezhda Krupskaya is the only Nadia (short for Nadezhda) that I can think of right now lol. I don't even have any thoughts on name Lily, since as far as I know it has no significance in Russian culture (but I of course could be wrong). Unless it's a name again. But enough of my cultural ramblings, and on to the review.

I did not like the eye shadows in the pan,  in fact I would have probably not picked them up if I've seen them separately. But when I applied them I was instantly in love. It is almost as if those colors were made for someone with my coloring. You can see the FOTD below for what I mean.

Mittens making sure I'm taking good photos.

The eye shadows are very pigmented and apply very smoothly. This is my first time trying Stila and so far I'm pretty impressed. Each one of them has tiny gold sparkles and I attached lots of photos where I tried to capture that. My favorite color is Matryoshka, it is such a nice light peach color. Nadia is the most disappointing out of the bunch because it takes a lot to get a good coverage from it. Chill is gorgeous light blue color, light enough to be a nice accent color but not bright enough to be in-your-face. Mink is a pretty warm brown, I used it blended with either Matryoshka or Nadia, or on the crease. Lily is a peachy-pink color which could be used on lips or cheeks. I doubt I will ever use it on lips since I like to think of it as a blush rather than a lip color.

The staying power is very good for the eye shadows. I applied them over e.l.f. Mineral Primer and they lasted me a whole day without any fallout or creasing. I never used cream blushes, but Lily was very easy to apply and blend, and looked very natural on me. However it felt a little sticky, and didn't last the whole day. I'm not sure exactly how long it lasted because I don't take any makeup with me to work, but I would say a good couple of hours passed before I noticed that it was gone.

Below are photos of me wearing all of Moscow colors. I wanted to do a look that will stand out, since most of colors in that palette are pretty neutral. I think I succeeded by putting Chill around all the other colors.

 I love how green my eyes look, and the natural looking flush I get with Lily. It's almost like a toned down version of bronzer specifically for my skin.

What do you think? Have you tried any Stila Travel Palettes?

~ Lyuba

Urban Decay Naked Palette redesigned?

Hello Ladies,

Today I got a very nice email from Urban Decay in regards to their much sought Naked Palette. I am super excited about it, however I really don't see their reasoning... They can't make 24/7 pencils fast enough? How about just admitting that they can't make Naked Palette fast enough or more likely they are keeping the supply low so EVERYONE would want one? (But we can't say that now can we? ) I'm sure there are many more fans out there who would just take the Naked Palette and forget all about the pencils. But whatever it takes to get this palette out on the market I say, and if they would much rather replace the pencil with a brush and charge a little more, then go for it. All I can do now is wait for it to be released.

 You can see the email above. I am very excited about the news and I hope their "couple of weeks" is indeed couple of weeks. I will be buying it right away so I wouldn't miss out on it again.

~ Lyuba

Attempt at 1920s Flapper Makeup

Hello Ladies,

Yesterday was my play with makeup day, although I didn't get around to it until way later in the day. Originally I was planning on doing 2 looks for the BUBBLEGARM's Sigma Make Me Up contest , one pink and one blue, but I also really really wanted to do a black look. Yesterday I only did one look, but tomorrow I'll do the pink look too because that's the set I really really want.

I've been thinking of doing a Flapper inspired makeup look for a while, seeing as how I am obsessed with Flapper hats :) So I researched it a little, found out that white face, dark eyes, small dark red lips, pencil line think eyebrows were all the rage at the time and to work I went. Not everything about this look makes me happy, but for the first time I think it's ok. I'll know what to do different for next time.

Next time I will not go with eyeshadow all the way to my eyebrows, but I did it on purpose. I don't have anything that could completely conceal my eyebrows so I figured eyeshadow will help with that. It did, but it also took away from the more accurate look. So hopefully by the time I do this look again, I will get all the necessary stuff to conceal my eyebrows.

What do you think? When I get home I will update with more detailed photos as well as a list of stuff I used.

~ Lyuba

Holiday Haul

Hello ladies,

I consider myself a pretty patient person. If not, how else would you explain me being able to buy cosmetics and not use it for a while, even if wanting to a lot. I have some stuff that I bought back in November but have not touched because first I wanted to use up some existing things I have, and now I need to take photos before using it. I'm talking about Benefit's Her Name Was Glowla set, but it is not pictured because it is not technically a part of my holiday haul. 

Holiday season is a crazy time for my family because our birthdays happen in December, then of course Christmas and New Year, and then our anniversary is on January 3rd. This year is a little bit less crazy because my husband is away and I'm all alone with cats (and all they care about are some yummy munchies), plus he got a big gift that combined birthday, Christmas and anniversary gifts so I didn't have to think hard about what to get him. So I got some stuff for myself instead haha. Or asked for cosmetics as a gift.

FRONTCOVER To Go set
On my birthday (December 27) I met up with some friends at Bluewater mall but little did I know that it is THE infamous Boxing Day. I was told that it is the equivalent of US Black Friday. Well either way, it is also my birthday and I was determent to do something fun and going shopping is always fun in my book. Even if I had to drive for over an hour and dodge crowds. But anyways, enough of my ramblings. I wanted to try Frontcover makeup for a while, and this set was 1/2 at Boots so I figured I had a right to pick it up. I swatched some eye shadows while getting ice cream with my friends, and we were totally impressed. Now I just need to work up the courage to take more detailed photos and review this, so I could be freeeeeeeee to use it.

 Sigma Complete Kit with Brush Roll in Pink
I got a giftcard from my in-laws... which could only be used in US. This is a whole separate rant that everyone who knows me already heard all about. Anyways, after trying to use it in Bluewater with no success (I had to try!!!), I decided to go the trusted route of ordering something online. Sigma had a sale on their brushes at the time, so I ordered Complete Kit with Brush Roll in Pink, which I probably would have never ordered if I had to buy it myself. Can't help it, as much as I understand the need for good brushes I just can't shell out $80 at one time :( I got the set in pink, but I do not see it on the website anymore so maybe they discontinued it.

tokidoki Robbery Palette
Remember my rant about some websites not shipping to APO addresses? The stuff you see from now one are the ones I really, desperately wanted from Sephora but had no way or ordering them myself. So I gave a list to my brother of stuff I wanted and he got me all these stuff!!!! I think I'll do that from now on, just give him a list haha so he doesn't have to think so hard. :P So here is tokidoki Robbery Palette which I really really really wanted. I don't have any idea who tokidoki is/are, some kind of Japanese cartoon? (speaks the person obsessed with Japan) Nor do I really care. I've heard the name before, but other than that I had no idea about them. But when I came across their makeup range on Sephora I was blown away by the cuteness! The box is metal too! :) And the design is so cute :) Ok, I'm in a cuteness overload happy land right now.

Stila limited edition Travel Palettes
Ever since I saw these I've wanted the Russian palette. Yup, because I have Russian in me. Too bad for me though because it was sold out everywhere except Sephora. I could get Tokyo and Aspen on Ulta.com but why would I order from there when Sephora had 4 of them, including Moscow? So my brother got them for me :) They are sooo cute in person, although smaller than I expected. If I like these enough I will hunt down the other two on eBay, for collection purposes.

Yup that is my kitty trying to steal some makeup ;P

Tarte Bronze Smoky Eye kit
I've been wanting to try Tarte cosmetics for a while, so I just added random stuff to my list. Actually I added a LOT of random items, not necessary Tarte, to have some element of surprise but this is what my brother choose for me so I could finally try it. I don't see this set on Sephora.com anymore so I guess they sold out. So far I'm excited about everything except bronzer and possibly the lip stain because it is very brown. But I'm going to try it and see how it looks on me since I never ever tried brown for a lip color.

 Maybelline Instand Anti-Age primer and Sleek Molten Metal
These are not part of my holiday haul, but stuff I picked up on Saturday. I'm very excited about Maybelline's Instant Anti-Age primer because I also ordered an American equivalent of it. I guess it is part of the Eracer foundation line which just now been released in UK (I went to 3 Boots stores, and 2 Superdrug stores before I found it in the 3rd Superdrug) but it had been released in US for a while. I finally ordered myself one with the primer that comes with it, otherwise I would have bought a foundation too. I'm can't wait to receive it in the mail so I can compare to, mostly because shade names and numbers for foundation are different for US and UK. Call me clueless, but I thought that the shade names and numbers will be the same. Guess not lol.

Next is Sleek Molten Metal which I wanted to try ever since I saw a preview of it in December. I had to go to 3 Superdrugs before I found it too! Not much to say here other than I never used cream eye shadows so it will be a new experience to me. 

Have any of you picked up any good stuff lately?

~ Lyuba

Phoenix FOTD

Hey ladies,

Few days ago I decided to go completely crazy with my eye makeup (as opposed to what I usually do) and give some love to yellow and orange colors from Sleek SUNSET palette. And here is the result:

I decided to go completely UNsafe and ignore the whole statement lips/light eyes rule. I wanted everything bright, the eyes and the lips!

I love how the red/orange/yellow makes my eyes look so much greener! And here is the close up of my lips, I used Bourjois So Delicate Lip Cream. After it dried, it literally stayed on for whole day, even after eating! I was seriously impressed, seeing as when I wore it before it never lasted longer than an hour. Guess the secret is to let it dry completely.

So what do you think?

~ Lyuba