Fyrinnae Te Amo and New Toys

I had a super stressful week last week, and then over the weekend I got a package from glowyjoeybunny AKA my new favorite person of all time.  She sent me some lovely perfume samples that I'll be reviewing later, and then Fyrinnae's Te Amo eyeshadow, which I've totally been craving for ever.  For those of you that don't know Fyrinnae, it's a small indie make up company run by two adorable guys and famous for its fantastically shimmery loose eye shadows.  They're about $5 a pop, and when you see the size of the pots you'll feel like you got ripped off.  However, I've had one shadow (Rapunzel Had Extensions, absolutely gorgeous) that I wear as a base every day, and have for the last 6 months, and I haven't even used up a quarter of the pot.  So they're an amazing value.


ANYWAYS, Te Amo is basically the best thing ever.  Fyrinnae describes it as glowing iridescent copper highlight.  I wouldn't call it a highlight.  To me it's more of a dusty taupe with this amazing copper shimmer running through it.

This color is SO hard to photograph nicely.  Fyrinnae has better shots on the website.  It's just the perfect color because it's light enough to be a base lid shade if you're doing a darker look, or it's deep enough to use as a crease shade for a more natural look.  Inside it comes across as a nice, neutral taupe, but when you step into the sunlight it becomes this fiery copper that brings out the green in my hazel eyes wonderfully.  Basically I love it.  So: THANK YOU JOEY.  Because I want to marry this color and how versatile but fun it is.  Also everyone should follow Joey on Twitter (@glowyjoeybunny) because she's hilarious.

In other news, I gots me an iPhone over the weekend because my Blackberry decided to off itself (except like actually).  Like my background?  Marie Antoinette FTW.  Anyways, I thought it'd be useful for other Blackberry peeps if I did a little review/comparison of the two phones.  I am by no means a techie, but if you're an average person looking to switch from a Blackberry to an iPhone this might be helpful.

The biggest criticism I heard about iPhones was battery life.  My Blackberry Tour would last me maybe 12 hours, sometimes 10, before it died.  The iPhone lasts just as long or longer, so that hasn't been a problem for me.  There's definitely a learning curve switching between the two phones, but I think the iPhone is a little more user friendly.  The only issues I've had with it are that you can't mark texts as unread (so if I forget that I'm texting you, blame the phone!  Not me), and even though I can get Facebook notifications/Twitter notifications/emails when I'm out and about, I can't always read them when I'm not in a WiFi network.  It's not a huge deal for me, but if I was in a corporate setting I'd want something that was more reliable in different environments.


But on the plus side...it's an iPhone.  It's really cool.  The camera is AMAZING, the video chat function is amazing, the apps are amazing, I can text on it much more easily than I expected, and I can even watch my Netflix instant on it for free.  So overall I love it, even though I'm constantly paranoid about dropping it.

Today's Wants

So I was a fail blogger yesterday.  I was in the middle of writing a theory paper about transnational migration theory and then I went to sleep and completely forgot about blogging.  Fail.  But today I'm on top of it!  Here are my wants:


Pottery Barn Faux Fur Throw: Okay, so this isn't for sale anymore, but a friend of mine has it and I WANT IT.  It's a plush, suede-like material on one side and then on the other side it's a fluffy faux fur.  It's so warm and cozy, but it looks so glam and fabulous.  I want to snuggle with it.  I've tried to steal it from my friend, but she's not having it.

See by Chloe Yate Clutch, $95 at endless.com: This is so cute.  I just want to hug it.  I'm not really a clutch person, but this one is so cute and well-priced that it needs to be mine.  The shape and hue are very practical and easy to wear, but the bow adds an adorable girly twist, and then the metal takes it to a rock and roll glam sort of place.

 

Ginger + Liz Polish in Reality Bites, Swagger, and Prima Donna, all $12 at gingerandliz.com: All of the Ginger + Liz polishes are vegan and eco-friendly (yay!) and they come in the coolest colors.  No but like really.  Best colors ever.  Reality Bites is cream polish in a coral with tangerine highlights.  I love this color because it's a fun, bright, springy color but it's not glaring like a neon.  Swagger is a metallic rose gold.  I LOVE metallic polishes.  Love.  The usual gold ones are cute, but the pink twist with this one makes it so much more interesting and so much younger and more flattering.  Prima Donna is a metallic pink with lavender undertones.  I want this.  I want this a lot.  It's such a cool color!  The pinky purple is all cute and girly, and then you throw in the metallic twist and BAM it's all high fashion and quirky chic.

Images from pbteen.com, endless.com, gingerandliz.com.

Zoya Blair

I got my last Zoya polish in the mail today.  Finally.  The last little straggler was Kelly, which Zoya calls a rich grey with soft purple and blue undertones.  That description is spot on.  To me it's a lovely murky grey with hints of periwinkle, and definitely the next polish I do my nails with.  At moment, I'm wearing Zoya Blair (the red polish on the right).

Zoya calls Blair a cool blackened red with purple undertones.  My pics are terrible.  Here's a much better one.  This polish...well frankly, this polish is the shit.  In the sun it looks black around the edges, but the middle is this bright, firey and shimmery red.  It really reminds me of Blair from Gossip Girl in that it's dark enough to be fashion forward, but it is a vampy, do not mess with me or I will mess you up kind of color.  It's certainly a cool red, but it still works with my skin tone.  It applied wonderfully and was opaque with two coats.  It's a pain to photograph, but this is my new signature polish.  It's like Zoya picked it straight out of my brain.

Awkward Chic rating: A+++++.  LOVE.  No criticisms on the formula, and this may be my favorite polish color of all time.

Zoya Edtya and Blair

It happened.  My 3 Free Facebook promo Zoya polishes came in the mail (WOOHOO!).  Well two of them came, the third (Kelly) comes tomorrow.  For those of you that don't know, Zoya is a great, eco-friendly polish company that had a get 3 free polishes deal where you just paid for shipping a while back.  Mine were all backordered, but they're finally here!


So my first two are Edtya and Blair. Zoya describes Edyta as a complex mixture of gold, olive, blue-green and smokey grey with a sparkling metallic finish.  You can actually see all of those in the bottle, which is impressive.  This polish is along the same lines as Zoya Valerie, in that it's very, VERY thickly packed with fine glitter.  Blair is described as a cool blackened red with subtle hints of purple and metallic shimmer.  I'd say that's pretty spot on.  I love that it reminds me of Blair from Gossip Girl and it's such a me color--vampy but not so dark that it comes across as black.  It's similar to OPI's Royal Rajah Ruby, which I also have, but while RRR reads as dark and then red on the nails, Blair is most emphatically a red that then registers as vampy.  It other words: it's HOT.  Zoya polishes are usually $7 at zoya.com.

Definitely click on these to make them bigger.  I did my nails with Edyta first because it's such a weird color.  I mean weird in a good way, though.  The thing with me and polish is that I don't like crazy, weird colors.  I usually stay within the range of pink/red/purple/color/navy.  No bright greens or yellows or blues here.  So a green polish is a little crazy for me.  The reason I got this is that it fills the gap in my polish collection of the vampy color that's also offbeat and a little edgy.  Edyta is extremely easy to apply, you could get away with one coat but I like to do two.  It is hard to remove since it's a glitter, but it sparkles like fire in the sunshine, it's fabulous.  The color on my nails reads as a greyed down olive green with hints of gold and mint green shimmer.  It's kind of a badass army green.  I love it.  It flatters my skin tone, it's quirky but not actually weird, and it's wearing really well compared to Zoyas I've had in the past (probably the stubbornness of the glitter).

Awkward Chic rating: A+.  I mean, it was free, the color and application are great, and it's insanely glittery.  I have no complaints. 

Craving: Urban Decay Feminine Palette

I don't think I've ever bought an eyeshadow palette.  I'm too picky.  I like to be able to choose all of my colors.  But sometimes I wish I had a cute little palette like this to take with me when I travel.  It's so much more travel friendly than a ton of loose eyeshadows and the packaging is LOVELY.  


Urban Decay Feminine Palette, $34 at urbandecay.com.  Loving the feathery art on the front.  I'd actually be proud to whip this out of my makeup bag.

So what's included in the palette is a mini of their Eden shadow primer (a matte beige), a mini of their 24-7 liner in Zero (black), and 6 shadows: Stray Dog, a cool deep brown taupe, SWF, a metallic cotton candy pink, Midnight Cowboy, a gilded champage bronze, Aquarius, a pale, muted teal with silver shimmer, Darkhorse, a deep chocolate bronze-brown, and Ecstacy, a cool violet purple.  I really love that there's a nice combination of wearable, chic shades, and then there's the purple and the teal thrown in for a fun, whimsical touch.  The black liner adds a nice bit of edge to it all. 

I read somewhere that you get about $80 worth of product in this palette, which is a pretty phenomenal steal considering that the actual price is about $46 less than that.  Talk about a bargain people.  Has anyone tried this?  I want it.


Images via audreydao.com.

Womanity

So when I replaced my old, dried up gel liner from Sephora a few days ago, I ended up with some fun free samples.  One of which was the Thierry Mugler Womanity EDP, which I've been dying to try for a while now.


Thierry Mugler Womanity EDP, $78 for 1.7 oz at sephora.com: It's definitely not a cheap fragrance, and I have mixed feelings about the bottle.  I like it, but I don't think it's very chic or elegant.  There's some mumbo jumbo about 'secret symbols' carved into the cap and all that, but the one bit I do like about the cap is the twist-on cap.  It feels a little more glamorous than the standard atomizer.  The other thing that bothers me is the name.  Womanity?  Really?  Ugh.

So the notes in this are fig, caviar, citrus, and woods.  When I first heard that I was like hm.  I'm a vegetarian.  Caviar is one of the last things I want to smell like.  But the caviar here doesn't say "baby fish fetuses."  It adds a salty, musky base to the fragrance that twists around the dry woods beautifully, in a way reminiscent of drift wood on the beach.  The citrus adds a bright note, but the fig...the fig is the real star.  It adds a sweet, feminine, unctuous twist that keeps this from being any generic girly fragrance and takes it to an interesting, offbeat and sophisticated place.  I really love this.  I loved it so much that I thought it must be weird (I always like weird perfumes), and so I made basically everyone I talked to today smell it, and the general consensus is that it's FAB.  It's feminine but not boring, has great sillage and lasting power (I put a TINY dab on over 12 hours ago and I can still smell it clearly) but isn't overpowering, and it's sexy.  Very, very sexy in a non-slutty, non-tacky kind of way.  I really want this.  Which is a problem, since it ain't cheap.


Awkward Chic rating: A-.  I'd give the perfume itself an A+, but the name, price, and bottle take it down a bit.


Image via sephora.com.

Pretty Things

 Guess what y'all???  IT'S THE WEEKEND.  Well, unless you have class tomorrow.  In which case I am very sorry.  So here are some pretty things to make you feel better about that unfortunate scheduling incident.

Laura Mercier Silk Road Eye and Cheek Palette, $48 at sephora.com, Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Shadow Pencil, $20 at sephora.com: I like this palette based solely on the name (total history nerd alert).  But it's also full of colors that are actually useful.  There's Palace Pink blush (a soft shimmering pink with gold pearl), Persian Rose blush (a pink coral with gold sheen), and then eye shadows in Regal Violet (vibrant sparkling violet), Golden Sands (soft pink peach with gold pearl), Rare Taupe (soft taupe grey with satin finish), and Lavender Silk (pale blue violet with matte finish).  I really love the two blushes--anything pale and pink and shimmery has my vote--and I really love that the shadows are wearable colors but not the usual taupes and neutrals.  You could do a simple eye with the pale pink and the taupe, or do the taupe with the dark purple in the v for a smokier look, or combine the purples, or do a combo of the pale pink and the lavender for a soft, ethereal look.  Now, I'm not a huge fan of Urban Decay's 24/7 liners (the lasting power for me is sub-par), but I've heard such good things about these shadow pencils that I'm dying to try one.  I like to blend/combine lots of pretty shadows in the morning, but sometimes I sleep in too late and just don't have time to do the whole blending/contouring she-bang.  So I find the idea of a one-step, do it all pencil very appealing.  The shades are very similar to the UD liners, and I hear the lasting power is great.  I'd love to try Sin (champagne) and Rehab (taupe).

Stila Make Me Blush Set, $20 at sephora.com: This is the cutest gift for Valentine's Day EVER.  The lip glazes are .05 oz instead of the fullsize .08 oz, and the full-size glosses are $22, so that's a great deal in and of itself.  The shades included are Hugs (creamy rose) and Kisses (sparkling red), which are cutely named for Valentine's Day and pretty colors.  But the blush is what really gets me.  HOW ADORABLE IS THAT?  The color is a flattering blend of peach, pink, and deep, and the gold dusting adds a nice little sparkle.  I want to buy this for Valentine's Day for myself.  Is that sad?

Images via sephora.com.

Shiny Pretty Happy Things

Dudes.  I am sick.  It's bronchitis city over here.  Blah.  So if I seem a little...blah over the next few days, it's not that I don't love you guys anymore.  It's that I feel like death.  So here are some pretty things to cheer us all up.


J. Crew Silk Serenade Dress, $138 at jcrew.com, J. Crew Corsa Tote, $238 at jcrew.com: How adorable are these new J. Crew pieces?  Drool.  I love the blue shade of this slip dress, I love the subtle sheen of the silk, and I love the cut with its lingerie inclinations.  You could dress it up in a very feminine, sexy way, or you could dress it down and make it daytime appropriate.  I wish I had the money to buy this J. Crew tote for my textbooks.  It's just big enough for books and laptops, it has a good number of pockets for stashing things in, and the washed and worn leather look reminds me of an old motorcycle jacket in the best possible way.

LUSH It's Raining Men Shower Gel, $24.95 at lushusa.com: I would buy this for the name alone.  It's Raining Men?  In the shower?  Yes.  Just yes.  And the fact that it has notes of lotus flower, honey, bergamot oil, and orange blossom seals the deal.  It would make me smile in the gross dorm showers, and that's a feat in and of itself.

Images via jcrew.com, lushusa.com.

No More Waity, Katie

Butter London is coming out with a polish in March called "No More Waity, Katie."  As in, no more waiting for Kate Middleton to get married.  I can't decide if I find that tasteless or hilarious, but either way I think the color is fantastic.  It's a purpley taupe with lavender sparkle.  It's the right balance between classic chic and offbeat fashionista.

Again, it comes out in March and it'll be $22, which is a lot for polish but I think the hilarious name and color are worth it.


Image via refinery29.com.

Review: MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation

I've been searching for a good foundation setting powder that blends coverage and mattifying properties in an easy to use formula for years.  Literally.  And so far, my search has been inconclusive.  But, I think I've found a pretty good option (not a holy grail status option, but a good option).  It's MAC's Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation, $26 at maccosmetics.com.


I know the idea of setting foundation with foundation seems silly.  But I'm always looking for more coverage and I figured that a foundation would have more lasting power than a regular powder, and probably more mattifying power.  This foundation comes in a round, palm-sized compact with a mirror in the lid and a sponge concealed in a compartment under the powder.  The powder comes in the usual MAC shades and has no SPF.

As far as the packaging goes, I am very pleased with it.  It clicks closed with a really satisfying sound (I know that's weird, but it makes me so happy), you get a great amount of product, and the mirror is very helpful.  I don't understand the sponge, to be honest, but if you like sponges it's a convenient way to apply your powder on the go.


Now, for the product itself.  I hate powder foundations and matte finishes, so I haven't applied it as such (this definitely has a matte finish).  I see how it could be a good powder foundation, and it certainly has good coverage.  It is highly pigmented, which is great for me because I've been applying it only on my t-zone, and it helps with my nose redness.  What I do with this is use a big, fluffy brush and pat it down my t-zone where I'm oiliest.  The coverage is easy to build, and it keeps my foundation and concealer lasting and staying fresh for much longer than they did before.  I've heard that this breaks a lot of people out, but I haven't experienced any issues with that in the 2 weeks that I've used it.  With my last pressed powder, I had to reapply at least 4 times a day.  Here, I can reapply maybe once or twice and still not look like an oil-slick.


Long story short: this a pigmented, high-coverage pressed foundation that will keep you matte for at least a few hours and set your makeup nicely.  I don't know if I would use it as an actualy foundation, but as a setting powder I think it's fabulous.


Awkward Chic rating: A-.  If it kept me matte all day it would get an A, but as is it's a pretty fantastic product.


Images from thisnext.com, firstimpressionsbeauty.blogspot.com.

Vivica A. Fox is hot sexy cougar

Vivica A. Fox said that she and her younger handsome boyfriend are hoping to have a baby in 2011. She is 46 years and her younger boyfriend is only 27 years. The couple seems to be very close. They may be having sex everyday night in their house,

Too Faced Cravings

I've never bought anything from Too Faced, but I was browsing around Sephora's website today, and the only two things that caught my eye were these Too Faced items.


Too Faced Romantic Eye Classic Beauty Shadow Collection, $35 at sephora.com, Too Faced Peach Leopard Brightening & Perfecting Bronzer, $28 at sephora.com: This Too Faced set has 9 shadows.  The three large ones are Soul Mates (pale peach shimmer), Kiss the Brides (matte pale pink), and Bouquet Toss (matte pale yellow ivory), and the six small ones are I Do (matte taupe), Un-Veil (matte soft black), Cut The Cake (mauve lavender shimmer), First Dance (deep matte purple), Honeymoon (burnished gold shimmer), and Ever After (bronze shimmer).  For $35 and that many shadows, this is a great deal.  I don't really see the bridal theme with the actual shadows (black and dark purple for a bride?  Really?), but I do like the colors all together.  It has a very romantic, whimsical feel, and I like that you get such a variety of colors.  You can really get a lot of looks out of this palette, and the box is just adorable.  Plus the finishes look so rich, with a rich shimmer instead of chunky glitter.  I've never bought a set of shadows, but...I want this.  Like a lot.  I'm so bad at not shopping.  It's a problem.  And this Too Faced bronzer is equally adorable.  I'm honestly sold with the leopard pattern alone, but the fact that on top of that you get a beautiful combo of peach, chocolate, and bronze that doesn't look too shimmery or glittery makes it perfect.

Images via sephora.com.

Surprise, Surprise

Well, I'm finally doing it.  Dying my hair red, or "Medium Auburn" according to the box.  Why now?  Well, Target was out of my brown dye.  I am that pathetic.  And I've been wanting to for a while, which pushed me over the edge.  I'll be doing that later tonight (and hopefully putting up pictures tomorrow) but in the mean time I wanted to show you guys some of my favorite red heads.


Emma Stone (until recently) and Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge.  I can't tell you how many times I've read the story of actresses and models who didn't make it until they dyed their hair red (case in point, Emma Stone, Karen Elson, Christina Hendricks, and Deborah Ann Woll).  You can't hide behind red hair.  It's a statement maker.  The reason that doesn't scare me is that a lot of people thought my hair was red before.  It's been "Medium Golden Brown" since high school, and I guess the warmth of that built up in my hair?  So the change isn't super drastic.

What do you guys think?  Is red hair a do or a don't?


Images via racheldozier.blogspot.com, filmpopper.com,

My MAC Peacocky Haul

I had to go by MAC this morning to check out the Peacocky collection (it's at the point where the MAC girls recognize me.  Even though I go to college in Boston for 3/4 of the year and I'm home in LA.  Oh dear).  I was preparing myself to love everything in the collection and have to talk myself out of buying it all, but surprisingly I left with everything I wanted.  I was thinking of grabbing a lip color too, but they just weren't the right colors for me.

So I ended up with the shadows in Tweet Me and Spectacle of Yourself. Here are nice (nicer than mine, anyways) swatches of the whole collection.  These Mega Metal shadows are $19.50, and the size of a cream color base.  I put them next to a regular sized shadow (Vainglorious) so y'all can see the size difference.  These are HUGE.  I love it.  MAC describes Tweet Me as gold bronze and Spectacle of Yourself as deep bronze.  Hm.  In real life, I'd say Tweet Me is a gilded peach and Spectacle of Yourself is a metallic brown with red undertones and red sheen.  They're both extremely metallic, and have an amazing high sheen without being shimmery or glittery.  That's Tweet Me on the right.

 Swatches: Tweet Me (left), Spectacle of Yourself (right), and then Spectacle of Yourself on the right.  These shadows are so pigmented and easy to work with.  I really, REALLY like them.  And because you don't need a lot of product for an opaque layer of color, you'll get a ton of use out of these products.  They're a good value for the money.  These are up on the website now, and I don't think anything is sold out yet.  Apparently these are a new formula of shadow for MAC, and I think MAC needs to put out more of them.  ASAP.  They feel like pressed pigments!  The shadows that I have from MAC with the most comparable texture are my frosts (Satin Taupe and Romp), but these Mega Metal shadows are even more pigmented and easier to work with.  I would have died to have seen a metallic black in the collection.

And for comparison purposes, here is Spectacle of Yourself on top and on the left, and Vainglorious on the bottom and on the right.  In the pan they look pretty similar, but once swatched the difference is pretty apparent.  Spectacle of Yourself is much richer and more pigmented, and it's really a brown with a red twist whereas Vainglorious is a red with a brown twist, and much less pigmented.

And on a last note, I picked up a new bottle of Face and Body foundation in N1.  The old bottle is on the right, the new bottle (also N1) is on the left.  Isn't that a crazy difference?  What happened is that Face and Body is water-based and oxidizes pretty quickly because of its lack of preservatives.  So in about 9 months, it's gotten that much darker.  And I didn't even notice!

Salted Caramel Lip Balm?

Yes.  I love TokyoMilk.  They do such interesting boutique fragrances but at reasonable prices with fantastic packaging, and they just came out with a new line of lip balms.  In all honesty, I'd pay $7 for one of these just for the packaging.  It's so vintage boudoir chic.  Wouldn't you rather pull that out of your purse than a Chapstick?  But the real kickers here are the scents that these balms come in.  Here are my top three:

TokyoMilk Dark Lip Elixir in Coco Noir, $7 at tokyo-milk.com: Coco Noir has notes of Dark Rum, Maraschino Cherries, Sweet Milk, and Cacao Beans.  It's sweet, fruity, chocolatey and boozy.  Yum.  Doesn't that sound delicious?  I'd probably end up eating it.

TokyoMilk Dark Lip Elixir in Salted Caramel, $7 at tokyo-milk.com: Salted Caramel (NOM) has notes of Sweet Cream, Sea Salt, Caramelized Sugar, and Toasted Vanilla Bean.  This is so me.  Salted caramel is the most delicious thing ever, and the milky and vanilla hints added in round out the scent so nicely.  I'm that girl that's always too lazy to put on lip balm and ends up with chapped lips, but I would use the heck out of this.  And the little bee on top?  SO CUTE.

TokyoMilk Dark Lip Elixir in Dead Sexy, $7 at tokyo-milk.com: Dead Sexy has notes of Ebony Wood, Warm Vanilla, Citrus Peel and Rosewater.  It sounds like a perfume, no?  It's a very sophisticated scent and I love the skull and crossbones on the top of the case.  I know $7 is a lot for lip balm, but somehow this feels like a bargain.

Images from tokyo-milk.com.

Zoya 3 For Free

I love Twitter.  Via Twitter today I was tipped off that Zoya has an amazing promo code for the week.  Use the code FB2011 and you get three polishes (a $21 value) for free!  You just pay shipping, which is just under $7, so it's really 3 for the price of 1.  Which is still amazing.  You can use that code for the rest of the week.  The website is a little overloaded and slow at the moment, but wait it out.  It's totally worth it.  


So of course I didn't do the rational things and buy polishes that filled color gaps in my collection.  I bought pretty things.  Here's what I made out with.


Polish in Kelly, $7 at zoya.com: I love that this is called Kelly and it's not a Kelly green at all.  It's a rich grey with soft blue and purple undertones and a cream finish.  It's like a cool mauvey grey, and I love it because it's a neutral but it's an interesting twist on the usual neutral.  It's not boring.

Polish in Blair, $7 at zoya.com: I am such a sucker for metallic dark reds, and this one is named after a Gossip Girl character.  I couldn't resist.   Blair is a cool blackened red with subtle hints of purple and smooth metallic shimmer.  So. Pretty.  I want.  I like it because it's festive and wintery, but it's a different twist from the usual vampy purple.

Polish in Edyta, $7 at zoya.com: I've wanted this forever, and I completely forgot about it.  Yes.  So pumped.  It's a mixture of gold, olive, blue-grey and smokey grey with a sparkling metallic finish, and it's such a weird color but such a gorgeous and chic color at the same time.  This is going on my fingers ASAP.

Images via zoya.com.

Review: MAC Studio Finish Concealer

I'm home!!!  It only took 12 hours of traveling (American Airlines, I sincerely hate you), but I am home, where the weather is actually worse than in Boston.  Nice.  In the midst of my Xmas shopping for other people today, I managed to pick up a MAC goody for myself: the Studio Finish Concealer.


It looks like this, in a flip-top container that's the same as the MAC eyeshadow pots, but just a little taller.  I would totally take pictures myself, but my camera is hidden somewhere in the deep, dark recesses of my duffel bag.  Which I am currently avoiding in my procrastinating of unpacking.  So.  It's $14.50 for a good amount of concealer, which is a nice deal, and it has SPF 35.  The SPF is both a pro and a con--it's great for your skin, but it can flash white in photography, which is definitely not cute.

Now, I still love my MAC Studio Sculpt concealer.  I use it for all my blemishes, and it's fabulous.  But the problem is, it's way too thick and drying to use for my under eye circles, which are not pretty.  What I've been using for my dark circles was this great pink pencil by Anastasia that I got from Sephora for free years ago, but it finally died and it's been discontinued (crycry).  All of my favorite YouTube makeup gurus use this for their dark circles, so I thought I'd try it out.  

I like the packaging.  The flip-top is easy to use, and harder for me to lose than a twist on cap.  I've heard that it will make you break out more if you put it on blemishes, so I haven't even tried that (break out more?  No thanks).  Most people apply it with a blending brush (like a 217), but I don't have a spare one, so I've been using my fingers.  It feels very solid in the pan until you warm it up a bit with your fingers, and it goes on very smoothly and very, very opaque.  I've had no issues with drying or it settling into fine lines (but I have no fine lines, so I can't say if it would or not).  I'm in between a NW15 and NW20, so I went with the lighter shade because I feel like lighter under the eyes is always better than darker.


I hadn't been using anything under my eyes for a long time, and I hadn't realized how tired I'd been looking until I used this.  It makes me look so much brighter and more awake and just plain alive.  It's fantastic.  I don't have terrible under eye circles, so I'm not really putting it to the test, but I definitely have visible darkness and veins from my chronic insomnia, and it makes me look bright-eyed and bushy tailed.  I highly, highly recommend it.


Awkward Chic rating: A+.  The price is right, it's so opaque that I don't have to use a lot of product, it really covers my dark circles, and it wears really well (I'm at 8 hours now and there's no visible fading).  The only cons I have are that it has so much SPF and that the pot container isn't the most hygienic, but I'm willing to forgive those for how well it performs.