Urban Decay Book of Shadows Redux

   So, I'm sure you've heard of Ulta. They just sent out an email about how they are carrying an Ulta-exclusive "Liimited Edition" Book of Shadows from Urban Decay. I guess it's limited in the fact that they have been having all these sales to get rid of all their old-formulation eye shadows. I bought the BoS Redux during their Friends and Family sale a couple weeks back.
   It's possible that Urban Decay had to collaborate with Martha Stewart to have access to soooooooooo much glitter. If you're familiar with the older formulation of the UD shadows, you will know how gritty the glitter shadows are. Having said that, there are 16 shadows in this box and only 2 have unmanageable (to me) glitter: Oil Slick, Uzi and Midnight Cowboy rides again. It also comes with a mini primer potion in the old bottle and a mini 24/7 pencil in Zero.
    I'm in a rush to leave town this morning for work so only swatched on paper and not on my arm as I didn't want glitter showing up on my face in the middle of the day out of nowhere. I'm sure you understand... These are my standard, two-swipe across the pan without primer, swatches. I can offer color descriptions if you're interested - just let me know.

Pictures with the BoS V under to show size difference

Ah ~ New York

The whole palette

Just the colors

In order that the shadows are in the palette

Same stuff, less shadowy 

   The only colors I feel like aren't showing up that great in the pictures are Goddess and Ecstasy. Goddess is an almost grey/blue duo chrome with blue micro shimmer. Ecstasy is a very light, bright purple that leans a bit pink.
   I'll be honest and tell you that I really only bought this BoS because I wanted Haight, Goddess, Stray Dog and Rockstar and didn't mind the idea of having a back up of Sin and YDK. By the time I thought I was going to spend $6 a piece on six shadows, I figured I might as well make the jump and try this book out. It wasn't a bad decision (especially at 20% off the new $39 price tag) but be aware that there is a ton of glitter and that it will get all over your shadows. Also, I'm not sure if it's just mine, but you can't pull the part with the shadows out like you can in the BoS V. It's not a huge inconvenience but you need to clear space up on your vanity to use it and that might be a quirk that you just don't like. If you end up purchasing, let me know what your thoughts are!

Shopping... again?

   I went to Walmart and discovered heaps of the new 2012 Hard Candy makeup. I stuck to what I know best. Neutrals. I purchased three of the new Single & Loving it shadows in: Attraction, Infatuation and Solo.

***The colors are the truest in this picture***

      Again, I rough swatched these babies really quickly and the color in my pictures aren't fantastic but you get the idea. I swatched them on the paper so you could see the buttery or grittiness of each shadow. The color payoff is great on each one but I would say that they do fade after about half a day's wear. Each of the swatches is without any primer underneath and just 2 swipes across the pan.

1. Attraction - A taupe-y/bronze-y/brown with really fine gold shimmer. You can see in the picture below how there are "chunks" of eyeshadow. It blends out nicely in the end but has a bit of fallout because of the formulation.

  

2. Infatuation - A champagne with the micro gold/silver shimmer. It's a really pretty, smooth as melted butter kind of shadow. Actually reminds me a bit of the Urban Decay formulas. Actually, if the Balm's Mary-Lou Manizer is a little too peach for your skin tone, this has the same base sparkle. This would work as a great multi-tasker for inner corner/brow bone highlight to actual highlight for your face.

3. Solo - Bronze with rust/brown tones and micro gold shimmer. This shade, in terms of smoothness, is right between the first two shades mentioned. Not particularly buttery but not as gritty as Attraction. The color is great and wears really well with minimal fallout.

   All in all, for $3 a piece, these shadows are definitely worth a try. If you aren't a neutral lover like myself, then I'm sure you could pass on these as they aren't really anything spectacular/insanely special but if you're just starting to get in to makeup, it'd be a really get place to start.

Let me know what you think if you've checked these out!

Here's the Problem

   Do you see these jars of nail polish?

    It's a sickness. It's also what I've accumulated over just the last month or so... I go out to Target, Meijer, TJ Maxx, Rite Aid or wherever to grab something and end up shamelessly perusing the cosmetics section and come out with one or a couple nail polishes. Darn season changes have great clearance, sales AND great limited edition collections that come out.
   I've picked up a variety of all sorts. Some Essie, L'oreal, Sinful Colors, Butter, Revlon, Orly and Wet n Wild... I obviously can't swatch them all today (and possibly not even this week!) so stay tuned. I painted my nails red with this Sally Hansen Kook-A-Mango the other day and it completely dyed my finger nails so I'm giving my poor, brittle nails a break for a few days as I try to figure out how I want to format this my blog entries... any ideas?

   I rough-swatched a single coat on the back of some sheet music I had sitting around to show you the color out of the bottle. Soooo pretty~

   I realize my lighting sucks. I'll have to work it out. I'm just happy that I'm blogging at all! * smiles *

J.R. Watkins

   Okay, these aren't quite a "swatch" but I recently realized that I hit whatever status it is at Rite Aid that allows me to get 20% off all the things I buy there... Awesome, right? I went a little shopping crazy these past few weeks (as usual) and purchased some of items.

    I first became obsessed with the J.R. Watkins Hand & Body lotions after testing them out at a Cracker Barrel and found them at Rite Aid a week or two ago with +UP rewards. Yay! So, of course I picked two up - Mango and Lemon.

  
   I'm not really into the whole "everything has to be natural" thing (not saying it's bad if you are~). I just hate reading labels... If I can't get myself to read directions to a bookcase that's gonna be packed full and hanging out by my bed, then I surely won't be able to get myself to read labels on lotions!

However, just in case you're interested:

Same as Mango

Lemon Cream

 

Mango

   I never got into the whole body butter thing either~ They were all a little too greasy-feeling for my liking. These are thick and moisturizing and just... well, lovely. I must prefer the Lemon Cream over the Mango but everyone has his or her own preference so you should try them out!

 

 

 

 

Keeping Up

   Okay, so I know that I haven't really been good about "keeping up" with this blog. I admittedly suck at all things where there is some type of interaction but I'm interested in starting again. I think I spend too much money on things to not share with others. My hope for this blog is to keep it short and simple. Swatches. I want people to send in swatches of the same items I have or don't have so that it becomes a library of swatches for people to be able to see how the same product would pull on different skin tones. So, let's get it started. Swatchtober begins!