Makeup By Kim Porter

Birthday Wishlist Featuring Bliss, Armour Beauty, Bvlgari and more

Guess who will be 29 in exactly 7 days? You guess it, meeeeee!  I honestly do not need anything, but, if I did receive a gift or two, I would prefer it to be one of the items from my list below.  I chose these items because some I’ve used and love, or have run out of like the L’Occitane Almond Shower Oil, Bliss Poetic Wax Kit, and the Korres Shower gel.  Other items are products I’ve wanted for a while.

 

Birthday Wishlist – Beauty
with
Bliss, Armour Beauty, Bvlgari

Also, for my birthday, I’m going to do one of those ’30 before 30′ goal lists.  I’ve already written down my items, and will post it on my other blog, Beauty and the Bump.  You can check it out there.

Review: Armour Beauty Long Wear Lip Gloss ‘Nina’

Armour Beauty Long Wear Lip Gloss Nina

 

I’m a fan of Armour Beauty Long Wear Lip glosses.  I have ‘Grace’ and I am now the owner of ‘Nina’, which I’ve been rocking all summer.

Armour Beauty was created by rocker/model Theo Kogan after finding the need for a gloss that stayed put during her band performances. Armour Beauty’s long-wearing lip glosses are natural, smells  yummy, and  are formulated to keep lips moisturized with Shea Butter, Avocado, Mango and Olive  butters and oils, Grape seed oil and Vitamin E.

Armour Beauty Long Wear Lip Glosses come in a wide range of opaque and shimmer  shades named after some of Theo Kogan’s favorite rock/pop songs, clubs, and legendary icons.

 

 

Armour Beauty Long Wear Lip Gloss Nina Kim Porter

My thoughts:

Armour Beauty Long Wear Lip Gloss in shade ‘Nina is an opaque coral lip gloss that looks well on the darkest of browns and even lighter skin tones.  Theo Kogan created ‘Nina’ as an ode to iconic German singer Nina Hagen and Theo’s niece Nina.

‘Nina’ looks well alone or over your favorite orange, red or pink lipstick.  I’ve used it over Youngblood Cosmetic’s Lipstick in ‘Dragon Fruit’.

Armour Beauty Long Wear Lip Gloss Nina

 

Armour Beauty Long Wear Lip Gloss lives up to its long-lasting claims.  It is definitely durable through eating and drinking.  I’ve gotten several hours of wear out of it, and by the end of the day, I’m left with a nice stain. I’m a fan of high-shine lip glosses, and this one makes my lips look just as good as the OCC Lip Tar Lip Gloss Stain that I love so much.

Would I recommend Armour Beauty Long Wear Lip Glosses?

Most definitely! This lip gloss is definitely poppin! For $21, you definitely get your moneys worth.  I can’t wait to add more of these to my collection.  I currently have my eye on the following shades:

– Foxy

– Lucy

 

Have you tried Armour Beauty Long Wear Lip Gloss?

Review: MAC Art of the Eye Collection Hajar Karim & Farasha

HajarKarimFarasha HajarKarim1


 
I haven’t made a MAC purchase in a long while, but when MAC released the Art of the Eye collection, there were two eyeshadows that caught my attention – Hajar Karim, and Farasha.

I’ve been on the lookout for the perfect grassy green, which MAC describes Hajar Karim of being, and a good orange eyeshadow to replace my MAC Orange, which I wasn’t happy with.

Hajar Karim is a veluxe eyeshadow, which I didn’t even realize until I looked at the packaging, especially since it comes off more as a matte.  It’s a nice shade of green, I’d say forest green.  It’s easily become one of my favorites to use this summer.

HajarKarimFarashaEye
 

I’ve had no issues with the application of Hajar Karim.  I’ve used it over the UDPP, a white base (NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil ‘Milk’, and with my Stila Prime Pot.  It blended easily over all three, and improved the color pay-off; however, to improve color saturation (pay-off), remember to pat on the eyeshadow instead of applying it in a sweeping motion. You can also dampen your brush with Fix+ or another spray like Mario Badescu Facial Spray with Aloe, Herbs and Rose Water (read review) to obtain a better color pay-off when applying the eyeshadow.

Farasha is a bright, medium-dark orange with a matte finish; I love matte finishes. When compared with my MAC Orange eyeshadow, the color pay-off is much better; however, it is not as red or as dark.  I did use it with the same three bases as mentioned above, and I’m happy with it.

 

 

Hajar Karim Farasha Face


 
I’ve played with both Hajar Karim and Farasha to create various looks.  My favorite way to use Farasha is in my crease.

 

Eventually, I de-potted both eyeshadows, and placed them in my z-palette.

 

 

Hajar Karim Zpalette
Bottom Row: L-R: MAC Orange & Farasha

Review: My Brows but better with @ITCosmetics YBBB™ Your Brows But Better™ Brow Power Skinny Pencil

Your Brows But BetterPencil3


 

I’m a huge fan of IT Cosmetics, and was happy to see they’ve developed a better version of their Universal Brow Power Pencil – the YBBB™ Your Brows But Better™ Brow Power Skinny Pencil.

This pencil is described as

“…an ultra-fine, high definition, universal transforming long-wear automatic eyebrow pencil infused with cutting-edge brow enhancing ingredients and technology.”

 

Your Brows But BetterPencil

 

My Thoughts:

I’m obsessed with nicely shaped brows. My brows are the first thing I do or “put on” when heading out, along with putting on some lipstick or colored lip gloss. I’ve tried various brow techniques and brow products to achieve the perfect brow, and my favorite for a quick brow pick-me-up is to use a pencil. Yes, I have a favorite pencil, which I will mention in another post, but, the IT Cosmetics YBBB™ Your Brows But Better™ Brow Power Skinny Pencil has crept its way up to being one of my favorite brow products.

As mentioned previously, the YBBB™ Your Brows But Better™ Brow Power Skinny Pencil, to me, is the better version of the original Brow Power Pencil. I say it is the better version of this pencil because of its fine pencil point, which is retractable.  The shape of the pencil allows me to create a more natural-looking eyebrow.  I hate overly done brows.

Due to its shape, the original Brow Power Pencil took a lot of work to get the perfect, natural-looking.  When you’re in a rush, you have no time trying to rub down the point of the pencil so that it’s skinny enough to make fine, hair-like strokes.  With the YBBB™ Your Brows But Better™ Brow Power Skinny Pencil, fine, hair-like strokes are available to you with a simple twist and click.  I also think the shade of the original Brow Power Pencil was too harsh – for me.

I also like that even without setting the pencil with a powder or other brow setting product, it doesn’t move if I sweat.

 

 

Your Brows But BetterPencil2


 

 

Just like the original Brow Power Pencil, the YBBB™ Your Brows But Better™ Brow Power Skinny Pencil comes equipped with a spoolie at one end to brush your brows into place, and blend the pencil in afterwards.  It also contains the same brow-enhancing and conditioning ingredients including Biotin, Peptides, Saw Palmetto, Nettle Extract, Green Tea, Lecithin, Vitamins A, C, E, Grapeseed and Panthenol.

My only gripe with this pencil is that it may not be as universal as it claims.  My brows are dark brown, and it works fine on my brown skin, too; however, I think that for lighter skintones, with light, blond, or red  hair, the YBBB™ Your Brows But Better™ Brow Power Skinny Pencil may not work because it will be too dark and harsh.

Would I recommend the YBBB™ Your Brows But Better™ Brow Power Skinny Pencil?

I’d say give it a try; you may like it as much as me.  The double-end pencil costs $24 (the same price as the original), and it can be purchased at Itcosmetics.com or on QVC.com.

 

Have you tried the IT Cosmetics YBBB™ Your Brows But Better™ Brow Power Skinny Pencil?