The Cosmetic House – A Cosmetic Affair

MAC MSF Dupes!! NYC Chroma Face Glow Review

Recently I was browsing through an online makeup site and came across the NYC Chroma Face Glow and they immediately reminded me of the MAC Mineralize SkinFinish. They were available in two lovely shades; Sunstone and Moonstone, and obviously I had to get my hands on both of them. Sunstone is the corally/warmer shade and Moonstone is a pinkier/rosy shade.

The products come in very simple but
sturdy packaging which allows you to see the product
without having to open the case which can sometimes be a little
bothersome. From Left to Right: Sunstone and Moonstone

The products have veins in them that provide great
effect in the Summer. They are both not overly pigmented and
very shimmery. These products work great for a very sheer blush or
as a highlight shade! I find these perfect to apply on tan skin for that sunkissed look

NYC Chroma Face Glow in Sunstone
A gorgeous corally shade with veining of brown and mint,
gives a glorious dewy finish to a tanned face together with a
bronzed or warm eye look

You get 0.36oz/10.2g of product
I got mine from The Cosmetic House for 2.25 pounds
I love how the back of the packaging is so fun and bright!

NYC Chroma Face Glow in Moonstone
A delicious pinky/rosy shade with plum and gold veining
Gives a nice light shimmery sheen that goes well with light shades on the eyes

You get 0.36oz/10.2g of product
I got mine from The Cosmetic House for 2.25 pounds

From Left to Right: Moonstone and Sunstone
I find that once applied to skin they may look very similar,
however it also depends on how I use them.
If I use the product just as a highlight shade then the difference is not very noticeable,
but if I just use bronzer on the face and a touch of the NYC Chroma Face Glow on the
cheeks the product color shows up more

I love how this product although it gives a gorgeous sheen, doesn’t have big glitter chunks that end up all over the skin. The product is not too powdery either so that it doesn’t end up all over the face and makes you look like a disco ball. The sheen as you may notice is really amazing and on the face the effect looks even better. If I were to recommend this product I would say that you can get away with just getting one shade, however I really love this product and for the price I am really glad to have gotten them both. You really end up using a small amount of product so I am sure these will last a long time!

Have you tried the NYC Chroma Face Glow? How do you think it compares to the MAC MSFs?

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Product Review: Almay Intense i-Color Trio for Browns

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The Almay Intense i-Color Trio for Browns is a trio of eye shadows that is designed to intensify the color of your eye color with the use of light catching minerals that help brighten the eyes. Since I have dark brown eyes I went for this combination of colors that is specifically for brown eyes having a champagne/brown/lilac combination.

The trio is embossed with the Almay logo,
little details like these make the product look better ❤

The trio is in shade no. 1 for brown eyes!
It contains 3.6g/o.13oz of product!

As we all know shades like the lilac that comes in this trio are perfect for brown eyes as they make them look more bright! The shadows are very creamy and blend-able and the color payoff is good but not too intense which allows for softer looks and not overly dramatic eyes!

The trio comes with a little application sponge,
which although many people don’t use, I find they
are very useful if you want to pack on color.
You can apply a base and pack on color with the sponge
to get a super opaque and heavy color!

Swatches of the shades!
Left to Right are the shades from Bottom to Top in the palette

I got my palette from The Cosmetic House for £5.25. As always the swatches do not have a base under, so you can get an idea of the real color payoff on the skin. This has easily become one of my most reached for palettes as it allows to create soft wearable looks for during the day and if you apply a base you can get a more smoky look for night time! Almay have other trios designed for blue, green and hazel eyes together with another palette for brown eyes, you can check them out HERE. I would definitely recommend you try one of these trios that matches your eye colors, although you can try any combination as they are all gorgeous 🙂

What do you think of this trio? Which is your favorite eyeshadow palette?

Update: Giveaway Reminder and a bit of News!

SOURCE

Wanted to do a little update and share with you some great news and what better way to do that than to include a cute duckling picture, to thanks you all for the support so far! Matter of fact, when I was younger I had two little duckling pets and they are the cutest bird ever, in my opinion 🙂 Moreover, I thought it would get us all in the Easter celebrations at an early stage. Next I would like to remind all the followers of this blog that I am currently having a giveaway, so please enter if you haven’t already as it ends on 16th April! You can do so by clicking on the image below, it will take you to the corresponding post.

Next I have some exiting news to share with you all! The gorgeous people at The Cosmetic House have contacted me and offered a little bit of a discount code for all my lovely readers! I will shortly be running some competition for which the prize will be a discounted amount of money that will be donated by the website to the winner of this competition. So keep a look out for that!

Moreover, they have been kind enough to offer a 5% discount to all my readers. All you have to do to benefit is to go onto the site HERE and register to the website (this is for free). While registering, you will be asked how you got to know about the website. All you have to do is put my blog as the referral and they will contact you for your discount! This is so very exiting for me 🙂 please let me know if you make use of this offer and what you think about the service.

Charlene xxxx

Haul: Revlon and Rimmel

As I mentioned in a previous post, I love buying online and this is another case of online shopping that I could not restrain myself from doing. Not long ago I heard a YouTube guru LegallyBrunette214 talking about the Revlon Colorstay Active foundation, which is an oil free, sweat proof formula with light coverage. I love my Revlon Colorstay foundation, but I do not find it feasible to use for everyday as it takes some time to blend and offers high coverage, which you don’t really want for everyday necessarily. I was very sad to realize however that the product was being discontinued.

Thus, when I came across this product in my exact shade on The Cosmetic House website I was trilled to be able to give this product a try. I also was looking for a good concealer and I had heard so many good things about the Rimmel Match Perfection that it went straight to my cart. And last of all came the Revlon Colorstay 12 Hour Eye Shadow in Sterling Rose, which I had been in my wishlist for some time.

Left to Right Clockwise: Revlon Eyeshadow in 345 Sterling Rose,
Revlon Colorstay Active in 220 Natural Beige and
Rimmel Match Perfection 2-in-1 Concealer & Highlighter in 060 Natural Beige

The Revlon 12 Hour Eyeshadow was for £3.95 (review HERE), the Revlon Colorstay Active was for £5.25 and you get 30ml of product in a plastic squeeze out tube and the Rimmel Match Perfection was for £3.99 and you get 7ml of product. Reviews for all these products will follow shortly together with swatches 🙂

Have you tried any of these products? What do you think?

Favorites: Online Shopping Sites

I have an obsession with shopping! I try to limit myself and always try to set a budget when I’m shopping but online shopping can get more out of hand! Especially lately since I am more at home and on the computer due to having to work on my dissertation! I find myself getting frustrated and bored more often and end up searching the web for what to buy. Most of my cravings come from watching YouTube Beauty gurus or reading blog posts about products. Today I wanted to share with you the sites I visit often to buy from and hope that you find it useful!

eBay website

I use this website for the most random products and end up buying often! I have bought my hair straightener from this site to my Nokia 5800 Xpress Music. I also buy many cosmetic items, such as my Too Faced Shadow Insurance, Asian products, Avon products and much more. You have to be careful and make sure that the seller has high ratings to ensure your products get to you in time and are genuine.

EyesLipsFace UK website

I am obsessed with this site and with the products. Everything is so affordable and the quality is good for most products. I particularly like the Studio line and the Mineral line but the standard affordable line has many great products too. I love their Mineral lipsticks, their Studio single eye shadows, their Mineral Infused Face Primer and many more products. Moreover, on the Elf Facebook page they give promotional codes for free shipping or discounts on the website weekly.

ASOS website

I love this site to buy clothes and even better I love it to buy cosmetics. The site is now offering free shipping worldwide and there is no minimum spend required. The prices are also very reasonable and you can find luxury and high end products on it too.

New Look website

This is another fashion website that I love! Recently a store for New Look has opened here in Malta too. But since it is a bit of an inconvenience sometimes to go to the store, I find it very easy and accessible to make use of the online shop. The shipping is at an affordable price and it takes a very short time to get to you. Moreover, on the site you can find more stuff than what is available at the store!

Sigma website

I love this website and have been craving many of the brushes from the site. However, right now I have only the SS219 now renamed as the E30 which is the pencil brush and I adore it and use it nearly every single day. However, last week I ordered the F82 which is the Round Top Synthetic Kabuki and I can’t wait to get it and try it out! There are many other brushes which I really would love to get as the quality is really good.

feelunique website

This is a website that offers luxury and high end products for a reasonable price and offers free shipping world wide too. There is a wide variety of brands that you can get from this website and list keeps on growing. I have recently made a very interesting purchase from this website that I will soon talk about on this blog.

The Book Depository website

I am a huge book worm and like nothing best than to curl up in my bed and lose myself in a romantic or fantasy book before going to bed. The Book Depository is a website that allows me to buy many books but at a very good price. Here in Malta the price of books is high and I can get books from this site for as much as more than half the price you would find them here. Moreover, if you need some school related books, there is a wide variety on this site.

Eyeko website

This is a fun website that offers cute and unique makeup items. It also offers free shipping to UK and Europe and if you spend more than $55 you get free shipping world wide. Their big eyes mascara is especially amazing and if you want to get a free gift you can use my code at the checkout which is E14368.

Cheap Smells website

This is a website which offers a huge variety of products. Mainly it offers perfumes at a very affordable price. But it also has a variety of cosmetic brands and limited stock of items at a reduced price. I am not a huge lover of the name but the quality is really good and the site offers shipping for most countries.

Play website

I love the Play.com website for books too and for other things like buying DVDs. As with most things, original DVDs are overpriced here in Malta and this is a very safe and fast site to get them.

The Cosmetic House website

Last but surely not least is The Cosmetic House which is one of my favorite websites to buy cosmetics from. The prices are hugely reduced and you can get many deals from this website. You can also get some discontinued items and high end items that have been available for some time. The shipping is calculated on the weight of the products but the time it takes to get to you is really good. I have already bought more than once from the site and love the products and their quality.

I hope you have found this helpful and that you visit these sites and see for yourself the quality of the products offered.

What are your favorite sites to shop from? Have you used any of the mentioned sites?

First Impressions: W7 The Cheek of it: In the Pink Blushers

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The W7 The Cheek of it: In the Pink Blushers in Pink Sands is a fun bright pink blush. This is a matte blush with no sparkles at all which is a good thing since the color is already so bright! I have already featured this blush in a haul I did recently, which you can view HERE. This is just a short post where you can view the product and see some swatches. The product is imprinted with the “in the Pink” words and I love when products have that imprints on them. 🙂

Closer look to the blush and the imprint 🙂

Blush swatch in Pink Sands

This is my first bright pink blush, so I am still a little hesitant to use it, but with the right hand, the right brush and the right amount you get a really gorgeous blush color with this product! There are other shades of pink from this brand that I would love to try too and the color payoff is so good that I am looking forward to try more!

For another of my favorite blushers look at the Elf Natural Radiance Blusher Review.

What is your favorite pink blush? Do you like this color?

First Impressions: Revlon Vital Radiance Moisture Boosting Lip Color in Tea Rose

The Revlon Vital Radiance Moisture Boosting Lip Color in 026 Tea Rose is a Berry colored lip stick with Bluish sparkles in it and some coral undertones. I have already featured this lipstick in a haul I did recently, which you can view HERE. But I decided to give it more space and give a closer look at this product as it is really a gorgeous shade.

Can you see the bluish sparkles in the product?

A swatch of Tea Rose

I love the Revlon Color Burst lipsticks but this product is really great too. It is not sheer and gives really good color payoff. After just one swipe of the product you get a nice layer of color on the lips and it has a really nice moisturizing consistency to it.

Want more reviews? You can check my Too Faced Shadow Insurance review HERE.

Do you like Revlon lipsticks? Do you like this color?