Arcana Scent Review - Apples Crave Cake and Cat's Whiskers

I'm still relatively new to Arcana scents. My first encounter was with the Meow Collection, where I picked up some decants. (And then tracked down some full sizes hell to the yeah!) These samples were sent to me when I picked up a full size bottle of Two Finger Ballet, funnily enough. I believe these scents are both limited edition, yet they are both still readily available.

Cat's Whiskers - Only for true sybarites. Rich eggnog, dark rum, a suggestion of waffles, a hint of  smoky bacon, and 1 tiny drop of sparkling mint. The first sniff for me is baked goods - that must be the waffles. I can smell a hint of mint in the background. Applied the mint and egg nog come out stronger, and I get a smell of maple syrup - probably more waffles! This smells a little Christmassy to me, it must be the mint and egg nog coming together with a hint of syrup and cinnamon (is that the rum? Spiced rum, maybe?) The throw on this wasn't incredibly great, it held close to the skin. Sort of my own personal Christmas waffle cloud.

Apples Crave Cake - Fresh, crisp red apples blended with our yellow cake layering note. Upon opening the vial, the scent is apple cinnamon. The good kind, not the super harsh cheap wax candle kind of apple cinnamon that scalds the nostrils. When applied, the cake comes out, and it smells exactly like fresh apple cider donuts. Not the Dunkin' Donuts ones, either...the fresh ones baked at the apple orchard you pick up when you go pumpkin and apple picking. I had someone sniff me at work to confirm. I tweeted that I smelled like an apple cider donut. I LOVE this! The sillage was decent, not too much, but I felt like I left a trail of bakery goodness in my wake. The perfume lasted a good 7-8 hours on me, and I smelled the faint traces of cinnamon sugar on me as I headed to the gym after work.

You can pick these up from the Arcana ebay shop, the Rhinestone Housewife shop, or Pretty Indulgent.

Cinema Secrets Brush Cleaner!

So I wanted to pick up Cinema Secrets brush cleaner during the Sephora sale, but of course it was sold out. When I saw it came back in stock, I jumped on the chance to pick it up! I try my best to wash my brushes once a week, but some of my brushes get more nasty more quickly than others. I tried to remedy this by buying extras of my most used brushed (Zoeva Concealer Buffer, Hakuhodo J5523) but nothing beats a nice, clean brush. Cinema Secrets is supposedly one of the items that the big bad pros use between clients on their brushes to keep everything clean and sanitized, so why not keep a bottle on my vanity?

To test this stuff out, I decided to clean up one of my concealer brushes. These are easily the gunkiest of my brushes, since the concealer I use is a a thicker consistency (NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer.) The brush pictured has about four days of concealer yuckiness built up. The directions say to spray the brush while holding it 1-2 inches from the spray nozzle and rotate to be sure you get the whole brush. Wipe it off on a clean tissue, and then wait for the brush to dry.

My brush looks great! I don't think anything replaces a good deep cleaning, which I intend to keep doing, but I think this will be great for mid week de-gunking (look at that before shot...urgh.) 

Look how much concealer was in that brush!! I also cleaned up one of my fluffy blending brushes, the brush I use for swatching (oh god the amount of stuff in that brush...) and the base shadow brush I use daily - all looked great! When the brush is dry, it also smells like vanilla.

The spray bottle is 2 ounces, and is $8 at Sephora. You can also get bigger sizes of this, and there are instructions available for dunking and swishing your yucky brushes around, too!

Adventures in Depotting

When I went to IMATS, I picked up a black z-palette with the intent of depotting my Sugarpill quads. I finally got around to doing just that, and I decided to document my process! I've only ever depotted one other palette before (the super clunky Urban Decay Vice palette) so I thought it would be neat to see the process once it's all done. Please excuse the crappy carpet, we rent.

Marc Jacobs Le Marc Lip Crème in So Sofia - Review

As soon as I applied my first Marc Jacobs lipstick, I knew I was going to be picking up another one. I was hooked! This is the shade I picked up in my Sephora sale haul a few weeks ago.

So Sofia is listed as an "electric watermelon." It is very, very bright! When blotted, it's a bit more toned down, but that brightness is still there - it's a perfect spring and summer shade. When applied, the formula goes on smoothly - the lipstick is super creamy. The shape of the lipstick itself is more chunky and rounded at the top, there's a "tip," but it isn't like a NARS Audacious or MAC lipstick tip, with a sharp edge. I had to go in with a lip brush for the more detailed parts of my mouth, but that's because I'm clumsy and still can't apply lipstick - you may have better luck. There's still a rounded tip, and it isn't flat by any means (unlike those new Bite Butter Cream lipsticks.) There was no noticeable scent when applying. One swipe was enough to get true to tube color, but the formula is buildable to get a brighter hue.

I wore this with no lip liner, but with a lip primer. I did not find the lipstick to be drying. and it was comfortable on the lips. There was no feathering or bleeding outside of the lip lines. I did notice some transfer onto my cup, but it was nothing crazy. Over time, I did see some gathering of color into my lip lines, and some highlighting of flakes on my lips. It didn't appear to be noticeable from a distance, however - I doubt anyone is as close as I am when I am inspecting my lipstick for a review, but it is something to note. I also noticed fading on the inside of my lips. The lipstick left a light stain.

The packaging, as I noticed in my last review, has that great magnetic closure - a little extra bang for your buck. It's still plastic, but it gives that little extra luxe feeling. Although this lipstick has a couple of drawbacks, I still really dig the formula. I'm not sure that the line has too many more shades that could fill gaps in my collection (since I'm not really a red lipstick kind of person and I have 30948358 mauvey pinks!) but if there are more additions, I will definitely check them out.

Pros:

• No scent!
• Very pigmented
• Smooth application
• No bleeding or feathering

Cons:

• Some transfer
• Color gathers into lip lines
• Some flake highlighting
• Inner lip fading does occur

Marc Jacobs Le Marc Lip Crème in So Sofia - $30.00 for 0.12 oz

Review - 4/5

Bourjois Rouge Edition Aqua Laque in 01 Appêchissant - Review

I reviewed my other Aqua Laque shade last week, so I didn't want to wait too long before reviewing the other one I got in my recent Bourjois haul!

Shade 01 Appêchissant is somewhere between a coral and a nude pink. The applicator is a doe foot, which has a pretty small tip that is great for getting the cupid's bow of the lip with the product. The formula for this shade seems to be a bit thinner than the 04 shade that I reviewed previously. There is a distinct fruity scent that does fade after application. This shade has more of a balmy gloss finish than the super high gloss finish of the other shade I reviewed, but it still looks great. The gloss is pigmented, requiring only one layer of product to get color.

I wore this over a lip primer, and did not experience the product to be drying. Unfortunately, the glossy finish did transfer off onto cups, etc. and needs to be reapplied frequently to stay glossy. Since this shade is somewhat close to my natural lip shade, I couldn't honestly tell you if there was a stain left behind. After the gloss wears off, the product feels balmy on the lips, and is quite comfortable. I experienced no bleeding or feathering with this, and I did not pair it with a lip liner.

I actually liked the thicker formula that shade 04 seemed to have over the thinner formula of shade 01. Both were non sticky and both transfer, but I felt that since 04 was thicker, the gloss stuck around a bit longer than 01. I still really like the product, especially for the price (considering my ideal product is the YSL Glossy Stain and that costs some serious $$$!) These are really light shades, perfect for spring and summer.

Pros:

• Pigmented
• Easy to apply
• Does not feather or bleed
• Comfortable to wear
• Non sticky

Cons:

• Definitely scented
• Gloss wears off
• Needs to be reapplied frequently to keep glossy finish
• Thinner formula

Bourjois Rouge Edition Aqua Laque in 01 Appêchissant - £8.99 for 0.26 oz

Review - 3.5/5

Kat von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Bauhau5 - Review

I picked up another of these liquid lipsticks during my sale haul, since I had been wanting it for a while. At first I had passed this shade over, but I saw someone else wear it on reddit and I was like dammit, now I need it.

Bauhau5 is a "deep raspberry." The color is a definite deep pink shade, almost leaning towards purple. The texture is a creamy liquid, not as creamy as a NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream, but it isn't a thin liquid. The applicator is a doe foot. Application is smooth, and one layer of color is all you need for full coverage. The formula sets pretty quickly, and goes from liquid, to tacky, to set. If you make any mistakes, you'll need to work quickly to clean them up. There is a slight vanilla scent to the lipstick, but it fades after application.

I wore this lipstick with a primer, since this matte formula can be quite drying. However, it does not bleed or feather - it stays put once it is fully dry. There was very little transfer with this lipstick throughout the day, even with eating. As the day wore on, my lips did feel a little parched, but this is a very matte formula, so that is to be expected (and that's why I wear a primer!) The lipstick did wear off a little bit on the inside of my lips, but the lipstick also left an incredibly pigmented stain, so much so that my lips were a great pink color the next day!

I'm just going to have to resign myself to the fact that I'm going to end up owning all of these lipsticks, the formula is definitely my favorite liquid lipstick.

Pros:

• Smooth application
• Pigmented
• Doesn't budge
• Leaves a stain
• Sets quickly

Cons:

• Slight scent
• Quite drying
• ...leaves a stain!
• Sets quickly, can be an issue if you muck it up.
• I keep saying "bauhaufive"

Kat von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Bauhau5 - $21.00 for 0.22 oz

Review - 5/5

Lit Cosmetics Glitter Haul and Swatches

Anyone who talks to me about makeup knows that I love glitter. I add it to my eye makeup, I add it to my nails, I use it as liner - I'm all about adding a touch of sparkle. My favorite glitter is Lit Cosmetics glitter, and I love placing orders with them because they're fast and their customer service is tops. I recently placed an order and here's what I picked up!