September Sephora Play! Box

This month's play box was a bit disappointing, I'm not going to lie. I'm going to continue my subscription because I usually like at least one of the items, and I enjoy getting a box of goodies for $10 every month. But yeah...September wasn't the best month for this box, in my opinion.

Kat von D Studded Kiss Lipstick in Lolita II - Review

Lolita II is one of my favorite Kat von D liquid lipstick shades. When I heard it would be released as a Studded Kiss shade as part of the holiday release, I knew I would be picking it up immediately. For the limited edition release, two other liquid lip shades were released in the Studded Kiss formula along with Lolita II - Mother and Double Dare.

Sugarpill Liquid Lip Color in Trinket - Review

I was able to get in on the original release of Sugarpill's first liquid lipstick earlier this year. They're finally re-releasing it, and they've made some changes to the formula as well as the packaging - so my review won't be able to discuss the changes, only the original release.

Trinket is a "creamy matte mauve infused with luminous golden sparkles." The lipstick is more of a pinky nude with lots of gold shimmer. The lipstick formula is more of a whipped lipstick, sort of like Fyrinnae's lip lustres - a mushy lipstick that's easily spreadable. The lipstick applies easily and smoothly, with one coat covering the lip. The formula isn't patchy, and the sparkle is pretty evenly distributed (at first - more on that later.) After applying, the lipstick is mostly pinky nude with some gold shimmer lurking underneath that isn't terribly in your face. I found it close to NARS Orgasm gloss, giving a shimmer without being frosty or metallic. The lipstick has a heavy creamsicle scent that dissipates after applying. The lipstick dries to a comfortable matte finish, which was not overly drying. There were no issues with bleeding or feathering.

The lipstick wears well at first, but as you go about eating, drinking, or if you lick your lips, the pinky lipstick part wears off leaving lots and lots of gold shimmer. I wound up with patches of solid gold shimmer on my lips throughout the day. Reapplication fixed the issue, but the gold would eventually resurface and change the lipstick to be a much harder metallic gold with some pink mixed in. Additionally, reapplication was easy with no disturbing the lipstick underneath. To keep the initial color of the lipstick, I found myself needing to check on the state of the lipstick and reapply after every drink or every few hours.

I do like the overall formula a lot, I think Sugarpill did a great job. Hopefully with their reformulation the fading issue is resolved, and if not, I would still like to try non-shimmery shades in the future! The new packaging is a shorter, stubbier tube without the mermaid artwork. I'm happy I got the LE artwork, it's super cute!

Pros:

• Easy application
• Applies smoothly
• Scent that does dissipate
• Non drying

Cons:

• Color fades leaving only gold behind
• Frequent reapplication needed to maintain original shade
• Heavily scented

Sugarpill Liquid Lip Color in Trinket - $18.00 for 0.21 oz

Review - 3.5/5

Epically Epic Lip Balms - Review

I featured my Marshmallow Epically Epic lip balm in my August favorites, and I wanted to write about the other flavors I picked up after I fell in love with Marshmallow! Marshmallow was gifted to me in a swap, and it took the finishing of my favorite Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment to crack it open, and I'm really glad I did! I ordered some more flavors near the end of the summer, so I'm going to be writing about a few seasonal flavors that may not be around all the time. (Marshmallow seems to be a constant from what I've seen, though!)

Sixteen92 Anniversary 2016 Collection - Review

I have been so, so behind on reviewing perfumes. I figured I'd get a start on my backlog with something that was recent - Sixteen92's anniversary collection! I reviewed the collection that was released last year, and I repurchased another set of samples for this year. The collection has two repeat scents from last year - The Tea Party and The Princess Party. I actually bought a full size of The Tea Party last year, since I'm a lover of everything tea related. I'm a big fan of Sixteen92 scents, and I'm excited to review these!

The Tea Party - I'm not going to review this here, since I already did so last year. This year's batch smells exactly like my bottle from last year, which is awesome! Definitely going to keep this as a backup!

The Princess Party - Another repeat. Smells just like last year - orange cake!

The Luau Party - Reminiscent of last year's The Pool Party, the notes for this are white sponge cake soaked in cold coconut milk, topped with rum-infused whipped cream and toasted coconut shavings. From the vial, the scent is all coconut cream. Wet on the skin, the coconut takes a bit of a backseat for a more vanilla leaning note with a hint of rum. As it dries, the scent becomes a little artificial, much to my disappointment. The coconut turns plasticky, sort of like cheap drugstore coconut shampoo. If only the initial notes didn't morph on me! I could seriously huff the vial scent all day long. This scent lasted around 3 hours on me before fading and needing the notorious super huff of the wrist.

Review - 3/5

The Garden Party - I love lemon desserts, so I was super pumped to read the notes for this one - Meyer lemon honey cake soaked in rosewater and jasmine simple syrup, topped with a citrus glaze and candied rose petals. Opening the vial, there's definitely lemon, but more of a chemical cleaner like lemon. On the skin, the lemon opens up more and brings with it a floral note. I don't get much cake out of it, which is a bit of a letdown. As it dries, the scent turns more and more towards a white floral with a bit of an herby background. I was really hoping to get more honey cake from this, so it's a bit of a disappointment for me. This one had a very strong throw and lasted longer than the others, over four hours.

Review 3.5/5

The Cocktail Party - Another new scent! The notes are listed as dark chocolate Devil’s Food cake with caramelized fig compote and whiskey ganache. In the vial, the scent is heavy dark chocolate. On the skin, the dark chocolate melds with cake and comes together as a fantastic chocolate cake note. As it dries, the scent turns to dark chocolate and coffee. The entire scent is super rich, so it's a perfume better suited for colder months. The scent lasted 2.5-3 hours on my skin before starting to noticeably fade.

Review - 4/5

The sample set was $20, and was sent within the advertised 14 day turnaround time. I also got a mini vial of another scent with my order, which is always appreciated! This collection isn't one of my favorites, I liked last year's Anniversary set more (MASQUERADE PARTY!!!) but perfume is such a personal thing, they won't all be winners.

Perfume oils work differently for different people due to skin chemistry. This is my experience with these perfume oils, which may differ for you!

August 2016 Favorites!

Life has been so busy lately, and I've put off this post long enough. I'm glad that summer is winding down, but here are my favorites for the last month of summer, August!

August Sephora Play! Box

I look forward to getting my Sephora Play box every month, and this month had an exciting box. There are a lot of spoilers for the box out on the internet, but I try not to spoil the surprise for myself. This month's box theme was "The Eye Openers" - and I love eye makeup! Here are my thoughts on this month's products.