Buxom Customizable Eyeshadow Bar Palette: Review and Swatches

Hello!

My birthday was at the end of June and my best friend got me an amazing gift! I told her to surprise me and she definitely did! She bought me the new Buxom Customizable Eyeshadow Bar Palette and picked out 6 shadows she thought I'd like. First of all, this is the most expensive palette I own now. Secondly, she did a perfect job at picking out colors for me!

Here it is in all of it's glory:

The case is a hard plastic and it has a removable insert to put in the 6 shadows of your choice, which snaps back into place. It has a high quality, decent-size mirror and a double ended mini eyeshadow brush (which is actually not that bad!)

Here are Buxom's claims: "Featuring primer-infused technology to help keep color locked in place, Buxom Eyeshadow Bar Eyeshadows have a powerfully-pigmented formula that glides onto lids—delivering intense payoff with an ultra-luxe, powder-to-silk feel."

After using these shadows for about a month I can honestly say that I completely agree with this description. I have used these without a separate primer and they have lasted all day without giving me an oily crease. The shadows themselves are pretty hard, but once on your skin they blend beautifully, giving that silky feel. All of my colors are very pigmented as well.

Now here are swatches of each individual color:

First up is Satin Seduction, a peachy-champagne color.

This one I use all over my eyelid and brow-bone as a base/highlight. I use it almost every day.

Next is 24 KT Stilettos, a very shimmery yellow-gold.

I haven't used this one yet but it is so pigmented and silky, I love it!

Here is Haute Couture, a cool-toned shimmery brown.

This one is great for the outer V, or placing right underneath the waterline for depth.

Next is Patent Leather, a super glittery silver-purple.

Very glittery, very beautiful. 

Then there's VIP, a pretty much matte magenta-purple.

This has very sparse shimmer in it that doesn't show up much when swatched. It looks more matte than anything else. It also is the chalkiest eyeshadow of the bunch; it is initially very powdery but blends out very nicely. A great "radiant orchid" shadow.

Last is Backstage Pass, a cool-toned dark pearlized denim-blue.

This is my favorite, hands down. I've been looking for a pigmented deep blue that looks almost navy. I love how this looks; even just adding a little in the outer corner looks gorgeous.

Here are all 6 swatches:

As you can see, I love these shadows and highly recommend them. If you pick up the empty palette along with 6 shadows it ends up being much cheaper than buying shadows separately.

What a great gift!

XOXO,
Alyssa

LUSH HAUL

HELLOOOOO!

I know...it's been forever...I have no real excuse for not blogging.

Well here's a big one for you! A Lush haul! Lush is an amazing store filled with homemade bath and body products that are cruelty free, vegan, and fun! Everything is made with natural ingredients like fruits or spices or salts. As some of you may have heard, Lush is discontinuing a few of their oldest products to make room for new ones. Some of these things I really wanted to get my hands on before they go. I got a gift card for my birthday and decided to go crazy...I bought double what the gift card was worth...oops. But I am beyond excited to use everything!

Here's my damage:

Oops.

Onto the haul!!!

 This gorgeous hunk of soap is the Ice Blue Soap, which is sadly being discontinued. This contains peppermint oil so I feel like it will be super refreshing for the summer. Lush describes it as "Zippy iceberg soap with sea salt and invigorating peppermint." It smells so cool and tingly, I can't wait to use it.

 Since I purchased so much, they were nice enough to ask if my sister and I wanted samples. Neither of us have tried their hair care so we went for hair care samples. They give you these little pots and suggest a shampoo and conditioner based on your preference. My sister has normal hair so she just went with what scents she liked best. You can get 2 to 3 uses out of these little pots. My sister got Big Shampoo ("get loads of volume and shine with sea salt and lime juice") and Happy Happy Joy Joy Conditioner ("fragrant, vegan conditioner for all hair types").  

 Here is one of Lush's luxury bath melts. It literally melts in your hand. It's called You've Been Mangoed and it's featured ingredient is Mango Butter. It smells so citrusy for a tiny little bar. I feel like this will make for a moisturizing and invigorating bath.

 I grabbed a massage bar to try with a special guy friend of mine...these are supposed to be super sensual. This one is called From Dusk 'Til Dawn and contains Sicilian Lemon Oil. I have to put what Lush's website says about this one on here, it's too good: "This is the bar to use if you want to make sure your partner is wide awake after a romantic massage. A good rub down with this stimulating bar will ensure your grateful partner has plenty of vim and vigor for... other activities! This gold-capped cone has an uplifting and invigorating perfume of Sicilian lemon and sweet wild orange oil to keep you going from dusk 'til dawn!" HAHA, I LOVE IT!

 Totally different note here with Pop In The Bath Bubble Bar. It's so cute! And it's the same scent as the penguin bubble bar that they sell in the wintertime, which I love. Lush says that Mary Poppins was this inspiration for this one and it's featured ingredient is bergamot oil.

 This guy is the Green Bubbleroon. Shaped like a macaroon, the middle (or the "jam") is made from extra virgin coconut oil, and the featured ingredient is juniper-berry oil. This one smells like citrus and grass, which I feel will make an invigorating bath.

 I saw a Lush haul on youtube that inspired me to buy this one. It's the Butterball Bath Bomb and it's supposed to leave your skin really moisturized and smooth. It doesn't burst into a bunch of fun colors in the bath, this one is more about the effects on your skin. It's made with cocoa butter and has a very light vanilla scent to it.

 This is another item that's being discontinued. It's the Phoenix Rising Bath Bomb. It's a gorgeous royal purple and smells like apple cinnamon, with an actual cinnamon stick on the top. I haven't used it yet but I'm already sad it's being discontinued. It has gold dust on the top and features jojoba oil. It is the spiciest scent out of all of the items I purchased.

Here's my last purchase: the infamous (and also being discontinued) Granny Takes A Dip Bath Bomb. It's supposed to fizz out "psychedelic swirls" in your bath and is made with lemon oil. This thing is huge and super colorful!

Here are my sample shampoo and conditioner. The Cynthia Sylvia Stout shampoo is actually made from organic vegan stout beer. The woman at the store said it would be good to tame my frizz for the summer and give my hair shine. The American Cream conditioner is very popular, and smells fruity. It's inspired by strawberry and vanilla milkshakes and is made with actual vanilla pods and fresh strawberries.

All in all this was a very successful haul! I'm so excited to use everything! Nothing I bought was over $10, the most expensive thing was the soap because I wanted a good chunk of it. Lush is amazing and the people who work there are so nice and helpful, I love it!

XOXO,

Alyssa

ColourPop Haul and Review!

Disclaimer: I wrote this around February, it's just been stuck in my drafts folder >.< Sorry!

 Look what arrived in the mail last week! AHH! MORE COLOURPOP!!!!! I'm obsessed. Look at how cute the box it came in is! And isn't it adorable that they also put in a handwritten thank you note? (Sorry, I didn't know how to rotate it.)

 I got 5 of their Super Shock Eye Shadows and a Lippie Pencil (since I don't own any lipliners). Here's some more packaging porn:

 The lippie pencil is in the color "Frida" created by my favorite youtuber: CoffeeBreakWithDani! It's a warm nude color that leans a bit differently on everyone. For me it shows up as a light camel color. I needed something nude that I could use everyday as just a normal lip liner, but also something I could wear on it's own. I think I picked a winner. The lip pencil is matte and very rich and creamy. However, it gets used up pretty quickly and it's plastic so sharpening it is not the easiest thing to do. But it looks gorgeous and was only $5 so it's totally worth it.

 As usual, ignore the face demons. My lips are extra gross looking because of this awful weather. Here they are with nothing on them:

 Here's Frida:

 As you can see, Frida covers all my lip imperfections quite nicely and doesn't settle into dry patches or cracks.
This is the nub left over after my first use:

 Told you it goes quickly.

Next I wanted to test and see how good it was at preventing feathering with one of my feather-prone liquid lipsticks I bought recently: Rimmel London's Show Off Lip Velvet.

It didn't alter the color at all and actually kept it from being as slippery as it usually is. I love this lippie pencil!

Now onto the shadows (all pictures show the shadow up close and swatches with/without flash): 

This eyeshadow is called Mermaid Kiss and it's labeled as a "tie dye". It's got bright green, yellow, and blue. It's awesome because it swatches slightly different each time but once it's blended on the eye it looks lime green.

This emerald green is called Empire and is described as a "pearlized" finish. It's just so gorgeous with my brown eyes, I love it.

This is a deep, blackened teal that I absolutely adore using for depth in the outer v of my eyelids. It's called Effect and it's a "matte" finish.

This is my favorite of the bunch: Ibiza. It is a gorgeous turquoise, "pearlized" finish. It's so amazingly creamy, it applies like a dream. It's got 5 stars on the Colourpop website for a reason!

Last, but not least, is Lace. Lace is a deep purple, "pearlized" finish and neither of these pictures do it justice. Purple is another great color for brown eyes.

Here are all the swatches:

These suckers have staying power! I had them on for 5 minutes, then scrubbed with a makeup remover wipe, and my arm still had faint outlines of each color.

Well, that's all for this haul. Honestly, I love everything I own from Colourpop, I seriously feel like they can do no wrong. 5 shadows and 1 lip liner for $30 (each was just $5!!!) and free shipping too! You won't regret purchasing anything from them, trust me.

XOXO,
Alyssa