NOTD: Revlon Whimsical over Hard Candy Sky

My sister from another mister Serenie gifted me with Revlon Whimiscal polish! It looks so pretty and cute in the bottle but it's very VERY sheer and the glitter comes out really sparse so it requires a few coats to get a nice distribution of glitter.

Whimsical is made up of a super sheer milky blue base with pink and blue chunky hexagonal glitters and blue microglitter. I layered it over Hard Candy's Sky which is a pretty pale baby blue with very fine shimmer. I love baby pink/blue combos so I think it came out pretty cute with some added deco :)

On another note, I need new topcoat! Definitely going to pick up a bottle of Seche Vite. The topcoat I have now has a lot of bubbles :(

Review & Swatches: Revlon Photoready Airbrush Foundation in Nude VS Revlon Photoready Liquid Foundation in Nude

Here's a review on Revlon's new Photoready Airbrush Foundation. I got the shade "Nude" so I could compare it to Revlon's original Photoready Foundation (read on for comparison) that I already had, also in Nude.

Price: $11-12 at Target

What they say:

Get an airbrushed finish with Revlon’s light-as-air mousse makeup. Press button gently to deliver a lightweight air-infused foam mousse that blends seamlessly. Photochromatic pigments minimize the appearance of flaws for a smooth, poreless look.

PhotoReady Airbrush™ Mousse Makeup, an air-light makeup provides a flawless finish, whether it’s on camera or in person. The whipped texture allows you to blend evenly for undetectable coverage, leaving you with a smooth poreless complexion. The formula’s photochromatic pigments bend and reflect light to minimize flaws, leaving you with perfectly airbrushed skin in any light – indoors, outdoors, or under the flash of a camera. Oil free, fragrance free. Use alone or over PhotoReady™ Primers.

What to do:

Use alone or over PhotoReady™ Face Primers. To use, shake can well. Hold can upright, and press button gently to dispense a dime-size dollop of foamy air-infused mousse. Apply over face and blend for a smooth poreless complexion. Whipped texture feels weightless and provides medium-to-full buildable coverage. For an airbrushed finish, we recommend using fingertips to apply

In contrast to Maybelline's Dream Nude Airfoam foundation that I just reviewed, this foundation is the exact opposite. VERY LITTLE GOES A LONG WAY! I made the mistake of pumping out a lot, which turned out to be like 3x too much for my whole face. Just about a dime size is all you need. It comes out as a foamy looking glob of product.

The texture quickly melts into a semi-thick liquidy consistency with a slightly sticky/tacky feeling to it... practically just like their original Photoready foundation:

I also have their original Photoready foundation in Nude.
It is distinctly darker/warmer than the Photoready Airbrush in Nude.

Swatches side by side:

Revlon Photoready Airbrush | Revlon Photoready

It has medium buildable coverage that hides minor imperfections and masks redness a lot better than Maybelline's Dream Nude Airfoam. This shade also suits me a lot better than the Dream Nude Airfoam Nude. Similarly to the Nude Airfoam though, it doesn't cover around my nose very well for some reason.

As with their original Photoready Foundation, it photographs rather well and gives a smooth, softened look to skin.

The good stuff:

• Various shades to choose from
• Medium-buildable coverage
• A LITTLE GOES A LONG WAY
  
• Covers minor imperfections & redness
• Photographs nicely
• Gives a smooth/softened appearance to skin
  

The low-down:

• Requires careful blending to look ideal
• Slightly sticky/tacky feeling
• Finish wears off after 4+ hours
• Doesn't hold up against oily skin
• So similar to the original Photoready Foundation
  

My take: Overall, I like this foundation, but I wasn't as happy with it as I was with Maybelline's Dream Nude Airfoam. Mainly this foundation did not impress me because it's basically just an aerated version of their original Photoready Foundation, which I already have. The product comes out looking fluffy and mousse-y, but quickly melts into a semi-thick, liquidy, slightly sticky/tacky consistency, just like the liquid foundation. Thus it requires a little more blending to make it appear smooth and not cakey on skin. It's also sort of hard to control how much comes out of the pump, and you only need a REALLY LITTLE BIT, so I usually end up with too much for my whole face; wasting product.

I like that the coverage is heavier than Maybelline's Dream Nude Airfoam, but I much prefer Dream Nude Airfoam's lightweight texture. I honestly don't think the Photoready Foundations look especially spectacular in-person, but they do seem to photograph nicely; as promised by their name. It gives a nice, smooth, softened glowy appearance to skin.

Similarly to Dream Nude Airfoam though, this foundation also does not hold up to oily skin. By the middle of the day, my T-zone was visibly shiny as well and the dewy smooth finish wears off.

Would I repurchase/recommend?

I wouldn't repurchase this foundation as a little goes such a long way, and I still have their original Photoready foundation and they both feel/look the same to me. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in Revlon's Photoready line and HASN'T tried their original foundation yet... it's worth a shot. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone with oily skin or anyone who already owns the Photoready liquid foundation.

The Rundown:

Packaging: 5/5
Pump dispenser.

Product: 3/5
A good foundation, I wouldn't really call it an innovation. It's basically an aerated version of their original Photoready Foundation.

Price: 4/5
Affordable.

Overall:

[ click here to read about my Review & Rating System ]

Review & Swatches: Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Creamsicle & Strawberry Shortcake

I had been hearing so much about these lately that I just had to jump on the bandwagon and try them out for myself ;P Walmart was pretty much wiped out, but Target had all of them in stock :D I opted for a nude and a pink, since that's pretty much the only shades I wear :P

Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Creamsicle and Strawberry Shortcake

Price: $6.49 from Target

What they say:
- Buttery Balm + Shiny Color
- Buttery balm with beautiful shiny color to give you baby soft, healthy glowing lips
- 94% of women felt lips were softer, smoother, and instantly hydrated.
- Hydrating mango, shea and coconut butter formula boosts lip moisture by 156%
- Pampering gel formula provides super charged hydration and glides on lips buttery smooth
- Sheer to medium colour with buttery shine
- Available in 20 luscious shades

What to do: Starting with clean, dry lips apply your favorite shade of Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter onto lips. Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter can be worn with or without Lipliner. Reapply as often as desired for softer, smoother and instantly hydrated lips!

Left to right: Creamsicle, Strawberry Shortcake

Creamsicle is a sheer but buildable pale nudey peach shade.
It's PERFECT as an everyday nude lip for me :3

Strawberry Shortcake is like a bubblegum pink. Although it's bright pink and has a pop to it, it worked really nicely with my skin tone so it actually is a nice everyday pink lip for me.. I was pleasantly surprised with this shade :D

The good stuff:

• Lots of shades to choose from
• Great pigmentation / color is buildable
  
• Has moisturizing properties
• Doesn't overly dry out my lips
• Glossy balm sheen
• Decent lasting time
  
• No weird smell/taste
  
• Super cute packaging corresponds to color
  

The low-down:

• Wasn't all that moisturizing for me
• Application "drags" a bit on me
• Not as smooth or lightweight as I'd imagine when I think of "lip butter"

My take: While I really love the shades I got, I was a little disappointed in the texture and feel of these "lip butters." I expected them to be a lot more "buttery" and slick to smooth on with a lightweight feel. They're more like a thick balm -- practically like a lipstick. In all fairness though, I do have dry flaky lips and the weather has been rather cold lately. So before I apply these, I have to buff my lips and apply a clear balm in order for the lip butters to apply smoothly. I'm thinking it's because it's been chilly lately, the lip butters are a bit "stiff" -- They dragged on my lips when I tried to apply them without a base, resulting in patchy color settling into lip lines galore :/ I suppose if the weather was warmer, these lip butters would soften up and apply more smoothly, but we'll have to see... the weather here is so fickle. I was also under the impression that these would be more on the sheer side so that I could apply them alone as a tinted balm, but because of the pigmentation, like I mentioned, they're actually more like a lipstick in my opinion.

Other than that, once I prep my lips w/ buffing & clear balm, these apply a lot smoother and have a great glossy sheen to them. They do feel somewhat conditioning because of the thick balm texture. I'd say lasting power is about 3 hours, which is average for me. It doesn't end up overly drying out my lips, it just kind of absorbs into my lips like most other lipsticks/balms do on me and leaves them feeling dry, but smooth. I definitely can't say I agree with their claims that it boosts lip moisture by 156% though :/

Creamsicle is currently my go-to nude lippie. It's quite sheer but on my lips, it is buildable to a nice subtle nude -- also great for mixing with other lippies to soften up the color. I was also really happy with Strawberry Shortcake! Usually I'm a bit wary to venture into brighter pink shades, so this was a stretch for me. But I actually love it! It's also sheer but not as sheer as Creamsicle. About 2 swipes gets you good pigmentation. It's such a flattering pink shade that I've worn it every day since I bought it! It just has a way of melding with my lip color into a lovely MLBB pink. Love it!

Would I repurchase/recommend?: I could see myself repurchasing these shades because I'm happy with them, but I would like to try some of the other shades of Lip Butters as well. I would recommend these to anyone who wants a sheer to buildable pigmented lip color that has moisturizing properties. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who has really dry/flaky lips... or I would suggest that you prep your lips really well before applying.

The Rundown:

Packaging: 5/5
Super cute & colorful packaging, corresponds to shade.

Product: 4/5
Great pigmentation, but not as moisturizing as I'd like.

Price: 5/5
Affordable.

Overall:

[ click here to read about my Review & Rating System ]

Review: Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Charm & Precious

These seem to be all the rage lately! Unfortunately, I've come to find out these lip stains just aren't my thing :( I got these in Charm and Precious.

Left to right: Precious, Charm

Price: around $8 from stores like Walmart or Target

What they say: It’s a pampering balm fused with a lightweight lipstain in an adorable chubby crayon. Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain gives softer, smoother lips with a perfect flush of color that lasts hour after hour. The gel formula comes in 12 vibrant shades that match any look or mood.

-Lightweight Lipstain + Moisturizing Balm
-100% of women who tried it felt their lips were instantly moisturized with a soft stain of color
-Retractable chubby crayon, no sharpener required

What to do:Step 1: Apply Just Bitten Kissable™ Balm Stain evenly to clean, bare lips. Build color and coverage as desired.
Step 2: Reapply as desired for moisturizing shine throughout the day.

What's in it: (Will update w/ ingredients)

Charm is a peachy-nude shade and Precious is a pinky-beige nude shade.

The good stuff:

• Lots of shades to choose from
• Not nearly as drying as I thought they would be
• In fact, slightly moisturizing at first
• Decently pigmented nude shades
• Has a hint of glossiness
• Nice minty smell
• Does stain your lips & lasts long

The low-down:

• Settles into lip lines... doesn't look good over dry lips
• Ends up drying out my lips after an hour or so
• These nude shades stain rather vibrantly... AND NOT NUDE!!!

My take: I wanted to like these, I really did! They start out very pretty but after an hour of wear, things start to change...

Here's Charm:

On my lips it starts out as a pretty nude peach pink shade. I like that these lip stains offer some glossiness. I was also surprised because I was expecting them to really drag across my lips -- my lips are really dry and my lip lines are really visible. However this lipstain was more on the glossy side than I anticipated so it does offer a tiny bit of hydration and glides over my lips without dragging. It does however visibly settle into lip lines. After several hours of wear, my lips also became rather dry. But still, not nearly as dry as I had expected... and my lips dry out from practically any lip product I use anyway. It's just nice that this lip stain does retain a bit of balm-like properties.

The disappointing part was the actual STAIN effect. I had got these NUDE shades specifically because I was under the impression that they would stain NUDE. However, they do the EXACT OPPOSITE! Charm stains my lips a very bright pink-coral-peach color. Definitey not my cup of tea!!! Way too bright for my tastes :/

Charm after 4 hours:

Precious fared a little better on me than Charm. It is a beige-pink nude shade.

Precious after 4 hours:

However, it still stains my lips a rather pinkish peach shade. More subdued than Charm, yes. But it's still not the NUDE that I wanted!

Overall, I really love the concept -- it IS a good lip stain -- but this was just a really disappointing buy because of the stain effect with these particular shades. It's weird because I read a handful of reviews that said these nude shades didn't have any stain effect at all on them. But I also read reviews from people who had the same color-changing issue as me. So maybe it's something to do with our individual body chemistry reacting to these shades? I dunno. I just don't like it.

Would I repurchase/recommend?

I would not repurchase these shades nor any others, as I only was interested in the nudes. The other darker shades seem good as a stain from what I've seen in other reviews though. I would not recommend this to anyone looking for a NUDE lip stain. It seems pretty likely that it will a) either not stain at all, or b) stain your lips a vibrant not-at-all-nude color. I would recommend this to anyone who likes lip stains and doesn't mind if it stains your lips a bright shade since it does have nice balm-like properties which would fare better on those who don't have dry, chapped lips like I do.

The Rundown:

Packaging: 5/5
A cute chubby twist-up stick.

Product: 2/5
Nice concept, but rating solely based on these nude shades... it's just not what I expected nor wanted. Has balm-like properties but stains way too vibrant for my tastes and dries out my lips.

Price: 5/5
Affordable.

Overall:

[ click here to read about my Review & Rating System ]

Review: Revlon Beyond Natural & Fantasy Lengths False Lashes and Precision Lash Adhesive

Hi everyone! I know I said I'd be making more scheduled posts... and obviously I failed miserably at that -___-; LOL! But anyway, I figured as a New Year's Resolution, I'm going to try and get back into the swing of things ;) So cheers to a new year very soon, and here's a review to start it all off :)

I had previously reviewed Revlon's Fantasy Lengths "Intensifying" false lashes here, but had mentioned that I had wanted to try different styles. To my surprise, Revlon contacted me and graciously sent me some false lashes and lash adhesive (as well as false nails) for review!

I haven't tried the Beyond Natural line of lashes until now and I thought I would like them less than the Fantasy Lengths ones because there is no thick lash band and you have to mess around with lash glue. However, I was pleasently surprised to find that I like the Beyond Natural line just as much (if not more) than the Fantasy Lengths ones.

These lashes retail for around $3-4.

Revlon Beyond Natural lashes
"Dramatic"

What they say: -With various styles available, each with a different length and volume, you can easily customize your lashes -Synthetic, Handmade -Available In 3 Styles

My take: I really like these lashes because of the great volume they give, while still having a nice "wispyness" to them :) They're really full and long, but like the box says, they are ULTRA lightweight and I barely feel them at all. The only thing I don't like about these lashes are that the inner ends don't taper down in length and the outer ends don't flare out as much as I'd like, so they don't exactly look quite "natural." Other than that though, they are a great fit for my eyes and feel perfectly comfortable on. The band is super thin and not rigid at all, so these lashes are easy to place on and adjust. If you're looking for full, voluminous lashes, I'd give these a try.

Revlon Beyond Natural lashes
"Natural Defining"

My take: I don't really care too much for these lashes on their own, as I found them to be too "natural" for my tastes. They look nice up close, but from a distance, they are not really noticeable at all on my eyes. However, they are FANTASTIC for layering with other lashes (will explain below!!!). If you already have naturally long, full lashes, I think these would be nice for adding some extra oomph to them. Like the name, they are definitely "Natural Defining" and don't add much noticeable volume if you have short, sparse lashes like me :( The band is super thin and invisible, and like the other Beyond Natural lashes, they are ultra lightweight, easy to apply, and comfortable to wear. (Sorry no picture with me wearing just those!)

Revlon Fantasy Lengths lashes
"Flirty"

What they say: REVLON® Fantasy Lengths® Maximum Wear glue on eyelashes are a revolutionary way to go from Plain Jane to Naturally Fantastic instantly. Without messy glue to fumble with- you can have perfect lashes that stay where you want them to- even in waterAvailable in four different styles.

My take: I had mentioned in my other Fantasy lengths review that I really like these lashes because of the innovative self-adhesive strips. I think this is a great idea for people on the go who don't want to mess around with lash glue (me!). They come with an extra pair of adhesive strips too. And you can still peel off the strips and use regular glue afterwards. This pair didn't have the same rigid black band that the other Fantasy lengths lashes I reviewd had. This was a good thing too though because they were more flexible and comfortable. I like this style because it has a good volume and length and is noticeable on my eyes without looking too natural or too dramatic.

& On to LAYERING!!!

I think that this is the best part about these lashes... Since they are SO lightweight and the bands are so thin, they are PERFECT for layering over one another. This is what the Natural Defining and Flirty lashes look like put together:

I really like this combination because it gives the perfect length and fullness for me, while still looking natural :D This combination gives the fullness I like from the Dramatic lashes, but it tapers off nicely and can be adjusted for more flare at the outer end. LOVE :D If you don't mind the extra steps, I'd suggest trying to layer these lashes together for a costumized fit and volume :)

All of the lashes that I've tried are also great quality. I've been able to get around 10 uses out of these lashes until they finally started getting a bit bent out of shape!

Revlon Precision Lash Adhesive

Price: ~$5.00

What they say: -Ultra thin brush allows for precise application on entire lash band or even the corners of lashes. -Saves time! Easy to apply with no hassle. -No need for extra application tool (such as cotton swab or brush) to apply onto lash band. -Easy touch-up anytime, anywhere. Convenient and purse friendly. Waterproof & Latex Free

My take: I really, really, REALLY like this lash glue. I think it's actually the best lash glue I've tried so far! Application is super simple and really mess free. It has a super fine brush tip that allows for easy application of just the right amount of glue to the lash band. It's not messy at all. The glue stays tacky for a good amount of time so you can easily place and adjust the lashes, but it dries rather quickly too, so the lashes don't fall off while you're in the middle of trying to put them on. And it lasts all day! The lipgloss-esque packaging is also great to keep in your purse if you need to do quick corner touchups throughout the day. I've tried other lash glues before that were sticky, smelly, hard to use, didn't dry quickly, were a bitch to remove, and were otherwise just plain gross! Never again! I'm so glad that I got to try out this lash glue because it's definitely become an HG for me!

The Rundown:

Packaging: 5/5
The packaging of the lash glue is great for stashing in your purse.

Product: 4.5/5
The lashes are fabulous: they're super lightweight, great for layering, and last a long time. It would be great if Revlon would continue to make more styles of lashes! The lash glue is the best I've used so far. Simple and mess free!

Price: 5/5
Completely wallet-friendly!

Overall:

[ click here to read about my Review & Rating System ]

FTC Disclaimer: The products mentioned in this post were provided to me for review by Revlon.
This is my 100% honest opinion and experience with these products.