Nyx Ritualistic Illuminator Review

Hello! Happy Valentines Day lovelies!

Today I'm sharing my thoughts on the newest edition to my highlighter collection. I received the Nyx Illuminator in Ritualistic in the Ulta beauty box I received in December from their joy it forward program. I haven't tried any highlighters from Nyx, so I was happy to see this in my box. I'm going to try and keep this review short and sweet so I don't ramble on too much!

These Nyx illuminators come in a few different shades. Ritualistic is a pretty white gold shade, which is what I tend to gravitate towards when choosing highlights. These are super affordable at $8.99 and can be found at Ulta, and Nyx's website. Target may have them as well, but I haven't personally looked. My local target just stepped up their game and added a tons of Nyx makeup, which is a nice change from their small section they use to have.

From Ulta's website 

"Brighten up your skin with any of these Illuminators by NYX Cosmetics. The radiant shimmer diffuses light so your skin looks softer and younger while adding a subtle glow. Gleam through the day wearing any of these Illuminators for a natural touch of radiance! Complements the structure of the face with a touch of luminosity."

My Thoughts

This definitely matches the description and brightens up your skin with a subtle glow. It is not a super intense highlighter, and anyone who loves a nice subtle sheen to their cheeks should check this out. The formula isn't super soft or buttery (like Anastasia or Becca highlighters), so I think that makes it perfect for not picking up too much product and giving you a highlight seen from space. I love the white golden shade of it, and I'm enjoying wearing this on days that I don't want an intense highlighter. It's super affordable too, and total steal! 

Have you tried any of the Nyx Illuminators before? If so, share your thoughts on them in the comments! 

Morphe 35O Palette

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend. I was trying to have Monday's be a video day from now on, but it didn't happen this week. There will be one tomorrow, so for today I'm sharing my thoughts on the Morphe 35O palette. 

I'm sure you've all heard about this palette a million times, or own it yourself, so I'm going to try to keep this review short and sweet. I have swatches to share, and I'll share my thoughts on it as well. Also, I used this palette in my makeup routine video, so if you want to see it in action, click here.

The 35O palette is a very warmed toned palette with 35 shadows. It has both matte and shimmer in it, but now morphe offers an all matte and an all shimmer version of the 35O palette. The price for this is $22.99

No flash

Flash 

Here are swatches of each row, from top to bottom. These are highly pigmented, buttery, and blend super easy. 

My Overall Thoughts-

-This is a super affordable palette for how big it is. You get tons of beautiful shadows that are amazing quality. 

-I was surprised at how well the blended and how pigmented they are. 

-I love the warm tones, especially all of the red and oranges. Those are my favorite types of colors to wear. This will be a great palette for Fall. 

-I do get some fall out when using this, which is the only negative, but it's easily swept away. The affordable price and great quality definitely makes up for that. 

If you haven't tried Morphe shadows, I definitely recommend checking them out. I'm super happy with this palette, and I'm sure their other ones are just as great! I'm a little late to getting a Morphe palette, mainly because I was too lazy to order one and because I didn't really want/need a palette this large. Now I can't imagine not having this in my collection! 

I'll be reviewing the 9N blush palette next week! Also, If you want to see more makeup tutorials using this, let me know!

Are you a fan of Morphe products? Which palette is your favorite?

5 Cheaper Alternatives to Your Favorite High End Makeup

Hello! I hope you all had a great weekend!

Today I'm sharing 5 cheaper alternatives to high end makeup. These products I'm about to show are ones I've used for a long time and I think are just as great of quality as high end ones. A few of them I've replaced some high end makeup with that I use to buy all the time, and since I've discovered these ones, I haven't repurchased the high end version! 

L'Oreal Infallablie Pro Spray & Set. This is my favorite setting spray. I used to buy the UD All Nigter spray until I found this one. A lot of drugstore brands have setting sprays now, I've tried the new Maybelline one and I'm not a fan. I did a blog post over a year ago comparing this L'Oreal one to the UD one, where I got technical and compared prices to fl oz, and showed that this one works just as well as UD, but you are getting the most for your money. You can read it here. 

Nyx Micro Brow. This is exactly like the Anastasia Brow Wiz. It's half the price, and if you can get Nyx buy one get one half off at Ulta, then you can get 2 for $15. I have another blog post comparing the two product here. 

Wet n Wild Color Icon Blush I have mine in the shade Rose Champagne. I want a few more of these, and I'm super impressed with the quality of these blushes for how affordable they are. They are just as great as a lot of my high end blushes (and better than some!) and I reach for this one more. 

Elf Contour Palette. This little gem is only $6. I don't actually have any high end contour palettes, but I do have a ton of high end bronzers and I still prefer this elf palette for contouring. Plus is comes with a bronzer, contour, banana shade, and a highlight! 

Maybelline Lipsticks. These are my favorite drugstore lipsticks. I have a ton from different lines, but the creamy mattes are my favorite. You all know I love Mac lipsticks, but these are just as good! 

I definitely plan on doing more posts like this in the future because I love finding affordable options to high end makeup! 

What are your favorite affordable makeup products? 

Colourpop Haul #2

I know, I just did a Colourpop haul last week and you all probably think I'm crazy for doing another one. Am I the only one who gets anxious about placing big orders online, cuts the order in half, and then gets mad about not ordering everything you wanted, so then places another order a few days later? Yes, maybe I am crazy. 

There were a few more shadows and Lippie Stix I wanted, and I also bought one of the liquid matte and liquid satin lipsticks. I was kind of afraid to try them since I've never used a liquid lipstick before, but then I figured that was silly since these are only $6, and jumped on this liquid lipstick craze. 

Also, I was originally going to film this haul because I did a little damaged at Sephora too, but my memory card was full of my camera. I was angry so just decided to take photos instead because colourpop is super fun to show swatches of its prettiness. I will show the Sephora goodies next week! 

Shadows

From left to right- Sunset Blvd (pearlized- kaepop collection, Luckfully (pearlized), and Porter (metallic- Kathleen Lights collection). 

All three of these are gorgeous colors. I don't own anything like Luckfully or Porter so I was excited about those two. 

Lips 

The first two swatched are the Lippie Stix  Bound and Skimpy and are both glossy formulas. I wanted to see how the glossy formula was since all the other ones u have are matte. I could have sworn I ordered the Bound lip liner instead, but now I'm kind of glad I didn't because it looks super pink on my lips and I'm not sure if I'd like the lip liner because I apply them like a savage. Skimpy is a super light nude shade and I really love it and the glossy formula. The two liquid lipsticks look pretty similar, but the satin is Littlestitious and the matte is Bianca, which on my lips turns out darker. I like the formula of the satin, but I'm not sure about the matte one yet!

Top row- Skimpy on the left, Bound on the right. Bottom row- Littlestitious on the left, Bianca on the right. 

Overall I'm pretty happy with everything that I've ordered this time. Bound is a little pink for me so I'll have to play around with it. When I first tried on the matte liquid lipstick, I took it off within 5 minutes of wearing it and wanted to smother my lips in Chapstick, so I will have to play around with that one too. I will definitely be doing a post or a video using the eyeshadows!! 

Does anyone else think that Coloupop is super addicting?

 

New Years Makeup Featuring Affordable Products | Collab with Pilar

Hello! Today's post is another holiday makeup look in collaboration with Pilar from Beauty and More by Pilar! For this collab we created a makeup look for New Years and are featuring some affordable and drugstore makeup! Don't forgot to check out her blog as well to see which makeup look she created!

I wanted to do a bronze smoky eye so I'm featuring some colourpop shadows for my makeup!

Affordable New Years Makeup

Face Makeup

Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous Foundation, Maybelline Better Skin Concealer, Elf blush and contour palettes 

I used the shades marked with X for my contour, blush and highlight. 

Lips 

Maybelline Daringly Nude over top of Nyx natural lip liner 

Eye Makeup 

For this eye look I wanted to use the Colourpop shadow in Blaze as the main color of this eye look. Coloupop shadows are only $5 each, super affordable!

First I used used Coloupop Cornelious as my transition shade. Then I used Blaze all over my lid. Both shadows are from the Kathleen Lights 'where the light is' set. Next I used the black shade in the maybelline nudes palette to deepen my crease and outer corner. I also used this black shade on my lower lash line, and then used blaze on top on it. 

For my eyeliner I used maybelline line stiletto liquid liner and Loreal silkissime in my water line. I used Covergirl super sizer for my mascara. 

I hope you all enjoyed this makeup look! don't forget to check out Pilar's Blog as well!!

What makeup look will you be wearing for New Year's Eve this year?