Review: Sonia Kashuk Blush Brush

Quality: 5 out of 5
Packaging: 5 out of 5
Price: $10
Where to buy: Target
Cruelty Free: Yes
Overall: 5 out of 5

I had 3 blush brushes before, but they were either too scratchy (the ELF blush brush) or they shed too much (Studio Tools), or both. So I saw the Sonia Kashuk brushes for 10% off at Target and decided to try the blush brush (white handled, not black) in hopes that it would not shed like a cat or scratch like... well, a pissed off shedding cat.



I wasn't disappointed. The Sonia K blush brush is so soft, I just want to cuddle with it. It hardly feels like I'm brushing anything against my face. The brush is wide enough that it covers the right area without any hassle, but it doesn't apply too much. The best part is that it picks up just the right amount of blush so I only have to do one stroke from the apples of my cheeks to my hair line and one back, then I'm done. It doesn't look splotchy and I don't have any harsh lines to blend. I haven't noticed any shedding hairs either, so I'm in blush brush heaven!

Highly Recommended!
xox

Review: NYX Jumbo E/S Pencil, NYX Candy Glitter Liners

Here are my rave reviews on NYX Jumbo E/S Pencil, in Yogurt & NYX Candy Glitter Liners.

Quality: 5 out of 5

Packaging: 3 out of 5

Price: $3-$4

Where to buy: Cherryculture.com

Cruelty Free: Yes

Overall: 5 out of 5

This is Yogurt. I got it saturday, been wearing it ever since. It last 8-9 hours on my oily lids before it starts to crease.

These are some of my poorer e/s. They don't have much pigment dry, even over UDPP
Here I used them over UDPP, the NYX e/s pencil, and with a mixing medium. The mixing medium was the most vibrant, but after it dried it was flaky and if I touched it with my finger a lot of pigment came away. When I touched the e/s over the jumbo pencil little to no pigment was on my fingers.

Edit: I've gotten Pacific and Lemon since and they work just as well, incase anyone is wondering about other colors.

Quality: 5 out of 5

Packaging: 5 out of 5

Price: $4

Where to buy: Cherryculture.com

Cruelty Free: Yes

Overall: 5 out of 5

NYX Candy Glitter Liners

Crystal, Lavendar, Blue, & Jade. The first two are great with softer looks. Blue and Jade really pop. Mostly the glitter stays put, though there is a tiny bit of fallout. Wait for them to dry because they'll get on your brow bone if you're not careful. The applicator brush is really fine so its east to get thin lines.

Hope that helps. Have a great day everyone.

xox

Recent Hauls

On Tuesday I needed some retail therapy so I hit the mall! My first stop was a small beauty store that has a small display of NYX lipsticks. I was just going to order some from Cherryculture.com but Hebe was too gorgeous and I couldn't wait! Then I went to the MAC counter. I was going to get Parfait Amour or Aquadisiac, but Hepcat caught my eye so I got that one. Last I hit Charlotte Russe, the clothing store, and they have small bins of lipgloss and eye shadow trios at the counters that I always look through. They had two new color sets, Mermaid and Aquatic, that I didn't have yet so I got those too.

MAC Hepcat (free with gift card)
NYX round lipstick in Hebe ($1)
Charlotte Russe ($5 each)
My whole Charlotte Russe mineral collection.

Then I came home and put in an order at Cherryculture because they are having a 20% off sale until the 20th. I got 4 NYX candy glitter liners, 2 lipsticks, and 2 chrome pigments. I'll probably get them all next week.

Theshespace swatches.

I did swatches of the LE stuff, but that will eventually be gone, so I thought I'd do swatches of the regular collection.

Just so you don't get confused, the names of the colors are within the rows (hopefully that makes sense). I didn't feel like numbering them.

Animal Testing

About a year ago I was blissfully unaware of the horrible cruelty that goes on behind the glamorous fronts of so many major beauty companies. I don't remember how, but I found a link to a site that talked about the unpleasant facts of animal testing. I always thought animal testing including nothing more then funny people in lab coats sitting around putting nail polish on dog's toe nails or putting mousse in cat hair. Boy was I wrong.

Much of animal testing includes this:

• Putting harmful products in their eyes. Clamps are used so they can't blink. They'll be left like this for days. This is very painful and often leaves animals blind.
• Ripping away layers of skin with tape, and then putting chemicals on the raw skin.
• Forcing poisonous chemicals into their stomachs. Reactions can be convulsions, vomiting, paralysis and bleeding from the eyes, nose, mouth or rectum.

If the animal makes a lot of noise, they will cut their vocal cords. Test subjects sometimes kill themselves struggling against their restraints. If they haven't been killed in the testing process, the animals are killed after so their organs can be studied.

Here are a few of the majoy companies and their brands that do test on animals:

• Church & Dwight (Aim, Arm & Hammer, Arrid, Brillo, Close-up, Lady’s Choice, Mentadent, Nair, Pearl Drops)
• Clairol (Aussie, Daily Defense, Herbal Essences, Infusium 23, Procter & Gamble)
• Coty (Adidas, Davidoff, Glow, The Healing Garden, JOOP!, Jovan, Kenneth Cole, Lancaster, Marc Jacob, Rimmel, Stetson)
• Johnson & Johnson (Aveeno, Clean & Clear, Listerine, Lubriderm, Neutrogena, Rembrandt, ROC),
• L’Oréal U.S.A. (Biotherm, Cacharel, Garnier, Giorgio Armani, Helena Rubinstein, Lancôme, Matrix Essentials, Maybelline, Ralph Lauren Fragrances, Redken, Soft Sheen, Vichy)
• Playtex Products (Baby Magic, Banana Boat, Ogilvie)
• Procter & Gamble Co. (Clairol, Cover Girl, Crest, Gillette, Giorgio, Iams, Max Factor, Pantene, Physique, Tide),
• Sally Hansen
• S.C. Johnson (Drano, Edge, Fantastik, Glade, OFF!, Oust, Pledge, Scrubbing Bubbles, Shout, Skintimate, Windex, Ziploc), 1525
• Unilever (Axe, Dove, Helene Curtis, Lever Bros., Suave
• The Body Shop (just bought by L'Oreal)
• NARS (just bought by Shiseido)

Here are some of the brands that do not test on animals:

• Alba Botanica, Alima Cosmetics, Almay, Aquaphor, Avon (mark)
• Ban, Bare Escentuals, Bath & Body Works, BeneFit (?), Bobbi Brown, Bonne Bell, Biore, Burt’s Bees
• Citré Shine, Chanel, Clarins, Clinique, Conair
• e.l.f. Cosmetics, Estée Lauder
• Got2Be
• Jane Cosmetics, John Paul Mitchell
• Kiss My Face
• Laura Mercier, Lorac, LUSH
• M.A.C. Cosmetics, Mary Kay
• Nexxus, Nivea, NYX Cosmetics, New York Color (NYC)
• OPI Products, Origins
• Palmers, Physicians Formula, Pout, Prescriptives, Prestige Cosmetics
• Queen Helene
• Revlon
• Sephora, Smashbox Cosmetics, Sonia Kashuk, Stila Cosmetics, St Ives, Sally Hansen
• Too Faced Cosmetics, TREsemme
• Urban Decay
• Victoria’s Secret
• Wet n Wild

For more detailed list see here:

Companies that don't test: http://www.caringconsumer.com/pdfs/companiesDontTest.pdf

Companies that do test:http://www.caringconsumer.com/pdfs/companiesDoTest.pdf

Resources:

• http://www.idausa.org/facts/costesting.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_testing (I couldn't get through the page, it really upset me)
• http://www.caringconsumer.com/
• http://www.navs.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ain_pt_whois This has a really helpful search engine, just type in the brand and it will tell you if they test.

If you see anything that is incorrect or know something that should be added, please let me know. I hope this is helpful to someone. I'm going on almost a year of buying only cruelty free products. On some things I slip up (like dental care, almost all major brands test) but at least I'm trying.

xox

Fyrinnae haul pics!

I finally got my Fyrinnae package yesterday! I order on Jan 5th, and it shipped on Feb 26th, so it took 37 business days for them to ship. It was crappy to have to wait that long, but I have them now and they are sparkly and pretty so I don't care. My only problem now is deciding what to wear today. I think I have over 20 unused colors I've gotten this week, my head is spinning.

Dragonskin, Dragon's Wing, Leif, Njordr
Shallow Sleep, Dragon Tears f/s, Prof. Embrace, Japan
Newcastle f/s, Equality, Rapunzle f/s, Melty (free sample)
Plus I got the rice primer and mineral viel samples.

Have a sparkly day!

xox

Theshespace haul pics & swatches!

I just got my latest order from my favorite pigment company, About Face. I ordered four full sized pigments and a few samples, but Heather sent me a bunch of free samples too (which I actually think was an evil plough to get me to buy more full size & therefor steal my money! {its working} She knows how much of a sucker I am).

Keep in mind these are all limited edition, so if you want them order asap.

L-R Ideal Elements, Blue Eyed Hottie
Indigo Moon, The Boy Can Kiss

I cannot gush enough about All The Pretty Girls. I didn't think it looked that fab online, but in person it is amazing. I have to have a full size of this. These are all a lot more sparkly irl too, and I love sparkles! Also these were applied over UDPP.

These are older swatches from mostly the drama queen collection, just thought I'd include them. The first two rows were applied wet, the last just over UDPP.

For reference, this is how much comes in a bag, good for more then a few uses.

Feel free to ask any questions.

xox

Lipstick swatches

These are from Wet N Wild. They are a dollar a piece (though I got them for .50 cents). Tokyo a pink pink is suppose to be a dupe for MACs le Strawberry Blonde. I've only seen it in photos and I don't think they look that much alike.

These are NYX round lipsticks. They are also a dollar at cherryculture.com & a lot of small beauty/wig supply stores have little displays.

Edit: I just realized I forgot to lable the middle one on the bottom. Its Ulysses.

The NYX eye shadow swatches will come tomorrow.

xox