Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter Swatches

My apologies for another late post, but here it is! I was looking for a couple of lip products to review, and the Revlon Color Burst Lip Butter caught my eye.  I thought I'd give it a whirl, so I picked up Tutti Frutti to try it out.  You may have read in previous entries about my obsession for orange lippies...  Pics after the jump!

Giveaway... Just Because!

Okay, guys, here's the deal.  I'm hosting a giveaway.  There are three fabulous prize packs featuring indie companies I use frequently.  The first place winner will receive the wallet of their choice from Tinymeat, the 3g sample trio of their choice from The Starshine Company, and a full-size Bouffant eyeshadow from Linnaeus Cosmetics.

Wallet Options

 

 

  

Sample Trio Options

Bouffant Shadow

How to enter:

1. Leave a comment telling me which item(s) you are most excited about.

2. Follow the blog with Google Friend Connect.

3. Follow the blog with Networkedblogs.

4. Follow @UrbanCritique on Twitter.

5. Follow The Urban Critique on Facebook.

6. Tweet about this giveaway (limit one tweet per entrant, please.)

Please use a separate comment for each entry; if you put all of your entries in the same comment, you will only be counted once.  If you follow, please tell where you are following and leave the name you used to follow, i.e. I followed you on Facebook with the name Jane Doe.  If you tweet, you must provide a link to your tweet.  Please provide a valid E-mail address with all entries so that I can contact you if you win.  Open to fans who are 18 or older, no residency restrictions.  Winners will be chosen at random using a number generator.  Each prize has an approximate value of $22, and all prizes were purchased by me using my own money.  Open for entries immediately, closing 10/3/11.  Winner announced 10/4/11.  Good luck!

Prizes!

It's been decided, and everything has arrived!  All three winners will get something from Tinymeat, a full-size (5g) Bouffant eyeshadow from Linnaeus Cosmetics, and a collection of three shadows in sample jars (3g) from The Starshine Company.  These are some seriously awesome prizes, guys, so be sure to tell everybody you think might be interested in winning some great indie products!  Full details (and swatches) on Monday!

Giveaway Update

I have placed an order for the remainder of the giveaway prizes, but I haven't received them yet.  I'm thinking about having the giveaway around the end of the month, with a two week timespan for entries.  Each winner will receive a little somethin' from Tinymeat, a Bouffant eyeshadow from Linnaeus Cosmetics, and an eyeshadow trio from The Starshine Company.  So that's going to be pretty awesome.  Tell your friends.

In other news, I am unsure as to whether or not I will be doing a review or look today.  I have an optometrist appointment at which I will need to have my eyes dilated, so they will probably be really sensitive most of the day.  And I know it will make my eyes very watery, and I will rub them a bunch, so I don't want to put anything on beforehand.  So if I don't post anything later today, I hope this little update will suffice for today and I will be sure to get something up during the week!

FOTD: My Face But Better

I see a lot of people talking about a shade of lipstick or gloss that's supposed to be "your lips but better," so I decided I should take that one step further and do a whole look based on the "_____ but better" philosophy: natural-looking and simple, not cakey or obvious.  The first thing I did was curl my lashes and apply mascara.  I use black since my brows and lashes are quite dark already, but if you have lighter brows and lashes, you may want to use brown for this look instead.  The next thing I did was use a white pencil on the inner corners of my eyes to highlight them.  If you have darker skin, you can opt for gold as a highlighter instead to keep your look tame.  I lined my eyes top and bottom with a dry neutral mineral shadow, Amber Dust from TSC.  I lined my lips with an NYX Peekaboo Neutral lipliner pencil, filled them in with NYX Diamond Sparkle Lipstick in Sparkling Beige, and put a clear gloss over the top.  I finished by applying mineral eyeshadow to my the apples of my cheeks and the bridge of my nose as blush; I used TSC's Petal.  Again with the lips and cheeks, if you have a darker or lighter skintone, these colors may not work as a neutral for you, so choose your colors accordingly.  I did not use any foundation, or primer, or concealer for this look, so my freckles show through, the darkness under my eyes is more apparent than if I had a full "face" on, etc. but it's supposed to look natural, right?

Pictures today from my new camera!  I decided on the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W530 based on reviews, price point, and a perusal of images on Flickr.  I'm pretty happy with the quality I've seen from my shots so far, and I'd say that it's well worth the money for $100 on sale at Best Buy.  You can click on any image to enlarge; the only editing that has been done to these photos is cropping.

Lip Stuff

 

 

 

Whole look

 

 

Close-up Eyes

 Close-up Lips

Bonus Post: Random Look

This look is easy-peasy.  I started with UD Primer Potion as a foundation, and used a small amount of Bouffant from LC on the inner corners of my eyes and under my brows as a highlighter.  I applied Bare from TSC on my lids, and used LC's Sprightly to cut the crease.  I lined with Buried Alive glitter blend from RABB.  It was a little hasty, so don't mind the lack of blending; I'll fix it up and post more pictures shortly.

Bonus Post: Random Look

Here's another look for you, my lovely readers!  Today's look is sort of a peacock color scheme featuring three colors from The Starshine Company.  Very bright and bold...  Enjoy!

The look is fairly similar to Monday's.  I started with a layer of Urban Decay Primer Potion, and highlighted my inner corners and brows with Bouffant from Linnaeus Cosmetics.  I started by patting Golden Green onto my eyelids with a large detailer brush.  Next, I switched to my small detailer brush and started a cut crease using Mint Candy out about halfway over my eyelid.  I continued with my small detailer and completed the cut crease with Sea Foam, blending the two colors together where they met in the center.  I created an arc shape and rounded the outer edges of the cut crease.  My lower lashes are lined with Golden Green on the inner half, and Sea Foam on the outer half.  I finished the look by curling my top lashes and applying mascara (I left my lower lashes bare.)

 

Random Look!

But first, my trip to Ulta!  Ulta is the closest beauty store to me with the best variety of products.  Most of the other stores near me are dreadfully small, do not carry what I was looking for today, or both.  I ended up getting the Japonesque touch-up tube (five basic brushes for $20) and a tube of Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden ($18).  I looked around for a bit, but I thought the primer potion was enough of an impulse buy for the night and checked out.

The brushes are really soft.  I would have liked the assortment better if it had included an angled liner brush instead of a lip brush, but it wasn't a dealbreaker.  They ended up being $4 a pop, and they are definitely much softer than the $6 or $7 double-sided liner/shadow brush I had before.  I think I'll really enjoy using them.

This look was created entirely with shadows from The Starshine Company (which you should definitely check out if you haven't already!) over Urban Decay Primer Potion.  A little bit of the UD primer goes a looong way, and it's WAY less forgiving than MBA's Shadow Poxy; it dries completely to a matte nude finish and anything you apply gets sucked right in.  There is NO room for error, which I learned the hard way with this look.  Sorry about the unevenness!  I started the look with Cheek to Cheek on my lids, applied using the large eye detailer.  Then I did a cut crease with Wine using the small eye detailer, which I rounded out at the outer corners of my eyes.  I went back to my large eye detailer and applied Petal lightly as a highlighter at the inner corners and heavily under my brows.  I lined my upper and lower lash lines with Purple Rain using the lip brush.  I finished by applying mascara to my upper and lower lashes.

Closed Eyes - With Flash

This eye kind of sucked; feel free to ignore it...

 Left side, eyes closed - Without flash

Left side, eyes slightly open - Without flash

Oh, and the color in the photos does NO justice to these shadows.  Cheek to Cheek is this incredible hot pink.  Think awesome 80's neon pink (but eye-safe!)  And petal is lighter, and slightly more coral, but definitely similar enough to compliment really well.  Wine is NOT a straight-up purple like Purple Rain, it's more of a deep fuchsia, not quite pink OR purple.  The color is definitely more accurate without the flash, but you really have to see the colors for yourself; they are gorgeous.

The Starshine Company Swatch Dump

Sorry about the late post, guys!  I had a lot of errands to run before I went in to work at noon and I didn't get home until 9:30 or so.  By the time I had wound down a little and gotten the swatches done, it was already past midnight.  My apologies!

 Without Flash

With Flash

Without Flash

With Flash

Without Flash

With Flash

Without Flash

With Flash

My original Starshine review can be found here.  Kelly really makes a stellar lineup over at The Starshine Company, and I hope that these swatches will hep you decide if you're having trouble making up your mind about what to get in her closeout sale.  Seriously, you should pick up a few if you have the money to spare because her shadows are fantastic!

The Starshine Company is Closing!

I had originally intended to do a review for Monday...  However, in light of the fact that Kelly, owner of The Starshine Company, has decided to close her doors to spend more time with her family, I will instead be doing swatches of the 19 Starshine colors I received in the mail today.  You can find my original review for the Starshine Company here, and a look I did using Kelly's shadows here.  You can purchase from the closing sale on here or here.

Double Look Day!

For my first look, I primed my lids with Shadow Poxy from My Beauty Addiction, then did a rainbow consisting of Show Off, Bombastico, Flutter, Hold Fast, Mondo, Matriarch, and Kitsch from Linnaeus Cosmetics.  I did thick black liner to add drama and finished with mascara.  This look was somewhat time-consuming based on the number of colors used, but I didn't spend too much time evening things out and making them look super-smooth because it was just kind of a fun look that I did for fun and not to wear anywhere (but it WAS inspired by the fact that pride was this weekend in my town.)  It would have taken a really long time if I had taken the time to make everything really perfect and awesome, but I was really just playing around with the colors.

 

My next look, also primed with Shadow Poxy, uses Bouffant from Linnaeus Cosmetics as a highlight on the inner corners and under the brows.  I used a little bit of Mondo (also from LC) on my lashline, blended upward into Caged Canary from Scaredy Cat Cosmetics (I'll edit the link later, but for now the link will go to her Etsy profile because her shop is in vacation mode.)  I applied Chartreuse from The Starshine Company in the crease, blending thoroughly.  Lastly, I lined with a thin stripe of black, and finished with mascara.

 

 

Random Look!

Woo!  Hello, lovely readers.  Like I said, I was super excited about my shadow samples from The Starshine Company.  So I decided to make a look with them, and here it is...

BEFORE

Without Flash

With Flash

For starters, I primed my eyelids with Shadow Poxy from MBA.  Then I applied foundation to my whole face (I used Bare Minerals in Golden Medium.)  I used a very small amount of Bouffant from Linnaeus Cosmetics for a highlighter beneath my brows and in the corners of my eyes, but the other colors are all from Starshine.  I applied Chartreuse  on my lids and attempted a cut crease using Mermaid, adding a tiny bit of Envy directly on the crease and the outer corners of my eyes, and proceeded to blend, blend, blend.  I lined using Rain and applied Chartreuse and Mermaid to the lower lashline to bring it all together.  Lastly, I applied mascara.  To me, this looks really similar to some of my other looks, but I swear they are not all the same, you guys!  I hadn't intended this one to be so catty around the outside corners, but I ended up liking it that way.  I want to do something in pinks and purples next...  Keep your eyes peeled, and thanks for reading.