Palladio Herbal Lip Gloss + Palladio Plump 'n' Shine Swatches

Hey, guys!  I feel like this week went by really slowly for some reason, and it's been forever since I wrote a blog post.  So I guess that might be why I decided to show you two products this week.  The first item is something I've shown briefly on the blog before, but didn't really talk about, Palladio Plump 'n' Shine.  The other is a product I've been meaning to write about for some time and just haven't gotten around do doing so, Palladio Herbal Lip Gloss.  I will be swatching three colors of each today.  Pictures after the jump!

Best and Worst Products of 2011

Today, my lovelies, I'm going to write a post about a few of my favorite (and least favorite) products.  Some of them I've already mentioned here, some of them I haven't really touched on before.  And no, they aren't in any particular order.  It would be kind of unfair to compare and rank  products that serve completely different purposes.  So let's get this show on the road, shall we?

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

Random Swatches!

I ordered a few things from Palladio when I left my my toasted orange lippie in my car and it melted.  Still usable, but I thought I'd see if they had any other fun stuff...  I've been looking for a white eyeliner/shadow pencil, so I snapped one up right away.  I also ordered a replacement lipstick (of course,) clear plump gloss, and lip liner pencil in nutmeg.

 Hand Swatches - Left to right: Shadow & Liner Crayon in Icicle $6; Herbal Lipstick in Toasted Orange $6; Lip Liner Pencil in Nutmeg $3; and Plump 'n' Shine in Clear $6

 Nekkid lips

Plump 'n' Shine - Clear

Herbal Lipstick - Toasted Orange, Lip Liner - Nutmeg

Random Look!

I've been saying I was going to put this up for awhile now, so let's get to it!  I bought a new shirt recently, and decided to wear it to a craft show on my birthday.  It's burnt orange, and I wanted to pull everything together with my makeup, so I did a fiery look and I think it turned out great.

The whole look... Yes, I normally wear glasses.

The eyes...  I started with Bouffant from Linnaeus Cosmetics as a highlighter on the inner corners and under my brows, followed by Feathery from Bokeh Face Cosmetics on the lids, then finished with applied Lanky from Linnaeus Cosmetics in the crease.  I love the way the orange intensified the green in my eyes.

 

The lips... I applied lip balm first (Gap stores usually have SPF 18 lip balms in a variety of scents, but they don't appear to be available online) then layered on a tiny bit of Palladio's herbal lipstick in Toasted Orange.  I love an orange lippie, but I've found it really hard to find another one I like this well.

Without Glasses...