Young Forever

OPI Teenage Dream. The name says it all really. It's unabashedly pink and glittery and girly, evoking images of tiaras and princess costumes and cotton candy. I remember when I was first experimenting with nail polish in primary school, my favourite polish was something very similar to Teenage Dream. It seems my tastes haven't progressed very far in the intervening years, because this polish is one of the most treasured in my collection. It's a silver/sparkly pink microglitter packed with uniform larger, rounded holographic glitter. Wear it as a party nail, for summer fun, or just to feel twelve again.

I Wish I Never Bought You

Being weak of will when it comes to resisting shiny new things, it's inevitable that over the past few months of buying way too much makeup, I've taken home some major duds. Some products purely underperformed and didn't meet my expectations, others I regret to the extent that I simply didn't need them and already had superior options at home. The net outcome: wasted money, foiled expectations, unloved and superfluous products cluttering up my precious space, but that I still can't bring myself to simply chuck out.

Revlon ColorStay Mineral Mousse Makeup in Light (030) 

If I remember correctly, I bought this to redeem a gift with purchase promotion at Myer. I needed to spend $39.95 or more, so this plus a nail polish seemed to be the closest combination. I think I've used it once or twice, and have never gone back to it again. I don't like matte foundations. I'm not a fan of the mousse texture. It has a faint but unpleasant chemical smell. I have much better foundations that I infinitely prefer to this one, so it's been sitting in my drawer collecting dust and edging rapidly closer to its expiry date, 99% full. To add insult to injury, not long after I'd bought it, I saw it in Priceline for $7 as discontinued stock, and then $4.90 when Priceline had 30% off Revlon. Revlon ColorStay probably would've been a better choice.

Australis Mineral Powder Brush 

Granted, it was only $2.95, but even then, I wish I hadn't bought it. The main reason being when I first washed it, a truly disconcerting amount of black dye came out of the brush. I'd never actually experienced anything like that before, so it made me think twice about ever putting it on my face. Maybe I'll use this as a body brush for bronzer in the summer, but let's face it, the chances I could be bothered are slim. I'll stick with my beloved Real Techniques.

The Body Shop Candied Ginger Lip Balm

I bought this around Christmas last year as it was a limited edition holiday flavour. There's nothing particularly wrong with it, but it serves to demonstrate my fundamental weakness when it comes to lipsticks/lip balms. I had absolutely no reason to buy this, other than I was doing my Christmas shopping for others, and I felt I couldn't go home without treating myself to a little something. But I don't need it. I don't even love it. It smells more like Coca-Cola than the more exotic candied ginger it purports to be. It's colourless and the texture is a lot thinner and waxier than the popular fruity Born Lippy tinted lip balms.

Revlon Matte Eyeshadow in Aubergine (008), Tempting Teal (006), Riviera Blue (007)

I had particularly high hopes for these but they don't do anything for me. They're dull and flat on the lid. I don't seem to have much luck with matte eyeshadows as my eye shape gets along better with satin or shimmery eyeshadows that have a bit more dimension. The texture of these is more on the chalky side, they're quite powdery and seem to lack lasting power, and while they're not complete failures of pigmentation, I needed to go over them several times for the swatch.

Revlon ColorStay Mineral Eyeshadow in Midnight Garnet (03)

Read my extensive rant here (it's the last paragraph). I dislike this so much that I deliberately keep it separate to all my other eye products in my makeup storage. Objectively, it's not totally awful, but I just hate the fact I bought it when I already have countless eyeshadows that perform better and that I won't ever use up. 

Revlon Soft on the Eyes in Sublime (770)

This is now shaping up to be a Revlon eyeshadow bashing post, so let me just clarify that I'm actually a huge fan of Revlon in general, as reflected in the fact that I buy quite a lot of their products. In turn, there's a higher chance that I'll be less than thrilled with a few of their offerings, especially as they release new products and discontinue others so often. I picked this up from the bargain bin price at Priceline a while ago, fully knowing the chance of being blown away by this colourful loose eyeshadow palette was minimal. If you're fair, have huge eyes and a visible crease, these soft wash eyeshadows could be pretty on you. For me, having monolids and no visible socket line, I can't really do much with them. The fact you can only access the pigment through a small hole that you dip the included brush into and the general messiness of loose eyeshadows also don't help.

l-r: Innoxa Summer Matte lipstick in Sugar Frosted, LUSH Lip Tint in Celebrate

Innoxa Summer Matte Lipstick in Sugar Frosted

If there was a candidate for the most unflattering lipstick ever, this would be right at the top. Don't let the swatch fool you, on the lips it's laughably gross, like a whitish purple. A prime example of not selecting a lip colour based on how it looks in the tube or on your hand. It's no one's fault but my own that I foolhardily took this to the counter, fully knowing how chalky and ridiculously light and unwearable it was, but convincing myself I could somehow make it work.

LUSH Lip Tint in Celebrate 

It's not a complete disaster, but like The Body Shop lip balm, I simply didn't need this. It's literally gritty in texture, difficult to apply to the lip smoothly (you really need to exfoliate and moisturise in advance), settles into fine lines and doesn't last long. Not something I enjoy putting on my lips. I tried to salvage it as a highlighter and wasn't impressed.

A Bit of Prestige

I recently picked up Prestige Mono Eyeshadow in Champagne (C-93) and rather than doing an individual review, I thought to dedicate a post on the three Prestige eyeshadow singles that I have. In addition to Champagne, I have Topaz and Bacchus. While each eyeshadow retails for $13.50 in Australia, I bought Champagne at a chemist for $6, Bacchus was fished out of a bargain bin for $3, and I didn't pay a cent for Topaz as it was included in a Priceline freebie bag a couple of years ago. Each shade has good, buildable pigmentation, even if the texture isn't exactly buttery and rich. I still had to do a few swipes for the swatches, and I find that the eyeshadows can be a bit thin when first applied and you need to go over a couple of times to deepen the colour.

l-r: Champagne, Topaz, Bacchus

Champagne

Bacchus

Topaz

l-r: Champagne, Topaz, Bacchus

l-r: Bacchus, Topaz, Champagne

Champagne (C-93) I'm not exactly sure what drove me to purchase this because I can tell immediately it's a shade that I would have trouble wearing. I guess I wanted to take a risk, hoping for the best case scenario, especially as it isn't a safe neutral or a colour I'd normally be drawn to. While the name Champagne suggests a kind of shimmery light beige, this is definitely more a warm peach with golden shimmer. Built up, it starts acquiring slightly more of a bronze tone, but remains distinctly orange. It reminds me quite a bit of Urban Decay Chopper from the Naked2 palette, except Chopper is darker, more bronze and vibrant. (I just swatched the two alongside each other, and honestly, the quality of the Urban Decay eyeshadows is just incomparable.) On my lid, this isn't totally a disaster, but it's nothing remarkable. I don't love the orangeness, but it's light enough that it's not too unwearable. If anything, it doesn't really show up that well. It could be nice as a light wash of slight colour for summer, but I don't see myself reaching for it much, if at all.

Topaz (C-94) Topaz seems so promising, but simply doesn't flatter me. I've returned periodically to it to see if I can somehow make it work, but remain underwhelmed. The colour is a little difficult to describe. It's like a muddy, khaki brown. It does nothing for my eyes and dulls up my whole complexion. While this has been invariably described as a taupe (and lightly swatched on my hand, appears as such), it definitely has more of a dirty olive tone (than brown or grey) when applied.

Bacchus (C-233) I think this is a super pretty colour, but it has limited use, being so dark. It's a deep purple with plum shimmer, similar to L'Oréal Infallible eyeshadow in Burning Black (but Burning Black is more blue toned and slightly blacker). I see no other purpose for this shade except for a purple smokey eye (or deepening lighter purple eyeshadows). But considering I have Burning Black and the Sleek Bad Girl i-Divine Eyeshadow palette, I definitely didn't need Bacchus as well.

Bottled Tiffany

A few years ago, I went through a period when I was obsessed with finding the perfect seafoam nail polish.  I remember coming across this image of Alexa Chung wearing the nail colour of my dreams paired with her turquoise YSL Arty ring and feeling like my life's mission was to track down that exact colour. People discussed what polish she was wearing, and amongst them, China Glaze For Audrey (though too dark and not green enough) was mentioned. During my obsessive phase, I bought so many variations of blue and green nail polish, constantly searching for that elusive pale blue with a mint/aqua tinge. But it continued to elude me. So I gave up, as by then, I already had a new nail craze, namely, orange/tangerine polish. However, For Audrey always stuck in a mind as an iconic nail polish that I needed in my collection.

There's not much to say about this polish except that it is a true Tiffany blue. My parents bought me a Tiffany & Co necklace for my 21st birthday and I compared the box to the nail polish on my fingers. 100% match. If you love the robin egg blue of the Tiffany packaging, you need For Audrey. For such a pigmented colour, it was surprising that I still needed 3 coats to get a streak-free finish, but the shade itself is so special that I forgive relatively minor formulation and application issues.