♥s..

I'm alive!! Kind of.. For the last few months, work and life in general have run me ragged. But ever the obsessed makeup junkie, rest assured I will always come back to my blog albeit a little worse for wear. I hope you can forgive my slacking. My last post from months ago was about some LMdB gifts I got. Finally got around to taking decent swatch photos of some of those and some other things I bought. I decided to lump all the LMdB eyeshadows I have into one post so sorry this will seem rather lengthy, but it's actually not. Just a lot of pictures!


LMdB's True Color Eyeshadows have become some of my favorites in my stash. The quality is top-notch. They are highly pigmented with a wonderful complexity that photos (well, at least MY photos..) just can't capture. So wonderfully silky and soft but not so much that they crumble when you touch them with a brush. They layer beautifully with each other; LMdB calls this technique "Couches de Couleur". The shadows layer in such a way that instead of turning muddy, each color still shines through. I'm not very good at describing this, and even worse at trying to photograph it. So I encourage you to go to a counter if you can to check it out for yourself. Their makeup artists are quite friendly and approachable (not to mention gorgeous!). Kayla is one that I've met on a couple of occasions at different counters. She has a Youtube channel that features tutorials using many LMdB products so give it a gander if you so desire. :)

Kaleidoscopes are probably the first thing I think of when I think of LMdB. The top of the Kaleidoscope opens to reveal a mirror (I forgot to edit that particular photo.. sorry about that!). Each palette has four pans of product that swivel out. When you swivel them back in, they click to lock in place. I currently own three (mainly) Eye Kaleidoscopes: Le Cirque**, Splendid Frost, and Sterling Beauty (this one cost more than the others because one pan is a lip gloss). Usually the product in the pans is unique to that particular Kaleidoscope, but sometimes they use colors available in their permanent line. The packaging of a Kaleidoscope, though gorgeous, is not unique. Vidi Vici, a brand from Korea, apparently utilizes very similar packaging for some of their products. Not that it really concerns me.

LMdB is a high-quality brand with a price tag to match. As I've said in my previous post, a regular LMdB single eyeshadow is $30US. LMdB Kaleidoscopes are not cheap by any means. However, one thing to consider is that a Kaleidoscope comes with four pans of product whose size is the same as their full-sized eyeshadows (which is 3.8g). So an eyeshadow Kaleidoscope running at about $95US takes each shadow down to almost $24US. I know that not everyone is willing to shell out that much for a single shadow, but I think LMdB is worth my hard-earned money. The Kaleidoscopes are usually limited edition items, but as far as I know some of the ones I will talk about in this post may still be available. Please check their website for locations inside and outside of the US.

LMdB Le Cirque Kaleidoscope Eye Kit: my current favorite Kaleidoscope. I believe this is limited edition for fall, 2010 (not entirely sure though). The names of the shades are noted in the bottom right-hand corner of each photo.

LMdB Splendid Frost Kaleidoscope Eye Kit. This was limited edition for winter, 2010. I use the third color as a blush (using a very light hand), but I'm sure it's fine as an eyeshadow.

LMdB Sterling Beauty Dual Kaleidoscope Kit. This is another limited edition Kaleidoscope, but I couldn't find information as to what season or even the names of each shade. Sorry about the condition of some of the pans. >< They got a little dinged up because I wasn't careful. And maybe my lighting was wonky.. that last pan is actually much darker than it looks as you can see in the swatch.

The packaging of the single eyeshadows are plain and simple. If you dislike NARS packaging, then you may not like these. It has that matte rubbery feel that you know will probably attract dust, powder, and fingerprints (as you can see in the picture above). I am not crazy about it, but it wouldn't stop me from buying it. You can depot them if you so desire (the pans just pop out via a tiny hole on the bottom), but I do not know if they fit in MAC palettes or etc. Of the singles, my favorites are Corinthian and Jojo.

My current collection of LMdB True Color Eyeshadow Singles: Spicy, Chameleon**, Corinthian, Jojo, and Thunder**.

I have a lot of new things to blog about! Ya.. what makeup-buy ban, right?? Well, I prescribe to "retail therapy", and I bought something recently that has to account for my "therapy" for at least the rest of this month haha. It's worth it to me though. Maybe I will do a post on that too! :)

*Just to make sure we're clear: I am not affiliated with LMdB or any store. I am not compensated for blogging.
**This was an item gifted to me (by LMdB as I talked about in my last post). It was not sent to me for review.

Just to make things clear, I'm not trying to brag at all. I'm just trying to be straight forward with whoever reads my blog about how I got these gifts. I will be reviewing these items in greater detail later on. (I just realized that I forgot to include the accents on the e's in the photos.. sorry about that! I'll fix it when I have the time.)


Le Métier de Beauté (I will use LMdB for short) had a giveaway on their Facebook page. All you had to do was post a wishlist on their wall. They then randomly chose ten people that posted and granted their wishlists. I, being a person of the shittiest luck possible, had never before won anything in my life worth winning. No, that Bach Piano Competition when I was ten doesn't count. Wait.. no, nevermind. Nothing. Except for this giveaway.

LMdB Peau Vierge Lash Growth Serum; LMdB True Color Eyeshadow in Chameleon and Thunder; LMdB Le Cirque Eye Kaleidoscope.

I had Corinthian and Jojo on the wishlist, which I did not receive but I'm really not complaining. Even if they gave me just one item, they were more than generous. I have not yet had the heart to even swatch anything because I didn't want to ruin its pristine beauty. I know, I'm a dork. Isn't that Kaleidoscope something though? Packaging is genius! It makes me sad that I wasn't aware of the brand before so I missed out on all those earlier limited edition Kaleidoscopes.


Some time ago, the Santa Monica LMdB counter had an event where with $120 minimum purchase, you get a nice GWP. I had apparently missed the actual event, but since I made a $120+ purchase, the SA let me have the GWPs (all full sized items!). Again, super generous! I have yet to try these products out.

LMdB small makeup pouch; LMdB Dualistic Eyelash Curler; LMdB Nail Lacquer in Amaryllis; Classic Flawless Finish Compact Powder in shade 1; LMdB Lip Créme in Créme Caramel.

I'm thoroughly impressed with LMdB in general. If you haven't had the chance yet to try out this brand, I highly recommend it. It's a little pricy (single eyeshadows are $30 each for example), but I really think it's worth the money. I'm in love with everything I've purchased so far from them.

I realized that a majority of my posts are centered on cosmetics, which I love, but I have not done a single post on skincare or fashion (unless you count my DSK haul hehe). I hope to change that this year (eventually). ^^ This is a little late, but Happy New Year! I'm awful at sticking to resolutions, so I won't make any lol. :P

Ah Boxing Day. I never thought I'd be out shopping on this day. Normally, I'm still in bed or doing a whole lot of nada, but I had to answer the siren call of a new MAC collection release: Cham-Pale. It's not a huuuge collection in comparison to the previous releases (FF, VV, TT, all huge). I still feel like I got a lot though! So I just whipped up a super fast haul post. I don't think I will do swatches as a million other blogs have done them already. I hope you understand. :)

MAC Kohl Power Eye Pencil in Feline and Eye Kohl in I Get No Kick.

I loved how dark Feline swatched on my hand. Super pigmented. I'm trying not to get my hopes up about its staying power because almost nothing stays put on my eyes (especially eye pencils), but eh, we'll see! I Get No Kick was really pretty swatched. I'm going to try it out on my waterline for eye brightening.

MAC Special Reserve Highlighting Powder in Chez Chez Lame and Rose Ole.

I'm probably crazy getting both of these.. but I couldn't help it. First of all, I love the "crinkling" in the powder. I'm a sucker for details like that. Secondly, they both swatched so nicely I couldn't decide on just one. I read that Rose Ole is similar to By Candlelight, which I have and will see if I can dig out later to make a proper comparison.

MAC Caviar Dreams Eyeshadow Quad.

This was my first MAC eyeshadow quad purchase. :D I read a lot of reviews of this quad saying that it was not worth it because the colors are mostly repromotes and are too light. I don't have any of these colors, and I mainly bought the quad for Caviar Dreams, which I love!

MAC Paint Pots in Chilled On Ice and Vintage Selection.

I only got two of the Paint Pots. I originally had my eye on Dangerous Cuvee, but it didn't really cooperate with me when I tried to swatch it in store. It didn't feel very smooth. In comparison, Chilled On Ice and Vintage Selection both felt much smoother and creamier. I was completely enamored with Vintage Selection, of course, but I couldn't leave without Chilled On Ice too.

MAC Nail Lacquer in Soiree.

I was very disappointed with Very Important Platinum. The color is so right up my alley, but I hated the consistency so I didn't buy it. Soiree was really gorgeous in person and applied really nicely.

All righty. That's it for my Cham-Pale haul. Trust me to go out on a sale day to buy makeup things at full-price lol. I barely looked at Stylishly Yours. I did a quick swipe on the pale pink beauty powder, but I didn't get it. Maybe I should have taken a better look at the Fluidline in the collection.. ah well. There is next weekend. :3

I hope your Christmas was full of happy times with happy people!

Happy Holidays, everyone! Hope you haven't forgotten me yet lol. I wish I had more time to devote to my blog, but my current living situation makes it really difficult. So hopefully it will change soon (like.. next year or something would be GREAT!), and I'll be able to blog a lot more (if I don't get sucked back into WoW that is.. :3). ^^V For now, here is a quick post on my Tartan Tale haul (this was done in multiple trips over the course of several weeks).


I was really excited about Tartan Tale when I saw KarlaSugar's swatches, but when I got to a counter I kind of lost interest in a few things I thought I'd like. Maybe that's just me trying to convince myself to not buy things lol. I like the packaging of this collection much more than that of Venomous Villains.

6 Dashing Lassie and Pearlglide Eyeliners. Sorry, I took a picture of the actual tips of the eyepencils, but it came out super blurry. It's not too important anyway. The swatch is there!

Lately, I've been really into neutrals. I can't help but buy every taupe I can get my grubby paws on, which is why I couldn't ignore Dashing Lassies. Dashing Lassies eye shadow palette was the first item in the collection that I had my eye on because of Magical Mist. I also thought I would get the Beauties Play It Cool palette just because of Magical Moore, but.. I like Magical Mist more and I figured that I liked the other shades in Dashing Lassies more than the others in Beauties Play it Cool. It wouldn't be worth it to pay $35 just for that tiny square of Magical Moore, would it? .. Well, I've done crazier things lol.

The Pearlglide eyeliners are so awesome! Sadly, they do smudge on me, but then again everything usually does! Lord It Up was my favorite one out of the bunch. I wanted Undercurrent too, but it was sold out at the store I was at. It's probably too late to try to get it now, but if I could, I'd get that and Petrol Blue. I wish these eyeliners were permanent and available in every color imaginable because they are SO SMOOTH. Seriously. No tugging at all; they are so creamy. It's just a shame that they are not usable on the waterline due to the glitter particles.

A Triumphant Blush Face Kit

I passed on the pink cheek set because I already had Oh So Fair and Dame. In retrospect, I could have gotten it since I like both of them, but I'm usually not the sort of person to buy backups of stuff even if I really like it. So I got the peachy cheek set instead since I had none of those colors. I tried to take so many pictures of this, but Melba came out looking pink in each one. This is probably the best one for the other two. Out of the three blushes, I like Peachtwist the most. I haven't quite wrapped my head around how to use Smooth Harmony yet. Speaking of blushes, Fuz spoke very highly of Highland Honey, which is a blush single in this collection. I wanted it at first, but I thought it was a bit too similar to Utterly Game (from Fabulous Felines). So I figured I could skip Highland Honey.

The Swinging Violets Mineralized Kit

Okay, for some reason when I got to this point, I started taking photos out of sequence and combined individual items with items in the kit like a stupid. My apologies if the rest of this post is confusing.

When I saw Karla Sugar's swatches for the Nordstrom exclusive Mineralized set, I totally drooled. The Earthly Riches Mineralized Eyeshadow Duo is a must have! I love both colors! I've been meaning to try out MAC Paint Pots as well, so the one in the kit (Bare Study) came at a good time. I have to say that while I like the color of Bare Study, the texture was not what I was expecting. It felt a little too.. dry and tacky. Will have to experiment a little more with it. The Icescape Lip Glass is a little shimmery, but the color is cute. I haven't tried out the mascara yet, but I probably won't as any non-waterproof mascara is asking for trouble (will melt into panda eyes in no time no matter how gorgeous the application..). I'm considering picking up the other kits too..

I planned on skipping the eyeshadow singles, but it was hard to drag myself away from Glamora Castle. I know other bloggers complained about the pigmentation of these singles. While I see where they're coming from, I thought Glamora Castle was fine in that regard. While I was at it, I also picked up A Wish Come True. It's not an eyeshadow color I normally go for because I'm always afraid I'll make myself look like I've got pink eye, but I figured if anything I could wear it sheered it out as a blush.

Out of all the lippies, I loved Faerie Glen the most. It's a nice beige pink that looks natural on my lips. It pulls a little more beige than pink on me, but it's a really nice color. I always apply any lipstick sheerly though. It just looks kind of weird on me if I do a full opaque lip. Cut a Caper was a little scary looking in the tube, but is actually sheer so it wears very easily on the lips.


Phew. So after all that's said and done, I still wound up with a lot of stuff lol. MAC has been really impressing me lately. Or maybe since I'm a beauty blogger now (I know, I barely post enough to have that honor) that I'm more in tune with MAC collections. Who knows?! If you haven't picked up any Tartan Tale yet, but want to, you might still be able to at any MAC counter. Whenever I stroll by, it looks like a lot is still available. The only items you might have trouble getting are the Pearlglide Eyeliners and maybe the Highland Honey blush. I can't wait to see Cham-Pale tomorrow (my wallet is already weeping in the corner)!

Happy Holidays! Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe and be happy. ^^

Oohh.. shiny..

I really meant to post my Black Friday haul.. really I did. This overcast killed it (also started raining too). So to hold you over for now, here is a mini-review post. I took the pictures during a crazy photo-shoot session where I had actual sunlight!!.. Doesn't that sound so sad coming from someone who lives in southern California?? Sunshine my ass! >:O Sigh~

I'm sure you've seen these palettes many times already. They're definitely not new any more, but they are so pretty looking. The packaging design is gorgeous! I need to expand my vocabulary because I use "gorgeous" and "pretty" too much lol. Well, you can see for yourself. Really uniquely designed casing.

Case detail is so pretty! There is a space for the tiny brush that's included. I can't speak for the quality/usefulness of that brush since I've never used it.

Fully opened case. As you can see, there's a mirror under the cover.

Rue de Sevres and Rue de Passy. Two of five total palettes which are named after Guerlain's boutiques in Paris.

In case you didn't know already, each palette will set you back $84. It's a pretty steep price to pay. So if you're really interested in these still, you should know what you're getting into. These shadows are not super pigmented. For the money, I was expecting nothing short of amazing, but I was rather disappointed. Now, I know you're rolling your eyes at me, "But STUPID, you bought it anyway! You took PHOTOS! EVIDENCE!" Yes, I bought it. In fact, I couldn't help myself and got two of these palettes. One reason why I still plunked down my money is because the packaging is so unique and beautiful. The other is because to make these shadows magically appear all you need is an eyeshadow base, which is basically a requirement for me anyway due to my overly oily lids. The SA at the Guerlain counter swatched these for me using the Guerlain eyeshadow base. They were so pretty swatched that I couldn't say no. I hear that the quality of these palettes don't hold a candle to Guerlain's usual quads, but I can't attest to that since these are my first Guerlain shadows. I think for this price range, they could be a bit smoother and more pigmented. Overall they're okay shadows, and you get six shades to play with for a wide range of looks.

First photo is Rue de Sevres swatched without base. Second photo is the same palette swatched over UDPP. Sorry about the quality of the photos, but you can easily tell that the shadows are much better with a base.

Rue de Passy swatched over UDPP.

I'm pretty sure most Guerlain counters in department stores have these still. Sephora carries these online only. I don't think I will be purchasing any more in this series of palettes. There is going to be a new palette coming out for spring 2011 I think, featuring a popping hot pink as the accent color. Pretty, but not for me. I'm eyeing the other things instead! Hoping my makeup ban will be over then.. >> haha.