Musings of a Muse

Dior has introduced a new edition to the family with it’s High Shine Lipstick. Dior makes a fine bit of cosmetic that the Muse both uses and collects however their lipstick line hasn’t been something I can say I’ve indulged in much.

However, upon hearing about the Addict High Shine Lipstick I thought yes indeed this was very me! Visions of T’estimo lipstick and MAC Slimshines danced through my head and I was thinking how Dior probably created a beautifully moisturizing lipstick in an array of colors! I couldn’t wait to try it!

Meh. They could have done a better job with this.

I’m relieved I didn’t get crazy and purchase one of every color because it turns out it’s not all that great. The formula needs a bit of work as it advertises a high shine and gloss but I got neither from it. There isn’t much to say really it just feels like a regular old lipstick.

I’m not going to lie and say I’m not shocked as I expect far better quality from Dior but this definately disappoints. Most of my disappointment stems from the promise of a beautiful glossy feel and lovely shine. I didn’t get either from this and I can’t help but feel ripped off. It just feels like the regular Dior lipstick.

The color selection is vast and the packaging is simple yet pretty but sadly it’s a total bust for me. The Muse suggests saving your money and buying two MAC Slimshines instead as the price of one Dior Addict High Shine Lipstick is $25 USD which isn’t bad if it actually worked but sadly it’s a no go!

Boo Dior! The Muse is saddened and disappointed!

Here’s an awesome Beauty on a Budget find for you!

Victoria’s Secret Beauty Rush Sparkling and Luminous Loose Eyeshadows.

I picked these up this weekend spontaneously while waiting in line at Victoria’s Secret. I see them ALL the time and Victoria’s Secret pimps them out big time. These things are in little buckets all over the store so seriously sooner or later you’re bound to pick up one or two even if you don’t want to which is just the case for me!

I didn’t need, nor want these but somehow, someway they finally ended up in my cart.

Shrugs.

What can I say? I guess I got tired of seeing them all the time and never trying them! No idea why I bothered purchasing them but honestly I’m actually glad I did because they aren’t so bad!

These are $7 USD each which is the most obscene price I ever heard of in my life as they are so tiny! $7? Come on! No way am I dishing out a near $10 bill for these little tiny eyeshadows!

But I brought five of them which means I got ‘em for $4 USD each! I like that price much better

They are available at a single price of $7 or as a purchase of 5 for $20 which sounds much better.

F0r some odd reason everyone and their mum decided that it was a good idea to be at Victoria’s Secret and the line was fracking out the door. So as I waited impatiently I was busy swatching every color of these shadows on my arm and decided I did indeed need one or two.

As I said they are good.

First of all they are very light and shimmering. If you love a “not so made up” look these are definately something you might want to consider purchasing. Pigmentation is not too bad and the color is buildable. The powders are light, shimmery, and have a nice bit of sparkle.

They are advertised in two finishes one of which is a “high sparkle” finish while the other is a Luminous version. I honestly can’t tell the difference between the two as they both give a nice fair amount of sparkle.

Colors range from a few bold colors like greens, purples, and teals to lighter shades like pink, beige, and white.

I personally choose mostly light colors as I thought they would be great for Summer for a light makeup look.

Not alot of product comes in the little jar but for the price I can’t complain too much. The applicator is awesome in my humble opinion! I wish that Urban Decay had such a great applicator on their new loose pigment shadows. It’s a dense, rounded sponge tip that fits very nice not only in the contour of my eye but right across the lid for easy application!

The colors I got were:

• Glow Nude-A sparkling nude cream color
• Deja Blue-A deep blue green
• Goldblinger-A soft creamy gold
• Miami Ice-A sparkling white
• Twinkled Pink-A iridescent pink

Glow Nude

Deja Blue

Goldblinger

Miami Ice

Twinkled Pink

All in all these are pretty good quality for the price and the Muse likes them! If you favor a light, natural look or just want an easy, simple eyeshadow application these might be something to consider!

Victoria’s Secret Beauty Rush Sparkling and Luminous Loose Eyeshadows should definately be able to fit into your Beauty Budget!

Have these?

Love ‘em?

Wanting to try them?

Tell the Muse!

Join me in loving Victoria’s Secret Beauty by viewing some old posts!

Click here to read my babblings and excitement over the Victoria’s Secret Sparkling Diamond Collection!

Click here to read my review on Victoria’s Secret Heavenly Palettes!

Click here to find out why I wasn’t loving the Victoria’s Secret Brilliant Lip Shine Lipgloss!

Click here to hear my raves and review about the Victoria’s Secret Sexy Little Things Cosmetic Collection!

Click here to enjoy an FOTD of me using Goldblinger from this Collection!

Don’t you love Shu’s Rouge Unlimited Lipsticks? Pigmented, Amazing Formula, and Beautiful Packaging.

I sincerely adore them.

Shu’s taken the original Rouge Unlimited and amped it up a bit for the Spring/Summer. We now have Shu Rouge Unlimited Crystal Shine which is simply amazing!

I tested out two of these and I’m dying to get my hands on a few more colors as they are truly great!

It’s like having a lipstick and a gloss all in one stick. This is a glossy, slick, emollient formula that simply glides onto your lips leaving behind beautiful color and shine!

I’m loving the simplicity of a single stick of gloss and lipcolor in one tube. The color is pigmented enough to act as a lipstick while also offering your lips a moisturizing glossy, shimmering effect that’s absolutely stunning.

These are perfect for days you want a natural, glossy feel without feeling heavily made up with lipstick.

WN254S and BG 950S

The two colors I got are BG 950S which is a pretty shimmering beige and the second color was WN 254S which is a shimmering purple wine color but it looks very pink on!

WN 254S

BG 950S

WN 254S

BG 950S (Hey, L@@K I’m wearing Visee’s Aqua Shining Eyes! Pretty Right? Click to read my review on Aqua Shining Eyes!)

The only thing I can rant about is they only come in 17 Shades. We wants more please! And secondly can we please, please, please have names we can remember? B45644578ST is too difficult to remember!

Each Rouge Unlimited Crystal Shine is $23 USD and well worth it as the quality is near perfection for me.

I have at least 5 other colors on my wish list at the moment!

Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited Crystal Shine Collection is available now at Shu Uemura’s website!

These are most definately Muse Approved! I love the texture, the shine, the glossy feel, and the beautiful color and effect of these! They are well worth purchasing at least one (although you’ll want more once you’ve tried ‘em!).

Perfection!

Love ‘em?

Want ‘em?

Tell the Muse!

Click here to travel into the past and read my Shu Uemura Summer Prism Collection Review!

Click here to read my ravings and review for Shu Uemura’s New Mini Lash Curler!

Click here to read about the exclusive Fact Chart Shu Uemura created exclusively for readers of Musings of a Muse!

Lord I’m sure late with this one! Sorry ’bout that!

But it’s here now!

The Visee Spring Collection 2008 Review!

Excited?

Don’t be.

It’s disappointing.

For those of you lovely girls (or boys!) that are not in the know allow me to briefly explain that Visee is a brand available in Japan and is sub-brand of Kose who makes a ton of fab brands, Visee, being one. These are sadly unavailable in the US

E6 and E7

Without Flash E6 and E7

Now for the review.

I know many readers were highly interested in hearing about the new Spring palettes considering that the previous release of the the Jewel Crush Eyes were such a smashing success and hit!

Don’t get me wrong these are beautiful, beautiful editions to the Jewel Crush Eyes line up but why they did them in such similar shades as previous releases is really beyond my feeble little mind.

The fact of the matter is that E6 and E7 are practically identical to E2 and E4. It really boggles my mind! The colors are so similar it borders on absurd to bother wasting your money on either!

The good news is I wasted my money so you don’t have too. Seriously, you do not need E6 and E7.

With that being said allow me to explain the very minor differences between the four palettes.

E7 is noticeably comparable to E4. The only difference between the two palettes is the fact that E7 contains a few deeper shades while E4 contains light shades. The main color appears identical to my eye, while the contrast shade is different. E4′s contrast shade is a lilac purple where E7′s shade is a deep gray. The base colors are different completely with E4 sporting a soft lilac and E7 a sparkling white. Finally the liners are a tad different as well with E4 having a purple based brown color and E7 having a smoky purple/black combo. Honestly, once they are on you’re not going to tell much difference between the looks you can create using these!

E7 and E4 (Starting from Top Left: Main Base Color, Contrasting Color, Base, and Liner)

Without Flash E7 and E4

E7

Created using E7

Moving on to E6 again we have a similar problem with color combinations. E6 is a dead on match for E2. This time the liners are identical colors! The main base shadow is gold in E6 and a softer beige gold in E2. The contrasting shadows are different in E6 is a gold based brown and E2 is more of a copper color with gold. And finally the base shadow shadow in E6 is more of a creamy white gold and E2 is a true gold. Again, same problem as before, you can create basically the same look using either of the two palettes.

E6 and E2 (Starting from Top Left: Main Base Color, Contrasting Color, Base, and Liner)

E6

Created Using E6

Even though the differences appear major they are in fact very subtle and for me the small changes are not enough to warrant purchasing the newest palettes unless you’re a big addict like me and have the “have to have them all” mentality I seem to possess!

I also got the two mascaras that were released with the collection. At the time I was under the impression of how awesome Kose mascaras were but sadly these don’t fall under that “great” category!

The mascaras are not worth your money at all in my humblest. They made my lashes spiky as hell! The formula is great, the wand is fantastic, and the colors available are brilliant but that didn’t add up to a great mascara experience for me!

I’ve since used both colors I got, which were brown and black, and each time I tested these out for a run I ended up with the strange clumpy spike look! If I’m extra careful I do get some nice volume but I have to apply it really slow which for me is a big no! It’s the AM and I’m rushing no time for slow mascara application!

Big boo to these!

I didn’t yet dive into getting any of the new metallic loose eyeshadows that were released but that’ll be very soon! As soon as I get them I’ll be reviewing!

All in all a rather weak and disappointing Spring Collection for Visee! Let’s hope Summer brings something much better!

Love Visee’s Jewel Crush Eye Palettes?

Hate this release?

Want these?

Tell the Muse!

I’m struck gold.

Literally.

I’ve come across thee most awesome product in the world of Beauty! This is seriously better then any tool I’ve come across and it’s an utter life saver for me!

I wear many shimmering shades of shadows. Gimme Sparkle! Gimme Glitter! Gimme Shine! I love it! The more the better. But please don’t give me nasty fall out

Sadly, I’ve never had an easy time of it when it comes to cleaning up fall out. I’ve tried the powder under the eye trick, doesn’t work. I’ve tried blotting it away with a makeup sponge, doesn’t work either. I’ve tried holding a piece of tissue under my eye while applying eyeshadow, no good.

I’ve sincerely tried everything to lessen or eliminate my fall out problem! If you use intensely dark shades or you love sparkle you must have the same problem as me!

I’ve never really had any success in cleaning up fall out. Normally when I try it ends up all over the place. If you’re a big lover of MAC pigments, again, you know what I am talking about!

But have no fear the Muse is here to bring you something to eliminate your fall out and keep your undereye area and cheeks free of shadow fall out!

The wonderful Michelle Villanueva gets the Muse Approved award for creating Shadow Shields. I’ve seriously been looking for a product like this for years and years and years.

So what are Shadow Shields?

Basically they are tiny little pads that have a stick on back that you place under your eye to catch fall out! w00t! I’m so excited I may spit!

The pads are half moon shaped and have adhesive all over the back however you only need to remove a little piece of the adhesive to get this on your eye. Somehow, someway the pad fits to the contour of your eye and folds upwards slightly creating a little bowl shape under your eye which catches all your shadow fall out.

The result?

Beautifully made up eyes minus nasty fall out all over your cheeks and under your eyes!

These work amazingly well however they take some getting used too! I’ve used these a few times already and I’m now Miss Master Pro at using them however my first attempt with these was a tad bit difficult. You have to sort of get used to the forget that you have something stuck under your eye as you work with your shadow. It’s also a little bit clumsy at first when tugging your eye so you can smooth shadow on (I’m a tugger. I slant my eye slightly with my pinky as I apply shadow, liner, etc….). However, after a tiny bit of struggle I finally mastered it and I can now officially say I won’t be able to live without these!

They seriously made a huge impact on my looks. I normally walk around with fall out everywhere because it’s just so hard to clean it all up!!!!!!!!!!!!!! However, these helped me create a beautiful look without the stress of bits of eyeshadow and pigment all over the bloody place!

You can get 50 of these for $16.95 USD! That’s a steal in my opinion! Although I will admit to being slightly a cheap-o with them! Why? Because I’ve taken to using one pad for both eyes hehe. I do one eye, peel off my Shadow Shield, and place it under my other eye! So I’m getting quite a bang for my buck with 50 pads! But honestly you don’t need to be stingy as the price is really good for a set of 50, that’s 25 uses!

If you’re a MAC lover or use other pigmented shadows or shimmers you need these. No question. I know many of you love MAC as much as I do and using such highly pigmented eyeshadows causes major fall out so here’s your solution to perfect eyeshadow application each and every time!

These come with my highest Muse Approval stamp!

Get them now! You need them! Serious.

Thanks to Michelle for creating every girl’s new best friend! Click here to visit the Shadow Shields site and see a video of how the shadow shields work!

Loving these?

Tell the Muse!

When I did my original post for Heatherette swatches I was having a difficult time getting a light enough image of the beauty powders so I swatched them on white paper!

Hope this helps for those of you curious about the Beauty Powder colors!

I also forgot to do the pigment swatch so that’s here as well

Top to Bottom: Pink Pearl Pigment, Alpha Girl Beauty Powder, and Smooth Harmony Beauty Powder

Remember last week when I purchased a few of the Rimmel Spring Eyeliners? At the time I also purchased something called Lip Bloomer from Rimmel which is also part of one of their two Spring Collections.

Let me start off by saying I sincerely love lipstains with a passion. I stain my lips everyday! I stain my lips before lipstick, before gloss, etc….always without fail!

I do this because it makes my glosses pop and gives a beautiful, healthy dimension to my lips so when I seen Rimmel’s Lipbloom for $6 bucks I thought this indeed might be a nice little bargain!

I use a variety of different stains most of which are excellent however Lipbloom blows. It blows right out the…anyway….

This particular stain mimics an older release from Too Faced with it’s dual side packaging. Too faced had something similar a few seasons ago and it basically consists of a gloss on one end and a stain on the other. Nifty right? That’s about all it is as the nifty is where it ends and all goes down hill!

The idea of having a gloss on one side and a stain on the other is, for me, the height of simplicity for touch ups. Swipe a bit of stain on, top with gloss, and you’re good to go! I find that combing a stain and a gloss makes my lips really look amazingly sexy, healthy, and beautiful (I’m one of the three at the very least).

Well…I can’t achieve or create any look with Lip Bloomer. The stain slides right off my lips as soon as I attempt to apply it. Swipe it on and it drips right off. Pigmentation is zero. It’s like taking the juice from a watermelon or something and swiping it on your lips. Just like water with a bit of color that doesn’t stay put at all.

Sigh.

The gloss? You’d think maybe the gloss would redeem the fact that one side of the product sucks but no such luck the gloss is just as bad which equals out to a crap product all the way around. The gloss isn’t really sticky or tacky which is a plus but it’s also not even glossy in texture? It feels like…nothing? I mean it feels like you’re not even applying anything onto your lips. No shine, no glossy feel, nada, nothing, zip, zero.

Basically I’ve wasted $6 bucks on a product that does nothing. Yay me I won the drugstore lottery and now have a useless gloss and stain duo that does nothing w00t!

This, my dear dear girls, is why I avoid US drugstore brands!

Rimmel Lip Bloom……………

Total loser.

Boo!

Tried it?

Loving or Hating it?

Tell the Muse!

Read my review on Rimmel’s Spring Eyeliners by clicking here!

Ok did my best. I’m NOT a good swatch person but I thought these would be helpful for all my girls in Europe, Asia, China, Etc…that aren’t getting the collection for at least another month or more!

I’m not a good swatcher sadly and the pictures are so so! Hope it helps a little!

Top, From Left to Right: Sock Hop and Style Minx
Bottom, From Left to Right: Lollipop Loving (Why does that sound so porno like?) and Hollywood Nights

Trio 1

Trio 2

Dual Eyeliner Pencils From Left to Right: Pop Blue/Black Funk, Phone Me/Text Me, Nighthawk/Front Row, and Fab Orchid/Dash Lily

I’m off to bed! The Muse is early to bed tonight and very early to rise (5am groaannnnnn!)! Sweet Dreams pretties!

PS I forgot to do a swatch of the piggie will do that tomorrow! I’m ditching Starlet Kiss and Melrose Place so no swatches for those. Way too mod for me! And the Beauty Powders I didn’t swatch because you just couldn’t see them!

Cheers!

A new friend of mine asked me to to get some Essence of Beauty brushes for her this week. She asked for a particular set which was the dual crease brush. As I was doing her shopping I noticed that the brushes looked pretty good and I knew that these are a cult favorite of my sweet mate, ‘Nes, at Nessasary Makeup and that was good enough for me to want to try them!

These cost $4.99 USD and are basically a dual package of mini crease brushes. The style reminds me of Bobbi Brown brushes with the wooden handle.

The size of these intrigued me as they appear to be more a smudger style brush then a crease brush but hey it was worth trying for the price tag! The first brush is a tiny dome shape that reminds me of a Mally Beauty brush I own but the Mally brush is a bit more fuller where as this is smaller.

I didn’t expect this to do much as it was way too small to properly work my crease area. I’m used to using MAC’s 224 and 227 on my crease. Present me with this tiny thing and I’m at a loss how I should be using it. But I happily tried it out and I must say it fits into the contour of my crease brilliantly and works a treat at blending shadows. I found that it actually gave me more management over the brush and bristles since it was far smaller then what I’m used too. I also experienced less fall out because the brush was so tiny. It also worked well on defining the v of my eye and blending inwards.

As you can see I’m used to blending with a much larger brush!

It’s quite a multitasking brush because I can use it on the v of my eye, within my crease, and also to line my bottom lash line with my shadow.

The second brush with the package is even smaller then the first. It’s a step up from an eyeliner brush. This too worked surprisely well. It didn’t do that great a job blending the color completely but it worked fabulously defining the v of my eye and working the my color half way across my crease for contrast.

I felt like both brushes gave me a bit more control over the look I was creating and I successfully manged to create an interesting look by contrasting a lighter shade of shadow all over my eye and a darker shade of shadow across part of my crease and v.

Much to my delight neither brush shed a bristle the entire time I was using them and the brushes are very soft. The handles are mini size but again I felt like the handles being so small gave me much more control over what I was creating! It was kind of like having a pencil grasped tightly between my hands and it was nice and steady as I worked.

As you can see below my outer eye is a shimmering light brown beige that contrasts nicely with the gold amber shadow I used. I created the look using the larger of the two crease brushes and proceeded to line my lower lash line with the smaller of the brushes!

Overall, for the price, these were most definately an interesting little find and I’m generally curious about the rest of the brushes in the Essence of Beauty Collection!

I can’t help but give these a Muse Approved Seal for purchase!

Too Faced has decided to grace our presence with a cute little Kabuki Brush!

Do you love it?

It’s pink which in my lowly opinion is reason enough to want it! However! Nordstrom decided that they wanted to be special so they introduced one that’s exclusive to their Too Faced counters. So now we have a choice we can have cute and pink OR we can have the deluxe version which is cute with flowers! Oh my!

Both are the same price so as far as I’m concerned cute with flowers is the way to go! For my animal lovers this is a cruelty free brush and animal hair free So if cute, flowers, and pink weren’t enough for you than the fact it’s good to animals has to make you want it!

This one is on my Wish List girls!

Love it? Hate it? Want it?

Fall is obviously here! Tons of new bits are popping up here and there!

Smashbox’s contribution to Fall’s Line Up, The Vanity Brush Collection!

God, I think I am drooling! I so need this set! The only thing preventing me from purchasing this is the ugly brush bag! What’s with the faux fur? Ew!