*Holy Grail Series* Lip Balm

Hey beauty babes!

I am starting a new series called 'The Holy Grail Series'. Each week, I will pick a product that is my holy grail and talk a little about the product, what it does, where you can find it and why it is my favorite.

This week, I am going to start with what my holy grail lip balm is. During the winter season, my lips get ridiculously dry, chapped and they hurt really bad, so I am ALWAYS on the hunt for the perfect lip balm. Up until this past year, I have yet to find a lip balm that was my holy grail. I have tried EVERYTHING out there from Lip Smackers to Soft Lips to Burt's Bee Products and so, so much more! During my hunt, I did manage to find a couple balms that were good and helped a bit, but they weren't great enough to be considered my holy grail.

During a trip to CVS a few months back, I was searching for a new balm for my severely chapped lips and saw a product that caught my eye, it was the EOS (Evolution of Smooth) Lip Balms. The packaging was something I have never seen before. Usually lip balms come in a slender tube, but the EOS balm was in a bulky, egg-shaped container. I will admit, that was probably why it caught my eye and why I eventually ended up purchasing it.

From L to R - Honeysuckle Honeydew, Summer Fruit and Sweet Mint

At first, I only bought the Summer Fruit one (reddish-orange). When I got into the car, I opened up the package right away. I was really curious about it and wanted to get it on my lips quickly, so I could see if it would help heal my lips.

As soon as I tried it on, I knew I was going to like this product! I was so excited that this may just be 'the one' for me! ;-) The texture is so smooth and it only takes a little bit to coat your lips. When I got home, I ate dinner and when I finished the EOS Lip Balm was still on my lips!! I was really surprised! It actually stayed on my lips for about 4-5 hours before I had to reapply again. I also put some more on before I went to bed and it stayed on me until the next morning! I also started noticing that my lips were healing and feeling better with in 12 hours of use and completely healed within 36 hours. And the best part is, EOS Lip Balms are 95% organic, 100% natural and paraben and petrolatum free!!

Applying EOS in Summer Fruit

EOS Lip Balm can be purchased at your local drugstore, Walmart, Target and Ulta. Prices range between $2.99 to $3.99 (the cheapest I found was at Walmart for $2.99). They come in a variety of flavors, which include:

• Summer Fruit
• Lemon Drop SPF 15
• Strawberry Sorbet
• Honeysuckle Honeydew
• Sweet Mint
• Medicated Tangerine

Over the past few months, I purchased a few more and sampled out a few different flavors. So far, my favorite is Summer Fruit! It smells kind of peachy with a mix of other fruits.

Eos Lip Balm in Summer Fruit

Overall, this product is AMAZING and if you struggle with dry, chapped lips I really think you should give this a try -- you will be very pleased with the outcome!


Stay forever beautiful!
Love and hugs!
Keri

*Fresh Look* - Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters

Hey Beauty Babes!

Revlon put out a new lip product that has been getting lots of buzz around the beauty community lately. This product is a cross between a few different things. When you first apply this product to your lips, it feels like a lip balm but has the color payoff of a lipstick and it also gives off a shiny finish like a gloss! So what is this hybrid-like product, you may ask!? It is the extremely hyped, Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter!

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter (L to R) Sweet Tart and Berry Smoothie

It took me quite a while (and I mean weeks!) to actually get my hands on these lip butters. I kept looking EVERYWHERE I went, and they were either sold out or not in stock yet. But after searching for what seemed like, forever, I did end up finding them at a Walgreens, which was located about a half hour away from my house. The display for the lip butters is separate from the permanent display, so if you don't see them with the Revlon products, keep looking or ask for help. These retail for about $7.99, but I got mine on a buy one get one half price deal. Now, even if I didn't get these on sale, I still would have purchased them at full price, because these little tubes of lipstick goodness are AMAZING! :)

Now, at first glance they look like a regular lipstick -- actually they look VERY similar to the Revlon Colorburst Lipsticks (the ones in the quilted, sleek black tubes). But instead of having the color swatch on the top of the tube, the lip butter shows the color of the product on the entire cap.

I picked up two colors, a medium berry shade called Berry Smoothie and a brighter pink shade, called Sweet Tart. When I took the cap off to try out the product, I noticed the consistency was extremely soft, which is nice because usually the softer the product, the more moisture it will provide! There was a bit of gold shimmer in both lip butters, but it wasn't much. Actually, I could only see the shimmer in the tube and when I swatched it on my hand, but when I wore it on my lips, the shimmer wasn't noticeable at all.

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Sweet Tart which is a nice bright pink shade and is my favorite out of the two.

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Berry Smoothie, which is a medium berry color with sparkle. It is a bit more sheer than Sweet Tart, but still very pretty!

I first tried on Berry Smoothie. The color looks a lot darker in the tube, but when worn, it actually comes off a bit sheer. Even though it is a little sheer, you still get a nice light wash of berry color that I think would look great on a variety of different skin tones. Sweet Tart is my favorite out of the two colors. It is a nice vibrant pink and actually shows up better than Berry Smoothie. If you have lighter skin with brown or green eyes, I think Sweet Tart would look amazing on you and you should definitely pick it up when you get the chance.

Berry Smoothie is on the top and Sweet Tart is on the bottom. As you can see, a little bit of golden shimmer shows up when swatched.

These lip butters do feel great on the lips. They are very moisturizing and do give you a nice bit of color and shine, but the staying power is lacking a little. I wore these for about three hours before I had to reapply. Now, reapplying often does not really bother me much. I would rather wear a very comfortable, moisturizing lipstick that I have to reapply every few hours then wear a drying lip color that stays on for most of the day. So if you do not mind reapplying, then I would DEFINITELY say, give these babies a go!

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters come in a variety of colors - 20 shades in all! They have several pinks, reds, purples, peaches and nude choices. So, whatever color you are after, you will be sure to find it! Next time I head to the drugstore, I plan on picking up several more!

Have you tried the lip butters yet!? Do you think they live up to the hype!? What is your favorite color out of the collection?!


Stay forever beautiful!
Love and hugs!
Keri :-P

*Fresh Look* - NYX Eyeshadow Base

What's up Beauty Babes! :)

Last weekend I went on a mini shopping trip with my friends to the mall. I had a gift card to Sephora so we definitely had to stop by there. And, on the way home from the mall, we also made a quick stop at Ulta. Now, there really isn't an Ulta close by me. So whenever I make a trip to the mall, I try to stop in. I actually had been wanting to stop by Ulta for a while now, because I really wanted to try some NYX Cosmetics, since I have heard nothing but good things about the brand!

So, as soon as I walked into Ulta I asked the sales associate if she could point me into the direction of the NYX products. Well, she looked at me like I had nine heads, then went on to say "Umm, is that a hair care product!?'. C'MON ALREADY!!! You work at Ulta and you have no idea what NYX is!? Wow! I tell ya, some of the associates that work at makeup stores and counters, should not actually be working there! I swear I know more about makeup than some of the people who work there do. Anyways, after asking someone else about it, I finally made my way over to the display. When I got there, I must say, I was a little disappointed - there was barely anything left in the display. :( I asked one of the workers if they had any more product in the back, and she told me they weren't expecting a delivery til mid-week.

Now, I really wanted to pick up a Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk, since that is all over YouTube and all the 'gurus' RAVE about it. Well, of course, they were out :( They actually had barely any Jumbo Eye Pencils left. I kept looking over the display, hoping one would randomly pop up, but I wasn't that lucky. But after scanning the display 17 times, I did notice something that could possibly hold me over until I got my little hands on the pencil. I saw NYX EYESHADOW BASE! Now, in the container, it kind of looked like a melted down version of Milk. So I grabbed it and started reading. It was in the color Pearl. Now I know the eyeshadow base comes in three different colors, which are, White, Pearl (white with some shimmer) and Skin Tone. Of course, since the display was picked at, there was only one option available, so I had to get Pearl.

NYX Eyeshadow Base in Pearl

NYX Eyeshadow Base in Pearl, which is a nice shimmery white color.

As soon as I got home, I opened the jar and started playing with it. I swatched it, right away and was actually a little confused at first. When I swatched it on the back of my hand, it came out VERY sheer. I was wondering how this base was going to make my eye colors be more vibrant and pop, when I could barely see it. The only thing that was visible to me was the sparkle and sheen that it gave off.

NYX Eyeshadow Base in Pearl when swatched on the back of my hand.

Even though I wasn't really convinced that this would truly work, I still grabbed a couple different shadows to swatch over it. I tried a purpleish color and a black shadow with sparkles. Both shadows were by the L'Oreal HIP line. I first swatched the shadow on my hand, without the base, and they colors were not actually all that pigmented. Next, I put the shadows on top of the NYX base and OMG!!!! The difference was AMAZING! I was truly shocked! I did not expect that kind of difference in vibrancy AT ALL!

Top swatches are WITH the NYX Eyeshadow Base and the bottom swatches are WITHOUT the NYX base. As you can see, the top swatches are much more vibrant and pigmented!

So yep, my verdict is in! Although, I thought this little jar was a bit on the pricey side ($6.99 for 0.25 oz), I would still repurchase it. It doesn't take all that much to actually get the job done, so I am pretty sure I will have this product for a long while. So if you are in Ulta and see this product and are thinking "Should I purchase this!?", don't even hesitate! Your eye color will be much more dramatically noticeable!!!!

Stay forever beautiful!
Love and hugs!
Keri :-P

*Fresh Look* Wet N Wild 8 Pan Comfort Zone Palette!

Hey pretty people! :)

In junior high I was in LOVE with any cosmetics made by Wet N Wild (WNW). But as I grew up, I started realizing that the quality was not all that great, so I started to stray away from the brand. I haven't used any WNW products in probably close to 15 years!! But, recently, I have been hearing lots of people in the Internet beauty community saying that they really stepped up their game and improved their cosmetic line. Lots even raved about WNW - especially their eyeshadows. So I decided to go ahead and give Wet N Wild another shot!

Last week I went into Walmart and picked up one of their fairly new eight pan palettes. They had three; a blueish one called Blue Had Me At Hello, a purplish one called Petal Pusher and a neutral one. So, I decided to play it a little safe, and bought the neutral palette, which is called Comfort Zone (738).

Even though I heard great things about these palettes, I still couldn't get the last impressions that I had stuck in my head about Wet N Wild, so I really didn't have high hopes for the shadows. So as soon as I got home, I opened the palette to take a better look at the colors and to swatch the eyeshadows.

My first impression was that the packaging wasn't impressive, at all. There was nothing special about it; it was in a square package with a clear cover. It came with a small applicator, which on one side was a sponge tip and the other had a really scratchy, small brush - it was pretty useless.

Wet N Wild Comfort Zone Palette (738)

Here is a better look at the Comfort Zone Palette with the brush/sponge that came inside.

After looking at the brush/sponge, I started swatching all eight of the colors. And I must say, I was PLEASANTLY surprised!! Each palette comes with eight different colors - 2 labeled eyebrow, 2 crease, 2, eyelid and 2 definer. On the back of the package, there is a picture of an eye and it shows you exactly where to place each color and what colors to use to get a specific look. Now, of course, you can use them as they are labeled, or you could be a little rebellious and mix and match the colors and use them wherever you'd like and come up with a uniquely customized look! All of these shadows are extremely pigmented and very smooth and went on without effort. This is definitely NOT the Wet N Wild I remember from back in junior high! I swatched each color on top of NYX Eyeshadow Base in Pearl, and the colors were so vibrant. I barely had to touch the shadows to get color on my finger. Each shadow in the palette does contain some sort of shimmer or sparkle, which I personally enjoy. For me, the more shimmer and sparkle, the better!

The next day, I wore three of the colors without out any primer to test their staying power and they lasted for about 8 hours without an fading. The following day, I wore the same exact shadows as the day before, but put a primer on, and got 12+ hours without any fading. I put the makeup on at 9am and it looked just as good at 9:30pm! If I didn't take it off, it probably would have last for several more hours! Now, the first day I wore the shadows I did get a little fallout when I applied the eyeshadow with a fluffy brush. But, when I applied the eyeshadow the next day, I used a little less and tapped my brush before applying it to my eye and I was fine - I had minimal fallout!

Swatches from the Comfort Zone Palette with NYX Eyeshadow Base

(left to right: right hand side definer, crease, eyelid, eyebrow, left hand side definer, crease, eyelid, eyebrow)

Overall, these shadows are amazing! I am definitely going to be purchasing Blue Had Me At Hello and Petal Pusher on my next Walmart run! I am excited to add them to my small, but growing collection of Wet N Wild products. I would honestly say that these eyeshadows can really compare with some high end shadows. They have great color payoff , are real smooth and have really great staying power. So, Wet N Wild, PLEASE keep up with what you are doing!

Stay forever beautiful!
Love and hugs!
Keri

Welcome Post!

Hey guys!
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and check out my blog! This is my FIRST blog post on this blog. So I am very excited for that. I have other blogs, but this is my first BEAUTY blog!

I have debated whether or not to start a beauty related blog for a while now. I kept tossing the idea around in my head. I kept thinking to myself, 'There are already SO many beauty and fashion related blogs out there, does the internet really need one more!?'. And even if I did start one, would anyone really read it!? Well, I posted this idea on a Facebook group called Beauty Broadcast and got an overwhelming response, saying that I should definitely go for it! So I took all of their advice and decided to give it a whirl... So here I am!

I guess I should introduce myself for those of you who may not know me personally. Well, my name is Keri! I am 28 years old and I live in Rhode Island. I have lived in RI almost my whole life, except for 8 months out of last year. I moved to Orlando, Florida to partake in an internship in Walt Disney World! OMG, it was the most AMAZING experience!! I worked at Disney's Animal Kingdom as a safari Driver at Kilimanjaro Safaris. It was crazy hard work, but so so much fun and an experience I will NEVER forget! I have two crazy, beautiful nephews; Jaymyson is 4 years old and Preston is 4 months old. They are my life and I love them to pieces! I am a college student. I go to Roger Williams University. I have just TWO classes left til I get my Bachelor's degree in communications with a concentration in journalism. I have experience writing for my city's newspaper and for local news stations. And lastly, I have a crazy obsession with all things beauty and fashion related! I am OBSESSED with makeup especially. I love all kinds - both high end and drugstore makeup. I am planning for this blog to include reviews, hauls, look of the days and so much more.

Well, I think that is it for now! I hope to update a few times a week, so make sure you check back frequently.

Also, please leave a comment and follow my blog! It would mean the world to me!

Stay forever beautiful - Love and hugs!
Keri :)