Category Archives: Reviews
Wet n Wild Summer 2018 Collection – Flights of Fancy (Review, Swatches & Looks)
There is nothing that gets me more excited in drugstore makeup than a brand new limited edition Wet n Wild collection. Not only are the prices good, but I feel like Wet n Wild also takes risks and tries new things out with these collections which just makes it all the more exciting.
Their latest is the Summer 2018 collection – Flights of Fancy. Wet n Wild springboarded off the idea of birds and dove straight in. By purchasing from this collection, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Los Angeles Audubon Society, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect birds and their habitats. These funds will benefit a habitat restoration project for the Allen’s Hummingbird, an endangered California native.
There’s a lot in this collection, so let’s get started.
We’re starting off with the items in this launch that intrigued me the most – the Color Icon Baked Blushes.
The brand describes these blushes as delivering a “tropical glow”, so don’t expect a matte formula at all – these are glowy as all get out!
…and they’re also pigmented as all hell! Fundamentally these are a really pigmented, really shimmery blush. In practice it can take some getting used to as you learn to balance the pigmentation with the shimmer. I found that these worked best with a super light hand and avoiding highlighter. The blushes themselves provide such a solid sheen that adding a highlighter overtop was often complete overkill (and I LIKE a lot of highlighter!).
Don’t Flutter Yourself is the palest shade and definitely the one that is the most like a highlighter. Surprisingly, it does still drop a decent amount of pigment on my cheeks so this can play that dual role quite easily. I preferred using this as a cheekbone highlighter instead of a blush – opting to put it ontop the blush that I was going to be wearing that day. The beam on this shade is wonderful!
Hummingbird Hype is also heckin’ pigmented and has a beautiful sheen. Once again – no need for a highlighter here! This delivers my cheek colour and my highlighter all in one!
Dare To Soar had the most pigment and the least amount of sheen. Tread lightly with this sucker, it’s a pigmented one! The colour is beautiful though and I love wearing this shade.
Second in line for exciting products were the eyeshadow palettes. I had high hopes for these babies after their recent eyeshadow relaunch.
Stop Ruffling My Feathers is definitely the most neutral of the bunch, but it has a nice twist on it with the copper and pink tones. People tend to say orange and pink don’t go together, but those people are so very, very wrong when it comes to eyeshadow!
The pink tends to show up the least (it’s on my inner corner) and comes out more as a light pink sheen. The copper colour (on the lid) is incredible – buttery, smooth and soft.
Hasta La Costa Baby was an interesting combo of colours and something I’d tend to gravitate towards in a larger palette – so I definitely liked how they put these shades together.
The soft caramel tone in the crease works well to fade out the purple on the outer corner. Sadly, the purple itself did fade quite a lot by the end of the day (and I wish it had been a matte shade personally). The teal on the lid though? WOW. Much like the copper from the previous quad, this one was pigmented, soft and smooth!
Flock Party seemed to be playing off their Rose in the Air 10 pan palette as it seems like an extension to that palette (or to the ABH Modern Renaissance!).
Sadly, Flock Party was the most disappointing despite how good the shadows swatched. While the look above is pretty, it was difficult to build up the colours as I had to layer them a lot. I do like that they were able to layer, but I hadn’t expected to layer four or five times to get that outer corner pink/read shade to show up that softly. I wanted the colour that I saw in the swatch!
There are four lip glosses in this collection – two on the neutral side and two on the bolder side.
I am not a lip gloss person at all as I feel that there just isn’t enough longevity in any gloss when you compare them to a lipstick, but I was so pleased with just how pigmented and pretty these shades ended up being on me. Sadly, the darker two shades do bleed and feather on my lips, so I’d need to wear them over top of a lip primer and lip liner to make them work. This is not a unique problem to Wet n Wild‘s formula however – every pigmented lip gloss EVER has always feathered on me.
Fly Gal is a soft translucent somewhat milky pink.
Featherless is a stunning slightly peachy nude – if I’m going to be wearing a lip gloss, THIS is the colour I go for.
Holyyyyyy – look at this colour! I’m so sad it feathers, because Shut The Pluck Up is INCREDIBLE!
And can we talk about Pout of Paradise? What a glorious deep orange. I was so pleased with how pretty this colour was on my lips. I wish I had this particular shade in a lipstick – I swear I haven’t got a shade like this in my collection at all!
Wet n Wild also launched two different eyeliners with this collection – one from their regular range of liquid liners, as well as one in their metallic range.
The metallic shade – Gilded Wings – is as you would expect – a slightly shimmery liquid liner that requires a little bit of layering in ordering to get full opacity. Winged n’ Wild is more your traditional matte liner that doesn’t require building up.
Gilded Wings is really pretty, but since it’s kind of a molten pale gold, it has a tendency to gather around the edges of where you stroke with the brush. I had to layer a few times to get it to look solid. The metallic liquid liners tend to be chunkier than their matte counterparts which makes it a little bit more difficult to work with. This one was thankfully much easier to work with and not even close to as chunky as the ones from the Goth-o-Graphic collection.
Winged n’ Wild isn’t nearly as finicky (sorry no eye picture!) and much easier to work with. The colour is opaque and I love the tone of it – what a solid hunter green!
I’m ending this review on a low note (despite how many good products were in this launch), but these ones just aren’t for me: the Watermelon Lip Scrub would be well suited for anyone who likes the taste/scent of artificial watermelon. That person, however, is most definitely NOT me as I just cannot stand that particular scent.
As for the Paradise Primer Water… it doesn’t do anything. Over or under makeup I saw no different to my overall appearance (although I will note that it made my face feel tacky when I wore over top of foundation). So sadly this is a pass too.
Final Thoughts
My picks from this launch:
- Baked Blushes: I loved these so, SO much. The colours are beautiful as is the sheen they deliver on my cheekbones. I’m not one to skip highlighter, but these were so pretty that I didn’t want to cover them up!
- Eyeshadow Quads: Not every single shade in every single quad works out exactly the same, but they’re so dang cheap that if you like even half the shades in each palette they’re worth picking up. Stop Ruffling My Feathers was my top pick with Hasta La Costa Baby in second. I’d not bother with Flock Party personally.
- Lip Glosses: I know these don’t work for me because of my feathering issues, but these colours are beautiful. The glosses are comfortable to wear and I’m so impressed with the colour selection!
I realize this review was massive, but there was a LOT in this Flights of Fancy collection by Wet n Wild. And you know what’s amazing? You can pick up ALL of the products mentioned in this review on their web site for a measly $35 USD. I think that’s an incredible deal since there’s so much in there!
The products featured in this review were sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.
VIDEO: Bite Beauty Spice Lipsticks – Review & Entire Collection Swatched
INGLOT x Jennifer Lopez (Review & Swatches)
Just last month, INGLOT unveiled their latest collection – an enormous 70 piece array of products in collaboration with Jennifer Lopez! The launch was a massive surprise to everyone – not only has INGLOT never really done a collection with a celebrity such as this -but never before had they created brand new products specifically for a launch (previously they had bundled together existing products to make collab collections).
Not only is the 70 piece collection impressive, but what’s even more impressive is that they managed to keep this entire collection under wraps for two whole years! In a world where makeup brands are constantly being scooped or leaked before they’re prepared to announce a collection, I was shocked that this had been development for so long without a single whisper of news being revealed before INGLOT was ready to announce it.
I attended the collection launch party in Toronto at INGLOT‘s store in Dundas Square and got to preview the items the day before they were released to the public. JLO wasn’t in attendance, but the lovely girls at the store ran us through how the collection came to be: Jennifer had attended an INGLOT store in Oxford, England and had fallen in love with the brand two years ago. She ended up reaching out to the brand and asked them if they wanted to collaborate!
Over the next two years, JLO and INGLOT worked together to develop new colours, new packaging, and…. EVEN NAMES! INGLOT, while one of my favourite brands EVER, has always annoyed me in the sense that they number their products instead of giving them real names. I was so happy to see that the Jennifer Lopez collection were given proper names alongside the usual numbers.
The packaging is sleek matte black with burnished writing. The square pan above is part of INGLOT‘s freedom palette system and there are several combinations available in this collection. INGLOT‘s regular freedom system has clear tops, whereas the JLO collection has an opaque one.
My freedom system came with two eyeshadows and a blush. Overall the JLO collection is very golden, warm and glowy, so I was surprised that the shades I received in my goodie bag were a bit different (not complaining though!).
The blush shade is actually called “Blush” (J121), and the two shadows are Deep Amethyst (J323) and Charcoal (J327). Blush is actually my favourite kind of coral/peach/pink colour for the cheeks so I was really happy about that, and the two eyeshadows are unlike anything I have in my already extensive INGLOT eyeshadow collection. Deep Amethyst is pigmented as all get out in a swatch, but Charcoal was a little bit more dry, which I wasn’t sure how it would translate onto the eye.
As it turned out, I needn’t have worried about Charcoal because it blends onto the eye beautifully. I used Deep Amethyst on the lid and Charcoal on the outer corner and the combination is perfect together.
INGLOT makes some of the absolute best eyeshadows on the market, and these two were no exception.
There’s a whole whack of lipsticks in this launch, and the bulk of them are verging on the caramel/neutral side of things which is very appropriate since I often see JLO with a lip colour that is similar in tone to her skin.
The two shades I received are Flamingo (J217) , a warm pale pink, and Champagne (J213), a caramel-toned nude.
Both shades are matte, and the pigmentation is completely opaque.
Flamingo surprised the heck out of me. I thought for sure this would pull less pink on me since I thought it looked quite beige-y in the bullet, but I’m so glad it did end up looking pink on me because the colour is beautiful.
Champagne is much more of a brown-peach nude that is very JLO in my opinion.
Both lipsticks are mattes, and they apply a bit stiffly. What surprised the heck out of me is that they do not feel drying whatsoever once you get them on the lips. These are actually my first INGLOT lipsticks so I have no point of reference to their other formulas, but I was impressed with how they felt once you got them on. My reaction went from “oh man this is not going to work” to being pleasantly surprised at how comfortable they felt.
Final Thoughts
I’m so, so happy that INGLOT has collaborated with Jennifer Lopez! I have loved INGLOT as a brand for many years but I often feel like they don’t get the recognition that they deserve. I expect this collaboration with JLO will bring a lot of much needed attention to them.
The INGLOT x JLO collection is definitely on the bronze, golden and nude side of things which is very, very JLO. If you’re a fan of her, a fan of INGLOT, or just find the overall colour range appealing, I’d absolutely encourage you to check out the collection and the brand as a whole!
In case you’re looking to save some money with your INGLOT purchases, I have recently become an affiliate with them You can get 10% off your orders using the code “MAKEUPYOURMIND” on these web sites:
- inglotcosmetics.ca (Canada)
- getdollied.ca (Canada)
- getdollied.com (USA)
The products featured in this post were given to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.
Bite Beauty’s Agave Lip Care Range (inc. new Lavender Lip Mask!)
My jaw just about fell on the floor when this PR package by Bite Beauty showed up a few weeks ago. It’s a lip care lover’s loveliest dream: every single shade of their Agave Lip Mask (including their new Lavender shade!), the Agave Sugar Lip Scrub and the Agave Lip Balm. Sadly, the entire package you see above isn’t available for purchase, but it does give me the opportunity to talk more in depth about Bite‘s glorious Agave range.
The Agave Lip Masks are billed as “an intensive nightly recovery lip mask to soothe lips and replenish moisture”. The formula contains agave nectar and jojoba oil which nourishes and hydrates the lips so that you wake up with softer lips. I do actually wear these overnight (and I’ve been busting through a previously purchased Maple one), but they can also be worn as a regular ole lip balm throughout the day.
While Bite‘s price point is a bit up there for some people ($30 CAD/$26 USD for one of the lip masks), there’s actually a ton of product in these tubes! There’s 15 grams/0.52 ounces which may not sound/look like a lot, but in terms of measurements… that is HALF the size of a regular bottle of foundation! Bet you never thought of it like that!
Bite has released more and more shades/flavours over time, and the Maple one has definitely been a staple of mine since it launched with the Canadian lipstick collection a few years ago. Bite‘s latest shade launch is Lavender, and oh wow does it EVER smell like lavender! The Agave Lip Masks, for the most part, smell and taste very sweet – the Lavender one is quite different in this sense as it smells a LOT like lavender with only a little bit of sweetness.
One last note on the packaging – all the Lip Masks come sealed which helps to keep the product fresh. Turn the cap over and pierce it with the needle-like nub on the inside of the cap and you’ll be able to poke an easy hole through the seal.
As you can see, some of the lip masks pack more colour than the others, but these are incredibly heavy swatches. On the lips everything becomes far more sheered out – even the darkest two colours (Smashed and Maple) become very, very sheer washes of colour. This makes for easy application on the go, which is something I always appreciate in a lip balm/mask!
Rounding out Bite‘s Agave range is their Sugar Lip Scrub (a potted scrub) and Agave Lip Balm (a stick balm much like their Multisticks).
Sadly, the Agave Sugar Lip Scrub isn’t really to my liking. While it tastes phenomenal on the lips, fundamentally I just don’t like that there isn’t enough scrubby sugar particles in the formula. I feel like the base is quite thick and luxurious, but overall I personally like a lot more sugar particles in my lip scrubs so this one gets a pass from me.
The Agave Lip Balm is much easier for on the go than the Lip Masks, which may suit a lot more people. I know not everyone likes using their fingers to apply lip balm, so this may be an easier option for slapping on a nourishing lip balm. It has a slightly firmer texture than the Lip Masks (makes sense – it is a solid balm after all!).
Final Thoughts
The Bite Beauty Agave Lip Masks are some of my absolute favourite lip care products in the world. Like a true Canadian, my favourite flavour is Maple and that’s the one I’d recommend the most… but honestly they’re all of the same excellent quality. It’s just a matter of finding the shade and scent that suits you the best. I know there’s a lot of lavender lovers out there, so you guys are going to be over the moon for the new scent!
As for the Agave Lip Scrub, that one gets a pass for me, but the Agave Lip Balm is a quick and easy lip saviour for on to the go. It’s one of those toss in your bags and use as needed products – quick, easy, and efficient.
Giveaway!!
Since I already owned a few Agave Lip Masks before I received this PR package, I wanted to do a small giveaway!
One person will win:
- Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask in Natural
- Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask in Maple
Giveaway Rules
- This giveaway is open internationally!
- This giveaway starts on May 9, 2018 and runs for one week.
- Please be aware that all entries will be double checked to ensure fairness.
- Once the winner has been contacted, they will have 48 hours to provide me with their mailing address. If the winner fails to respond within that time frame, I will pick another winner. (And so on.)
- “Giveaway accounts” will not be considered for this prize. (If you want to know what I mean by that, please click here.)
Products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.