Waterproof Crème Color (Jet Black) – Anastasia Beverly Hills

I got back a few months ago from backpacking through Europe for three weeks. It was extremely hot and humid, and weaving through the crowds of tourists with a 25lb backpack on my back was definitely a sweaty experience. Great, but sweaty. Now here’s where this relates to makeup; I brought one pouch of makeup (see blog post here) and my go-to gel eyeliner was the Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Dark Brown. I’ve raved about using this product as a gel liner for a while now, but it really lasted all day, every day through all the weather, heat, humidity, and sightseeing. This was what made me go out and try the Jet Black Waterproof Crème Color.

I had heard some great things about this gel liner in Jet Black, though most of the buzz occurred last summer (?) when the line expanded to bright pastel shades like fuchsia, light blue, yellow, and orange (see available colors below). So after my “gel liner” lasted me through Europe, I decided to go out and try the actual ABH gel liner.

available colors for ABH Waterproof Crème Color – courtesy of anastasiabeverlyhills.com

Product Stats

The product is essentially just like the ABH Dipbrow Pomade but in a different color – you get the same amount (0.14oz) for the same price ($18.00) in the same glass pot packaging. Though you may be thinking this is pricey for a gel liner (which you can get for ~$8.00 at the drugstore) and ridiculous for a brow gel (I thought it was ridiculous for a brow gel…), it’s actually pretty affordable compared to cult products like Bobbi Brown’s Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner, which retails at $26.00 for 0.10oz. In fact, if you do the math, ABH is just less than half the price of BB at $128.57 per ounce compared to BB’s $260 per ounce. That math, plus the fact that the Dipbrow Pomade lasts much longer than Bobbi Brown’s gel liner, actually makes the $18.00 pretty reasonable.

 

About the Product

As previously mentioned, the product comes in the exact same packaging as the Dipbrow Pomade. I’m not sure if I just happened to get a pot that was already slightly dried out, but the product is much drier and thicker than any gel liner I’ve owned. The consistency reminds me of greasepaint in its thick spreadability and opacity. It does get slightly more fluid and smooth after you “break the top seal” of product, but even so, it’s pretty thick. This consistency comes with some pros and cons.

Pros: It’s very long-lasting, dries matte, and is probably the blackest black liner I’ve ever used, switched, or come across. If the product does come off after application (for example, I’ve got teary eyes so the outer corners are always a bit lighter or imperfect at the end of the day), it almost has “eyeliner insurance” because it crumbles without smudging or leaving little black eyeliner crumbs everywhere.
Cons: It dries quickly – sometimes too quick to make adjustments – which can be difficult when trying to achieve that perfect winged cat-eye look. It can dry the eyes out and be slightly irritating, and takes forever to remove. Like… literally forever. I normally use a makeup removing oil and then a cleanser, which removes 100% of my normal makeup; with this product, I need to go in with oil a second time just around my eyes, or else the line won’t come off.

Overall Thoughts

I personally didn’t get along too well with this product – it was to hard to work with, it was “too black” (if there ever is such a thing) for my everyday look, and it required a little more work with my brushes since they had to be cleaned after every single use.

However… I ended up passing this product on to my sister, who loves it. She uses a Q-tip to apply this to her waterline – eliminating my high-maintenance brush problem – and it stays all day. There’s no smudge, there’s no waterline leakage – it stays on, it stays black, and it stays all day long. If you have particularly watery eyes, you can apply a coat on the waterline, let it dry, and then apply a second coat.

In the end – as it is for all products – it’s about what you’re looking for in an eyeliner. If you want something super matte, dark, and budge-proof, this could be your new holy-grail. If you’re like me and you’re looking for something a little more natural and a little less drying, try the Dipbrow Pomade instead.

Revisiting 2015 – BareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream

I had originally raved about the Bare Minerals Complexion Cream tinted moisturizer as being a lightweight, hydrating, moisturizer-type product with just enough coverage for a low-key everyday look. And after using the entire tube, I’ve returned to re-visit my original review.

 

Overall, I think I was so in love with the concept of the product and its moussy texture that my original review was slightly biased. Though the formula is airy, light, and moisturizing in all the ways that were advertised, I could not get this product to stop balling up after application. I tried exfoliating before every application, using it with and without moisturizer underneath, setting it and not setting it with powder, and applying it with a brush, beauty blender, and my fingers. I was so determined to like this tinted moisturizer that I even went out and bought the brush that Bare Minerals released alongside the product. But no matter what I did, the product ended up balling up as I blended it out. It peeled and balled up (kind of like dried Elmer’s glue) and made my face look like the aftermath of a chemical peel. But I used it, over and over again, because I was so determined to like it. I so badly wanted to find a way to make it work that I used the whole tube. And even after numerous “experiments” with application, I couldn’t get it to not ball up on me.

 

This just seems to be one of those products that I can’t figure out. Everyone who’s tried this product seems to love it, and nobody seems to have any sort of problem with it… except me. I’m not sure if the problem lies with the way I’m using or applying it, if the tube I picked out was expired or a dud, etc. but I could not get this product to work with my skin.
So, in revisiting this product from 2015,  I’m turning my previously positive review into a negative one – if anyone has any suggestions for how to make this product work, leave me suggestions below!

Revisiting 2015 – Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light

I’ve decided to start a new “category” of posts where I revisit products that I previously reviewed. This is not to say that the original reviews weren’t honest, but I’m definitely one of those people who finds more and more uses for a product the longer I have it. So to start off…

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder – Dim Light

In my previous review of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders, I stated that I used Dim Light all over the face as a setting powder. And it’s absolutely great as a setting powder, and I stuck to this routine for months. . . The only thing that made me stop was that the powder, if applied too heavily, was too dark for my skin tone. It’s a very finely-milled powder, but buffing it into the skin inadvertently gave me that unattractive neck-face line. Thankfully, I found another place for this powder – the eyes!

I’m not going to go into a(nother) long rant about my monolids and how the overlapping lids make it impossible to find long-lasting non-smudging eyeliner, etc. Instead, I’m going to tell you about how Dim Light makes every eyeliner just a little bit more long-lasting and smudge-proof. I’ll set my primer with this powder to create a smooth surface, I’ll line my eyes, and then I’ll set the liner with this powder. And it’s amazing. The liner does get a little bit lighter because of skin-tone shade of Dim Light, but it settles very nicely and definitely doesn’t make the pigmentation of the liner any less intense. It also makes the liner very matte and dry, which promotes its longevity.

Dim Light is so much better at setting eyeliner than any other translucent powder I’ve tried, and it’s because of their formulation. They’re soft and buttery and finely-milled – but they work so much better than soft, buttery, and finely-milled eyeshadows because the the Ambient Lighting Powders are powdery. Because they’re meant to be used as face powders, the Hourglass powders are much more well-adapted to absorb oil. Which means that the oil from your eyelids, which is what makes eyeshadows and eyeliners go smudgy, doesn’t actually make your eyeshadow and eyeliner go smudgy.

I have to admit that $45.00 is a lot for a powder to set your eyeshadow/eyeliner. But for people like me who have trouble making anything on the eyes last all day, I think it’s definitely worth it… especially since you use so little. Even after packing this product all over my face for at least four months and then using it on the eyes every single day for the last six months, I haven’t even come close to hitting pan. If the $45.00 is too much of a commitment, the mini version of Dim Light is available through Nordstrom.

Keeping that Holiday Glow for the Rest of the Year

So I’m sure that anyone who knows anything about any makeup is familiar with the classic trend of “holiday glow” – glitter eyeshadows, excessive highlighter, over-the-top strobing, etc. But what if you want a little remnant of that glow to be with you all year round? I know strobing is still an ongoing makeup trend, but here are some options for those who want a ‘glow’ (and not a ‘shine’) that’s suitable for any and every occasion.

Option 1: Illuminating Primers

The most obvious option is to use an illuminating primer, like the ones from Dior or Becca.  These primers have a subtle shimmer that will, once covered with foundation, tinted moisturizer, etc., will give that glow-from-within effect… which makes sense, since the glow is literally coming from within (aka under your “skin”). The Dior packs a bigger glow punch than the Becca, which is more of a sheeny primer – but we’ll go into more detail with a Battle of the Illuminating Primers post. They’re both great primers, and if you’re concerned about looking greasy, you can strategically place the illuminating primers to avoid areas that are prone to getting oily like the T-zone.

 

Option 2: Highlighter Under the Base

So this option is like a DIY version of purchasing an illuminating primer. Instead of going out and buying one, you can mix a liquid highlighter (like the one from Josie Maran or the ones from Becca – see post about the liquid version here) with your moisturizer (if you don’t like using primers) or your regular primer to literally DIY your own illuminating pre-foundation layer. There is a bit of experimentation required with this method, however. Personally, I find the Josie Maran one to be a little too shimmery for an all-over-the-face application, so when I’m in a rush, I like to just haphazardly smear some on my cheekbones, brow bone, and down the nose and chin before applying my tinted moisturizer. That way, it still highlights all the right places while getting blended out in no time at all.

 

Option 3: Highlighter Above the Base

This one’s a no-brainer, but I thought I should mention it anyways. If you’re into powder highlighters, the best (and probably only) way to apply it is above your base. And if you use a light hand or a brush that forces you to have a light hand (like a stippling brush), you’ll get just enough product on the high points of your face to get a good glow. Another option is to invest in an illuminating powder, such as the translucent one from NARS or any of the Hourglass Ambient Lighting powders (see post here). If an all-over powder doesn’t give you enough dewiness, you can also add a teensy bit of highlighter to the high points of your face to get you that extra glow.

Making Your Own Becca Liquid Highlighter in Champagne Pop

Champagne Pop, Becca’s new creation via collaboration with youtube Jaclyn Hill, has been on every beauty guru’s “Monthly Favorites” videos for a while now. Marketed as being Becca’s most universally flattering highlighter color yet, it’s no wonder that the product is so popular… and yet they don’t seem to be in any rush to produce a Poured or Liquid version of it.

Champagne Pop is a very nice highlight that’s right between the lighter, whiter Moonstone and the slightly darker and more tan Opal. It’s just yellow-toned enough to where I can see it being flattering on many skin tones, but not yellow enough to be gold. But as someone who doesn’t like the overpowering shimmer of Becca’s Pressed Highlighters, I’ve come up with a way to recreate something similar but more natural – a way that will actually work for all skin tones.

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First of all, I’m going to shamelessly come out with the fact that I own two of Becca’s liquid highlighters – Moonstone and Opal. If Becca already has a shade that’s a perfect match for your skin tone and gives you everything you’re looking for in a highlighter, then (obviously) don’t bother purchasing multiple highlighters, especially since they’re pretty pricey. However… since there are only five shades of the Liquid Shimmer Skin Finish, one of which is very pink, there’s a good chance that you’ll find that the one closest to your skin tone is just a little too light/dark/pink/yellow for your liking.

So … purchase the two liquid highlighters that are most similar to your skin tone, or most similar to the highlighting effect that you desire. For example, if you’re really fair-skinned and have strong pink undertones, you may consider purchasing Rose Gold and Pearl. If you have darker skin, you may consider getting Topaz and Moonstone or Topaz and Opal. I know, it’s a little lavish to have two of these products, especially since they’re not the cheapest things in the world. But you’re putting money down for a high-quality product that is so versatile – you can use it on your face, your body, over and under your foundation, etc.

Then, mix them together in whatever ratio suits your fancy. There are two benefits to this. 1: The Becca Liquid Shimming Skin Finish bottles are nice and sleek, but it is so hard to not get too much product with the pump. One pump will give you enough highlighter to last you three full days of super-strobing makeup. By mixing the two in a smaller container with a smaller pump (I use an old travel-size Hourglass Primer bottle, which has a great pump), you get much better control of how much product you’re dispensing at a time. 2: You can adjust your highlighter to the season/occasion. When you get tan in the summer, you can add a bit more of the darker shade. When you get lighter in the winter or want a stronger highlight, you can add more of the lighter shade. This method literally allows you to customize your highlight whenever you want.

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So back to Champagne Pop – I’ve found that you can get a color that’s very, very similar to what I imagine a liquid version of Champagne Pop would look like if you mix Moonstone and Opal in a ration of 1:1 (equal amounts of each). And like Champagne Pop was advertised, I can see this color being flattering on a lot of different skin tones because it’s light enough to not leave a shiny dark streak on lighter skin tones but dark enough to complement deeper skin tones as well.

So the next time you feel like treating yourself or being a little high-maintenance (in the makeup department… what you do in your own life is none of my beeswax), pick up another shade of the Liquid Skin Perfecter and see what shades you can concoct!

Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade… As A Gel Liner?!?!

Here’s yet another *quick and short* post about eyeliner. Because… if you have not yet gleaned from my blog posts… I do nothing without eyeliner. Going grocery shopping? Eyeliner. Going to the gym? Eyeliner. Going outside and shovel snow in the driveway in the middle of winter wearing a giant coat and hood that covers your entire face? Eyeliner.

I figured this post was long overdue – it’s a “trick” I’ve been doing for years and just never got around to writing about because there were always new and exciting products to write about. So here it goes:

Using Eyebrow Pomade as Gel Liner

Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade – courtesy of anastasiabeverlyhills.com

I’ve been using this trick ever since the Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade became popular. I bought one, realized I had no idea what to do with it, stashed it away for a while, accidentally used it instead of my actual gel liner at the time (I was slightly inebriated at the time). Lo and behold… it lasted amazingly through a sweaty night that ended in a dunk in the pool.

Though I have taken breaks from using this product (like when I’m on a gel liner-trying craze), it’s something that I always come back to for several reasons:

• you get so much more product (0.14oz) for less (retails for $18.00 at Ulta/Sephora) – compare to something like the Bobbi Brown gel liner, which you get 0.1oz for $25.00.
• the consistency of brow liner is perfect – not too watery like the MAC gel liner, and not too thick like the Benefit Push-Up gel liner.
• takes longer to dry out than traditional gel liners – I’ve had this pot open for over a year (now that I think about it, that’s probably super unsanitary and super expired…) and though there is a tiny section of the pot that’s dried out, the rest of it is still the same thickness/wetness as it was when I bought it.
  • I’ve accidentally left this pot out and open all day on multiple occasions, and the formula is amazingly durable – totally not dried out and still perfectly fine.
  • if you do find a dried-out spot, the extra product and lower price of the Dipbrow Pomade make scraping off the top dried layer a little less of a guilty “I’m throwing away money” experience.
  • the product under the dried top layer is good as new – just as creamy, pigmented, and easy to apply as the day you bought it.
• the colors!!!!!
  • Okay, so this one requires a little bit of an explanation. I know that other gel liners come in beautiful jewel tones, neons, dark inky blacks, etc. while the Dipbrow Pomades only come in “natural” colors … aka eyebrow colors. But that’s what I love about it, and that’s what keeps me coming back. The ashy tones are so great for a natural-looking liner, which is not always the easiest thing with thick monolid gel liner.
• you can always double-up with this product and use it as both an eyeliner and a brow product, which is always great for when you’re in a rush or if you want to trim down your travel makeup.
• last but not least, the lasting power – I’m not sure what it is about the formula (maybe because it was meant for eyebrows instead of eyelids) but the lasting power is amazing. I get no raccoon-eyes from smudges, the top liner is always pristine from the moment I put it on to the moment I take it off without any transfer, and lines stay as crisp or as blended out as I want them.

Glambot Review – Online Makeup Consignment Store [part 3]

It’s been a few months since I last posted about Glambot, an online makeup consignment store, and I honestly thought part 2 would be the last of the Glambot series (here are links to part 1 and part 2 if you need to get up-to-date). Over these past few months, I’ve received a few comments from people about their Glambot experience, and the majority of it – no, all of it – was about how they felt like either I or they (or both of us) had been ripped off. So I decided it was time for some investigating.

If you’re lucky enough to find a product you’re looking for in brand new condition on Glambot, it’s definitely going to be cheaper than buying it in-store. Currently, they’re offering free shipping for purchases over $30 in the US and a $5 gift card with orders of $50+ or a $15 gift card with orders of $100+. It’s totally understandable why the website is appealing – pictures of all sorts of products are set against a clean white background, the brightly-colored discounted prices next to the faded crossed-out original prices make you think you’re definitely getting a deal, and words like “free shipping” and “free gift card” are screaming your name wherever you turn – nobody could blame you if you got reeled in.

But let’s be smart about this and reason it out. Math-style (yes, we’re going to do some number-crunching).

**NOTES**

• I’m only going to crunch numbers using brand new products (since there’s no way for me to know how much a retailer would charge for a palette that’s 80% full), and we’re going to assume that the products you receive from Glambot are of the same quality as those you would receive from any other store. We’re also going to compare Glambot purchases to online purchases (as opposed to in-store purchases) in order to consider factors like shipping, Ebates eligibility [For those of you who don’t know what Ebates is, it’s a website where you get cash back on online purchases. The percentage of cash back varies depending on the store. It’s really popular and easy to use; I highly recommend it], and online coupon codes.
• I will not be factoring in shipping time because Glambot’s shipping seems to be extremely inconsistent – I’ve read accounts of getting impressively quick deliveries, and I’ve also read accounts of orders not being confirmed until days and days after purchase.
• I also will not be factoring in the membership reward points (Sephora Beauty Insider points or Ultamate Rewards points) as monetary values. But if you want more information on these read point programs, the links have been provided above.

And as for selling to Glambot… It’s a useful platform to have if you’ve got used makeup that you want to get rid of for a profit, since you can’t sell used makeup on sites like Ebay. But as many commenters have said… if you’ve got unused, unopened makeup, go on Ebay. It does take longer and you’re not guaranteed a buyer, but you can receive a much more accurate profit for your sales.

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Less than $30

Don’t buy online, go in-store. Unless you can find a promo code that gets you free shipping, you’re going to have to pay for shipping on most websites. If you do find a promo code that gets you shipping, purchase from Sephora or Ulta because they are both Ebates-eligible.

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Between $30 and $49.99

If your purchase comes out to more than $30 but less than $50, Glambot will most likely be cheaper than Sephora but may or may not be cheaper than Ulta.

Glambot

• stats
  • free shipping
• WHAT YOU GET: your item
• WHAT YOU PAY: a little less than the retail price of your item

Sephora

• stats
  • no free shipping
  • 3 free samples
  • promo codes online or on Sephora website to get free deluxe samples (Sephora Beauty Deals) – most beauty deals qualify for purchases over $25, some don’t
  • eligible for Ebates
• WHAT YOU GET: your item + 3 samples + 1 deluxe sample + (cash back)
• WHAT YOU PAY: price of your item + shipping

Ulta

• stats
  • no free shipping
  • potential free gift (like a makeup bag), depending on purchased item
  • lots of coupon codes online (like on retailmenot), some for purchases as low as $15
  • eligible for Ebates
• WHAT YOU GET: your item + (discounts from promo code) + (free gift) + (cash back)
  • The reason the promo code discounts has parentheses is because a lot of Ulta coupons exclude higher-end brands. Because Glambot and Sephora only sell higher-end brands, it doesn’t really make sense for me to definitively take such coupons into consideration.
• WHAT YOU PAY: price of your item + shipping

Verdict:

If you just want your 1 item, get it from Glambot. You do get a slight discount on price as well as free shipping, so it makes it the cheapest option.
If you’re okay with paying $5-6 for shipping (with cash back) and you want to try out some new items (so essentially, you’re paying $5-6 for a deluxe sample of your choice and 3 free samples), go with Sephora.
If you want a potential free gift and a potential discount with cash back, go to Ulta. (Sorry I can’t give a definitive yes/no; Ulta is kind of a wild card with all their super specific coupons and random gift-with-purchases).

I will not be calculating the hypothetical cash-back scenarios in the $30-$49.99 section because it ranges from $1 to $4. Now $4 is not insignificant given how close it is to the cost of shipping, but the chances of you landing on a purchase that’s $49.99 is slim…and at that point, it’s probably easier to add another small item to bring you above $50, since you get so many more perks that way.

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Between $50 and $99.99

If your purchase comes out to more than $50 but less than $100, Sephora and Ulta are probably your best bet.

Glambot

• stats
  • free shipping
  • $5 gift card for Glambot
• WHAT YOU GET: your item + $5 gift card
• WHAT YOU PAY: a little less than the retail price of your item

Sephora

• stats
  • free shipping
  • 3 free samples
  • promo codes online or on Sephora website to get free deluxe samples (Sephora Beauty Deals) – eligible for most, if not all, beauty deals (you can only pick one but you can pick whatever you want)
  • eligible for Ebates
• WHAT YOU GET: your item + 3 samples + 1 deluxe sample + (cash back)
• WHAT YOU PAY: price of your item

Ulta

• stats
  • free shipping
  • potential free gift (like a makeup bag), depending on purchased item
  • lots of coupon codes online (like on retailmenot), some for purchases as low as $15
  • eligible for Ebates
• WHAT YOU GET: your item + (discounts from promo code) + (free gift) + (cash back)
  • the reason the promo code discounts has parentheses is because a lot of Ulta coupons exclude higher-end brands
• WHAT YOU PAY: price of your item

Verdict:

Regardless of where you go, you will pay the same amount up-front (the price of your item). At Glambot, you get the $5 gift card. At Sephora, you get all the samples and cash back. At Ulta, you may get discounts and gifts as well as cash back (again, with Ulta, you kind of have to see which coupon codes are out there at your time of purchase; sometimes they’re great, sometimes they’re not-so-great).

Now, here’s where we get math-y. Ebates usually gives 4.0% cash back for Sephora, but they often bump it to 8.0%. If you make a $50 purchase during the 4%, you get $2; if you make a purchase during the 8%, you get $4. If you also have a Sephora membership card, then you should purchase your item at Sephora. Even though I’m not counting the membership points as a monetary discount towards the current purchase, the money you spend on your product turns into points ($1.00 = 1 point) which you can “spend” on even more free stuff.

It’s a similar situation for Ulta with a little less cash back. Ebates usually gives 3.0% cash back but it’s often bumped up to 6.0%. If you make a $50 purchase, you can get $1.50 or $3.00 depending on the cash back percentage. Ulta also has a rewards program, but they have a conversion system where a set amount of money spent turns into a certain number of points that expire every year. This makes the points “less valuable” than Sephora points, but you can spend your Ulta points on whatever you want, whereas Sephora only provides specific gifts with a set “price” for you to choose from.

So between Sephora and Ulta for purchases within the $50 to $99.99 range, it really depends on where you see yourself shopping in the future, whether you’ll remember to spend your expire-after-a-year Ulta points, which website Ebates is offering more cash back for, the gifts/samples that are available, and which store has better promo codes online.

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$100 and Above

If your purchase comes out to $100 or more, Glambot could actually be worth it. Of course, this is assuming that someone has sent in a brand new, undamaged, unopened product that you want and that it has not yet been sold.

Glambot

• stats
  • free shipping
  • $15 gift card for Glambot
• WHAT YOU GET: your item + $15 gift card
• WHAT YOU PAY: a little less than the retail price of your item

Sephora

• stats
  • free shipping
  • 3 free samples
  • promo codes online or on Sephora website to get free deluxe samples (Sephora Beauty Deals)
  • eligible for Ebates
• WHAT YOU GET: your item + 3 samples + 1 deluxe sample + (cash back)
• WHAT YOU PAY: price of your item

Ulta

• stats
  • free shipping
  • potential free gift (like a makeup bag), depending on purchased item
  • lots of coupon codes online (like on retailmenot), some for purchases as low as $15
  • eligible for Ebates
• WHAT YOU GET: your item + (discounts from promo code) + (free gift) + (cash back)
  • the reason the promo code discounts has parentheses is because a lot of Ulta coupons exclude higher-end brands
• WHAT YOU PAY: price of your item

Verdict:

Assuming you’re lucky enough to find what you’re looking for on Glambot, it’s the way to go if your purchase totals to more than $100. There are several reasons for this.

First, you get a $15 gift card… to Glambot. So if you’re planning on never shopping there again, then maybe it’s not worth it… but if you are, that already gives you 15 reasons to pick Glambot. To put this into perspective… to get $15 at a rate of 8.0% cash back, you’d need to spend $187.50. So… the Ebates cash back advantage for Sephora and Ulta isn’t really applicable here.

Second, the small, small Glambot “discounts” on your items will add up. As previously mentioned, Glambot usually offers items at a few dollars less than the retail price. So let’s assume that if you get one item, you’re only saving $2 to $3. If you’ve made a purchase of $100, chances are that you’ve got more than one item in your online shopping cart. This means that if you’ve purchased three items, you could be saving $6 to $9; If you’ve purchased four items, you could be saving $8 to $12. It also makes sense because as you purchase more products, the amount you spend increases, therefore increasing the amount you save as well.

And last but not least, though you will get free samples from Sephora and (potential) gifts-with-purchase from Ulta, I don’t think they’ll be worth $15. With Sephora, you get the same number of free samples regardless of whether you spend $5 or $100,000. You could break up your $100 purchase into two $50 purchases to get free shipping and double-samples… but that’s a lot of work and I still don’t think the samples would add up to match a $15 value. And with Ulta… promo codes are iffy at best and the gift-with-purchase is usually a makeup bag. Whether the makeup bag is worth $15 or not really depends – I know they’ve had some great gifts where the makeup bags came with three or four mini-sizes of very popular products… but I also know that they often give away empty (and often not-so-pretty) makeup bags as gifts. So… again with Ulta… it all depends.

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Hopefully this breakdown will help in making purchases. In the end, Ulta is just a wild card depending on the conditions of the interwebs, Sephora is reliable and rewards you well for your money, and Glambot has the potential to be the best option, mostly thanks to the gift card, if you’re ok with far-from-ideal service and can manage to find what you’re looking for.

Stila – Got Inked Cushion Eye Liner

Stila – Got Inked Cushion Eye Liner
courtesy of stilacosmetics.com

Stila has come out with a huge range of “cushion” products for their Fall 2015 Modern Goddess line. These cushion products feature a liquid gel consistency that’s dispensed through a saturated sponge (aka cushion) in a pot. Though this cushion-dispenser technology has been around for a while and is very popular in Asian makeup brands, it’s a relatively new mode of application for American makeup.

STATS

This liquid gel liner comes in the form of a soaked cushion nestled in a classic gel liner pot, and you get 0.1 oz of product for $28.00. The consistency of the liner is extremely watery – it’s more like a liquid liner that’s been placed in a gel liner pot rather than a gel liner. It is available in 6 shades (Black Obsidian, Amethyst, Smokey Quartz, Copper, Blue Sapphire, and Garnet) at various retailers (sephora, ulta, and stilacosmetics.com).

APPLICATION

In order to apply this product, you dip your liner brush into the cushion, at which point the liquid pigment is transferred from the cushion to the brush. Though I’m not positive, I think there is some liquid liner at the bottom of the pot (in addition to the liner that’s saturating the cushion) since the packaging clearly indicates that the pot should be kept upright. As previously mentioned, the initial consistency is very liquidy, and applies more like a liquid liner than a gel. Because of the thin consistency, this liner tends to dry much faster than a regular gel liner would, which can be a pro or a con depending on your “lining style” (let’s just pretend that’s actually a thing). As with pretty much all liners, it’s important to make sure you tighten the lid on the pot after each use, as it is prone to drying out.

MY EXPERIENCE

Stila – Got Inked Cushion Eye Liner in Black Obsidian Ink
courtesy of ulta.com

I decided to purchase this (rather pricey, if I may say) liner in Black Obsidian after testing it in stores because of its texture when dry. It dries to semi-glossy (think MUFE Aqua Liner) finish that almost resembles a temporary tattoo. Once completely dry, it’s relatively budge- and smear-proof, and only the most vigorous rubbing will flake it off. The flaking off was also one of the reasons I decided to try this product; I figured that if my eyeliner must unexpectedly come off during the day, I’d much rather it flake off than smear and smudge all over the place.

I honestly love the idea of a cushion dispenser (which you can see more clearly in the picture to the left). For some reason, it makes me think that the product won’t dry out as quickly (a huge problem with gel liners in general, I think) and that I actually stand a chance of reaching the bottom of the liner pot before it dries and solidifies.

It applies so smoothly on the back of your hand that it’s almost easier than a liquid liner… and I thought that this would give me the best pros of both gel and liquid liners – I get the ease of application and quick dry-time (a huge factor for monolids like me – any blinking during eyeliner application could mean giant patchy panda-eyes via transfer for the rest of the day) of a liquid liner with the precise and familiar application of a gel liner brush. However… I couldn’t get this product to work for me.

The liner dried so quickly that I couldn’t draw a smooth line, and though the color was very opaque and black on the back of my hand, it was not opaque at all on the eye and was very difficult to build up. Because of the flaky formula, applying over an area that already has dried eyeliner (and the eyeliner will dry before you can re-dip and apply) will actually take the first layer of liner off. It’s almost akin to writing on a white board, where retracing a previous mark leaves just the negative white space of the board. This was probably my biggest complaint – because of the quick-dry liquid formula, a smooth line was difficult if not impossible to achieve, and the color was extremely difficult to build up. 

I also found that, on the eyes, a small rub or any sort of disturbance to the liner would cause it to flake (which is weird because it was almost impossible to get the liner off the back of my hand, even with an oil-based makeup remover). If your eyes water for whatever reason during the day, this liner will smudge or flake off.

Testing it on the waterline (which I did before I realized how water-soluble it was) turned out to be a disaster. Because it was so impervious to smudging, smearing, and removal on the back of my hand, I thought it would be a perfect product for the waterline. Well… turns out (as I’ve mentioned) that it flakes and melts in water. So unless you can get the waterline area 100% free of moisture right before application and until the product dries, it just drips into the eye, leaving you with streaks of black ink across the whites of your eyes.

And last but not least… it leaves your brushes hard, crusty, and inflexible after a single use. Now, I don’t know about you guys but I don’t like to clean my liner brushes every day. If you do, then this will be no problem for you. But if you don’t, then this little inconvenience is going to significantly slow down your morning routine. The brushes I’ve used have been left so stiff inflexible by the product that they are completely unusable unless thoroughly washed. And I have no idea what this means for the longevity of my brushes, but I’m guessing that fewer vigorous washes is more conducive to long brush-life.

VERDICT

Although I loved the idea of Stila’s cushion gel liner enough to pay $28.00 for a pot, I don’t think it was worth it. The glitter-free Black Obsidian liner was so hard to apply, and the lasting power was so disappointing, that I highly regret purchasing this product. I couldn’t use it as a liner, I couldn’t smudge it out and use it as an eyeshadow or even an eyeshadow base, and it smeared or flaked off as soon as it came into contact with any sort of moisture.

Perhaps the other 5 glittery jewel-tone options are more workable – and please let me know if you’ve tried them and they are – but the black was too translucent and unmanageable for me. If you have any suggestions (application methods, brushes, etc.) that have worked for you, please let me know!

Glambot Review – Online Makeup Consignment Store [part 2]

Welcome to part 2 of the Glambot website review. For those of you who haven’t read part 1 of this post, Glambot is an online high-end makeup consignment store where you can sell and purchase used and new makeup. In part 1 I discussed the beginning of the selling process, focusing on how the website works (both buying and selling, sanitation of used products, etc.) as well as listing what I sent in my first box and the retail prices of each product.

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Overall Selling Process

After individually bubble-wrapping each product, I sent in my box using their pre-paid mailing label on April 22. I received an email on May 5 with Glambot’s offer. I did end up sending a second box about a week later, and I received an email with Glambot’s offer on May 6… So it seems that they wait until they receive a certain number of boxes or maybe until a certain date before unboxing all the packages. If you decide to accept Glambot’s offer, you just have to reply to the offer email with your Paypal email address, after which you will get a response from someone on the Glambot team confirming that your payment is on the way. Afterwards, it only takes a few days (it took me 2 days for the first package and 1 day for the second) for the payment to show up in your Paypal account.

Product Pricing & My Reimbursement

So in part 1, I made a list of the products that I sent in my first box, along with their retail prices. Because the sum of their retail prices was ~$700, I was expecting to receive a bit more than Glambot’s offer. I know I wrote an entire paragraph in the first post about how you shouldn’t expect a large sum of money from any sort of consignment company, but I guess it’s human nature – since I knew how much all the products were worth, I arbitrarily came up with a sum that I expected.

reimbursement offer email from Glambot

Glambot offered me $130 in cash (via Paypal) or $157 in Glambucks (which you can use to purchase items from Glambot) for my box. Below their offer, they had a few notes on why the value was what it was. As you can see from the screenshot of the email, the Clinique products I had sent in were not accepted, and a brand new Marc Jacobs eyeshadow palette had to be marked down because of a non-functional latch closure. I’m guessing that the broken latch happened during the shipping process, because I checked every single item for dust, fingerprints on packaging, and any broken bits before sending them in. The email also included a note about how Glambot will no longer be accepting Stila products; I’m not sure if this lowered the price offered for the brand new Stila products I sent in, though I am positive that it was listed as one of the accepted brands at the time.

Since so many of the product I had sent in were “problematic” and therefore probably marked down in price (both for my reimbursement as well as for buyers), I decided to browse the New Arrivals section on Glambot a few days later and find as many of my products as possible, along with the Glambot selling prices. And before anyone passes judgment on the exorbitant amount of money that was spent on this makeup, please note that some of it was gifted to me and the rest of it was purchased over an extended period of time. Here’s what I found:
*the format will be: product name [Glambot’s asking price/retail price as marked online]

• NEW
  • 2 X becca shimmering skin perfector [36.10/38.00]
  • lorac unzipped eyeshadow palette [39.90/42.00]
  • tarte lights, camera, lashes liquid liner [19.35/20.00]
  • tarte scandalEYES inner rim liner [7.18/19.00]
  • stila magnificent metals foiled eyeshadow [30.40/32.00]
  • too faced sweetheart blush [28.50/30.00]
  • nars blush [28.50/30.00]
  • dior 5 couleurs palette [57.00/62.00]
  • benefit pore-fessional [19.00/20.00]
  • marc jacobs style-con eyeshadow palette (the one with the broken clasp) [55.05/59.00]
  • stila all-over shimmer duo [20.90/22.00]
  • givenchy eyeshadow quad [29.45/58.00]
  • tarte smooth operator pressed finishing powder [23.90/35.00]
  • tarte park avenue princess palette [32.30/34.00]
  • YSL coutoure palette [23.94/29.00]
  • nars creamy concealer [27.55/29.00]
  • hourglass extreme sheen lip gloss [26.60/28.00]
• USED (various states of use)
  • tarte amazonian clay blush (limited edition, swatched) [23.40/28.00]
  • urban decay naked flushed palette (swatched) [27.00/32.00]
  • clinique 8-pan eyeshadow palette – Glambot doesn’t accept Clinique products
  • benefit hello flawless powder foundation – I only found one of this powder foundation available in the color I sent in, but decided not to record the price because this product had quite a dent in it but was being sold almost full-price (I couldn’t tell if the specific powder that I had used had been put up for sale or tossed by the Glambot team)

As you can see, there are very few products that had their prices marked down significantly – something to think about if you’re considering purchasing from Glambot. I also found it interesting that even though the Marc Jacobs eyeshadow palette’s condition could only marked as “fair” due to the non-functional latch (even though it was untouched and in pristine condition), it was only marked down by ~$4.00 from the retail price.

Advice for Sellers

Even though I didn’t follow my own advice and had an expected reimbursement value in mind, I think it’s important as a seller to keep your expectations low. Glambot does state that they factor demand for a certain product into their pricing, so you won’t ever really be able to predict your reimbursement.

For example, I had a fewer number of products in my second box, only a few of which were listed as being “higher-end.” The majority of the products were from Lorac and The Balm, and yet I received $178. In other words, you could send in something that you paid $800 for, but if it’s not in high demand, you may only end up getting $80 for it (this may be an exaggeration, but you get the gist).

Though I didn’t receive as much money for my makeup as I probably would have if I had sold them through a blog sale, I personally didn’t mind because Glambot serves as the mediator, does all the work, and lets me sell a chunk of my unused makeup stash in exchange for one large sum of money. Since my greatest motivation for selling my makeup was to get rid of it and clean out my makeup stash, I didn’t mind getting less money for doing less work. However, if you’re looking for a “fair” payout, a blog sale may be better for you.

Advice for Buyers

Like I mentioned above, most of the products I sent in – even the ones that were “broken,” used, or no longer being accepted by Glambot – weren’t significantly marked down from their original retail price. If you spend some time browsing through the available products, there are quite a few that are significantly cheaper – but you really have to search for them. I also found that a lot of the products sold out very quickly after I accepted Glambot’s offer, so if there’s a high-demand product that you want (like the Lorac pro palettes or the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfectors), make sure to check the website often.

Overall Experience

I personally had a pretty good experience with Glambot – though I didn’t get a whopping sum of money back, I thought it was a nice way to get some money for products that would never been used and just gathered dust at the back of my closet. It was also a huge plus that the customer service was great and that the payment showed up in my Paypal account in a timely manner. I’d definitely recommend this website to anyone looking to get rid of some of their old products for a bit of cash!

Glambot Review – Online Makeup Consignment Store [part 1]

**DISCLAIMER: I’m not being paid or sponsored to write this review. I found Glambot online through my own personal google search, and I did independent research on selling and buying experiences. All opinions in this “series” are my own. (…not that this blog gets enough traffic for anyone to accuse me of being sponsored, but just fyi. and also because it makes me feel successful 😀 )

When I get stressed, I like to go to the makeup store – not necessarily for retail therapy, but more for the bright overhead lights, the well-lit displays, and the uber organization of makeup by brand, type, color, etc. Unfortunately, there’s only so many times you can walk into your local Sephora/Ulta/MAC store at unconventional hours and walk around without buying anything before the staff starts to peg you as the crazy free-tour-of-the-makeup-store girl. Over the past year or so, I’ve studied for and taken the MCAT, applied to grad school, and studied for and taken the DAT. Needless to say, there was a lot of stress. And therefore there was a lot of makeup – lots of makeup looking, makeup swatching, and ultimately, lots of makeup buying (sometimes for retail therapy, mostly to “apologize” for my frequent visits to the store). So I have a huge stash of makeup. It was all very pretty – I at least made sure to purchase things that I could see myself using. But if you’ve read any of my previous posts at all, you’ll know that I’m not a huge makeup wearer. I love me some tinted moisturizer and eyeliner, and I’m a sucker for highlighters and bronzers… but I hardly ever wear enough makeup or wear makeup frequently enough to make the slightest dent in my unreasonably large stash.

Glambot

This is where Glambot comes in. Glambot is an online makeup consignment store where you can sell or purchase previously owned makeup. There are a few reviews of the purchasing experience online, but I’ll be writing strictly from a seller point of view.

What They’ll Accept

They accept new and pre-owned “authentic qualifying makeup items” that are in “sellable condition.” In other words, they’ll accept anything (full-sized items and premium sample sizes) that isn’t dirty, moldy, contaminated, etc. The catch is that it has to be from a brand on their pre-approved list, which only features high-end makeup.

Customer Service

When you sign up with their service and state your interest in selling, they’ll send you a mailing label via email. After two days of waiting for the mailing label, I emailed the company and got a response that very day, and within a few minute, the mailing label was in my inbox (looking back, this was pretty dumb because I signed up for the website on Friday afternoon and should have waited until the end of Monday… but I emailed them Monday morning – oops!). I’ve waited about two weeks before putting a box together for a few reasons. The first reason is merely that I was busy (haha) studying and working. But more importantly, I wanted some time to do research on the website, on other sellers’ experiences, and the website in general. It’s pretty difficult to find information on Glambot seller experience, as most posts online are about the purchasing experience.

Purchasing Experience

Just to touch slightly on purchasing experience: From various posts, it seems that Glambot generally does a great job at product repackaging – which includes product shields (I don’t actually know what they’re called – they’re little cushion-y things between the product and the lid to minimize shatter during travel), safety seal stickers, and really cute cushioned packaging. And since Glambot deals largely with pre-owned makeup, they do screen for authenticity, sanitize the products they receive (hence the safety seal stickers, etc.) through various methods (read a bit about them here), and bubble wrap and seal products individually.

Selling and Expectations

Okay, so back to the selling – from the very few selling experience reviews online, it appears that some people had a great experience while others … didn’t. The greatest complaint seems to be that the sellers did not receive as much reimbursement from Glambot as they thought, as predicted by their estimated earnings sheet. My advice is that when dealing with companies that are “powered” by consumers-turned-sellers, it’s always important to keep in mind that though the company is doing you a “favor” by giving you money for your used/unwanted products, they exist to make money. For example, if you send them a product that retails for $30.00 and they sell it for $20.00 on their website, you can’t expect them to buy it from you at that price – you’ll probably receive $10-15 reimbursement at most. In short… Glambot is for those looking to make a bit of spending money from products that would have been given away, tossed, or would have just gotten old sitting on the vanity. If you’re looking to make next month’s rent by selling your makeup… you should probably find a different venue (blog sales, etc.).

How to Package

As the earnings sheet specifies, (and as stated in the email you’ll get if you sign up), they’ll send you a mailing label and will pay for shipping. Each item must be individually bubble wrapped, ideally in its original packaging. They also instruct that you depot any palettes, but I (and most people I’ve read about who have sent palettes) just wrapped the whole palette in bubble wrap. And since they don’t accept items that were damaged during shipping, they recommend using a padded envelope or a fully stuffed box. I’d highly, highly, so very highly recommend using as much bubble wrap as necessary/possible since bubble wrap is cheap and your makeup products, which will hopefully arrive undamaged and in one piece and that you will therefore hopefully get reimbursed for, were not. I managed to fill up a medium-sized flat rate box with 22 products, some of which I purchased a while ago and have been hoarding, and some of which were given to me as gifts. Though 22 products doesn’t sound like it can fill up a box, the bubble wrap lining the bottom and sides of the box, the bubble wrap around each individual item, and the bubble wrap placed on top all add up. I’ll take the box to the post office tomorrow (I guess technically today, now, since it’s 1:09am) and keep a log of when they receive my package, the customer service, how much I receive for the box I sent in, etc.

What I Sent

To finish off this post, I’ll just include a list of the products I put in the box. That way we can publicly compare the prices to the reimbursement as well as the price that Glambot is selling the products for, and we can all see and decide whether selling on Glambot is worth it.

• NEW
  • 2 X becca shimmering skin perfector
  • lorac unzipped eyeshadow palette
  • tarte lights, camera, lashes liquid liner
  • tarte scandalEYES inner rim liner
  • stila magnificent metals foiled eyeshadow
  • too faced sweetheart blush
  • nars blush
  • dior 5 couleurs palette
  • benefit pore-fessional
  • marc jacobs style-con eyeshadow palette
  • stila all-over shimmer duo
  • givenchy eyeshadow quad
  • tarte smooth operator pressed finishing powder
  • tarte park avenue princess palette
  • YSL coutoure palette
  • nars creamy concealer
  • hourglass extreme sheen lip gloss
• USED (various states of use)
  • tarte amazonian clay blush (limited edition)
  • urban decay naked flushed palette
  • clinique 8-pan eyeshadow palette
  • benefit hello flawless powder foundation

Ignoring the fact that this list just revealed the fact that I maaaayyyyy (aka definitely, as my mom likes to point out) have a spending problem… the retail price of all the items above is over $750. Of course you have to take the condition of the used products into consideration, which still brings the estimated total price to just over $700 (I only added 50% of the price of all used items, except for the benefit powder foundation, which shows more use than the other products (I kinda just stuck it in there to see if they would accept it – think of it as a control. I only used 25% of the retail price of the benefit powder in my calculations). Now that we know where I’m starting, let’s see what I get back! **Stay tuned for part 2 of my Glambot Review – coming soon!**