Givenchy Prisme Again Eyes #2 Brown Caress

I picked up the Givenchy Prisme Again Eyeshadow in #2 Brown Caress from Sephora (50$).

Overall, I don't particularly like this eyeshadow formula.  The colors are quite faint and hard to get up onto the brush. The colors are also not particularly hard to replicate.  The formula is also somewhat dry/chalky.

I have two palettes which are somewhat similar to this one in color.

Dior Crush Glow 659 (58$ www.sephora.com)
Clinique 102 Spicy (25$ www.sephora.com)

There are some things I do like about the eyeshadow.  One thing I really really like about the Givenchy eyeshadow is the size.  The container is very small, meaning it takes up very little space in my purse kit. I would otherwise not carry eyeshadow, or would carry only a single shade. 

A benefit of the soft color is that it is very forgiving.  Applying the eyeshadow in dim lighting on the plane, or in a moving car might produce terrible results with a dark/bold eyeshadow, but with the soft neutral colors and soft application of the Givenchy shadows, it is possible to get away with a messy application.

There are three applicators which sit below the eyeshadow pans which tilt up, including a convenient little fine tip smudger.

Personally, I think this eyeshadow is a good candidate for a condensed makeup kit, but would otherwise not use it.

I swatched the eyeshadows I mentioned here, all of them over a base of Urban Decay Primer Potion.

Diorshow Extase (photo compared to Dior Unlimited)

I picked up Diorshow Extase Mascara at Sephora the other day (28$).

The Extase formula is extremely wet, even compared to my other dior mascaras which I would consider somewhat wet.  The brush is quite large and has four distinct bulges/rounded areas. 

It's very thick, but my lashes still feel quite soft and touchable.  It does not seem prone to flaking.

The color does not seem quite as black as my Dior Unlimited, it's more of a soft charcoal dark grey.

It's very easy to coat the ends of my lashes but I find it difficult to reach the base of my lashes with the bulgy brush, and with the amount of mascara that clumps up at the tip, I find it near impossible to cleanly get my lower lashes.

Overall, I still prefer my Diorshow Unlimited over this, however I will use it as a top coat over my upper lashes if I want thicker lashes.

Beauty So Clean Sanitizing Mist

I bought this Beauty So Clean Cosmetic Sanitizer Mist from Alconeco.com for 25$ a few months ago.

I've used it quite a few times, and so far, I haven't had any major ill effects from using it on my eyeshadows or foundations.  If anything, it does make the powder more 'sticky' and less light/fluffy in application. I believe it could be from the emollient products they have in it.  This does not really bother me, but if having powders stay light and sheer in application is a must, then this may not be a good idea. I am mostly concerned with it for use with eyeshadows, not so much for foundations, so darker colors and more adherence is usually not a problem.

The Ingredients are:

Ethyl Alcohol
Isopropyl Palmitate
Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride
Isopropyl Myristate
C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate

Something to note, is that it gets all over the mirror/edges of the compact, and makes dirty looking water/dried up marks, so if that is bothersome, it would be necessary to wipe the plastic parts of the compact after using to clean those up.

I have a bad habit of tapping my brush off on the mirror, so I don't bother since it's got makeup all over it anyways :)

As to the effectiveness of this product, I never tested it.  I believe that if there is an issue with effectiveness it would be that each spray is such a small dose of alcohol and may not remain in liquid form and in contact with the make up long enough to be effective.  I do question just how effective this spray is at sanitizing the makeup, but it's probably better then nothing.

I do sometimes leave my eyeshadows open face up to a UV sanitizing lamp for about 30 minutes, but UV light does not penetrate the very top surface, while alcohol can soak in.

As for packaging, the atomizer does make a very nice spray as far as atomizers go.  Overall, I'm content with this product, however, I do think that plain alcohol run through my airbrush to lightly soak the top layer of the powder would be just as, if not more effective without the sticky issue.

Cream Foundation Palette

A while ago (ok, like a year ago T.T since I've sort of abandoned my blog since last summer), I found a way to store a palette of my cream foundations that makes them easy to see and use.  It fits easily on the makeup shelf which sits directly behind my desk.  The full size containers sit in organizers which are placed in huge plastic bins of makeup in my bathroom which preclude them from ever getting used...

It is...a watercolor paint box!

I got this Alvin Heritage Paint Palette for about 25$ online.  It is meant to store mixed paint, and has a little rubber gasket type seal around the edge, designed to keep the paint from drying out. 

It has two removable trays, one has wells and the other can be used for mixing.

I taped a little sheet of paper behind the mixing tray to chart out what color is what.  There's a little notch in the mixing tray to make it easy to lift.  One down side is that when opening, sometimes the mixing try stays on top of the wells instead of lifting up with the lid, meaning I have to drop it back in after opening.  This is almost a non-issue for me, but I suppose it could be an option to either tape it down, or remove it altogether.

A point worth of note is that the tray with wells does not fit in the lid area, so you cannot buy two and double up with two trays of wells in the same box.