Here's the men's half of the BB Couture Wild West collection. All these shades are from the BB Couture For Men line. BB Couture For Men was created for men, but they're pretty much the same formula (or at least seem that way to me) as the regular line. I'm sure you're already familiar with the line, so I'll just get to the pictures...
Gunfighter. A dark denim blue with silver metallic shimmer. Halfway between a shimmer and a foil. Has a muted, faded denim look to it. Just like in the last collection, this reminds me of those old discontinued Maybelline denim polishes, so it makes me feel all nostalgic. 
Outlaw. This one is almost identical to Laced Corset from the other half of the collection. The tone is slightly cooler and it's a little more shimmery, but other than that there's not too much of a difference. I adore that red glitter. 
Posse. Really nice olive green shade. Has a very light gold, maybe more of a champagne colored shimmer that's very fine, almost fine enough to be a frost. Has a sort of dirty antique look to it.
Rustler. Warm earthy brown creme. 
Sundance. Bright! It's a red-orange shimmer, and the shimmer is so light and shiny that it makes the whole color glow. Very noticeable color.
It wasn't until I was finished swatching that I realized I'm missing one of the colors in this collection. Somehow I got two Gunfighters instead of whatever other color is supposed to be here. I was wondering why there were two colors so similar in the same collection....
The formula on these was slightly thicker and more opaque than the colors in the ladies collection. None of the colors in this collection were watery, but Posse was thinner than the others. I did three coats of all. Dry time was good, wear time is good. Brushes were nice and even.
So, overall, the entire Wild West Collection... I'm not really blown away with the color selection, to be honest. I like the Men's collection better than the Women's, but nothing besides Laced Corset / Outlaw really jumps out at me. The greens and blues are very nice, but they seem too close to other previous BB Couture shades so they don't feel new or different to me. The red glitter in Laced Corset and Outlaw is brilliant, though. It really looks spectacular and I'd totally recommend seeing it for yourself.
Also, there's none of that pretty golden green BB Couture glitter in this collection! I always look forward to that glitter from them. It's like their signature, no one else seems to use that kind of glitter.
(These were sent to me for review.)
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
BB Couture Wild West Collection - The Men
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Quick look with Kat Von D Angeles Palette
For those who asked, here's a quick look I did with the Kat Von D Angeles palette yesterday:
The last picture is supposed to show the pretty aqua sparkles on my lower lashline.
I used:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Rehab on inner third of lid and inner corner
Specimen on lid
Venus in crease
Leather over Venus in the crease
Morphine as base on lower lashline
Peggy over Morphine on lower lashline
MAC Vanilla as highlight
Milani Liquif'Eye in black on waterline
Illamasqua Precision Ink in Abyss as liner
Benefit BadGal mascara
I started off with Venus in the crease, but then I thought it looked ugly cause it wasn't dark enough and that's why I put Leather over it. I like Leather in the crease much better. The little hints of Venus at the upper edges look really pretty, though.
Payoff was great on the shimmer shades, but I thought Leather could have used a little more pigment. They blend like butter. Next time I'm going to have to use more of the blue shades, I'm a little bored with the bronze eye look right now.
Venus - Leather - Specimen - Rehab - Peggy - Bukowski - Bellbottom - MorphineTrind Caring Colors Swatches and Review
Trind is a brand new brand to me. Up until a few months ago when they contacted me, I had never seen or heard of them before. If you're like me and this is a new brand to you as well, here's a little background information: Trind is a Dutch company that has been developing hand and nail care products since 1988. Their products are designed to work with the natural consistency of the skin and nails in order to heal, strengthen, improve and maintain their condition without damaging them.
I have a few of the Trind treatment products to review (they're lovely) and today I'm going to start off with the biggest category: the Caring Colors nail lacquers.
Numbers 101 and 102 are the Caring Colors Base Coat and Caring Colors Top Coat respectively, and since they're just clear treatments, they're not pictured here. I'm also missing 116, 117 and 119 through 129.
CC 103. Out of all the shades, this is the only one that gave me application trouble. It was a little watery (you can see where it ran into my cuticles) and somewhat streaky. I did four coats here to even everything out. This is a pure white creme.
CC 104. This shade is a sheer fleshy nude pink. It is intended to be worn sheer, but my nails are stained so I applied four coats for this picture.
CC 105. This is a milky jelly pink. It can be worn sheer at one or two coats or built up to this jelly look with four coats like I did.
CC 106. This is a frosty pearl pink, semi-sheer.
CC 107. This is a sheer warm iridescent pink. I did four coats here, but I think this would be nice for layering to add a bit of a mother-of-pearl look.
CC 108. Hot fuchsia shimmer with slight blue/violet flash.
CC 109. Deep mauve frost.
CC 110. Iridescent cocoa mauve frost. Has a slight duochrome effect to it.
CC 111. Purple mauve metallic. Not quite a foil, not smooth enough to be chrome, but definitely metallic.
CC 112. Warm honey brown frost.
CC 113. Muted dark salmon coral frost.
CC 114. Medium coral shimmer.
CC 115. Bright sexy bombshell red creme.
CC 118. Velvety looking cool toned red shimmer.
CC 130. Light berry creme.
CC 131. Light yellow-green creme. A little murky. Darker than China Glaze Electric Pineapple, but similar shade.
CC 132. Gorgeous turquoise shimmer. The shimmer particles in this are very small but very bright and have a light aqua tint to them.
CC 133. Fiery red glitter in a clear base. Extremely sparkly and pretty. A little rough.
CC 134. Purple glitter in a black creme base. The amount of purple glitter makes this looks like a purple shimmer once it's on the nail. Similar to Wet n Wild Night Prowl.
CC 135. Stunning midnight blue shimmer.
CC 136. Perfect forest green, slight yellow tone, amazing shimmer.
The formula on these is great. The only one that wasn't perfect was the white because it seemed watery. The others have a nice even texture, a little on the thin side, but not runny. The dry time is average. Wear time is excellent, especially when used with the non-quick dry Trind topcoat. The bottles are very elegant. They're antique-styled bottles that have long, slender lucite handles. The brushes are on the small side but they are very even and give a good application.
Regarding the polish formula, here's a little snippet from the Trind website:
"Trind developed an effective mix of “actives” for its nail lacquer, to improve the condition of the nail. With the addition of ingredients like Acrylates Copolymer, Dimethiconol, Dimethyl Oxobenzo Dioxasilane and Mercaptopropionic acid, great results will be achieved!"
These are formulated to maintain the condition of your nails when used with the Trind treatment system. My nails usually stay in the same condition no matter what I do, so I couldn't really detect any changes when using these. I didn't necessarily see any positive changes, but I didn't see any negative changes, either, so I can't say for sure if they really improve the condition of your nails. Maintain, yes, but like I said, my nails stay pretty much the same no matter what I do, so.... The jury is still out. I can say that they're nice, gentle polishes that don't dry my nails and didn't seem to stain when I wore them.
The color range is slowly expanding. As you can see, the first half is all mature, conservative, subtle types of shades, while the higher numbers (newer shades) are more fun and colorful. I've heard that there will be some new shades for summer soon. I love the bottles and the formula so I'd be really happy if they offered more of a selection of interesting colors in their line.
So far, I really like almost everything I've tried from this brand. The color selection is small, but the blue, green and glitter shades are perfect and gorgeous. The bottles might be my favorite part. They don't look so plain and utilitarian like some brands, they look special and pretty that you don't want to hide them away in a box, you want to display them. The treatment products from Trind are the best, though. I'll review them separately, but I have to mention that the oil-free Cuticle Balsam is amazing. Some of the items are a little pricey, but the Cuticle Balsam is really worth it.
On a related note, Trind is increasing the discount for my readers. The code scrangie is now worth 25% off on Trind.ca. Just enter scrangie at checkout to receive the discount. This code is valid until July 14th, 2011.
(These were sent to me for review.)
Monday, May 16, 2011
Makeup Monday: Sephora Kat Von D True Romance Eyeshadow Palette in Angeles Spring 2011
I've had this for almost a month now and never got around to using it. That's how crappy I've felt lately. I had brand new makeup sitting in front of me for weeks and I didn't even feel like playing with it. That's a shame, cause this actually turned out to be a really pretty palette once I swatched it. 
Here's the outer box. I love the thought they put into the packaging. I know it's just a cardboard box, but it's so nice. Gold embossed rosaries printed on the front, opens up like an accordion to reveal a teal-colored inner lining with star accents. The palette itself is wrapped with pretty metallic paper and sealed with a KVD sticker as always. All the extra touches on the packaging just make everything feel so much more special, like you're opening a present.
This is the actual palette. The outer box mirrors the case design. The white plastic case is rubberized feeling and the Kat Von D Sephora logo is printed in teal metallic. 
With flash and without. The shades are (left to right): Venus, Leather, Specimen, Rehab, Peggy, Bukowski, Bellbottom and Morphine (which is the only cream shadow in the bunch). Please enlarge these pictures to see the detail in the colors.
Rear of the palette with names and ingredients:
Venus is a shiny metallic copper penny shade.
Leather is a matte medium neutral brown (this shade is also in the Ludwig and Beethoven palettes.)
Specimen is a near-metallic medium-brown taupe shimmer.
Rehab is a light peachy golden champagne shimmer with silver flake microglitter (this shade was also in the Truth palette.)
Peggy is a medium aqua green with gold shimmer (this shade was also in the Memento Mori palette.)
Bukoswski is a deep teal blue shimmer, slight green iridescence, with a pretty velvety finish.
Bellbottom is a greyed slate blue shimmer with a hint of green iridescence.
Morphine is a cream shadow and is sheer/clear white with turquoise duochrome shimmer.
Swatched over Urban Decay Primer Potion: Venus, Leather, Specimen, Rehab, Peggy, Bukowski, Bellbottom, Morphine. Morphine is applied thickly to show the color, when blended it is very sheer.
For once I actually like the cream shadow. I think it will make a good base for the blue toned shadows and add some sparkle. That is, if it doesn't crease them to death first...
I haven't actually done a look with this yet, just played with it on the back of my hand. First impression: Too many repeats. Three of the shades were in other palettes and one of them is a cream so it's like you're only getting four shadows in this. I suppose the repeats are a good thing if you don't have all the other palettes, but I feel like they should have come up with something new instead of repeating plain colors. If anything, they should have put that iridescent green/white duochrome from the Gypsy palette in!
Pigmentation seems great. All the shadows felt like silk when I swatched them, but I'll have to use them on my eyes before I make a final judgment.
All the colors seem to go well together and once again the shades seem perfectly suited for dark brown eyes.
Like always, this has those two silly, useless double-ended mini brushes. Well, useless for applying shadow, at least. They're excellent lip brushes and that's exactly what I use them for.
You know what? In the middle of writing this, I realized that I never did a review of the Memento Mori palette. I should get on that... Oops...
BB Couture Wild West Collection - The Ladies
BB Couture did another one of those complimentary two-part collections. One half for the ladies, one half for the menfolk. This one is Wild West themed, and today I have the ladies.
Belle Starr. A pretty dusty purple named for a female outlaw and convict whose murder still remains unsolved. 
Frontier Woman. A dusty medium blue-toned green with little speckles of silvery-blue shimmer. Can't help but think of the Pioneer Woman when I see the name of this one. They should do a Pioneer Woman and Marlboro Man set, haha!
Laced Corset. My favorite of the collection. The base is a dark blue toned purple that is lightened a bit by all the foily metallic silver shimmer. The very best part of this polish is the shiny red glitter. There isn't a lot of it and it's pretty subtle, but it's there and it's wonderful. There's a polish in the men's half of the collection that looks almost identical with a little more of that special red glitter. 
Pistol Packin' Mama. Very pretty plum brown with gold shimmer. This is very very dark, it looks mostly black until you see it in sunlight. The base is a dark espresso brown with a hint of plum purple to it. The shimmer is subtle but gives a velvet look to the polish.
Saloon Girl. A magenta berry with some pink shimmer.
Wrangler. A frosty metallic denim blue. This really makes me think of denim. Reminds me of old Maybellines! It's a little on the frosty side, but I do love the look of it.
The formula on these was varied. A couple of the shades were very runny and hard to control while the rest of them were average nice BB Couture formula. I had the most trouble with Pistol Packin' Mama, Belle Starr and Saloon Girl. I did three coats of all in these pictures. The dry time was very good, especially quick when used with Seche Vite.
Part two consists of six shades from the BB Couture For Men line, with more masculine themed names.
(These were sent to me for review.)
Hana Elite 1" Flat Iron from Misikko.com
This review has been a loooooong time in the making. I didn't intend it to be that way. The first time this was going to be posted, the flat iron broke- the very day I was going to post my review! So, ever since, I've been waiting to see if the replacement would hold out or break... So far, so good, so here's my review.
This iron was offered to me to try by Misikko.com. I don't know if you remember me talking about it or not, but last spring my Solia flat iron broke- one of the plates fell out of the frame! I flat iron my hair almost every day and I couldn't go on trying to use my Solia with the plate hanging off from a wire, so their email asking if I would do review of the Hana iron was such a blessing.
I have given the Hana Elite 1" iron a very thorough testing and here are my observations.
Actually, it was more than one iron. I had originally received this Hana iron to review:
It's a Hana Elite 1" flat iron with 100% Ceramic Tourmaline-infused plates. It has a tapered/beveled edge to the plates that I really liked. All other flat irons I've used have rounded edges. What I liked about the less smooth beveled edge is that it provided a little resistance when pulling the iron through the hair and it kept the plates from pinching on one spot and grabbing or breaking strands of hair. I got good results from this iron after testing it for 30 days... But about two weeks later it completely stopped working.
I hadn't done anything different. I plugged it in, the light came on, I stepped away for a minute and when I came back to it, it was off. It wouldn't light up or heat anymore. I contacted Misikko about it (I was actually working on the finishing touches of my original review when it broke!) and they said that it may have just shorted out and offered to replace my broken unit, no hassle at all. They sent out a replacement and I had a new iron within a week. If that's any indication of their normal customer service practices, I'm impressed. They were helpful and responsive.
Check out the way Misikko packages their orders:
There's a big purple ribbon and a rose, the box is cushioned with beautiful soap roses and they included a silicone heat mat, a Misikko flat iron case/mat (I believe the heat mats are included with the purchase of the iron) and some little cute items like an emery board, a bottle of hand sanitizer and an LA Colors lipgloss. Small touches but they make such a huge impact. The care and effort that went into packing this is evident. It was such a happy experience opening this box. I have to praise them for that. They make you feel appreciated.
So! Now I had to scrap my old review and test out this new model. The previous one I received was an old model and isn't available anymore.
This new Hana Elite 1" iron has the smooth rounded edge on the plates, unlike the first one.
The plates are extremely slick and smooth. Like the original, these plates are 100% ceramic and are infused with ionic Tourmaline particles. Is that what the little sparkles are on the plates? They're quite pretty to look at. Makes me think of nail polish, like ManGlaze The Death Tar or Zoya Raven.
Here are the features of the Hana Elite:
- 100% Solid Ceramic Plates Never Peel or Degrade
- Tourmaline infused into the heating elements for maximum thermal protection
- Large Integrated Ceramic Heaters with Full Plate Coverage for the Most Consistent, Conditioning Far Infrared Heat Possible
- Ceramic is naturally hygienic, protects color & retards fading
- Unique black ceramic plates won't discolor with use of products or hair dyes
- Adjustable Temperature Dial - 5 Settings from 140-450° F for All Hair Types
- Flash Heats in Seconds with Instant Compensation for Heat Loss
- Safe to use on Damp to Dry Hair
- Beveled Edges mean Easy Curled, Flipped, Spiked or Straight Styles
- Ergonomic Handle Design with No-Slip Grip
- Smooth Grooves Keep Hair Strands Separate and Snag-Free
- Sleek luxury matte finish
- Tangle-Free Salon Quality Cord Swivels 360°; Convenient Hanging Loop
- Energy Efficient at 38 Watts
- Independent On/Off Switch
- Includes Luxe Heat Proof Storage Pouch, Heat Proof Silicone Mat, & Special Edition Tin Case
- Two Year Warranty
This listing specifies beveled edges on the plates- the older model had them but the newer model has smooth rounded edges.
It has multiple heat settings and goes all the way up to 450 degrees. That's hardcore. There's a red light above the ON switch there, and it lights up when the iron is switched on. The light is solid when the iron is heating and flashes when the iron has reached temperature. A neat feature of this is that it blinks at different frequencies for the different temperature settings. It blinks at a lower speed at the lower temperatures and gradually blinks faster as you turn up the heat.It takes about a minute to reach temperature, a little bit longer if you have it set on 450. I keep the temperature in the 300 range for my hair. The iron retains temperature well, but if your hair is a little damp when you use this it may need to reheat a few seconds in between passes.
A little about my hair:
I have fine, thin hair. You know how the hairstylists always say, "Oh, your hair is fine but you have a lot of it!" Yeah, not me. I have baby hair. It has a tendency to go flat. My texture is naturally wavy but I prefer a straighter look and that's why I flat iron. It's also very long and color treated, so split ends are an issue for me.
Since my first Hana met such an untimely demise, I made sure to use this one daily for three months just to be absolutely positive it wasn't going to break. So far, it's still going strong! What a relief.
Before using this, I use a hair serum (usually BioSilk Silk Therapy or Fekkai Glossing Creme) to help protect my hair and add some shine and I blow dry until my hair is fully dry. I only straighten my bangs and the front sections of my hair because blow drying straightens the rest.
The Hana iron quickly and easily flattens the kinks in my hair and adds a lot of shine. I usually never need more than one pass over a section to completely straighten it. The iron retains enough heat to do my whole head without having to pause to reheat.
It's absolutely perfect for my bangs- it gives them enough lift to keep them from being flat on my forehead. I've also experimented using it on the ends of my hair to flip them in or out and it works well for that also.
You're supposed to be able to use this iron to create curls or waves, but I haven't been successful with that. I tried wrapping my hair around it and pulling it through my hair, but all I ended up with were weird kinks that were hard to iron out.
Over the few months I've been using the Hana, I haven't noticed any increase in split ends, dryness, color fading or other changes in the condition of my hair. As far as I can tell, it hasn't caused any damage. I do recommend using something to protect your hair from the heat while using this. My iron came with a bottle of Hana protective serum, which is a thin, silicone-heavy serum, but any kind will do.
Compared to other irons I've used, the Hana Elite seems like a much better quality. The design with independent power and temperature setting is only seen with nicer irons. The plates are perfectly smooth and glide well through the hair with minimum pinching. The adjustable temperature setting is an excellent feature, and the fact that the temperature goes all the way from 140 to 450(!!!) means that it can be used on all hair textures. None of the flat irons I've used have ever gone that high.
Overall, I really liked this iron. I have used a few brands from low-end to high-end and this one belongs up at the top. It heats fast and stays hot, has an independent on/off switch and an adjustable temperature setting, plus an extra long swivel cord which can really come in handy. The tourmaline plates are smooth as glass and make my hair very shiny. And, after several months of using it daily, my hair isn't any more damaged than it was before I started using it.
There are a few downsides, though. For one, it doesn't seem to have an auto safety shutoff feature. A lot of heat appliances have a safety feature that shuts them off after being on for 30 minutes. I'm one of those people who constantly worries that I left the house flat iron on, and that safety feature gives me a little reassurance. I always make sure to turn off and unplug my heat tools when I'm done using them, but sometimes I just can't remember and I'd like that extra peace of mind.
And, of course, there's the fact that my first iron broke after about a month and a half with no warning. I still don't know what caused it and I've been really worried this new one would quit working on me, too. It's been several more months now and it's still fine, so I'm sure it was just a fluke or a defect, but still. I couldn't in good conscience review an item that broke and not mention the possibility. Caveat emptor and stuff. Though, the Hana iron does have a two year warranty AND Misikko was very quick to replace my broken iron with absolutely no hassle.
The final downside is the price! This iron retails for $360, but is almost always on sale from $150-$250-ish. Yes, the iron is one of the best I've ever used, but $360 is a huge chunk of change. Personally, I would not pay $360 for any hair tool, regardless of how amazing it is. $150 is pretty much my limit, both for budgetary and conscience reasons. The results I get from the iron are great and the feature set, design and packaging are pretty much perfect, but I do think $360 is an insane price to pay. You can usually get this on sale plus a discount code from Misikko to bring the price back down to earth, though.
This iron is available from Misikko.com. It comes with a two year warranty and free same day shipping. Misikko frequently offers discount codes and giveaways, so be sure to check their Twitter and Facebook pages for specials before ordering anything.
(This was sent to me for review.)
