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Are you ready to glow?  Naturally, of course.  NYX Born to Glow Liquid Illuminator is wonderful, affordable, available in two shades – Sunbeam (an iridescent pale pink) and Gleam (a light peachy-pink) and right up your alley.

(L-R: Sunbeam, Gleam)

NYX Born to Glow Liquid Illuminator let’s you be glowy without breaking the bank and looking cakey.  Sheer and somewhat shimmery, very easy to blend.  Keep in mind, use a little at a time because it goes a LONG way.

The packaging is fabulous for this type of product, the squeeze bottle allows you to get out the desired amount of product to apply where needed to anywhere on your skin that you desire to be brightened and highlighted.

The NYX Born to Glow Liquid Illuminator retails for $7.00 and is available at nyxcosmetics.com and Ulta.

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In addition to the Love in Paris and the Love in Florence palettes, we’re also falling for Love in Rio!  These palettes contain a trio of shadows all coordinated to help you achieve an easy smokey eye with 22 palettes of colors to choose from.

Of those 22 I have two to share with you today in Moonlit Skinny Dip and Life is a Cha Cha!

Moonlit Skinny Dip is a trio of neutral shades from ivory to tan to brown.  This will suit most everyone, especially those that tend to shy away from a vibrant eye.

Life is a Cha Cha is a vibrant trio of purples from lilac to purple to a deeper purple with a flash of hidden blue.  This is going to be a favorite to those who need purple in their lives and aren’t afraid of a little sass.

This palettes is fabulous for grabbing when you need a quick eye look but don’t have the time to think about what shades you want to coordinate together. NYX shadows always have little to no fall-out and the shades have good pigment, are blendable and easy to use.

As for the packaging the black palette is sleek with a window on top so you can check out the colors.  No mirror, but that is okay since the closure is an adorable bow shape!

The NYX Love in Rio Eye Shadow Palette retails for $5.99 and is available at nyxcosmetics.com and Ulta.

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NYX has a new pencil that they’ve deemed the Wonder Pencil, because it’s works wonders on all areas of the face – whether you’re looking to brighten (eyes), enhance (lips) or conceal (blemishes).

This pencil is available in three shades – Light, Medium and Dark.  I have the Medium and Dark shades swatched below for you to check out!

What the NYX website says about Wonder Pencils:

• What it is: Multi-functional Wonder Pencil that conceals, brightens and lines.
• What it does: This product has the ability to hide blemishes, acts as a lip liner to prevent your favorite lip color from bleeding and is an eyeliner that brightens your eyes once you apply it on the water line.
• Why we love it: It’s the pencil that we can’t live without! It saves us from imperfections, feathering lip color and livens up our eyes!
• How to use: Use the Wonder Pencil as a concealer, simply apply the pencil onto your imperfections and blend with a brush or clean fingers. To use it as a lip liner, line the outside of your lips and then fill in with the Wonder Pencil to make your lip color pop. Lastly, to brighten your eyes, line the water line and illuminate your look.

The shades swatched above are in Medium and Dark.  For me, personally, the Medium shade works the best.  It wears on the eye naturally so it just makes you appear more awake, rather than making it look like you’ve waterlined with a nude kohl pencil.  It makes just that much of a difference so you get more of a wide eyed look.

This pencil can also be used as a lip liner (to make lipstick colors pop) or a quick concealer.  It does it all, making it a makeup bag essential!

NYX Wonder Pencils retail for $4.50 each and are available on the website and at Ulta.

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The NYX Wicked Dreams Collection features 24 shadows to create a multitude of looks that can range from neutral and every day to smoky and evening only.

I found all of the shadows to be of good quality, which is true to what we normally see with NYX products.  My least favorite of the group is the blue (first shadow, second row) and the green (eighth shadow, first row)… I thought the pigment was lacking a bit for how saturated the shades looked and they were chalky (if you use them wet this will make them easier to use).  The ones I was most surprised and impressed with were the black (second shadow, second row) and the teal (seventh shadow, third row) because I didn’t expect them to give me much, but they were extremely pigmented and soft.

All in all, as usual, for the affordable price of this eye shadow palette and the great quality of 90% of the shadows I have to recommend this to makeup lovers as well as people who are just getting into makeup.  There is no better way to learn to wear color than getting a collection of shades that are mostly neutral, but with a few jewel tones to amp it up.

What the NYX website has to say about the Wicked Dreams Collection:

Don’t sleep through your Wicked Dreams! Dive into the charm of 24 eye shadows ranging from alluring natural and jewel toned hues. Make your dream a reality and enrich your look with the inspiration of your imagination! Carry your Wicked Dreams with you as you travel through your day and night excursions.

The NYX Wicked Dreams Collection retails for $15.00 ($130.00 value) and is available at nyxcosmetics.com.

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Well, I know this is probably not an available product anymore, but I did get it late and thought it was worth reviewing because I do love it and maybe you’ll want to see my swatches if you’re swapping for it

NYX has developed an absolutely stunning palette inspired by the Tim Burton movie Dark Shadows called The Crimson Amulet Collection.

The whole collection comes in this book/clutch type palette and contains 24 Eye Shadows, an Eye Shadow Base, a Liner, 4 Lip Gloss, One Illuminator, and 5 blushers.

The outer box packaging:

The exterior of the palette:

As you open up the palette the first items you will see are the 24 eye shadows & sponge-tipped applicators on the left side, then a nice big mirror on the right:

The top 12 shadows are your more playful, vampy, sultry shades:

While the bottom 12 shadows are more neutral and wearable:

As you open up the other side of the palette, you get the see the rest of the collection which includes an eye primer, a black liquid liner, a highlighter, 5 cheek colors and four lip colors:

If you fancy looking like some of the ladies from Dark Shadows, the left side of the palette offers some looks for you to try your hand at in Josette, Dr. Hoffmann and Angelique.

The only item this collection doesn’t include is a mascara.  But, I’m sure you’ll have that covered.

NYX The Crimson Amulet Collection retails for $25.00.  NYX products are sold at Ulta as well as online at NYXcosmetics.com.

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NYX is a quite frequently raved about drugstore brand, especially for shadows and bases.  I’ve enjoyed their lipsticks before and am excited to give their Soft Matte Lip Cream a go!  For this particular post, I have the shade Stockholm to share with you.

What the NYX website has to say about Soft Matte Lip Cream:

Neither lipstick nor lip gloss—this is matte lip cream. A new kind of pout paint that goes on silky smooth and sets to a matte finish. Soft Matte Lip Cream is surprisingly durable and, unlike some matte lipstick formulas, also moisturizing. Available in 11 lip colors.

Stockholm was a bit less peach on the lips than in the tube.  It’s definitely more of a nude shade. The shade is perfect and is what I’m looking for as an everyday neutral.

Some cons…. This cream clings to every imperfection on your lips.  I exfoliated right before this and you can still notice some cracks.  It’s rather drying, and this is not a product you could wear alone without something on top if dryness bothers you (like it does me).  The wear wasn’t all that great, either.  That point disappointed me the most, because I love when the mattes are long-wearing.  I generally use a bold matte shade when I have some sort of function.

To combat the dryness you COULD put a balm on underneath, but that will effect the wear.  A gloss on top defeats the purpose of a matte.

Overall, the product is ok for the $$ but I’d rather spend more and get something that I love that does what I need and expect it to.

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream retails for $6.00 and can be found at Ulta, or NYXcosmetics.com.  I also noticed a huge display of these at my grocery store, which is a Giant Eagle.  I live in western PA near Pittsburgh, so I’m not sure how widespread Giant Eagle is… but you might want to look in the makeup section next time you go shopping for food!

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