Bag Lady

Cosmetic bags.  I have a whole lot of cosmetic bags.  With all the GWPs (gift with purchases), limited edition makeup sets and miscellaneous bags bought on a whim, I have quite a collection of pouches - some of which I know I will probably never really use.  And I'm probably not the only one.  Anyone who has ever ventured beyond drugstore makeup will likely have more than one cosmetic bag in their possession.  I never really paid attention to how many I had accumulated until I stumbled onto a few in a drawer...

This pretty little Clinique bag was snagged while cleaning my ex's childhood home.  One of his sisters had left the pink felt patchwork bag there, totally forgetting about it with no interest of reclaiming it.  So I took it...

...and re-purposed it as traveling bag for my makeup brushes. 

This brown nylon Laura Mercier zip top came with a cluster of limited edition products inside.

Safari Pouch (front)

Safari Pouch (back)

CARGO offered this cute faux leather pouch with its Safari Collection that came out two years ago.  I love that it looks like a stamped post card!

This simple, cotton snap pouch came with my 5-piece EcoTools brush set.  It's pretty small so I'm not quite sure what I would be able to put in this.  A couple of eyeshadows, maybe?

I love the print on this cotton zip up.  I also love that it has an additional zip pocket in the front of the bag. 

It's from Burt's Bees and came with a set of his grooming products, including items for hands, nails and lips.

Here's another Clinique bag, this time a white patent leather one with a dragonfly attachment.

I actually bought this denim makeup case not because of need, but because of want.  I couldn't resist; I thought the embroidered girl holding a mirror on the front was just too adorable to pass up.

But I have made good use of it.  It is my mobile nail grooming station as I fill it with different polishes and grooming devices needed on the go.  And did you notice the plastic still on the mirror?  Yes, another one... (inside joke for all those who have read my post Holding On).

Sephora was having a grand opening for its JCPenney store location in my area so I received this shiny number as a "thank you" for attending.  It's just a tad bit narrow for my likes, so...

I use it to store a chunk of my samples such as perfumes and other freebies I get from shopping online.

This denim clutch I believe is from Bath and Body Works.  It's pretty cute... don't remember what came in it or with it, but it's pretty cute.  And I did have the nerve to wear it as a clutch one time, but that was a long time ago.  A really long time ago.  A loooooong time ago.  (ah-hem!) Anyway,

...with all the fancy schmancy bags I have at my disposal, I truly prefer the simplicity of the clear, kidney shaped one I bought from Ulta.  It's conveniently sized to fit into all of my handbags and, because it is clear, I can easily assess what I have in it.

So there you have my motley assortment of cosmetic bags (some of them) and as I put them back in their respective places, including the aforementioned drawer, I am reminded of who and what I've become.  I am a new age "bag lady" of sorts, gathering and safekeeping my prized possessions in the numerous satchels, cases, bags and pouches I've collected.  However, instead of it being a burden of baggage, I see it as a testament to how far I've come and how much I've evolved in the makeup game.  A growth I'm pretty proud of, to say the least.

A Splash of Plum

Hey, guys!  I have a beaut of a mineral shadow to share with you today.  It's finely milled, super soft and easy to work with.  And the color is awesomely gorgeous.  Today, I would like to offer for your review LA Splash's Passionate Plum.

Passionate Plum is a stunning, reddish purple loose pigment with multicolored shimmer.  The shimmer is rather subtle and not at all chunky or gaudy.  It is from LA Splash's Diamond Dust line of mineral shadows.  It blends well and lasts all day on me when using a primer underneath.

LA Splash offers a wide range of products in a wide spectrum of hues and finishes, including glitter packed liquid eyeliners and boldly colored mascaras, all of which seem to be infused with a sense of fun and frivolity.  And I like that.  It's that same lighthearted attitude coupled with their beautiful mineral shadows that has me looking forward to sampling more from their line of products.

LA Splash Passionate Plum can be found at Ulta and retails for around $9.

Coloring Within the Lines With #12

As promised, I am back with another one of Inglot's Lip Pencil Crayons.  If you read my first review then you know that my happiness with #27 warranted another purchase.  So, without further ado, I would like to present for your review Lip Pencil #12.

Inglot's chubby lip pencils are just as pigmented as their famed eyeshadows and come in a variety of matte shades.  Number 12 is an orange-based/peach nude.  Its texture, just like #27, is a little on the drier side so prepping your lips with a good balm before application would be best to ensure smooth, even color.

I'm really not surprised that I ended up liking Inglot's lip pencils.  And with every successful venture into the brand I become more and more intrigued by their other offerings.  Like, I wonder how their lipsticks wear?  And what about their nail polishes - do they chip easily after only a few days?  Or perhaps their foundations - would they work for my skin type and is there an exact color match for me in their line up?  You see, these are the things I think about... the things I ponder from time to time.  These highly important questions need answering and, by George, I will have my answers!  But for now, I am satisfied with my lot from Inglot.  I'm in deep by quite a few products and they have yet to disappoint.

Inglot Lip Pencil #12 is available at Inglot boutiques and on their website, and retails for $11. 

Storage: My MAC Shadows

When I first started buying MAC eyeshadows, I bought them in the little pots and that was that.  It was just a few, but I was proud of my little pots and how convenient they were to tote around.  Then my ever inquisitive sister asked me one day why I was bothering to buy the potted ones when I could buy the very same MAC shadow in a pan for a couple of dollars less and just purchase a palette to put them in.  To be honest, I had just never thought to buy the panned ones.  Perhaps I was intimidated by the word "pro" (as in "pro palette refill") and I'm clearly not one.  Not sure.  But her point was duly noted and I bought a couple of panned shadows, however, not enough to warrant a 15-pan palette...

I knew that if I had committed to buying the 15-pan palette then I would have felt compelled to immediately commit to buying enough shadows to fill the entire palette because seeing it sparsely filled would have driven me crazy.  So I bought the smaller 4-pan one.  And when my collection grew, I went to Michael's, a well known craft store, found a tin meant for bead storage and repurposed it to house my shadows.  My own customized MAC palette, if you will.

This little tin has a simple closure and contains 12 individual tin "pods" with see through lids.  They are not magnetized and the small magnets that come on the back of MAC shadows are not strong enough to keep them secure in the pods, which is why I would not recommend this for transport, only storage.   However, you could customize the tin further by putting tiny magnets in the bottom of the pods in order to tether your shadows and make them safer for travel.  

The size of the pods comfortably accommodate MAC sized single shadows.

I love that the lids are see-through.  At a glance, I can assess what colors I have and then decide what I would like to wear that day and/or take with me, which is where my MAC mini palette comes into play...

Small, convenient and very travel-friendly, I find this 4-pan palette to be the perfect accompaniment to my storage tin.  I can easily take my shadows from the tin pods and place them into the magnetic palette, allowing the transport of my shadows to be secure and hassle-free.

I really am glad that I found these little storage tins at the craft store.  They are slim, easy to store and because of the sleek look of the metal, they look pretty good sitting on top of my bureau with all of my other beauty items.  I bought two of them so far and with the coupon that I had from the newspaper, they ended up being only fifty cents each!!  Now you know you can't beat that!  Also, I like the fact that I can totally customize it to my liking, both inside and out.  But I'm taking the minimalist approach for now.  It's working for me.

The tin storage box and those similar to it can be found at Michael's as well as various other craft stores, and retail is about $1 to $2/each.  MAC's 4-pan palette can be found at their stores and their online site, and retails for $9.

You Down With OCC? Yeah, You Know Me!

And so here we are again.  Another tube of OCC's Lip Tar, another review.  If you read my review of my first Lip Tar Nylon then you know that I think they are pretty neat-o products.  Lip Tars are highly pigmented liquid lipsticks that can be mixed with other colors to create a totally unique shade.  Nylon whet my appetite for more and so I got another one.  This time in Queen.

Queen is described as a "neon red coral".  The color leans heavily towards the reddish-pink side.  Like all Lip Tars, it has a faint peppermint smell, but no discernible taste, and settles down to an opaque matte/semi-matte finish after applied.

Because of its intense color payoff, only a small dot (literally) would be required to lacquer your entire pout.  It spreads easily with a finger or brush and is incredibly long-wearing.

Even after rubbing my finger vigorously with a cosmetic wipe, Queen proved to be a royal pain to try and depose - a true testament to its staying power and the strength of its pigmentation.

I have some plans for Queen for the upcoming spring.  I think I may mix her with a muted orange lipstick or wear her in her original glory with the floral yellow dress I've been anxious to rock.  Either which way, I know the Queen and I are going to have fun together.  

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics' Queen Lip Tar can be found at Sephora and Beauty.com, and retails for $16.