Birchbox is having a DREAM GIVEAWAY!!!

I don't know about you guys, but I could dang sure use a trip to the DR right about now... and that's exactly what Birchbox is offering to one lucky person. Who wouldn't want a chance to spend 5 days at the Oscar de la Renta styled TORTUGA BAY RESORT, and if that isn't enough, they're also throwing in the entire SOMETHING BLUE fragrance collection! If you want to try your luck at the ultimate luxury experience, then enter here.

Review: Portland Black Lipstick Company + GIVEAWAY WINNER

I'm a lipstick woman. All colors, formulas, brands... I'm not too picky. I see a shade I like, I buy it... it's very simple. That being said, I stumbled across some bee-yoo-ti-ful lipstick swatches a few weeks ago on Portrait of Mai, and fell in instant lust with all things Portland Black Lipstick Company. The swatches were so unique, so creamy, and soooooo pigmented that I HAD to head on over to their website to cop a few of my own. After much back and forth about what colors I wanted, I ended up placing an order for 8 lipstick samples, in an attempt to try out the brand for myself and narrow down what shades would suit me best before I made a full size purchase.

Now, there are 22 lipstick shades currently offered in the line, that run for only $10 a pop! That's certainly affordable. And honestly, the color payoff you get from these bad boys are better than a lot of the "popluar/it" brands that are on the tongues of the masses nowadays. And being an indie company, the customer service you get is great. I was very pleased with the ease of ordering, and the personable communication that was provided. I even received an email from the owner Kim letting me know my order had shipped (got it in 2 days!!!), apologizing for an overlooked inquiry AND giving me a very helpful and unexpected tip regarding carmine allergies. You can tell that she, and the staff of Portland Black really have a passion for their craft... and the extra samples that were included in my order were great!

Now more about the actual products I ordered. I found that they were all very creamy, absolutely non-drying, and had excellent slip and adhesion. All of the shades I ordered, with the exception of Lux et Voluptas, offered full coverage in one swipe. Some of the samples had small bits of unmixed pigment in them, but it wasn't a biggie, and they blended into the lipstick easily with the help of the lip brush I was using. While I truly LOVE all the colors I picked up (so much for the narrowing down lol), I have to say I was more partial to the application and wear of the flatter shades (the ones without any/much shimmer or metallics). My favorites in the bunch were This Corrosion, Blood Red and Artificial Amethyst.

Overall, I have nothing but good things to say about my first purchase from Portland Black Lipstick Co. and am looking forward to trying out the rest of their shades and their various glitters/powders. If you're into full coverage and unique  yet wearable shades, then I'd strongly suggest you head over to Portland Black Lipstick Company and check out all they have to offer.

Hope you enjoyed the photos!

And last but not least, the winner of the 30 Eyeshadow Rainbow Palette Giveway is...  ANN RAYE! Congratulations, I'll be emailing your shortly. 

EOTD: Keeping it Green

I'm still in love with my new 30 eyeshadow palette, so here's a look I did using the 1st and 2nd row greens (left side of both), the matte gray, black, both browns, the tan (end of 2nd row/right side), the yellow (right side), and the shimmery gold (1st row/4th column). The mascara is MAC False Lashes Waterproof, the black liner is my trusty L'Oreal HIP cream liner, the purple on the bottom lashline is the lilac shadow from the purples in the top row, and I have NYX Milk pencil in the waterline. The more I use this palette, the more I'm digging it.  

I also have been using some new brushes, full review on them coming soon.

Don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY for your chance to win the 30 Eyehadow Palette here! And I hope you all have a happy Father's Day weekend everyone!!!

-Miss Brina

EOTD using the 30 Rainbow palette

I decided to post a couple looks from the last few days using the 30 shadow palette from ebay. Let me know what you think. And don't forget to enter the giveaway to win one of your very own 30 shadow palettes!

-Miss Brina

30 Rainbow eyeshadow palette review/ Swatches + GIVEAWAY

been a little MIA since the last post, but trust, I have not forgotten about you guys. Quite honestly, once you've seen what I was testing out all will be forgiven lol

Look at this beauty! I had been stalking this bad boy for a few months, not really knowing who it was by and what it was called, but me being the "google queen" that my honey likes to call me I found it on ebay and snatched it up! Now, when I bought this palette, I couldn't find many swatches or looks with it. Don't get me wrong, there were pictures of the palette for days... just hardly any swatches. After some extensive instagram hawking, I found a few companies who were selling this "rainbow" palette for 3-5X more than I paid on ebay, and my excitement over this palette (and my GREAT deal) grew that much more!

As with all of these  palettes, certain shades tend to swatch better and more pigmented than others. When I first opened it and swatched on bareskin, I surprised by the adhesion. Now, not every single color was super pigmented, but they ALL passed the rub test WITHOUT any base or primer. That being done, I noticed a bit on fall out from the shadows, but for the price and having dealt with similiar palettes, it was too be expected.

Color me impressed overall, I decided to do another swatch test, this time with a beige base underneath, just for comparison. And while you get a decent, and at times slightly chalky payoff without one, adding a base underneath these shadows made them come alive! A base will be your best friend with this palette. Check out the side by side comparison pictures, the photos on the right were done WITH a base.

  

 

 

 

 

 

If you want some great shadows, and don't mind a palette without all the neat packaging and bells and whistles, then you can go here to purchase this palette. But ONE lucky & loyal follower won't have to, because I am offering one of these LOVELY palettes as a celebratory THANK YOU GIVEAWAY. It's just my way of saying thank you for your support ;)

To enter, you simply have to be a follower of this blog and leave a comment on this post telling me what you'd like to see more of on Beautifully Flawed. One comment per person, but you can earn TWO (2) additional entries by blogging about the giveaway and linking back to this post, just leave the link in the comment section and let me know "I mentioned your giveaway."

Giveaway ends at 11:59 PST on June 21, 2013. Winner will be picked at random and announced on June 23, 2013.

Hope you all enjoy the post, and good luck!

-Miss Brina