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

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

EOTD: Yellow and Brown POP

Hey everyone! It was a cool, yet sunny day here in SoCal so I decided to do a fun look to match my mood and this great weather. Hope you all enjoy!

Products Used:

MAC eyeshadows- Chrome Yellow, Goldenrod, Ricepaper

Laura Geller Baked shadow duo- Biscotti

Sleek Ultra Mattes V2 Palette- Black and Brown shades

Stila Stay All Day Liner- Black

Napoleoon Perdis eye pencil- White

NYX Jumbo Pencil- Milk

Aromaleigh Pigment- Curious and Curiouser

MAC lipstick- Violetta

MAC Zoomlash Mascara- Black

Brushes by E.L.F, Sonia Kashuk, Illamasqua, Coastal Scents 

What are your favorite eyeshadow combos to wear on wonderfully sunny days?

-Miss Brina

EOTD: Feeling Purple

Well hello there! I hope everyone had a great holiday, I know I sure did. I haven't really been doing much in the makeup department lately (with the exception of playing with a few items for upcoming posts)... so I decided to break out the old 88 palette and give the peepers a little pick me up while I had 5 minutes to myself. Please excuse the eyebrows, I'm simply too lazy to tweeze them right now LOL Hope you all like it!

Products Used:

CS 88 Palette

MaqPro HD Puff Foundation (base)

Milani Extreme liquid liner

Sumita eyeliner (LOVE!!!!)

BE Mascara

CS and E.L.F. brushes

-Miss Brina

MAC Saigon Summer lipstick

Don't you love when you stumble across old gems in your makeup drawer!?!

Saigon Summer

I picked up this baby when the Cremesheen + Pearl lipsticks came out awhile ago, but never got around  to using until a few days ago... and it was instant love. I love and own a plethora of lipsticks in various shades, but I tend to stick towards nudes and coral for the working days, so Saigon Summer was a no brainer for me when I saw this collection. And the fact it was a Cremesheen lipstick was the cherry on top since it's my favorite finish from MAC. It is like more wearable Morange in my opinion, and can work through all seasons despite it's more summer-y tone. It kind of reminds me of Jazzed too, but  when I first saw it Vegas Volt jumped into my mind. Yet when I swatched a few other coral-esque lipsticks to compare... they all look PINK next to Saigon Summer... kind of weird.

MAC Saigon Summer

L-R: MAC Vegas Volt, MAC Lollipop Lovin', MAC Saigon Summer, MAC Sock Hop, MAC Richer Lusher

Anyhoo, anyone own saigon Summer, or any other lipstick from this collection? What's you're favorite Coral/Orange lippie?

 -Miss Brina

Review: Sonia Kashuk Flat Contour Brush (MAC 163 Dupe)

Man... they almost got me! Who? Why, MAC of course... them and their limited edition brushes! I was all set and ready to drop the $35 for their 163 contour brush, figuring it would make my life a whole lot easier, when lo an behold.... Sonia Kashuk swooped down and stole the sale LOL

I was a bit early meeting a buddy at the mall, so I decided to pass some time walking around Target when I spotted this brush... and my mouth hit the floor. I said to myself, "Dang that looks like the MAC brush I'm about to get," then myself answered back and said, "Girl, does that say $12.99?" So I promptly picked up the LAST one and hurried my behind to the check out feeling like I hit some kind of jackpot.

Now, at first glance it's identical to the MAC 163 brush, but there are a few minor difference in them (which I discovered when I whipped that bad boy out at the MAC store). After ignoring the side eye my friend was giving me for pulling out the "competition" in the MAC store, I proceeded to examine the SK brush against their 163... and amazingly SK came out the winner.

They are both flat Contour/Sculpting brushes with surprisingly dense bristles, making for fool proof contouring and blending of products, but the SK brush head is slightly smaller in width than the MAC 163. I happened to like this, figuring it will cut down on mistakes and help out my product placement and control.  The second was that the SK brushes bristles were a lot softer than the MAC 163. Now, I am not in any way saying that the bristles on the  MAC 163 were super hard or anything, but I had to note that I did notice a small bit of scratching as I rubbed it over the back on my hand. I experienced none of that with the SK brush. Also, the 163 is synthetic and the SK has natural bristles. I'd have LOVED if the SK was synthetic (personal preference) but something's gotta give, right?

In the end, I am OVER THE MOON with my accidental dupe discovery. And at well under half the price of the MAC 163, you just can't beat the price or quality. I'll be picking up a few more backups in the off chance it becomes unavailable in the near future.

Have any of you picked up the MAC 163 or Sonia Kashuk Flat Countour/ Sculpt brush? What are your thoughts on either?

P.S- I know it's late, but I had to throw in a random Halloween shot. Excuse the meltdown/smudges... it was the end of a very long day :)

-Miss Brina