I recently bought this LashStash Mascara Deluxe Sampler from Sephora.  At 40 bucks, its an awesome deal that I just couldn’t pass up.  I have the hardest time finding mascaras that work for me because I have oily eyelids so most of them smudge except for the waterproof ones but I try to stay away from those.  You’ll see reviews for most of these mascaras as I try them out…although we all know I am a total fan of BadGal lash so I won’t bother doing a review for that one!!

The first mascara I tried today was Laura Mercier’s Full Blown Volume Mascara.  I had high hopes for this one because I have heard great things about the Laura Mercier line, although I have never used it.

I liked the way the mascara went on, not too clumpy but not too natural either.  I wouldn’t say my lashes were near “full blown volume” so that was a let down.  It lasted from 8am until about 11am when I looked in the mirror and had smudges of mascara under my eyes.  I even primed my eyelids this morning!  So this mascara is a big FAIL.  Thumbs down (both of them!)

Fall is here in Chicago,  that sun kissed skin will slowly fade away.  Luckily, Urban Decay has released a new set of highlighters that will brighten up your face called Urbanglow Cream Highlight.

These creams come in 4 different colors. Brown Sugar (a warm taupey brown – finally a highlighter for darker skin tones!), Moonshine (an iridescent shimmer), Sin (the color famous in their eye primer, a shimmering champagne) and Wicked (a radiant pinky shimmer).  Urban Decays website claims that they are subtle enough to work with any skin tone but usually Urban Decay’s products are so full of pigment that those with a heavy hand may use too much.  Make sure you use a little and build the color up slowly so you don’t over apply.

These highlighters can be used in a multitude of ways.  They are great as a highlighter for your cheek bones,  apply right above the cheek bone along the bottom of the eye area to create a natural glow.  Dab a little in the inner corner of your eyes for a pop of shine, use right under the brow bone to lift your eyes up or even use them as a shimmery blush.

They are compact enough to store in your purse for when you need a quick pick me up.

Urban Decay’s Urbanglow Cream Highlighters are now available on Sephora.com.

I have been getting asked a lot about the Urban Decay Naked Palette so here are some swatches for you to drool over   You can barely see the first shade all the way on the left but it’s there, I promise.  Here are the colors in order from left to right

Virgin – a nice highlight color that is VERY light champagne color

Sin – this is one of my favs!  Its a shimmery champagne

Naked – great for brows!  A matte taupe

Sidecar – my least favorite, has a lot of glitter in it – a shimmery/glittery taupe

Buck – a matte caramel color

Half Baked – Lovely shimmery gold

Smog – Shimmery chocolate brown

Darkhorse – a deep dark taupe with shimmer

Toasted – a mauve with shimmer (great for brown eyes!)

Hustle – a deep almost purple brown with shimmer

Creep – Black with silver flecks

Gunmetal – a blue gray with flecks of silver glitter