Best $10 I Ever Spent!

It's summer, or the end of it I should say, and us oily/combo girls need some help! I will FOREVER stand by that face masks, change lives. Lol
Truth be told they do help immensely, so adding one to your current skincare routine can only help improve your skin.
I use a variety different masks, depending on time of year, results I'm looking for,  and my current skin condition.
I use the Boots Botanics Shine Away clay mask to purify and mattify. It's great for any age, even teenagers, starting them out on the path to great skincare.
If you're oily, you use it all over the face, it dries fairly quickly, in less than 10 minutes. For combo girls, with an oily T zone, you can use it as a spot mask on the nose and forehead.
This mask can be used  at least one a week, and as needed. It also retails, just under our $10 price range.

Sinful Colors Neon Nailpolish

Hey EVERYONE!!! I know I don't do nails, I just don't. It takes too much time and I ALWAYS mess it up, no matter how much dry time I have.
Well I have a nail polish collection, that has created itself, so what do it with it? Might as well put it to good use.
Sinful colors was the tested by consumer reports, and came out #1!!
It even beat out Chanel! A mani using Sinful Colors lasted 10 days, longer than any other brand tested.
Now, Sinful Colors is EVERYWHERE, and us penny pinchers already knew about it.
When I saw the neons collection, I just had to have it! I must admit, I'm a nail polish snob. I will buy limited edition colors, but that's about it, no standard colors/ finishes for me LOL.
The great thing about Sinful Colors, is at $1.99 you can buy them all without making a dent in your wallet.
Here are swatches from the neons collection and the mani I created using them along with Sinful Colors nail stickers. Did I forget to tell you about the nail stickers? Here they are!

I swatched them next to China Glaze's neons. Pretty close in color and consistency if I do say so myself...except about $5 cheaper.
In each pic China Glaze is on the left, Sinful on the right.
(Please excuse my poor cuticles)

Review: NUDE PALETTES

As you may have known or realized not all nude palettes are created equal.
They all can't be UD Naked, but some can try.
I took all my nude palettes, 4 at the time, and lined them up against each other. Can they measure up to the Naked palette in variety, pigmentation and quality?
Let's see!

Contestants:
Urban Decay Naked palette $52
Forever 21 Smoky Palette $7
Coastal Scents Revealed Palette $25
Maybelline The Nudes $10

If you know me by now, you know that I did not pay full price for any of this LOL! I'd like to thank sales, coupons, and employee discounts for making this all possible!

Urban Decay Naked
What can I say? It's a classic, in the short time it's spent on this planet. I don't know what it is, but I want to wear all the colors at one time. You can't go wrong with this palette at all and I think that is why it is often imitated but never duplicated...unless you count Naked 2 and 3.
In true UD fashion they are pigmentated, long lasting colors. There are a mixture of matte, shimmer and glitter textures. Basically a little is all u need. I don't need to say anymore because you probably already own this one. And if your thinking about buying this palette, but choke on the $52 price tag, for the 12 colors included in this palette it works out to be about $4.33 cents an eyeshadow.
Let's look at some other brands gunning for that Naked throne.

Maybelline The Nudes
Everyone and their mama was after this palette. Hell! I worked in the store when this palette came out and still had to wait as I watched our meager supply sell out in a day!
It's a nice beginner palette. The colors are arranged in a quad system, so the 4 colors adjacent to each other would ideally be used together to different looks. For anyone more experienced with makeup you know we are not just going tostick to those 4 colors.
Basically it's 3 quads, 4 colors in each quad making it 12 colors in total.
For the price it's an awesome deal! for 12 colors, it comes out to be about 83 cents per eye shadow.
It's a nice palette. I appreciate mass brands getting in on the palette idea, especially with the nudes. The pigmentation is average. Good for a drugstore brand.
How do the colors match up to the Naked palette?  Not even close! the quality is at opposite sides of the makeup spectrum. I would say it's nice for someone just starting with makeup.

Forever 21 Smokey Palette
Let's just say I HAD to buy something, so I chose this.  It's not horrible, but Forever 21 sells party dress and heels, not makeup. The palette looked reasonable and at $7, why not!?
Also another nice palette for beginners. Some shadows are a little hard. The pigmentation is ok, better than I expected, but not even up to maybelline standards. The packaging it attempts to be Naked. But my dear, naked you are not. Our least expensive palette coming in at 70 cents an eyeshadow, it's worth it for your teenager to practice with.

Coastal Scents Revealed Palette
OK you got me coastal scents. You look good, almost too good to be true. You're running around passing yourself off as 2 naked palettes at $25, how dare u?!! I like Coastal Scents. The quality of their products is amazing,  it's almost witchcraft. Upon first look there is a close comparison in the variety of colors. There is a dupe for every Naked 1 (and 2) shadow in the revealed palette.
The quality was the best out of all the naked imposters, by far!!! If you're just not feeling UD, try the Revealed palette. 1/2 the money, twice as much product.

$1 *GEM*

Yes it's back, I'M BACK!!
I've been away too long and I have so much to say and do!!!
I decided to start with a $1 *GEM* to bring you back and make you love me again (fingers crossed!!)
The *GEM* comes from Profusion cosmetics.
It's a very affordable brand of cosmetics, probably best know for eyeshadows. But this product is a lippie. A "lip luster" to be exact. It has the consistency of a lipgloss, but goes on like a liquid lipstick. The pigmentation is amazing, especially for $1. What's even better is its non drying even though it has a matte finish. It tends to stay put, just don't try eating or drinking with these bad boys on. It instantly disappears.
Although the disappearing act is normally a bad thing, with all its other good qualities I can over look this. Plus it goes on so easily and doesn't smudge or bleed that you can just whip it out anywhere and reapply it effortlessly!
There are 6 colors and of course I got all 6.
They are available at Walgreens, Ulta and most beauty supply stores.