TheBalm Mary Lou-Manizer Swatches: Quick Swatch

Today's post is just a quick swatch of TheBalm's Mary Lou-Manizer, the beige/champagne shimmery highlighter that's been getting lots of raves from everyone. I happened to be in the store, looking around, when this caught my eye, and I was entertaining that age-old question that plagues every beauty blogger, "To buy or not to buy". (Believe me, after nearly 5 years as a beauty blogger, saying no to that question isn't any easier than it was when I began...Darn the slick marketing departments of beauty brands.) Of course being the diligent beauty blogger that I am I also took photos for my blog.

TheBalm Mary Lou-Manizer Swatch

As you might know, Mary Lou-Manizer (luminizer, haha) is a champagne shade that is actually quite shimmery. I made two swatches, a heavy one and a light one. The colour is really pretty, and overall the product gives off a gold sheen on the face. I did notice however that in direct strong sunlight this looks a little sparkly...As in you can see the sunlight bouncing off the individual sparkles in this product. I'm not too sure how I feel about that, sparkly has always been a thing a good illuminator should avoid, in my opinion. In all other lights (indoors, shaded sunlight) this seemed fine. These swatches are taken indoors so they look a little more metallic and less illuminating, but they don't look that bad in most other lights. And I imagine if in real life this is applied with a fan or stippling brush, it will be just a hint of shimmer and sparkle.

In the end, I didn't get these because one of the Etude House highlighters I got in Korea lately, the Face Designing Brightener in #1 Wannabe Face, kind-of-sort-of reminded me of this (also another beige-y highlighter with shimmer) so although I'm pretty sure they're probably not dupes, I didn't buy it. So I escaped for today. (Who knows when I might cave, or what I might cave in on next, though!)

theBalm Blushes, Bronzer and Face Powder Swatches!

Today is another swatch post, and this time we're swatching more theBalm products! I'm starting to quite like this brand, as they have some pretty good quality stuff. Last time we talked about theBalm, we saw swatches of their pencil eyeliners (cutely named Pick Up Liners) and their lipsticks (which I thought had a nice decent range of colours). Today, we're looking at the blushes and other powder products in their range, which are the stars of their line.

These have been getting a lot of raves, and I can see why. They come in some very beautiful colours - in fact, some of them are near-dupes for some famous colours in more expensive brands. They're also nicely pigmented, yet not too pigmented, and have a very nice texture and application - these are some of the nicest ones I've seen. And they come in the cutest packaging, too, with pictures of pin-up girls adorning the cover of each blush. Unfortunately, it's also made of paper, so you wouldn't want to be too rough with it.

Here are swatches:



L - R: Down Boy, Cabana Boy, Hot Mama, Bahama Mama, Sexy Mama

Down Boy is a very pretty neutral pink. I know usually I get really bored by neutral pinks, but this isn't your typical pastey pastel neutral pink. There's something about it that makes it more than the sum of it's parts. It's very pretty, and pretty much as universal as a blush can get. It's beautiful. I know the swatches make it look grainy and powdery, but it's not. It's got a good application. I've noticed that my swatches tend to make things look really grainy and powdery, because I pile the product on and don't bother to dust off the excess. Oops.

Cabana Boy reminds me of NARS Sin, and is my favourite of the bunch. This one caused a big hoo-ha when it first came out, because it was apparently hard to find (the commotion has since died down and it's easily available now). It's a beautiful pinky-plummy colour, and unlike NARS Sin, it's not shimmery. I'm so tempted by this. I think I need it. Like NEEEEEED it (Oh, who am I kidding. I don't need anymore makeup...But still...)

Hot Mama is an orgasm lookalike, and although I'm not sure if it's a 100% dupe, because it's been awhile since I last had it, it certainly does look similar. This one also has a shimmery finish, like Nars Orgasm, although it doesn't have glitter bits that are as big. I may be wrong, of course, but I do believe the finish on this one is finer as the glitter bits are smaller...It's more like fine shimmer than big glitter. I do think that it could potentially get a little frosty if layered though, but it's still one lovely colour.

Bahama Mama is a bronzer, and although I don't use bronzers or contouring powders, I think this is one of the best I've seen so far. Most bronzers make the mistake of being either too shimmery, or too orange, so that you either look like Data from Star Trek got a tan, or an Oompa Loompa, or both.

You know, think a cross between this shininess:

Image from Wikipedia

and this orange-ness:

Image from notsuchayummymummy.wordpress.com

Anyway, the good thing about Bahama Mama is that it's NOT orange based, and it's NOT shiny. Which means cool-toned people can use, and people who wish to contour with it (as opposed to putting it on the high points of their face) can use it. I personally think it's great, even if I'm inflicted with the "must-be-fair" Asian skin preference.

Lastly, Sexy Mama is a transluscent powder. It's not 100% transluscent though, so I wouldn't recommend it for anyone too dark. It does show up a little if built up, but you'd have to use a lot (like I did when swatching heavily). But for most people, I think this would definitely get the job done.

I really like these, so if you're lemming any of them, just get them already!

TheBalm Read My Lips Lipstick Swatches!

Happy New Year everyone! What was your new year's resolution? Mine was to actually use up more things in my stash, hah. Today's swatches are theBalm's line of lipsticks, cutely named Read My Lips Lipsticks, and athough they have a limited number of colours - I'm not sure if I got the entire range down, but it seems that their colours are only limited to 6 - they cover most bases for lip colours. And most of their lip colours are very pretty and wearable too. They also come in cute paper packaging that looks like newspaper print - unless of course you don't like paper packaging, since these can get wet and spoil quickly. Personally, I only like the look of paper packaging, but it's not very practical for me.

Overall, I think these lipsticks are not bad. They have nice textures, and apply relatively evenly. And they don't have any weird smell - I think they just smell of unscented lipsticks - slightly chemically, but very faint. They're also all on the sheer side, although they build up nicely. They're not as superpigmented as the Barry M Lip Paints (which I'm so swatching, by the way), but they're wearable. Overall I think these are one of their better products, although they are a tad underrated.

Here are swatches, as always:



L - R: Wanted, Scoop, Gossip, Letter to the Editor, Classified, Smut

Wanted is a very pretty pinky-plummy rose, Scoop is a warmer rose that's less dark than Wanted and has more brown, Gossip is a pale pink with silver shimmer. Letter to the Editor is a shimmery bronzey brown colour with a hint of rose, while Classified is less shimmery, and less rosey. Smut is a deep purply-plum with some pink, and silver shimmer.

Although these colours are boring, I quite like them, particularly Wanted. They're good for work (unless you don't like shimmer), and these are pretty much safe, pretty colours.

theBalm Timebalm Concealer Swatches!

Today, I have swatched TheBalm's TimeBalm concealer. I didn't manage to swatch all the shades, because unfortunately the shop only had the lighter to medium shades available. I know, breaks your heart, doesn't it? Sometimes, it just seems that darker girls have it hard when it comes to beauty - first of all, many brands don't make colours with them in mind. And when they do, sometimes the retailers don't even want to carry them! But nevertheless, I swatch whatever I can, and whatever is available to me, and I hope it helps somebody.

So here you go, swatches. The names are really cutesy, ranging from Lighter than Light (which honestly isn't THAT light), to Light, and then it starts getting uncreative - Light-Medium, Medium, and the really inexplicably named Mid-Medium.

The texture of the Timebalm concealers is pretty smooth and decent, without being over-emollient. Pigmentation is also very decent, each of these swatches being 2 - 3 stripes - that's total opacity with 2 - 3 swipes of product. Overall, a not too shoddy product. Not bad at all. They also seem to be getting a lot of love in general, so I guess it's worth trying out, if you can find one in your colour.




Lighter than Light is a very pink-toned pale flesh colour, that I would guess is probably NW15 or NW10? I'm not too familiar with the NW colours.

Light is neutral-to-cool-toned pale flesh colour that, but not as pale as Lighter than Light.

Light-Medium is a hair darker than NC20 (that's my colouring), and is yellow-undertoned. It's definitely similar to NC20.

Medium is what I'm guesing NC25 would be, although I don't really know. Also slightly yellow-toned, athough I think it's neutral enough.

Mid-Medium is a neutral-undertoned flesh shade, although it might just veer towards yellow undertones.


The good thing about the TimeBalm concealers is that most of them, with the exception of Lighter than Light, have pretty more-or-less neutral undertones. Sure, each individual veers slightly towards warm or cool, but they're all close enough to neutral to be wearable for most people.

theBalm Pick Up Liners Swatches and Review

Today's swatches and reviews are that of theBalm Pick Up Liners, a cutely-packaged set of three liners and a sharpener. These liners are REALLY small - they aren't longer than a couple of inches.

Each set has three liners, but I've just swatched them altogether because there were only 2 sets and thus 6 colours altogether. That, and I got mixed up as to which pencils were in which set :X



The pencils are all matte, and none of them have shimmer or glitter - which would appeal to some of us here. The colours are nice but boring basics, so these are good, but nothing to scream about. Sugar Daddy is a dark olive green, Ladies Man is a pretty navy blue, Casanova is a mid-tone brown, Lover Boy is a grey-purple, Don Juan is black, Romeo is dark grey. Like I said, nice but basic. Perfect colours for work, I suppose. I actually like every colour here except black (but that's only because I don't wear black liner).

These liners are relatively soft, and go on pretty well. Pigmentation is also pretty decent. Staying power, however, I find a little lacking. Maybe I've been spoiled by the Urban Decay 24/7 liners (I always say that once you use those you won't use any other pencil liners), but these seem to smudge off easily in comparison. Still, they're not all that bad, they just aren't wow-ing me.

TheBalm Stainaic Swatches: Beauty Queen and Homecoming Queen

Today I am providing swatches with Thebalm's Stainaic in two colours, out of three. Unfortunately I'm only able to swatch two out of the three colours, as this is all that was available. :(

The Stainaics are gel stains, and they are much like Benefit's Benetint and Posietint, only better, because they are less runny, and the gel-like texture makes it easier to control, as well as easier to blend. I think their gel texture also gives them a bit more time before they dry and set, which makes them much better than Benefit's competitor products, as these tend to dry really quickly, in my opinion.

The Stainaics are packaged in a wand with an applicator, much like lipgloss. I think this packaging is a little unsanitary - I'd much prefer that they be in a squeeze tube - but at least in this form of packaging, there's no chance of spilling any product, unless the entire tube breaks.




L - R: Beauty Queen, Homecoming Queen

Beauty Queen is a colour very similar to Benefit's Benetint, and all its imitators. It's a rosy red colour with a berry tint, and very pretty. It's a deep red that can be sheered out or built up for colour. It would probably look better on cool-toned than on warm-toned girls, but I imagine this would look good on most people.

Homecoming queen is a very orangey peach. In fact, I think it's probably 90% orange and 10% peach - it reminds me of the colour of marmalade or orange jam. I think this would probably look good only on warm-toned girls, given how orange it is.