Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Review of: DIVERGENT COSMETICS Divergent Multi-Piece Collector's Palette

I loved the Divergent series so I wanted to purchase the full Divergent Cosmetics collector's kit but unfortunately it was out of stock so I decided to try out the palette instead.

This palette contains three eye shadows, a lipgloss, a blush, and a bronzer. It retails at 32.50 and is sold at Sephora stores and online.


This is how the palette comes packaged in it's box. I like how you can see the actually palette peaking through. 


Here is the back of the box with the palette information. 




And here is the palette itself. I really liked the reflective look of it. Once I started to hold it the feeling of this palette is extremely cheap and the hinge seemed kind of loose. I don't know if the loose hinge was just on my particular palette or all the palettes in general. If I can track one down in stores I will be sure to check out the hinges or if anyone else has this palette let me know if your hinge is a little loose feeling. 

This palette is pretty thick and bulky feeling. Here you can see it with a normal pencil in front of it. 



Here is the inside of the palette. I like that the lipgloss is inside of its on tube so I can take it on the go without having to take the entire palette. There is also a pretty decently sized mirror on the inside of the palette. 

Here is a closer look at the side of the palette with the eyeshadows and the lipgloss. 


Here is a closer look at the side of the palette with the blush and bronzer. 


Here are the swatches of all the colors. I applied the three eyeshadows over TooFaced shadow insurance. 
From left to right its: Compassionate Copper (bronzer), Rosy Horizon, Envious Chocolate, Luminous Taupe, Candor Lace, and Artistic Mauve 

My individual review on everything contained within the palette:
Compassionate Copper: This is a very pretty looking bronzer with some shimmer in it. When I tried to apply it to my arm it came across very patchy and light and it was hard to get it to show up on my arm in a nice way. I had really high hopes for this color because it looked like a perfect summery bronzer. The search will continue. 
Rosy Horizon: This is a really nice looking mauvey pink color within the palette but I had some similar application issues as I did with compassionate copper. The color was really patchy and chalky feeling. It took several coats in order to build up enough color pay off.
Envious Chocolate: This dark brown color had no application issues! With just one swipe I was able to get great color payoff and it seems like this color would be easy to blend out and work with. 
Luminous Taupe: This color also had a great application. It only took one pass through in order to get this great color payoff. This is my favorite color in the palette because it just looks so beautiful. 
Candor Lace: This color was a little bit harder to work with than the other two eye shadow colors but it was still easier to use than the blush and bronzer. I think this color would work as a great highlight color. 
Artistic Mauve: This is a rather sheer lipgloss color but it has a nice minty taste. Its a little sticky but not excessively so. 

Overall impressions: I feel really conflicted about this palette I love the concept behind it because I really loved the Divergent series but some of the colors just were not good. On another note this is my first ever makeup review so if you have any suggestions for future posts please let me know! 

Disclaimer: All opinions in this blog are my own and all products have been purchased by myself! 

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Frog Tape Shapes DIY and Review

I have always loved the look of chevrons, but when I would attempt to create them by myself they would always look a little bit off. When I saw an ad for the frog tape shapes, I just knew that I would have to try it out to see if my chevrons would turn out as perfectly as I imagined.


I decided to use the tape on three 12 x 12 canvases with the intent to use them as art above my bed.
I started out by attached the canvases together so that the pattern would be connected between them.
I then applied tape across the three canvases and smoothed the tape with a credit card. 

 I cut the canvases apart and put blue tape around the edge of each to make it easier to paint. 



To make sure that the tape was extra secure I had the canvases sit upside down with books on top of them over night. With a bonus cat picture!





I painted the two side canvases with a gold paint. On a side note although I love the look of this paint it is very difficult to get even looking coats. When I painted I tried to avoid brushing towards the tape and instead tried to brush away from it.



Here is the canvas after one coat. 


Here is the canvas after two coats. I started to get a little worried because the tape was bubbling. I ended up doing three coats to get the paint looking nice and even. 

For the middle canvas I used gold glitter. 




Here is a shot of me peeling off the tape. The lines ended up looking really sharp which made me extremely happy.

 For the glitter canvas I sealed it with a three coats of Mod Podge

Looking nice and sealed! 


Here they are all together! 



I am really happy with the way this project worked out. The Frog Tape Shapes made it really easy to make chevrons look perfect.

Here they are all on the wall.

Disclaimer: Everything used in this DIY was purchased by me and all opinions are my own.

Extra Note: This is my first ever blog post! I look forward to sharing my DIYs, Shopping adventures, and just my life in general.