GDE April OTM: Ladies Love "Fellas Love Yella!"

     I am finally able to share photos of the OTM!  My computer is pretty sick and on its last life, so I had to play around a bit with my photo card to finally get it to work. Thanks for the patience! :) On that note:

  

     This April's OTM arrived in a bag with a  beautiful golden foil damask design! I'm a huge fan of damask patterns, so it was lovely to see.

     The bag opened to reveal delicious Lemonheads (appropriate to the color), pigment, and description card with additional business cards.

The pigment itself is called Fellas Love Yella:

     Glamour Doll Eyes describes Fellas Love Yella as "A pale yellow marigold yellow with golden/copper shimmer.  Safe for eyes, lips, nails, face."  It reminds me very much of the Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 Hour Cream Gel Shadow in Bold Gold, with more of a yellow pop to it. I think this would serve as a great top color to wear over the gel shadow, or in its own glory with primer, since I tend to have major creasing problems with the Color Tattoos.

     Swatched indoors without flash:

Left- With Control Freak and Foil Me
Center- With Control Freak
Right- applied alone

     Swatched indoors with flash:

Left- With Control Freak and Foil Me
Center- With Control Freak
Right- applied alone

     For the following look, I applied Ahoy Sailor all into the lid and crease, Premonition on outer crease, and Skin of a Killer in the brow bone and inner corner of the eye. Then I brushed Fellas Love Yella on the top of my lid and lined it in the inner rim of my bottom lashes for that burst of color!

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Simply Irrestistable: Smashbox Love Me Eyeshadow Palette (Image- Heavy)

FTC Notice: These items were received from the company in a giveaway.

     Earlier this year, Smashbox was running a sweepstakes in which they were giving away sets including one of their Love Me products and one of their top-selling products to several entrants.  I was very fortunate to be one of the winners, and within 2 weeks of notification, a box with Smashbox's Love Me Eyeshadow Palette in Entice Me and travel-sized Full Exposure Mascara in Jet Black arrived in the mail.

I love the sticker on the packaging!

My kitty was excited, too! :)

     The Love Me Eyeshadow Palette in Entice Me features five shimmery and sparkly neutrals, including sparkling purple, purple taupe, icy pink, icy blue, and deep sparkling navy (color descriptions courtesy of Smashbox's website).  The compact itself contains artist Curtis Hulig's iconic "Love Me" heart design, which is featured throughout the entire Smashbox Love Me series.

Without flash.

With flash.

         ...but there's more to this shadow than meets the eye.

     The "Love Me" logo flips up, further revealing the colors!

Without flash.

With flash.

     The colors are highly pigmented and are incredibly soft and smooth to the touch.  This made application a BREEZE!  I did not use any brushes- simply my fingers for application and blending. I used all the colors in the palette and they went together so nicely. The only disappointment I have is with the sky blue shade- for some reason, it did not want to stay put at all. It was the second color I applied to my lid, and then I reapplied it onto my lid last because it was no longer detectable. It still did not want to stay put after that. I had no problems, however, with the other colors. The next time I use this palette, I plan on using a mixing medium and different base just to see if I'll get a different result.  If you do plan on purchasing a Love Me Eyeshadow, check out the back of the box. There's a peel-off sticker that includes a how-to guide for achieving a look incorporating all the colors. It is a bit discrete, and I did not notice this until after I used the palette for the first time:

  The Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara is good for achieving nice, polished lashes without going over the top.  The applicator is a bit thicker and larger than the typical brush, with the classic, slightly tapered shape. While I strongly disagree with Smashbox's claims of the product's ability to volumize 104% and lengthen lashes 32%, I can't vouch for how it would work on others since not all lashes are created equal. However, clumping is minimal and this is an ideal mascara to use with false lashes.

     

     The following are photos incorporating both the Smashbox Love Me Eyeshadow Palette in Entice Me and the mini Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara in Jet Black.

    The lipgloss is Smashbox Lip-Enhancing Mega Gloss True Color in Celebrity and was also from a previous giveaway (just had to answer a quiz on their Facebook page and sign up for it that given day!) for a full-sized tube. If you haven't already, I think it'd be a great idea to "like" them on Facebook just to keep an eye on the giveaways they have! 

    Overall, I was really impressed with the Smashbox's Love Me Eyeshadow. The shadows are much more gorgeous in person, creating such a romantic, feminine look. You can purchase Smashbox's Love Me Eyeshadow Palettes in Entice Me or Admire Me for $34 and .38 oz. of Full Exposure Mascara for $19.50 at Ulta, Sephora, Smashbox.com, or Amazon.

Disclaimer: I was not endorsed by Smashbox to promote this post.  The content expresses my sole, personal opinion without influence from the company.

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Glamour Doll Eyes March OTM- Dreamboat is Peachy Keen!

     The OTM's always leave me guessing, and I was a bit stumped on this one. I automatically wanted to think green would be the monthly color in honor of St. Patrick's Day, but figured it would be out of the question since it was already featured in January.  Vee's hint with the name Dreamboat a few weeks ago only made me think of water- a blue, perhaps?  I sure was proven very wrong, but now have another unique color added to my pigment collection in Dreamboat.

     When I opened the package, I was greeted with one of the satin drawstring bags that every OTM comes in; this one was a soft peach. Honestly, it is by far my favorite bag in terms of color- just so soft and feminine. It kind of reminds me of ballet slippers. 

     I continued to open the bag, and to my surprise, my face appeared on the March OTM card! I literally squealed! 

Photo from my "Vampy Valentine" look!

     Vee had asked for head shots from customers to use for the OTM card, and I honestly did not think I would be selected. Thank you again, Glamour Doll Eyes! You have made me one very happy girl. :) Vee is still looking for faces to put on two months' worth of OTM cards, so if you are interested, visit the Glamour Doll Eye Facebook page for more information.

The contents.

     To match the pastel springy theme, there were also pastel packaged candies included in the bag.  Peach was definitely the theme of the month, because Dreamboat turned out to be a spring-forward color. As described on the OTM card:

"A light peach with green sheen. Safe for eyes, lips, nails, face."

     The pigment appears bright orange-yellow in the jar, but actually has more of an light orange-gold color once applied. I love the fact that is has green hints in it as well, because it works really nicely with green pastels. (See look further down for the color combination).

Without Flash:

Left: With Control Freak and Foil Me
Center: With Control Freak
Right: Dry

With Flash:

Left: With Control Freak and Foil Me
Center: With Control Freak
Right: Dry

     Vee also does bonus months, where she includes additional products in the package. This month, she also added a sample jar of Petticoat, a highlighter from Kiss My Sass Cosmetics. Following the theme, it is another peach color. I found this to be more on the pinky side.  

Without Flash:

Applied dry.

With Flash:

Applied dry.

     Even though it's a highlighter, I applied it along my cheekbones and found that it added a really nice touch of color to my face. It was very natural looking for a healthy glow. 

  The following pictures were taken with a flash. Petticoat was used on the browbone. Dreamboat was applied onto the lid, Mackinac (pronounced Mack-in-NAW) in the outer-v, June Bug in the crease, and Sparkler in the center of the lid and edge of inner lid. Pink Cadillac from the discontinued Eye Lights collection was added to the bottom to further soften the look. All of the GDE colors excluding the OTM and Pink Cadillac are a part of the permanent Blogger Collection. If you are new to Glamour Doll Eyes, I would suggest the Blogger Collection as a great starter set due to its nice variety of colors.

Taken without flash, to show the overall look and slightest touch of color Petticoat adds to the cheeks:

     This month's pigments really challenged me to put aside the darker colors and go softer.  I'm really excited to try out this color with a few other pastels I have, in addition to some other brighter pigments and see how they work with one another! Since it's lip-safe, I also think Dreamboat would look amazing dabbed on top center of another lip color for a little peach punch.

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