Hard Candy Blush Crush in Bombshell (MAC MSF dupe!)

Happy Tuesday, beauties! I was strolling through Wal-Mart & decided to check out the Hard Candy section, I've looked through a few times & even purchased some items for a friend overseas but for some reason never picked up anything for myself (THE HORROR!) This product in particular stood out to me because I have a love for all MAC Mineralize Skin Finishes...even with my pro discount, MSF's aren't cheap.  I grabbed the bronziest shade I could find and happily skipped to the checkout (ok, I lied, I just walked).  

The item I picked up is Hard Candy's Blush Crush Baked Blush in Bombshell. I'm such a sucker for packaging & I must say, Hard Candy's packaging is pretty dang fabulous!  I tried to get a good picture of the front of this blush but because of the reflective silver it made it a bit difficult...the best one I could get was this:

 See, told you the packaging was pretty awesome :)

The color Bombshell that I picked up is a medium golden tan with a touch of pink swirled throughout.  I don't see this being a very versatile color for different skin tones because of how orange it could end up looking. The good news is that although it's very pigmented, it can be sheered out with a bit of blending.  It's shimmery without being over the top e.g. no chunky glitter. I'd stay away from this if you have very large pores on your cheeks or wherever else you may apply this because it will definitely accentuate them. The formula is buttery smooth & applies beautifully, just like a MAC MSF. 

These 2 swatches were taken with studio lighting, the left is very heavily swatched & the the right is blended out.

These swatches were taken with natural light outside, as above left is heavily swatched & the right is blended out.

 I got about 4-5 hours of wear before this started to fade, which isn't too bad considering how fast everything fades on me.  The Blush Crush is only $7 & is .28oz (8g) which comes to $25 an ounce whereas MAC Mineralize Skin Finish is $29 for .35oz (10g) and that's about $83 an ounce! That's a huge difference! 

There were 2 other shades available which I'm looking forward to picking up during my next shopping trip.

If you're looking for a great MAC MSF dupe, definitely check these out at Wal-Mart, you won't be disappointed. 

Until next time,

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July Starlooks Starbox - All Makeup Monthly Subscription Service!

Okay, let's face it...by now you all know how much I ADORE monthly subscription services!  Last month I reviewed my June Starlooks Starbox which can be seen by clicking here.  I thought that this would be one of those services where the first month is fabulous but the quality just goes down from there. Well, not with this company! This month is probably one of my favorites out of every sub service box I've ever recieved. I'm in LOOOVE!

Here's the box all nice and pretty :)

 All the goodies grouped together

Starlooks Shadow swatch in Gold Dust

This shadow is insanely smooth and highly pigmented.  This color makes a beautiful lid color as well as in the inner corner of the eye. 

 Starlooks Shadow packaging...it comes with an applicator and mirror inside. 

 Starlooks Blush swatch in Classy.  On lighter skin tones this would make a beautiful blush, for darker skin tones this makes an amazing highlighter!  I've also used this as an all over lid color as well as on my cheeks and it really warmed up my whole face.  The quality of this blush is very high quality. Super smooth!

Just like the shadow, their blush packaging comes with a mirror and brush for on-the-go touch ups!

 Starlooks Tendergloss Lipstick in Citron...this lip product is a lipgloss/lipstick hybrid.  I completely fell in love with the smooth, buttery texture the second I put it on my lips.  The color is out of this world!  It's a gorgeous coral/red with gold shimmer, you can really see the gold stand out in the swatch I've done.  I didn't experience and feathering or bleeding (yay!) This retails for $11 so that right there makes this box a superb deal!

Super cute compact with a regular and magnified mirror

My box also came with a quartz crystal! Unfortunately, I couldn't get the crystal to photograph well 

:( The quartz crystal is said to, "Attract energy, help maintain focus and is the ultimate symbol of beauty." Pretty cool little add-in, I've placed it on my nightstand :) 

I can't rave enough about this sub service.  It's an AMAZING deal for the products you recieve, I 150% recommend Starlooks Starbox if you're looking for an all-makeup monthly service.  This is also a great way to slowly build your makeup collection.  For $15 a month you get 3-4 full sized makeup items from the Starlooks store! 

I'm part of the Starlooks Starbox referral program, if you decide to sign up (awesome choice, btw) please use my YouTube/Blog user name mcubedmakeup in the referral box when checking out. 

You can sign up for your box by clicking here.

Until next time,

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Overall Beauty Product Review

Hey beauties! I was recently sent some mineral shadows, a blush, foundation & a brush from Kim over at Overall Beauty to try out and review for you all!  She sent me the cutest package with all of the minerals in a fun Easter baggie! Overall Beauty has TONS of things on their site!  For this post, I will just be reviewing some items from the Overall Minerals Line!  All of the mineral products have a higher percentage of pure mineral pigment and NO FILLERS! A 5 gram jar of mineral shadow is expected to last twice as long as the same size pressed eyeshadow! Pretty cool, huh! They do NOT test on animals (THANK GOODNESS!!!!) & their products are formulated without talc & bismuth oxychloride! ALSO...At the end of this review, I will be post information about a giveaway that Kim has graciously offered you awesome readers! Keep reading :)

Mineral Shadows

These were all swatched with my finger on bare skin, no primer.

Mineral Shadow in Snow 

Mineral Shadow in 3500 Feet Airborn 

Mineral Shadow in Bronze Turquoise  

Mineral Shadow in Turtle Dove 

Mineral Shadow in Mink

These shadows applied sooo smoothly! I was really surprised as how vibrant these were without any type of primer or mixing medium. I wore Bronze Turquoise on my lid, Mink in the crease & Snow to highlight! They blended really easily and the colors didn't end up turning muddy or fading.  They didn't crease and were just as vibrant when I went to take off my makeup that night. I will add a picture of it below...please disregard my always messy brows! :-P

Aren't those colors GORGEOUS?!

Mineral Powder Blush 

This was swatched with my finger on bare skin, no primer.

Mineral Powder Blush in Iced Wine

This was just as buttery smooth as the shadows! I am not usually a fan of shimmery blush, I usually only add shimmer for highlighting my cheekbones but WOW! I have used this blush for the past 4 days! I can't get enough of it! It warms up my face and looks amazing with bronzer! Even my hubby commented on how great my cheeks looked! (YAY!) This blended flawlessly! I had no problems with it fading either! Love!

Mineral Powder Foundation

Mineral Powder Foundation in Porcelain 

Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of the foundation...it accentuated my dry spots, even though I moisturized VERY well.  I felt as if it "sat" on top of skin and didn't really blend that well.  The color is pretty light, I figured it would be best, but it was quite a few shades too light...no biggie, I was able to add some bronzer to make it look more natural.  I'd always rather have a color that's too light than too dark! This gave me little to no coverage...you can see in my swatch how it didn't seem to blend too well. This was the one miss of the bunch.  

Eyeshadow Brush that Kim included! This really helped these colors go on precisely!

All of the items listed above (plus TONS more) can be purchased at Overall Beauty. Prices for the  Mineral Shadows are -  Samples: $1.50, 5gram jars: $7.99, 10gram jars $11.99

 Mineral Powder Blushes are - Samples: $1.50, 3gram jars: $4.99, 5gram jars: $7.99, 10gram jars: $11.99

Mineral Powder Foundation - Sample (5grams): $5.75, 10gram jars: $15.95, 20gram jars: $21.95

I am so impressed with the blush & shadows! There are soo many colors to choose from! What are YOUR favorite colors?

GIVEAWAY!
How would you like to win:
6 Mineral Shadows of your choice
1 Brush Set
AND
Samples of the 4 brand new, never released colors from the upcoming Spring Collection from Overall Beauty
Well then continue on my friends....
To enter, you must head over to my Facebook page by clicking here..."like" my page as well as Overall Beauty's page and "share" the giveaway post on your wall! Simple, right? Exactly! The giveaway will close on Friday March 23rd at 10pm MST. The winner will be chosen by using Random.org
Best of luck to you all! I know you are going to LOVE these products! 

You MUST like M Cubed Makeup Artistry's & Overall Beauty's FB page as well as share the giveaway post to be eligible! 

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