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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Coastal Scents Creative Me #1

I've been seeing quite a few beauty vloggers & bloggers RAVING about this palette as well as Coastal Scents Hot Pots which they compare to MAC shadows. Hmm. Well, I must be the one & only person who thinks the opposite. I ordered mine from Amazon for $20.50 and it came the next day. Now I know that a lot of matte shadows are harder to work with and some do tend to be on the chalkier side but these are like nothing I've ever used before. 

 The colors look so bright and vivid in the pan! I was like a child on Christmas morning when I opened this up! Sadly, that's where my excitement ended.

 I had to swipe my finger across the shadow a minimum of 8-10 times just to get a bit of color to swatch. The colors were so chalky and applied insanely patchy. Here's the first row of colors. You can really see with the yellows how patchy the colors went on.

 The second row was just as bad. The third purple I had to swatch over and over again to get color to show up and it's still very faint. The 1st and 4th color in this row are the 2 colors that I can work with somewhat. Some do look bright in these swatches but the massive amount of product I had to pack on to get to that just makes it too much work.

 The 3rd row would have to be the worst out of the palette, some of the pinks/purple can be worked with but these were just not going to happen.  I had to repeatedly apply color and when I would swipe the color on my hand it would disappear and fade out.  You can see how faint the colors went on and I really packed these babies on!

I am so disappointed in this product, I really thought from all the reviews that this would soon be my go-to bright colored palette but I honestly can't see myself ever using this.  I had an online cart full of the Hot Pots to purchase but I just don't see that happening any more.  

Have any of you beauties tried this palette or any others from Coastal Scents?

Until next time,

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Eyeshadow Primer - My "Frienemie"

So I've been priming my eyelids for about 8 years now, it's just second nature when I do my makeup. I've tried SO many different primers from high end to drug store.  The one I've stuck with the longest and always seem to go back to is the cult-favorite Urban Decay's Primer Potion.  I've been one of the lucky ones and never really had to worry about creasing, I used my eyeshadow primers for one purpose: brighter colors.  Recently, everything I do, my shadow creases! I've never had this problem! I've been switching between Urban Decay's Primer Potion (original) & Too Faced Shadow Insurance (original & Candlelight)...two of the best, right? For me, wrong. So now I begin my "Eyeshadow Primer Journey." Wanna join? Hopefully it won't be too long of a journey ;)

What are YOUR favorite primers? Least favorite? 

Until next time,

Marina - mCubed Makeup

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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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