Bag Full of Beauty - Big Lots!

BIG LOTS! HAUL

Ft. ColorMates, Jesse's Girl JulieG, Revlon, Rimmel, Sephora by OPI

I am back with another Bag Full of Beauty for you! Yaaaaaay! ::dancedance, dancedance:: This time I have an AWESOME bargain haul for you. If you've never heard of Big Lots! it's a closeout retail store located all over the US (they did have locations in Canada as well, but on December 5th of last year it was announced that all stores will be shut down by Q1 of 2014). My particular Big Lots! store doesn't have a huge selection of makeup, but what I DID find made me super excited! And wait till you see the prices! The only downside to finding the awesome goodies at Big Lots! is that most of the time, it's because the products have been discontinued and they're emptying their leftover stocks. However, it's still so great to discover popular items and well known brands that you may always have wanted to try or get but never had a chance to! Bonus - low price! Here's what I picked up...

COLORMATES

MINERAL EYE SHADOW PALETTE

in Classic I

Price on colormatescosmetics.com - $3.00

Big Lots! price I paid - $2.00

So not a HUGE bargain, but heavens, it's a GORGEOUS looking eyeshadow palette that was just calling my name! Blues and teals? Yes please! I've never tried ColorMates brand before, so I was very curious as to how pigmented these shadows might be.

The shadows are all satin shimmers, but some have a bit larger fleck of shimmer in them, like that deep teal you see above. Some also have a slightly frostier looking finish as well. 

APPLICATION AND SWATCHES:

The shadows were surprisingly soft and fairly pigmented! All of these swatches are done without primer and with about 3-4 swipes each. For $2, um woooooooow, yes! The white, light pink and light green are the least pigmented, but still very smooth to apply, although they can look a teensy bit powdery, but when blended well, they look great. I'm pretty happy with the blues and teals, especially that deep teal, it's gorgeous! The copper browns/golds are also beautiful. 

LONGEVITY AND WEAR:

I was amazed by the wear time for theses shadows! I used them along with a primer and a setting spray and I didn't have any fading for at least 7 hours after application. There was no creasing, or smudging and it didn't leave my eyes feeling dry. 

WOULD I REPURCHASE?

I actually would! They also have Classic II and Classic III palettes that I'd be interested to try. Classic II has more neutrals as wells as some greys, and Classic III has some beautiful sky blues and nude browns (as well as other shades, similar to Classic I). 

COLORMATES

LIQUID EYELINER AND PENCIL PACK

in Black

Price on colormatescosmetics.com - $2.00*

Big Lots! price I paid - $1.50

These eyeliners came in a duo pack, along with a sharpener (which I'm also happy to have a spare of!). The liquid eyeliner appears to be a full-size, however the pencil is a travel-size. I can't find the pack on ColorMates website, only full-sizes of each item. *I cannot find the pack's price on ColorMates website, and of course there's a huge range in prices on eBay, Amazon, and other private sellers, but the Liquid Eyeliner is $1.00 on ColorMates website, however there are no travel sized pencils, so I'm going to guess that it's around $2.00 in worth total.

Liquid Eyeliner

It's been a while since I've used a brush applicator for a liquid eyeliner, I've received so many felt tip ones in beauty boxes or in purchases, etc. The brush is very fine, for a very, very precise application. You can press very lightly for a super thin line or apply a bit more pressure for a thicker one. Liquid eyeliners are a bit trickier to use, though, as they're much less forgiving then pencils or felt tips brushes.

Pencil Eyeliner

This a standard, typical wooden pencil eyeliner. My main complaint with it is that it doesn't say the brand or what color it is on the pencil (I know, it's ooooobviously black, but sometimes there are various shades of black in different brands, however it seems that ColorMates only has one black), all it says is "Eyeliner Pencil". Well...that's sort of useful...I think.

APPLICATION AND SWATCHES:

Liquid Eyeliner

I love, love, LOVE this liquid eyeliner! It is super black, can be so very precise, sets fairly quickly and seriously lasts all day. I LOVE applying it very tightly against my lashes in a thin line regardless of what liner I use for my cat-eye or wing because it makes my lashes look thicker! When I tried to wipe off this swatch, I couldn't without a makeup wipe! Love it!

Pencil Eyeliner

This photo actually doesn't do it justice. The color is really a bit blacker than it appears. The formula was fairly smooth and creamy, and easy to apply. It did not tug or pull on the skin at all! It's fairly buildable if you want a richer deeper black, but it's definitely not the blackest black of eyeliners. Still, not shabby at all for the price I paid!

LONGEVITY AND WEAR:

I was very pleased with the staying power of these liners! As I mentioned above, after the liquid liner set, I couldn't wipe it off unless I used a wipe. Say what, my loves, say what! Isn't that a fabulous thing to hear? The pencil liner also sets relatively well, although it's still a bit soft, so it will smudge if your eyelids tend to get oily or if you wear it on your waterline. I wore this under my bottom lashes and did have to wipe off what had smudged after about 3-4 hours of wear, but when I wore this on my eyelid it wasn't quite as bad. My eyes love to water, especially when I yawn, so I'm used to eyeliner smudging on my bottom lashes. 

WOULD I REPURCHASE?

Probably not the pack, but definitely the liquid liner! The pencil liner is pretty good, but I have about a gazillion pencil liners that I like just a tad bit better. I also wasn't too crazy about the pencil sharpener because not only does it not have a plastic guard to catch the shavings but it's only sized for a normal pencil instead of a duo for normal/jumbo sizes. 

JESSE'S GIRL JULIEG NAIL POLISH

in Under Mistletoe

Price on jessesgirlcosmetics.com - $3.99

Big Lots! price I paid - $1.00

So this is an older polish, from the JulieG Holiday 2012 Collection, but um....yeah...it was a DOLLAR, I HAD to! Hahaha! Plus it's my very first JulieG polish and I was just dying to try it out. Even though it's a holiday polish, I still think it's a gorgeous color to wear for Spring.

APPLICATION AND SWATCHES:

The color is a stunning shimmery green that has a light glossy finish that looks more like a shiny satin in certain lighting. I applied two coats for the photo (no topcoat), and it was still not completely opaque but I was satisfied with it. If you tend to apply your coats a bit thinly, then you may prefer three. I had no problems with streakiness or running, and it evened out nicely. 

LONGEVITY AND WEAR:

With a base coat and topcoat, the polish lasted almost three days with no chipping, by the end of the third day I had some light wear on the tips of my nails.

WOULD I REPURCHASE?

Yes! I think it's a gorgeous shade, in fact I plan to grow my JulieG collection now, I'm loving the first one so much!

REVLON

PHOTOREADY BRONZER

in 100 Bronzed and Chic

Average price found online - $8.00

Big Lots! price I paid - $3.50

I'd been looking around for a good blush that is comparable to Too Faced Chocolate Soleil since Soleil is a bit pricey and I had heard that this Revlon bronzer was pretty darn good, so I was superdupes stokes to find it at Big Lots!

   

 Let's talk a moment about the packaging. I'm not a HUGE fan of it, but I do love how the four colors are separated well enough. I think the case is a bit bulky to make room for a brush, which I know I won't use so I'll probably try to depot it instead of trying to find a place to store it. The brush is a tad bit flimsy as well.

 

    

The bronzer was originally released in Revlon's Escapism Summer Collection of 2012, hence the coral design, which again, not a huge fan of, but it will wear down with use, so I can't complain too much. 

APPLICATION AND SWATCHES:

All four shades are completely matte and warm in tone, ranging from a warm yellow undertone nude to a warm chocolate brown. The formula is fairly creamy and smooth, and very easily blended. I had no problems with patchiness or dryness. My only complaint is that it leans a little too warm and orangey on me, whereas Too Faced Chocolate Soleil has no orange tint in it whatsoever. It's so hard to find completely matte bronzers that don't lean orange! I find if I still to swirling all the shades or only using the right side of the quad, it does look fairly nice, though. Here are all four shades blended together:

 Still a little warm on my skin tone but it's not too bad for the price at all! It's one of the better matte bronzers that isn't overly priced that I've found.

LONGEVITY AND WEAR:

I loved the wear on this! I used it for my usual contouring - cheeks, jawbone, nose, etc. - and used a setting spray to finish and it stayed fresh looking for nearly the entire day. Because the formula is smooth, I had no issues blending it out or it becoming patchy or dry looking. 

WOULD I REPURCHASE?

Although the price is fantastic and it is very similar it texture to Chocolate Soleil, it just isn't quite the right tone for me, it's much to warm.....plus it doesn't smell like chocolate. Chocolate Soleil, why did you have to make me so picky! ::giggles::

RIMMEL LONDON

 VINYL JELLY GLOSS LIP LINER DUO

in 003 Starlet and 004 Sorbet

Discontinued* - average online price - $6.00 for a single liner

Big Lots! price I paid - $2.00 (for both)

This product has been discontinued for a bit now, so it's a tad harder to find, but I did see some being sold on eBay, Amazon and other various discount stores. I averaged the price from different sites as I didn't see a main one for the duo pack. I don't have many lip liners and certainly not some that sound like these, so I was very intrigued!

They had a few different selections of duo shades to pick from including a natural/pink duo, a nude duo, and a deep rich pink/brown duo. I chose this natural pink/coral duo because it looked puuuurdy. The packaging is a standard lip liner pencil, and they are made to be sharpened.

APPLICATION AND SWATCHES:

I LOVE the formula! The name is very suiting, they are like jelly, so smooth with some jelly-like shine. The ONLY bad thing about the formula is that because it's so soft, you can blow right through it like that ::snaps finger::. We're talking if you want to wear the entire color over your lips (instead of just lined) you're going to have to resharpen it the next time you use it, it'll be flat! I love the colors, though! 

Starlet

 

I LOOOOOOVE Starlet, is is the most gorgeous natural pink babydoll tone on my lip with a beautiful smooth I guess you could say...VINYL finish. I did use a foundation on my lips to cancel the pink tone so you could see the true color of Starlet. It's the perfect girly shade!

Sorbet

And of course, I love Sorbet even more than Starlet! SUCH a pretty coral pink! As I said, I was surprised at how pigmented it was. Even though the formula is very soft and jelly-like it does set to an extent so it is fairly lasting! I really love wearing this under a lipstick to make it last longer. As a liner, it does keep lipsticks from feathering, or smudging out.

LONGEVITY AND WEAR:

I actually much prefer these formulas to a standard pencil liner that tend to pull my skin more than I like. As I said, although they're soft, they do set so they do last quite some time, albeit not as long as not as soft liners. For all over lip color they last me around 4 hours before needing major retouching and that's with eating and drinking. 

WOULD I REPURCHASE?

Well, unfortunately, as I said, they've been discontinued ::sadness, sniffle:: however, if I run across the other shades for sale, I certainly will be picking them up!

SEPHORA BY OPI

in Just a Little Dangerous, I Only Shop Vintage, A Color That Can't Be Tamed, To the Glitter End! and IM Beauty

Discontinued* - Average online price - $4.00 each

Big Lots! price I paid - $1.00 each

Alas, another discontinued item. I've been snatching up any Sephora by OPI polish that I've seen since they're no longer making them! Every once in a while Sephora will have them on their website, but I haven't seen them in a while now. When I found these beauties in a big bowl of polishes I literally yelped with supreme happiness, especially when I saw that they were $1.00 each!

APPLICATION AND SWATCHES:

Just a Little Dangerous

A little dark for the season, but I love it! It's a gorgeous vampy deep violet that glides on like a dream and it perfectly opaque with two coats (shown above). I don't apply any top coat in my swatch photos, so you can see the finish, and as you can tell, it does have a fairly glossy look, but not overly so. It's more like a strong satin-gloss. 

I Only Shop Vintage

I really can't wait to wear this in the summer, for some reason it reminds me of the beach and sand! It's a very pretty, warm caramel-golden sand shimmer. The finish is more like a satin, but with a tad bit of gloss, however it has a slightly odd dusty effect which you can somewhat see in this photo. I think it makes it look..well..vintage! Goooorgeous, dahling! It glides on very, very well and I had no problems with it running or streaking. It was perfectly opaque in two coats.

A Color That Can't Be Tamed

This was a surprising love for me! I wasn't crazy about it when I first picked it up but I went ahead and bought all the shades that I didn't have since they're going bye-bye and the price couldn't be beat. Once I put it on I pretty much had a "OOoooo, aaaaahhhh" moment and was sad when I had to take it off! Haha! It's a beautiful pale spring green shimmer with a shiny almost metallic glossy finish. It's VERY sheer, though. Shown above is two coats with no top coat and yup....quite sheer. You'd probably need at least four coats to become decently opaque but honestly, I kind of like this look! I bet it'd be beautiful over a green, silver or maybe even a grey! Because it's so sheer, it is a TEENSY bit streaky but if you try to use as few brushstrokes as possible, it's workable. It's not runny at all, though. 

To the Glitter End!

I was only able to find one Jewelry Glitter Top Coats that I didn't have but I was happy I found this one, I'd been trying to find it for awhile! It's a beautiful pewter chunky hexagon glitter in a clear base and is fairly packed. Shown above is two coats (no topcoat) that I worked just a teensy bit for better placement by using the tip of the brush after brushing it on. I love everything about this glitter, it's well packed for a chunky glitter, the color is pretty, it looks great over so many polishes and the glitters don't stray too much when brushing it on! 

IM Beauty

The last of my polish treasure finds, IM Beauty is a pale yellow jelly that was a taaaad bit tricky to apply. It's definitely not the best formula, but I've found yellows are always a tiny bit of a pain in the derriere. Shown above is two coats with no topcoat and as you can see, there's some light streakiness and it's not fully opaque. It doesn't even out that well and if you try to go over the same spot a few times to assist in evening it out, it thins out and leaves patches of thinner spots that you can visibly see. You could probably get away with three coats and have it look decent if you can try to use as few brushstrokes as possible. The finish is nice and glossy. 

LONGEVITY AND WEAR:

I usually have good luck with Sephora by OPI polishes, they typically last me around 4 days before any major wear on the tips! The best wear I had of these was A Color That Can't Be Tamed and the worst was IM Beauty. 

WOULD I REPURCHASE?

If I can find colors I don't have, YES! I would never get through these bottles quick enough before they disappear for good, though, to repurchase again.

FINALE

So of course, you've seen all the polishes, but well, naturally I had to show you my new palette, bronzer, lip liners and eyeliners!....

Did you think I WASN'T going to use the teals in the palette? I mean, really now? ::winkwink::

I had SO much fun playing with the colors in the palette! Of course, I started with an eye primer and NYX's Jumbo Pencil in Milk to really make the shadows stand out. I used the white shadow just below my eyebrow and the light blue right below that. I then used the deep teal all over my eyelid, and blended the green-teal (bottom left of palette) into my crease. I then dabbed on some of the plum purple shade near the inner part of my eyelids for a pop of color, and the rusty bronze on the outer corners. I then used a white eyeliner for my water and patted on the white shimmer eyeshadow over it as well as on the inner corners of my eyes to brighten. 

I used the liquid eyeliner on my top lashes and out into a thin wing, and matched it below with the pencil eyeliner, lining it just below my bottom lashes and directly out parallel to the top wing. 

I used a mix of the two lip liners for my lips, starting with Starlet as my liner and blending it all over the lips, then smoothing Sorbet over it to deepen the color. 

I used the bronzer lightly (so the warm shade wouldn't overwhelm my paleness) as my cheek contour and nose contour.

Well that's it for my second Bag Full of Beauty post! I hope you enjoyed! I had so much fun trying out new stuff at such a fantastic price. The total I paid for everything was $15 plus tax! I'd say that is a FAAAABULOUS bargain! If you have a Big Lots! near you, I highly recommend popping by and seeing if they have any fantastic beauty finds or discontinued items, as they're certainly worth purchasing at these heavily discounted sale prices.

What do you think of this post of Bag Full of Beauty? Any items you'd care to try out yourself? Sad to see them go? Let me know what you think!

Happy (Bargain) Makeuping!