ColourPop Holiday Haul

I am not a makeup junkie. My skincare routine is as elaborate as possible to ensure that I don't have to spend hours on makeup. Usually I just slap on a layer of Benefit's Porefessional, some concealer under my eyes and a layer of mascara and I'm good to go. Unfortunately, this doesn't work for the holidays. One is expected to look better than the everyday at parties and other outings.

I did a massive makeup purge earlier in the fall, so I was basically left with nothing to put on my face in December. After securing the basics, I started researching online for the cheapest, but most attractive makeup items to complete my holiday looks. Enter ColourPop. At $5 per shadow, lip liner, and lip stick, how can you go wrong? After putting enough items in your shopping cart, the $14.95 international shipping fee seems almost reasonable.

I decided to purchase the Lip Pencils rather than the Lippie Stix because one of the constant opinions expressed in the online reviews is that the matte Lippie Stix have more of a satin finish. Regardless, I ended up hating these, but that's my own fault. I keep trying to pull off the perfect nude lip and failing. My natural lip colour is almost an exact match to Lumiere, so that was a wash. Brink and Frida made my lips look barely a shade darker and lighter. They're beautiful, just not on me. Maybe I'll take the hint, slap on some lip chap and call it a day on the neutrals. Or maybe I'll forget all about my failure and go back and buy the Brink/Frida/Lumiere Lippie Stix and fool myself into thinking I'll get a different result.

My shopping cart originally had every metallic shade that ColourPop offered, but I managed to reign myself in and just purchase their metallic holiday set, Down With Decorum. Most of their holiday sets are contain limited edition products, but I chose this one because Game Face, Liberty, and Mooning are part of their standard collection and I could repurchase them when I ran out. I love love LOVE these shadows. Even Glitterati, which is significantly less pigmented than the others. ColourPop recommends applying these with your finger to get the best coverage, but I am way too heavy-handed for that. The first time I tried the shadows using my fingers, I ended up looking like I smeared mud all over my eyelid. I now use a stiff shadow brush and achieve the same pigmentation by layering the product. I'm officially obsessed!