NYX cosmetics has opened its first store here in Belgium and I couldn't be more excited. It opened on the 23rd of June, but I was still on vacation then. I heard people waited in line to get in for three hours (!!). I had to be in Ghent Wednesday so I decided to take a look at what the store had to offer. I went in with one goal: finally pick up some Soft Matte Lip Creams. So I did! This is a first impressions post, to show you girls which colors I got, how they look and what I think about them so far.

USA Haul Part 2: Makeup - CVS, Sephora & Duane Reade

Time for part 2 of the USA haul! Today will be make-up and skin care. I'm going to insert 'group pictures' of the products and list them under the photo. You'll probably see a lot of reviews in the near future so I'm not going to talk about them here. That would make this post very very long so let's keep it easy!

• Anastasia Brow Wiz Pencil in Ash/Taupe
• Benefit Gimme Brow Gel in 'Light'
• Wet 'n Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Trio 'Walking on Eggshells'
• Wet 'n Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Collection in 'Comfort Zone'
• L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in 'Amber Rush'
• NYX Eyeliner in 'Golden Olive'
• Rimmel Eyeliner in 'Navy', 'Light Blue' and 'Nude'
• Maybelline Tattoo Cream Eyeshadows in 'Bad to the Bronze' (repurchase for when my old one dries up) and 'Barely Branded'
• Maybelline The Falsies Flared Mascara
• Benefit 'They're Real' Mascara
• Revlon Colorstay Eyeshadow Quad in 'Addictive'
• Estée Lauder Sumptuous Bold Volume Lifting Mascara in Black (part of a gift with purchase) 
• Milani Shadow Eyez Pencil in 'Champagne Toast'
• Nyx Jumbo Eye pencil in 'Cashmere'
• Maybelline Age Rewind concealer
• Josie Maran Coconut Watercolor Eyeshadow in 'Playa Del Pink'

NYX Megashine Lipgloss in 'Beige' and 'Tea Rose' Review

After hearing so much about the NYX Megashine Lipglosses, I decided to finally try them out. I have them in two colors: Beige and Tea Rose. I found these on the Cherry Culture website and showed them in my Cherry Culture haul.

The packaging is, like all NYX packaging, simple and sleek. I like it this way and you can easily find the right color when you want to put one of these on.

Beige is definitely not a beige color. It's a soft pink color. Tea rose is a darker pink color and is darker than I tought it would be. 

In the next photo you can see swatches on my hand, but I also have swatches of the colors on my lips. The lipgloss feels creamy and just a little bit sticky, but not irritating. I love the smell, it's very sweet and fruity. It reminds me of a mixture of cherry and bubble gum.

                                                                Swatch: Beige

                                                            Swatch: Tea Rose

They are a bit similar on the lips, but Tea Rose is darker than Beige. I like them both but Tea Rose is my favorite. Even though Beige is a lighter color, it was 'brighter' and more noticible on my lips. Tea Rose is slightly more sheer than Beige.

These lipglosses are available on the Cherry Culture website. Nyx is an amazing and very inexpensive brand, I love it! I would definitely recommend these lipglosses to anyone!

Have you tried these lipglosses? Do you like them?
xx, 
Astrid

Nyx Slide On Pencils in 'Jewel' and 'Golden Bronze' Review

Hey guys, another product I bought from the Cherry Culture site were the Slide On eyeliner pencils. The full name of these pencils is: 'Slide On, Glide On,Stay On & Definitely A Turn On Waterproof Extreme Shine Eyepencil. (This eyelines is so good, the name had to be long!)', which I think is the best name ever for an eyeliner! 

I got these in two colors: 'Jewel' (dark purple with shimmer) and 'Golden Bronze' (beautiful bronze color).

Here are the swatches of the two colors. I've heard a lot of people compare these to the Urban Decay eyliners. I've never tried the UD ones, so I can't compare them. But I think these are amazing! They just glide on like butter and  they have great color payoff. I think these are two beautiful colors. I don't have anything like it in my collection.

I wanted to see of these really stayed on, so I rubbed them a minute after appying them. They lost their intensity, but they had stained my hand pretty well. To take them off, I had to use eye makeup remover. They are waterproof :)

I think these eyeliners are great and I love the colors. They are smooth, soft and come in a huge color selection. Everyone would find the perfect color for them :)

You can find these pencils at the Cherry Culture website.

What is your favourite eyeliner?
xx, 
Astrid 

NYX Jumbo Eyepencil in 'Iced Mocha' Review and Swatches

Hello again everybody! I want to introduce you guys to the NYX Jumbo Eye pencil in 'Iced Mocha'. This is a beautiful frosty brown-taupe color. You can use this product as an all over the lid eyeshadow, an eyeshadow base or even as an eyeliner! I think it would beautiful, however you use it.

I've heard so much about the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils so I was very excited to finally try one out. This color and 'Milk' are the most popular shades, but NYX has a huge color selection in this line. From neutrals to brights, everyone will find the perfect color!

In the swatches above, you can see the color applied on my hands. On the lowest swatch, I blended out the color a bit, like you would on your eyes. I's beautiful and neutral but you can also built this color up, for a darker effect.

The product itself is very creamy. This glides on like butter! So soft!

This is an amazing product that I would really recommend to anyone. It's also really inexpensive :)

This is also a product I bought on the Cherry Culture website. Their NYX product selection is huge, you can find so many products on the site.

What do you think about the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils?
What's your favorite color?
xx, 
Astrid

NYX Champagne&Caviar Eyeshadow Palette Review and Swatches

Hey everyone! Today I wanted to show you guys the Nyx Champagne&Caviar 10 Color Eyeshadow Palette. This was part of the Runway Collection, which included 12 gorgeous palettes. I bought this on the Cherry Culture website when they where having a 20% off everything in store sale.

The packaging is simple, black and pretty. Nothing too fancy and no excess packaging. It's not a big palette, so it would be great for traveling. This will fit right in your makeup bag! ;)

This palette includes ten gorgeous eyeshadows. It's a mix of champagnes and browns, but you also get a white, a pink and a black shade in there.

The eyeshadows have a decent pigmentation. The dark brown and the black could be a bit more creamy and pigmented. I really had to build up some of the colors; especially the lighter ones. Overall, I like the colors. These could be great for an everyday neutral look. But you can also make it more dramatic with the darker colors. If you're looking for an inexpensive neutral palette that you can use everyday, I'd suggest this one.

This palette is available on the Cherry Culture website.

What is your favorite neutral palette?
xx, 
Astrid

Cherry Culture Haul: NYX and China Glaze + First Impressions!

Hi everyone, I posted my Project Pan update yesterday and told you about how I gave up my project for an hour, when I saw that Cherry Culture was having a '20% off everything in store' sale. I could not resist. I had just cleaned out my collection a bit and threw away some old makeup, so I figured I deserved a little reward to myself. 

I'll do seperate reviews on all the products once I used them a bit more, but I'll do first impressions now as well.

The first thing I bought were two lipglosses. I've heard a lot about these and I wanted to try them out for so long! I got 'Beige' (which is not beige at all, but it's a light pink) and 'Tea Rose'.

                              NYX Lipglosses in 'Beige' (lightest one) and 'Tea Rose'

                                       This is what the cap looks like, SO cute!

                                   Swatches: Beige and Tea Rose.

The glosses smelled nice and fruity. I like the smell. They have nice pigmentation and didn't feel sticky on my hands.

I also bought two eyeliners. These are the 'Slide On, Glide On,Stay On & Definitely A Turn On Waterproof Extreme Shine Eyepencil. (This eyelines is so good, the name had to be long!)' I love the description. Ever since I saw this on Amarixe's blog, I wanted to try them out! I got them in 'Golden Bronze' and 'Jewel'.

                            Eyepencils in 'Golden Bronze' and 'Jewel'

I decided not to buy the classic black or brown, I have enough black eyeliners. So I've chosen two more special colors and I'm so happy I did! I love these two and they felt so smooth when I swatched them on my hand.
  
Then I chose one blush, just one. After a lot of thinking, I decided to buy a light colored neutral blush called 'Mauve'

This blush looks very light, but when I swatched it on my hand, it appeared to be a bit darker on the skin. It seems like a perfect, natural shade.

I've heard a lot about the 'Champagne&Caviar' palette so I decided to try that out as well. I also bought another palette but that never got delivered (more about that later)

                                       I love the colors!

And of course, you can't do a NYX haul without the Jumbo Eye Pencils. I got one in one of the most popular shades, 'Iced Mocha'.

                                   Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in 'Iced Mocha'

To me, this was more brown and bronzy than I expected. I thought it would be more of a taupe. But I still love the color and the pigmentation was, again, amazing.

And last but not least: the nail polishes. I wanted to try China Glaze for years now. And when I saw they still had the Hunger Games collection, I was so happy!

I also bought four of the NYX Advanced Salon Formula Nail polishes. The color selection was nuts, they have so many colors! It was really hard to chose.

From left to right: CG Harvest Moon, CG Fast Track, CG Stone Cold, CG Hook and Line, NYX Hunter Green, NYX Pastel Pistachio, NYX Blue Supreme, NYX Precious Gems.

Yes, I bought a lot. But I wanted to only buy things that I don't have yet in my collection, like the China Glaze polishes and the NYX eyeliners. I'm glad with my purchase and am excited to review and use everything. 

What did I think about Cherry Culture? 
My order was processed and delivered in about two weeks, I think that's long but not terrible at all. It had to come from overseas, so I can't expect to have my order delivered in five days. 

A big downside were the shipping prices. They count by weight, I think, so the shipping was nog inexpensive. I'm glad I had 20% off my purchase, so it made up for the shipping prices.

There is one big problem. I had also ordered another eyeshadow palette from the new 'Fall in love in Paris' line for spring 2013. But I never found it in my package and the package was well closed, so it didn't got stolen or something. They never warned me about the item being out of stock, so I think they just forgot it. My package also did not include a list of products, so I can't figure out what must have gone wrong. 

I sent an e-mail to the Customer Service and they answered within the hour that they will check everything. I hope I will still get my palette.

This has been a very long blogpost. I hope you liked it :)

Have you ever bought something from Cherry Culture?
Do you like NYX/China Glaze?
xx, 
Astrid