But First, Lemme Take a Selfie: Julep's Photogenic Palette

Frequent readers of this blog know I'm a huge fan of Julep products. I've been a Maven (their monthly nail polish subscription box) for over a year and it's the only box I haven't cancelled yet. They have great colours, great deals, and their customer service is amazing. 

But while Julep is best known for their nail polish, their other beauty products are pretty badass too - I've been happy with their lipglosses especially. But in the eyeshadow department, I felt they were lacking. Their first palette was a mini sort of Naked Basics knock-off deal, with boring boring browns and taupes and it was boring and nothing special. Then they had gel/liquid eyeshadows for a while that didn't really go over well either. 

But when I saw this baby, I knew I had to have it. Enter Sweep - The Photogenic Palette

First off, the colours are beautiful. It's not your average Naked knock-off palette. There are bright, holiday-ready colours in here. The colour payoff is really great too - each tone has got just the right amount of shimmer and the pigment is bold while still being really wearable. The formula blends really well, and you can use this one palette for a whole variety of looks, from something more natural to a bolder, brighter vibe. 

From bottom: Flash (which you can barely see since it's almost the exact same colour as my arm), Gala, Focus, Pose, Filter, Sepia, Icon, Selfie, Debut, Star, Fame.

The brush it comes with is really nice too - dual ended with soft bristles. I've been having so much fun creating looks with this palette. It's unexpected, and a really great holiday offering from Julep.

The Photogenic Palette  makes for a great gift for makeup lovers in your life, or for yourself! It's on special discount right now and its TOTALLY WORTH IT. Julep winning it yet again. 

The Best Part of Waking Up: Soap & Glory's Smoothie Star Breakfast Scrub

I really love exfoliators, and I will tell you why. I have super dry and itchy skin, and it's vital for me to scrub off dry flaky skin cells so that I have super smooth skin. And granted I probably don't exfoliate as often as I should because I get lazy, but when I do, I see a really huge difference not only in how smooth my skin is, but in how itchy it is also.

Now that it's summer and everyone's got their skirts and shorts on, I'm noticing how years of scratching at my dry skin has effected me. My legs in particular have dark scars from constant scratching and my skin breaks very easily so I bleed and have scabs and bruises quite frequently. It's really bad and it makes me feel very self conscious about my skin, to the point of not wanting to wear shorts in the summertime. And I've tried all sorts of lotions and creams and such and nothing really makes the itching stop, just maybe prevents it for a few hours at most. So I have to be super diligent about taking care of my skin.

In an effort to do this, I've started using Jane Park's Shower Method. Jane Park is the CEO of Julep, and basically her theory is this: exfoliate away first, then cleanse - this way you're cleansing the new layer of skin cells rather than dead ones, and the moisture from your body wash will get into your skin more easily. So far, it's definitely making a difference.

But of course, the exfoliating is crucial. So I've started using Soap & Glory's Smoothie Star Breakfast Scrub.

Okay so I wanna start off by saying this shit smells amazeballs. It's like...brown sugar oatmeal goodness. It does smell like something you could eat (but don't, cuz that's gross). And it feels like rubbing brown sugar on your skin too. Unlike Soap & Glory's Flake Away, it's a much thicker exfoliator so you really get a good scrub, which is what I need. I like a really hardcore exfoliator that really scrubs off all that dead, dry skin. And I love Soap & Glory's products - they always smell amazing, and they definitely work. So exfoliate, cleanse, and then rub your skin down with Soap & Glory's The Righteous Butter in that 3-minute window after you shower to lock in moisture and get the ultimate smooth, silky skin.

Works like a charm.

Evil Queen Beauty's First Giveaway!

In celebration of reaching 50 followers on Bloglovin, I am doing my first ever giveaway! I'm really excited and so thankful to all my followers. The giveaway is currently open until the end of the month, which gives you about a week and a half to enter and encourage all your friends to enter too! It's an awesome prize pack filled with lots of pinky, spring-themed beauty goodies!

The prize includes:

• One full size Pop Aqua Lacquer lip gloss in Flowering Fuchsia
• One full size Julep nail Polish in Love
• One Fill size Dex lipstick in Rockaway Rambling Rose
• One mini Too Faced Better Than Sex black mascara
• One set of Salon Perfect lashes with lash glue
• One mini Narciso Rodriguez For Her perfume
• One mini Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb perfume

This is open to US RESIDENTS ONLY. So lets get started! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Thanks for entering, and good luck!

Beauty Boxes: The Good, the Bad, and the Glossy

One of the first things I did when I decided to start experimenting more with makeup and skincare was sign up for some monthly subscription boxes. I wanted a way to try a lot of different types of products from brands that might be new to me without having to commit to buying a full size. Plus, I really like getting packages in the mail. I always say it's like Christmas. 

The first one I found was actually Glossybox, through ICovetThee.com, which is one of the first beauty blogs I started reading and still one of my favourites. Glossybox is by far still my favourite. The quality of the products is higher for the price point, and the amount/size of products is totally worth what I pay each month. I always get about 5 products, some full size and some more of a travel size. I have found some really great brands through Glossybox (Anatomicals and Fresh, to name a few), and I always am really pleased with the type of products given. When you sign up, you let them know your skin and hair type and what kinds of products you like (makeup, skincare, etc) so that the products are tailored for you. Like most beauty boxes, you can also order products you like through the website and leave reviews. By far, I've been most impressed by the products I've gotten through Glossybox. It's super high quality, and totally worth it. It's the first box I recommend to people looking to try new products.

This month's box features Puffy the Eyebag Slayer by Anatomicals (their product names are the BEST - my other favourite by them is a rose-scented body wash called You Need A Blooming Shower); City of Angels nail polish by Lauren B (an emerging brand); Truffle Therapy Serum by Skin&Co Roma (great moisturizer); Colour Fanatic Hair Beautifyer for Coloured Hair; and Kala black eyeliner pencil by Sumita Beauty (which is dooooooooope and exactly the kind of dark black badass eyeliner pencil I've been searching for). Other boxes has gifted me with Fresh and Vichy brand moisturizers, great hair products, exfoliants, and even an eyelash curler and the BEAUTYBLENDER! Winner.

Julep was the second box I signed up for after seeing ads for it. One of the best things about Julep is that you can get your first box free with the code FREEBOX when you sign up (use my link here ). You create a profile based on your colour preferences and style, and each month you get two new nail polish colours and a beauty product (three nail colours if you're an It Girl). As a Maven, you'll also have access to special deals and Secret Shops during the month. One of the best things about Julep Maven is that you can preview what will be in your box and change your profile choice if you aren't happy with that month's colours, and often if they're sending out beauty products, you'll also get to pick what colour you want in that too. 

Julep offers high quality nail varnishes (seriously, they last all week) and products. I've gotten lip glosses, eyeshadow palettes, and their new liquid eyeshadow (and this month, a special candy treat! They sent candy corns for Halloween too). I've always been really happy with the colours, and their customer service is great. I received a broken product only once, and they were quick to replace it with a new one. 

Sign Up to be a Julep Maven here

Wantable came to my attention fairly recently, and I wanted to give it a try. It's more expensive than the other boxes at $32 a month, but boasts high quality luxury products and a more selective tailoring system. When you sign up for Wantable, you choose not only what types of products you like but also colours, textures, and styles - as specific as whether you like metallics or mattes, lipsticks or lip glosses, etc on a like-neutral-dislike scale. I was excited about this system because I'm really picky about the colours I use. 

However, my first box (top photo) was a huge disappointment. I don't wear blue or brown as a rule and two of my products were blue tinted, and the lipstick was more brown than I really liked. After contacting customer service with my disappointment, I learned that you can actually return your box - either completely or partially  - and get a refund. I ended up keeping only one product from my first box and then ordering another one (bottom photo) which was much more satisfactory. I'm still not 100% impressed, but the second attempt was better. But if the whole shtick is that you can be selective about colours, at least let me put in what I absolutely do not want! I ended up emailing them after ordering the second box to make sure I didn't get any ugly blue things again. I'm going to give it one more month to see how the next month is. Wantable also has intimates and accessories options for monthly boxes if that's more up your alley. 

Sign up for a Wantable box here

I also tried Birchbox in the beginning but ended up cancelling - the product sizes were small (only "tester" sizes/packets and barely worth it. The only thing I like about Birchbox is that they have a wide range of brands they work with and an online shop where you can buy fullsizes. 

Overall, I cannot sing the praises of Glossybox and Julep Maven enough. Wantable is still a wait and see, but I loved the concept of subscription boxes. 

Does anyone have any other subscription boxes they'd recommend, or great/negative experiences! Share in the comments! 

Evil Queen Style Tip #2: Paint your lips with the blood of your enemies. Red is classic and always in style.

Barbara Palvin for Chanel Rouge Allure

Evil Queen Style Tip #2: Paint your lips with the blood of your enemies. Red is classic and always in style #StyleTip #fashion #evilqueen
— Christina Orlando (@christinaostyle) November 30, 2013

My favourite reds: Smashbox Lip Enhancing Gloss in Starlit, J Cat The Big Lip Pencil in Red Rose, Julep Lip Gloss in Daring, MAC Mineralize Rich Lipstick in All Out Gorgeous, ELF Moisturizing Lipstick in Red Carpet, MAC lipstick in Russian Red and New York Apple

photo by ICovetThee.com

 

Ginta Lapina at Jason Wu SS12 

Lime Crime lipstick in Retrofuturist 

Demi Lovato

Lana Del Rey for L'Officiel Paris April 2013

Leigh Lezark

Rihanna in Riri Woo for Mac Viva Glam

Dita Von Teese

http://evilqueenstyle.tumblr.com

From the Queen of Bones: Testing Too Faced Bronzers, Scrubs, and Julep Polish

A while back, my good friend the Evil Queen passed some product my way. I’ve yet to repay her for her kindness but this is a start! Her castaways ended up being some of my favorite products. Now, I’ve never been one for a daily makeup routine, but when I do wear makeup, I go all out. 

A bit of background:

My mother has blessed me with three things; decent skin, big boobs, and a fast metabolism. Only one of those is relevant to this blog post. My skin is neither dry nor oily, I only use face wash 3-4 times per week, and I only break out around that time of the month. I’ve been using Kimberly Sayer’s Almond & Lavender Face Scrub for the last year or so with awesome results. It’s an organic product (you can actually see the chunks of almond in the scrub) and is gentle but effective for all skin types. It’s a great exfoliator and smells fantastic. The Sayer scrub just randomly appeared in my house and no one was using it so I obviously claimed it as mine like any good Queen would. Unfortunately I’ve run low and since I’m an adult still living on a college student budget, I’ve reverted back to St. Ive’s Pink Lemon & Mandarin Orange Scrub, available at your local drug store. It’s not bad. Less exfoliating but still satisfactory for my skin, plus I prefer the smell of citrus in the morning.

 That being said, I don’t do a lot to my face in terms of foundation. I have awesome freckles and I don’t like covering them up. Regularly, I only use my Eucerin moisturizer +SPF and maybe a little bit of concealer under my eyes and on problem areas. I started using BB cream when I do put on a full face of makeup because it gives me light coverage and a nice healthy glow. This is where Christina’s presents come into play. She gifted me a Sue Devitt pressed powder, Too Faced bronzer, Julep polish, Too Faced Beauty Balm, and Marchesa perfume. I began using the Sue Devitt Triple C-Weed Pressed Powder in replacement of my crummy NYC translucent powder with miraculous results. It was still sheer and shine absorbing but gave a much smoother finish on top of my BB cream. 

 I tended not to use bronzer outside of the summer months because I’m so pale it just makes my face look dirty. I also haven’t used bronzer since I figured out how to use it correctly. Now that I’m educated its been working out much better for me. I look less dead in the winter now. I really like the matte finish of the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer and it smells like cocoa powder. No joke. Its amazing. 

The item I was most excited about that Christina sent me was a Julep nail polish. It was supposed to be the only item I was getting but she tossed in the others for funsies. When I was working much less back in May/June than I am now so I spent a lot of my free time experimenting with nail art and new polishes. A majority of my polishes right now are Revlon or Wet-n-Wild so I was thrilled to have a polish in my collection with strong pigment that I didn’t need to apply 5 coats to achieve the color it was supposed to look like. I was gifted Julep’s  “Brielle,” a really nice, rich pumpkin color. The picture here is literally one coat of polish and then topcoat. My final decision on it is that I’m in love and when I have spare money to sign up to be a Maven (Sign up for monthly Julep Maven boxes here!) , I’m taking that opportunity to chuck all my junky polish and start anew with some more sophisticated colors.

I’ve yet to try the beauty balm (saving it for a special occasion since its such a tiny tube) and I’m not a big perfume person so I can’t speak to the actual notes in Marchesa but I can say it smells really nice. I’ve also tried Not Your Mother’s Kinky Moves Curl Defining Cream as per the Evil Queen’s review and I’m in LOVE. I don’t get the sticky residue I got from other products after touching my hair and I get nice soft curls instead of that gross crunchy look. An added bonus is that it’s affordable and readily available at drug stores.

Stay beautiful,

Goth birthday + pink hairspiration

It has always been my dream to have pink hair. I really do want a full head of cotton candy, but a) since my hair is so dark we'd have to bleach the crap out of it and that's expensive and b) I was always at a place of work where that wasn't allowed. So needless to say, I was really stoked to find Bumble & bumble's Spraychalk in Blush, which is the perfect light pink. It's a temporary spray-in colour that shampoos out, and after reading reviews about how good it was on dark hair, I gave it a try. Needless to say, I was stoked about the results. There isn't a ton of colour in one can but I think doing the tips looked really cool, and it was absolute perfect birthday hair. The only problem was that I was too drunk to shower after we got home so the colour got all over my boyfriend's pillows, but since it washes out, its no matter! I wore a beautiful Elizabeth & James dress, and I even matched my nails to it:

(Nails Inc in Onyx Rush, Essie in Sugar Daddy, and Julep in Chelsea. Become a Julep Maven here! I love their monthly boxes, it's so much fun to get new nail colours!)

Unfortunately it's only temporary hair colour, so I'm still dreaming of a full head of pink. One day it'll happen!  Here are my favourite pink hair looks:

Abbey Lee's dipdye

Audrey Kitching is totally to blame for my wanting pink hair

The wonderful Angelina aka ALB

Bad bitches, the lot of them.