Cargo Voyages Collection Spring 2011: Safari

CARGO cosmetics has just announced the re-launch of their website, www.cargocosmetics.com! You can now order online direct from them, and as a thank you gift to their customers, they're offering 20% off your first order when you register for their newsletter. Along with the re-launch of their website comes their spring 2011 collection, Voyages. It's a set of travel-friendly, multi-tasking beauty essentials, and I had the opportunity to review a couple of the items.

The centerpiece of the spring collection is the Safari set. It's an adorable makeup bag filled with travel ready shades inspired by the colors of the African savanna.


It includes three full sized items and two minis, and it comes in a really nice safari-themed makeup bag.


One side has this adorable postcard theme, with appliques and stitching. It's a really nice quality; it's not a throwaway bag like a lot of travel sets have. The material feels like a soft, buttery leather and it seems sturdy and well constructed.

One of my favorite details is the zipper pull:

It's a swallow charm. I really like this little extra feature. Swallows have symbolic meaning for travellers, especially sailors. There are multiple meanings behind the swallow symbol. Swallows are known for their faithful return to San Juan Capistrano every year, flying over 6,000 miles to make it back. So, for some, swallows are a symbol of faithfulness and returning home after travel. For sailors, a swallow tattoo was somewhat of a merit badge- traditionally, each swallow tattoo they had represented 5,000 nautical miles that they had travelled. Swallows are also a symbol of returning home safely, as it's said that they appear when ships are nearing land. Whatever the swallow means to you, it's a nice touch that's especially symbolic in a collection called Voyages.

The other side of the bag has a safari theme. The safari image is printed and the flamingo is an applique.

Enough about the bag. You know how much I love packaging, so I could go on and on about it... But there's makeup inside!

A full sized eyeshadow duo in a new shade: the left half is a sparkling metallic gold and the right half is a dusty olive-khaki shimmer.



A full sized Beach Blush in Coral Beach. It's a blush-bronzer fusion; it has stripes that can be used separately or blended together. It has a light golden bronze, a medium coral, a light peachy-pink shimmer and a medium peach shimmer.



A full sized eyeliner pencil in Khaki. Khaki is a deep brown with a slight green undertone and lots of delicate gold sparkle.



A mini Triple Action Mascara. It's a curling mascara that also lengthens and thickens the lashes.


...And a mini lip gloss in Serengeti, which is a sheer pinkish peach coral with tiny, tiny gold and copper microglitter.


Here they are swatched:





Gold half of shadow duo, green half of shadow duo, Khaki liner, Coral Beach blush and Serengeti gloss. If you enlarge the picture, you can see the pretty sparkly microglitter in the gloss and the liner.


The eyeshadow duo has a very silky, velvety texture. The pigmentation is very good, but it's also buildable. You can do a more sheer wash if you apply lightly, but you can also build up both colors to make them sparkle more. I find that the gold half is easiest to apply with the fingers; it has a light, flaky texture that looks more glittery when applied with a brush, but more of a smooth metallic when applied with the fingers. It can look slightly flaky when applied with a brush, but that is easily remedied (if you don't want the sparkly look) by quickly smoothing your finger over it after applying.

The packaging on the shadow duo is also rather cute. It comes in a tiny silver tin, like a smaller version of the blush. The eyeshadow feels hefty, it really feels like you're getting a good amount of product and the pan seems really deep. The only downside to the shadow duo is that it doesn't seem to have a name.

The blush is excellent. The shade is extremely flattering on my skin tone, but I can see it working well on both fair and dark, warm and cool skin tones. At first I was afraid it would be frosty, but it really isn't. The shimmer is very minimal and can be buffed/blended away if you want to tone it down even more. When I used it, I blended all the shades together and it became a lovely warm coral. You can also pick out the individual shades with your brush; bronze for bronzer, peach or coral for blush and light pink for a highlight. The shades are all pigmented enough to double as eyeshadow, too.

They eyeliner was also excellent. It has a perfect texture. It's not too slippery/slick/mushy so it doesn't wear down really fast. It's also not dry, it doesn't tug or skip. It was smooth without being squishy. It had great pigmentation, great texture and the sparkles were actually visible (see below.)

The mascara was okay, but not my favorite. It looked really nice, but I just prefer more volume. It applies really smoothly and doesn't clump. It has one of those spiky plastic brushes so it gives tons of definition and acts as its own lash comb. It gives good length, great definition and decent volume. It's supposed to be a curling mascara, but I always curl my lashes anyway so I didn't notice the curling effect, if any. It didn't flake on me when I wore it and it was easy to remove.

The gloss is nice, too. It has a very silky, non-sticky texture. The shade is my favorite part of the gloss; it's a sheer coral that has an iridescent sheen and some super tiny gold and copper glitter to give it sparkle. The glitter doesn't feel gritty; it's too tiny to feel. The effect is subtle but still interesting. I might like to buy a full size of this color... The only flaws with the gloss are that it's really small (the tube doesn't seem filled completely to the top) and it's unscented. It doesn't have any detectable scent or flavor. I know a lot of people who prefer an unscented gloss, but that's boring to me!


Here's a look I did using these items:



This was:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Gold half of duo on lid, applied with fingers
Green half of duo in crease and on lower lashline
Khaki pencil as liner
Cargo Triple Action Mascara, three coats
Fyrinnae Cheeky and Smashbox Artificial Light Luminizing Powder as highlight

If you enlarge the pictures, you can see the gold sparkle in the eyeliner. This is a more subtle look, but I think it looks really fantastic against my eye color.

Here's a closer look at the mascara:
Three coats of the Triple Action Mascara. It did a really great job of separating and defining my lashes, so if you like a more defining, lengthening mascara, this might be a good mascara for you. I personally prefer a bigger, fatter, faker lash look from my mascara.

Overall, I think this is an excellent set. The quality of all the items is great and isn't lacking in any area. The packaging is attractive and well-made. But, what I think I like most about the Safari set is that it has everything you need. Eyeshadow, eyeliner, curling mascara, blush and gloss. The only thing I could think to add to it would be an eye primer and a tinted moisturizer or foundation, but otherwise this is perfect. After testing this out, if I had the chance, I would totally buy this again. Especially because it's a really good deal; only $34! Three full sized products for $34. The Beach Blush alone costs $28 and an eyeshadow single is $16, so yeah, super good deal. And, if you get it with the 20% off code it's around $27 so it's like you're getting a discount on the blush and the rest of the stuff is free.

This is only my second experience with Cargo eyeshadows and I have to say I'm impressed. My first experience was with the Lumieres du Monde palette and I liked that, but I love this. Now I feel like I've been missing out by not paying more attention to CARGO. I really want to play with more of their shadows and Beach blushes now.

This is available now on CargoCosmetics.com, Ulta, Sephora at JC Penney and Beauty 360.

(This was sent to me for review.)

Too Faced Cheap Thrills Kit

I saw this in the sale section on Sephora.com a couple months ago and I had to get it. It has a whole bunch of stuff I wanted to try and it was only $20, which is a pretty good deal for all this stuff.

Look at all this full sized stuff you get for $20! A full sized Lash Injection Pinpoint Mascara, Mirror Mirror gloss, Chocolate Galaxy Glam Shadows in Amber Asteroid and Magenta Moon plus mini Pink Leopard bronzer and lipstick in Free Love.

Here are the Chocolate Galaxy Glam shadows in Amber Asteriod (left) and Magenta Moon (right). I keep wanting to type Andy Asteroids. Whooaaaa nelly!

Here's where my first disappointment is: Look at my pathetic Magenta Moon! Barely any pink veining at all. What's the point? :(

The Lash Injection Pinpoint brush. In case you can't tell the scale from this picture, let me describe it: TINY. It's super super tiny. It's designed to define every single lash, but it doesn't add any volume. For me it's essentially worthless as I don't want definition, I want volume.


The mini Pink Leopard bronzer. Look how pretty that is. I love it. It's a little bit on the shimmery side when used as bronzer, but I just really love looking at it. The mini size makes it even cuter. Not the least bit disappointed with this, I adore it.

The Lip of Luxury lipstick (shade: Free Love). The color looks nice enough in the tube, but on the lips it's a frosty nightmare. It's unwearable. And the smell, oh good gravy, the smell is horrible. Super perfumed but not a nice perfume, a bad old lipstick perfume. This doesn't resemble the Too Faced Lip of Luxury formula with its subtle sweet perfume scent. It doesn't seem like a Too Faced product at all, actually. I have a full sized Lip of Luxury in Cupcake and it's nothing like this.



Here are the items swatched: Andy Amber Asteroid, Magenta Moon, Pink Leopard, Free Love. Aw, those Galazy Glam shadows look so pathetic. I love my Moon Beam shadow so much, I can't believe these aren't as good. They're not pigmented enough and there's barely any duochrome. Not like Moon Beam at all. The bronzer is a little too shimmery, and the lipstick doesn't look too bad swatched on my arm but it's awful on my lips.

I didn't swatch the gloss because it's clear. The Mirror Mirror formula is actually really nice. I have a set of the minis from a few years ago and I really enjoy them. The shade included in this kit is I Know You Want Me. It's clear and it's heavily scented with apple. The Mirror Mirror glosses are all essentially clear (some with slight tints but very sheer) and super strongly scented. They're some of the shiniest gloss I've ever used. Very thick and very glossy. Really nice for a clear gloss.

If I didn't use my Sephora money on this (you know, that $20 they sent all the Beauty Insiders a while back?) I would return it. I don't think I'll ever use those Galaxy Glam shadows, the lipstick is awful, and the mascara isn't right for my needs. I like the Leopard bronzer and the gloss, but I already have a mini size of that gloss so it was basically $20 for me to get a mini Pink Leopard bronzer.

This makes me sad. I normally love Too Faced! I'm devoted to their Shadow Insurance eye primer, their Sun Bunny bronzer is quite possibly the best bronzer ever made and I've recently fallen in love with their Enchanted Glamourland palette. Seeing that sad, nearly non-existent veining on my Magenta Moon was so disappointing. I wonder if I could do an exchange? I'd much rather have one of the Naked/Natural/Smoky/Romantic palettes.

Tarte MultiplEYE Lash Enhancing Mascara

Along with Revlon Grow Luscious, I have fallen for another mascara that claims to increase lash growth: Tarte MultiplEYE. It's more than twice the price of the Revlon so I'm only using a sample of it, but so far the mascara formula is impressive.

This was one of the samples I was most looking forward to from that Sephora deluxe sample set, but of course, they didn't include it in mine, waaah :( My mom, who ordered days after I ordered, got all the correct samples in her set, so she gave me her MultiplEYE sample. Thanks, mom :)

Here are all the lofty claims it makes on Sephora.com:

MultiplEYE™ Clinically-Proven Natural Lash Enhancing Mascara
What it is:
A one-of-a-kind mascara that is clinically proven to immediately increase the appearance of lash volume by 638%, while also increasing the appearance of lash length with regular use.

What it does:
Fortify lashes by naturally increasing the appearance of lash volume by 638%, while also increasing the appearance of lash length and growth. Using a unique blend of high-performance natural™ botanical nutrients, tarte has engineered a nourishing onyx-black mascara base infused with their proprietary HydroPlant™ peptide (a soy-amino super protein) to help stimulate lashes for a 638% increase in the appearance of lash volume and increased appearance of length, growth, and strength. For even more volumized and lengthened lashes, use with multiplEYE™ clinically proven natural lash enhancing primer for an incredible 1102% increase in the appearance of lash volume! The towering spiral brush separates and envelops each lash in the nutrient-rich formula to help promote the appearance of sky-high lashes.

What it is formulated WITHOUT:
- Parabens
- Sulfates
- Synthetic Fragrance
- Synthetic Dye
- Petro-Chemicals
- Phthalates
- GMOs
- Triclosan

What else you need to know:
To achieve maximum results use as a part of the multiplEYE™ 3-step regimen for naturally enhanced lashes without the prescription or the harmful side effects. This product is free from gluten, animal testing, formaldehyde donors, oil, talc, MEA/ DEA/ TEA.

Size: 0.31 oz

638%!! How can I resist a claim like that? It really does look nice, though:



That's the mascara by itself, no lash primer or Magic Lash or anything. I told you it was nice.

The eyeshadow is:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
MAC Pink Bronze pigment wet on lid
MAC Heritage Rouge pigment in crease and on lower lashline

I re-did the look the next day and added more eyeliner:

Everything is the same as before, except this time I used MAC Smoke Signals pigment wet as liner. A little less mascara, too. The sample was drying out already... It's only been used four times. Guess I'm pushing it a little.

I think I might have to splurge on a full sized tube. It looks great. Takes more coats than my favorite Lash Blast or Grow Luscious mascara, but the end result is so nice. The promises of lash growth might also be clouding my judgment... $24 mascara... Normally I'd be like, hell no! But... lash growth! 638% increase in appearance of volume!

638%. What a random number. But it's even better than that 500% effective voodoo curse removing spell that I keep getting ads for at the top of my email...

Revlon Grow Luscious Mascara with Black Galaxy shadow

I love trying new mascaras (well, really any new beauty product actually...) and when I saw this Revlon mascara I had to try it. It said the magic words: grow lashes. I'm a sucker when anything claims to help your lashes grow. My lashes are naturally really nice: long, dark and thick, but a year ago I had a bunch of them fall out and they haven't grown back in the same since. So, into my shopping cart it went!

I loved this mascara instantly. It makes thick, lush lashes. Not super defined like my beloved Lash Blast, but as softer, more fringe-like lash. I like both. But I liked this one so much that I used an entire tube of Blackest Black before I could even do a review of it.

It's one of those mascaras with the gigantic brush so it helps build huge lashes really easily. It isn't quite as big as Benefit's Bad Gal brush, but it's still pretty huge. This shade is Blackest Black, by the way. Here's a picture of me wearing it:

The shadows are Urban Decay Last Call, Bordello and... I forget... a light pink frosty one. SWF? The liner is Milani Infinite liner in Infinite (the crazy awesome bright blue). Milani has great eyeliners... I rave about them so much and I always forget to post a review.... Anyway...

This isn't so much of a review as a rave and a shopping tip... so... maybe I should work on a real review (two things in one post that I need to finish reviews of!).... But I wanted to mention this while it's still available:

Walgreen's was doing a special where you can get a free Revlon shadow with your Grow Luscious mascara. The Black shade comes with this really cool looking Black Galaxy shadow:



It's a very soft black (more of a charcoal/grey really) with lots of iridescent blue/purple and subtle rainbow sparkles. It's actually rather sheer and the sparkles don't show up really well when applied, but I love looking at it in the pan.


The Blackest Black shade (which I prefer over the plain Black) comes with Lilac Shimmer:


This is a soft, dusty light lilac with some silver glitter. I have not tried wearing this yet; these colors tend not to look good on me. Maybe I'll try it this week...

These duos were around $10 at Walgreens, but just last week I saw these at Big Lots for $4. They only had Black and Blackest Black and only in the non-waterproof formula, but wow, that's an amazing price. You can get two mascaras and two full sized shadows for less than the price of one at Walgreen's. Needless to say I grabbed a couple... I'm on a budget and you can't pass up a deal like that.

I get so excited when I find a good sale...

Hard Candy Bad Girl Next Door and Naturally Naughty Kits

I recently made my semi-annual trip to Wal-Mart in search of new Petites and Hard Candy nail polishes. Sadly, they didn't have either (figures.), but they did have these new Hard Candy gift sets all stacked together, lying down flat in the wrong spot on a random shelf near the Hard Candy display in the cosmetics section. Par for the course, I suppose. But- I have been wanting to try some of the new Hard Candy cosmetics. I have a bunch of their old stuff and I've been curious to see how they compare. I bought most of the sets- they were between $5 and $8, so no big loss if they sucked.

Here are the Bad Girl Next Door and Naturally Naughty sets- basically a brown and black version of each.


Bad Girl Next Door. This set comes with a sample of Ginormous Lash mascara in black, a mini Take Me Out Liner pencil in Abyss, mini Lash Tinsel Glitter Mascara in Spellbound, two mini Kal-Eye-Descope Baked Eyeshadows in Bad Reputation and.... Bad Reputation? (they're both named the same thing, I think they're halves of a duo) and a .25 fl. oz Eyeshadow Primer (that's a pretty big size actually.)

Everything is displayed on a clear plastic tray inside the box.


Bad Reputation Kal-Eye-Descope Baked Shadows, a white frost and a grey frost



Abyss Take Me Out Liner.


Lash Tinsel Glitter Mascara in Spellbound- black and silver glitter in a clear gel


Swatched over the shadow primer. Bad Reputation, Abyss, Spellbound.

That's what Spellbound looks like applied heavily over mascara. I had better results when I applied it over already dry mascara, otherwise it clumps funny. It does look a little like lash dandruff or something... It's prettier at night.



Naturally Naughty contains Ginormous Lash, Take Me Out Liner in Dim Sum, Lash Tinsel in Gold Digger, Kal-Eye-Descope Baked Shadow in High Maintenance and an eyeshadow primer.

Up close.

High Maintenance.


Dim Sum.


Gold Digger.


Swatched over the shadow primer. High Maintenance, Dim Sum, Gold Digger.

This is a look I attempted to do with the Naturally Naughty shadows. They barely showed up at all and I got frustrated so I covered the entire thing in a thick layer of MAC Reflects Transparent Teal glitter and some Fyrinnae Futuristic Glamrock as eyeliner.

In all honesty, I can't say I'm impressed by these. Everything looks great in the package and swatched on my arm, but applying them to my eyes was a different story.

The Ginormous mascara was dried out and didn't do a thing for me. The pencils are hard and they tug, making them difficult to apply. The pencils are also made of wood that has a tendency to splinter when sharpened. The glitter mascara was a little difficult to apply because of the super short bristles, but otherwise it did what it was supposed to. The shadow pigmentation is abysmal, it barely sticks or shows up on my eyelids at all. I had a hell of a time trying to apply it. The colors are also quite different in the pan than they are on the eye. I haven't used the primer yet. I'm afraid to try new primers- a bad primer can ruin your whole look!

Overall, these two kits were a nice way to try a lot of products at once. They're pretty inexpensive at $8 each, but I don't think I would buy it again at that price. I'm wondering if the full-sized versions of these are better quality? I was really looking forward to wearing the pretty shadow colors in these kits.

This would make a nice gift for a younger girl, but not someone who's really a makeup junkie. I think the sheer shadows would be nice for a tween girl and I'm sure they'd love the glitter mascara, but they just weren't smooth and pigmented like I expect my shadows to be.

I have the First Blush and Glamazon Glow kits to post as well- those were much nicer in quality and I rather enjoyed them. And I did also pick up one of the $5 Face Facts kits in bronze shades.... I'll post that soon, too.