Wet N Wild Baked Not Fried Palette

A while back Wet N Wild released three limited edition baked eye shadow palettes (Walgreens Exclusive). A palette of blues (Baked Not Fried), a palette of pinks (Baking a Cake) and a neutral palette (Baked Not Fried). The baked palettes were all paraben free. I was into neutral colors at that point, so I bought the neutral palette called Baked Not Fried.

Wet N Wild's Baked Not Fried Palette

$4.99 - 0.06 oz / 1.8 g

Limited Edition: Wet N Wild - I Heart Matte Palette

If you haven't heard of Wet N Wild's I <3 Matte palette you probably do not read a lot of beauty blogs (I tell it like I see it *snaps snaps* >:].. lol just kidding). I <3 Matte is an 8-pan all matte palette that has been getting quite a bit of attention since the official announcement. Drugstore eyeshadows are always very sparkle sparkle so I was very excited to finally have some mattes to play with! I'm a frugal woman whose makeup addiction has not yet escalated to the point of spending 14 dollars on a single eyeshadow (I'm broke ala joke :[ ). I am also a cautious woman who is afraid of alleged harmful chemicals. With my particular standards, you can imagine how hard shopping is.

When I first saw the announcement of the 8-pan matte palette, I was very excited but also sad because the other 8-pan palettes had parabens. I know I haven't officially sworn off parabens, but I've been trying real hard not to buy any products that contained them (it also gives me a reason to spend less). When G from Nouveau Cheap (one of my favorite blogs EVER) posted up ingredients for the palette, I squealed after scanning the ingredients to see NO PARABENS listed! That's right! Wet N Wild, the holy grail of cheapie makeup, has no parabens *cartwheels in the air*! I immediately planned a trip to Walgreens. Turns out I didn't even have to search very far, the first Walgreens I went to had the beauty bar set up!

Wet N Wild  I <3 Matte

0.3 oz/8.5 g - $4.99

NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss

NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss is my absolute favorite lip gloss! I've only started buying makeup about a year ago so my makeup stash isn't very large. I only focused on eye products in the beginning of my makeup buying escapade. I started to branch out to lip products about half a year ago. I own some Revlon Colorburst lipglosses, Physician's Formula glosses, Lip Smackers and NYX Mega Shine Lip Glosses. I have also tried plenty of dollar brand lip glosses.Mega Shine Lip Glosses are PARABEN FREE.
 

NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss 

11 ml/0.37 oz - $5.50

Top to Bottom: Nyx Mega Shine Lip Gloss
Natural, Pink Gold, Beige

Tokidoki Robbery Palette Swatches + Review

Guess what I bought at the Sephora Friends and Family sale?
Yup you got it! Tarte Limited-Edition Lipsurgence Collection!
Oh, you wanted me to say the Tokidoki Robbery Palette? That was a robbery palette, for both my wallet and well.. there were robbers on the tin.
What?! It's on sale at Sephora.com for 25 dollars when it is originally 50 dollars PLUS the friends and family discount?! Now that is robbery, to Sephora that is!

So guess what? How'd you know I got the Robbery Pallete?! Damn, you have esp powers or something!

Tokidoki Robbery Palette with magnet

Wet N Wild Ultimate Mineral Blush (Paraben Free!) + Paraben breakdown

(Scroll down for Wet N Wild review and pictures)

Paraben Breakdown

In the past few months, I've been trying to weed out parabens in my daily products.

Parabens are used as preservatives in cosmetics, food and pharmaceuticals. "Measurable concentrations of six different parabens have been identified in biopsy samples from breast tumors", according to Breastcancerfund.org. "Parabens are estrogen mimickers, with the potency of the agonistic response being related to the chemical structure." In other words, parabens may cause breast cells to mutate which may lead to cancer. 

Note that the chemical is linked to breast cancer and may not be the cause of it. Research is still being conducted on parabens and we may never find out whether if parabens cause or contribute to cancer. Since there is no definitive answer yet, I decided to try my best to stay away from such chemicals (though I haven't succumbed to buying paraben makeup products yet, I've been thinking of that Urban Decay Naked Palette :X). I am definitely not using parabens in my moisturizer, body lotion and body wash, since those products cover most of my body and you can find easy cheap alternatives (st. ives body lotion for one is cheap and paraben free).

To read more about parabens:

http://www.breastcancerfund.org/clear-science/chemicals-glossary/parabens.html

Here's a link to chemicals breastcanerfund.org has found to be linked to breast cancer:

http://www.breastcancerfund.org/clear-science/chemicals-linked-to-breast-cancer/cosmetics/

TJ Maxx Cheap High End Makeup Sighting (Pic Heavy)

Here's to my first beauty blog post!

If you haven't heard by now, Marshalls and TJ Maxx has been selling many high end stuff for the cheap, i.e. theBalm, OPI, Nicole by OPI, Shiseido etc. I'm talking 50% off man! If you haven't heard about TheBalm, they are a relatively new high end makeup brand situated in San Francisco, CA. You can buy their makeup from Sephora (not sure about Ulta). Their Shady Lady palettes has gotten an A from Tempatlia!

Shady Lady Palette info from Sephora:

What it is formulated WITHOUT:
- Parabens
- Sulfates
- Synthetic Fragrances
- Petrochemicals
- Phthalates
- GMOs
- Triclosan

I'm not sure if they are cruelty-free though. The back of the palettes does say "wear faux fur" and the fact that they are in SF makes me think they are cruelty-free, but you never know! I'll email them directly later tonight and I'll update my post! BTW, some of theBalm makeup has parabens like their lipstains. So if you are trying to be paraben free look at the ingredient list!

I bought two Shady Lady palettes, vol. 2 and 3 so I'll swatch, review and all that jazz another day.

Without further ado, pictures! I'll list the prices I remember and name of the products.