It reminds me a bit of the NARS Multiple sticks. It's nice to have a product that can be used in more than one place. The formula is a cream that "glides onto lips/cheeks to provide a soft flush of color." 

In the swatches, you can see how they are kind of slick, shiny looking. I find that when I put it on my cheeks, it just kind of feels tacky, oily, and slides around my face, even if I set it with powder first. I guess it could possibly pass for a blush that gives a glow, but to me it just looks a little too oily for that. I suppose I could also set the blush with powder, but I'm just not a big fan of it. The colors are pretty, the tint is nice and subtle. I just wish it wasn't a cream. Definitely not a dupe for the NARS multiple sticks. 

The theme for April's BB Bag is "Soothing Showers." There's not really a theme in the bag, just some items to "brighten your day." 

Total value: $61.95

The bag is cute, simple. I like the colors. 

Somang M Cerade Professional Texturizing Hair Essence for Damaged Hair ($17.99)

This product has ceramide, which supposedly revitalizes hair essence, whatever that means. It's like a leave-in conditioner, and it's pretty meh. I've tried better, but it's neat to get a hair product, especially such a nice size (200 ml). 

Etude House Honey Jelly Lips Patch ($4.99)

I wish I could opt out of getting these lip patches. If I'm going to get Etude House products, I wish it was makeup! 

Too Cool for School Dinoplatz Magic Wand for Lip & Eye Makeup Remover ($8.00) 

Too Cool for School is a brand carried by Sephora now, and it goes for a lot more there than it does elsewhere. This is a pretty unique product, in my opinion. How many times have I gotten mascara smudged under my eye, or messed up my eyeliner, and had to use a cotton swab dipped in makeup remover to clean up? This takes care of that problem by giving you cotton swabs preloaded with makeup remover! 

It comes in a nifty little case that you can just throw in your purse for on-the-go cleanups. It contains 20 swabs. 

Nothing is in English, but there's a handy dandy diagram to show you how to use the product. I haven't tried it yet, so I can't say how well it works. 

Skin Food Nail Vita Essence ($7.99)

Oh, this product. This is a makeup primer "infused with milk protein extract, this brightening makeup base hydrates and smooths." Okay. It does smooth out your skin and cover up the pores, I like that about this product. I also love that is is both SPF and PA++, meaning it protects you from both UVA's and UVB's. That's great. But MAN, you can't use much of this product at all or it will just make you look ashen. I made the mistake of using too much the first time and it ruined my base makeup. By "brightening" it really is more like "changing the color of your face by two shades." I'm going to try it again, but use waaaayyy less. The thing is though, I didn't even use a lot the first time! But I'm always up for giving something a second try. 

Mizon Water Volume Aqua Gel Cream ($13.99)

So I'm guilty of using my Mizon Recovery Snail Gel as a moisturizer when I'm feeling really lazy, or when it's a really hot and humid day. It's not meant to be a proper moisturizer, but this product is. It feels just like the snail gel, adds moisture, and dries down nicely. I've been using this since the day I got it and I LOVE it. It's hard to go wrong with Mizon products. 

Overall I enjoyed this bag. I'm meh about the hair product, but I'm glad I got one. And I'm SO over lip patches. I rather get makeup instead! 

Seashell nails are all the rage in Asian nail trends right now. It's a hot look for summer, and it looks really cool. When I say seashell nail, I don't mean just putting seashell applique. I mean shaping your nail into an actual seashell! 

I achieved this look using sculpting gel. I first laid down some colors on my nail and muted them with a thin coat of white. I then took clear sculpting gel and drew lines down my nail, fanning it out like a shell. It's easy to do since you just follow the shape of your nail. I flash cured each line to keep it in place before curing it for a full 30 seconds when I was done. I made it wider near the tip of the nail and thinner as I went down. I hit it with a coat of iridescent mermaid powder, but you can't really tell in the picture. It looks cool in the light, though! 

I know I said I wasn't into 3D nail art anymore, but when I paired it with this look I LOOOOOVED it. I also got to use some of my crushed shells on the other fingers. This look is inspired by this nail design by Nailbook.jp (@nailbook.jp on Instagram). 

I've decided it's time to get rid of my Jeffree Star Liquid Lipstick collection. I'm not going to go into details, but I'm just going to say that I will no longer be supporting him. That means that I now have to find a new liquid lipstick that I love to replace the 20+ that I have from him. That is a pretty daunting task, let me tell you. I felt sad to not be using my favorite shades anymore, but when I saw the shades from Dose of Colors, I quickly forgot my sadness and got hyped for some new products!

I heard YouTuber Stephanie Nicole talk about this brand's liquid lipstick, and how it's her favorite formula. I really like Stephanie Nicole and appreciate all the detail she puts into her reviews, so I decided to give her favorite liquid lipstick a try. I decided to get three liquid lipsticks and one lipstick. My goal was to find dupes for Jeffree Star Cosmetics Gemini, Leo, and my absolute favorite, Androgyny. More on that later. 

About the Company: 

Dose of Colors is a US based brand that makes cosmetics for eyes, face, and lips. They make eyeshadows, lip products, highlighters, and even make brushes and false lashes. Their products are 100% vegan, paraben free, gluten free, and cruelty free. Their lip products come in lip gloss, matte liquid lipstick, and creamy lipstick. I purchased the lipstick and matte liquid lipstick because I don't like gloss. Just a personal preference. That being said, I'll only be talking about the matte liquid lipstick and creamy lipstick today. 

About the Products: 

The matte liquid lipstick comes in 23 different shades (as of this writing), and there is one bundle available that contains five of their best selling shades. If you want to get started with this brand, perhaps that is a good place to begin. I didn't opt for the bundle because there were only two shades that I wanted to try, so the value wasn't there. The individual liquid lipsticks cost $18.00. There are 18 creamy lipstick shades, but no bundles. They are slightly cheaper at $16.00 a piece. 

The net weight of the liquid lipsticks is .16 oz, and the creamy lipstick is .12 oz. I would say that the price is a bit steep compared to normal drugstore brands, but it's not something that I'm not used to paying. Jeffree Star Cosmetics is the same price for about the same amount of product, and same could be said for MAC products, too. But price point is definitely a deciding factor for any type of purchase. 

Shipping: 

It took three days for my order to ship from the day I placed it, and it took four days to receive it in the mail. Not bad for shipping to Hawaii.

The packaging itself is really fun and artsy. There's a splash of color on the side of the packaging to indicate the shade within. I don't know why Truffle didn't have it's shade name printed on it, though. 

The packaging of the liquid lipsticks is really clean, minimal and chic. The plastic container is frosted, and you can easily see the color of the product. It also has a nice weight to it and doesn't feel super cheap and flimsy. The lipstick packaging is interesting in that I've never really seen a bullet lipstick that lets you see the color of it at the base. I thought that was a really neat way of seeing the color without having a clear cap instead. 

The applicator of the liquid lipstick is a standard doe foot, but I like how it's not super spongy and is more on the bristly side. Some applicators are spongier and I find that they don't apply as smoothly and tend to fall apart. 

The creamy lipstick packaging up close. Also very chic, with minimal logo and clean white packaging. 

The bullet itself has a slight reptile embossing on it, which is neat and at the same time kind of unsettling. I don't think I like that, but it's not a huge deal as it doesn't affect the performance of the product itself. It just kind of grosses me out. 

The swatches to the left are the Dose of Colors items, and the swatches to the right are Jeffree Star Cosmetics products that I want to dupe. As you can see in the swatches, the colors look really similar. On my lips, they weren't. I'll be talking about that later in a separate post, so ignore the swatches on the right for now! The swatches from top to bottom are: Stone, Campfire, Truffle, and Ditto. You can see the texture of Ditto is smoother than the texture of the liquid lipsticks. 

On my lips they looked slightly different than in the swatches. 

The liquid lipsticks go on really smoothly, are intensely pigmented, and are buildable. You really only need one dip to cover your lips, but can build for a deeper color. I love that none of the colors I have are streaky; they all seem to be the same formula. The creamy lipstick is really, really nice. It glides on smoothly and just feels super moisturizing on the lips. Of course it doesn't have great staying power since It's a lipstick, but that's to be expected. I would say that my only complaint about it is the smell. It does have quite a strong waxy lipstick smell that lingered for a while after I first put it on. The liquid lipstick has a very slight sweet smell, nothing crazy or really noticeable. 

Let's talk about wear. I started out looking like this: 

I wore it for six hours on a warm evening/night and ate Taco Bell (Crunchwrap mmmmmmm), and immediately afterwards, my lips looked like this: 

The color is still there, for the most part, just not as vibrant. 

I got home and ate a fudge pop, and that seemed to be the demise of the liquid lipstick, but there was still color on the outer part of my lips. 

There's a bit of butthole lip action there, but it did really, really well up until the fudge pop. So let's break it down: 

Pros of the Liquid Lipstick: 

Cons of the Liquid Lipstick:

Pros of the Creamy Lipstick: 

• Super nice feeling formula
• Moisturizing
• Good pigment
• Not streaky 
• Has brighter shades than the liquid lipstick
• Cheaper than the liquid lipstick ($16.00)

Cons of the Creamy Lipstick: 

• Strong waxy, lipstick smell
• Not long lasting (but you know, it's a lipstick)
• Not a lot of shades to choose from 

I think if you're looking for a nice matte liquid lipstick, you should definitely give Dose of Colors a try. It might be a bit pricey, but you get what you pay for: great color payoff, great staying power, and a great feeling formula.