Marc Jacobs Gel Crayons~ Swatches and First Impression

If you haven't heard there is a new brand out at Sephora by Marc Jacobs. I am unsure about the animal-testing status of the company. I'm going to try and find out more and will update here when I do. I haven't purchased anything from the line, I'd like to say (and I won't until I can determine the animal-testing status) I merely swatched the products in store.

These gel pencils are supposed to be an innovative for their use of a gel texture. I'm sure I've seen something similar before but I can't remember from where. First though here are the swatches.

T-B: Th(Ink), Intro(Vert), N(Ice), Ro(Cocoa), Jazz(Berry), Blacquer

T-B: Th(Ink), Intro(Vert), N(Ice), Ro(Cocoa), Jazz(Berry), Blacquer

The best shade by far was Blacquer- super opaque, super gel-cream texture, really really easy to apply- it just glides on. Ro(Cocoa) comes in second place just a tad behind Blacquer with the same texture and almost as good of pigmentation. It is a lovely satin shade of medium-dark brown.

Unfortunately the good dies off a bit after those two. Of the rest Th(Ink) an indigo shade (a dark blue with purple undertones, think blueberries) is the next best. This however doesn't have the same texture as the other two instead being much drier and lacking the 'gel' cream. You can build up the pigmentation with this until you get the desired result and a couple passes gets rid of any patchiness. N(Ice) and Intro(Vert) are about tied in terms pigmentation. Kind of patchy also and needing multiple passes. Also dry in texture in comparison with the first two shades. These two are also the sparkliest of the selection. Intro(Vert) is a kelly green and N(Ice) is a glittery silver. Finally Jazz(Berry) the most interesting colour in the line and the worst performer. Swatched so so patchy and seriously took way too much work to get the swatch I did. And if you look at the top picture you can still see the patchiness. Very disappointing, especially as the colour is so nice- berry with a burgundy metallic.

One thing I will say about these though is that they are really hard to get off! I seriously scrubbed at these swatches with a cotton round soaked with makeup remover and they barely budged. I still have remnants on my wrist where I couldn't get these all off!

Anyone seen the Marc Jacobs Beauty line yet? Does anyone know their animal testing status? What do you think of these liners?

Cult Nails Living Water~ Review and Swatches

L-R: Living Water, Iconic

Living Water has been a polish I've been eyeing since it's release so when I placed my order for Cult Nails not that long ago I knew I needed to include it! Living Water is a dark blue-teal jelly with bright aqua shimmers in it, and to me looks exactly like the name in the sun! It's very unique and is the perfect dark shade as it's distinctly blue-teal even in low light. A pet peeve of mine is shades so dark they look black except when in full sun, so this made me really happy!

Living Water applied well (just as Iconic did- you can see my review here: Iconic Cult Nails Review). I had a little bit of patchiness on some nails but that was solved with a third coat. It lasted well like Iconic did too. One thing I'd definitely like mention though is that this polish dries a weird sort of matte texture, so it really really needs/benefits from a top coat in my opinion.

Same great brush and bottle as Iconic had. I really wish my photos showed just how lovely this polish is but they really just don't capture it. I tried though!

Cult Nail's polishes cost $10 USD and are shipped really quickly and securely! I love how they're packaged in little wraps of paper-towel/cloth-like material.

Overall, I think this polish is a good pigmented and unique shade. Perfect for fall in it's richness. Though again, I think it needs to have a top coat (which for me isn't a problem as I use a top coat always anyways). I do love the Cult Nails formula though, I get the best wear and application with these!

Sprite Rating: 8.5/10- lost points for slight patchiness (i.e. three coats and some spot touch-ups) and weird matte dry-down but other than that an awesome polish.

Would I Buy It Again? Yes, I totally would. Great shade, easy application, great wear.

Color Club In the Teal- Polishes for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund

If you haven't heard yet, it's time you should! The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF) and Color Club have joined together to create these two awesome polishes collectively called In The Teal. These two lovely limited edition colours are available until the end of September and a portion of all sales will go directly to the OCRF to help the fight against a cancer that affects a large amount of women, an estimated 200,000 women worldwide in one year. For more information check out the OCRF website.

The two polishes are based off of the OCRF logo and are called OCRF Teal (Bright Pale Blue) and Super Saturday Teal (Blue based Teal). Together they cost $16 USD and are only available on the Color Club Website. 

A little reminder Color Club are cruelty-free and vegan so that's wonderful too! The Polish Aholic has swatches of these pretties up on her blog so pop over there to see them. 

I think this is a great cause with lovely colours chosen. If you like blues I'd very much recommend getting these!