Thursday, October 25, 2012

Bangstyle Hair Products


Have you heard of BANGSTYLE? The global image community for hair has all the info you need to share and check out hairstyles and products, and even post photos, and find salons. It's the place for go-to hair info! They recently came out with a new line of hair care products! They have everything from hairspray, to foam mousse, to shampoo, conditioner, and hair putty. The entire line comes in a nice black packaging with the fun and colorful Bangstyle logo. The shampoo and conditioner bottles are fun and come in square squeeze bottle container! I got to try a few of the BANGSTYLE products and they are so awesome!


The shampoo and conditioner comes in a totally cool and unisex scent, so you can totally share this with your boyfriend! The foam mousse offers hold and adds volume to give your locks some oomph. I really like the extra hold hair spray, this stuff rocks! It keeps my hair sleek and sculpted and holds my hairstyle for an ultra cool and smooth style.

BANGSTYLE also has a phone app for Android and iTunes compatible phones so you can check the site out on the go! Check out the cool app and the products available at BANGSTYLE!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Review: Armour Beauty lip gloss in Lucy and Marilyn swatches

I'm a huge fan of rock n' roll. My ipod is predominantly filled with my favorite rock songs. In fact, some of my favorite songs have a glossy counterpart, thanks to Armour Beauty.

Enter Armour Beauty. I first heard about Armour Beauty and featured the brand about 3 years ago.

Rocker/model/total badass extraordinaire Theo Kogan, the genius behind the brand, is such a rock star. I love how each shade is named after a person (the beautiful "it girl" Edie Sedgwick or the 60's sex kitten Ann Margret), a place (the glam NY Cat Club circa 80's/early 90's), or thing (some shades are named after songs like Heart's "Barracuda" and Fleetwood Mac's "Gypsy", to name a few). Fronting bands like "Lunachicks" and "Theo And The Skyscrapers", Theo knows that a long wearing lip gloss that packs a punch is a must for a performer or any fashionista.


Armour Beauty carries both shimmer and opaque finishes, and they are equally gorgeous. "Lucy" and "Marilyn" are the most recent Armour Beauty launches. "Lucy" is a beautiful true orange with an opaque finish, and "Marilyn" is a very unique shade with a glamorous shimmery finish.

Lucy is a true orange gloss that is an ode to flame haired comedian/actress Lucille Ball. This shade is as true orange as it gets. There are no obvious yellow or red tones; just straight up juicy orange. Orange is a color I have plenty of in my cosmetic arsenal (I love the way it looks with my faux red hair!), but this is my first true orange gloss. I swatched "Lucy" on my minimally pigmented bare lips, to show the opacity and true color of the shade. "Lucy" was an instant favorite for me. I imagine it would also be an instant favorite to anybody who tries this bright and punchy pop of citrus orange. I think this shade would look awesome on literally every skintone.


Marilyn is the namesake of timeless bombshell Marilyn Monroe. This is probably one of the most versatile glosses I own. I have very pale lips so my favorite way to wear "Marilyn" is to layer it over another color. The shimmer is what sets this apart from other glosses currently on the market. I love this gloss over any and all of the colors I usually sport on my lips (red, bright pink, purple, or even orange!). I actually really love the unexpected contrast of "Marilyn" on top of an orange base. My best friend has pigmented lips and she loves "Marilyn" on its own. There is not even one skin tone that can't pull off "Marilyn"; hence why it is so incredibly versatile, in my opinion. If you have naturally very pale lips like me, this looks great over a base. If you have pigmented lips (like my best friend), this looks great by itself. I swatched "Marilyn" on top of my bare lips. The shimmer is gorgeous, I love it! This shade very much reminded me of a more comfortable to wear version of the super sparkly M.A.C Dazzleglasses.

Armour Beauty is available at Armour Beauty, and also available at Beauty.com.



Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Review: Bite Beauty High Pigment Matte Pencil in Chablis and Zinfandel, Honey Lip Lacquer in Ruby


Since the title of my blog is "Lipstick & Candy Cigarettes", it's evident that lip products are my favorite cosmetic item. That is one of the reasons why I love Bite Beauty so much! Bite Beauty is a company that solely focuses on lip products; from priming to coloring to shine, Bite Beauty has you covered. I love the High Pigment Matte Pencils, there is bound to be one (or several!) shades for every skintone and every preference from modest nudes to the boldest of shades. I have two shades, Zinfandel and Chablis. Bite Beauty recently launched a new product, the Honey Lip Lacquer features five gorgeous shades that start out sheer but can be layered to create bolder color. One of the ingredients in the gloss is pure manuka honey!



Chablis is a gorgeous rosy pink shade. I'm generally not much of a fan of nude/pale lips so I tend to regularly reach for bolder shades, but Chablis is my happy middle ground. It reminds me of the pretty shade that adorned Kate Winslet's lips in "Titanic". Chablis is definitely one of my favorite "My Lips But Better" shades. Usually with matte lip products, they can be drying and uncomfortable to wear. I'm always happy to find a brand that doesn't use harmful ingredients such as parabens and phthalates. High Pigment Matte Lip Pencils are extremely comfortable to wear. In fact, I actually forgot I had anything on my lips, the comfort of wear is like a sheer veil.

Zinfandel is a bright and fun pop of coral, not leaning too red or orange. It really is the perfect coral. I wore this perky shade all throughout Spring and Summer, and who says you can't wear a well placed pop of color in the Fall and Winter months? I think it's awesome that Bite Beauty uses the antioxidant Resveratrol in all products, even the Whipped Cherry Lip Scrub! The amount of Resveratrol in each product is equivalent to the content of this powerful antioxidant found in five glasses of red wine! Pretty cool.

Ruby is such a versatile product. You can slick on one layer for a sheer flush of pigment, or layer it for an extra pop of pinky red. I love products that can churn out several different shades of one beautiful color. One of my favorite ways to sport this color is on top of Zinfandel, it pumps up the red tones and leaves my lips blushing with a glossy coral red. I can't wait to introduce this shade to my best friend. She is the complete opposite of me when it comes to our cosmetic preferences in terms of opacity and bold color choices, so I think she would LOVE to meet Ruby!

You can find Bite Beauty High Pigment Matte Pencil in Zinfandel and Chablis, and Bite Beauty Honey Lip Lacquer in Ruby at Sephora!


Monday, October 15, 2012

In A Blonde World is having a giveaway!


The lovely Thekla from In a Blonde World is giving away this super pretty A McQueen clutch! Go enter: http://www.inablondeworld.net/2012/09/giveaway-alexander-mcqueen-clutch.html