<strong>Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy</strong>
This was initially created by Fyrinnae's cosmetic chemist because he wanted to keep the glitters in their place, and glittery. (The words I remember, but can't find now, were something to the tune of “I wanted to look like a pixie - not like I'd been shagged by one.” People all over beauty blogs, big and small, swear by this product. I got a sample of this product in my first order from Fyrinnae, and wasn't thrilled. I had a few false starts because I didn't understand quite what Pixie Epoxy was for. CosmeticViking and Sirvinya each did tutorials on using PE, and I tried it again. It does intensify the color. It does keep the colors in their places. But…like my initial forays with UD's Primer Potion, it grabbed the colors too firmly for my preferences. I also didn't like the feeling of the substance on my eyelids. (I'm hypersensitive to weight and texture, especially on my face. For the longest time, that was my primary barrier to wearing makeup beyond mascara.) I can definitely understand why so many people love it, from a “how does it perform” standpoint. Today I use it, occasionally, for liner shadows. But I still don't like using it all over my lids. I'm more a watercolor-abstract artist, and I prefer to soften and blend the edges a bit more than PE allows me to.

<strong>Revlon's Lip Butters</strong>
Beauty mavens went nuts over these. They liked the application. They liked the color range. They liked the price point. They liked that these didn't feel at all drying, and were in fact supposed to also provide moisture to your lips. I tried a few of the lip butters in the darker shades, since they are balms and thus the color payoff is slightly less than standard lipsticks. The color payoff was okay, with the understanding that it would be a semisheer (about a 3.5 out of 5, to borrow Zoya's opacity scale.) But these are essentially balms. I do not love balms. I know that lots of people love them because they add a little color while providing extra moisture. This is a great concept. But…they actually feel like something's there!! I feel like there's definitely a layer of *something* on my lips, and it won't budge no matter what. Like I've said, I'm a textural gal. If something's too heavy, or too slick, or too gritty, I'll feel it and I won't wear it. Aside from the two that I purchased to see how they'd actually work for me, I won't be buying any more of these.

<strong>Clinique's Black Honey Almost Lipstick</strong>
This is more of a cult favorite than “everybody loves this OMG”, but the people who do mention it, do so universally positively. It's a balm, and apparently it shows as a slightly different color on different people - depending on body chemistry, coloring, whatever. I picked this up in Atlanta, and tried it. It's a balm, which means the color payoff isn't as dark as it looks in the stick. It's not as heavy-feeling on my lips as Revlon's Lip Butters. But…I didn't like this color on me. It just looked…not necessarily too dark, not too vampy, just…wrong. It didn't work for me. Other shades have been released, possibly in an attempt to give consumers more shade choices than “deep deep dark red.” But the price tag, amount of product, and overall “not thrilled” initial reaction means that I probably won't buy any more of these. I don't necessarily regret trying it out, but am not in any kind of a hurry to do so with any of the other shades.

<strong>Large-particle glitter polish</strong>
Okay, so these are maybe not the OMGABSOLUTEFAVE of every single blogger. But it seems like they're really undergoing a renaissance in the past few years. They're difficult to remove, and I personally don't like the irregular texture that these give to manicures. (Also in this bucket: crackle nail polish. It's on its way back into the collective vault, after just about every line in existence released their own version of crackle polish. I predict a resurgence in about 10-13 years, though.)

<strong>Any of the Naked/Nude/Natural palettes</strong>
Urban Decay's Naked, MUA's Nude, Sleek's Au Naturel…they all leave me cold. Maybe it's because it's so many neutrals all in one place. It's a monochromatic sweep of browns. It's just not my thing. For quite a while I half-thought that this dislike was intensified because most of these palettes that send everyone else absotively gaga, are pressed powder. And I am most definitely NOT a pressed-powder kind of gal. But no, Concrete Minerals' Nudie Pie colorstack is not something that I'd buy, in that grouping.

<strong>MAC brushes</strong>
When I first started using makeup brushes, the price point put me off. Later on, when I had a bit more spending cash and quite a bit more experience using makeup and makeup brushes, I did buy the MAC 226 brush. (And a backup. Because…okay, let's be real. This is me.) The brush is nice, it's got a good shape, the bristles are stiff enough to give a bit of definition without feeling scratchy. I've used MAC's fiber optic brush as well, and like how it performs. But…$42 for one face brush? Are you kidding me? I've seen lots of people state that MAC brushes are good, but they're not worth all the hype that they seem to get. And as someone who really really loves having a nice uniform artistic area (ooooh, the heavy irony in that) I can understand wanting to buy all your brushes from the same vendor so that they look and feel similar. But…$42? And these don't come in tons of kits, like BE's (not-all-that-great) brushes do. It's not like these people are Sephora, who also has some $42 makeup brushes - but they also have other brushes that perform similarly, at different price points. For those who do love MAC enough not to wince at paying ...um. All I can say is that we just don't understand each others' viewpoint on this particular issue. And I hope you enjoy your brushes as much as I enjoy the ones that I use.

Today I’m giving away Zoya’s Zang Toi trio: three pastel-colored polishes with glass-fleck finishes. This was released as part of their NYFW limited edition collections. This giveaway is open to continental-North American residents only. That’s because shipping costs for nail polish is so outrageous! Giveaway widget is below, visible to logged-in members.

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