When I did my makeup haul several weeks ago, I ordered from multiple vendors. I reviewed Kimberly New York (both here and here), Glow by Melodye, Nicolet Beauty, and KoyVoca. The review to follow is of BAABS Beauty, another indie brand with a wide variety of offerings at great prices.

BAABS Beauty has a full range of cosmetics, from foundations, to eye color, to lip color, and tools to apply just about anything you could want. I loved that the foundations are in multiple rich shades of brown, accommodating many different undertones. I was also pleased by the fact that the company offered foundation samples, so that you could attempt to match to your correct shade with only a minimal investment.

My order consisted of a felt tip eyeliner,  lip vinyl, and a set of foundation samples. The eyeliner was in the shade Chocolate Brown, the liquid lipstick was in the shade Safe Bet, and the foundation samples were from the Rich Hot Chocolate collection (the deepest shades that the company offers).

Isn’t this bag adorable?

Promotional materials and coupons enclosed in the order; my products.

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I found the felt tip liner wasn’t as nice as I’d hoped. I compared it to Mary Kay’s Liquid Eyeliner Pen (also has a felt tip) which glides on intensely and easily. Unfortunately, the MK eyeliner pen only comes in black. The BAABS liner took quite a bit of pressing to express the product into the felt tip, and the resulting color was faint (the color payoff was similar to dragging a partially-dried marker on the back of your hand). I don’t recommend it in its current formulation.

The liner gets a thumbs-down from me.

Now, about the foundation shades. I wasn’t totally clear how many containers I’d get, but, as it turns out, I received four small jars of color cosmetics, and one oil mattifier sample. The shades enclosed were N95, N10, N11, and Dark BB Cream.

The swatches are shown below.

(Shades from top to bottom: N95, N10, N11, Dark BB Cream)

As it turns out, the BB cream was the only product close to the skin tone on my face. Fortunately, the BB cream is AMAZING and applies beautifully. It has a light feel but gives quite a bit of coverage. I found that the coverage and dewiness were perfect for me; I used a little powder to set and the product lasted all day. Since the other shades were too dark, I didn’t wear them on my face.

Finally, I tried the lip vinyl in the shade Safe Bet. The website describes the product this way:

Applies as a medium rosy brown nude

Our liquid vinyl has high impact pigments, more coverage and shine than lipgloss, longwear lip-hybrid formula, similar to liquid lipstick with insane high watt shine, fade proof, infused with maximum staining pigments, non-drying stay put finish.

Lip Vinyl in Safe Bet, a happy medium between brown and rose

I found the description to be spot on. The product didn’t dry down matte or chalky: it remained smooth and creamy. I paired it with a dark brown liner and I loved the overall effect.

Overall, I enjoyed the products, but the order wasn’t without a few issues.

I placed my order on August 27th. I found out that the package was on its way on September 11th (I received an email confirming this). Then, on September 14th, I received another message: my shipping fees had been refunded due to the delay. I finally received my products on September 20th. It took nearly a month to receive products shipped from a neighboring state (the products were shipped from North Carolina to Virginia).

When I opened my products, I also noticed that the jar of N11 was nearly empty. See for yourself:

The jar looked like this fresh out of the package. I literally had enough to do a swatch or two. I swatched it for the photos and threw the empty jar in the trash.

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To the company’s credit, I did not have to initiate the shipping fee refund. The company get an “A” for proactivity. When it comes to small businesses, it’s important to remember that sometimes they don’t have the inventory or staff to quickly prepare and ship orders. Along with returning the fee, the company enclosed a free jar of lemon vanilla bean body cream, and a handwritten note expressing that they appreciated my patience. Since the N11 shade was too dark for my skin, I decided against contacting the company for an adequate sample size: it would have been a waste of resources, since I already knew that the shade wasn’t a fit for me. Another key point to note: the company offers FREE foundation samples for first time buyers, so the N11 container wasn’t wasted money for me, since it was free on this order.

The complimentary body cream enclosed in my package.

Now the big question: would I order again?

YES, absolutely. I wouldn’t chance ordering when I’m experiencing a time crunch, but if I’m not in a rush, sure, I’d order from BAABS Beauty again. I really enjoyed the BB cream so I’ll probably reorder that. I’d also like to purchase the sample set with a few of those lighter foundation shades, to see if one of those works better on my skin tone.

That’s my not-so-short review of BAABS Beauty! Do you see any products that you would want to try? Let me know in the comments below!

I am a regular beauty shopper and I keep up with most of the product launches that occur each season. So I was very excited to see L’Oreal’s Collection Exclusive lipsticks and nail polishes. This collection has nudes, reds and pinks tailored to different skin tones. I’m not sure when the collection launched, but I made sure to check them all out.  I knew that I wanted to try the shades for deeper skintones: the Freida Pinto, Zoe Saldana, and Liya Kebede collections.

My complexion is close to Liya’s, so, naturally, I picked up Liya’s Nude. This gorgeous rosewood brown shade, with just the right combination of sheerness and sheen, instantly became a favorite of mine. However, I made a mental note to try the Zoe and Freida collections, because I didn’t particular like Liya’s Red or Liya’s Pink.

Imagine my shock when I returned to the store a couple of months later and both the collections for deeper skintones were GONE. Worst yet, I couldn’t even remember which actresses were associated with the deeper toned collections (sigh …).

So, I went to L’Oreal’s website to figure out where I can find these discontinued collections. Reading through the comments, I was reminded that Zoe and Freida had collections (thanks to those wonderfully vocal L’Oreal customers!). Their collections were no longer available on L’Oreal and in the stores.

The online hunt was ON.

I went to Amazon, and I wasn’t disappointed. I got ALL of the Zoe shades: the Zoe Red and Pink lipsticks and nail polishes.

I also swatched the shades for your reference.

(Zoe’s Red lipstick on the left, Zoe’s pink on the right)

Zoe’s Red lipstick is a true merlot color. It starts off semi-sheer and builds to a deep, rich color. Zoe’s pink is a soft, pretty bubblegum shade that also starts off sheer and builds to a nearly opaque finish. Both lipsticks are moisturizing and long lasting, and neither dries down to a matte finish.

(Zoe’s Red nail polish on the left, Zoe’s pink on the right)

I wore the Zoe’s Red polish – a pure bordeaux red – on my toes. The polish lasted an average amount of time before chipping (about 3 days), without a base coat or top coat. I haven’t tried Zoe’s Pink yet, because I don’t actually like the shade. It has the faintest twinge of coral that doesn’t flatter my skintone, so I’ll probably pass it along to a friend.

If you’re interested in getting these gorgeous shades for yourself, here are the Amazon links (just click on the photos below):

Have any of you tried the L’Oreal Collection Exclusive shades? Please let me know in the comments below!