**Sponsored** Pixel Spa + Makeup Revolution Retro Luxe Matte Lip Kit - Treason

Whooooooaaaa, where the heck did my May go? I swear it was May 1st like... yesterday. Goodness gracious, time is going wayyyy too fast.

So, I'm back with a makeup/beauty review, which I haven't done in a really long time! I feel like these reviews would be a lot better if I did them in video format, but I'll be honest -- I'm super nervous about actually making a video and posting it somewhere. Maybe one day, I'll be able to do a video review, but today is not that day, my friends, XP

Let me start this review with a disclaimer: the items I got from Pixel Spa were given to me for free, for review. I know the owner personally, so while I know that may make my review biased, I still want to do my best to be as transparent as possible.

The Makeup Revolution products were not free though; those I had to pay actual money for. Shout-out to Ulta for that 20% off coupon on the app, cause I may not have bought these items otherwise, haha.

Pixel Spa

Pixel Spa's cute AF mascot, Caspia! I do not own!

Pixel Spa is a gamer/geek oriented bath and body shop with awesome soaps, lotions and most recently, cosmetics. The owner is a WoC trying to make her mark on the world, one amazing scent at the time. Each scent is handcrafted, oftentimes vegan, and based around either a video game or pop culture character.

I was asked to test out an eyeshadow for review, and I also received a sugar scrub! The good news is: the sugar scrub was so amazing that I used it all up. Whoops! The bad news? I didn't get a picture of my jar of sugar scrub, so you'll have to settle for a display photo.

Pixel Spa sugar scrubs on display!

Pixel Spa's sugar scrubs have a fairly strong scent that lasts for a while, though I imagine that may depend on the character you choose. Since I'm a Tales fan (find out about the Tales of convention I work for here), I asked for a scent that was based on my Tales waifu, Estelle from Tales of Vesperia.

Estelle's florally fragrance filled my bathroom, and the smell definitely lingered for a while after my shower. The sugar scrub is made with actual sugar, a few other ingredients, and poppy seeds. The formula is thick, so I advise using a little spoon or spatula to get the product out of the jar, otherwise you might have a thick goop of sugar under your fingernails.

The product washes off pretty well, and leaves the skin feeling moisturized. A little goes a very long way.

My Pixel Spa eyeshadow!

For my eye shadow, I was given a super pretty purple pigment! This was my first time testing out a homemade eye shadow product and I'm 100% happy with it. The shadow blends well with others, but it does require a little bit of work to truly make the color pop. I'll explain more with my swatch test.

Wet swatch on the left, dry swatch on the right.

Clearly, the shadow performs much better when wet. I definitely expected that, given the fact that this is a loose pigment shadow, and they typically behave like this. The color is definitely still visible when dry, but no where near as much when I added a bit of water to my brush. Personally, I don't like wetting my brushes to get my shadows on, because usually it stains the brush. That being said, I did use a liquid eyeshadow base when applying all my shadows, so that may have helped somewhat.

Here's my eyeshadow look!

My full face!

I used the Pixel Spa eyeshadow on the outer corners of my eyes to create a nice little pop. I used an angled fluffy brush to apply the shadow, and it took about 2 dips of my brush into the pot to really build the color up. There was some fall out when I applied the shadow, but I guess that's my punishment for doing my base makeup first, -_-

Let's get closer, shall we?

Close-up of the shadow.

Upon closer inspection, we can definitely see a purplish hue at the outer corner of my eyes. I imagine this color would be a lot truer to the actual shade if I had wet my brush while I applied it, but the color payoff is good enough for me! It's so pretty~!

The shadow stayed on for hours too, though I'll be honest, and say that with the combined power of my eyeshadow primer and a Urban Decay setting spray, it BETTER stay on for hours, dang it.

It was also easy to remove when I finally got home and wiped my face off with makeup remover. I didn't have any remaining eyeshadow once I washed my face, so I'm happy that I don't have to worry about waking up with panda eyes the next morning, haha.

All and all, I love this shadow and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to review it on this blog! Since the items were given to me specifically for review, I won't use my usual rating system to review Pixel Spa. Instead, I'll just say: give Pixel Spa a try! In addition to all the products mentioned, she also makes small sample soaps so that buyers can test out the fragrances before ordering a full product. Most of all, I hope that you'll support women-owned, minority-owned small businesses. 

You can check-out Pixel Spa's shop and products on Facebook with this link.

Now, lemme just climb down from this soap box and move on to the Lip Kit. 

Makeup Revolution Retro Luxe Matte Lip Kit in Treason

Stock photo, I do not own!

I'm sure you're wondering, dear readers, why the heck did J buy this? The honest answer is that I saw it on Youtube and I wanted it. Immediately. So I went to Ulta and bought it, along with some concealer that I also didn't need.

And here we are, haha.

My lip kit!

The Makeup Rev Lip Kit is pretty cool -- it comes with a lip liner and a liquid lipstick to create a matte lip that looks fantastic. Both lip products come in the same color, so even though they're supposed to be used together, I'm sure I'll use them with my other products as well.

Lip products out of the box.

The color is a pretty purplish gray that I thought would look pretty good with my shadow look for the day. I prefer matte or satin lips to most other finishes, so this is right up my alley. Like most other make-up reviews, the first thing after opening the product was swatch it! Let's have a look-see.

Swatch of the lip products.

This swatch was done in natural lighting, so I also did one with the flash!

With flash.

After doing my swatches, I grabbed the liner and starting lining my lips. The lip liner goes on smooth and it's a bit waxy, which helped it last on my lips after eating. The lipstick, on the other hand... Even though neither product had a particularly strong or bad smell, the liquid lipstick left an awful taste in my mouth. I only noticed it when I first applied the product, because afterwards, it just fades away. I'm not sure why it tasted like that, but bleh.

My matte lips!

I really love how "muted" (toned down) the lipstick looks. It's almost nude; not quite there, but it still has such a nice finish. Unfortunately, the liquid lipstick came off the second I had something to drink, X_X The plus side is that the product just came right off; no balling up or yucky peeling.

The liner, on the other hand, stayed on for most of the day. I ended up layering on a different lip color (as you see in my eyeshadow picture up above) and it stuck around after lunch too! I'm really happy with the lip liner, especially since I own all of two lip liners (I wish I was joking). If Makeup Rev sold just the liners on their own, I'd definitely buy them. 

While I enjoyed the Lip Kit's  2-for-1 price tag, I'd much rather get a liquid lipstick that will stay on for longer than five minutes. On top of that, the fact that I can grab Urban Decay liquid lippies, or literally any other brand, for about the same price as this kit means I honestly wouldn't buy this again. 

I give it a 4 out of 8 because I don't hate it -- I just know there's competition for this type of product out there, and the competition brought their A-game. I still really love Makeup Rev as a brand though!

Tell me about your newest makeup purchases, dear readers! I'd love to hear about your favorite lipstick brands and beauty hauls in the comment box below. If you liked this type of review and want to see more, I'd love to hear some feedback on that too! 

I've finally finished moving, so that means I have more time to blog (hopefully). I've got some more Taobao reviews coming your way, plus I'm going to Paradiso this weekend! I'll be back with lots of photos and coverage for your viewing pleasure.

Have a great Memorial Day! See you next time, my loves, <3

Stay beautiful, stay true,

~J