Prestige Brow Perfection Kit / Perfectly Fresh Cheek Tint

Prestige cosmetics isn't available just anywhere (CVS doesn't carry it, but most Rite Aids and some Walgreens do). When you can find it, the selection is usually old, many of the eyeshadows are cracked up and the lip gloss has visibly separated. Ick. So it's no wonder that I usually pay no attention to the wall space it occupies. Apparently I'm not the only one. I think Prestige must have supply chain issues, plus their damn website is not even updated with new products and has not been since 2006. That's a great way to run a business. It's a shame because the models and makeup application on the site are actually pretty nice for a drugstore brand.

This evening in Rite Aid, (Broad and Belvidere) however, I was surprised to see *new* products from Prestige. First and foremost, a brow kit with powder, wax, and stencils! I prefer brow set/clear mascara to wax, but kudos to Prestige for putting out a unique product. At $10 you're getting quite a few products for your money.

Also there was a second shelf display with lip gloss, clear mascara, and gel cheek tint. Very summery, and I had to try the Perfectly Fresh cheek tint in Sunny (there was also Rosy). It is similarly sized to Sonia Kashuk and Tarte's smaller cheek tints (the fullsized Tarte cheek tints are SO big anyway). The cardboard packaging looks a little iffy but the inner liner is plastic (and has a cap to keep it airtight). The product itself is not as pigmented as I expected but blends really well and looks like a believable tan. There is no shimmer/glitter, thankfully. For $6 I was impressed.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear and Hi Definition polish - bright new shades

It was all I could do not to scoop up the whole lot of them, but do yourself a favor and pick up a nice new color for the summer. These and the new HD polishes (can you say bright?) are like eye candy, but for your nails. All the ones I've tried so far, like the Coraline Blue (Blue It) are one or two coaters, and they dry fast. Add a shiny topcoat and you're good to go.

Revlon Luxurious Color Eyeliner

I've been on a quest for the perfect dark brown, shimmery liner. Some dark brown liners have a lot of red in them, others aren't dark enough or are too dark, and matte/flat liners can make the eyelids look crepey and dry. I must have looked like a crazy person in CVS (which, it being the Broad and Boulevard location means I probably fit right in with all the other homeless, drunks, vagrants, and crazies), kneeling down to look at every single liner, inspecting for the perfect shade and shimmer.

The shade I finally chose, Sueded Brown, had a shimmery paint on the pencil, but the tip itself was greyed over - kind of like how chocolate gets that grey cast to it if it's a bit old. I crossed my fingers and...I think I've finally found my holy grail. I really want to buy at least two other shades - Burnished Amber and Antiqued Gold. Blackened Sapphire also looks good (but I have a similar shade from Bobbi Brown). To amp up the shimmer factor, I layer on L'Oreal HIP kohls in brown.

Ardell Brow Stencils

Unlike the disappointing Anastasia Brow Stencils I purchased a few days ago, these stencils actually fit my face and brow size/shape well. For $6, you get 4 stencils with slightly differing shapes. The stencils actually have quite a bit of excess plastic and trimming them down a bit made them even easier to use. I know I've been going on about brows for several weeks, and brow stencils may sound really weird, but try it!

Milani Brow Fix Kit

Like I said earlier, I'm on a kind of a brow kick, and this tiny kit caught my attention. This little kit is about $6 and has tiny tweezers (okay in a pinch), two brow shades and a highlighter, plus an angled brush and a sponge brush to apply the product. The only thing it doesn't have is a brow gel or wax to keep the brows in place. For the ultimate in cheap brow grooming, simply use a tiny bit of hair gel and apply with a spoolie brush or old mascara wand and your brows are shaped, colored, and held in place. Fierce!

Milani Black Magic liner duo

It's not often you come across a product that is really quite different and not just a knock-off of other similar products from other brands. Milani's Black Magic liner/glimmer duo is definitely something you don't see every day. It's a jumbo-sized pencil, with one end a creamy liner pencil and the other a gel-like glitter/glimmer.

The best part about the product is the color range, with shades like blackened gold and blackened teal. The glitter really isn't too useful to me for every day but the blackened liners look lovely and smokey, with the shade providing a little bit of "oomph" and sexy glamour compared to basic black. I'd love to see Milani do a line of thin liner pencils with just the blackened liner shades.

The most useful way to use the other side is to actually apply some of the glitter over the blackened liner. This does smudge it a bit but the glitter on top of the metallic liner is a really great look for evening.

Short Pump finally has an ULTA!

For a second there I thought it would never happen, but there's finally an ULTA in Short Pump. Especially now that Movieland is open, we hardly ever go to Chesterfield Towne Center or the Midlothian corridor. We do, however, go to Trader Joe's, so the ULTA that opened yesterday in the same shoppinge center as TJ's is basically a little kiss from heaven.

I made my maiden voyage this afternoon and was mostly very pleased...the layout is quite different from the stores I'm used to, with bath and body on the far left, then drugstore hair, then drugstore makeup, prestige nail/bath/body/hair, perfume, and finally prestige cosmetics on the far right. The new setup took some getting used to, and I had to wander through the aisles more than once to find everything on my shopping list. The worst part is a support column literally three inches from a shelf display...I believe it was Cover Girl, or perhaps Sally Hansen, but in any case that needs to be remedied stat! The shelves appear to be on wheels so a bit of wheeling would solve the problem.

Every time I go to ULTA I have to pick up Ardell's Brow and Lash Growth Accelerator. I just can't find it anywhere else, and it works! I've been on a major brow kick lately, too. I have been lusting over Anastasia products for months and finally was running low on brow powder, so I bought the Brow Express kit. It's a great deal but sadly once I got home, I found the stencils were all too large for my face (some comically so)! I'm quite sad because the wax/powder/highlighter quad looked so nice. Good thing ULTA takes returns within 60 days.

The prestige cosmetics department was nicer than other stores, although it appeared maybe not fully stocked yet. I also lingered over the Urban Decay display, and dreamed about owning the full collection of UD 24/7 eyeliners (someday!). I'm also on a quest for the perfect dark brown, shimmery/metallic eyeliner, and I thought Bourbon would do it for sure, but it's more of a mid brown.

The staff were all very friendly of course, with several makeovers going on at the BeneFit counter. I'm so glad to have another place to get my ULTA fix and I wish them the best of luck!

Jesse's Girl nail polish

Jesse's Girl is an inexpensive brand exclusive to Rite Aid. I hadn't had much time or opportunity to check it out until I went to Kitty Hawk and visited the nice Rite Aid right there as you cross over the bridge. The bottles are a nice, modern and square shape, and as you may be able to tell by looking, the brush itself is not very long, but still is quite good for a low-end brand brush.

There are about 30 shades to choose from. Many of the brighter shades were sold out, which I hoped was a good sign. The color I chose, Magenta, looked very bright and glittery in the bottle but takes about 3 coats to be non-sheer. I've noticed this with other magenta shades in particular - they're actually a very thin red polish. The neon shades dry matte, so a topcoat is definitely in order (unless you prefer the matte look, which OPI and others are trying to turn into a trend but I am sitting that one out). These are ideal for a pedicure when you want to have a bright or unusual color. Other best bets include Neon Purple and Blue Moon (a metallic, slightly iridescent indigo). For $2.99, you could do a lot worse.