It’s rare that I buy enough from one brand to do a full blown haul so I end up collecting random items that don’t warrant their own specific review. Today I’m going to finally review some of the things I’ve been testing for weeks. Let’s start with the product I’ve had since Black Friday, the BH Cosmetics Duolight Highlight Palette.

BH Cosmetics Duolight Highlight Palette

The Duolight Highlight Palette is $20.00 for nine highlighters. The packaging is sturdy cardboard with a magnetic closure and a mirror. The three highlighters on top are a typical pan size while the three on bottom are split in half. I’m not sure why the layout is like this and it kind of bugs me, lol. BH Cosmetics makes one of my favorite highlighter formulas. I love the Spotlight and Blacklight palettes. Thankfully, this palette is the same formula.

Each of the highlighters are duochromes. Most of them are smooth with little fallout and no chunky glitter. The only exception is Top Secret on the top row, far right. It’s pretty but very crumbly. All of these highlighters pack a PUNCH. They are not for the faint of heart. On fair skin tones, like mine, a light hand when applying is a must. Double Date, Double Time and Double Up are all slightly too dark for me unless I mix them with a lighter shade. They make beautiful eyeshadows, however.

I didn’t take pictures of each of the highlighters on my face because the duochrome shift wouldn’t show up but you can see them in the swatch pictures above. I highly, highly recommend any of BH Cosmetics highlighters but I especially recommend this palette to any of you with deeper skin tones. These shades will look amazing on you because they have such pigmented bases. Here’s the shade descriptions from top to bottom, left to right:

• Top It Off- peachy pink base with a gold shift
• Top Notch- light pink base with a light gold shift
• Top Secret- icy blue/gray base with a white shift (primarily just white)
• Double Trouble- gold base with a bright gold shift
• Double Date- deeper peachy gold base with a bright gold shift
• Double Whammy- hot pink base with a green shift
• Double Time- deep pink base with a blue shift
• Double Take- pink base with a green shift (more green than Double Whammy)
• Double Up- blue/gray base with a pink shift

Burt’s Bees 100% Natural Lip Butters

I’ve always liked Burt’s Bees lip balms so when they released their new 100% Natural Lip Butters, I decided to try them out. They are $5.00 apiece and come in a few different flavors. I have Orange Blossom & Pistachio and Vanilla & Clove.

The formula of these are fantastic. They’re very moisturizing and the best lip balms I’ve tried from Burt’s Bees and some of the best I’ve tried in general. However, they are WAY too strongly flavored and scented. Orange Blossom & Pistachio smells and tastes exactly like what it’s called. This wouldn’t be so bad if the smell/taste didn’t linger. The Vanilla & Clove smells/tastes like straight up cloves and it’s disgusting. I really like this formula but I honestly don’t know if I’ll buy these again unless Burt’s Bees releases an unscented version.

e.l.f. Keep Your Curl Mascara

e.l.f. mascaras have a pretty bad reputation. I’ve never hated them but I’ve never been super impressed by them either. Just for fun, I decided to try one of their newer formulas, the Keep Your Curl Mascara. It’s $5.00 for 0.27 ounces so it ends up being more expensive than my usual Covergirl Lash Blast Volume Mascara that is around $7.00 for 0.44 ounces. However, I think it’s worth it.

This is a great mascara. It’s a deep black and a drier formula, which I prefer. It has a slightly curved, rubbery plastic wand that is slim enough to easily reach each lash. It didn’t smudge or flake throughout the day and is just an overall solid formula that I recommend.

L.A. Girl HD Pro Concealer

I’ve reviewed different shades of the L.A. Girl HD Pro Concealers before; you can see those reviews here and here. These concealers and color correctors are $5.00 for 0.28 ounces of product. I really like this formula but it’s not my all time favorite. It is very creamy, blendable and long wearing but I tend to usually prefer something more matte. I do like keeping these around, however, because they’re so affordable and work well with really matte foundations.

I decided to try one of the color correctors in Cool Pink. I use salmon/pink shades for my under eye darkness and acne scars. This shade is okay for me but not great. It’s a little too white to really correct my darkness. I need something more salmon toned. I also own their Peach color corrector but it’s too dark for me. I’m hoping I can mix the two to create my ideal shade. This is a good formula with a huge shade range at a great price so I recommend it.

Hard Candy All Matte Up Lip Crayons

Last but not least is probably my favorite discovery, the Hard Candy All Matte Up Lip Crayons. These are a part of the brand’s new spring releases, exclusive to WalMart. They’re available in quite a few shades and just $5.00 apiece. I have the shades Stix & Stones and Retro Red. Stix & Stones is my ideal shade of pink. It’s more on the cool toned side with a hint of purple. Retro Red looks exactly like it sounds like it would. I’ve never been a big fan of red lipstick on me but I LOVE this one.

The formula is matte with coconut and hemp oil for additional hydration. These are comfortable matte lipsticks but they can start to feel slightly dry after awhile. They barely transfer and are incredibly long wearing. They fade from the lips gracefully and are just all around perfect. I like these as much as my NYX Lip Lingerie Push Up Lipsticks that are $9.00 apiece and I honestly like them more than my Dose of Colors Liquid Lipsticks that are $18.00 apiece. I clearly recommend these.

Final Thoughts:

I hope these reviews helped you guys find some new things to try! I’d love to know what you think about these products or what you’re loving right now. Thanks for reading and have a great day!