Sparkled Beauty

Also part of the Maple Vox Box I received for review were 2 big New York Color makeup items :) A mascara and a lip gloss, with the tubes about a time and a half bigger than normal, each retails $4.99.

The NYC Big Bold Curl mascara in Extreme Black has an oversized curved brush that is supposed to give up to 12 times more volume and 99% more lift.

I'd call this mascara a gentle giant. Despite of the size, the brush does not hurt my eyes and the bristles coat my lashes well when I use both sides of the curve.

The mascara does give my lashes volume but, as with most mascaras on me, not much of a curl.

The NYC Big Bold Plumping lip gloss in Big City Blush is meant to make lips look up to 50% fuller with high gloss shine that lasts up to 4 hours.

The applicator is huge (but, again, gentle) and picks up a bit more product than I need most of the time. No big deal, I just scrape it off at the top of the tube.

This particular shade does not have much pigmentation but is a good slap-on-and-go type of colour on me. It is also great on top of another lip product for the shine.

The plumping effect is not very noticeable, a slight tingling feeling on your lips like when you have a mint in your mouth. It does not bother me. The gloss also has a soft sweet scent, thought I should note.

A swatch of Big City Blush, side by side with Elf Matte lip color in Natural to show you the tone and pigmentation.

As you might guess, I like to pair these two together for a natural look. On my dark lips, they look nude but not washed out, and a bit of shine is always nice.

All in all, with these two products, not all claims hold true but they do have good things to offer, at a reasonable price. I am happy to use up the mascara and will check out other colours of the gloss - a red or fuchsia.

Check out my FOTD wearing these products. Have you tried anything from NYC lately and what do you think of their products?