GlamST Launch and Review

Right then, where are all my beauty junkies at? Raise your perfectly manicured hands high, dears, because this post is especially for you!

Ever just wanted someone else's advice before buying makeup online? Quickly jotted product reviews not giving you what you need? (A.K.A. every Sephora purchase I've ever made) Do you just want to try wacky shades from time to time? Then the newly launched GlamST is the place for you! (also on facebook!)

Designed and coded by two leading ladies from Uruguay, GlamST offers a virtual makeup shop comparable to Sephora, Nordstrom, or some other big name cosmetic merchandiser. But better, because you don't have to change out of your jammies or leave your cozy dorm (just me?).  You can also browse other users looks for inspiration, ask for advice, and try shades you wouldn't normally touch. GlamST is all about creating a positive and comfortable community of women looking to create their own definitions of beauty!

Plus, just look at that home page? How cute is it?!

 When you sign up for an account (which I sincerely hope you do!), they walk you through profile creation. This includes, name, email, blog (if you haz one), age range, hair/eye/skin/hair colors, and an "about me" section. Then, you upload a picture of yourself and go to town with little pink dots, which are used to outline our face, eyes, and lips, individually. Then the real fun can start!

(I screenshot-ed the website tour for y'all. You're welcome)

1. To edit your carefully polka-dotted portrait, you are given these three categories. This example is using the "lips" circle because I have a problem.

2. Once you've chosen the product you want to slather all over your beauteous self, select a shade to do the virtual slathering with.

3. Your chosen product will then appear on your photograph as if it had always been there! Magic, amirite? You can do this with all of the different options within the three overarching categories. For example, "face" has sub-categories of "foundation," "concealer," "powder," and "blush." The "eyes" and "lips" buttons have similar small sections to explore!

4. Once you've clicked through all of the different options (and there are a LOT), you can click this switcheroo-y button to see the difference in your face. Either way, I think you're B-E-A-Utiful!

5. This cute little button shows you all of the products you decided upon in your finalized makeup, right next to your lovely visage.

^for example^

6. Of course, there's the save button, which takes you to this screen...

...from where you can save the final look to the GlamST site along with a title, a blurb, and some tags.

7. You can even share looks your particularly proud of to social media!

8. If you feel like mixing it up, you can add a different photo to play with (it's totally a gigantic coloring book for beauty nerds, like you didn't think of that!)

9. And, since no one is perfect, there's a button with the option to change the placement of the polka dots around your features!

Whew! Site overview, done! High five!

So, suggestions. 

My main issue with the site is that the "sign up with Google+" option was glitching when I went to become part of the community. Agustina was super great about getting back to me and requesting I sign up using Facebook instead in the nicest possible way (I don't like doing so because, as much as I love the dearest, darlingest, readers in all of oz... the internet can be a scary place). I've also noticed that GlamST runs smoother on Firefox than on Safari, so heads up to all of my Mac users!

My main complaint about the actual usage comes through the clumsy makeup representation. This is most noticeable in the simplified depictions of eye makeup. I get that this website is a HUGE undertaking and think it is the coolest interactive makeup website ever... but constructive criticism is a wonderful thing (right?)!

The virtual concealers never match my skin tone or my face with foundation upon it. Maybe add a blending tool/button to give a more seamless finish?

The eyeliner only has one shape and thickness. I hardly ever use eyeliner, and when I do it is very light. Therefore, the winged and heavy lines drawn using ALL of the liners look wrong to me. I'm sure girls who can draw this type of liner (shaky hands, boo) and enjoy the look appreciate the singular option, but personally, I would greatly appreciate a little more variation!

The mascaras also exhibit very little variation between them. I own Benefit's BadGal Mascara and love it for its almost natural but just slightly more polished appearance. The lashes it produces in GlamST look fake, and I'm a bit terrified of applying fake lashes so... A little customization goes a long way!

I want to buy alllll of the Dior lipstick shades! And not just the ones pictured here, there's a whole other line exhibited on the site! Be still my heart and save my wallet!

Here are my three favorite looks!

Seulement Dior
(I can make a similar look here, based around the Dior Addict Lip Glow... which, oh my gosh, why haven't I done a post for yet?)

Clearly Clinique 

(a look I can actually try! Shall I do a compare&contrast post?)

My Boy Bobbi

I started playing around with creating looks using only one brand and actually liked these looks better than the ones when I went nuts and tackled the whole selection!

I hope you decide to join GlamST! I'm really excited to have more women join so that the community aspect (the whole reason I joined this campaign!) can really take off! 

This post was Powered by BrandBacker. I received no compensation but was introduced to GlamST as a blogger by a third party. All opinions expressed here are my own and I would never review anything I wouldn't wholeheartedly recommend to my beloved readers.