Swatches/Thoughts: Sephora Hello Kitty Graffiti Palette

I went to Sephora today to swatch the Hello Kitty Graffiti palette ($35USD, $46CAD) that recently came out. Overall the colours leaned cool and would be good for a grey smokey eye look. The texture was mostly smooth (except for the lightest two shades) and pigmentation was good (again, except for the lightest two shades). I felt the eyeshadows could cause some fall-out as they are quite powdery, but that problem can be easily solved with a good primer. The blushers were very smooth and adhered well. Overall, I would recommend this palette if you are looking for a fool-proof smokey eye palette. The packaging is very well made, and very cute as well, which is a plus.

Eyeshadow – from top left in clockwise direction, light grey blue, silver blue, dark teal, silver white.

The blushers – left is a dusty rose, and the right is a blue pink

Sephora x Tarina Tarantino: Some pics!

Here are some pics of the upcoming Sephora x Tarina Tarantino collaboration that is being released next February.

Love this princessy room! I wouldn’t mind having a room like this as my living room.

This reminds me of Guerlain’s Sublime Radiant Powder that is released with every Holiday collection. I hope this will be less expensive though because the Guerlain powder is usually priced around $100. It is equally princessy!

Last but not least, the 24-shade single eyeshadow collection. The top of each compact is adorned with 26 crystals! Talk about luxury in an expensive package.

I’m really excited about this collection. As you may already know, I’m a huge sucker for princessy packaging (like Jill Stuart products), and since this will be widely available at Sephoras around the world, it will be must easier to get ahold of this than the Jill Stuart products.

Source

Officially a VIB!

What is a VIB? A VIB, or Very Important Beauty Insider, is someone who has signed up for Sephora’s Beauty Insider program, and has spent at least $350 at Sephora in the calendar year (January – December of a single year). You become a VIB when you spend your $350th dollar at a Sephora store, or if you spent it online, you just need to wait for an email to notify you of this status update.

The perks of being a VIB are listed above in the picture. I received my 10% off coupon in the same email, but sadly it is only valid until December 10, which is when I will be studying for exams and not back in Vancouver yet. I’ve emailed them to ask if I can extend the coupon because if not, then its kind of pointless.

This is a new program that just came out this year, I believe near the end of summer. I think its pretty good, although it would be really nice to get a discount all year long until membership expires. Now how nice would that be…

I’ll update you on what they say after they email me back.

Review, NOTD and more pictures of the Too Faced palette

Here is the NOTD. I recently did a haul from Sephora and I was looking for some new nail polish, so I ended up getting this. This is Sephora by OPI in Opening Night, which is a dark blue with some shimmer. This picture was taken with flash, and you can see the shimmers more obviously and the colour looks more blue than in real life. When you see this in real life, it looks VERY dark, almost black, and the shimmers are not that obvious. I was looking for a shimmery dark blue nail polish and it didn’t end up being what I was looking for exactly. Nonetheless it is a gorgeous colour and I have a feeling I will be wearing this quite often.

What I love most about the Sephora by OPI formula is that it is extremely fast drying, something that Essie completely failed in. The colour is also very opaque (depending on which colour you get) and you get a very smooth finish. Believe it or not, in order to reach the opaqueness in the picture, I only applied ONE coat. There are no streak lines, even though I reapplied the polish to parts of the nail afterwards; everything still managed to blend in nicely.

Also, unlike the Essie that I had used for my previous NOTD, this formula is quite long lasting. I haven’t had much tip wear and no chips even after a few showers and once of scrubbing of scalp vigorously while washing my hair. This is my second Sephora by OPI nail polish, the other one being Mermain to Order, but I am quite happy with its formula overall and I can say I will be buying more.

Now for more pictures of the Too Faced Decade of Glamour wardrobe palette that I previously purchased from Sephora.

This palette includes NINE lip products! I think it is a bit too much as they could have included more eye products, but the colour selection is really good. I like that it is not all pinks, or red, and not all neutrals, there are some of each. There is also a mixture of glosses and lipsticks.

There are also 9 eyeshadows, a pure bronzer, a pure blush, and a bronzer/blush in one (the powder with the sillouette of the girl), a mini Lip Injection (plumper), a mini eyeliner and a mini mascara. I am looking forward to trying out the eyeshadows, the bronzer/blusher combo and the Lip Injection. After my last experience with a plumper, I’m hoping this one will be better.

Swatches and reviews of this palette will come later!

P.S. I have been super busy with assignments and presentations lately. I have 5 presentations and 3 major assignments in the span of 2 weeks, so please bear with me if I am not updating as much. Thanks so much for understanding!

Review: Bare Escentuals Buxom Lip Plumper in Sugar

Today, I will be doing a quick review of one of Sephora’s current promoted items, the Bare Escentuals Buxom Lip plumper. The shade that I received as a sample from Sephora is Sugar, which is described to be a rose beige colour.

The description on Sephora says:

Naturally creates the look of fuller, more voluptuous lips. This mineral-infused polish imparts a luminous high shine with no sticky or tacky feeling. A deep infusion of antioxidant vitamins A and E help keep lips soft, smooth, and protected, while the tingly and cooling sensation reminds you that your lips are getting an immediate increase in fullness.

When I first chose this colour from the online swatch that they provided, I thought it was going to be sheer, but that is actually not the case. It is semi-pigmented, with lots of shimmer.

Lip Swatch:

When I first opened the tube, it smelled amazing, like caramel/mocha coffee. It was good enough to eat. The consistency is quite thick, so I had to dip the applicator into the tube twice to get a good fill. After the application, I quickly noticed a tingly feeling on my lips, I am guessing from the minty substance that is supposed to make your lips look more plump. I love the smell, but that is pretty much all I love.

This product is $18 USD or $23 CAD. For the amount that you pay, it is definitely not worth it. The colour selection isn’t very original (when I saw the actual colour of the gloss, it didn’t wow me in any way), so for those of you looking for a variety of colours, I would go for MAC. Speaking of MAC, the plumping effect on this gloss is about the same as a MAC lipglass, but priced at 50% more than MAC lipglass. Oh, and it is stickier than MAC lip glosses.

Also, the minty effect is starting to get really annoying. Other glosses with the mint, such as Dior Lip Maximizer (no, this time I am not just favouring Dior) lasts maybe a few seconds, a few minutes max, but I applied this gloss over 2 hours ago, it is still minty. I read that menthol or any type of mint will slowly burn away the top layer of your skin on the lip, so I try to avoid lip products with minty sensations. With this one, the mint just doesn’t go away.

I think the only other pro is that it has no parabens, sulfates or phthalates in it, so at least you’re not ingesting a ton of chemical preservatives. Other than that, on a scale of 1-10 I would give this gloss a 3, maybe 4 max.

If you’re someone who really values a comparatively natural lip product, if you like minty lip glosses, or if you really like scented lip glosses in general, this is probably a product for you.

Update: It is now 4, almost 5 hours later. It is still minty…