The last two years have been the peak of my blush obsession, and MAC is the brand that still holds the record for most blushes in my collection. Even though I’ve given some away or sold some that didn’t work for me, what you see in the photo above is everything still remaining in my possession.
For the first wave of products I brought from the US to Germany, and knowing I’d be separated from my collection for a period of time between 3-10 months, I had to decide which items I didn’t want to be without and which ones could come later.
MAC Effervescence Extra Dimension Face Compacts in Medium and Deep
I never reviewed these, which launched for the holidays last year, because MAC released them in such a strange way. Initially they were only available overseas. Then, a month or so later, only the lightest shade was available at retail partners like HSN and Dillard’s. The lightest two shades eventually came to Ulta a few months after that, but the collection never became available on the MAC-US website. The only places they could be found were CCOs, which I have Nikkito thank for that information. Everywhere I called within my state and other states didn’t have the Deep one, but I purchased it from someone on Mercari and later got my hands on the Medium one from Amazon, specifically to have that vibrant coral blush.
I love the Deep trio, and all the shades in it work for me, but it comes in really bulky semi-heavy packaging that doesn’t fit in traditional beauty storage containers, so I left it behind. The Deep Trio will come back with me in the second wave of products, but Medium will likely be decluttered in some way.
MAC Extra Dimension Blushes
The Extra Dimension blush formula is my second most used type of blush from MAC, though it doesn’t look as evident since I’ve been focused mainly on using mine in the shade Faux Sure. Other than that one, I’ve dug into Guindilla from the MAC x Rosalia Aute Cuture collection the second most and Hushed Tone in the compact form (not from the Surrounded by Stars quad). Since Hushed Tone is so subtle on me, I pretty much stopped using it once I got my hands on Faux Sure. Because Guindilla is the only shade in its quad that I use, and it also takes effort to build up, that would add too much weight to my bag that could be used for other things. So, of all the Extra Dimension ones, I only brought Faux Sure with me. The rest will come in other waves.
MAC Glow Play Blushes
I never did showcase the color Grand, the leftmost blush in the photo above, because it’s too light for me. When MAC had one of their deep discounts on blushes, I bought it to see if I could pull off that shade or not. The Glow Play formula is my most loved from MAC and most used. They look like they’re in a messy state rather than heavily used condition, but they all started off in round domed shapes. So, the flattest ones are most used (with the exception of HD Cherry Tree). I tend to use the peaches and oranges way more often than the pinks, so I knew HD Cherry Tree and No Shame weren’t coming with me. I kept forgetting which ones I liked more between That’s Peachy and Peaches ‘N’ Dreams. Groovy and Heat Index were also hard to decide between as well. Ultimately, I dropped That’s Peachy and took the other three. That’s Peachy just took extra effort to build up, which is the only reason I didn’t bring it.
MAC Mineralize Blushes
Flirting with Danger and Love Thing were the only two Mineralize Blushes that I kept, and I still love them, so I took them with me. Unlike the other formulas from MAC that I can wear in tones that appear as though they’d be too light for me, the Mineralize Blushes look ashier on my skin tone the lighter they lean. That’s the reason why the deeper ones look better on me.
MAC Powder Blushes
The photo above shows my blushes that I did not depot and plan to keep in their original packaging. It also shows Sunbasque (too light for me) and Modern Mandarin (hard-panned quickly) which I was supposed to declutter, but never had the heart to toss them. He Likes It Cold is nice, but too similar to Flirting with Danger to be worth bringing in the first wave. The duo in Sunset Boulevard, Melba, and Gingerly are all super subtle. I like subtle, but I have other barely-there blushes from other brands that I wanted to bring instead, so those three had to remain behind. The MAC x Whitney Houston Blush in Nippy’s Plum Rose is one that I hadn’t reviewed yet and thought for sure I’d bring with me, but it’s close enough to MAC’s Breath of Plum that I decided it could stay for now. So, I didn’t take any of the ones above. However, I definitely plan to bring them all (except Sunbasque and Modern Mandarin) next time.
As for the photo below, I like so many of these shades, but the ones that remained behind were either too subtle or too vibrant for my taste now, don’t perform as well due to being old, or I have a similar shade from another brand in a formula I like more (ex: Peachtwist and Ambering Rose versus BareMinerals Blonzer in Kiss of Rose).
Even though the Powder blushes from MAC are what kicked off my obsession, my love of their other formulas overshadowed these and I didn’t get nearly enough use out of them because I was devoting more time to the others. So, I chose the most wearable ones that happened to fit into this nice custom quad.
So, I ended up narrowing down the first wave of MAC blushes to these chosen few! Ten blushes are still a lot, but it looks so small compared to the full collection.
The camera setting wasn’t in Pro mode, so the colors are washed out. I wasn’t intending to show this picture.
That’s all for today! I know reviews on newly released products tend to be more exciting, but it’s nice to revisit past things, especially to see if I would still recommend older products to this day.
For all who celebrate it, Merry Christmas! I’m going to update the home page, but I also want to announce in this post that I’m engaged! That’s why I’ll be in Germany either three months (if something goes wrong) or up to ten months (if I’m able to make this move permanent), before I return to the US for a visit. I’m bringing things over slowly, and this is why I’ve had to take a hard look at my beauty products to decide which products will come at which time.
Gxve Beauty by Gwen Stefani had 50% off all products for Black Friday, so it felt like the perfect time to try the makeup. This is a “first impression” style review, since my order arrived shortly before my trip, and I was only able to wear everything 1-2 times. I liked them all and planned to bring them with me to Germany, but due to baggage weight limits I had to leave everything except the highlighter behind. However, the impression left on me by these products were strong enough that I feel I can still review them.
In the photo above, I’m wearing the highlighter (all colors swirled together), the bronzer and contour, both shades in the blush compact, and the matte lipstick.
Pick It Up Cream Contour & Talc-Free Powder Bronzer Duo in Heat Wave
The cream contour blends decently into the skin and sets without remaining balmy. However, due to the shine from it being a cream product, I prefer to set it with a powder of some kind. It looks intense when it’s first placed onto the skin, but sheers out without being patchy as it’s worked onto the face. The shade I chose was still a bit too deep for me, so I had to be extra precise in the placement of it, and it was too unnatural to look nice in my jaw area.
The powder bronzer was extremely warm in color, along the lines of Pat Mcgrath’s bronzer in the shade Burnished Honey. It’s quite pigmented and doesn’t cling to more dewy spots on the face, nor did it deepen up from moisture. It has a similar looking finish and performance to PML’s bronzer as well. I tend to prefer a slight sheen in my bronzer, even more than what’s considered soft matte, but I still liked this one.
The longevity is good on both products. My bigger critique is that there isn’t a plastic flap to help prevent powder bronzer kickup from ending up in the cream contour. This issue didn’t happen to me yet, but I can see it being a problem with repeated use or if someone accidentally drops the compact and some of the powder breaks and goes everywhere.
If I’d been able to get this for half price again and have it arrive in time, I would have been tempted to get the shade Super Hot intended for tan skin tones and hoped it wouldn’t be too light. But in thinking it over, I still prefer powder contours over all the cream ones I’ve ever tried because for some reason they tend to not be matte. When creating a shadow on my face, I need that to be matte and not shiny, which powders give me. As for bronzers, I have plenty that rank higher, so this is ultimately why I decided that I’ll just continue to use this one when I eventually return to the US and make do with the color I’ve got.
Feelin’ Cheeky Clean Amplifying Talc-Free Blush Duo in Crush On You
According to the brand, “Each blush duo includes 2 shades: a Sheer Satin shade to add luminosity and dimension and a Natural Radiant shade to pump up the vibrancy.” I would have thought they’d be the other way around, but the shimmery blush is apparently the satin. It doesn’t give enough color payoff for me to wear on its own. The radiant shade, although not flat matte, is a bit darker than the satin and doesn’t pop enough for my taste, which is why I ended up putting the satin on top of the radiant one both times since they look better together on me. It becomes a combination of blendable and buildable color paired with the oomph and brightness I prefer in a blush. The satin isn’t as luminous as a true shimmer blush, so perhaps the description of it makes sense. The color lasted on my cheeks all day without fading.
I would have loved to get another duo, but the brand’s photos only show the coral shade (Lasting Love) on a model with light skin and the peachy-beige (Stars Aligned) demonstrated on a light/medium model, so I couldn’t tell if any other colors I liked would work for my skin tone. It would have been even more of a risk to blindly buy considering the radiant shade intended to “pump up the vibrancy” needed to be built up a little despite being the deepest duo.
The only reason I left this one behind is because I filled nearly an entire large Relavel case (16.5 x 5.5 x 12 inches) with blushes. I already was bringing so many with me, some which even had sentimental value, that I couldn’t justify this one. Especially since this type of color is a darker version of what I love and have too many shades of in my collection and in finishes I prefer even more. I would still like to get additional shades of these blushes one day though.
Check My Glow Multi-dimensional Illuminating Talc-Free Highlighter in Karat Country
I can’t recall if I smelled fragrance in the contour/bronzer duo, but there is definitely perfume in the blush duo and this highlighter. It smells so strongly of baby powder, but mixed with some florals. The smell doesn’t linger on the face, but it’s a little unnerving to be applying so much scented makeup, especially when using more than one Gxve Beauty product at a time. I try to limit the amount of perfumed products I use out of fear of increasing my chances of developing skin sensitization, plus scented products can often give me a headache. I’m glad the ones from Gxve haven’t done that to me, but I felt it’s important to mention.
This is the one product in this post I kept with me, which shows just how much I love it. How light or dark my skin is can fluctuate throughout the year, so the idea that I can tailor my highlighter color to suit me is a great advantage. The shimmer quality is smooth. It’s one of the least texture enhancing highlighters I’ve used in proportion to the intensity level of the shine and reflectivity. I haven’t done a highlighter ranking post yet, but this has to be in my top 10. I mentioned that I used everything in this post at least 1-2 times prior to my trip. Since arriving at my destination, I have continued to use this one every time I put on makeup. I can apply it sparingly with an airy brush for a more subtle look, but achieving medium to medium-high intensity is easy. I don’t consider this a blinding highlighter, but choosing one of the brand’s lighter shades would give me that effect if I wanted that. Medium level of radiance is the most I like, so this is very much perfect for me.
Original Me Clean High-Performance Matte Lipstick in Lovable Me
Well, this certainly takes me back! I haven’t worn a lip product associated with Gwen Stefani since the collab with Urban Decay in early 2016! It was the only item I bought from that collection, and it was more for collector purposes because I loved the packaging.
The Gxve brand packaging is quite cool, especially with the brand lettering under the twist up portion of the component that can be seen when the cap is removed. Lovable Me is a really pretty color that I can almost wear without a lip liner (liner-free demonstration is at the top of the page).
Considering it’s a matte lipstick, I was surprised that the formula had a slight creaminess to it that made it easy to glide onto the lips and was comfortable to wear. It lasted through two meals before needing to be touched up. My lips were drier than when I started at the end of the night, like pretty much every colored lip product I wear, but it’s one of the most comfortable mattes I’ve worn. It looked nice even on my semi-chapped lips. This lipstick unsurprisingly contains fragrance, but it smells more like vanilla than the other products from Gxve Beauty.
Overall, I think this brand has pretty good products. I’m certainly interested in seeing what else they will make in the future, although I don’t believe they ship outside of the US. So, unfortunately, this might be my one and only brand review unless they expand globally.
Volume 21 launched on November 3rd, and is the third Trendmood box I’ve purchased overall. For those who might not be familiar with them, the founder is Sophie of the Trendmood1 Instagram account. It’s not like subscription services that charge monthly until cancelled. Each box of products is curated and shown ahead of time (including details about possible shade variations that will be chosen at random). The prices of each box also varies and you have to buy each specific box you want each time it launches. There are currently no preorders. Quantities are limited and once they sell out, they usually aren’t restocked. What they ended up doing last year for Black Friday was selling a mystery box with a set number of products that would be randomly chosen from a pool of previously launched boxes. My second ever Trendmood box was last year’s Black Friday mystery one.
Volume 21 was supposed to be $48 for the products inside that had the combined retail price of $195, but using Trendmood’s own code at launch dropped it to $45. There is usually an incentive to purchasing early and signing up for early access (one hour before the normal launch). This time the discount was five percent, but it can vary. I got 20% off that Black Friday box with the special code.
I had actually heard people were disappointed by the Fall Romance palette since it came out before the Vol.21 box was available. The Fall Romance palette is $55 at full price, so I was willing to gamble that getting this for $10 cheaper, plus other items I was interested in having, would end up still being worth it. Let’s see if I’m correct!
I will start off reviewing Fall Romance, plus Nouveau that I bought last year that came with a free 2 piece set (mesh pouch and mascara) from purchasing through Ulta. Since I still have that Lash Brag mascara and I recently got 10x the points buying a mini of the new Lash Sculpt mascara, I’ll be reviewing them both too. I will include additional reviews of other products I’ve used from the Trendmood box at the end!
Anastasia Beverly Hills Fall Romance Eyeshadow Palette
Moonlight feels gritty and is difficult to pick up with a finger. It might be intentionally hard pressed to minimize the fact that it’s a flakier topper style duochrome eyeshadow. Divine felt surprisingly rough too. Even though it picks up easily on my finger, it takes multiple swipes to smooth it out for an opaque section of color. The brand considers it a duochrome as well and describes the shade as, “vivid purple with a sparkling pink-pearl shift,” but the shifted sheen is so subtle that it’s not a true duochrome in my eyes. Ember and Crimson are the two roughest textured shadows in the palette, but Ember smooths out nicely whereas Crimson is patchy both in swatches and on the eyes. With a lot of work, it can be covered up, but I’m not pleased with the way this one was made. Thorns and Mulberry are not quite as rough feeling as Ember and Crimson, but still not as soft as regular ABH matte eyeshadows. Unlike the first five shades in the palette, plus Midnight, the remaining shadows in the palette have a big kickup problem. I don’t usually pay much attention to some excess powder here and there, but it literally gets into the neighboring shades if I forget to pay attention to how softly I tap and pick up product on my brush. I’m wondering if we have another Subculture situation where the brand wants pigment, but feels they have to press the pans very hard so they don’t fly all over the place due to not using enough binders. I never owned the Subculture palette because the reviews scared me off, but I remember the complaints that came out about it and this seems similar with the exception that these mattes are even rougher feeling to the touch. Thankfully, these don’t feel like sandpaper when I’m actually applying them to my eyes, but it’s indicative that the formula is not the same as ABH’s usual eyeshadows. All that rough texture feels like how pigments/oxides feel without enough fillers, yet the ingredients show this is definitely not the case. So, unfortunately, I’ve been unable to figure out why these feel like this.
Something else to keep in mind is that the non-shimmers all deepen up considerably when I use MAC Paint Pot, so a drier type eye primer is better for me. At least, something like the Gerard Cosmetics Clean Canvas works better. I don’t know how these perform with ABH’s own primer which was definitely a very dry type. I ran out of the sample, so I can’t test the palette out with it.
Another thing that will probably be less important to others is that Thorns looks so similar to Twilight in the pans that I got them mixed up in one of the eye looks I created (but did not photograph), and only realized it when the spot turned blue where Thorns and Twilight connected with Divine. Thorns by itself is more vibrant of a green than the other one, but also has a stronger blue tone to it. The ability to see it in the pan depends on the lighting.
Looking at the photo of the yet-to-be-used palette at the top of the post, Fireside stands out as the most textured and foiled shimmer of the bunch, but I was disappointed that it didn’t look special on the eyes. Applying it damp smooths it out, so it looks more metallic than sparkly, but adding Fireside back on top with a dry finger brings some shine back. This technique improves my opinion of how it looks on me, but it’s still not my favorite. Crown is a beautiful duochrome gold to green shimmer shade, but even though it’s one of the stars of this palette, Natasha Denona has done a shade like this better from her Gold palette (Lime Chrome) and the Mini Gold (Antheia). Smoke is the smoothest of all the shimmers in look and feel, but is also the only one that creases on me. It’s only a tiny bit of creasing though. The bigger issue is the immense fallout, so I advise applying this one wet and/or using glitter glue. Nyx Glitter Primer pretty much solved this issue for me.
There’s a learning curve to using this palette in the beginning. I have to be mindful of the primer used. I have to be careful to watch out for patchiness from Crimson. I have to combat shimmer fallout. I also noticed that these shadows really didn’t like my crease brushes. They were more prone to patchiness from the color being too easily rubbed off. I had to switch to using mostly paddle shaped and flat brushes before blending the edge with no additional product with a crease brush at the end. For some reason, these work better when patted on slowly to be built up and not swiped across the skin the way I would normally work in windshield wiper motions with a crease brush.
Due to all these issues, I can’t recommend this palette. Because I know all the tips and tricks to making this work now, I have managed to complete eye looks in an acceptable amount of time and find it less difficult to use. I’m still annoyed when the matte kickup (which tends to be dark) keeps getting into the shimmers (which are mostly light) and wants to stick to them, basically dirtying up the color. I really love those tones of colors though, and the end result of the eye look most of the time. For that reason, I don’t regret buying the Trendmood box to get it, and I surprisingly keep second-guessing my decision to leave it behind when I go to Germany again.
In the Nouveau section, I delve into more theories as to why that one gets praised, but this one doesn’t.
The letters correspond to which mascaras were used. LS equals Lash Sculpt while LB stands for Lash Brag.
I have to mention that I was quite impressed with this travel size with how weighty it feels in the hand. This mascara packaging could not have been cheap, especially with the extra details like the logo on the cap and the metallic looking gold rim at the tube’s opening.
What I like about this mascara is that it gives length, but if I spend enough time with it, I can also get some volume. There’s no flaking or smudging. When I go for a second coat (needed for the volume) it can start to get clumps at the tips but by the time I finish fully brushing through the lashes, they are combed out and gone. Also, after the mascara dries, my lashes feel soft to the touch and not stiff or stuck in one direction.
Part of what makes this a bit time consuming to apply is that the formula gives me trouble with initially sticking to my lashes. When I accidentally got mascara on my eye, I was going to let it dry before trying to wipe it away, but the drop ended up falling off by itself leaving barely any evidence behind. When it does stick to the lashes, it’s like it skips parts of the strand and builds on the tips or the base of the lashes, often skipping the middle. I have to continually brush through to get it looking even. I believe it’s also difficult to build volume because it feels like the wand bristles aren’t close enough together and brushing through my lashes aren’t touching all my lashes in every swipe due to those gaps. So, I have to wiggle the brush back and forth to add as much product onto the lashes as I can and then comb them through and repeat. I get it to look the best I can, wait a minute, and then proceed with the second coat which is where I finally get some volume and extra length. So, this mascara does end up doing both just as is claimed, but it takes longer than my other mascaras to get there. However, this mascara’s benefit is how much better it is at looking uniform and clump free with this level of length and volume that does end up looking as good, or better than a few of my mascara favorites.
So, I’m happy to use this up, but I don’t know if I’ll repurchase it. I still prefer how quickly I can complete applying my other mascaras in just one coat since I’m impatient, even at the cost of the lashes looking a little wilder.
This mascara’s focus is on volume. I don’t get any clumping, smudging or flaking. The brush part of the wand is shaped in away that’s good at separating the lashes while still building volume. Just like the newer ABH mascara, once the product dries on my eyes, my lashes are left feeling soft and flexible to the touch instead of stiff.
I have to mention the packaging again with this one because it’s weighty like the Lash Sculpt tube, with the additional factor of the cap actually being a magnetic metal (in the photo above I show my triangular magnet attached to the cap). I’m not sure if this was weighted intentionally for balance in holding, the way some makeup brushes are intentionally weighted. There’s also a pretty rose gold-into-black ombre design. Anastasia Beverly Hills certainly puts a lot of money into their mascara components. I don’t understand why they’d give mascaras (something that gets tossed out or used up quickly) better packaging than some of their staple products, but perhaps it pays off more than I know.
The downside with this one is that it doesn’t give quite as much length as my favorite mascaras, and even leaves slightly less volume than some of them, despite specializing in volume. I can at least get it closer to my favorites if I spend a lot of time building it up using the same application techniques as the Lash Sculpt mascara, but I’d rather use my favorites that are cheaper and quicker to build. So, I intended to use this up, but I don’t think I’ll be repurchasing another one either.
While we’re at it, lets review the KVD mascara I got from the Trendmood box.
KVD Beauty Full Sleeve Long + Defined Tubing Mascara
I actually just bought this mascara prior to the launch of the Trendmood box when Ulta had a 10x the points on mascara event. It would have been very bad if I ended up having two full tubes of a mascara I didn’t like, but I consider myself lucky because I like it. And now I have a backup!
This is my first real foray into tubing mascaras. I remember using one or two when I was much younger with very little makeup knowledge. I didn’t like them at the time because I didn’t know they were supposed to come off in tubes, so it scared me off. It wasn’t until recent years that I thought I should give them another try.
The best part about this mascara is that I don’t get any clumping, flaking, or smudging. In fact, it doesn’t smear as much when removing it and in the moments when my eyes get watery, I can wipe the tear away without getting smudges either. The issue I have is that it can take a while to build up to my desired length and thickness. The quickest way I can achieve the result I want is to use a wiggling motion to build up to the acceptable level in the first coat, wait a minute, and then add another layer. It’s recommended to apply additional coats while still wet (to avoid clumping), but my way works best for me. Also, the tip end being bulbous required me to be very careful and deliberate in trying to reach the innermost lashes without accidentally touching my skin and getting mascara on it. Then I learned the brush is meant to be flipped from the horizontal position to the vertical position when it comes to the inner corners and lower lash line, so I’m able to reach them easier now.
When it comes to removal, using warm water and trying to slide the mascara off my lashes with my fingers feels more time consuming than when I just use a wipe with Bioderma, so I personally skip that and just remove my mascara the way I normally do with others.
Also, I have to mention the artwork on this tube is really cool and the component feels like aluminum. It’s nowhere near as weighty as the ABH mascaras, not that it matters. It’s just something I found interesting.
Really cool packaging is my weakness, but I try to not let that be the reason I buy a mascara since it’s going to be tossed out in a matter of months. The time when I have a hard time resisting is if a favorite mascara of mine gets released in new limited edition packaging. Then it’s hard to talk myself out of it because I already know it’s something I like, and will get use out of while getting to admire it looking pretty.
My final point regarding mascaras is that all three had no issues with flaking, which has been such a relief because the Huda 1 Coat Wow and Benefit Fan Fest mascaras that launched recently both had that issue for me, and worse than I’ve had from mascaras in a long time. Also, I’ve recently tried the L’Oreal Telescopic Lift Washable Mascara which gave length and volume very quickly, but at the expense of being prone to being clumpy if I spend too much time building it up (I think as it tries to dry). Plus, I can feel it stiffen my lashes, and not just to the touch with my fingers. I can literally feel the mascara on my lashes while I wear it, which can be uncomfortable at times. It’s at least as easy to remove as they say.
I figured I may as well throw in these comments on other mascaras because I love trying new mascaras but I don’t enjoy reviewing them and don’t see myself doing another one of these for a very long time.
Anastasia Beverly Hills Nouveau Eyeshadow Palette
This palette doesn’t have the rough texture issue, and the eyeshadows are in fact incredibly soft to the touch because they feel like they were given light-medium pressure when machine pressed into the pans. Considering the fact that this palette isn’t as hard pressed, yet still manages to have slightly less kickup than the Fall Romance palette (though still more than I experience with the majority of palettes), is fascinating. Nouveau and the Rose Metals palettes have been praised as being softer than ABH’s prior eyeshadow formula with better color payoff, but I think it really comes down to the press making a difference. ABH’s palettes prior to the release of Nouveau had mattes that were buttery feeling and shimmers with less slip. These mattes are soft because they’re powdery and not due to them being creamy. I wouldn’t be surprised if the previous eyeshadow formula was more expensive than this newer one in recent years. The way they’ve pressed the eyeshadows allow them to perform just as well, or in some ways even better than the older palettes, but I think Fall Romance falls victim to what happens when working with rougher pigments and needing to better adjust the ingredients for adherence. Fall Romance mattes would likely have Subculture level kickup if pressed lighter, which is why I think it’s a formula problem with the eyeshadow particles not being better binded to each other because of the darker colorful pigments requiring a lot more tweaking in formula than the lighter and neutral shadows the brand tends to stick to most of the time.
As I mentioned, this palette’s shadows are lightly pressed. My shade Lili was actually a little broken, but I was able to press it back so well and easily (no liquid added) that it looks practically untouched in the product photo above!
The eyeshadows don’t want to get in the deepest line in my crease, but other than that, I have no other issues of creasing, moving, or fading. The mattes blend well. The shimmers are a little less impactful than I would like, but they’re still quite pretty. I love the tones of the shades in this palette. I only have two complaints, which are Wisteria being the typical pastel that is too thin and has to be caked on like crazy to stick to and last on my eyes, plus has a lot of white in the base that shows ashier white and less purple than how it would look on someone else with lighter skin than mine. Also, other than using Wisteria as a pop in my inner corner, I have struggled to complete looks with Wisteria in any other spot around the eyes and have it look good. This shade just does not go with the rest of the color story. My other complaint is that many of these color groupings (the greens together and the orange family) have the same depth, so there is very little differentiation on my eyes if I wear them in the same looks. I would have loved a deep green and/or dark terracotta so I could use something other than Muse to darken the outer corner.
Peacock looks so exciting, seeing as its a duochrome, but it’s let down by the shimmer particles being so muted. This kind of color is super popular from even mainstream brands. I used to have a color like it from Too Faced as a single back in 2015, and this is about as good as that one was (which is a bad thing considering how long ago that was). They don’t stack up to the shine and shift from some of the brands found in Sephora with updated formulas like Pat Mcgrath and Danessa Myricks.
Overall, I like this palette, but I don’t recommend buying it at full price. I’m glad I bought it to satisfy my curiosity, and for being able to understand the direction the brand is taking their eyeshadows now. I really enjoy using it in the moment, but when I think about other palettes I truly love, this purchase could have been skipped.
APRILSKIN Artemisia Rice Toner
This has 80% Korean Mugwort extract, which is why it’s from the Artemisia line (mugwort’s scientific name being Artemisia vulgaris). I don’t believe I’ve ever used a skincare product with mugwort prior to this one, but I’m becoming a lot more interested now after the results I’ve had. My box arrived October 11th, and since that time I’ve been using this toner frequently. There are quite a few claims that are advertised, such as soothing skin irritation (mugwort), boosting skin elasticity, reducing bumpiness, addressing uneven skin tone (rice bran water), and improving internal hydration and external moisture (four different hyaluronic acids). I don’t know which ingredient is supposed to boost skin elasticity unless they mean how the skin behaves when it’s hydrated (going back to the hyaluronic acids then) versus dehydrated. For the reducing bumpiness part, I also don’t know if they mean that by inflamed pimples being soothed and calmed, the inflammation will go down and thus be smaller in size? If so, that sounds like a stretch to me and it’s probably better for customers to only expect to get hydration, skin soothing, and brightening elements from this product. Those three are the ones I’ve personally observed.
I tend to just use this at night and my skin feels adequately hydrated after putting it on, to the point that I don’t feel the need to overload my face with moisturizers. Despite the external moisture claim in which the thinnest layer of film is left on the skin (enough to see in the light but not feel it on face), I don’t feel it’s occlusive enough and so I still need at least one other layer of product, but the fact that I don’t feel the need for something heavy duty is amazing. It’s especially helpful because even though I have dry skin, my pores only tolerate lightweight things and too heavy of creams cause a clogging problem. By getting hydration and moisture from a toner, using my regular lightweight serums and moisturizers seems even more effective.
As for the skin soothing, I didn’t notice anything until my skin was getting irritated from doing repeated swatching and wiping off of products on my face. Because I’ve been trying to figure out which products to bring with me on my trip to Germany, I needed to actually see them on myself to refresh my memory. The constant rubbing was making my skin hurt, but after cleansing my face at night and applying this toner, my cheeks felt less painful. I’m guessing it’s from both the mugwort and rehydrating ingredients to replenish what was stripped from my skin from the makeup removers and cleanser.
My skin looks glowier and less dull, but I can’t tell if it’s only due to that thin veil of residue/film that is left on the skin, or if my skin has actually been brightened. I feel like my areas of hyperpigmentation that look deep ashy grey-black don’t look quite as dull anymore, even before I apply the product, but I don’t know whether I can credit the toner or other skincare I’ve been using. Regardless, the other benefits are enough bonuses for me to continue wanting to use it. I like that this doesn’t have alcohol or witch hazel and that the slight herbal scent (which seems natural because I don’t see fragrance on the ingredient list) is extremely mild.
I’m quite happy with this product and plan to keep observing it to see if there will be other advantages to using it long-term.
Sigma Beauty Lip Cream in Dapper
There was a possibility of getting either Dusty Rose, Begonia, Dapper, New Mod, or Rosewood in this box. I think Begonia is the only one guaranteed to be too light for me. I might have liked the other shades as well, but Dapper being a pink-purple “warm hibiscus neutral,” looks nearly natural on me considering my mix of lip colors.
The lips look juicy/plump with this on, feels creamy and comfortable, has a bit of a slight staining effect, isn’t completely removed after eating, and clings to the lips quite well. The downside is the same as the majority of lip products with color in them, that my lips will still end up being drier and I will see spots that are peeling at the end of the day. So, I still need to condition them at night to not have the problem exacerbate.
Em Cosmetics Soft Blur Velvet Lip Liner in Foxy
It was possible to get either Bunny, Teddy, or Foxy in this box. I’m glad I got Foxy because it’s the only shade from Em Cosmetics that can function as a proper lip liner color for me. However, it is still darker than I typically wear. It’s great paired with Sigma’s Dapper though.
I like that it glides on smoothly because it has a slight creaminess to it, but not enough to slide around everywhere. I’m able to soften the edges without fear of totally wiping it off. It’s not waterproof or budgeproof, but it clings fairly well to my lips. By the end of the night, without touching anything up, I can still see it around 60-70% of my lip line depending on what type of food I ate that day.
I’m happy to have this item and plan on using it up, but I don’t think I’ll purchase a new one when it’s done. This is mainly because I prefer a formula that’s soft when I apply it, yet dries down to the point that it becomes hard to budge. This one has the emollient level I like, but doesn’t have the water-resistant factor. So I’ll continue reaching for the other lip liners in my collection along with this one.
Swirl and Sparkle Solid Makeup Brush Cleanser (Trendmood Edition)
I never heard of this brand prior to the inclusion in this box, so I had to do a little research. They make all kinds of “handcrafted vegan, cruelty-free, and all-natural” solid brush cleansers in various colors, scents, and shapes within the container. The scent of this one is Toasted Marshmallow, which is their most popular one. That smell isn’t very heavy, it’s pleasant, and fades quickly, so I don’t mind it being there.
It appears, based on the website, that $25 for 1 ounce is the typical price point from their offerings. My main arsenal of products I use for brush cleaning are the Blendercleanser Solid at $18 for 0.55 oz and the Rephr soap at $25 for 60 grams. I only buy the Rephr soap when it’s discounted (which happens frequently) and I have a stash of several minis of Beautyblender’s soaps that were either included with the Beautyblender, part of a free gift with purchase set, or redeemable for 100 points via Sephora. So, I’m used to spending a lot less or nothing at all for those two products. I also reach for the Dr. Bronner’s Pure Castille Liquid Soap when I need something heavier duty, and my 4 ounce bottle (in conjunction with the other products) lasted me three years and was $6 at the time from Amazon. I’ve also recently been using the Chikuhodo Makeup Brush Cleaner* which is practically a detergent and apparently contains surfactants. That one cost me $11 for 100ml. The container is meant to hold 115 ml so it will arrive looking like a lot of liquid is missing.
*Note: The link to the Chikuhodo brush cleaner is an affiliate link. Making a purchase using it on CDJapan will generate commission. This is the only affiliate link in this review. Any other links are regular non-affiliated ones.
If I’m trying to deal with stubborn stains, I use Cinema Secrets Lemon Makeup Brush Cleaner (the colorless one). It’s extremely harsh on brushes, so I don’t recommend it, but I admittedly use it on rare occasions and sparingly. Plus it leaves a film on my brushes, so I always feel compelled to wash it again afterwards. Some cleansers I’ve tried, but dislike, are the Beautyblender Instaclean (left brushes feeling oily) and the liquid version of Blendercleanser didn’t do as good of a job as the solid from my viewpoint.
I recently bought the Sephora Mini Daily Brush Cleaner, but haven’t used it yet because I misplaced it.
I say all this to show the wide variety of products I’ve experienced cleaning my brushes with from gentle ones to some that are harsh, and those products set the bar for the kind of results I’m expecting.
I began by washing my synthetic brushes, natural hair brushes, and then moved onto the brushes that are super dense and tend to give me the most trouble cleaning. For example, the Patrick Ta contour brush pictured in the top left of the photo below shows remnants of product that I missed being able to see when it rolled down with the water and collected onto the fiber tips. This kind of thing usually only happens with my thickest densest brushes like Tarte’s The Buffer and The Blur brushes. The Swirl and Sparkle soap easily took care of my Patrick Ta brush, which would have been bad if it didn’t considering it was just leftover product on the brush. The bigger test was comparing how it would do with Tarte’s The Blur brush with several uses of foundation built up on the bristles. Unfortunately, it didn’t give me any better results than I usually have with the rephr soap or beautyblender solid soap. It took quite a few repeated washings to get it looking clean as clean is it is in the bottom right quadrant of the photo, and even still, when the brush dried I was able to see some remnants on the tips, just like with the Patrick Ta brush.
I should note that I don’t do more than 3-4 washes on a face brush at one time. I find that it becomes counterproductive with the bristles being too saturated with water and at risk of damaging the brush even though I let them hang upside down to keep water out of the ferrule. So, I find that it’s better to squeeze out the excess, let it dry partway, and wash it once more before leaving it alone to dry completely.
For normal brushes, this brush cleaner seemed at first to be working quicker than Beautyblender and Rephr’s soaps. The bristles were literally feeling squeaky clean on both synthetic hair and natural alike. However, when the brushes were fully dried and I rubbed my fingers over the bristles, it feel like there was soap residue still on them. So, I had to rewash the whole batch. The next time I was on a brush cleaning spree, I remembered this and made sure to wash the bristles out extra thoroughly, even more than I spend with any other brush cleaner. This helped reduce the amount of residue, but there was in fact still residue. The whole reason I was feeling the hair in the first place is because the heads were dried exactly in the shape of the way they looked when I squeezed out the water, which I guess is further indication that some kind of product was weighing down the bristles and preventing them from puffing out.
Now, I know this soap contains oil, so I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be conditioning the brush and the residue is intentional. I don’t know if the fact that I don’t wipe my brushes on a towel (recommended by the brand for the purpose of a quicker drying time) would have also wiped that residue off the hair before being set aside to dry. I can attest that the residue is at least not dirty leftover product because the water runs clear when I try to wash them again, so it might be a conditioning thing. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Also, my brushes take about 30% longer to dry using this soap than when I use my other brush cleaning products. So, I guess squeezing the water out really isn’t enough and pre-drying them on a towel before air-drying them is essential.
In the photo above, I wanted to show a random thing that happened when part of the top layer came off. I can’t explain why this happened. I rinsed it off and put it back with the rest of the soap and was able to continue using the rest of the lifted off piece for another giant brush washing session.
I apologize for the next image being pretty gross, but I felt it best to show what happened around the third or fourth time I used this product. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until after I washed a giant batch of brushes that I saw the spots around the edges of the container. So, I hadn’t even attempted to rinse off the dirty residue yet.
Please be warned!
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According to the website, the directions say, “With your very last clean brush, use it to swirl + clean off any residue in the container under water. Air dry the lid + container before locking + loading it for next time.”
After use, it’s my practice to literally clean off the top layer (as instructed) with the last brush and as little water as possible. Then I hold it upside down and try to shake out any lingering drops. I then set the tin in the area I keep the rest of the brushes. I let it air dry with the lid off for a minimum of 12 hours. Usually I wash my brushes in the morning, so I put the lid back on the soap just before bed. If I wash them later in the day, the lid remains off overnight. So, if 12 or more hours is too short of a time to let it air dry, there should be a mention of this on the website or extra instructions on keeping the soap tin as hygienic and clean as possible. I feel like this was an inevitable issue considering I noticed that while I was washing the brushes, I could see some water seeping between the canister and edge of the soap, even though I couldn’t see any space there. It somehow still was getting a tiny bit lower around the edges.
When I use my Beautyblender solid, I basically keep the soap on a surface to air dry, the scrubbing piece to air dry, and wipe the plastic container completely dry before leaving that open as well. Then at the end of the night I put them all back together. So, I was concerned that this soap being stuck in this container and not being removable could potentially have this issue since I was following directions and not trying to wipe it down.
So, my advise is to either take a sharp object and remove the soap and place it into a different container (the brand seems to have some soaps in plastic containers instead, which might be better) or to wipe off the edges of the sides as an extra precaution against water sitting in there. Then again, if water is seeping between the soap and the container edge, this might not help as a towel would be unable to reach it. So, cutting the soap out of it so it can be placed back in when after everything is dry might be the better plan.
I should also note that in my last use, I did have my brushes near the soap and it’s possible some drops got onto the soap during the drying process, but I don’t let my brushes dry in soaking condition. I squeeze them out, so there shouldn’t have been dripping water. I’ll still offer the benefit of the doubt. However, this just might not be a product suited for me and my needs. I still have 2 Rephr soaps (my current one is almost finished) and 2 Blendercleanser solid minis as backups, so I’m all set.
Bondi Boost Miracle Hair Mask
I did not expect to like this product, but I was pleasantly surprised! I’m a total noob when it comes to hair care. All I can really say is that prior to this year (because I’d essentially given up trying to find a good mask and just made do with conditioners I like), there wasn’t any mask I tried that did much for my hair. In fact, some made my hair feel worse. When I tried the Gisou Honey Infused Hair Mask, I said to myself, “Hey, this actually did a little something,” and was willing to settle for that. Then, I got the Function of Beauty Pro Conditioner Mask, which worked even better! I haven’t been able to test it enough yet to be completely sold, but I was pleased with the results.
The Bondi Boost Hair Mask is supposed to be used once a week, so between all the other hair products I’m trying out now (to figure out what to bring on my trip), I haven’t had the opportunity to use it more than a few times. However, I’m a new fan! I have super dry hair, and using this made noticeable improvements. I can’t see it as much from what my hair looks like once it’s dry, but I can tell the difference in looks and it being significantly softer when I combine it with my usual other hair products. It’s like this mask helps my hair to absorb more moisture, look more hydrated, and stay hydrated for longer. I haven’t been this pleased with a hair product since my discovery of the Olaplex No.3 Hair Perfector.
I’m not sure how much credit I should give this mask if I’m not satisfied with the results of the product by itself. However, I’m not a hair reviewer. For my own personal experiences, what matters most to me is how I can best use anything to get improved results, and if the combination of this mask with other products means that my hair looks healthier (and at a price that doesn’t completely break the bank), I’m all for it.
Anti-Chafe Stick with Shea Butter + Colloidal Oatmeal (mini/deluxe sample)
I tried this product once and then lost it until literally the day before my trip. It’s so small and I had products all over the place because of my packing and simultaneous decluttering. So, I can’t really say much about it, except that it felt fine on the skin (not greasy). I’ve never used any other Anti-chafe specific product, so I have nothing to compare it to either. To anyone hoping for more details on this one, I’m sorry!
I hope everything else in this review has been helpful! Thank you for reading!
The full list of links to my various Huda Beauty reviews can be found HERE, but today I am also including mini reviews of the three palettes I purchased during the brand’s Pre-Black Friday sale for 2023. I’ll be sharing my initial impressions of the new additions to my collection. I would normally never include them so soon in a ranking post, but because my experience was so distinct, I don’t think my opinion on these will change with time.
Because the brand is having such deep discounts on the website, up to 80% off, I decided to post this early instead of my usual Mondays for anyone wanting to see additional opinions before making a purchase. For this reason, there will not be a post on Monday November 27th, but I hope to have another up the following Monday. There’s no guarantee as life is so chaotic right now (but in a good way)!
DISCLOSURE: Other than the Gemstone Obsessions palette that was gifted by Sephora and not Huda Beauty (and not even for PR reasons), I purchased everything else with my own money and I’m not an affiliate of the brand.
MY CURRENT HUDA BEAUTY PALETTE RANKING
Wild Obsessions Jaguar
Nude Obsessions Rich
Lovefest Obsessions
Naughty
Empowered
Nude Obsessions Medium
Brown Obsessions Toffee
Precious Stones Obsessions Amethyst
Brown Obsessions Caramel
Gemstone Obsessions
I wasn’t sure if I should include the Glowish quad since it’s technically from a separate Huda brand, but if I were to throw Moss into the rankings it would place at number 6 and everything else would be shifted down on the list. It doesn’t have impactful shimmers, but the performance is great. Because there are only four shades, I can only get two looks that I really like, whereas I can make at least a few more good ones with Naughty and Empowered despite all their flaws. So, if Moss was expanded into a 9-pan along the lines of the Nars Climax palette, there could have been potential for it to rank 4th place instead.
Jaguar reigns supreme because it’s the one I keep thinking about the most after reviewing it. It’s the one with a concise yet complete color story, and has great quality mattes and shimmers. Jaguar is specifically one I would love to get more use out of, but I’m constantly testing other palettes, so I can’t. However, I plan to change that in 2024. The Rich palette has the same great quality and a variety of depths to be able to make complete looks as well without needing to reach for other palettes. It’s like a mini of the Naughty palette without the unnecessary extras. Lovefest is like the other three, but shades 2 and 6 are too similar on me and although shade 3 is very eye-catching in the pan, it’s lower impact on the eyes than I want. So, it gets third place for being slightly more limited than the other two.
An eyeshadow looking more fun than it is useful is the theme of the two full size palettes I own from the brand. Naughty has exceptional mattes and beautiful shimmers, but some of the experimental textured shadows don’t quite work for me (like Slippery and Hard) and some of the matte and shimmer shades are a little too close to each other. This palette could have been edited down. For the same reason, Empowered is a bit lower because although the mattes are all fantastic, the right side has so many that look the same on my eyes because of my skin tone. We have more of those “innovative” formulas of shadows that work better than in the Naughty palette, but I didn’t necessarily want them in practical use. I go back and forth as to which of these two rank higher because I think Empowered is more successful with the formula and texture variety, but with the exception of the deep smokey look I can create from Empowered (that I can also get out of Jaguar), I think my eye looks with the Naughty palette turn out prettier. I ultimately decided for this list to choose the end result over performance.
The Medium palette earns the next spot because there isn’t enough depth for me to be satisfied. I’d need to grab another palette to deepen the outer corner of my eye looks, as is my preference. I know it’s called a Medium palette and is filled with mainly medium toned shades, but the Rich palette had the full gamut of options, so this one could have had at least one deep one as well. I’ll save the rest of my thoughts in the review.
I loved the look of the Brown Obsessions Collection, but I didn’t hear the best reviews for them after they launched. Because they were priced at such a good deal, I was willing to risk getting them in the hopes that people were wrong and they’d be just like the other Obsessions palettes, but they’re not. I’ll write more about the issues with Toffee in the review section, but it places here because of one specifically problematic shade and the drop in quality from the rest. Amethyst sneaks in between the two I own because it has a beautiful color story and I loved it at the time, but the newer Obsessions palettes have even better quality mattes and my deepest shade is patchy. Plus, I’m not into those tones of mattes. I loved satins a lot more in the time period that I first had Amethyst, but they’re just not as interesting to me now. It’s the three shimmers in the center column that make this palette still a good one even though I’ve had it for five years. Caramel is brand new (at least in when I purchased it though I’ve no idea if I have a newer batch or old stock), but I have even more problems with it than Toffee so despite it being one of the most beautiful color stories Huda has created in my eyes, it pains me to have to put it so low. And ranking at the very bottom is Gemstone which I received for free from Sephora ages ago as a thank you gift for being part of their beauty community forum before they changed the website and archived a lot of those past posts. There’s a reason I never bought this palette myself because even though the colors are pretty on an individual level, it makes no sense put together except as a purely supplemental palette intended to be used with other palettes to make cohesive looks. The shimmers in here are more impactful than the satins and metallics in Amethyst, but those center shimmers in Amethyst still so greatly surpass the Gemstone ones that I had to put this at the very bottom. The lack of mattes solidified this decision.
If my ranking of Jaguar is any indication, I would say it’s probably safe to assume the quality of the palettes in the Wild Obsessions Collection is excellent, though I can’t confirm it personally as I just have one of the three. I kept saying I wanted to get the other two, but the color stories just aren’t perfect for me, especially with the too-similar-of-tones problem. So, even though I recommend them most, one would have to ask themselves how useful will these tones and colors and formulas actually be? The same goes for the Nude Obsessions line, though I only have two of the three. They’re great, but did I really need them? This becomes even more poignant when it comes to the larger palettes with their various textures, formulas, and finishes. How much someone loves it is less of a quality issue and depends entirely on their personal preferences. For instance, the cream liner shades in Empowered work fine and could be a base for the duochromes, but it’s not so good if I need something that’s fully transfer-proof or something that’s easier to glide onto the lids to line them. So the pros for one person could be a con for someone else.
Huda’s newest palette, Pretty Grunge, looks gorgeous. However, I know it’s not perfect for me either which is why I’m going to pass on it and try to be more conscious about the future additions to my collection that I make from this brand.
Huda Beauty Nude Obsessions Eyeshadow Palette in Medium
I took the palette photo at night, and for some reason the shadows look darker in the pan than they should, so the photo just above the swatches is a more accurate representation.
Medium is a mix of light and medium toned eyeshadows. Shade 6 is the darkest in the palette, but it isn’t dark enough to give me the depth level in the outer corner that I prefer, so that automatically makes this a supplemental palette for me.
Shade 1 is close to my skin tone so it doesn’t show up very well, but the tiniest bit darker Shade 3 is the one I’d need to reach for as the transition shadow. 4 and 8 are the same depth with Shade 4 being slightly warmer and peachier pink whereas Shade 8 is a cooler pink. The matte quality is nice, but my options are limited.
The shimmers are pretty and thankfully don’t give me any issues with longevity. Because Shades 2, 5, and 7 are in the same color family though, I’m not getting wildly different looks. So, the combination of similar mattes with shimmers that are close enough, it really cements the fact that there isn’t enough variety for me as a standalone palette. The quality of this palette is good, but is in the middle of the ranking list specifically for these reasons.
Huda Beauty Brown Obsessions Eyeshadow Palette in Toffee
I think gold shades and warm tone neutrals are pretty, so I couldn’t resist this palette any longer. Shades 1, 3, and 9 are similar matte quality to the other Obsessions palettes, but not quite the same level, and I’m not sure why that’s the case. They’re a little more dusty in texture, but they blend well enough not to bother me. I just notice the slight difference. The pigmentation level is the same for all except Shade 5 which had to be built up in multiple layers to last on my eyes. This is still a better performing yellow than some in my collection that are usually made too thin and dust away, or are mixed with too much white base, so I’m not unhappy with it. The only matte that gives me considerable trouble is Shade 7, which is patchy. I had to tap on quite a bit of product to get it to cover the bald spot and by the end of the night I still ended up with it looking strangely. Because I still have Shade 3 as a deepening option, I can forgive Shade 7 being a bit of a dud. I also give props for having distinctly different matte colors.
From just swatching the shimmers, I correctly guessed which ones were going to give me the issue where it moves out of my crease line. Shades 6 and 8 resemble the standard Huda metallic-shimmers to the naked eye, but they’re more emollient feeling than the others. To be fair, they didn’t move or crease as much as I expected, but there was still a little movement. The amount I had at the end of the night was tolerable to me. However, some palettes don’t have any shimmers that crease on me, nor patchy mattes, so that’s why this is so low on the ranking list.
Shade 4 has a fun pattern and feels like a stiffer version of a Super Shock shadow, but the more it’s rubbed, the harder it gets compacted into the pan. I can already tell this shade is going to be tough to pick up on a brush or even my fingers in the future. Shade 2 is dry feeling and has visually interesting patches of larger particle silvery/white sparkles called a “pearl flake texture” that adds more drama and shine to eye looks. It doesn’t swatch the best, but looks super pretty on the eyes.
Toffee is pretty and workable, but I don’t really recommend it. Perhaps the current sale price of $9.60 makes a different, but perhaps not.
Huda Beauty Brown Obsessions Eyeshadow Palette in Caramel
This actually came in a “Caramel Brown Obsessions Kit” which had the palette, four mini liquid lipsticks, and a bag for $13.50. I’m just going to focus on the palette in this review.
This color story is absolutely stunning! It’s such a shame that the quality of this one is the worst of any other Huda palettes I own. It’s still not the worst palette I’ve ever used, but it doesn’t live up to the expectations I have for the brand’s eyeshadows. It was already difficult to pick up Shade 1 from the very first time I used it and swatched it, so that doesn’t bode well for future usage. Shades 2 and 6 are the metallics, but Shade 6 is way wetter feeling than the rest and it’s so difficult to build up. It looks pigmented at first, but when I try to smooth it out to create the shape I want in the outer corner, it fades significantly to the point where there’s hardly enough color left. So, I had to keep building it up. Shade 5 looks flakier than the metallics, and looks like it should be a standard shimmer, but it’s as creamy as Shade 1 and hard pressed as well, though I’m able to get decent payoff for now and it’s just a matter of time. Shade 7 has that fascinating pearl flake texture, but for some reason is wetter than that same formula shadow from the Toffee palette. Of course, all this emollience leads to moving issues on my eyes. In the demonstration photo below, I showed what it looks like 7 hours later, but it was noticeably looking that bad already when I looked in the mirror 5 hours in. It didn’t get significantly worse and I’ve still had worse performances from other eyeshadows before, but this one really disappointed me.
Part of the issue is that the mattes, which can help keep the area dry despite my semi-oily lids/crease, is that these particular mattes in the Caramel palette are all thin and don’t build all that well. It took me quite a few extra swipes to get a decent swatch of the colors in the swatch photos. I would normally do no more than 2 swipes for swatches, but considering this is one of the few palettes with mattes that don’t all look the same on me, I wanted to make sure those colors could be seen properly. At least, how the colors should have looked on me if they were able to build up since they’re thinner with less pigment.
I should note that I used the same primer with all three of these palettes, but the only one that has zero longevity issues for me is the Nude Medium palette, which supports what I heard about the Brown Obsessions collection being unequal in quality to my favorites from the brand.
I love this color story so much that I considered even bringing it to Germany with me despite the performance. However, I thought about my Natasha Denona Bronze palette and Metropolis. Between those two, I could very easily recreate this look. So, I’m leaving it behind.
That’s everything for today! I hope this has been helpful and I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it), Black Friday, and Cyber Monday!
DISCLOSURE: I purchased the items discussed in this post on May 2o, 2023 with my own money. I’m not affiliated with the brand. However, to save 10% on the items, I used Tina’s affiliate code FANCYFACE, which will give her commission, but any influencer’s code will work on most items on the website. Just passing along that information. The actual links in this specific post are regular non-affiliated ones.
Oden’s eye released the Jord’s Divine Collection consisting of two palettes, Jewels & Gem plus Stone & Rock, in addition to various pieces of jewelry. I liked the color selections of the palettes, but they looked too similar to shadows I already have (just not put together in one single palette), so I decided to hold off on buying those. As for jewelry, I don’t tend to wear it often, but these were so cute that I decided to go ahead and buy the ones calling to me the most.
The left side of photos above and below is called Jewel Story: Ear Cuff And Studs With Chain. That pair comes with the knot bound heart and attached chain cuff for one ear. The other ear gets that knot bound heart alone as a stud. The right side of photos above and below is called Jewel Story: Pink Heart Stud Earrings on their website. It comes with two identical heart earrings.
Those are the specifications listed on the website for the ones I chose to purchase. My biggest worry was that these might eventually turn or change color based purely on my past experience wearing earrings not made from precious metals, but nothing has happened to them thus far. They don’t turn my skin green and I have indeed sweat in them several times. I don’t keep them in anything special like anti-tarnish tabs. I just store them in the original plastic ziplock within the pink pouches.
They feel quite durable and are a bit on the large side and a bit heavier than I normally wear, but they’re still comfortable to wear. The chains on the cuff get twisted around each other while I wear it and the cuff part falls down while wearing it sometimes, but it doesn’t happen enough to bother me. Both sets have what I believe are called bullet clutch ear nuts, which I was so glad to see was without the plastic pads that are annoying to remove. In order to keep them in securely, I do feel the need to push the backing pretty close/tight, but not to a level of discomfort.
I’m quite pleased with the quality and would consider purchasing new styles in the future. It’s just that I’m more of a jewelry admirer than wearer, so I try not to buy pieces too often. I still wanted to review these for those who were curious if a makeup brand could release something good. Hopefully this helped!
M001 Lola
I believe it was earlier this year when the brand released single eyeshadows to absolutely horrible reviews. None of the influencers discussed the quality and just showcased how they looked. However, it was through social media and even the blogging sphere where I heard complaints about fading/disappearing, insane creasing, etc. There were inconsistencies as well as to which shades were the troublesome ones. I believe the consensus was that these had too much oil in them. If I’m remembering correctly, I believe Odens Eye made them unavailable for about a month or so before they were “back” and I hoped perhaps they’d change the formula. However, they did not publicly address any of this. For a while, that really bothered me considering how much I value transparency between brands and their customers.
Since I wanted to hit the free shipping minimum, I bought Lola along with the single eyeshadow container so I could test it for myself.
The first time I tried it, I said to myself, “Wow…this is terrible.” It’s a beautiful multichrome, but it gave me the worst creasing I’ve ever experienced from an eyeshadow. After a few hours, half of it was literally gone from my lids. It only stayed near my lash line. I decided to try it once more, but as a topper with some mattes underneath to try and keep that spot a little more dry. That helped it, but it wasn’t the prettiest to look at.
When I finally decided to start working on this post, I realized I misplaced the pictures I took showing how bad they looked afterwards, so I had to photograph them again. This was about three months later, shown below. Granted, I still had mattes in the crease, but it actually stayed on my lids and looked just like the photo all day! I guess it needed all that time to dry out, or perhaps having a thick matte is still the way to go.
Because of those initial first experiences with the shadow, I’m still wary about using it. I’m also still wary about recommending them, but I wanted to at least share my experience. Considering the prices of the single eyeshadows and multichromes, I personally think buying full palettes from Odens Eye is the way to go anyway.
For those curious, I do think for Black Friday* I’ll end up buying the Stone & Rock palette and the reformulated Norn’s palette. My orders from the brand take a minimum of three weeks to arrive, and I’ll be in Germany by then so I’ll need to have it shipped there. Oden’s Eye brought back the Christmas Palettes from last year, along with releasing two new ones this year. Even though the holiday ones rank highest among my Oden’s Eye Collection, I won’t be buying the new ones even on sale. A few of the colors are pretty, but the reviews I’ve seen from trusted sources were not good. So, I’ll be passing on them this time.
*I haven’t seen Oden’s Eye release the info yet**, but according to Angie, her palette collab might be 30% off and the other items on the website should be 40-50% off. I’m not sure if that stacks onto already discounted products or if that 40-50% also applies to jewelry and other accessories. Influencer codes supposedly stack, but not on collab items. For instance, Angelica’s ANGESCHKA code or Tina’s FANCYFACE should give an extra 10% off using those affiliated codes. According to Angie, the sale starts November 23rd, but I’m not sure in what region and what time. It should be ongoing until the 28th.
**UPDATE: Christmas Holiday items are excluded from the Black Friday sale. The sale will begin 10:00 am US Eastern Time. Influencer collab products are 30% off (codes don’t apply). All accessories, like jewelry, will be 50% off and influencer codes will stack an extra percent off. Everything else should be starting at 50% off that the influencer code can stack onto for additional discounts as well.
This is one of the two Halloween themed palettes Angie launched with Odens Eye, making it her second time collaborating with the brand overall. There are very specific shades that appealed to me in the Trick or Treat palette, so I decided to go ahead and grab it since the chances of it being restocked are low. There was quite a bit of drama associated with this launch on social media. Particularly on Instagram, I saw a disturbing number of borderline xenophobic comments regarding the brand and Angelica with people expressing displeasure that non-Americans were doing a Halloween themed launch, as if it’s an American invented holiday with no Celtic (and therefore European) origins. I’m paraphrasing in a nice way. Some people took it quite far. There was even one semi-large beauty account who tagged Angelica twice in a vile mean-spirited post. Reddit made me aware that this same person has said horrible things about other groups of people, so I’m no longer surprised. In any case, Angelica took the high road in not addressing the negativity, instead sharing her joy of her first Halloween experiences on her YouTube page, and everyone moved on. For that reason, I won’t dwell on the incident, but it was actually a pretty gross reminder of how small minded people can be and the aspects I despise about social media. I’m not sure if this impacted sales at all, but I believe this is the first time an Angie collab hasn’t sold out within the first month and with indie brand timetables being what they are, it’s safe to assume there won’t be a restock. So, for anyone wanting items from the collection, I recommend getting it sooner rather than later. Oden’s Eye is likely to have a Black Friday sale, and maybe even a Christmas one, but there’s no guarantee the palettes and lip products will still be available by then or even after that.
I’m happy to say the Trick or Treat palette is so much prettier in person than I could see from photos and videos. This is the good Oden’s Eye formula I’ve come to know and love. The shadows are pigmented, but blendable. The shimmers are high impact. The only issues I had were with two shades. Wicked is a much thinner and more powdery matte than the others. It doesn’t show up on me at all. I’ve tried several times to build it up in my inner corner the way Angelica likes to have a matte inner corner brightening shade, but it disappears after a few pats on my eyes. I can at least still use it as a shade to blend the edges of eyeshadows or tone down the brightness of colors, but it only makes a small difference.
The other issue is that Witches Brew isn’t as even in color and smoothness on the eye. It’s like a slight separation between the base and the shimmer. I can get patches where the vibrant blue-green peeks through when I apply it, and there’s no shimmer in those spots, whereas all the shimmer has gathered onto other parts. So, it takes some smoothing back and forth to get the area covered evenly. It’s such a vibrant glowing shade and one of the ones I was the most excited to have, but it’s a little less enjoyable in the application process.
I have no issues with longevity or creasing. Regarding my skin tone and how the shades look on me, there are only two important enough to mention. One is that Cemetery looked like a red that was bordering on purple. I expected it to be nearly an ultra-deep mauve, but it’s more of a burgundy color on me. Magic Potion looks like it should be a silvery-light blue but none of that blue translates on my skin. It’s basically just silver, which might end up being better since I don’t know how much I’d have enjoyed that kind of blue on me anyway.
If you have a big Oden’s Eye collection, you might feel some of these shades are similar to what is in other palettes. I thought some of my yellows looked like others, but in swatching them on myself I realized there were no dupes. The reds are also just different enough. I thought Crypt Keeper would be similar to Luxury from the Urd palette, but luxury is lighter. The only one actually close was Deadly compared to Eternal from Solmane II. I don’t have every palette though, so perhaps there are a few more that are close, but I was satisfied that this palette is different enough to be worth having in my collection. In fact, one of the selling points for me was that it reminded me of the Merry Christmas palette and that those two pair well together.
And of course it can also be paired with the original Hela palette.
I’m on a lip product low-buy, so I wasn’t interested in that part of the collection and can’t vouch for the quality of those, but I think those who are interested in the eyeshadow palettes will be happy with them.
I wasn’t planning to review Singe Beauty, Angelica’s brand that she unveiled this year, because after my initial impression I didn’t think I’d end up using them enough to review. I really wasn’t a fan at first, and honestly being a natural hair Fude lover plays into that. However, I’m still going to share my thoughts here today because these brushes do have their benefits.
Singe Beauty
Angelica has said that her brushes are, “specifically made out of synthetic fibers to emulate the way a natural bristle will pick up and distribute product,” but in various videos including this one and others that came after, she describes them as “super soft” and that they feel like natural hair, not just perform like them. I have to say this is a major discrepancy between what I expected when ordering versus what I got in reality. I was expecting them to feel like the highest grade of goat, but I can see someone thinking it could pass for sokoho goat at best. They’re closest to sable, which some people love because of their strength and resilience. However, I’d prefer to spend a little longer blending if it means I can use a softer less firm brush. The manufacturer nailed the natural hair performance part of it, but there is absolutely no mistaking that these are synthetic and they feel synthetic. This isn’t a point against the brushes; I just think saying they’re comparable can lead to others having higher expectations and then being disappointed. I only use synthetic brushes for specific limited tasks, so I would not have been interested in picking up this set if not for the natural hair comparison.
E01
The E01 is the brush I was most excited to have because the shape reminded me of the Sonia G Builder Pro which is one of my holy grail eye brushes. This is my favorite brush of the bunch for applying shimmers to the lid. When I was having a hard time getting the shade I mentioned in the palette section (Witches Brew) to apply smoothly, this was the brush I switched to that helped make things much easier. I know that Angie says it’s great for packing shadow on the inner corners, and while it can do that, I still prefer to use my smaller brushes for that purpose. Plus, this brush is a little pokey and doesn’t feel as comfortable in my corners and creases. So, I end up using this brush mainly for shimmer lid shades, and it’s great for that. Plus, as a lid packing brush, how soft it is barely matters. What matters is how well it picks up and lays down the product, which this works well for, making it quite useful for my collection. It being synthetic also has the advantage of being great with liquid and cream shadows.
E02
The E02 is a brush I didn’t intend on using since I prefer smaller crease and blending brushes, but when I was working with some stubborn matte eyeshadows and found that the E05 was taking too long to blend out the edges because of its smaller surface area, the E02 came in handy. I was able to finish the blending job quicker and decided that this brush is actually perfect for me to blend shadows in my crease, but without any product on it. It’s still too large (even though it has a slight taper) for me to precisely apply shadows with in my crease, but I will continue to reserve it for the times that I have a stubborn or just extra pigmented eyeshadow that needs something firmer to blend with and that’s big enough to make it quick. Admittedly, the majority of the shadows I regularly use in my collection are high quality and don’t require me to have a brush like this on hand. But, since I do still test palettes and there’s always the chance I could wind up with a dud, having this within reach is useful.
E03
The E03 is the only brush still in the plastic because I know I will never use it. It’s essentially a larger version of the E02, which is a larger version of the E05. Because of my partly hooded eyes and need for more precision, I always use tiny crease brushes. The E03 is simply too big for my preference and if the time occurs when I do want a brush of this size, I have several in my collection already that are good blending brushes and also immensely softer feeling while I use them.
E04
The E04 is a packing brush with a taper that I find is great for applying shadows to the lid without getting too much of the lid shadow into the crease area, because I can pick up product on one of those tapered edge sides. It’s also nice for intentionally tucking color into the crease if product is applied just on the tip and those tapered sides have no product on there, keeping the width of the application area on the smaller side. I’m actually surprised that for a brush of this thickness, I’m still able to use it to apply eyeshadows under my eyes. I usually designate that task to my tiny brushes, but I haven’t needed to switch brushes to do that when I’m using this one. Of all the brushes in the set, this is my second favorite after the E01.
E05
The E05 is one of the brushes I was the most excited by because of its shape, yet was still concerned that it might not be able to measure up to my Sonia G Mini Booster. Honestly, this did end up being the case, but the Mini Booster alone is also the same price as half of this set costs.
The E05 is useful for its size, the ability to pack on a lot of color to a small region, and for detail work. However, the combination of how tall the fibers are with the tightness of how it’s packed in the center makes it partly bend/flop when pressure is applied that is then halted from bending any further because the fibers align to an even level at that point. It’s like the way it’s made generates extra friction, leading to the brush feeling like it’s not applying as smoothly as it could. Working the bristles around enough will complete the task and not lead to any patchy results, but the two battling forces makes the application process feel less comfortable than I think it could have been if the head was shorter with a flat top instead of rounded. Angelica chose these brushes to be shaped, bundled, and cut to the exact specifications she wanted, so my desire for a slightly tweaked shape is a matter of my own personal preference.
None of these brushes feel loose. They feel secure within the ferrules, unlike some of my inexpensive synthetic brushes like ELF and Real Techniques. I’ve only washed these a few times so far, but I haven’t had any shedding issues or problems with them losing their shape.
While I’ve found use for 4 out of 5 of these and enjoy the E01 and E04 in particular, I can’t easily recommend everyone just run out and buy them. These brushes are ideal for those who love very pigmented, intense, and opaque eyeshadows. Also, those who have a lot of troublesome eyeshadows could benefit from these. Since I review a wide range of products like high quality natural hair brushes to inexpensive Real Techniques ones, and soft refined luxury eyeshadows to intense pigmented indie brands’ eyeshadows, those of you who read my blog have varied and diverse interests. So, these particular brushes aren’t something I can recommend across the board to everyone. It’s a bit niche in my opinion, which makes sense considering Angelica says there isn’t a brush brand out there that has made what she considers her perfect eye set. So, it makes sense that it’s not going to be perfect for the masses if this specific collection is tailored to her.
I was able to get this set for 20% off during the brand’s Memorial Day sale, so considering the price and the usefulness of the set, I don’t regret it. If face brushes come next, I think I’ll be skipping them. However, I look forward to seeing what other type of products come out from Singe Beauty. If it’s makeup, and especially eyeshadows, I’m all in!
The photo above shows my current collection of Hourglass Ambient finishing powders, blushes, bronzers, and highlighters. Some products have been depotted and rearranged, so they’re not all in their original states (the Universe Unlocked and Tiger palettes).
My palette from Hourglass has the website exclusive Owl design on the cover, but I chose the powders inside that were assigned by default to the Leopard palette. It’s called “Color Palette 2” on the official website. As I mentioned in my review of this year’s Snake palette (not to be confused with the leopard component I chose for it), it was so difficult to skip out on the beautiful owl and when I found a 20% off code, I ended up choosing this. Well, the Palette 2 option was the only one in stock at the time, so I technically had no choice. The reason the default Leopard palette insides were still in stock is because it’s the palette with only 1 new shade and a bunch of re-released ones. It’s a great thing that I only had one of the 6 powders currently in my collection, but that’s also because most of the shades don’t work for me as intended. However, I’ve happily discovered that this is a great mixing/companion palette and for that reason I decided to review it as well. In addition, I’ve added even more comparison swatches than I did in my post from a few weeks ago!
Dim Light (finishing powder) – This is a permanent shade that I surprisingly never owned among the long list of too-light-for-me Ambient powders from Hourglass that I get stuck with from the edit palettes. Of course, no one is surprised to hear I can’t use this as a finishing powder on my skin tone.
Some of the deeper finishing powders from the brand have visible shimmer, making them something I wouldn’t want to put under my eyes. I couldn’t see any shimmer particles in Dim Light though, so I have used it as a brightening powder under my eyes. My concealer was a little darker than the rest of my face when I was taking the face pictures above, so this is when I put Dim Light over it and I think it helped brighten it. So, this powder isn’t a complete miss for me.
Celestial Strobe Light (strobe powder/highlighter) – This strobe powder was introduced last year in the Butterfly palette. Because of the level of warmth and transparency in this color, I could actually almost pull this off! I was tempted to depot it from the Butterfly palette before I sold it, so I’m actually not bothered to own it again. When I use Lustrous Bronze Light as a highlighter and add a tiny bit of this on top to amp it up, it’s a pretty combination that works! It’s still unavoidably pearly-looking (nearly frosty), but not to the level of being unflattering.
Mood Exposure (blush) – This is a permanent blush that I never owned. I always wondered if I’d be able to pull it off if I bought one that contained enough of the plummy vein coloring. I’ve learned that at the best of times it shows on my cheeks as a subtle nude color, but doesn’t always resemble a blush. Sometimes too much of the sheen shows on my cheeks and then it looks like a face powder instead of blush. However, adding a little of Ethereal Flush on top is a gorgeous combination. So, I’m actually happy to have this one as a mixer blush! Mystic Flush from the Snake palette is quite vibrant, so having this to mix with that one as well is quite nice. This isn’t a color I’d have ever bought on its own or as a single (assuming I couldn’t use it), but having it come with this palette turned into a happy and useful surprise.
Iridescent Rose (strobe blush) – This is blush first appeared in last year’s Tiger palette. I still have it in my collection, so this is the true repeat for me to have in my Leopard/Owl palette. It’s still a nice blush topper that I prefer over the other deep strobe highlighter/blush powders Hourglass has released in Tiger and Snake, but I don’t want to keep both. So, it’s very likely I will end up selling it in a custom depotted palette at some point this year. I don’t think I ever reviewed the Sculpture Edit Quad, but that one contains Mood Flush which I might replace it with instead.
Ethereal Flush (blush) – This blush is perfect to wear on its own. It reminds me of Coral Flush from the Universe Unlocked palette, but even more flattering on my skin tone. It’s also the only new product within the Leopard palette. Granted, “new” is relative considering it’s yet another pink toned blush, even though Hourglass describes it as a “soft peach.” It’s not hugely different from the others they’ve released.
Lustrous Bronze Light (bronzer) – This bronzer was released in last year’s Elephant palette. I can use it as a low-shine highlighter. The tone would have made a good finishing powder for me if it didn’t have the occasional visible shimmer particle and if the sheen was weaker. I’m fine with using it as a very subtle highlighter though.
So even though Snake and my custom version of Tiger are better suited for me, I’m really happy to have Leopard/Owl to compliment those. And sure enough, by the time I started working on this post weeks ago until the time I’ve decided to publish this, I ended up removing Iridescent Rose and replacing it with Mood Flush. Mood Flush is basically a deeper version of Mood Exposure and I love the subtle color on my cheeks, but I never thought to reach for that one because it was in a quad with 3 nearly unusable products. Now that I’ve put it in the Owl palette, I think I’ll get a lot more use out of it finally. And, now that my duplicate blush is in that Sculpture Quad instead, I may eventually sell it.
As you can see, Mood Flush got a bit banged up in the process. The Sculpture Quad being a plastic component and with stronger glue made it tricky to depot without melting it too badly. I could have depotted the blush perfectly if I increased the heat and didn’t care about trying to salvage the packaging. What I love about the current Hourglass tin components is that depotting the powders is so much easier without ruining the packaging (not even the sticker on the bottom) or the product itself.
Brushes, makeup that was returned, products decluttered or given away, and a MAC highlighter are not pictured.
Welcome back to this series! I reviewed everything in separate posts from last year’s August purchases, so it made sense to skip that. As I began to work on September’s I realized I reviewed most things as well, except the unreviewed items were tied to pending posts I was currently working on. Since I at least purchased additional shades I knew I could show here, I decided to proceed with showing the September items, in addition to October’s!
Benefit Cosmetics Wanderful World Blush in Starlaa (and later PomPom and Shellie) – This specific shade was delayed for four months after the release of all of Benefit’s other blushes. However, I waited until I got my hands on it to do my brand blush review, which can be found HERE. In addition to those four (five technically if you count Terra Spark) from last year, this year I purchased PomPom and Shellie out of curiosity as to how light I could go with the blush colors. Well, I learned that Shellie is my limit. That one doesn’t work, but Pom Pom is nice and subtle.
Another photo of Shellie
I like applying Starlaa and then adding PomPom to the apples of my cheeks. As a solo color, Terra is still my favorite of them all, but I continue to be pleased with this line and overall collection of blushes.
Guerlain Quad -I reviewed this along with many other luxury palettes HERE. Since that review, I’ve used it occasionally, but not enough to justify purchasing any additional ones. Honestly, I would still consider it at a reduced price if every shade in that compact was perfect for me. Chances of that happening are low. I thought for sure I would buy the upcoming Holiday quad, but that one doesn’t contain the baked shades, so I’m skipping it.
Artist Couture Love Sprung 3 and Quickie Palette – I reviewed both of these HERE. The Quickie palette has only been used once or twice since reviewing it. On the other hand, the Love Sprung 3 palette was such a good match for me that I finally had the nerve to declutter Love Sprung 2. The pink/purple blush is pretty, but I never reached for it. The highlighter in version 3 is better for my skin tone than version 2, and the deep peach blush in Love Sprung 2 is basically duped in 3. This shade was also similar to CoverFX Warm Honey, but slightly deeper and shows up on me better, so I was able to let the CoverFX go too considering it’s so old in my collection now.
Clionadh Haul – Stained Glass Shade Expansion (Queen’s Banquet, Quest, Oriel, Reign, Auric) and the previously released single shadow (Chalice) can be found shown HERE. However, I’m still planning to make several more Clionadh posts surrounding the expansion, doing additional comparisons, and showing the shades in full eye looks. It’s just such a daunting task!
Beautylish Haul – Wayne Goss The Radiance Boosting Face Palette (Deep Copper) + Brush 13 Bundle. I actually decluttered this because it got strange bumps on it after only two uses, which I’ve seen happen to other products after at least a year of use, so never this quickly. Beautylish handled it well when I emailed and said they think it’s due to oils on the skin effecting the surface of the powder? But they refunded me. The review for Brush 13 is coming in Fude 6.
CDJapan Haul – Koyudo BP019 Blush Brush (supposed to be outlet but not listed that way), [Outlet] Koyudo Powder Brush Black Handle, [Outlet] Koyudo Blush Brush Black Flat Handle, and MS-4 Mai Sakura Eyeshadow Brush. These brushes are also coming to Fude 6 and 7.
Ulta 21 Days of Beauty Haul – Benefit Cosmetics Precisely, My Brow Pencil Waterproof Eyebrow Definer in Shade 5, NARS Afterglow Lip Balms in Laguna and Torrid, Estee Lauder Futurist Hydra Rescue Moisturizing Foundation SPF 45 in 5W2, Too Faced Hangover Pillow Balm Ultra-Hydrating Lip Treatment in Watermelon and Mango (way more added in 2o23), and the Rituel de Fille Thorn Oil Priming Facial Elixir.
The Benefit brow product is a repurchase that I’ve discussed in various reviews, but isn’t exciting enough to showcase. The Estee Lauder foundation is in a new shade, but the formula has been reviewed HERE.
The Thorn oil was in a skincare post HERE. As for the lip products, those are tied to pending upcoming lip product posts. However, since I’m unsure which of these will come first, I’ll go ahead and review them here, along with the additional lip products I bought the following month as well: Too Faced Pillow Balm Pop Rich & Creamy Mini Lip Trio, Nars Afterglow Lip Shine Gloss in Deep Realm, and Nars Satin Lip Pencil in Rikugien.
The first thing I notice when putting on the Too Faced Hangover Pillow Balm is that it gives a minty-cool sensation on the lips. This contains menthol, so I’m not sure if it was added solely for cooling effect or if the brand wanted plumping action from it as well. What Too Faced touts as the lip plumping ingredient is sodium hyaluronate. Despite having more than one ingredient of this type, I don’t see any difference in the size of my lips beyond the trick of the eye that glossy products can provide. I bought the two full size lippies without even knowing they were supposed to do anything beyond conditioning the lips, so I’m fine with that. The only issue is that ingredients like menthol, cinnamon, and capsaicin irritate the skin, which can aggravate my lip issues. As far as I can tell, menthol and the flavoring and coloring agents are the only ones I spotted from the list that can dry out my lips. These are counterbalanced by the other ingredients in here that my lips love such as petrolatum and shea butter. Sunflower seed oil is another one, but instead Too Faced put “Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seedcake” which is apparently, “residue from the expression of oil,” so I’m not sure how that stacks up to the oil. Mineral oil also tends to be great, but the brand uses hydrogenated polyisobutene, a synthetic mineral oil alternative instead, which can be effective for me if paired with the right other ingredients. This also contains mango seed oil, which is a slightly above average lip conditioner for me too. What this boils down to is the fact that I love the feeling of this product on my lips. It feels moisturizing, and though my lips don’t change in size, I can see where the lines of my lips get plumped up and smoothed out from the added hydration. A protective barrier is formed on the surface to lock that hydration in place and keep it there longer, but that means having to deal with everything sticking to my lips. Too thick of an application can also lead to the dreaded “white ring” around the mouth. Also, this isn’t the kind of lip product I can ignore when eating because of its thick texture, so I purposely try to wipe it off and then reapply once I’ve finished the meal.
Regarding the colors, Watermelon gives me the tiniest pink tinge to my lips, but it’s not my favorite tone. I don’t see any shimmer in Watermelon, but Mango has micro gold shimmer. Mango and Cocoa Kiss are way too light and give a unflattering milky look to my lips, so I definitely don’t wear them in public and mostly just enjoy them for their scents. Watermelon smells like a delicious Watermelon Jolly Rancher candy, whereas Mango smells so faintly that I’m not sure I would have been able to figure it out based on the smell alone. It’s vaguely fruity with a tinge of mango. Cocoa Kiss does smell like slightly artificial hot chocolate. I still enjoy that smell though.
Vanilla Kiss looks beautiful for those who don’t mind obviously shimmery lips. It doesn’t smell like vanilla to me, just a slight sugary scent. Strawberry Kiss, which smells like strawberry bubble-gum or those old school strawberry candies in the strawberry print wrapper, is the most opaque and deepest color of the ones I own. I forgot that the milky aspect of the other shades, and only being able to wear it privately or as an overnight treatment, is why I stopped using them for quite a while. However, now that I remember how good they are, I will want to continue using them. The brand released a new mini trio for the holidays this year and I suspect that even though I don’t need it, I will be unable to resist if it goes on sale. There’s a holiday wine shade that looks like a gorgeous version of Strawberry Kiss without the shimmer.
*BONUS PHOTOS: I ended up getting a discount and buying this year’s Too Faced Warm & Spicy: Pillow Balm Lip Balm Trio Set. I plan to gift the original one away, but I have swatches of the other two.
Holiday Wine smells like a cherry and strawberry forward sangria and Spiced Cider does have that spiced cinnamon scent! Also, even though Spiced Cider looks like a different color in the tube, on the lips and in swatches it looks no different than Vanilla, which is to say that it just looks like a beautiful shimmery colorless gloss.
With the Nars Afterglow Lip Balms, they feel nice and moisturizing on the lips, but I don’t get as much hydration from them as some of my other top favorite lip products. There are emollient ingredients in there, but not the ones that my lips in particular benefit from the most. They’re just okay, like hydrogenated polyisobutene and squalane, which aren’t enough to counter the effects of the dryness I get from the coloring agents. So, I wear these balms for the subtle tinge of color to my lips that’s pretty and flattering colors for me, at least in these two shades. They feel comfortable to wear, but by the end of the day with reapplications, I know my lips will somehow end up slightly dryer than at the start. So, these aren’t something I use daily. I might use them for a few days back to back, but then I’ll have to switch to a truly nourishing lip product instead.
The lip gloss is pretty, but the color doesn’t show as well on me. I chose this shade because it looked like a wearable warm color, but mostly because it was in the clearance section on the Nars website. It’s a bit funny to me that the lip gloss contains more of the ingredients my lips like. It has the hydrogenated polyisobutene, but also shea butter replaces the squalane, and sunflower seed oil is present, though nearly at the bottom of the list. As a thick glossy product, it seals in the moisture better than the balms, but the end result in terms of moisture is the same. When the layer wears down, my lips look drier than when I first put it on. As a gloss though, without any additional expectations for it, it looks nice.
The Satin Lip pencil was reviewed in this declutter post HERE, and in that post I voiced my concern over my favorite shade being different and it appearing to be discontinued. However, I was surprised to see it eventually return to the website last year (still in the last chance section). I bought it and was happy that it was the same original formula I fell for the first time. Regarding it being discontinued or not, all I can say is that another year later, it’s still in the last chance section! Nars recently launched the Powermatte High-Intensity Lip Pencil, so I wonder if they finally will let the Satin Lip Pencils go or if they plan to reformulate and/or redesign the line.
Luxury/High-End Purchases from October ’22: Bobbi Brown Luxe Eye & Face Palette in Copper Glow and Bobbi Brown Jadestone Palette, Dior Backstage Khaki Neutrals and Dior Écrin Couture Iconic Eye Makeup Palette, as well as the Pat Mcgrath Labs Celestial Nirvana Eye Shadow Palette in Bronze Bliss
I reviewed all five of those HERE. The only one I regret buying is the Bobbi Brown Face Palette just because I bought a face trio earlier this year (not to be confused with the new holiday trio that contains 2 of the 3 same shades) that I get more use out of, plus it contains the same highlighter that is in that palette. As for the others, I am still always testing new eyeshadows, so I don’t have the time to use them as much as I want.
Pat Mcgrath Spur of the Moment Purchases: Skin Fetish: Divine Glow Highlighter in Venus Nectar, Pat Mcgrath Labs X Bridgerton Skin Fetish Sublime Highlighter in Incandescent Gold, and Pat Mcgrath Labs Skin Fetish Sublime Perfection Concealer in Shade MD23.
I showcased both highlighters HERE, though I didn’t show Venus Nectar on my face, so I’m including that at least in this post. As for the concealer, I reviewed the formula of shades MD22 and MD24 HERE, but I don’t think I updated with a swatch of MD23 once I got it. Essentially, I finally got my hands on that sold out shade and it was the perfect depth level, but the tone was still too olive and looked strange compared to the tone of my foundations, so I essentially gave up on using the PML concealers anymore. I don’t have MD22 or MD24 to compare next to it anymore, but I have a photo of MD23 compared to other concealers when I had intended (but changed my mind) to do an Ami Cole concealer post.
Fenty Beauty Double Cheek’d Up: Freestyle Cream Blush Duo – I reviewed it HERE and honestly haven’t picked it up a single time since reviewing. When the cream blush line was expanded this year, I picked up two new shades, but realized that even though I enjoy them for their colors, I prefer a product that sets to a fully dry touch. So, I don’t plan on reviewing anymore blushes from Fenty in the future, unless they release powder versions.
LYS Beauty Higher Standard 3-Piece Cream Blush Set – I reviewed it HERE and have only used it a few times after the review. It isn’t a matter of me losing interest. It’s still in my top 2 among traditional cream formulas. I’m just preferring to use powder blushes a lot more these days. I still very much recommend LYS blushes.
Hourglass Ambient Soft Glow Foundation in 13.5 and 14
I was initially saving this review for a foundation ranking/declutter post I started working on at the beginning of the year, but never finished. I purchased Shade 13.5 which was slightly too light, but I could pull it off as long as I used bronzer with it. I bought Shade 14 at the end of November, and that was closer to my skintone, but slightly too dark. I can get a good match by mixing the two, but I have to be careful because the color darkens once it’s dry. So, I can’t just mix to my correct shade while wet. I have to mix to get my correct dry-down color.
This foundation is thick, though not heavy. It doesn’t drip at all when squirted out of the pump. I get high-medium coverage from the foundation. When they say “soft glow” they really do mean that the glow level is low. It’s a natural finish foundation, but on my dry skin, it looks horrible for most of the day unless I either prep my skin well (with at least facial oil) or wait until my natural oils come through, which doesn’t end up happening until the late afternoon, if at all. Even when I use Rituel de Fille Thorn Oil, I don’t like how my skin looks until an hour or so later. Then, I find the finish to be quite beautiful. I like this foundation enough that I’ve been keeping it in rotation since buying it, but not quite enough that I’d repurchase it once I use it up, even if Hourglass was to make shade 13.75 or something. I have foundations I like equally (albeit a different finish) that are still expensive, but a better deal.
It sets completely and doesn’t transfer, so I don’t set it with setting powder or spray. I still use a finishing powder with it at times and in specific areas.
Hourglass Foundation Shade 13.5 with Gucci Bronzer Shade 5 (Taken with Camera)
Hourglass Foundation Shades 13.5 and 14 mixed (Taken with Cell Phone)
I posted on the home page that, unfortunately, my main camera broke and I had to switch to using my cell phone for blog photos. That has come with its own benefits and challenges. My main camera had higher megapixels, but I’ve been using additional light sources and trying to improve my light quality to compensate for my cell phone, so it’s debatable which one is better when I had different struggles with both. Anyway, I just wanted to explain why the two look so different, besides the foundation color. I still have a ton of photos taken with my former main camera, but not enough to complete the posts without needing to add additional pictures with my cell phone.
Oden’s Eye Merry Christmas and Christmas Eve Holiday Palettes – I reviewed these HERE but did not include any solo eye looks. I figured today would be a good time to share some. As I mentioned in my post, I always reach for these as companion palettes. Out of the eleven Oden’s Eye palettes I own, I would say the Merry Christmas one is my 2nd favorite. The Christmas Eve palette would be 4th place. I hope the brand decides to re-release them for those who missed out.
Smashbox Cali Contour Palette in Medium/Dark
It took the full year for me to make up my mind about this palette because there was always something I didn’t like about it when I tried to use more than one product at a time. Then it would take me a few weeks to a few months to want to try it again.
It’s very easy to overdo it with the contour (as seen below) and because it’s so pigmented, I can make it look blended, but it doesn’t sheer out enough. So, it’s best to start slowly and try and build up the color that way. Cinnamon Matte isn’t dark enough to bronze me (though I’m still not sure what purpose it’s actually supposed to serve), but I use it to tone down Warm Contour within reason.
Cocoa Rojo is a beautiful color, but for some reason I don’t like the finish of it on my skin. There’s subtle shimmer in this and I’m in my glowy cheek era, so I should like this. I’m just not sure it’s this type of shimmer that I like in a cheek product where it shows particles and the glow doesn’t come from a sheen.
These highlighters are subtle, which is also right up my alley. However, the shimmer isn’t as refined as I like. For some reason they just don’t excite me.
On paper, I should love this face palette, but I don’t. I like it enough to want to keep it, but I know I’m not going to reach for it when there are so many blushes, bronzers, and highlighters I use that actually cause an excited flutter within me when I put them on. Since I don’t have a ton of contour products, that’s the one thing from here that still has some appeal and I’m considering depotting it from the palette. However, I do have contour products that are working just fine for me, so I might not bother.
Revolution Shrek Gingy Highlighter and GOT Iron Throne Sponge Set
I bought the highlighter purely for nostalgia. I love Gingy! The Shrek series (really just 1 and 2) was my favorite series after the Mummy Series (again 1 and 2) for a very long time! I think Rush Hour 1 and 2 (okay apparently I only like the first two of trilogies) surpassed the Shrek series by now, but I still love those movies and Gingy is still my favorite. However, for review purposes I have worn it a handful of times. When I’m using my winter foundations, the highlighter is too deep of a bronze for me. In the photo above where I’m not quite at my typical summer shade but a little darker than I have been in a while, it seems to work well enough when used sparingly. In complete direct light, my camera can pick up the texture to the shimmer particles, but looks smoother at most other angles in the light. In fact, it’s smoother than I expected from a Revolution Beauty product. I’m a bit impressed! I don’t intend to use it anymore though since I want to keep it for nostalgia purposes, but it’s good enough that I could. Also, this used to have a strong gingerbread scent, but that faded in the year that I’ve had this.
How cool is this sponge and holder set! Plus, it was so inexpensive at $6 considering Beautyblender’s sponge stands/holders/cases are in the $10 range not including the sponge. The brand had a sale and I ended up buying another set to give to my friend at the even lower price of $4! As a Game of Thrones mega fan, I had to have this for the stand alone. It’s not only a functional holder, but also a nice spot to set the sponge to air dry after being cleaned. The sponge was just like any other inexpensive sponge I’ve tried. It blended my foundation in just as well while feeling a little firmer than the original Beautyblender, but not as firm as the Rephr sponge or Danessa Myricks ones. The Revolution Beauty sponge was also firmer than the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion sponge. It would be nice if it was a little softer when wet, but it still works great, especially for the cost. There are two big drawbacks for me, which is that if the sponge sits out for even as little as a few hours, I can’t wash it fully clean with any of my soaps. There will still be foundation stains after multiple re-washings. The other downside is that for whatever reason this sponge takes exceptionally long to dry. It had me concerned about the increased risk of something growing inside considering how long it stays wet for. So, after a few uses I decided not to bother with it. I’m happy enough with the stand. I know there have been quite the issues financially with this brand and their sub-brands and co-brands, but I hope they’re able to continue making gems. I haven’t had the best luck with everything of theirs I’ve tried, but they’ve got their occasional hits.
CDJapan Chikuhodo ZE-3 Blush Brush – This review is coming to Fude 6.
Sonia G Smooth Buffer Brush – This review is coming to Fude 7.
Viseart Petit Pro Palette London Étoile – I reviewed this HERE along with several other Viseart palettes. I created some pretty looks with it, but once the “new” feeling wore off, I didn’t use it again. I love olive shadows, but I have so many other olives that have more sparkle and wow-factor to them, which is why I always remembered to use those and forgot about the one from this palette.
Lunar Beauty 2022 Advent Calendar, Love Me Strawberry Lip Oil, and Dreamy Lip Gloss – I’m going to come right out and say I’ve chosen to not review these products at this time. I have always felt conflicted about whether to review Lunar Beauty or not because I’m always going back and forth about how I feel about the brand’s owner Manny Gutierrez (Manny MUA). The personality he portrays in his videos isn’t the style I enjoy watching in reviews, but it’s his past constant involvement in drama with other problematic influencers that bothered me. I do own the first Moonspell palette (purchased discounted from a third party and never used as it’s just for packaging), a Moon Prism highlighter I bought purely for packaging (also purchased from a third party and never used) and originally planned to compare it to the controversial dupe highlighter from Makeup Revolution, the first Moon Prism blush palette that I purchased when Lunar Beauty products were sold at Sephora, and the Large Powder Brush from his website (even gifted two of them). Manny had stayed away from the drama for a few years and his Fool Coverage podcast with Laura Lee started to change my opinion of him. That’s why I purchased the Advent Calendar and lip products last year and decided that I felt comfortable enough to finally put full energy into the Lunar Beauty post I’d been working on here and there for literally years. Then, as I started with the product photos and testing in 2023, I kept hearing about more and more problematic influencers that he was starting to show his public support for again and that bad taste in my mouth returned. Unlike certain people whose products I refuse to buy or speak about on my blog any longer (JS, JC, JH, etc.), I don’t know if I’m going to give a hard ban to Lunar Beauty products in terms of never speaking about them again. I at least finished reviewing the last Jaclyn Cosmetics products I owned before stating I was done with the brand. With Lunar Beauty, if I’m wearing those products in a post, I might mention it’s what I’m using, but I don’t see myself ever working on that brand review post again, and I personally will no longer purchase anymore products from them. The last thing I bought was a year ago anyway.
Beauty Bay Dark Fantasy Palette
I showcased this in a Swatchfest post, but hadn’t actually reviewed it at the time. These colors are stunning and right up my alley. I have loved the looks I’ve created with it. Regarding the quality, this doesn’t give me that many issues when I’m using a primer. Eye primers are a staple product for most beauty lovers, but I do personally know people in my life who are makeup dabblers and don’t always use primer. So, it’s for their sake that I feel the need to express that I had such a hard time using this palette without a primer. The lighter mattes are fine, but the darker ones are so pigmented with good adherence that they just don’t want to budge unless there’s a primer underneath. I can’t stress enough that primer is important! Also, I highly recommend working from lightest to darkest when building up layers.
With primer, these mattes still weren’t as easy to blend as the majority of the eyeshadow palettes I use (also at double the cost or more), but with the staple Japanese eyeshadow brushes I’ve used hundreds of times, it was still better than I expected. It’s nice to see Beauty Bay eyeshadow quality has a positive reputation for a reason. Not necessarily as being the greatest on the market, but certainly great for the price (along the lines of BH Cosmetics, Colourpop, and ELF). It didn’t take that much longer blending as to prevent me from wanting to use this palette again. The first time was rough, but every time after was easy enough. I like how much color payoff I get from those mattes. For instance, shades like Plasma are usually treated like a pastel shade and are too thin or too white based and don’t look that great on my eyes, but this one was great! Hoax is a color that really doesn’t show on my eyes due to my skin tone and Algorithm is a slightly more golden tone version of my skin so it barely shows either, but I still like to use it as a starting shade in the crease. Atmosphere is the one that’s too thin and doesn’t show well enough on me and the other shades are too strong in pigment and overpowers it when I try to use it to blend the edges of the shadows, but it still semi works for that purpose. I just have to spend a little extra time on it. Beauty ends up looking way more purple on my eyes instead of burgundy or maroon, but it’s at least still a pretty color.
I have zero issues with the shimmers. I sometimes get a little fallout, but dampening the brush helps. The shimmers aren’t as refined as some of my more expensive eyeshadows either, but I like their sparkle level and they look pretty regardless. I want intensity and opacity from my shimmers, and that’s what these give me. I didn’t have any patchy or creasing issues either, so overall I do like this palette! I’m glad I was able to give the Beauty Bay eyeshadows a try. Because it’s not the easiest to get my hands on, I don’t know how many more I’ll get in the future. Plus, I’m usually not drawn to their color stories. However, if another one attracts my attention, I might get it.
MAC Indulgent Glow Rosé Limited-Edition face kit in Sparkling Wine – I reviewed this HERE and in comparison to other MAC highlighters I got around the same time. It’s super pretty, but I ran into that issue where I am so reluctant to actually use my makeup with cute embossing on it. I have no regrets buying it though.
Charlotte Tilbury Hypnotising Pop Shot eyeshadow in Cosmic Rocks – I reviewed it HERE along with the shade Sunlit Diamond that they sent me on accident with a different order. Just as I expected, these have become cute decor. I haven’t reached for them more than once or twice after completing the review. I just don’t use single eyeshadows if they’re in individual compacts. I only reach for the ones in my larger custom magnetic palettes.
Hourglass Unlocked Butterfly Palette – I got this from FeelUnique/Sephora UK for $46 purely to get the two blushes in that palette. I depotted two shades from my other Hourglass palettes that were unusable on my skintone, adhered them to the Butterfly palette’s now missing blush spots, and sold it as a custom palette on Mercari. Minus the fees, I made $32 back, so this was probably the best deal I got that year. I did not get so lucky on the deals this year, but that’s a story for another time. I talked about the process of depotting and showed the photos of the palette HERE.
Bioderma Sensibio H2O – This was just a repurchase. I decided to look through my purchase history and essentially since November 2015 I’ve bought 8 of the 500ml bottles, 2 of the 250ml bottles, and 2 travel size 100ml bottles. In the beginning, I was able to get heavy discounts on multi-packs, but the prices have jumped up quite a lot. So, I try to get them individually whenever I see them on sale, even if I need to accumulate backups since they will always be used up. In fact, I’m halfway through my last bottle and will need to find a new place to order it from when I go back to Germany so I won’t need to bring a big bottle over with me. This is one of those products that as long as they keep making it and don’t change the formula, I’ll be buying it for life.
Fenty Beauty Sun Stalk’R Face + Eye Bronzer & Highlighter Palette – I reviewed this HERE and though it’s still in my collection, I am considering decluttering it. I just have a ton of bronzers by now that I prefer and don’t need to resort to mixing to get the tones I like.
One/size Cheek Clapper in Phat @$$ – I reviewed it HERE. As it often happens, because my blush collection is so large, I don’t have the chance to use this as often as I would like to. It’s still one of my favorites, along with the other shade from the line called Freaky Peach. I still easily recommend this trio, even at full price.
Sephora Collection VIB Sale Items: Soft Matte Perfection Blush Duo in 01 Sweet Pea, Best Skin Ever Liquid Foundation in 44 Y, Best Skin Ever Full Coverage Multi-Use Concealer in 35N and 44Y
The blush duo in three shades (two additional I bought later on) are reviewed HERE. As for the foundation and concealers, the shade matches are why I decided not to review them. I wasn’t blown away by the finishes and just didn’t feel inspired to keep using any of them.
Sephora’s Best Skin Ever line was really hyped up, but it was just fine. I didn’t like how the concealers wore throughout the day. The finish of the foundation was fine and the color match wasn’t too terribly dark if used lightly, but all of these smelled so heavily of chemicals after owning them for a year. For the record though, I didn’t open the concealers until around three months prior to posting this and they smelled just as bad as the foundation, like spray paint or nail polish. So, even without air exposure, the shelf life isn’t great on these. I threw them out before I could take a picture including them in the big October month photo.
Rare Beauty Positive Light Liquid Luminizer Highlight in Flaunt – I reviewed this already as a sample HERE, but I bought the full size a year ago during the VIB sale. I also have swatches and comparisons to the powder version of this shade HERE.
Kayali Eden Juicy Apple – I don’t normally review my perfume purchases, but I did so in a big Kayali post HERE. I have admittedly barely used this perfume because I’m always using Yum Pistachio or Lovefest instead, but at least I just got this in a small size so it’s not quite as wasteful. Plus, I got it on sale. As nice as it is, I decided to give it to my sister because of how deep my obsession for the other scents run. This was my first Kayali purchase, but since it’s only a year old, I haven’t attached any sentimental value to it.
HUDA BEAUTY GloWish Cheeky Vegan Soft Glow Powder Blush in Sassy Saffron – I showed swatches of it HERE in comparison to the previous shades I bought. However, I don’t have any face pictures with it on because it just doesn’t show up on my cheeks. For that reason, I haven’t used this particular shade. The formula and finish wasn’t special enough either for me to prioritize it. I still like how Berry Juicy looks, and I wore it perhaps two more times in the past year.
Tom Ford Highlighter Duo in Tanlight – I reviewed it HERE. I still use it quite often and it’s one of my favorite highlighters in my collection. In fact, it’s such a great shade match for me that I don’t feel the necessity to purchase anymore highlighters from the brand unless they have another shade that’s similar to the mixture of the two colors in some form of special packaging. While I still have mixed feelings about the price and I’m not sure if I would universally recommend it to everyone, it was worth it personally to me.
Oh dear Lord, we’ve finally reached the end!
This was a monster of a post, even though so many of the products had already been reviewed elsewhere! We’re so close to completing the series but November and December 2022 had even more purchases than October! And considering what I know is coming for the rest of this year in my personal life, I think we’ll have to complete this series sometime next year!
I’m getting into a really exciting chapter of my personal life, which I will be sharing with everyone in December or January. Thank you to those who are choosing to be along for the ride!
I purchased the Duo 003 Bundle to save some money since I knew with certainty I wouldn’t be able to stick with just one quint. Eventually, I would buy at least one more. I nearly always enjoy my PML purchases, so as soon as I fall in love with the parts of collections I buy, I’m always tempted to get more. However, I’m upholding some restraint with this collection. Buying two quints was the correct decision for me, but this might be all I get this year.
Bijoux Brilliance Eyeshadow Palette in Bronze Ecstasy and Lunar Nightshade
The quality of these are just what I would expect from the brand. The satins are stunning, the shimmers are beautiful, these are pigmented yet easy to blend, and among the shimmers there are various textures. The shades in the middle of both palettes are the wettest to the touch. As for Enchanted Bronze and Noir Nebula, they both have this very strange texture that smooths onto the lids nicely, and the base color is opaque, but the sparkles within those two are larger in particle size and not all that tightly grouped together. It nearly gives a scattered effect on the eye. Those two are also easier to get sparkle fallout, so I apply them precisely and carefully as the last step of the eye looks. I also tend to wet my brush since it makes me feel like they stick better that way, though it might not be necessary. My technique with those less easy shimmers is to apply them with my finger first, dampen a brush to pack on another layer to get the amount of sparkles I want, and then add one more final layer with my finger.
Merlot Mystique is a gorgeous plum-brown that reminds me of the darkest shade in Tom Ford’s Honeymoon quad. When I apply that to my crease, it loses some of the purple tone, so I basically blend those edges to my satisfaction and then add a little more of that shade on top to get the true color to show. The same goes for Midnight Iris that can just look like a deep purple, but adding a little back on at the end will show the vibrancy of that particular color.
I don’t get any creasing using these with the Gerard Cosmetics Clean Canvas or MAC Paint Pot, but I have gotten a tiny bit with the Coloured Raine eyeshadow base. The longevity is good since I don’t see them fading or dimming in their shine on the eyes.
I feel satisfied that the two quints I added to my collection are different enough from the rest to have been worth it, but I don’t think I’d have been excited enough over the other two color stories in the Bijoux Brilliance Collection. They’re pretty, but wouldn’t stand out as unique. Plus, I haven’t gotten as much use out of these as I’d like to, so adding four at one time would have been overwhelming.
After someone pointed out the similarities of the color stories between Lunar Nightshade and Kaleidos’ Futurism III Astro Pink, it feels less unique than I thought. However, I don’t regret getting it. And even though I don’t see myself coming up with a variety of different looks using Bronze Ecstasy, I’m very pleased with those staple looks I do end up creating. That one is actually my favorite of the two!
The brand’s 5-pan palettes seem to be an easy way to add more varieties of colors to their offerings, so I look forward to seeing more of these in the future. This is especially the case because as much as I love PML mattes, I love the matte/satin-matte hybrid formula that has thus far been exclusive to the quints.
HOLIDAY COLLECTION DISCUSSION
The most tempting products for me were the two MTHRSHP Bijoux Brilliance face palettes consisting of two blushes and 9 eyeshadows in each. These are great for people who haven’t purchased much from the brand, especially prior releases, which is why it would ultimately be a bad buy for me. Starstruck Splendour has both blushes that are too light for me (plus one is a repeat anyway). Jeweled Temptation has a new shade that’s too light, plus the famous Paradise Venus which I owned as a single before gifting it to my sister, but got it again in the Divine Blush + Glow Cheek Palette from last year, and it’s the darker shade within the Paradise Glow duo blush that I still own. My excuse for keeping the duo is for travel, but by right, I should find a new home for it. Even if I chose to do that, I’d still end up with two Paradise Venus pans left if I bought Jeweled Temptation. I was watching a discussion video when someone mentioned Jeweled Tempation’s color story looks like the MTHRSHP Mega Celestial Divinity Palette and I couldn’t unsee it. They’re not exact dupes, but it’s too similar for me to justify getting it even at a discounted price considering the blush situation.
That same person also mentioned that Starstruck Splendour looks like Celestial Odyssey, which I did not purchase during the holiday season it was released. However, I own the six pan palette Velvet Liason (I left it in Germany), which comparing those promo pic colors to the Velvet Liason promo pic shades, the vibes are similar there too. So, I am ultimately skipping both products, even when they go on sale.
Next most interesting for me were the quints, but I bought the two that appealed to me most. I was actually set on also buying Bordeaux Bliss until I thought about all the pink and purple toned shades I have, and the fact that the nearly-cream-to-powder mattes were the stars of the show for me in the quints initially and Bordeaux Bliss only has shimmers. Sunset Romance is also pretty, but too pink and too neutral to avoid feeling repetitive for me.
The Divine Blush + Bronze + Glow Trio in Supernova Siren was nearly as tempting, specifically for the highlighter. I usually stick to golds, dark champagnes, and light bronzes, but a warm peachy-pink highlighter with golden shimmer can sometimes peak my interest. However, I already own the Burnished Honey bronzer (along with two other bronzer shades). I’d be willing to sell my individual one in order to not have two in my collection, but Burnished Honey isn’t even my favorite of the bronzer shades. I might have done that if it was Bronze Divinity instead. In photos, the new Midnight Orchid blush looks too vibrant of a fuchsia shade for my taste. It looks within the same color family of Lovestruck, plus deeper, and I specifically have avoided buying Lovestruck because it’s not the type of blush color I enjoy seeing on myself. So, unless this is one of those times when the website photos don’t accurately show how the shade will look in person, that makes two cons against getting the trio. While it’s true that I sometimes will buy a whole face palette just for one shade, a highlighter is rarely special enough to be worth that. And as intrigued as I am by Solar Fantasy, it’s in the Divine Glow formula whereas I prefer the brand’s Skin Fetish: Ultra Glow formula. A non-sparkly non-glittery baked gelee is my absolute favorite from the brand, and unfortunately that has only been for the Divine Rose one. They’ve yet to release that kind in another shade and I’d prefer to wait however long it takes because that one still trumps the rest of the highlighters I own from Pat Mcgrath, even though the Divine Glow formula is still nice. It’s just not as special on the market. So, this is ultimately the one product I’m still waiting to see photos and videos posted online to decide if the blush is more my style and if the highlighter is still something I want. If yes to both, I’d only get it on a deep discount considering the risks of me liking it are slimmer than the potential disappointment. It may very well be that these two quints I reviewed end up being the only Pat Mcgrath Holiday items I buy.
I nearly forgot that new shades of the colorful mascaras are part of this collection too! I commend the brand for taking a risk on those, since I don’t think there’s a big market for that kind of makeup product, but it’s an easy pass for me.
Also, I know it’s not just me thinking this collection and several past releases are all in the Bridgerton aesthetic. I can’t help but think that the collaboration didn’t sell as well as anticipated (which is backed up by the appearance of so many Bridgerton items at TJMaxx) and a lot of packaging and components intended to be extensions of the Bridgerton line have been passed off onto customers with different names pretending to be uniquely different collections. I like the bows and jewels patterns and designs, so I enjoy having these while the brand doesn’t have to take a loss by just excluding the Bridgerton label from the products. The only downside for me is the not-so-bold color stories, so I’m looking forward to when we’ll be able to move onto some fresh concepts and ideas.
Anyway, that’s everything for this week! Thank you for reading!
*DISCLOSURE:Other than the free sample that came with my order, the Charlotte Tilbury product reviewed in this post was purchased by me with my own money. Non-highlighted links in bold blue font (Example) are standard non-affiliate links. Links marked in bold black font with a light blue background (Example) are affiliate links. Affiliate links allow me to get a commission if purchases are made directly using my link. There is currently only one affiliate link in this post and it’s for a brush.
Charlotte Tilbury released some nice gift sets and new items for the holidays this year, but I was only interested in this one. I also received a sample of the Magic Water Cream with my order, so I’ll discuss that at the end of this post.
This mini duo comes in two different shade variations. The Tan to Deep version that I purchased has a blush listed as a Rich Terracotta and a highlighter as a Golden Sunset. Because of the “Glide” part of the name, I wondered if the highlighter has the same formula as the Glow Glide Face Architect highlighters. Comparing the shimmer level and how it shines when light hits it, it certainly does look the same on the skin. To the touch, it feels the tiniest bit wet, whereas both of my full-size Glow Glides feel even more wet/gel-like. However, since they have the same ingredients listed on the website in the exact same order and they look the same on the skin, it’s safe to assume it’s the same formula.
That brings me to the interesting similarity I discovered between the highlighter in this duo and the Sunset Glow shade. Technically, Charlotte Tilbury only lists these as “blusher” and “highlighter” without formal names. There is one image on the website that lists “Rich Terracotta Blush” and “Golden Sunset Highlighter,” but those could be descriptions of the colors and not actual shade names. I have stared long and hard at the two of these side by side and watched the way they shine in the light at various angles. My final verdict is that there is the most minute of differences in the new highlighter having the tiniest bit more apparent of a copper base which is offset by the tiniest bit more of a golden reflect from slightly more of the shimmer, making them basically the same shade.
The description of the new highlighter in the product details as a golden sunset powder may as well be an admission of being Sunset Glow, since that shade is also described by the brand as a warm golden copper. In looking closely at the other duo for Light to Medium skin tones, the highlighter in that duo is described as a pearlescent pinkpowder and looks a lot like Pillow Talk Glow, which the brand says is a “neutral-pearly pink.” If they’re not those exact shades, they’re at most the tiniest bit tweaked. So, if you own the Pillow Talk or Sunset Glow shade of Hollywood Glow Glide Face Architect Highlighter, you might want to reconsider whether it’s worth the price to buy one of these. At least with the Tan to Deep version, there’s the benefit of Sunset Glow being (in the US) a Charlotte Tilbury website exclusive, so this is one way someone who prefers to shop at Sephora can get their hands on this shade. Plus, I don’t believe the brand ever had a blush in this color. However, Pillow Talk in any form can be found everywhere, and I’m not confident that the pink blush within the Light to Medium duo is unique to the brand either. It reminds me of a blush in last year’s Pillow Talk Beautifying Face Palette in the version for fair to medium complexions, just based on online photos.
This photo was taken in a hotel bathroom while on a trip. It was at the end of the day and although the makeup looked visible in person, I needed to refresh them both by adding a small amount more of the highlighter in particular so that it would show on camera in the limited lighting. I also did not blend the highlighter so it would be even more obvious in photos. I’m pleased with the longevity of both.
I try to test products out for longer, but considering my experience with the brand’s other blushes and highlighters, half of my usual trial days were enough to solidify my thoughts. The blush is extremely pigmented for such a thin powder! It picks up easily on a brush and looks intimidating when it first touches the cheeks, but the formula is finely milled and blends easily over dry or set skin. With this kind of base, I prefer to use a light-applying airy brush like the Sonia G Soft Cheek. Using that brush over a dewy base takes a lot more effort to blend, but I can still get it to smooth out and look even and not patchy. Using the Sonia G Cheek Pro adds even more product at once, but the combination of how dense it is packed and the hair type makes it more suited for buffing, so this works perfectly for applying the blush even on a dewy base. I had heard that this blush is prone to sticking if the face hasn’t been set, and I could see that a little bit for myself, but it wasn’t a problem when using high quality brushes like my Sonia G ones. So, perhaps that should be taken into consideration.
The highlighter being the Glow Glide formula I’m used to, I use my favorite Bisyodo CH-HC highlighter brush, other candle-flame shaped brushes, or fan brushes to start off light and be able to build up the intensity. Even though the shimmer content and particle size appears to be the same, the reflect intensity of the Glow Glides are stronger than Charlotte Tilbury’s Pillow Talk Multi Glow formula as seen in my swatch earlier in this post. It’s also unsurprisingly more intense than the shimmer ring within the Cheek Chic blushes, so that’s something to consider for those who like the most subtle and least texture-emphasizing of the brand’s highlighters. Both the Glow Glides and Pillow Talk Multi Glow are holy grail highlighters for me.
Regarding color comparisons outside of the brand, I felt confident that even among my orange/terracotta blushes this one would be pretty unique. However, I discovered some that are similar enough, such as the Melt Blushes from the Monarca palette or Armani’s Neo Nude Color Melting Balm (though that’s a cream formula instead of powder). And then the Beauty Bakerie Brownie Bar contains a blush and highlighter, plus contour, for $18 that looks quite similar, though I think the Charlotte Tilbury highlighter has more refined shimmer and an even smoother blush. Melt’s Conmigo blush is practically identical and is closer to the Charlotte Tilbury quality, but the powder itself isn’t as lightweight. The refinement or mill of Charlotte Tilbury’s blush is like the brand’s own matte powder bronzer and matte face powder, which makes sense. So, those who find them to be top tier powders will be pleased with the quality of this one, though this has more pigment.
Even though dupes can be found, $29 for this duo is a great price coming from the brand. Considering the brand’s individual blushes are typically in the $40 range and highlighters in the $45 range, getting both in a more realistic amount of product and for less money is great! This would have been even more worth it to me if I didn’t already own the Sunset Glow highlighter. However, I still don’t regret it. My Melt blush in Conmigo is starting to get hardpan and is a bit older of a product, so I have been debating whether or not to declutter it. I feel good about having what is essentially an even better replacement.
Charlotte Tilbury Magic Water Cream (sample)
I always felt that the Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream felt luxurious, but was too thick for my liking. I’ve had a deluxe size sample of it before and compared to the Bobbi Brown Vitamin Enriched Face base, I liked the Bobbi Brown slightly more. In fact, I got rid of my original Magic Cream deluxe sample in favor of using the Bobbi Brown one.
I can say that I absolutely like this Magic Water Cream version way more than the original and Bobbi Brown’s product. It’s apparently a gel-cream hybrid, which explains why it’s still thicker than the gel moisturizers I’m familiar with, but it doesn’t take much effort for it to fully sink into the skin. Despite what its starting consistency looks like, it thins out when rubbed and doesn’t feel heavy on the skin. The two times I tried it, it kept my skin adequately hydrated all day. There are some longer term claims on the website that I can’t verify such as the “100-hour hydration” or “skin texture appears smoother after 4 weeks,” but I enjoyed using it. If I received it as a gift, I’d be happy. However, I’m not even sure if I’d be willing to pay half price for it considering how much I love other gel and water based moisturizers, such as the Round Lab Birch Juice Moisturizing Cream, Saturday Skin Waterfall Glacier Water Cream, Innisfree Dewy Glow Jelly Cream (but this Jeju Cherry Blossom one has strong fragrance), and even the Laneige Water Bank Blue Hyaluronic Gel Moisturizer is pretty good, though I’d rate that one below the Magic Water Cream. So, considering all the nice alternatives, I just don’t see myself purchasing it from Charlotte Tilbury, but it’s nice to know that it’s at least a good product. I should also note that the Magic Water Cream is supposed to be for normal to oily skin types, whereas I have dry skin, so I’m not the intended target for this product. Considering that, it’s even more impressive that I like it as much as I do.
That concludes everything for today! Thank you for reading!
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