Tools -Sephora - Nail Polish Corrector Pen
Mojie 11/5/2008 9:19:00 PM
I bought this to save myself from my bumbling hands. I can't seem to apply nail polish to my toes or fingers (especially my fingers) without getting it all over my skin. It's especially bad on my toes since the skin on the edges overlaps the nails, making it nearly impossible to get down into the edges without painting my skin along with the nail itself.
At $6 it's pricier than your average nail polish remover, but far more convenient. Rather than using the old q-tip dipped in polish remover and dealing with the inaccuracy of it (especially if you're like me and are nail polish remover challenged, which I seem to be because I end up slipping and taking off some of the properly applied polish most times), you can just uncap the pen and use the chisel tip to accurately rub away any stray polish.
It sounds great in principle and works fairly well. I only have a couple of complaints. The first is that the tip is fairly dry. I'd like it to be a little wetter so I didn't have to scrub at my polish to get it off. Granted, I'm not ripping my skin off or anything, but it does take a bit of extra pressure to get it to work right. The second (and my bigger complaint) is that the polish you've removed stays on the tip of the pen and can smear onto your finger or toe when you use the pen again. It also makes the pen lose its effectiveness sooner than I'd like because soon the entire tip is covered in the polish its removed.
PROS: (1) convenient; (2) easy to use; (3) chisel tip makes for accurate polish removal; (4) not expensive (but not cheap, either); (5) removes even dark nail polishes fairly easily (I've used this on black and dark red with no real trouble).
CONS: (1) tip is drier than I'd like; (2) needs some pressure to really lift away polish; (3) can smear wet polish unlike a q-tip since it doesn't really absorb the polish in the way a q-tip does; (4) polish stays on the tip after use.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Highlighters -Guerlain - Meteorites Giant Butterfly Pearls - W 2008
Mojie 11/5/2008 5:25:00 PM
These are my first Meteorites in Pearl form. I have the Poudre De Perles (Illuminating Pressed Powder) in Rose Frais and Mythic Parfait, though, so it's not my first experience with Meteorites in general.
These LE pearls come in shades of beige, pink, white and gold, with the majority of mine being beige and gold. Like the other shades and forms of Meteorites I've tried, I've found that there's not a huge color payoff. Instead, what you get is a slightly shimmery, subtly glowing complexion without looking greasy, glittery or overly made up. They give a nice, fresh face with a healthy glow.
While these have minimal color payoff, I would think that the very pale ladies might find that this acts as a very light bronzer as it does have some (albeit a very small amount) of color to it on the skin. I'm currently NW20 in MAC and don't find any change in my skin color-wise even wearing this without foundation underneath. All it does is even out my skintone, give me a healthy glow and a bit of subtle but beautiful shimmer if I gently apply it with the included puff.
The Butterfly Pearls come in a slightly different container than the standard Meteorites pearls. The cardboard container is a metallic lavender-silver with an embossed (anyone else notice that there's nothing "gem-encrusted" about it?) butterfly on the lid and a fish-scale type pattern around the body of the container. It has a much shorter lid than the original Meteorites, which come with a lid that goes down the entire length of the container, making them easier and quicker to open, which is both a good and bad thing as it makes me more likely to spill them accidentally.
I'm really enjoying these, although some of my pearls arrived broken from Sephora. You would think the puff would hold the pearls in place and keep them from breaking during shipment, but evidently that's not the case.
PROS: (1) larger than the standard Meteorites; (2) beautiful, flattering shades of pearls that would suit a wide variety of skin tones; (3) beautiful packaging; (4) go on smoothly and give a glowing complexion.
CONS: (1) container has a shorter lid, making them more apt to open accidentally; (2) expensive; (3) might be too dark for the very pale; (4) every time the puff is replaced in the container, a small cloud of Meteorites dust flies up in the air and disappears; (5) strong signature violet candy smell that might be off-putting to some people (I'm not crazy about it myself).
7 out of 7 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Other -Boscia - Fresh Blotting Linens
Mojie 11/3/2008 11:14:00 PM
I have these in the Green Tea and the Lavender and love both. My skin isn't usually terribly oily, but when the weather gets hot, my t-zone does get oily and these are great for getting it under control. I do find that I need to use more than one linen to really take care of my t-zone, but that's been true of every blotting sheet I've tried so far (mainly drugstore brands; I haven't ventured into the high-end lines yet since it seems silly to spend that much on something I'm going to use and throw away immediately).
The lavender have a strong herbal smell to them (they do smell like real lavender) and don't irritate my sensitive skin in the slightest. I wouldn't necessarily say they do much to calm my skin, but they do their job fairly well and smell nice in the bargain. I do keep my lavender linens in their plastic sleeve so my entire train case doesn't smell like lavender, though. It's a nice scent, but I don't want all my makeup smelling like it.
The green tea ones have a very nice, subtle scent to them. If I didn't know it was green tea, I don't think that's what I'd peg it as. It's just nice and fresh and soothing smelling. Like the lavender ones, they don't irritate my sensitive skin. The scent on these is nice and mild, so I don't mind throwing a pack in my bag or in my traincase without its plastic cover, which is nice since it means one less step to get to them.
My favorite part about these is that they're made from natural materials. I try to use as many natural skincare/makeup items as possible and to keep away from chemicals or unnecessary ingredients. These fit that bill nicely. I'll continue to buy these as I run out.
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Cleansers -Skyn Iceland - Glacial Face Wash
Mojie 11/2/2008 2:02:00 PM
In principle, this stuff is too good to be true. It's cruelty-free, vegetarian, paraben-, petroleum-, sulfate- and mineral oil-free and is made with natural ingredients. It comes in a fantastic pump container that's a model of efficiency, it's supposed to treat chronically stressed skin and get it back to normal.
It sounded absolutely perfect for me since I'm currently under a mountain of stress coming from all directions in my life. Thanks to the stress, my hormones have gone a bit berserk and I was breaking out everywhere. My skin is never like this, so I needed help and this seemed like the holy grail when I found it at Sephora.
Truthfully, there's a lot of really good things about this product. It just didn't end up working for me, probably because of my skin type. It has a nice, thicky, creamy texture that felt wonderful on my face. It has a nice, fresh minty feel to it that felt nice on my stressed skin. It has great packaging that I find as aesthetically pleasing as I do practical. It cleans very, very well.
Unfortunately, for my skin, it cleans TOO well. This left my face literally squeaky clean and stripped it of all its moisture. Granted, my skin isn't generally oily. If you have oily skin, I can see this being a wonderful cleanser for you, but if you're like me and have more issues with dryness, then this is going to do more harm than good in the long run.
I do have to say that in combination with the Anti-Blemish gel, there was a big improvement in my stress-related breakout overnight, but I'm paying the price with tight, dry skin that had to be heavily moisturized overnight to get it back into some semblance of normalcy.
PROS: (1) great packaging; (2) nice, thick, creamy texture; (3) feels good on the skin; (4) a little goes a long way; (5) cruelty-free and vegetarian; (6) free from parabens, fragrance, sulphites, petroleum and mineral oil.
CONS: (1) too effective (and, as a result, drying) on my non-oily skin.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Treatments -Skyn Iceland - Anti-Blemish Gel
Mojie 11/2/2008 1:52:00 PM
I bought this because to help deal with a stres-related breakout that even my beloved argan oil couldn't get under control (at least not quick enough to suit me).
I went to Sephora looking for something to treat my pimples with and this seemed too good to be true. It's cruelty-free, fragrance-free and paraben-free, which sounded perfect for me. Unfortunately, it was too good to be true.
It actually worked fairly well at treating my blemishes with one treatment and didn't hurt going on the way a lot of spot treatments do on my sensitive skin, but the problem is that it was EXTREMELY drying. My skin feels and looks like sandpaper where I applied this stuff. Granted, since my breakouts were clustered, I spread the gel over the area instead of dotting it on, so maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if I'd spot treated, but still. I don't expect something like this to be so drying. I've never tried a blemish treatment that dried my skin out as badly as this did.
I'm glad that my blemishes have shrunk, but now I'm going to be spending who knows how long trying desperately to get my skin back in good shape. The rest of my face is soft and smooth and unfortunately, the two spots that got the sandpaper treatment are on my forehead (right between my eyes) and my chin--two obvious places.
PROS: (1) cruelty-free, paraben-free and fragrance-free; (2) worked fairly well at controlling my blemishes with just one application; (3) doesn't sting going on, even on my sensitive skin; (4) clear gel is less noticeable than white cream if you need to go out in public with it on.
CONS: (1) EXTREMELY drying to the point where my skin feels and looks like sandpaper from ONE treatment (it was baby soft before); (2) the pump dispenser is nice and hygienic, but if you happen to only have one or two pimples to treat, it dispenses way too much gel and at $25, it's too expensive to waste.
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Primer/ Corrector -Hourglass - Veil Mineral Primer SPF 15
Mojie 10/31/2008 10:34:00 PM
Hourglass' Veil Mineral Primer is very unusual. The texture is fascinately strange for a primer (it comes out as an opaque, milky white liquid instead of a gel and dries as you spread it to a satiny powder finish). I have to admit I had a lot of fun spreading it onto my skin and feeling it transform under my fingers. That has to be my favorite part of this primer.
Once it's spread and dried (which is very, very fast), it leaves a velvety soft surface that makeup just glides right over. The finish is wonderful and it feels great on the skin. There's nothing tacky or shiny here. It's so smooth and soft feeling. I imagine this would be wonderful for someone with oily skin as it dries to a nice matte finish and seems as though it would absorb oil well.
The only problem is the color. Even on my fair (MAC NW20) skin, it leaves a white cast that makes me look ghostly. Granted, a lot of it is covered by my makeup, but there's still enough there to make my face look strangely pale compared to the rest of me. I felt like I needed to add far more color into my face than usual and had to layer on blush and eyeshadow until I felt like I looked healthy again. I can't imagine how someone with even medium toned skin would fare with this, let alone women at the dark end of the spectrum.
It's a shame that this primer is ruined by the white cast. Other than that I have absolutely no complaints other than the price ($52, which is a bit steep, but the packaging is nice at least). I'm (sadly) going to be returning mine because I just can't deal with the color issue.
PROS: (1) wonderful liquid to powder texture; (2) dries very fast; (3) leaves a velvety smooth canvas for foundation; (4) would be good for oily skin; (5) includes SPF and no parabens or oils; (6) very nice packaging.
CONS: (1) leaves a white cast on the skin; (2) expensive.
9 out of 12 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Primer/ Corrector -Guerlain - Meteorites Perles Light Diffusing Perfecting Primer
Mojie 10/31/2008 4:03:00 PM
Guerlain's Meteorites Light-Diffusing Perfecting Primer is one of those makeup products that didn't grab me the first time I saw it but developed into an "I have to have it" obsession later. It's expensive at $65 for roughly the same amount as other companies' primers that sell in the ~$30 range, but I was so obsessed with the thought of my face being radiant and glowing that I caved and bought it.
In the (beautiful, expensive-looking, heavy) bottle, you'll find a clear gel with small, pearly pink balls suspended in it. Frankly, it looks like a luxe version of Orbitz soda, but in a non-edible, "I paid a lot of money for this" way. When you squeeze the pump, what comes out is a pearly pink violet-scented gel, thanks to the clear gel mixing with a smashed pearl on the way out (I'm still not sure how they keep the squashed pearls from contaminating the rest of the container, but they don't, it stays pristine).
On the skin, it goes on virtually clear (my skin is MAC NW20, so I do have some pink undertones and can't say whether the pink would show up more on someone with differently toned skin) with gentle shimmer. Up close, you can see the fine particles of glittery shimmer, but from farther away it just looks like you're glowing. It subtly brightens the skin, but don't expect a drastic change or you'll be disappointed. Like the Meteorites Pearls, this isn't a product that's going to be blatantly obvious.
I tried this with both tinted moisturizer (MAC Select Tint) and foundation (MAC Studio Fix Fluid). With the tinted moisturizer, the shimmer/glow showed through well. I didn't lose that glowy look but still got to even out my skintone. With the foundation, it showed through a little but not much at all. Obviously, you're going to need to either wear this primer alone (if you have good skin) or with a sheer to semi-sheer foundation/tinted moisturizer to get it to show through, otherwise you may as well use a less expensive ordinary primer.
It did take longer to dry than most other primers I've tried, but once it had, it left my skin soft and smooth and made my makeup go on nice and smooth. I also found that I needed a bit more of this to cover my whole face than I do with other primers.
As much as I want this to be a special occasion primer, I think it's going to get used a lot. For me, the perfect combination that gave me glowing, radiant skin was the Meteorites Primer topped with MAC Select Tint applied with my fingers and Meteorites Poudre De Perles (Illuminating Pressed Powder) applied with an Hourglass No. 7 finishing brush (a dense, soft synthetic kabuki). The look is glowing, healthy and radiant and well worth the price.
PROS: (1) subtle, shimmering look on skin; (2) goes on smoothly; (3) leaves skin soft and smooth; (4) beautiful, luxe packaging.
CONS: (1) expensive; (2) needs to be used alone or with a sheer/semi-sheer foundation/tinted moisturizer to show through; (3) somewhat strong violet candy scent that can be too much for some people; (4) takes a bit more to cover the face than a lot of other primers; (5) dries slower than other primers.
13 out of 13 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Makeup Brushes -Hourglass - Finishing Brush No. 7
Mojie 10/31/2008 3:55:00 PM
This is one of the best kabuki brushes I've ever run across. I only use synthetic (cruelty-free) makeup brushes and have three kabukis in my collection: Too Faced Retractable Kabuki (very, very soft but somewhat floppy), Make Up For Ever HD Kabuki (a little fluffier than the TF one) and the Hourglass Finishing Brush No. 7 and this one is very different than the other two.
At $65, this is an expensive brush purchase, but I'm very glad I broke down and got this brush. What sets it apart from my other two kabukis is how dense the bristles are. It's still very soft thanks to the taklon bristles, but there are a TON of bristles and they're very tightly packed making this an excellent brush for buffing (or sweeping) on powder or mineral foundation. It can also be used with blush if used with a light hand.
Like all of Hourglass' brushes, the Finishing Brush has a sleek aluminum handle and triple-dyed bristles that look as luxurious and expensive as they feel. This isn't a cheaply made brush. It looks (and feels) like you've gotten your money's worth. I own almost every brush Hourglass makes and they've all wowed me.
PROS: (1) very dense bristles; (2) super soft; (3) cruelty-free.
CONS: (1) expensive; (2) sheds a few hairs at first; (3) some people might prefer a fluffier brush (but if you want a dense kabuki, this is an excellent choice).
10 out of 10 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Misc Beauty Tools -Sephora - (Mini) Snake Print Train Case - Chocolate
Mojie 10/31/2008 3:21:00 PM
I already have a large Midnight Train Case from Sephora, but I was running out of room in it for everything in my rapidly expanding collection, so when this adorable little mini train case caught my eye on Sephora's website I had to get it.
Like it's bigger relatives, the Snake Print Train Case has a soft, black foam lining covering all the inner surfaces to protect your makeup (or jewelry) from getting bashed into the metal. The outside is done up in faux snake skin with metal trim with a single lock and a folding handle and comes in Chocolate (which I got) and Silver (black and white). It has one small, fold out shelf with the same high quality hinges as the bigger cases and a lower compartment. It's definitely not meant to hold much, just enough to get you through a short trip or to hold a small amount of daily makeup/skincare basics.
Right now, mine has 4 bottles of primer of various sizes (Hourglass Veil and MUFE HD in the top and Guerlain Meteorites and Tricia Sawyer Skin Balancing Water Primer in the bottom), a full size Urban Decay Primer Potion, a mini Urban Decay primer potion from the Deluxe Shadow Box and a large handful of sample packets and there's still room to spare, although not much.
PROS: (1) well-made; (2) foam padding to protect contents; (3) inexpensive at $17.50; (4) holds more than you might think given that it's so small.
CONS: (1) fold out shelf could be a bit wider; (2) only big enough to hold the basics or enough makeup for a short trip; (3) clasp can be a bit hard to close; (4) doesn't come protected in a box like the larger train cases (instead they come in a bubble wrap bag).
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Highlighters -BeneFit Cosmetics - Gilded [DISCONTINUED]
Mojie 10/31/2008 3:12:00 PM
I got this after my Nyx Jumbo Lip Pencil in Gold didn't work out for me. I hated paying the $20 for this (and even now I feel like it's very overpriced; $10 would be more like it), but I wanted a gold multi-tasking pencil that I could use on my lips and eyelids bad enough to lose that battle.
Gilded is a chunky pencil filled with a very shimmery, somewhat creamy (although nowhere near as creamy as my Nyx pencil) gold highlighter that can be used on lips, eyes or basically any other body part or facial feature you want to highlight.
I tried Gilded on the inner corners of my eyes, on my lips and on the tops of my cheekbones. While it worked fairly well on my eyes (it was less creamy than I'd like) and very well on my lips (I applied it all over my lower lip and rubbed them together and got a very nice, subtle shimmery gold that looked beautiful alone or with a red or pink lipgloss), it didn't work very well on my cheeks. Using it as a cheekbone highlighter, it was just too grainy and shimmery and didn't spread evenly enough or give smooth enough coverage to work out the way I wanted it to. But that's not a huge deal because gold doesn't generally work well for me as a cheekbone highlight color anyway since I look best in cool tones to match my MAC NW20 skin.
All in all, it's a nice multi-tasking highlighter, but I definitely don't feel like it's worth $20. I'll be keeping mine but when (or, more likely, IF since it doesn't take much of this to do my eyes and lips) I run out, I won't be buying another.
PROS: (1) works well as a shimmery highlighter for the inner corners of the eyes or an all-over lip color alone or with a gloss; (2) goes on easily; (3) doesn't drag or skip.
CONS: (1) too expensive; (2) not as creamy as I'd like; (3) doesn't work well as a cheekbone highlighter for me.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Treatments -Fresh - Meadowfoam Cream Treatment Conditioner
Mojie 10/30/2008 9:07:00 PM
My hair falls to about 3" past the bottom of my shoulderblades. It's baby fine, wavy in some spots and curly (big, wavy curls, not ringlets) and gets weighed down very, very easily. A lot of deep conditioners are just too heavy for my hair to handle, so I tend to stick with lighter ones (Lush's American Cream is my everyday conditioner). I wouldn't say my hair is really damaged or dry, but it can always use a little boost from good conditioner.
Fresh's Meadowfoam conditioner is thick but not greasy like so many other deep conditioners I've tried are. It spread easily through my hair instead of clumping in the area where my hand first touched my head and coats my hair easily without leaving it feeling greasy or heavy. I used about half as much Meadowfoam as I would American Cream (a blob about the diameter of a quarter plus a little more), rubbed it between my palms and gently scrunched it into my hair, concentrating on the ends but also putting some on my roots, then combed it through with my fingers after a minute or so of letting it set.
Surprisingly, it rinsed out my hair very easily. It didn't glob onto my hair and refuse to be washed away like so many other heavy conditioners have. That's always a good thing for me because even the slightest amount of conditioner left in my hair weighs it down visibly, it's so fine. I also found that it left my hair incredibly soft and healthy feeling and my hair seemed to dry much faster than usual (in spite of being very fine, my hair takes AGES to dry completely, which might be due to it rinsing out completely, leaving my hair open to the air instead of coated in a layer of conditioner. Once my hair dried it was soft, shiny and under control without any frizziness or warped waves.
I'll be buying a tube of this in spite of the price, which works out to more per ounce than my usual American Cream. I probably won't use it everyday because my hair's not in bad shape, but I'll definitely use it a couple of times a week to keep my hair happy.
PROS: (1) spreads easily; (2) rinses out cleanly; (3) leaves my hair soft, shiny and healthy; (4) fresh, clean smell.
CONS: (1) expensive; (2) not much conditioner in the tube.
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Primer/ Corrector -Tricia Sawyer - Skin Balancing Water Primer
Mojie 10/30/2008 5:19:00 PM
I bought this because I wanted to try a primer that was mainly water-based and saw that this had good reviews.
I do have to agree that this feels wonderful on. It feels very cool, moisturizing and weightless when applied, like a light gel moisturizer. Unfortunately--and I don't know if this is just a feature of water-based primers in general or of this particular one since it's the only one I've tried--but this didn't do much to even out my skin or make my makeup really glide on as smoothly as my Make Up For Ever HD Primer, which is silicone-based.
I do like how light and cool and moisturizing this feels on my skin, but I don't feel like it does what I want it to do in a primer, which is smooth out my skin and make my makeup go on more uniformly. Really, I would love this (and I really do want to love it) if it just functioned as well as my MUFE primer at smoothing my skin.
I'm not sure if I'm going to keep this and use it as a moisturizer underneath my makeup or return it to Sephora. If it weren't on the expensive side, I'd probably keep it for the way it feels on my skin, but at $34 it's a bit pricey to keep around just for that reason.
PROS: (1) feels wonderful on the skin--light, refreshing and moisturizing; (2) very gentle even on sensitive skin; (3) easy to use pump dispenser.
CONS: (1) doesn't seem to function as well at smoothing my skin and making my makeup go on smoothly and evenly as other primers I've tried, otherwise it's nearly perfect.
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Masks -DDF - Sulfur Therapeutic Mask [DISCONTINUED]
Mojie 10/30/2008 5:03:00 PM
I don't generally have problems with acne, but every now and then I'll get a pimple and I needed something to spot treat them with overnight. I heard good things about DDF's Sulfer Therapeutic Mask and since there's no way I'll ever go through an entire tub, got a generous sample jar from Sephora.
I'd been under a lot and had two small stress-related breakouts, one on my chin and one on my forehead at the hairline. I first tried applying the mask as directed and leaving it on for 10 minutes before rinsing it off. That didn't seem to make any difference at all, so I went to Plan B (which was really more like Plan A since it was what I originally planned to do when I got it), using it as a spot treatment overnight.
I had mixed results with this mask. A couple of pimples all but disappeared overnight while the others (I'd say I had about 4-5 little ones across the two spots) either didn't change at all or got worse, turning from small red bumps into whiteheads.
Surprisingly, I didn't really find it drying even on my already dry, sensitive skin, thankfully. I also found the smell a little easier to handle than I expected. In the tub and on application it has an astringent smell to it that's not too pleasant (pretty medicinal smelling) but not unbearable. When I washed off the mask, I got the rotten egg smell of sulfur, though.
PROS: (1) a little goes a very long way (I didn't even make a dent in my little sample jar); (2) no burning, stinging or irritation on my sensitive skin; (3) eliminated a couple of pimples.
CONS: (1) didn't work on all of my pimples, some even got worse; (2) unpleasant astringent/rotten egg smell; (3) expensive (although you should get a lot of mileage out of a jar unless you're using it as an all-over mask regularly).
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Blush -Vincent Longo - Water Canvas Blush
Mojie 10/30/2008 4:49:00 PM
As much as I hate the price on this blush ($42.50 is outrageous), I have to admit that I really like this. It's probably not worth the price and I definitely won't buy again even though I like it because of that, but it's gorgeous when applied right, very fresh and natural looking.
I got this in Swan Lake (which seems to be sold out in every Sephora store I've been to and sells out regularly online). It's described as "cool pink," and I'd say that's accurate. In the pot, it's a cool-toned, medium ballet pink bordering on a dusty rose, but on the skin it turns into a true pink.
The texture of the Water Canvas Blush is a bit bizarre. It feels like a sponge and comes off on the finger (or a sponge) almost as a stain. While this is described as a cream to powder blush, nothing could be further from the truth. I wouldn't call this a cream blush and it certainly doesn't dry to a powder. I'd say it's closer to a cheek stain or possibly a liquid blush although it's solid in the container.
I tried applying this both with my fingers and with a sponge and found that there were problems with both ways (for me, anyway). With my fingers, I had a hard time getting the right amount on my cheeks and found that it started to dry before I got it on my face. With the sponge, I ended up applying way too much. Apparently the sponge sucked up quite a bit without it being visible (it looked like there was just a small amount on the surface). But in spite of the problems with application, Swan Lake looked incredibly natural and flattering on me (except on the cheek where I overdid it). It's sheer and gives a natural, fresh flush that seems to come from the inside out rather than looking like a layer of pigment on my skin.
As much as I like the look of this blush, I won't be buying it again. It's too expensive, too delicate (I'm paranoid about it drying out even with the lid closed since there's no click to let me know it's on all the way) and a little too hard to work with. I'll definitely use the pot I have, but once it's gone, I'm not buying more.
PROS: (1) beautiful, natural look (when applied right); (2) a little goes a long way; (3) feels weightless on the skin.
CONS: (1) way too expensive; (2) very delicate (it can dry out very quickly and has to be stored with the cap tightly closed); (3) can dry out on your fingers/sponge before it's applied or blended if you're not quick
4 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Palettes -MAC - Royal Assets-Pink Lips
Mojie 10/28/2008 4:27:00 PM
I have to admit my main reason for buying this was that the packaging drew me in. I picked the pink set because pinks tend to be one of the most flattering makeup colors for me, but didn't expect to really love them because the colors themselves looked a little boring and average. There just didnt' seem to be anything that special about them.
In person, the palette lid looks a little bit cheap, mainly because the white coating in between the raised parts of the design is very thick and shiny, but once I got over that initial disappointment I was happy with the packaging. The palette itself is nice and solid and includes a mirror in the lid and a tiny (synthetic) lip brush. I would have preferred if the brush had come with a cap, but it's a minor complaint.
REIGNING PINK LIPSTICK (LUSTRE) - This is your standard dusty rose color. It's a Lusture lipstick, so it's a bit on the shiny side and semi-sheer, but can be built up. It's okay but nothing special. Layering the Courting Rose Lipglass over it makes it prettier and a little more unique.
LADYSHIP LIPSTICK (FROST) - I expected this to not work too well for me because it looks similar to the Culture Class lipstick from the Finery: 3 Plum Lips set, which was too dark and too frosty for me. But surprisingly, this was the stand-out color from the palette for me. It's a slightly shimmery rose shade. Definitely not frosty, more like a light sparkle. Goes on very smooth and complements my NW20 skin.
COURTING ROSE LIPGLASS - A bit like Nymphette but not as bright of a pink. Courting Rose is a muted, mid-pink with gold shimmer. The texture is miles away from the Lipglasses in tubes. There's nothing sticky about this; it's very smooth and more like a Lustre lipstick than a Lipglass. It's pretty, but not all that special. I'll definitely use it, though.
I plan on taking out the pan (I haven't figured out how yet, but somehow or another I'll get it out) when I'm through with the lipsticks and carrying the empty palette in my purse as a mini storage container/compact.
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