Palettes

Le Métier de Beauté’s Kaleidoscope Eye Kit in Saint-Domingue Has a Fresh, Unusual Combination of Colors and a Knack for Staying Out of Trouble (Also Known as My Fine Lines)

November 22nd, 2013 by Karen 14 Comments

Whoop! I just had a NARS moment.

I swiveled Le Métier de Beauté’s Kaleidoscope Eye Kit in Saint-Domingue open, and you know how some NARS limited edition collections leave you scratching your head at first?

It’s happened to me more than once. Sometimes the color pairings seem a little odd at first glance, but then I start digging in, and everything clicks (or usually does).

That’s how it was for me at first with this four-pan palette of powder eyeshadows. The rosy peach matte, matte periwinkle blue, shimmery reddish golden purple (so pretty!) and shimmery gunmetal gray aren’t the kinds of colors I would think to put together, but once I started playing with them, they started making sense.

At $95, the limited edition set, exclusive to Saks Fifth Avenue stores and online, isn’t exactly budget (that’s an understatement!), but they are an interesting blend of colors that go together in unusual ways.

“This exquisite collection, inspired by the uniquely rich, colorful Creole culture that was born out of Haitian, West African, and French influences on the island of Hispaniola, features soft, misty neutrals combined with rose and shimmering plum. Kaleidoscope Eye Kits contain four complementary shades in one compact that create a prism of color for the eye. The kaleidoscope is easy to carry and has a mirror on the top for on-the-go touch-ups.”
— saksfifthavenue.com

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Looking for a Less Expensive Dupe of Urban Decay Naked and Naked2? You’ll Want To Check Out the Revealed Palette by Coastal Scents

November 21st, 2013 by Karen 25 Comments

Coastal Scents Revealed Palette k top — Wearing the new Coastal Scents Revealed Palette

#Realtalk: I’m riding on a huge Urban Decay Naked high right now, primarily due to Naked3, which finally went on sale online (FINALLY) today, and it’s already sold out. HOLY WOW!

If you missed it, you can sign up here to be alerted when it’s back in stock.

Needless to say, if it’s Naked, I’m on it!

Wait — that sounded a little dirtier that I thought it would.

Anywho! My reignited fire for all things Naked is why I’m extra stoked about ~~RyGos’ abs~~ the new Revealed Palette by Coastal Scents.

I didn’t know much about the brand before this week, only what I’d heard on YouTube. It seemed like for a hot second there, the Coastal Scents 88 Palette (with, like, every color imaginable) was hella trendy.

I recently started testing a few things from the line, and uh, yeah, so far, I’m not seeing any shortages of pigment. None of the products are too expensive, either, and the aren’t tested on animals.

So, why the Revealed palette? Well, if you eyed Urban Decay’s Naked and/or Naked2 palettes but didn’t spring due to their price ($52 each), Revealed could be an option. It’s only $19.95.

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Things Are Coming Up Rose Gold: Urban Decay Three-Peats With the 12 All-New Neutrals in the Naked3 Palette

November 18th, 2013 by Karen 57 Comments

Wearing the new $54 Urban Decay Naked3 palette on my eyes

And then there were three…

Thrice as naked.

More naked than you’ve ever been before! (Well…)

Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! No, not really. But it is the third coming of Urban Decay’s famous Naked palette, appropriately named Naked3 ($54).

First impressions: WOW! I have been literally champing at the bit to see this palette in person, and so far I have not been disappointed by it.

The 12 all-new neutrals, all of which have rose tones, come in UD’s typically soft, easy-to-blend formula (and matte, pearl and glimmering metallic finishes). Sure, that means there’s some fallout, but on the flip-side, the shadows are ridiculously easy to blend, and if you do your eyes first, clean up, and continue with your face makeup, it’s all good.

I think the colors are definitely different enough from the shades in the O.G. Naked palettes (one and two) to make this one worth considering.

Many of the shades have a purplish taupe tint to them, at least on my skin, which I like. I think they’ll go well with purple smokey eyes and other purple looks. I have a strong suspicion they’ll also complement bronze and gold shadows nicely.

For the most part, I think these are neutral enough to work well on cool and warm skin tones, but if you’re on the far warm end of that spectrum, you may want to work in your own mattes for transition colors, because some of these shades, like Nooner and Limit — those might be a tad too cool-toned.

I’m really jazzed about the colors on the far right, the darker colors. Those are gonna be a blast to play with in smokey eyes.

Of course, I still love black, brown and purple smokey looks, but I really like the idea of becoming a part-time rose gold smokey eye aficionado.

Urban Decay Naked3 swatches from the left: Strange, Dust, Burnout and Limit — Swatches from the left: Strange, Dust, Burnout and Limit

Urban Decay Naked3 swatches from the left: Buzz, Trick, Nooner and Liar — Swatches from the left: Buzz, Trick, Nooner and Liar

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Triangulating a Little Drugstore Gem Geometry With the New $10 e.l.f. Studio 18-Piece Geometric Eyeshadow Palette

November 15th, 2013 by Karen 13 Comments

I’ve been trying to focus on this palette’s awesome $5 price (regularly $10, but it’s on sale now online for $5) and 18 fallout-free, easy-to-blend powder eyeshadows today, but instead I keep thinking of frickin’ cyclohexane…

Can you see it? Those two shapes on both sides of the middle? C6H12.

What do you mean, “That’s so weird, Karen”?

Is it? I don’t know… I guess those chemistry classes scarred my psyche worse than I thought.

Duuuuude, it’s like one those posters that looks like a bunch of random dots, but if you stare at it long enough a picture appears. Everyone and their brother had one of those in their room when I lived in the dorms. It was usually hanging next to a Bob Marley or Pulp Fiction poster…or a print of something by Monet.

I hated those things (the dot posters). No matter how long I stared, I could never see the pictures. My friend would be all, “Do you see it, Karen? It’s the Statue of Liberty,” and I’d say, “Uh…yeah! There it is! I see it now!” When in reality all I saw were the dots. 🙂

The Studio 18-Piece Geometric Eyeshadow Palette is a little like those dot posters because it has some crazy shapes, but it’s way cooler than that. It also has a lot of high quality makeup and a fantastic price. I can wear the rich, pigmented shadows either alone or atop pencils or cream shadows, and with the help of a primer, they last all day long.

I don’t think these swatches truly convey just how bad-@ss these are. I know they look kind of weak, but that’s more the fault of the packaging than the shadows themselves.

Hear me out…

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The New $125 Laura Mercier Colour Wardrobe Dual Decker Colour Palette for Eyes & Cheeks Is Filled With Flattery for Warm and Cool Skin Tones

November 13th, 2013 by Karen 17 Comments

Laura Mercier Colour Wardrobe Dual Decker Colour for Eyes & Cheeks — Wearing Laura Mercier’s new $125 (!) limited edition holiday palette, the Colour Wardrobe Dual Decker Colour for Eyes & Cheeks

Since a picture’s worth a thousand words, here’s how I feel about Laura Mercier’s new Colour Wardrobe Dual Decker Colour for Eyes & Cheeks…

The thing is, it’s $125.

Uh… Yeah. Ouch.

And it’s not like there aren’t any other holiday sets out there now that cost a lot less. There are, but if you want something comprehensive for your eyes and cheeks that you could use every single day, don’t overlook this two-tiered kit outright, despite its price.

It’s brimming with rich purples and chocolaty browns, and sprinkled with pink, taupe and navy. Plus, the included travel brushes are actually worth keeping! They’re surprisingly soft. I almost always ditch the brushes that come with holiday kits because they’re usually scratchy and…just not up to par, but I think the eye brushes that come with this apply and blend just as well as Laura’s full-sized brushes.

WOOT! Bomb-@ss brushes to go with some bomb-@ss makeup. Who’d a thunk it?

Starting with the eye colors in the first tier…it’s African Violet, huzzah!

LOL! OK, you’re probably about as sick of seeing African Violet as I am (I swear, it must be in half of Laura’s kits). I love ya, L-Boogie, but please, can we take a break from African Violet already? At least for a few months? 🙂

Aside from that little quibble, I think the eyeshadows are tops. Every one has the brand’s signature smooth, easy-to-blend formula, where you literally swipe your blending brush once or twice, and the colors melt together. As with Laura’s Artist’s Palette, I actually have to resist the urge to over-blend these.

And I barely notice any fallout at all — a smidgen, but it’s not enough to annoy me.

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For a Fussy-Free Date Night Look, Try the New $30 Bobbi Brown Date Night Lip & Eye Palette

November 12th, 2013 by Karen 11 Comments

Maybe I’ve passed the point of no makeup return, but when I think of date night, my first thoughts are usually something like, “Oooh, let’s pop two different colors in the crease,” or “I wanna layer these three liners for a smokey cat eye gradient, yeah!”

Then again, I do have a tendency to over-complicate things (says the woman who just mixed three different concealers to customize a color for her cheeks).

Bobbi Brown’s new $30 Date Night Lip & Eye Palette tries to keep things easy and streamlined, and even though I don’t usually equate paring down my makeup with date nights, I appreciate its simplicity, because sometimes those holiday palettes with, like, 25 different eyeshadows and 10 different lipsticks are just straight-up overwhelming.

Sometimes it’s easier to make a decision when you limit your options, ya know? And I think that’s one of this palette’s strengths. It comes with just enough to put together a pretty date night look, and you can always incorporate other products if you feel like it.

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What a Trip! The Balm Voyage Holiday Face Palette by theBalm Is a Trip

November 11th, 2013 by Karen 12 Comments

theBalm Balm Voyage Holiday Face Palette — Wearing the new $42.50 limited edition Balm Voyage Holiday Face Palette by theBalm

How flippin’ cute is this holiday palette?! I’m a sucker for retro postcards and posters, so this is totally my style. Plus, I have a soft spot for theBalm because, like moi, they’re from the Bay Area.

Yessir, I grew up in the 510, moved to the 415 after college, and now I’m just over the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin.

So WOOT! Bay Area represent. 🙂

Balm Voyage… Cheeky name, and fun way to tie in the trip theme. They go all out with the travel references, by golly, from the different cities on the cover, to assigning a “seat” to each of the powder eyeshadows (there are 16 of them, along with three lip and cheek creams). Even the mirror on the inside of the palette looks like a passport for “Anita Vacation,” haha! GURL, anita vacation, too. You don’t even know.

I wore this palette pretty much all through last weekend, and it was perfect for chill-axing on Saturday and Sunday. The eyeshadows apply with either sheer or medium levels of pigment, probably making the palette better for casual, natural eye makeup than bold, high-fashion looks.

You could always crank up the intensity by applying them with a wet brush, or by layering them on top of a pencil or cream base, but that could interfere with how they blend.

When I do just a straight-up simple look with one or two colors on a primed lid, the powders meld seamlessly into each other, but the second I add a cream or pencil to the mix, the lines between the colors become more difficult to diffuse.

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The Mega Moisturizing Lippies in Edward’s Best 8-Color Lipstick Palette Could Best the Driest Climate

November 8th, 2013 by Karen 20 Comments

Edward's Best 8-Color Lipstick Palette by Edward Bess — Wearing Jasmine Blossom Lipstick from the $75 Edward’s Best 8-Color Lipstick Palette by Edward Bess

I want to hang out with Edward Bess…

I mean, have you seen this man’s mane? It looks like it should be moving in slo-mo in a shampoo commercial with, like, birds singing in the background and sh*t.

We could hang out, talk hair, and chat about the $75 Edward’s Best 8-Color Lipstick Palette and how it’s creamy lipstick heaven in a pan. Eventually, I’d segue into my master plan to become the world’s first lipstick nomad/cat lady.

We’d be at Starbucks. I’d reach across the small table, take his hands in mine and say, “Edward, I think it would be really cool to travel the world with a whole cadre of lipsticks, like 100 of them, and take pics of myself wearing a different shade in every new location.”

He would respond, “That’s a wonderful idea, Karen. Let me help you…”

The pigmented lippies in this 8-pan palette could get me through at least one country — perhaps one with a dry, cold climate, since all of these are crazy moisturizing, and wearing them soothes my lips like ahhhhh.

“Edward,” I’d ask, taking a sip of my pumpkin spice latte, “may I french braid your hair?”

“Of course,” he’d reply. “You may.”

Edward Bess Edward's Best 8-Color Lipstick Palette — From the left in the top row: Nude Lotus, Pure Impulse, Rose Demure and Tender Love; bottom row: Candid Affair, Jasmine Blossom, Deep Lust and Midnight Bloom

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