I’m wearing the It Cosmetics Je Ne Sais Quoi Complexion Perfection Palette this afternoon, and when I opened the palette earlier today, I thought, “Ooh! Look at all the warm tones…”
I got super excited. Then I got even MORE excited when I saw that one of the pans, the warm-looking bronzer, is called Sunshine in a Compact.
Ah… I was all mentally prepared for a warm-toned experience, like the makeup equivalent of a week on Kauai — you know, coconut in one hand, camera in the other, because, seriously, who goes to the beach lugging around a massive camera?
This girl. 🙂
Anywho, when I actually put on the bronzer, I quickly realized that it isn’t as warm as I thought. It’s actually pretty cool-toned and sheer, so I think that lighter lasses who are cool-toned will appreciate it more.
I mean, I know that I talk about wearing cool-toned colors all the time, like the other day, when I was talking about cool-toned red lipsticks and how I like to wear them even though I’m warm-toned. I do like the contrast of a cool-toned lip on warm skin, and sometimes I like wearing cool-toned eyeshadows for the same reason. I think that because of the contrast, my lips look more…structured, and the colors don’t get lost as easily on my skin.
But I feel like some cool-toned blushes and highlighters look jarring on my skin tone, especially on large patches of skin, like my cheeks and upper cheekbones.
Something about it doesn’t look quite right to my eye.
There are some other things in the collection as well, like a couple of ornaments and two cute brush kits.
(Side note: How cool would that be? A Christmas tree covered in makeup ornaments?)
One of the brush sets has elegant rosy gold handles, while the other one’s handles are sparkly silver. All of the brushes in both sets are full size.
If I were a Mariah Carey drag queen, I would totally want the sparkly brushes on my makeup vanité.
Yes, I just said “vanité.”
By the way, the glitter on the handles doesn’t come off, which is nice to know, because if it did that would be a bummer.
- City Chic 5-Piece Ultra Luxe Skin-Loving Brush Set + Exclusive Case ($68) — New, limited edition
- All That Glitters 5-Piece Brush Set + Exclusive Shimmering Case ($58) — New, limited edition (Ulta exclusive)
- Je Ne Sais Quoi Complexion Perfection Palette ($42) — New, permanent
- Confidence in a Cream Transforming Moisturizing Super Cream Ornament ($16) — New, limited edition
- Superhero Elastic Stretch Volumizing Mascara Ornament ($12) — New, limited edition
I don’t know if you’ve used It Cosmetics brushes before, but they remind me of the brushes from Real Techniques. Both use synthetic fibers and are cruelty free, but I think the It Cosmetics brushes are fancier. Both have very soft bristles, which I like, because some synthetic brushes have thicker bristles that don’t move product around very well, whereas these It Cosmetics brushes (and the Real Techniques brushes as well) feel very soft and are easily able to manipulate powders and creams.
The It Cosmetics brush bristles feel even softer than the Real Technique ones do to me.
I really like the face brushes. I think they’re just the right size, and I like the eye brushes, too, but I feel like they’re a little on the bigger side, so if you have small lids like I do, these aren’t precise. They’re probably better for washes of color than detail.
Like I mentioned earlier, there are also two ornaments in the collection. One is a mini mascara called Superhero, and I think it’s a little awkward to use. There isn’t much distance between the mascara brush and the handle, so it’s just…really awkward to hold. I feel like my fingers are too close to my eyes when I use it.
I don’t know… I just wish there was more distance between the brush and the handle.
The mascara itself, though? I like the color. It’s super black and does a pretty good job of thickening, but you know me. I want lash drama! And better curl hold!
The other ornament is basically a face moisturizer — no tint or anything.
It’s OK. I have dry skin, and the moisturizer is very thick and moisturizing. It has a good weight to it and smells a little like lemons. It’s also supposed to be anti-aging.
My favorite things in the collection are the brushes, particularly the set with the rose gold handles. They’re super cute and a little more elegant than the glittery ones…although the glitter ones look fun, too.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
The brushes really do look nice. So soft!
They are super soft, and they feel very luxurious.
Blerg, the palette sounds great but looks blah and too expensive. I like the idea of complexion palette but not $42 at Ulta, no thank you.
Hi Mave,
The palette is OK. I think you’ll be able to find comparable items for less in other lines.
I LOVE the brushes!
So cute, right? And they’re very soft.
Karen, thanks for letting me know about that bronzer! It’s really, really rare to find a cool-toned bronzer, so I am definitely going to check out this palette!
I love IT Cosmetics’ CC Cream. I need to wear mineral sunscreen every day, which this provides, and a mix of half Fair and half Light comes quite close to matching my skin tone (the Fair really is pretty cool, and the Light is pretty neutral). I also love their brushes — I think they’re almost as good as my favorite synthetics from Hourglass and Make Up For Ever — way softer than Real Techniques to me (my favorites are the IT Cosmetics ones and the mid-range IT for ULTA ones). I also love their ‘tightlining’ mascara as a lower-lash mascara — it’s what I used before I switched to that fancy Hourglass Lash Curator tool. Their eyeshadows are pretty, but way too subtle for me, lol.
And I know what you mean about matching your cheek products to your undertone. I can definitely pull off olive green or bronze eyeshadow, and some coral lipsticks (the ones that aren’t too light and have *a lot* of pink or red in them), but put any but the must subtly warm-toned blushes on my cheeks, and it’s like my cheekbones stand up and shout “Look at me! Look! I’m wearing orange”! NARS’ ‘Orgasm’ is universal? I don’t think so! On me it just looks orange, orange, orange. And orange is like my least flattering color. (But I love all the colors. So I bought an orange corduroy miniskirt from J.Crew. Just keep it away from my face, and it can work!)
Hi Fran,
OK, so even though the bronzer is pretty cool-toned, I have to say that it’s very sheer and hard packed in the pan, so keep that in mind. I don’t know if you’ve ever checked the bronzers over at Bobbi. I know she has some cool-toned bronzers. I find her powders easier to work with; they’re super buttery, super soft, easy to blend. Just something to think about.
By the way, I’ve used the Tightline mascara and I’m totally with you. It’s fantastic for the lower lash line! So good. I love how with the skinny brush how you can get right up next to the roots. Ahh, the things you know when you’re a mascara junkie.
Thank you, Karen, I think I will check out Bobbi’s bronzers. I use some of the cooler-toner Make Up For Ever matte eye shadows as contour colors — they work great! But I rarely wear a real bronzer… used to wear Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soleil, it least it’s light enough for me.
Wow, those glitter handled brushes are REALLY glittery! I’m just catching up so I haven’t seen your post about cool toned lip colors yet, but I do usually comment that blue-reds look great on you. I find they make your teeth look dazzlingly white. 🙂 Of course, all lip colors look good on you, so you have lots of options.
The brushes look nice!
As I said yesterday, my skin works funny with undertones because in foundation I can’t wear but warm undertones and the same with bronzer, however I swear my skin looks better with cool undertones on brows, cheeks and lips.
On my eyes I don’t really know but I guess it’d be the same that on my lips, so I don’t know if my undertone is more specific than just warm.