Sephora wants you to pretend this palette is worth $28

No.

Noooooo.

Look, I am not even going to judge this palette on the basis that is was manufactured by Sephora. It's the fact that this palette is such a waste. It is practically announcing that its selling point is its unique "blue," but swatches of this show it is patchy and indistinct.

Color Pop I find is guilty of this too- when it comes to the "special shade" that typifies a palette:

In this case, of course, it is the pink. But at least Colourpop has the decency to provide some variation in shade. Not a lot. I mean, I would not buy this palette. I don't think I am ever willing to buy a palette again until I see hardly any repeating shades. I don't have time to waste anymore.

So, where was I? I think I am even more annoyed at Sephora because of just how blatantly plain and repetitive this palette is.

I am a neutral eyeshadow lover as well, but I don't see how I can get cohesive and unique looks.

And what's worse is that while they are charging $28.00 for this, Sephora purports the value as $40-something. Yeah. Right.

Just don't buy it.

The Weekend in Review

As I've noted before, the weekend is great time to experiment with products, because I have a lot of extra time on my hands. That being said, I came to some conclusions about some of the items in my collection.

1.) I am not really a fan of the Wet n Wild photo focus foundation. I really can't get used to the smell, and it just sits on top of my skin. I did not think it was a great color match, so today I blended it with my Manic Panic white mixer, and the result was cakey. I don't know what I am going to do, I really just dislike this foundation. I think I will probably give it one more chance, and then I am just going to declutter it.

2.) I really love the L'Oreal Studio Secrets Magic Perfecting Base. So. I used up my Too Faced face primer, and am currently using one I got from ipsy as an alternative. But I also have this, and feel that it works really well with The Ordinary Serum foundation. I will be using this throughout the week.

3.) Another love- my Shiseido bronzer. This is the third bronzer in my collection- the other two are drug-store cult faves: Butter Bronzer and NYC Sunny. Both I feel disappear very quickly, but not the Shiseido one. It is the oil-free bronzer, and looks beautiful on the skin. Also, I got it from Amazon for $10...so...total win.

4.) The shade Cone from the Dose of Colors EyesCream palette is a matte I love to wear on the lid, and I'll be so sad when it is used up. I am already on the hunt for possible quality dupes, but have come across nothing so far. I mean, it is a rose-toned brown, so how hard will that be to find?

5.) To use up the eyeliner samples in my collection, I resumed an old practice. I used to be even worse with liquid liner, so I would line the outer part of my lid with a pencil liner to get a straight line, and then the inner segment with the liquid liner. I think this is a good practice and works for me, so I am going to keep doing this.

6.) The only dud from the Tarina Tarantino Dollskin blush palette is Candy Cameo- it gets hard pan, has no pigmentation, and chunks of glitter. I would look into a replacement blush to complete my palette, but at the moment I can't be bothered...it would be an indie, though.

7.) The Royal Calyx shade from the Wet 'n Wild collection can be mixed with other highlighters. My favorite highlighter to mix with others is the Mary Loumanizer, as I am trying very hard to pan this highlighter. Royal Calyx is quite pretty, but is rather sheer.

Palettes I have used this week include:
Reds from the Modern Renaissance
all of the Tarte Pro to Go Palette (love this palette)
Cone from the EyesCream palette
shades from the Urban Decay Pulp Fiction palette, which I am not as attached to anymore. I wanted it desperately because of the film, but I find the mattes not as interesting as the ones I do own. I will keep it, though.

Fragrance Collection Post!

I honestly would have never thought that I'd be the type to collect fragrance. I didn't buy a proper perfume until I was 20, which was Lancome Poem (and not very good). I then- upon the recommendation of my mother- bought a body spray from Victoria's Secret, called Heavenly Stardust, which I still own and love today.

But over the years, I have amassed a small collection of fragrances that I want to share today. I am by no means an expert on fragrance, but I do have a rather sensitive nose and am prone to headaches, which does affect which perfume I like.

Let's begin!

This is my Anna Sui fragrance collection. The pink one is called Secret Wish Fairy Dance, which is a very fresh and springy perfume. It is fruity, but also has a woody earthy base, which I think I am drawn to.

The small bottle is Secret Wish, and that is much sweeter and tropical than Fairy Dance, for me. I don't wear it as much as the other two- but you can clearly see the sample bottle is almost used up. It smells like pineapple and florals, and I do enjoy it.

The purple bottle is La Vie Boheme, what I consider to be more of a serious and mature perfume compared to the other two. It is more heady, with more of a lingering musky scent, but with also a tart sweetness.

Prior to buying the two full size bottles, I had owned a full sample collection of a couple of her perfumes, and loved them all- except for La Nuit de Boheme and Flight of Fancy. Those were gross.

 I have two roll-on perfumes from Lavanilla. One is Coconut Vanilla, and the other Pure Vanilla. Both have notes of florals to them. I used to prefer the Pure Vanilla, but now I love the creaminess of the Coconut scent. Both last pretty long and are more complex than one would think.

I also have a couple of products from Demeter. The one pictured here is Sunshine- a bottle I picked up from TJ Maxx for $7.00. It smells like lemon and vanilla, and is a pleasant mix. I did not like this at first, but I have to sy it is growing on me.

A couple of years ago I also bought Amore Mio by Jeanne Arthes. It is a gourmand perfume, and when I wear it I think of chocolate liqueur and cherries. It is a romantic, but light, scent that I wear when I want to feel happy.

Lastly, I have two Demeter fragrance roll-on oils. Flowering Tonka has almost been used up completely- I love this perfume. It is hardly floral, but sweet and simple. I love the smell of tonka, and plan on purchasing this as a full size spray in the future.

I don't actually wear thunderstorm, but just smell it from time to time.

From inkling fragrance we have Unify, a very fresh scent that to me smells like clean laundry.

Then, we have a sample of Pretty Rotten by Tokyo Milk. It does smell like apples, and it is very musky, unique scent. I keep it mostly for what it smells like later through the day- it becomes very sweet and powdery and I love it.

So that was it! I think my collection is pretty eclectic, but I noticed that I really like sweet, powdery, woodsy, but also light smells.

My Highlighter Z-Palette!

Today I thought I would share an update regarding my highlighter z-palette. I think I might have posted one of these before, but there are some developments that I want to discuss.

So, this is what it looks like.

Let's start from the beginning, left to right.

Wet n Wild Precious Petals highlighter. This is a really nice highlighter that I do have to be a bit careful with, because overdoing it is very easy. I would say that since I purchased this, I am getting a lot of use out of it.

Wet 'n Wild highlighter in Royal Calyx. I love the name of this highlighter. It does have a different formula than Precious Petals- it is drier and less pigmented, which actually is fine with me. I have only used it 2-3 times sine I've purchased, and plan on really using it on Halloween. 

Urban Decay eyeshadow sample in Fireball. This did nothing for me when used as an eyeshadow. As a highlighter, however, the effect is obvious and pretty.

Vanessa's Vanity, 6 pm sparkler. This truly is a blush topper. On it's own, its a white-grey powder that shifts pinky peach, with flecks of sparkle. When placed on top of blush, it really shines. I love using this on days when I want my look to have extra sparkle and sheen.

Mary Lou-Manizer, The Balm. I am trying very hard to pan this. It is not obvious, but there is a bit of a dip in the pan. It's a pretty highlighter, and I do enjoy using this.

That little square pan is a sample highlighter from The Balm, which I have no need for at the present, but I am still keeping this around.

We then have Hustle and Glow, my current highlighter fave, from ittse. I really think this was a good purchase, and do not regret buying this. 

The oblong shaped shadow is from the Tarina Tarantino Floriculture palette, which I actually decluttered long ago. I decided to save my three favorite shades and depot them. Deep Dahlia, a dark burgundy/plum that is so on trend right now, went into my eyeshadow palette, while Taurella, a white gold frost is here pictured. I have only used it as a highlighter once, but I intend to give this a try on the weekend.

We then have the Sin highlighter by Urban Decay, which I also like a lot.

The bottom is two contour color powders. One is a light grey contour from Lunatick Cosmetic labs, which I do not get much use out of. The other is Hollyhock, from the Floriculture palette, which I think can perform well as a contour. I've only tried it once, and am not sure of the results. 

Thanks for reading! 

You Don't Need to Buy the Coloured Raine mini palettes

Just a quick reminder of the things you don't need to buy. Especially after viewing Temptalia's most recent swatches of The Rusts palette: https://www.temptalia.com/swatches/coloured-raine-mini-eyeshadow-palette/beauty-rust/.

The formula looks dry as hell and many shades are very patchy. Save your $38.