Sephora | Beauty and Fashion Tech

Dec 28, 2012

Best Beauty Products of 2012

December 28, 2012 By Carleenp 4 Comments

2012 is almost at its close and it is time again for the annual best of the year awards. The list below are my favorite products that I covered in 2012. Click through the links to read the original reviews.

You can also see previous years here:

Urban Decay Naked Skin, with the Urban Decay Optical Blurring Brush: Naked skin wears incredibly well and, when applied and buffed with the optical blurring brush, it gives a flawless airbrushed look. It has become my all time favorite foundation.

Lorac Unzipped: This was the best of the nude/neutral palettes this year. A perfect selection of matte and shimmer shades.

Laura Mercier Artist Eyes Palette: A wonderful all around palette with shades perfect for just about any occasion.

Fyrinnae Eye Shadow: This indie company offers unique blends of high pigment micas and oxides for stunning shadow looks. Try their Pixie Epoxy for making super glittery shadows stay put!

Urban Decay Vice Palette: Who can resist a palette full of new UD shades? This one was a winner all around.

Nars Lahasa: Simply a beautiful purple dark taupe. Love it!

MAC Nail Lacquers: I love MAC nail polish and was glad to see them make a number of shades part of their regular collection.

Urban Decay Smoked Palette: Another winning palette from Urban Decay. This one offers all that you need for sultry smoky looks.

L’Oreal Infallible Eye Shadow: High pigment lightly pressed shadow at decent prices and readily available. Great for those who love pigments but want to save a few dollars.

Skin79 BB Cream: My favorite BB cream this year. It covers well and wears wonderfully.

Darling Girl Eye Shadow: Another indie brand with great pigment and a silky smooth formula. I like their base formulation quite a bit for a loose shadow. I also found a taupe that I am in love with among the samples that I ordered.

Cinderella Palette: A surprisingly good eye shadow palette that is more grown up than you would expect. Nice shades in an attractive package.

Lorac Pro Palette: Another wonderful all around eye shadow palette with a great selection of useful shades.

Essie Luxe Effects Top Coat and Bikini So Teeny: Bikini So Teeny was my favorite polish shade of the year, and a Luxe Effects top coat looked great over it!

The Balm Shady Lady Vol. 2: The Balm is seriously underrated in my opinion. The Shady Lady Volume 2 was one of their palettes that I tried this year and I found it to be super pigmented, with little fallout and long wear.

Youngblood Creme Powder Foundation: A very nice cream foundation that very well might have become my new favorite if Naked skin hadn't come into the picture. I still wear this one a lot too, especially when I want something more portable.

Silk’n Flash and Go: The hot new product in permanent home hair removal. This one can be used on the face. See our comparison to the Tria for decisions on which to buy (I love the Tria too).

Smashbox Masterclass: A super palette of shadows, blush, lip products, and highlighters. It is all that you need for any look with quality products.

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Filed Under: Eyeshadow, Face Products, Foundation, Hair Care, Hair Removal, Makeup, Nail Products, Palettes and Collections, Shopping lists, Skin Care Tagged With: Best of Lists, Essie, Fyrinnae, Home Laser Hair Removal, L'Oreal, Laura Mercier, Lorac, M.A.C., Makeup, Nars, Sephora, Skin 79, Skin Care, Urban Decay

Nov 9, 2012

Disney Cinderella Storylook Eyeshadow Palette Swatches, Review, and Video

November 9, 2012 By Carleenp Leave a Comment

When I was browsing Sephora, I came across the Disney Cinderella Storylook Eyeshdaow Palette and, after checking a few reviews, I decided to pick it up to review and swatch. This palette really surprised me. I got it for the gorgeous shades, but had low expectations for quality. Well, it turned out to have excellent quality as well. That is also reflected in the Sephora reviews of it. At $55 for 20 awesome shades, I consider it a good value.

First off, here is the stock photo of the palette, followed my my photo of it. I love the variety of shades. It has everything from brights to neutrals, to shimmers, to mattes. Several of the matte shades are rather unique as well.

When I swatched the Storylook palette, I was surprised by the color quality. The shadows have very good pigment to them - much more than I expected. My only complaint is that they are on the soft side, so there is some fall out. But boy are they pretty shades!

The box itself slides out of the casing and the palette can be removed, leaving the box suitable for use as a jewelry box or other storage container. That is a very nice touch, but it doesn't slide super easy, and that makes it bulkier as a palette as well. So, it is not super portable, but it is perfect for a home kit. The packaging is tasteful enough to please adults as well as younger people.

Below are swatches of the first row of the Cinderella Eyeshadow Set with the shades, Maiden, All Aglow, Destined, Cinderelly, and Pumpkin Coach.

Row two of the palette has the shades Ball Gown, Kill Joy, Fairy Godmother, Glass Slipper, and Royal. I am wearing those last three blue shades in my look below and in the video.

The third row shades are Gus Gus, Charming, Chateau, Palace, and Drizella.

Finally, here are swatches of the fourth row of the Cinderella Palette with the eye shadow shades Cinders, Jaq, Midnight, A Wish, and Rococo.

I did an eye look with the blue shades. I don’t normally wear shades quite this bright since, at my age, it accentuates wrinkles, but I liked that the bright blue was matte. So I gave it a try.

Here is the Disney Cinderella Palette look from a bit of distance.

I really was happy with this item overall. It is one of the better palettes I have tested all year, and it would make a great gift for just about any age. The Disney theme makes it appropriate for older girls and teens, but the packaging and sophistication also make it appropriate for adults of all all ages. I give it a huge a thumbs up!

Shop for the Disney Cinderella Storylook Eyeshadow Palette

Finally, here is my video review:

Filed Under: Collections and Looks, Eyeshadow, Holiday Gifts, Holiday Items, Makeup, Palettes and Collections, Video Tagged With: Cinderella, Disney, Eyeshadow, Sephora, Swatches, Video

Aug 7, 2012

Sephora Moonshadow Baked Palette In The Heat Swatches, Review,and Video

August 7, 2012 By Carleenp Leave a Comment

The Sephora Moonshadow Baked Palette – In The Heat disappointed me a bit. The shades are very pretty in it, but the pigment is not great. I wore it OK using another eye shadow as a base shade and adding some shimmer from the In The Heat Palette on top, but when I swatched it alone, I wasn’t overly impressed. See my video review below for a full explanation. If you want a better baked palette, check out the Izak Palette which I reviewed just a few days ago (read previous Sephora Izak Palette Review) It has much better pigment and is a pretty good value.