Disney Jasmine Palette by Sephora

Disney Jasmine Palette

Hi all! Sorry for the long gap between posts. Between being sick and having 12 hr work days, it been a  long couple of weeks.


On to makeup talk! The Cinderella palette definitely impressed me last year so when I found out Volume 2 for Jasmine was coming out, I immediately popped it in my cart on Sephora Online. When I received  it, I found myself just as impressed as I was with Volume 1. This was a well thought palette, from the external design to the shadows themselves!

I will give them credit, they put a lot of thought into the external design of the palette. The palette is held in a cardboard box. Both the palette and the box have unique covers. I really like the main cover of the palette, it has Jasmine in gold and then has a black inlay surrounding it. The palette pulls out using a raspberry colored tassel. One thing that a was cute touch was on the external box, the barcode is in the shape of the magic lamp.

Unlike the Cinderella palette which was composed of 20 eyeshadows, the Jasmine palette contains only 15 eyeshadows but has a bronzer and blush. The shadows are well-pigmented but they don't hold as well as some of the other high end brands. If you don't use a primer, they can smudge easily. They all were pretty nice to apply, the one I had some issue with was "Ali Ababwa". It was very pliable or pigmented as a shadow. The color array was amazing, you get everything from neutrals to those bright colors that just pop!

The bronzer is far more gold then what I would prefer to use a bronzer so I think I will just use it as an eyeshadow. The blush is a rusty red, again, it's a bit darker of a tone then I use so I will probably use it as an eyeshadow as well.

Overall I would rate the Jasmine palette as 9/10. Appearance was a definite 10! It's a gorgeous looking palette with a great selection of colors. The eyeshadows are great quality! It is currently available for beauty insiders online, however it will be opening up to the public soon. It costs $55 at Sephora.

Swatches
Row 1--From Left to Right:
Blue Oasis, Trust me, Abu, Ali Ababwa, Sultana

Row 2---From Left to Right:
Friend Like Me, Master, Cosmic, Cave of Wonders, Sand in the Glass

Row 3---From Left to Right:
Lapis, Mystical Wonder, Rajah, Arabian Sunset, Bazaar

Row 4--From Left to Right:
Thrilling Chase, Golden Sands

Flower Cream Eyeshadow

Cream Eyeshadow (Color Play)

On to the disappointment! Flower's cream eye shadows were something I was very excited about, because they had a few different colors then other drugstore brands have in their cream eyeshadow lines. With this product, I needed no push from my boyfriend to pick a color. I picked up two of what they have dubbed "Color Play". The two I picked up was "Lilac You a Lot" and "Mum's the Word". "Lilac You a Lot" is, as you can probably guess by the name, a lilac while "Mum's the Word" is a rusty red. . Perhaps it's because I am very particular about what cream eyeshadows I use, but these just seemed in poor condition. The Lilac shadow had most of the product stuck to the lid. I am honestly wondering if being shipped to the store in our cold weather may have affected the two shadows I picked up. I will admit they are highly pigmented, but be warned and will crease if you do not use a good primer. The Lilac is a great spring color while the Rusty Red reminds me of fall. They both have a great metallic sheen to them. And while I love the colors, I think in terms of drugstore brands I much prefer the texture of Maybelline's Color Tattoos.


Swatches
Left: "Mum's the Word", Right: "Lilac You a Lot"

These Cream Eyeshadows run for $7.98 at Walmart.

Flower Eyeshadow Quad

Flower Eyeshadow Quad (Shadow Play)

In my first post about the newly released Flower collection by Drew Barrymore, I moaned and groaned that my local Walmart did not have any eye products. Well my boyfriend went out of state for work and I went with him, and guess what I found at their Walmart? Yes... my boyfriend was rolling his eyes at me the entire time, but I still finally got my hands on them to try! I was both happy and disappointed with them. That seems to be a trend with my tryst with the Flower collection.

Let's go with the good first: the quad. I stood in Walmart, looking a lil stupid because I could not decide what quad to try. In the end, my boyfriend chose it for me, I think it was more so because he wanted to get out of the makeup department then anything else. The quad (which they call Shadow Plays) he picked was EQ1 Shadow Play , "Face the Grey". This quad has two mattes, a light grey and royal navy blue. The two shimmers, a lilac and a light mauve. The pigmentation for this quad was great, especially for a drugstore brand. The only color I didn't like was the lilac one. As you can see in the swatch picture below, to the left of the swatch of lilac, you can see the glitter. This was just one of those shadows that was jampacked of glitter. The two mattes of grey and blue, just went on so beautifully.

Swatches:

From Left to Right:
(Top Row): Lilac, Grey; (Bottom Row): Navy, Mauve-Silver

These quads run for $9.98 at Walmart.

For Cream Shadows, Click Here

MAC Archie Eyeshadow

Yes! Finally have the time to post my swatches and review of the MAC Archie eyeshadow palettes (quads). There are two, one for each girl. For me, my major interest in makeup is eyeshadow so you can bet these two quads were the first thing in my cart. MAC has some great eyeshadows, but like all companies, you can have the occasionally hit and miss.

"Spoiled Rich"

I was particularly psyched for the Veronica palette, called "Spoiled Rich". Purple is one of my favorite colors so I thought it would weigh in as my favorite. It comes with three shades of purple with the fourth shade being a matter charcoal gray. I won't lie, after swatching Urban Decay's Oz palettes, I was pretty displeased with this palette. The pigmentation and colors are great however you really have to build this up and pack it on to get the color you want! The shadows are really dry however they do apply evenly and once you do build it up two or three layers, they will last for the day.

"Caramel Sundae"

In the end, the Betty palette, called "Caramel Sundae" won my heart between the two. In terms of the color spectrum, it's the exact opposite of the Veronica palette. It's more of a neutrals palette. The four colors are a coral pink, goldish yellow (almost reminds me of the color of a yellow diamond), light tan, and a deep chocolate brown. This little palette can give you a great variety of looks, and unlike the colors in "Spoiled Rich" I didn't have to pack on the product to  get the color I wanted

Swatches

From Left to Right:
Pin-Up Purple, Spoiled Rich, Ron Ron Ron, Charcoal (matte)

From Left to Right:
Cheryl Chic, Dreammaker, Caramel Sundae, Showstopper

These quads run for $44.00 at MAC, Nordstroms, Macy's, and Dillards.

Urban Decay Glinda

The second palette of "Oz, the Great and Powerful" is Glinda. Glinda is the good witch of the South, you know, the one that helps Dorothy? This palette is very light colored but yet again, has a wonderful array of choices. They set this one up to have a duo in each row, whereas in Theodora, both duos were in the bottom row. I am really loving the duo "Aura". Both colors are white base with a iridescent tint to them. The first half has a blue shimmer to it, while the other has a pinkish shimmer to it. My favorite color of both Oz palettes is "Tornado". Tornado is a violent purple, almost as dark as Rockstar and just goes on beautifully. It is so pigmented, that you needn't use more then one dip of a brush!

My two disappointments of the palette was the palette cover and the duo "Oz". The palette color for Theordora was a piece art filled with color and an encroaching darkness from the edges. The Glinda palette cover just seemed rushed. The Duo "Oz" had that awful nitty gritty feeling that comes with thick, heavy glitter. The texture reminded me of Midnight Cowboy. While the pigmentation is great, the texture for Oz leaves a lot to be desired.

Swatches

From Left to Right:
Tornado, Aura (Iridescent), Magic

From Left to Right:
Illusion, Oz (Gold/Silver), South

Urban Decay Theodora

Going to take a quick detour from MAC's Archie Collection, to post the swatches for Urban Decay's newest palettes! Urban Decay has recently released two palettes based on the upcoming Disney movie, "Oz, the Great and Powerful". The two palettes are based on good/bad, Glinda/Theodora. Like always, Urban Decay first released it on their site, then released through Sephora. I chose to wait for it to hit the shelves at Sephora so I could get the points for my Beauty Insider account.


The Theodora palette is based on the Wicked Witch of the West and contains a lot of great neutrals. Top row is all matte colors, while the bottom row is all shimmer. Now what I thought was interesting was the duos in this palette. To my knowledge, I have never seen a duo in a palette coming from Urban Decay so it was definitely a happy surprise. I did think it was odd that the duo had one single name, each color is not given an individual name.The last duo of the palette is of two shades of green, one light and one dark.  One can only assume that this choice of colors was based off the original oz in which the wicked witch of the west is green!

Swatches:

Left to Right:
Broken, Beware, Bewitch

With Flash

Without Flash

From Left to Right:
West, Spell (Gold/Black), Jealous (Light Green/Green)

With Flash

Without Flash

MAC Archie Lipsticks

MAC Lipsticks are a favorite to many makeup addicts, so it was no surprise to see that the lipsticks of the Archie Collection were the first thing to sell out. I am sad to say, I am one of the many who joined  the buying frenzy post sell-out of a couple shades. I did however manage to get my hands on 4 of the 6 shades that were released.

The two Veronica Lipsticks I got were: Ronnie Red and Boyfriend Stealer. Ronnie Red is just a good old fashion bright red, with great pigmentation and coverage. Boyfriend Stealer was a bit of a surprise to me. While it definitely matched up with the theme that MAC set up for Veronica, it's rare for me to even consider buying a purple lipstick. MAC describes it as a "deep blackened plum". Its not quite a plum as I was hoping it would be. After I swatched, it seemed almost to have a brownish burgundy tone to it. I am actually quite surprised in myself, of the four, I think my favorite would have to be Ronnie Red. While violet and plum are two shades I love, I didn't quite like how Boyfriend Stealer swatched. Ronnie Red just made me fall in love with it. The pigmentation is just bright and vivid and the quality is astonishing. Of the four, Ronnie Red is also the only one that required me to scrub it off the swatch. It leaves a beautiful tint to your lips and just gives you that amazing pop of color.

The two Betty Lipsticks I got were: Oh, Oh, Oh and Girl Next Door. Oh, Oh, Oh is described as a "brown plum" however I would also add that it is a very opaque lipstick that has gold glitter that is very prevalent in. For some reason, Macy's has Oh, Oh, Oh named as "Sweet Something" When I see Girl Next Door, I just think of the Legally Blonde or Barbie Pink.

Swatches

From Left to Right:
"Ronnie Red", "Boyfriend Stealer", "Girl Next Door", "Oh, Oh, Oh"

Without Flash

With Flash