Urban Decay F&F Haul

Here are the (only) two items I picked up during last week's Urban Decay  friends and family sale. I picked up the new revolution lipstick in 'shame' and the Vice 2 eyeshadow palette. The palette also comes with a dual sided eyeshadow brush.  It's an okay brush, but I personally don't think it's as nice as the brush in the Naked 2 palette.  I also got a free sample of the zero eyeliner pencil. It's black, but not as black as perversion, my favorite.  Check out the pics below!

Mini Ulta Haul

I stopped into Ulta last night because they are currently running their 21 days of beauty, and there are some great deals in there.  I went for the Too Faced Shadow Insurance (eyelid primer) which was half off, so $10 instead of $20 for a full sized bottle.  That was a good deal IMO.  While there I also picked up this Natural Rebel set by Too Faced, which is exclusive to Ulta.  The set comes with Too Faced's Natural at Night eyeshadow set (gorgeous browns), a full sized Eyeliner pencil in Espresso, and a quad of lip gloss and creams.  I think it's a great value, considering the palette alone retails for $36.   So it's like you got the pencil and lip quad free!  Oh, and it comes with a free gift, which makes it a better value! Deluxe sized samples of Too Faced's shadow insurance and lip injection plumper.  Awesome.I can't wait to do looks using this baby soon.  I promise!

Marc Jacobs Beauty--Swatched at Sephora

So during my Sephora trip I also swatched a few items from the new Marc Jacobs beauty line. I swatched a couple of the eyeshadow palettes (which were pretty impressive).  The palettes retail for $59, a bit steep.  Or a lot steep lol.  I swatched three of the glosses, which retail for $28.  They were okay, I wasn't overly impressed or anything, but lip gloss isn't my "thing" so maybe that's why.  They weren't magical or unlike anything I've ever had before. I think the standout item for me was Highliner Gel Crayon Eyeliner, which retails for $25.  There were six colors on display, Blackquer, Jazz(Berry), Ro(Cocoa), N(Ice), Intro(Vert), and Th(Ink).  These gel eye pencils are waterproof and color intense.  They really do not budge at all, and take some serious eye makeup remover and arm strength to completely remove.  I really really liked these.  Would I ever purchase them? Not sure, at least not right now.  I do love the Intro(Vert) color though! Check out the pics below.

MAC Pro Palettes Steeply Discounted

I don't know if any of you guys use MAC's palettes for easy storage, they're marked down to super discounted prices.  I'm not sure if MAC is getting rid of them or re-doing them, but if you've ever wanted them and thought they were too pricey, now is the time to stock up.  The single and duo palettes (that you need inserts for) as well as the 4-quad eyeshadow palette are all $8.00.  The inserts for the single and duo palettes are all $2.00.  To put this into perspective, I believe the duo palette prices were $25.00 and the inserts were $12-15.00.  That's a big difference.  The benefit in having a palette is that you can order the "refill pan" of eyeshadows and blushes, and they are cheaper than the regular price that come in the MAC packaging.  Regular price eyeshadows are $15.  Palette refill pans are $10.  That's $5 difference.  Only thing is you have to put them in a palette of some sort to hold them.  It's great and economical from that standpoint if you buy/have a ton of MAC eyeshadows.  (Can I make an argument about the environment too??)

Too Faced Fall 2013 Collection

Hey Guys! So here's my first Fall 2013 post.  Too Faced will release, for their fall collection, a new eyeshadow palette, Pretty Rebel, Lip Injection Color Bombs, and Glitter Glaze.  I know for a fact that the eyeshadow palette is limited edition, but I'm not 100% certain whether the lip bombs and the glitter glaze are limited edition as well.  I will look into that and update.  These are available online now at Sephora. 

Pretty Rebel Eyeshadow Palette-Limited Edition-$46

Pretty Rebel is a ten shadow palette, and I won't get into details about it BECAUSE I ACTUALLY JUST GOT IT IN THE MAIL TODAY AND WILL DO AN ENTIRE REVIEW!  Lol...sorry for the caps!  

Lip Injection Color Bombs-$21

Too Faced's Lip Injection Color Bombs are lip pencils that claim to be super moisturizing plump lip tints.  They come in 6 shades: Never Enough Nude, Coral Pop, Plump It Up Pink, Eastwood Red, Bigger Berry and Candy Burst.  These have vitamins A, C, E and mango butter.  I'm sure these will live up to the promise of providing moisture. Pigment? I'd have to check them out first. 

Too Faced Glitter Glaze Transforming Shadow Topcoat-$21

Now these look super interesting to me! I haven't seen anything like it.  These shadow topcoats are available in 2 shades, Goldie Rocks and Silver Spark.  These can be worn alone for nice shimmer, or you can put them on top of your eyeshadow for a"metallic" look. I'm not normally a fan of super sparkle, but I might pick one of these up just to see how it transforms eyeshadow.

It also seems that they are promoting the Better Than S** Mascara with this collection too.

UPDATED WITH SWATCHES!! LORAC Pro Palette

So, I ordered this Lorac palette from Sephora last week, and got it in the mail last night.  It's called the Pro Palette, but you can order it from Sephora online.  The reviews have all been good, and the palette is a bit more versatile than the Naked palettes in that it offers neutral shades, but there are also some colored shades which pair will with the other shades in the palette.  It comes with a free mini size Lorac eye primer as well.  The palette is super pretty and black, and the inside boasts a mirror as well.  The packaging is similar to the original Naked palette but it features 16 shades!!!

The shades are super pretty, and I will update this post with more and with swatches when I get home tonight.  In the meantime, check out the pics below.

UPDATE!! SWATCHES BELOW!! The colors are swatched using only the shadow and my finger--no primer or base underneath.  The colors left to right are as follows:
Row 1: White, Cream, Taupe, Lt. Pink, Mauve, Sable
Row 2: Espresso, Black, Nude, Champagne, Gold
Row 3: Lt. Bronze, Pewter, Garnet, Deep Purple, Slate

The lighter swatches are very very pale/sheer.  The darker colors swatched fine, the purple and slate are gorgeousssss.  Keep in mind I am only using my fingers and no base or primer.  I will hold off on a final review or opinion of the palette until I've used it on my eyes a few times. I also threw in a pic of the palette with my free samples from Sephora!!! And my birthday is this month, only two weeks away, so I got my Sephora bday gift, which is a Benefit sample pack of the "They're Real" mascara and "Watts up!" highlighter.  I'm super excited to try these two out.  Plus, with the coupon code I got a free deluxe sample of Too Faced's "Better Than _ _ _" Mascara, which promises super dramatic eyelashes.  Can't wait to try these mascaras out!!

REVIEW: Too Faced Review: Eye Shadow Palette

I've debated about doing this review for a week now, only because I never used the eyeshadows for an entire day.  Specifically, after using the "looks" created with the palette I never wore them out of the house.  I picked this up during Sephora's VIB event, so it was 15% off retail price (which is $48).  You can check the deets out here.  I walked past this palette but my friend directed my attention to the gorgeous purple shades and upon swatching, I fell in love.  I really really really really wanted to love this palette, but I just couldn't.  After much debating, I returned it to Sephora instead.  There are pics below (no swatches unfortunately) and the palette itself is gorgeous.  It comes in a wonderful case with a nice mirror, and also comes with a free FULL SIZE Too Faced Eyeliner (which was surprisingly great, comparable to Urban Decay) and a mini sample size of the Eye Shadow Primer Potion (which is equally good as well).  What's also tempting about this palette is that it comes with three card inserts, that have "day and night" eyeshadow looks with instructions for you to follow as well.  That's a bonus for newbies needing help blending the colors. It is a nice palette thru and thru, with the exception of the eyeshadows themselves.  

I guess I was so enthralled with the palette that I failed to realize that each and every shade was a glitter shade.  There were no matte shades at all, and while this isn't necessarily a deal breaker, the quality of the shades and the fall out were.  The shadows applied poorly IN MY OPINION and the only thing they left behind was glitter and streaky color.  I even tried using wet, but I just could not get past the amount of glitter.  Each shade had glitter, even the highlight.  I'm not a fan of an entire eye of glitter, especially when that eye of glitter runs down your cheeks and nose.  No bueno.  So I could not get with this palette.  If I had to grade it, I'd probably put it at a C/C-.  It would be less if it didn't come with the eyeliner and the primer.  I regret not swatching it, but that's how sad I was about the color performance.

I also swatched some samples of the Urban Decay Eyeliner and the Too Faced eyeliner together, so you guys could see.  It is def a contender for me, because it applied creamy, evenly, nice and black with no tugging on the eyelid. But...if it ain't broke don't fix it. So I'll be sticking with my Urban Decay.