There's definitely something about the holiday season for make-up lovers that mimics the pure giddiness of a child's love of the holidays. High end brands come out with products loaded with value (and fun) and you get to sample some of the most talked-about products and companies at rates that are almost affordable for the average human being (meaning that you do struggle with bills and your foremost struggles don't have anything to do with deciding between a tropical trip to Fiji or a shopping trip to Dubai). Not that I'm knocking the status of a financial tycoon... it's just not something that most of us deal with, other than our weekly dose of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills."Last year began what had always been a pretty strong obsession with beauty/makeup products (helped by the local opening of Sephora to my local city). I was doing a very irregular shopping trip to the mall (usually my budget dictates that I stick to my local Ross, dress-for-less, and frankly, I have to curb my appetites even there). Strolling down the aisles of Sephora, I just happened to stop by in time for the holiday palettes. So I was happily sampling different palettes, comparing product quality, presentation, and sizes, and I finally ended up purchasing the Tarte holiday 2009 palette. I was ecstatic with my purchase, and wanted to purchase the same palette for one of my close friends. However, I wasn't able to get her into the store in time (those Tarte palettes sold out like hotcakes), and by the time I brought her to the store to purchase the set, it was sold-out on the website as well as store-wide. She ended up purchasing a Tarte limited edition eye-shadow palette, and I purchased the same palette as well.
The year before I bought the Tarte palette, I had purchased the big Sephora holiday palette. I reember really disliking the palette because the shadows were powdery and not very pigmented. So when I found the Tarte palette, I thought that I had hit gold.... the shadows were very pigmented in comparison, and the presentation was really glam/fun and loaded with other goodies. The first layer was full-sized shimmery eye shadows. The second tier was matte shadows. The third tier was a generous lip palette, and the last pull-out tray was filled with gorgeous shades of blush, a very generous sized highlighter and bronzer.
Then my year of makeup-addiction really hit. In fact, I don't think I've bought any clothes, other than those that I absolutely needed, this past year. Any extra funds I have had this year has been allocated to makeup. I also sold several couture handbags to further fund this new-found obsession. Sometime in the summer, I discovered you-tube, and a light-bulb went off in my head at last. I finally begann to realize those subtler differences in makeup brands/products that take them from pretty good to truly professional quality.
A great makeup artist can (in my opinion) take any product and make it work to create a gorgeous look. However, the more exposure one has to products, the more one begins to have preferences for silkier textures, ease of blending, pigmentation, and all the qualities that make a product fabulous rather than just-good, or even, pretty-darn-good.
My Tarte holiday palette remains mostly unused. Though I initially loved the colors and pigmentation, I discovered that the colors have a tendency to blend away. Meaning, rather than holding their pigmentation, that, even with a good primer, multiple colors tend to become muddy when blended rather than maintaining the quality of pigmentation and brightness that one wants when creating a multi-dimensional look.
This year, there's a new Tarte palette, and likely this palette will sell out as well as last year's. The quality of the products is good - and if you are a person who only wants to buy natural products, then Tarte is a great product for you. However, if you want to use more than 2 colors on your eyes without losing the distinctiveness of each color and texture, I would recommend some different palettes.
The palettes that have consistently blown me away with - not only their quality - but their color choices, are the Kat Von D palettes. I managed to grab 4 of these when they were on sale last month, and I was so glad that I did. Each palette contains 8 shadows, which is a decent number of shadows for the price ($35.00). But the best thing about these colors is that they are chosen to complement each other. So in each palette, I might choose to use just a few colors, or I might choose to use 7 out of 8 of the colors - and not only do they look wonderful together, they maintain their distinctive qualities and over/under-tones even when blended out. The only thing that I personally found lacking in each palette (not a big deal, as a single purchase of a color such as Nyx's 'highlight' makes up for this) is that there are no matte highlight tones. Since most of the colors are at least satin - if not shimmery or even outright glittery, a good matte highlight is a necessity in my viewpoint.
Another palette that I am tentatively liking this year is the Lorac train case (pictured at top left). This palette is terribly constructed - but as my focus is much more centered on the quality of the product, I don't really mind as long as the product delivers. There are two eyeshadow tiers with 18 colors on each tier. One tier has warm-toned colors, and the second tier has cool-toned colors. The bottom tier has a few blushes and a bronzer as well as a collection of 9 lip colors. I am liking the velvety texture of the eyeshadows, as well as the pigmentation on most of them (there are always some that aren't going to be that great). However, in a recent effort to create a more natural look, influenced by Robert Jones' book: "Makeup Makeovers," I discovered that I was still going back to my Kat Von D palettte to use her bright, warm luminescent color 'tequila' over the two similar-looking tones available in the Lorac palette. Since having a luminscent color like this is a staple in any makeup afficionado's collection, it re-affirms my conviction in the quality of the Kat Von D palettes. However, I'll keep playing with the Lorac palette - and I'll get back to you with more on that later on.
One thing that I have learned, unquestionably, in the last year - is that the eyeshadow palette NOT to be missed, EVER, are palettes by Urban Decay. The quality, texture, pigmentation... every possible thing that one is looking for in an eyeshadow - IS found in Urban Decay palettes. I missed out on the Naked palette this year because I was short on funds when they were still available. Now, they're being hawked on ebay for over twice what the original purchase-price was. I am also sad that I didn't grab the Alice-in-Wonderland palette that was their Book-of-shadows equivalent last year. Not only do I love the quirky presentation (although in truth I would still have de-potted the shadows for convenience), the bright colors were truly gorgeous - some of them made just for that quirky palette. This year, I grabbed the Book of Shadows 3 as soon as it popped its colorful head up on Sephora. The colors are mostly more muted than the bright colors I tend to love, but they are still gorgeous, and the quality is still top-notch.
I wish that MAC would come out with some comparable palettes. Their collections are gorgeous, but definitely more pricey. I think I see an upcoming trend of more purchases made at the MAC store for 2011 (conveniently located right next door to Sephora at my local mall), and at some point, I would also love to purchase a Makeup Forever palette in those gorgeous hues that they are known for. However, a Makeup Forever 10-palette runs about 200, while a 15-palette MAC palette runs at 179.00... not a piffling spending habit for the gourmet makeup lover. There are less expensive alternatives (which I will get into in the next blog post) but at some point, I think every makeup lover has to add some MAC and Makeup Forever eyeshadows to their collection to have the full-experience. Happy Holidays - may your holiday season be filled with those gleeful chortles reminiscent of childhood-delights... at your favorite makeup counter/store!
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