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Celebrate 15 Years of Color With Urban Decay’s Anniversary Palette

If you’re an Urban Decay fan who has almost given up hope on tracking down that elusive, highly-coveted Naked Palette in person, maybe it’s time to consider moving on to a new must-have set of shadows! If you can believe it, Urban Decay is 15 years old (hardly ‘senior citizen’ status in beauty brand terms, but an accomplishment nonetheless) and it’s celebrating in the best way the brand knows how — more beauty loot! The special 15 Year Anniversary Palette includes brand-new shadows (15 of them, of course!) with both the pretty, shimmery neutrals like those in the Naked Palette as well as the funkier, bolder shades like Deep End and Junkshow that made the brand such a stand-out from the start! Aside from the impressive variety and balance of lights and darks, what I really love about this palette is that unlike many of its “biggest hits” and “best-seller” sets, this one is really for the junkies who already have all those shades and are looking for even more Urban Decay goods to collect! Be sure to grab this one before it’s all sold out like Urban Decay’s previous hit palettes!

– Alex Gambardella for TheFind
This has been a guest post by our partners at TheFind. I do not receive compensation for this post.
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Window Shopping – Sephora

Please tell me I’m not the only one who does this? I like to go to my favorite sites like Sephora, Ulta, etc. and just browse. Sometimes I even fill up shopping carts and “pretend shop” – I don’t actually order the stuff (I’d spend thousands of dollars lol…) but it’s just a fun thing I like to do. I’m not alone, right??? 


Anyway, I thought…this might be fun to share! Here are the things that made me go “ooo” when I was browsing Sephora tonight.

Oh hello there. What have we here? It’s the new Smoky Palette by Makeup Forever. It’s not yet available; it has the dreaded “coming soon” on the Sephora website. However, it’ll be just $45 which is a steal for 8 MUFE shadows. This went immediately on my Amazon wishlist!
And then there’s this new Sinner palette from Kat Von D. Kelsey (BalmaholicTV on youtube) told me about this baby. It looks really pretty, and apparently none of those shadows are those godawful cream shadows! This one is $35, and also not yet available – but that won’t stop me from putting it on my wishlist too. I will say that even though there are purples in this palette, I think I like the looks of the MUFE palette better.
This caught my eye a few days ago but I went back to look at it again and it’s still just as beautiful. Josie Maran has released 3 new eye quints (4 shadows and 1 shadow liner). The one pictured above is my favorite, called Beautiful Nudes. Don’t they just look like they’d be soft and buttery to apply?! They’re $36.
I have been wanting to try this since I heard of its release – the Philosophy Purity Made Simple cleansing oil. I have so much skin care that I’m trying to finish up though, I haven’t justified it. But I will get my paws on this eventually! Just you watch. I LOVE Purity Made Simple (the original, not the foaming or the wipes), so I’m anxious to see if I love this as much. 
Behold, the cuteness. A Hello Kitty shower cap. I’m not a huge shower cap person; I usually just use disposables. But this is adorable. The reviews say it’s sturdy and not a throw-away type thing, which is good since it’s $16. But what really caught my eye about this shower cap is the memory I have associated with shower caps. I used to have a white one with rainbow polka dots. My cat Sienna was just a baby at the time, and every time I’d put on my shower cap she would FREAK OUT, arch her back, and run away from me sideways while hissing with all her mighty kitten-ness. I wonder if she’d like this one better?
…plus bonus picture of Sienna, who is much more grown up and less afraid of shower caps now. ;)
A couple of other observations while browsing on Sephora:
WTF? Why is this Stila palette $75? This is coming from the makers of the blockbuster palette that was $20 at Costco? I are confuse.
Ooo, pretty shiny things – Nails Inc. is now available at Sephora. PRETTY. Have you tried any of these polishes? I’d love to know your thoughts. They’re a UK brand and I haven’t tried them before.
Did any of you pick up the Urban Decay 15th Anniversary palette? I did. I haven’t played with it much yet, but I wanna know what you guys think. Do you love it? Do you notice a difference in the new eye shadow formula?
That’s it for now! What have you been eyeing at Sephora lately?
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Brief Impressions – Sigma Bare, Dare, and Flare Palettes

Recently I’ve been ranting a lot about Sigma. I’m sorry if that seems obnoxious or too repetitive to some of you, but I just have some major issues with this company. But, I was interested in seeing what they would be doing with their booth at IMATS. As far as I know it’s their first time at IMATS (right??). I know it’s their first one at IMATS LA… anyone know if they’ve been at the past shows in other locations?

Anyway. The booth really wasn’t that exciting. They weren’t selling anything – just had some samples of their products out to look at, and information about their affiliate program (eyeroll). I guess Tiffany D was doing some makeovers or demos or something but I wasn’t there when she was (which is unfortunate because I think Tiffany is lovely and would have liked to meet her).

Towards the end of the show, I finally made my way over to the Sigma booth to check out the eye palettes. I swatched some of the colors, and I wanted to give you my brief impression of the palettes from playing with them at the show. I didn’t talk to anyone at the Sigma booth and frankly I felt awkward being there because the girls were all too busy taking pictures with the bronzed hunk from the South Seas Skincare booth instead of, you know, talking to me. No, seriously. I mean you’d think they’d want to talk to someone wearing a press badge? So I didn’t stay in the booth very long because I was annoyed.

I tried to be as unbiased as possible even though I don’t care for them overall as a company. I actually like some of the shades quite a bit. I was surprised to see that the majority of them have very nice pigmentation. Here are the quick swatches I was able to get:

Please note that you can click that image to make it larger. I felt like these swatches were a pretty good cross section of colors from all three of the palettes. That deep dark black is from the Bare palette. I believe it’s called Shine, and it has glitter in it. That shadow was actually really lovely with excellent pigmentation. A truly good black is often hard to come by from budget brands so I was happy about that.
The brighter colors (the lime green, the teal, and the purple under the teal) are all from the Flare palette, and I liked those, too. Their names are Oversee (teal), Define (lime) and Allure (purple). The orange (Grasp from the Dare palette) was also pretty pigmented. Some of the lighter, more matte colors can barely be seen on my hand and would need a lot more packing on to get much impact on someone of my skintone and shade, but I think it could be done. 
As you can see, some of the more matte colors don’t have quite as much impact. But matte colors are tricky and often don’t swatch well. Without playing them more like actually using them in an eye look I couldn’t say for certain if they were much good. 
Overall I’d say if you usually use drugstore shadows you probably will be happy as a clam with these. They’re on par with brands like NYX, in my opinion. For $35 you get the shadows and one double-ended brush, which is a decent deal. However if you’re used to using products from higher end makeup brands you will probably find these lacking. They take a little more finessing to get high performance out of (stickier bases, maybe even a colored base to get more impact). If you’re a pro or a product snob (hey I say that with love!) go ahead and skip these.
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Urban Decay Fun Palette Review

You can always count on Urban Decay to bring it when it comes to bright, fun, exciting eye shadow colors. The Fun Palette for Summer is no exception!

Click to view full size!

The Fun Palette invites you to try out your wild side with some bold, daring colors mixed with some can’t-go-wrong neutrals. The shades included are:
Woodstock – bright pink shimmer
Baked – bronze shimmer
Uzi – metallic silver with silver sparkles
Sin – champagne shimmer
Flipside – electric teal with blue sheen
Psychedelic Sister – bright purple
The palette also includes a mini 24/7 eyeliner in Oil Slick (black with glitter) and a mini primer potion (the original). I haven’t seen it online anywhere yet but other palettes in the series of Feminine, Dangerous, and Fun retail for $34 each, which I think is a great deal for 6 shadows, a liner, and a primer! 
For me, this palette is almost a complete love connection. Here’s what I think, more in-depth:
Packaging – Perfect. It’s funky, fun, and very Urban Decay. The palette isn’t too huge and chunky (I hate it when packaging is too needlessly HUGE), and very sturdy.
Eyeliner – Oil Slick is not the blackest black in the world, but the sparkle shows up. I’m fair, so the fact that it isn’t super duper black is okay with me. 24/7 liners have excellent staying power. I wouldn’t use this on the waterline though, because of the glitter.
Primer – What can I say about primer potion? There’s a reason I haven’t been without this product for literally years. It’s a failsafe primer that keeps me creaseless. The. End.
Shadows – Here’s where I have a little tiny, tiny beef. With Uzi. The rest of the colors are glorious. They shimmer, but aren’t obnoxious. Sorry to say though, Uzi is obnoxious. Two words: GLITTER. FALLOUT.  The base color itself is quite pretty but there is chunky glitter that wound up all over my cheeks. If you are using Uzi, you may want to apply something like Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy under it to keep it in place better. I have yet to try this myself, but it stands to reason since Pixie Epoxy gets more adhesion from loose powders, maybe it’d get the glitter to stick better. The rest of the shadows though, are really really really nice. 
If you don’t have the colors in this palette, I’d definitely say go for it. Not sure what to use Woodstock shadow for? I know a lot of people are shrugging at a bright pink shadow like that. Well, if you get really stuck, there’s no reason why you can’t use it as a fun blush. The color is buildable though, nothing to be afraid of! ;)
So would you give the Fun Palette a try? 
Palette was a gift from Urban Decay.
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Bobbi Brown & Tibi Join Forces To Create the Peony & Python Palette!

If you thought purple eyeshadow was a color only your grandmother was allowed to even attempt to wear, think again! Makeup mastermind Bobbi Brown uses cult fashion label Tibi as inspiration for her latest eyeshadow set, the Peony & Python palette, which boasts a cool combo of lilacs, lavenders, and grays for an overall look that’s part classy and part edgy, just like Tibi itself. It’s subtly sparkly and feminine, yet offset with richer, moodier hues that can make for a cool purple take on the smoky eye. The six shades — Cool Cashmere, Angora, Lavender Metallic, Silver Chain Shimmer Wash, Plum Orchid, and Eclipse — are the perfect balance of sheer shimmery washes and more concentrated liner shades, and the set includes a mini eyeshadow and smudge brush for touch-ups on the go. Encompassed in a cool peony and python printed case, designed by Tibi exclusively for Bobbi Brown, it’s equal parts girly and rocker-chic, definitely making it one of my favorite cohesively-themed palettes I’ve seen lately!

– Alex Gambardella for The Find



This is a guest post by our partners at The Find. I received no compensation for this post.
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Inglot Eyeshadows

I finally got off my lazy ass and went over to Fashion Island to explore the Inglot store. I know, I know, what was taking me so long? I don’t know either. :) I did haul a bit, but that was kinda to be expected since HELLO it’s Inglot. But you know what? You can haul on Inglot now too! If you’re in the U.S., they now have e-commerce. YAY. Check it out at http://www.inglotusa.com!

I ended up getting a filled 10-palette of eyeshadows, which might sound like it cost me a fortune but I assure you Inglot shadows are very affordable. The 10-pan palette is $20 if you buy it by itself, but if you buy it filled it drops to $5. And the more shadows you buy, the cheaper they are. I got square pans. If you get 1 or 2, they’re $7 each. Already way cheaper than a MAC shadow…but it gets even better! If you buy 3 to 9, they’re $5 each. Then finally if you get 10 or more, they’re just $4.50 each. So for $50, you get 10 eye shadows in the palette. Not too bad considering for 10 eyeshadows plus a 15-pan palette at MAC you’re looking at well over $100.

Inglot shadows come packaged in little plastic clamshells like Stila and mark. pans do.

Adding even more to the value of Inglot shadows, they’re 2.7g or .09 oz of product. If you’re wondering how that compares to other shadows, MAC pans are 1.5g or .05 oz. MUFE singles are .08 oz, but will set you back $19 each. So basically, you are getting a lot of eye shadow for your money.

Plus, these palettes are better made. They’re extremely sturdy plastic, and held together with VERY strong magnets. They’re also stackable! So if you wanted to put 3 or 4 palettes on top of one another and just one lid on top, you could do that. Except honestly I do not recommend it because that would be HEAVY. These have some definite heft to them. They are much thicker and stronger than MAC palettes. If you are a makeup artist wanting to exclusively use the Inglot system, you might want to invest in a case that has wheels! ;)

Empty Inglot 10-shadow palette
See what I mean? These have some thickness! Rawr.
I love how the lid is translucent so I can see what shadows are in the palette. For now I just have one, but in the future when I have others this will be awesome.
And now for the shadows themselves. I purchased 10 shadows that represent 3 of the 5 finishes (DS or Double Sparkle, AMC, Pearl, AMC Shine, and Matte). I got DS, AMC, and Pearl shadows. I tested tons of shadows though, and there weren’t really any stinkers in the bunch, texture-wise. The Double Sparkle formula is actually really awesome as far as glitter goes. 
I tried to pick a good representative of cool, neutral, and warmish shades. I’m happy with every single one!
Top Row L to R: AMC Shine 35 (white), AMC Shine 36 (cool silver with reflects), and Pearl 444 (TAUPE!)
Bottom Row L to R: DS 482 (Blurple with pink/blue shimmer), Pearl 434 (cool plummy taupe), Pearl 423 (reddened plum brown)
Top Row L to R: Pearl 419 (khaki but not too golden with pearl), Pearl 397 (the top picture of the whole palette is more color-accurate; it’s a pinked beige with pearl that looks way prettier swatched than in the pan)
Bottom Row L to R: DS 457 (warm rich chocolaty brown with gold sparkle), DS 461 (neutral beige with gold sparkle)

Today for work I just did a quick look with P397, DS457, and DS461, and I am extremely happy to report not one fleck of fallout. No, really. I applied the shadows mostly with a MAC 239 brush. No. Fallout. And very pigmented! I will do swatch photos soon, but I wanted to get this up right away because I’m just so excited to share the pretties with you! I checked back over the Inglot website and I must say the product swatches on their site are pretty accurate. In the past if I ever saw a shadow that had a matte base but lots of added glitter, I’d RUN. But these are very nice. I used a slightly tacky base (Urban Decay Primer Potion) and not one speck of glitter fell onto my cheeks. AWESOME. 
So far I’m definitely on the Inglot bandwagon. I can’t wait to play with these more and give you a full report on the colors soon. If you have any questions that I haven’t covered here please don’t hesitate to leave a comment and I’ll do my best. :)
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Stila E! Live From The Red Carpet Collection

You guys know what a Stila palette junkie I am. Well check out these babies! A fresh new collection from Stila. Perfect for spending that xmas money! These palettes continue in the trend of pairing eye shadows with exclusive convertible color shades, but also include all over shimmer in Kitten. There are three palettes, and they all look really pretty. Each was designed by makeup artist Sarah Lucero, and include a tutorial to get a glamorous look!

The Stila “Breathtaking Beauty” Palette
Shadows: 
Cinema – pale nude
Best Picture – shimmery lavender
Film – black with shimmer
Academy – pale gold
Theater – shimmery brown
Drama – rich purple
Convertible Color in “Breathtaking” and All Over Shimmer in Kitten are also included. As if that weren’t enough, Stila is including a Lip Glaze in Guava (not pictured) with the palette too!
The Stila “Stunning Starlet” Palette
Shadows:
Paparazzi – pale pink
Red Carpet – soft burgundy
Hollywood – espresso brown
A List – shimmery beige
VIP – shimmery violet
Backstage – pewter slate
Plus Convertible Color in Stunning and All Over Shimmer Powder in Kitten. Also, the bonus with this palette is a tube of Glamoureyes mascara. I haven’t used this myself, but Bren over at So Much Pretty says it’s amazing. I’ve seen her lashes in person, and I’d have to agree!
The Stila “Glamour Goddess” Palette
Shadows:
Glitz – pale golden beige
On The List – pearly beige
Golden – warm gold
Flash – light peach with shimmer
Star – bronzy peach
Glam – deep bronze
And… you guessed it, Kitten All Over Shimmer powder and Convertible Color in Glamour. The extra goodie with this palette is a Smudgestick in Lionfish.
These beautiful palettes are just $25 each! That’s an incredible value! Will you be picking any of them up? I have my eye on the Breathtaking Beauty palette (purples? me? yeah, who guessed) though Stunning Starlet looks great as well. I just have a feeling that Glamour Goddess would be way too warm for me, though it looks lovely. 
These palettes are available now at Stila and Ulta.
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Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Pop – Green Eyes

I know these have been out for a while, but don’t we all love swatches? :) There are some things I like about this palette and some things I don’t. Anyway, I won’t babble… here is the Physician’s Formula Shimmer Strips Pop in Green Eyes. Of course, you can use these colors on any eye color… but yeah. You can click the photos to view them much, much bigger.

So here you go. You get 9 eye shadows. PF suggests these are three trios in one palette, and if you get intimidated by palettes with tons of colors this is a good way to think about it. The skinniest ones are meant to be liners. The palette comes with a kinda unique-shaped applicator that I haven’t seen elsewhere. It could be used for lining or for applying shadow. Nifty! It’s not particularly soft but not too terrible either. I used it to do my swatches. 
At the top of this picture there’s the best example I got of the duochrome in the “white”. It’s a white shadow that flashes green. Pretty cool looking.
That last liner in the palette is really disappointing (bottom of the photo). It is quite sheer and went on a little patchy. I’d suggest using that one wet, maybe? The two kinda yellow-greeny colors are very similar. They’re not identical, but to me they feel kind of redundant. 
My overall feeling is that this palette is fair. You get a lot of colors. A couple aren’t that great, but there are some really pretty ones too. That turquoise is gorgeous, and the white/green duochrome is really unique. There are some colors that you don’t typically see in drugstore palettes these days. Some disappointment for me is that all of the colors have the same finish and depth. Same finish isn’t that big of a deal but there’s very little contrast, since the “dark” liner is essentially useless. 
Do you need it? I am not saying no, but I’m not saying rush out and buy 6 either. They are a little on the pricey said for drugstore brands at $10.95 apiece, but if you have coupons or there’s a BOGO, you might enjoy this palette for some new colors.
Sample provided for editorial purposes.
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Free Stila Palette Today Only!


Purchase one of the five Stila Fashion Week Sets and get a FREE Stila Pro Artist palette! The code is NYPRO. The pro artist palette includes six eyeshadows: Kitten, Prize, Sparkle, Grand, Lucky, and Moxie. The latter three shades are exclusive to the palette!
Moxie is such a gorgeous purple!

These fashion week sets are absolutely gorgeous and fabulous deals. Check ’em out!
Betsey Johnson Look
Jenni Kayne Look
Lela Rose Look
Rebecca Minkoff Look
Whitney Eve Look
Each kit is only $40, plus you get the Pro Artist Palette! Want to get in on this great deal? Shop Stila!
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Urban Decay Black Palette Swatches

Amidst all of the insanity over the Urban Decay Naked Palette and Book of Shadows III, UD quietly released its new Black Palette as well. It’s not yet available from UD’s website, but UKers can order it from Debenhams and those of us in the USA can order from Sephora. This palette is limited edition.

As you can see the palette contains 6 dark smoky shades of eyeshadow, the ubiquitous (but ever so popular) 24/7 eyeliner pencil in Zero (black) and a mini Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden. Eden is the new matte nude shade. I’ve tested it in a Sephora store and I wasn’t wild about it. If you’re very pale, you’ll need to be very careful about applying this because you’ll be able to see it on your skin, so if you don’t blend around your eyes etc. it’ll show up and look awkward. Personally I prefer the original sheer/invisible UDPP.

Sephora also recently posted a (holiday?) gift set of mini UDPPs including a new UDPP color called “Greed” which is described as “pearly gold”. What I really wish is that they had done a Perversion UDPP. Perversion is their matte black shade. A black eye primer would have been a smashing addition to this palette don’t you think?

But here’s why you’re really here…the swatches! These were graciously provided by perfumesheep at MUA. She swatched them over UDPP (the original) on NC20 skin. As always, you can click to view them full size.

R to L: Sabbath, Black Dog, Cobra, Libertine, Jet, Barracuda

For more fabulous product images and to see swatches over Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy (they look AMAZING) check out Lipglossping.

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