Hello lovelies!
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving (if celebrating) and are currently reveling in your post-Feastivius activities, be it recovering from the food-coma or braving the general public and shopping!
Friday was the infamous Black Friday and per usual, all of my favorite stores are had their sales. It is both a makeup-junkie’s heaven because OH LOOK AT ALL THE PRETTY MAKEUP THINGS THAT I COULD BUY SINCE THEY’RE ON SALE …and it’s a makeup-junkie’s curse because CRAP, I DON’T HAVE ELEVEN-BILLION DOLLARS I CAN SPEND. DAMN MY ADULT RESPONSIBILITIES TO BILLS AND STUFF. I mean, come on… am I right?
This Black Friday (*cough cough* I mean the whole 4 day weekend) has been kinda nice since I planned everything out a few months ago and started stashing some cash away for the Magnum Opus of all sales. I kicked things off with actually braving the crowds at ULTA on Thursday night. Now, before you go jumping on me about IT BEING THANKSGIVING and how I’M AN EVIL PERSON FOR SHOPPING ON A HOLIDAY, please understand that this is the first time I have EVER gone shopping on Thanksgiving and while it completely sucks for everyone who has to work the holiday – I had to too when I was working as a receptionist for a few years. It’s funny how people forget that jobs at the movie theatre, various fast food establishments, policemen, doctors, prison guards, and basically EVERYONE ELSE in the human services industry has, at some point, had to work on a holiday. The goal for shopping during these times is to NOT BE A DICK! Give them a compliment, don’t just say “I’m so sorry for you.” It’s rude and they already know what they’re doing. … okay I’m going off on a tangent rant so I’m going to stop now. Sorry about that.
Anyways, while my hubs was braving the masses at Target, I was standing outside ULTA waiting for the doors to open. It was an interesting experience and the surrounding conversations were… umm… definitely colourful. I kid you not, there was one lady talking about how awesome her vagina was – in a not so subtle voice, either. I just figured it was free entertainment and I had a good chuckle. I got there at 7 because I read the ULTA website wrong and thought that the doors would open at 6pm…. but in fact they didn’t open till 8pm – so I waited ever-so patiently in line for about 50 minutes. Yes it was cold, but for the first time EVER I was grateful for my Vogmask because it kept most of my face nice and toasty-warm – it also seems to make people give me a wide birth since they assume I am a plague-monkey. I managed to be the 8th person in line which was awesome.
The doors opened and OMG it went from a peaceful line of people to an absolute madhouse. People were pushing, I caught a few elbows, and it was like the world was ending so everyone had to make a mad dash to the hair spray – in case they run out. I quickly made my way to where they were keeping the LORAC exclusive palettes – which was what I was there for in the first place – grabbed my two, noticed that they were having a mad sale on some Bed Head shampoo, grabbed two and as I was walking to the checkout line I passed the Katie Perry lashes (which weren’t on any kind of Black Friday sale but were buy one get one 50% off) so I grabbed two. Checked out with my goodies and was out of there in less than 5 minutes. As I was leaving, the store was already sold out of the stuff I bought, most of the Doorbuster Deal tables were completely empty and the store was so loud and packed I was glad that I was leaving.
[hr]::LORAC Mini Palette Reviews::
As stated above, the whole reason why I wanted to go to Ulta was for the LORAC-exclusive palettes. They were only $12 (Valued at $110) and came in a shimmery palette (SULTRY STARLET) and a matte palette (VINTAGE VIXEN). For the price, I couldn’t beat it. It looked like it was going to be on par with Urban Decay’s Naked Basics palettes (which I love) and having something small that I can tote with me is always helpful in a pinch.
Sultry Starlet:
At first glance, the packaging is very pretty. It has a lovely red damask pattern on it and the colors looked really vibrant. The only downside to these LORAC mini palettes’ packaging is that it is cardboard, which means if it get’s wet or something, it won’t look as pretty as a plastic palette would.
One thing that I wasn’t very keen on was the fact that these shades were not named. I guess it doesn’t really matter but when it comes to listing products that I use in looks and tutorials it is kind of annoying.
The shades in the Sultry palette are all satiny-shimmers with exception of the golden-yellow color which has some bits of glitter in it.
SULTRY STARLET COLORS: (from lightest to darkest, aka opposite order of the picture above)
- Shade 1: LIGHT CHAMPAGNE –
- Pros: It’s a very nice highlighting shade for the brow bone and you can probably get a way with using it very sparingly on the high points of your cheeks. It has a very nice shimmer.
- Cons: Super thin coverage, I had to apply about 2-3 sweeps of product to get the swatch that you see below. A little chalky but not too bad.
- Shade 2: ROSE TONED CHAMPAGNE
- Pros: Love the color! It’s great for any kind of subtle/natural eye look.
- Cons: None.
- Shade 3: YELLOW GOLD
- Pros: The coloring is nice, I like the yellow-toned gold color.
- Cons: I was really hoping that this would be an awesome color but it is SUPER sheer and there are chunks of little glitters in it that go everywhere. It’s also so chalky and hard to apply. If you foiled it, it would be awesome. I guess it would be a good color to lay overtop of something else – like the next darker colors.
- Shade 4: LIGHT, WARM BROWN
- Pros: Super Pigmented. Lovely coppery shade that is silky smooth to apply. I really like this color.
- Cons: None
- Shade 5: DARK, RED-TONED BROWN
- Pros: This shade is very pigmented as well. And is pretty smooth when applying, plus it blends out nicely without going everywhere.
- Cons: May stain a little if not using primer or some sort of base.
(These are swatched over Too Faced Shadow Insurance.)
Overall, I give the Sultry Starlet a rating of 7/10. It’s nice to have a small, shimmery palette for on the go and the colors are mostly very easy to work with – with the exception of the gold color. The colors are very good for multiple skin tones, too.
*****
Vintage Vixen:
The shades in the Vintage Vixen palette are completely matte, which is lovely.
VINTAGE VIXEN COLORS: (from lightest to darkest, aka opposite order of the picture above)
- Shade 1: LIGHT CREME:
- Pros: Such a lovely nice color that is basically the same color as my natural skin tone.
- Cons: Very, very sheer. It barely shows up on my arm when swatched.
- Shade 2: LIGHT ROSEY-WARM TONED NUDE:
- Pros: Very nice transition color for blending out the darker colors in the crease.
- Cons: Pretty sheer and a little chalky.
- Shade 3: CARAMEL BROWN
- Pros: This is a lovely blending out shade or overall lid color.
- Cons: It can be very sheer when applying if you’re lightly sweeping through the pan.
- Shade 4: BURGUNDY-WINE REDDISH BROWN
- Pros: I LOVE THIS COLOR! The is my favorite color out of both of my new palettes. It’s creamy, super-pigmented and a dream to apply.
- Cons: None
- Shade 5: DEEP BROWN
- Pros: Very easy to blend or smoke out. Satiny texture and very easy to work with.
- Cons: None.
(Swatched over Too Faced Shadow Insurance)
Overall, I give the Vintage Vixen palette an 8/10 rating. I love that this little palette has a deep red/burgendy color included, rather than your standard nudes. If you are pale like me, you can use the two lightest shades as a highlight or color to help blend out darker colors to your natural skin. (If that makes sense.) I think this palette is perfect for the upcoming holiday season.
*****
All-in-all, I am glad that I snagged these two palettes from Ulta’s Doorbuster Deals and I intend to actually film a tutorial using each for holiday looks soon!
Did you manage to snag one or both of these palettes? What do you think of them? Let me know in the comments and as always – have a friggin’ awesome day!
XOXO,
-Jae
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DISCLAIMER: The items featured in this review were purchased by me and all opinions are 100% my own.
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