Colourpop "Golden State of Mind" Eyeshadow Palette - Swatches and Review

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Purchased item at Sephora.

I never quite hopped on the Colourpop bandwagon. I liked the idea of on-trend, inexpensive makeup (who doesn't), but my first order from them left me feeling a bit underwhelmed. The packaging was flimsy, which I expected, and the Super Shock Eyeshadows were quite glittery, which I didn't. (And totally my own fault, for not carefully reading the actual copy on the website.) At least I wasn't charged customs and taxes, like a lot of Canadian orders are.

After that, I was tempted to re-order when they finally came out with their pressed eyeshadow palettes. When kept coming out with more, banking heavily on the FOMO inspired by constant stocking issues and the trend-driven, five-minute attention span of current consumerism, I was a little put off.

Then they announced they were developing a partnership with Sephora, for a limited series of items. Despite the initial head-scratcher of pairing a budget brand with a high-end powerhouse retailer, I was all for it. It would be good exposure for Colourpop, and it would serve as a gateway brand to bring in a younger and thriftier clientele to Sephora. From a customer perspective, it would also be a hassle-free purchasing experience, including the possibility of returns. 

With that said, I'd be really curious to see if the product returns put a dent in the sales for both companies. If this was my first experience with the brand, I don't know that I'd be a convert. (Aside from my first mediocre experience, I also have a couple of palettes I ordered from the CP website, so that'll give me a better overall feel for the brand.)

On to the actual item I ordered: the Golden State of Mind Eyeshadow Palette.

The packaging is adorable. I'm really entranced by nice exteriors, I'll admit, so that's actually a big factor for me. It's cardboard, yes, but it doesn't feel especially lightweight or cheap, and the design is really pretty. 

The eyeshadows themselves look gorgeous. They are very metallic, with a few odd duochromes. They all have glitter, some more than others. The texture varies between thick and crumbly (like the silver shade in the top row), and very smooth and creamy.

They are also absolutely useless applied dry. The fallout is laughably uncontrollable. I had to bust out my stickiest primer and a glycerine spray, and they were admittedly stunning applied like that: foiled, metallic, reflective beauties.

They unfortunately did not last on my eyes, creasing and fading within 5 or so hours. And there was STILL freaking glitter fallout at the end of it.

But they ARE some of the most beautiful eyeshadows I've ever used. These swatches were done after spraying with Smashbox Primer water, because that's honestly the only way I'd suggest wearing them.

Golden Egg: pinky beige with turquoise glitter

Pay the Piper: icy blue

GRLFRND: pink with violet glitter

Zero Clue: vibrant warm yellow

Watch Out: golden ivory with pink glitter

Drizzle: icy baby pink

Uptight: rose gold

Can't Stop: icy champagne ivory

Sparkler: silvery bronze

Unsupervised: pink champagne

Lust in Time: medium cool rose

Mind Tricks: icy blackened purple

Wing Woman: red brown with green and gold glitter

Heads or Tales: icy cranberry

Tinker Time: blackened antique gold with blue glitter

So would I recommend these? Sure, if you:

- Really, really love glitter. Like, you long for the 90s, when we would literally roll ourselves in glitter from a tube.
- You're willing to put some work into applying these.
- You're going out for a few hours and long wear isn't an issue.
- You're going somewhere where the lighting will flatter the dimensional shimmer on your eyelids (daylight isn't actually the best, flattening the sparkle).
- You don't mind paying 33$ CAD for all this.

Personally, I'm taking advantage of that Sephora return policy.

Specs: 15 x 0.98g for 26$ USD - 33$ CAD (compared to, say, the Yes Please palette, which is 12 x 0.85g for 16$ USD - 20$ CAD).
Availability: Sephora.com, and a few in-store locations in the US and Canada. Also now at www.colourpop.com.

Kat Von D Serpentina Palette - Review, Swatches, Face of the Day

Purchased at Sephora.

Contains an affiliate link.

The Serpentina Palette from Kat Von D is a classic case of "I want to love you."

Swatched on clean, un-primed but moisturized skin.

Without a doubt, it's s stunner. Kat Von D's branding is unique and instantly recognizable, and yet it also clearly evokes the theme of Ancient Egypt. If I'm to nitpick anything, it's the bulkiness of the packaging, especially in comparison to her other palettes. I get that it was done to accommodate the pigment jar, but I wish they'd thought of a more elegant solution - especially since that jar also means that the palette is best stored flat, or risk having gold pigment get everywhere.

The shades are stunning, as well - brilliant jewel tones and murky, glittery earth tones. One could quibble about the lack of transition shades, but that's a lazy criticism. Chances are, if you're buying a palette with this kind colour range, you're not the type of beauty junkie with a dearth of browns and taupes and camels in your collections.

They look good. Really, really good. I just wish they were as easy to apply.

Bloodmilk is the one I was most concerned about. I knew going in that vegan eyeshadow formulations could be especially challenged by red tones, but this one hit it out of the park. Over a primer, the colour packs on true to pan, and blends out without a hitch. And it looks GOOD. I always think of red as the kind of shade that best suits blue or green eyes (and an otherwise youthful countenance), but there's something about this particular shade that doesn't make me look a couple of decades too old to be indulging in all-nighters.

Medusa and Ankh have the kind of micro glitter that makes the eyeshadow feel a bit gritty, and difficult to blend out. Medusa is the smoother of the two, with a dirty gold base colour that is just beautiful. I wish they were a satin (or metallic) formulation.

Queen and Hieroglyph, on the other hand, are smooth, creamy, densely pigmented and very easy to work with. Hieroglyph has a slightly flakier texture, but I didn't find it to impact application.

Nile is the biggest disappointment. An incredible rich blue in the pan, it has a dense but crumbly texture when swatched, and applied choppily, with heavy fallout. It's a serious pain to blend out as well.

Scarab has a similar texture and application to Queen and Hieroglyph, and is a stunning colour to boot.

Venom has a texture similar to Bloodmilk, but doesn't build up as well. Like many purples (especially mattes), it tends to look dusty and faded on the lid. As a crease shade, though, it's workable.

Prophet is my second favourite shade from the palette - a rich old gold with a hint of green, that can be used as a glimmer wash all over the lid when applied dry, or as a burnished metallic highlight when applied damp.

These are the two looks I was able to create using this palette.

Here I used Nile and Scarab on the lid and lower lash line, with a halo and inner corner highlight courtesy of Prophet. I also used the cooler tones from the Shade + Light Eye Contour Palette for the crease, lash line blending and transition.

For the warmer look, I used Bloodmilk in the crease, Ankh on the lash line, Queen in the outer corner, Hieroglyph through the middle and Prophet in the inner corner, mirrored in the lash line. Again I pulled the warmer tones from Shade + Light for the transition and blending out. 

I think the end results are pretty and surprisingly wearable, but the blue look especially was a challenge. For 57$ CAD, I want a palette that's not only beautiful, but a dream to work with - and this is not that.

That said, I'm loath to return it, because, for some reason, it still speaks to me.

And now that I think of it, maybe being gorgeous but demanding is somehow perfectly appropriate for a palette that so strongly evokes the spirit of Elizabeth Taylor's Cleopatra. ;)

Kat Von D Shade & Light Eye Contour Palette

Purchased at Sephora.

Affiliate links.

I love seeing women succeed, and Kat Von D has been killing it these last few years. Her brand started out smelling of a vanity project, but she's really made it into a stand-out, with an aesthetic that is both authentic and distinctive.

I'm not much into contouring, so the first iteration of the Shade & Light palette passed me by. I was much more enthralled with the Eye Contour version - even though I already had the Viseart 01, the OG of matte neutral palettes.

The packaging strikes a great balance between practical sleekness and gothic whimsy and I very much appreciate the shades being named both on the exterior box and on the back of the palette itself.

Random aside - from some of the pictures Kat has posted on her Instagram, I got the feeling that she was into some version of the occult. Usually the name choices in her brand reference music, art and literature, but this palette is definitely magickal in tone.

(Specifically, some of the shade names are those of demons listed in the Ars Goetia, one of the books in the Lesser Key of Solomon , while others are the names of archangels in Talmudic lore. Very fitting for something named "shade and light", and Kat gets a fistbump for working in references to a freaking 17th century grimoire. )

Three Books of Occult Philosophy by Henry C. Agrippa
The Key to Solomon's Key by Lon Milo DuQuette

The palette itself is laid out in a user-friendly manner, with three functional "quads" - one more neutral, one cooler, one warmer. Each has a larger pan of a light base shade, a medium contour (or transition) colour, a dark defining colour, and a pale highlight colour. 

You can mix and match across the board, but the way the shades are arranged makes the palette very accessible for a makeup newbie trying to build a cohesive eye look. 

They very nicely include a guide on how to do all that:

There's also a very convenient mirror in the lid, something that's sometimes lacking in cardboard-style slimline palettes, and a magnetic closure.

The shades are matte, with the three palest having an incredibly subtle satin finish, barely perceptible as a sheen once applied.

Mattes are some of the trickiest formulations to nail. Pigmentation aside, the real secret is getting the texture right. Too soft, and they can blend away too easily, or be hard to layer with other eyeshadows. Too firm, and they can be difficult to lay down and build up.

These strike a near-perfect balance between smooth and dense. I had no issues getting these eyeshadows to do what I wanted them to do. Haze out a soft transition? Easy. Build up a serious smokey eye? No problem. Deepen a crease with perfect accuracy, or soften the edge of a winged eyeliner? Done and done.

If, like me, you were just "meh" about the face contour palette, you might be pleased to know that Lazarus (the grey brown transition colour) is aces for shading out some faux cheekbones.

Laetus - looks more yellow cream in the pan, but actually applies as a bone colour. Probably has the firmest and driest texture in the palette, and one of the sheerer applications. It's great, however, for dusting all over the lid after a primer or cream base to given an even base, especially if you're of a similar colouring to me. If you're deeper, it'll probably be underwhelming.

Samael - a neutral brown mid-tone, a true workhorse shade.

Solas - a deeper version of Samuel, wonderful for sculpting out the crease and the outer corner.

Lucius - a beige-tone off-white, I especially like this for giving a bit of lift to the eyebrow arch without adding shimmer.

Lazarus - a greyed-out, pale brown. Another workhorse shade, which on lighter complexions works beautifully as a face contour.

Saleos - a deeper, cool-toned brown, excellent for sculpting in those shadows. If you have dark hair but have a hard time finding an ashy eyebrow powder, this might work for you as well.

Shax - it's, well...black. Nothing much to say, except that it's very easy to work with. I love it for going over my wing liner to lock it in and keep it matte, and unlike some black eyeshadows, the formula doesn't smudge or drop down debris.

Liberatus - ever so slightly off-white, no chalkiness. I'm pretty "meh" on these kind of colours, so I mostly just wish it was shimmery, but it does what it does.

Ludwin - a hybrid of soft terra-cotta and melon, this is a shade I didn't realize I was missing in my eyeshadow wardrobe. It's perfect for saving a smokey eye that has gone all drab and tired looking, and I like to use it as my softest, most hazed out transition colour to build up an eye look. (When I'm fancy like that.)

Succubus - a muted brick with a bit of burgundy, this shade is especially stunning with blue and green eyes. Like Ludwin, a little of this smudged in the crease perks up a neutral eye look.

Sutry - a deep chocolate brown, a rich and lovely alternative to black.

Latinus - a warm creamy white, this one has the most sheen visible, as well as the richest pigmentation of all the highlighter shades. It's my favourite for that purpose, though it also looks very nice as a base all over the lid, brightening without being stark.

All in all, a very practical and beautiful palette. If Michelangelo was a) alive, b) really into contour, he'd have a field day using this thing to sculpt some faces. If I were to tweak it for my own personal liking, I would have given the highlight shades just a touch more sheen, but YMMV.

Lise Watier Expression Spring 2015 Collection

Press samples.

By the time it actually feels like Spring, it's time to bid the seasonal collections goodbye. (Oh, Canada.)

So here's one last hurrah for the Lise Watier Expression Spring Collection, as summer waits in the wings.

The packaging on this collection was a vivid splash of colour, a bit of playing around on an artists palette (and totally connecting with the desire to see some bold, beautiful shades after a grey, dreary, never-ending season).

Doesn't this blush look like something you'd see from a plane, flying over the southwest United States? So pretty and original, but still graphic and unexpected (read: non-floral) for Spring.

The three different shades of the Expression Blush Trio (38$ CAD) are a little tough to separate out, and I tend to either focus my brush on the right side for a more coral-peach look, or more on the left for a warm pink.

The texture is soft and velvety smooth, and actually a bit powdery when picked up with a brush, but it looks very natural and texture-less on the cheeks. It has some sparkle in the pan and a bit swatched, but comes up as gently glowing on the cheeks. Very flattering, and almost more of a summer type colour, at least for me. It can be built up very easily for a punchier look over (faux) tanned skin.

The Expression Eyeshadow Palette (42$ CAD) just delighted me as soon as I opened it. Combine teals and olive greens, and you've made me the happiest camper. That said, I don't think this palette actually works all that well by itself, unless you happen to like pastel eyes. But it's perfect for integrating some much-needed colour and pairs well with the embarrassment of neutral palettes I have in my collection.

The formulation here is the same not-quite-cream-not-quite-powder that has been featured in the last few limited collections. It feels really plush to the touch, and some of the shades swatch especially nice, but I find the application can be a little tricky, at least as far as blending the colours together goes. Sometimes they don't buff out or build up particularly well (the mint green was particularly troublesome in this respect, remaining sheer and almost chalky), but they do look amazing once on the lids, with a glow that's not overly metallic or shimmery.

The teal and the olive are by the far the standouts in the palette, and I would easily buy those as singles. The mint is the weakest, as I said, and the peach is almost a little dry and faded when applied. The gold is oddly chunky, kinda thick to apply, but is works as a highlight.

Lasting power is average/good, maybe 7 hours before I see some fading (over primer).

This is a fairly simple but bright look using the palette, and a barely-there application of the blush. I managed to use all the shades on the eyes, going from yellow on the inner corner, through mint and teal on the lid to the outer corner, with the olive deepening the crease and smudged into the lash lines. I used the peach very lightly as a transition shade.

The summer collection is coming out soon, but these guys are still available at Lise Watier counters. (And if not, keep an eye out for the online warehouse sale in the fall, as past collections tend to pop up regularly.)

(Items were provided by the brand. This post is not sponsored or otherwise compensated.)

Kat Von D Innerstellar Palette

Purchased item.

So at this point I pretty much auto-buy anything Kat Von D. There have been some misses, certainly (the mediocre Holiday palette, the underwhelming lipstick re-launch), but more often than not, I dig it. And honestly, KVD herself is growing on me, even though she has had some equally unfortunate missteps (see: her gross affair with Jesse James, the "Celebutard" controversy). She just seems so grounded and actually sweet in her tutorials, and genuinely passionate about her brand. Her instagram is also chock-full of interesting bits about art and literature, which is not at all what I had in my head about her.

ANYWAY.

On to the Interstellar palette (55$ CAD at Sephora).

Pretty, right? I love the groovy packaging design, and I was drawn to the cool-toned, neutral-leaning shades, balanced by a glimmery lilac and vibrant eggplant purple.

Performance-wise, most of the shades are spot-on with the quality I've come to generally expect: soft, creamy, not overly dense, but well-pigmented and blendable, lasting a work day over primer without fading. But there are a few exceptions.

The most iffy shades are actually in the first "quad" in the palette. The ice pink being a bit sheer and powdery, so while it's not a shade that I'd apply over a larger area, it works for the tear duct area, and has enough iridescence to add a duochrome flash to a colour layered underneath. The cool taupey/plummy brown is great, an easy satin-finish shade that's perfect for the crease. The shark-grey is maybe a bit sheer as well, but otherwise lovely.

The purple, however, was my biggest disappointment. It has super choppy payoff, and fades out like you wouldn't believe. To get it to show up on the eyelid, I had to use primer AND concealer AND a setting spray to wet the brush, and it still showed up more ashy than it does in this swatch. If you're buying the palette with this shade in mind, don't. There are definitely better options out there.

But then if you're in it for the cool neutrals, you have some great ones in the middle quad. All of these are beautifully textured. LOOK AT THAT PEWTER. The lilac is gorgeous as well, especially layered over the gray.

The final quad is good too, with the vanilla satin being the weakest, but for a brow bone shade it's actually just right, as it blends out the transition shade without adding extra frosting. The shimmery taupe is perfect, and the silver is out-of-control pigmented, definitely the richest feeling shade as well. The black is about average, pigmented but a touch choppy, but nothing daunting.

The purple fail and a couple of quibbles aside, this is a sweet little palette that could fill a hole in your collection if you need cooler tones, especially those mid-toned crease and transition shades (seriously, FOUR taupe/medium brown shades here, albeit all with different textures and finishes).

It's probably not one I'd recommend as a starter palette (not quite enough variation, since everything leans to one side of the spectrum, and heavily favours the medium shade range), nor would I urge the serious makeup aficionado to prioritize it, since they'd probably have these types of colours already. If you're a KVD collector, on the other hand....well, I don't have to convince you, since you probably already do have it.

My personal feeling is that I probably loved it a lot more initially, but that bust up with the purple broke my heart a bit. That said, I do find myself reaching for it quite a bit when I'm looking for that perfect crease colour.

I have a couple of looks here to show you how it applies. The one on the left is a typical cool-toned, work-appropriate, classic eye look, which this palette is perfectly suited to. (I've also rocked out a fantastic grungy, silver smoky eye with it.)

The picture on the right was my attempt to get the purple to show up with some kind of vibrancy (with grey contact lenses for some added contrast). I'm sure someone with more skills could put together a more flattering look, but it doesn't change the fact that's it's a righteous mess to work with, and actually started looking grey and faded within a couple of hours. (No such issues with the rest of the palette.)

Have you guys tried Interstellar or any of the other KVD palettes? What do you think of her line in general?

(I purchased this item. This post is not sponsored or otherwise compensated.)

Pupa Spring 2015 Sporty Chic Collection - Graphic Eyeshadow Palette and Velvet Matt Cream Eyeshadow

Purchased items.

SPRING IS HERE.

No?

Well, eff it, let's pretend.

I'm diving deep into all the pastels I can find. I ran across the Pupa Spring display at Jean Coutu a few weeks back, and all those beautiful lilacs and apple greens called to my soul. I had to get a few bits from the Sporty Chic Collection - especially an incredible-looking cream shadow in a shade I've actually never seen before (and crossed my fingers it would show up as vibrant on the eye as it does in the jar).

The vibe here is giving me a flashback to the 4th grade (mid 80s, to save you the math), which is admittedly not a time period I'm usually inclined to revisit. And yet...I'm having the sweetest wave of nostalgia right now (bolstered by these kind of articles). Preteen me would have given this palette a place of honour on her dresser, right next to her bottles of Exclamation and Electric Youth.

The actual colour palette reads a little less obviously 80s, though. A little Twiggy, maybe?

Either way, it's beautiful. All of the eyeshadows have the same ultra-fine, smooth texture, creamy but thin in the way of the Maybelline Color Plush eyeshadows. The pigmentation is semi-sheer, but intentionally so, not due to chalkiness. To me, these are fantastic layering shades, as they all have some degree of opalescent shimmer that sits so well on top of a deeper base, though they can still be used by themselves. Wear-time was surprisingly good for chiffon-light shades like this, about 8 hours without significant wear and tear, though with fading. (Over a primer or cream base.)

I think veils of colour like this feel very modern right now, especially for spring. I'm kind of tired of the very contoured/defined/transition shade/3-point eye looks that are Instagram staples right now.

If you're going to get something from this collection though, it HAS to be the Velvet Matt cream eyeshadow in #003. This is truly incredible. Purples are notoriously difficult to get right in terms of texture and payoff, but a pastel-hued version in a matte cream formula? That truly is a marvel.

This applies perfectly true from jar to skin, and can be used fully opaque without creasing or bunching, and can be buffed out without going patchy.

And the colour...LOOKIT.

I really don't think I've seen anything quite like it, especially not in such a top-notch formulation. I didn't need to use a primer under it, and it lasted 8 plus hours without budging, cracking or fading.

I did a quick look using these guys, drawing from both the Twiggy/60s/Mod side and the current Korean-inspired Spring makeup trends. 

I used the Velvet Matt as a base on the mobile lid and lightly buffed into the crease, and then layered the lilac shadow on the lid, with the pale pink in the centre of the lid. I used the apricot through my crease. I then worked a Sephora Contour Eye Pencil in the shade #37 Caipirinha Dreaming' into the lower lash line, and then buffed the chartreuse shade over that. The pale lemon yellow went into the inner corner. I finished off the eyes with little wing courtesy of the Le Métier de Beauté pen liner, and a couple coats of Make Up For Ever Smoky Lash mascara.

To keep on-trend with the radiant, "just had a facial" skin, I applied a crapload of moisturizer, used the Make Up For Ever Smoothing Primer, and then applied the Clarins Everlasting Foundation using a buffing brush that was dampened with a glycerin-heavy toner from Nuxe. A bit of bright Delizioso Pink blush from Milani on the cheeks, and then loads of balm and a swipe of Quince from Bite Beauty on the lips, faded out to the lipline for a juicy effect.

I'm digging it.

I know Pupa is hard to get in Canada - I can only find it here in Jean Coutu stores. Have you guys seen it anywhere else?

(I purchased all the items. This post is not sponsored or otherwise compensated.)