You had me at "Gold Sparkles"

I saw a promotional picture of Givenchy's Phenomen'Eyes Gold Sparkle mascara literally hours after I placed my massive Sephora Friends and Family order.  I had to have it, even though it meant paying extra shipping, and have been waiting anxiously for the last week for it to arrive.  I was really hoping to have it in time for Halloween, and sure enough it arrived tonight just as we were getting ready to leave the house for trick-or-treating.

Phenomen'Eyes is packaged in a very large, thick tube.  I'd say it's the diameter of my thumb, maybe a bit wider.  The wand itself is about as thick as your average eyeliner pencil, and the applicator is a small ball on the top rimmed with sharp spikes.  The glitter in the mascara itself is small in diameter, but not the micro glitter that you might see in a metallic nail polish. 

Surprisingly, the gold in this shade doesn't actually come from the glitter itself.  The glitter is multicolored, while the base is a bronze/gold.  Once on the lashes the glitter adds a subtle shimmer rather than a POP of glitter.

My hope was that Phenomen'Eyes Gold Sparkle would be something subtle I could wear either alone or over black mascara to add just a hint of festivity to my lashes. I'm very pleased to say that I wasn't disappointed.  I'd say this is perfect for holiday party wear, particularly for those who'd like to add pizazz to their otherwise conservative makeup.

Hooray for gold sparkles!

Toss the Gloss! Part One

In light of my recent Sephora purchases, I've spent some time this weekend culling my makeup drawer.  My goal was to get rid of products that I don't use or even really like, but the project had the unexpected added bonus of reminding me about things I really liked but hadn't used because they were tucked away behind my daily wear products.

I've always been something of a lipstick junkie, and have quite a few tubes that I didn't go through just because they're in various purses that I (again) don't use often, so these are mostly lip glosses that I've purchased either alone or as part of a set.  On the whole I've never been a huge fan of lip gloss, mostly because of the stickiness factor, and was pleasantly surprised by how many of these I actually liked once they were on.

From bottom to top:

• Smashbox Doubletake Lip Color in Mulberry
• Givenchy 18 elegant Rouge
• Smashbox Limitless Long Wear Lip Gloss in Endless
• Korres Liquid Lipstick--Raspberry Lipgloss
• Josie Maran Magic Marker Lip Stain with Argan Color Stick in Quickstep
• Josie Maran Argan Natural Volume Lip Gloss in Optimism
• Josie Maran Argan Natural Volume Lip Glos in Voluptuous
• Smashbox Lip Enhancing Gloss--Sheer Color in "Lust"
• Bobbi Brown High Shimmer Lip Gloss in Midnight Violet (from Party Palette to Go)
• Bobbi Brown Pretty Pink Metallic Lip Color (from Party Palette to Go)
• Bobbi Brown Plum Metallic Lip Color (from Party Palette to Go)

Smashbox Doubletake Lip Color in Mulberry

This is a double-ended pencil/crayon that includes both the lip color and a liner, which I like since I never know which color liner to choose with a new lipstick.  It's a medium-dark maroon color with pink undertones, and quite moisturizing.

Verdict: KEEP!

Givenchy 18 Elegant Rouge

A classically packaged lipstick, this is a moisturizing magenta red that has a lot of staying power (though feathering issues if lips aren't exfoliated well before applying).  I actually have two tubes of this color because I love it so much, so the verdict here shouldn't be surprising.

Verdict: KEEP!

Smashbox Limitless Long Wear Lip Gloss in Endless

 
As you can see, this is a very sheer gloss that really needs to be layered over something for it to provide anything other than a sheen on my natural lip color.  It's very sticky, as are most Smashbox glosses that I've tried, but the flip side to that is that it stays on forever.  I actually wore this from around 9:00 am through 4:00 pm yesterday without retouching once, even after a meal.  Amazing!

Verdict: KEEP!

Korres Liquid Lipstick--Raspberry Lipgloss

 
I'm really not sure whether this is supposed to be a lipstick or a gloss, but that point is moot because I hate it.  The color is incredibly intense raspberry pink which doesn't work well at all for my skin tone, and the application is just bizarre.  It goes on super wet--like soupy wet--but dries out my lips almost at once.  Plus, there's added vanilla-y scent that I really don't enjoy. 

Verdict: TOSS!

Josie Maran Magic Marker Lip Stain with Argan Color Stick in Quickstep

This product easily wins the "weirdest application" award of the day.  It's another double-ended product, with what is literally a magic marker on one end and a tube of chapstick on the other.  I actually remember disliking the color when I first got this one, but quite liked the medium pinky red when I tried it today.  My only complaint is that the marker left a bit of lint behind on my lips, plus an odd alcohol taste.  The argan chapstick could stand to be more moisturizing, but did the job of sealing the marker color well.

Verdict: Keep--for now

Stay tuned tomorrow for Part II!

Sephora Friends and Family--Protect Me From Myself!

I'll say it: I need a Sephora intervention. 

The annual friends and family sale started today, and I've been like a kid in a candy store.  A kid with a credit card in a candy store, at that.  I'm really excited about my haul (and will be doing swatches here, especially of the newer products that have just debuted) but it's a bit...large.  And expensive.  And large. 

Perhaps I can pass some of these things off as early Christmas presents to myself.

In any case, here's a rundown of my final haul:

 

Givenchy Phenomen'Eyes Gold Mascara: This was a total impulse buy, and there's at least a 50/50 chance I'll be returning it, but OMG look at how pretty it is!  I've always loved the look of Givenchy's mascara brushes (though I'm slightly concerned that I'll stab myself in the eye with one) and my hope is that the gold sparkle will be subdued enough that I can wear it over black mascara without looking overly glittery.  

Sephora Favorites--Give Me Some Lip: Another impulse buy, and another product with a high return probability.  I love the Tarte LipSurgance in Moody already (it's one of my daily-wear favorites), and I have a Smashbox lipgloss that I love and adore in Endless, but I've never tried their Fame shade.  The others look...okay.  I don't see myself wearing either the super nude Kat Von D lipstick or the peachy Lancome gloss, but we all know how different something looks in the tube compared to how it looks on the lips. 

NARS blush in Orgasm: Like the Naked Palette, what more does one need to say about NARS Orgasm blush that hasn't already been said?  I have yet to try this supposedly universally flattering shade, so I'm giving it a whirl, and don't expect to be disappointed.  If I am, there's always the fabulous Sephora return policy!

Bobbi Brown Cool Party Palette and Party Palette: I fell in love with early swatches of these palettes, and actually had them both in my shopping bag on bobbibrown.com as of October 19th because they weren't coming up on Sephora's website.  Thankfully I checked for them one more time before I placed my F&F order because sometime overnight they'd been added to Sephora's stock!  After much rejoicing in the streets (actually a happy dance in my bathroom, where I was huddled with my iPad at 6:00 am on the first morning of the F&F sale) I was able to save $20 off the original price of both palettes.  Hooray!

Sephora Standing Brush Set: I don't actually have a good blush brush anymore (cheekstain has been my friend lo these many months since I started wearing makeup again) and had heard reasonably good reviews of Sephora's eyeshadow brushes.  Even if they're not wonderful, this will make a good travel set.

So what did you haul?