A word on packaging, and why it matters

Dear Makeup Companies of the World,

Hi there, how's it going?  Not much new with me, save that I've been doing a lot of experimenting with your products over the last year, and have come to some conclusions about packaging that I feel compelled to share with you.

Packaging matters.  Not only does an attractive compact or case attract a busy shopper's eye in a crowded display, but it affects the way we as consumers use your products.  Case in point, Benefit blush:

Benefit's packaging definitely stands out from the crowd on a store shelf--I don't think I've seen another brand using anything similar--but the way one has to hold the box and brush in order to use the product is less than lovely.  When one uses Sugarbomb, or one of your other multi-colored shades, it requires a not-insignificant amount of physical dexterity to sweep the brush evenly around the face of the pan in order to pick up an even amount of each shade.  It's awkward, and while I like the product enough to keep it in spite of this flaw, it will make me think twice about purchasing another blush from your line.

Moving on to a design that works, let's examine the Naked Palette, and Naked 2

*sigh*  Urban Decay, you rock so hard.  As much as I love Naked 1, Naked 2 has stolen my heart, at least in part due to the really solid packaging upgrade.  From a luxe (but easily dirtied) velvet box closed with hidden magnets to a solidly constructed metal casing that snaps closed tightly but isn't difficult to re-open, you've managed to make an already appealing shadow collection even more desirable.  What's more, you upgraded the mirror to run the full length of the palette, which is incredibly helpful on-the-go or while traveling.

There's no awkwardness about the Naked Palettes, and that's really saying something given how difficult-to-use certain other palettes are.  Say, for example,

the Tarte for True Blood palette.  It's lovely, sexy, and visually stunning.  Everything that compelled me to buy this palette in the first place still screams at me from my vanity every morning, but actually using the shadows is a lot less fun than it should be. 

For one thing, they're all crammed together to the point that cross-contamination happens even when a shadow has barely been touched.  Plus, due to the way the shadows are organized, you're not just contaminating one or two adjoining shades--there are 4+ other shadows touching each pan here!  Doubleplus, the organization of this palette makes it difficult to figure out which shades should pair up together.  Some connections are obvious, but others...not so much.

And then there's the product that is priced high, but whose packaging feels like something out of Rite Aid.  Not to knock drugstore cosmetics at all--there are wonderful drugstore products out there--but in terms of a compact's feel, there's typically a big difference between a Sephora-level product and a drugstore one.  Tarte's Amazonian Clay blushes don't seem to know this, though, because in spite of their steep $25 pricetag and amazing quality, the compact feels $3.99 in my hand.  It's cheap, flimsy plastic that I seriously doubt would do much to protect the pan if it was dropped (please correct me if I'm wrong here--I have no desire to test this theory on one of my own blushes) and is difficult to open to boot.  No $25 compact should require me to sacrifice intact nail polish just to open it up.

And yes, Bobbi Brown, I'm also looking at you here.  Your Party Palettes are ridiculously difficult to open.  I use them plenty, so it's not a matter of breaking in the closure--there's a design flaw here that needs examined.

My point being, packaging matters.  I know you know this, and I know that you probably run zillions of focus groups just to figure out what kind of packaging will appeal most to consumers.  The emphasis on curb appeal to new buyers has to be balanced with usability for those of us who've already purchased the product, though.  Because when push comes to shove, I'm not going to spend another $40+ on a Bobbi Brown shadow palette next season, especially when I don't use the ones I have as often as I might due to packaging issues.

In conclusion, PACKAGING.

Urban Decay 24/7 Liners

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm a fan of Urban Decay's 24/7 eyeliners.  I'm such a fan, actually, that I currently own 10 pencils in a variety of shades and am planning to invest in more in the future.

Yeah, I have a bit of a problem with eyeliner these days.

The thing about eyeliner that's so appealing to me is that it can add another dimension to my eye makeup without being hugely obvious or flamboyant.  It can certainly be those things as well, but it doesn't have to be, even when I use a bright color, which is why I like it. 

My first foray into color was with the purple-toned Rockstar shade:

Rockstar is dark enough to look like a brownish black on the upper lid, but you can definitely see the purple when it's applied to the waterline.  It's almost nothing like its sister color, 1999, which is a much lighter and more vibrant purple with glitter:

1999 doesn't show up well at all on the upper lid when paired with shadow and mascara, but is great on the waterline.  I'm experimenting with wearing a line of black (either Urban Decay's Zero or my faithful Caviar Ink Bobbi Brown gel) at the lash line and a line of 1999 just above it to make the color a bit more noticeable.  So far, I like it.

I was raving about these liners to my mother last month when she was visiting, and she asked me to explain what made them better than, say, the $5 drugstore liners she'd always bought.  In terms of colors, I really don't know.  I assume that you can find dupes for pretty much all of Urban Decay's shades (perhaps not with the glitter) in the drugstore if you look hard enough.  For me, the difference is in application.  Even Clinique's quickliners don't go on as smoothly or with the kind of color saturation on a first pass that Urban Decay's do.

(Left to right: Rockstar, 1999, Yeyo, Stray Dog, Gunmetal, Zero, Underground, Demolition, and Bourbon)

I'm a mother with two very young children, and already get up before 6:00 every morning in order to get all of us out the door on time.  It's been hard to justify spending an extra 10-15 minutes on my makeup since I started doing more than swiping on a bit of mascara and lipstick before declaring myself done in the bathroom.  Going over my eyeliner more than once just isn't an effective use of my time.  The fact that Urban Decay and Bobbi Brown liners are pigmented enough for me to be able to make one pass and go makes them worth the extra cost in my book.

Urban Decay De-Slick

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've suffered from oily skin for most of my life.  My skincare regimen mostly keeps pimples at bay, but the oil still means that I still need to freshen up my makeup every 3-4 hours.  In the past I'd actually re-apply pressed powder every time, which did mattify my complexion but also had the unfortunate effect of giving my face a caked-on appearance by the end of the day.  Rice paper blotters were thus a godsend when I first discovered them in the late 90's, but I'd run through a package too quickly to justify the expense on a student's salary.

It wasn't until last Spring that I discovered Urban Decay's De-Slick products, specifically their mattifying powder.

I won't lie, the $32 price tag actually made me gasp the first time I looked at the compact.  For a powder that acts only to absorb oil, that is a LOT of money.  Still, I was desperate for something new, and I realized that if I got 6 months of use out of the pressed rice powder it was going to wind up being less expensive than the $6/30 packs of blotting papers I'd been buying.  So I took the plunge and haven't looked back since.

To start with, De-Slick Powder absorbs oil in a millisecond.  Just swipe the applicator puff across the product, pat onto the oily area, and voila, no more oil!  The powder residue does stick around for a few minutes, but doesn't give the cakey too-much-foundation look of multiple applications of regular pressed powder. 

The compact itself is the standard Urban Decay purple plastic, and (I think) it's the case that gives the powder its purplish hue in the pan.  On the applicator and the skin it's white, which is perfect for my ultra-fair complexion, but might not work so well on darker-skinned ladies. 

Overall I'd rate this one a must-have if you have oil control problems, though women who have darker skin tones would do well to swatch it on themselves before making the not insignificant investment.

Primers--You're Wearing WHAT on Your Face?

Primer is one of those beauty products that sounds like an enormous crock until you try it.  Then, suddenly, you understand why everyone is spending gobs of money on something that is invisible.  The Emperor DOES have clothes, and when they work they're awesome.

That said, some primers are absolutely not worth the money.  For the beauty newbie, here are a few things to keep in mind when you're deciding which primer to purchase.

• Smashbox is the heavy-hitter for facial primers, partly because it was the first.  
• Many, many beauty bloggers have talked about using Monistat anti-chafing gel (NOT the yeast infection treatment!) in lieu of Smashbox primer as it supposedly contains the same ingredients.  I haven't been brave enough to try it myself, but my skin is acne-prone and I'm always leery of new skincare products when the one I'm using works well.
• Urban Decay is the major eye primer brand--samples of Primer Potion are packaged with most of its palettes nowadays.  
• Both Smashbox and Urban Decay have undergone packaging changes in the last six months (Smashbox went from a pump to a tube and UD went from a little pot with a doe-foot applicator to a tube) and neither product is working the same way it once did for me.  More on that below.

The whole point of primer is to provide a layer between your skin and the product.  This layer will both prevent product from settling into your fine lines and pores (thus eliminating cracks and creases in your makeup as the day goes on) while also providing a grippier surface for the product to adhere to.

So, do they work?  Well, yes.  I started using facial primer (Smashbox, original formula) several years ago, and even though a 6 month supply was over $50, I kept buying it because it unquestionably helped my makeup stay on longer.  Even when I transitioned from mineral makeup to a tinted moisturizer I kept using Smashbox because it really worked for both types of foundation.  When I began using eye makeup more frequently I started applying Primer Potion (because it came with the Naked Palette) before my shadow.  I was so accustomed to using a facial primer at that point that I didn't balk at using something on my lids before applying a base color.  Like the original Smashbox, Primer Potion did exactly what it was supposed to: it kept my shadow from creasing, and it kept the product on my lids all day long.

Do they STILL work?  This is a somewhat tricky question.  There have clearly been formula changes, and they haven't necessarily been for the better.  The consensus on beauty blogs I read (and I can vouch for this myself as well) is that the formula of Primer Potion changed when they switched from the pots to the tubes.  I never experienced any creasing at all when I was still using my sample-sized pot, but have had issues with creasing (only when using my MAC shadows, oddly enough) in the last month or so since I bought the tube.  When I use roughly double the amount of product I used to there's no creasing, but any less and my eyes look like a hot mess by the end of the day.

As for Smashbox, I HATE the tube.  I find myself wasting a ton of product around the mouth of the tube, and the formula feels like it's separating when I squeeze it out.  I'm not seeing the same kind of chatter about this that I've seen about Primer Potion, so it could just be my bottle, but at $49 a pop I'm not likely to purchase another when my current supply runs out. 

Do you use primers?  Which ones?  I'm clearly in the market for something new, and imagine that I'm not alone in that wish.

Sephora Friends and Family--Counting Down the Days!

Sephora's annual Friends and Family 20% off sale is expected to begin in the next 2-3 weeks, and I know my online shopping bag is already filling up with goodies.  Purchases I'm planning to make include:

Bare Minerals refillable Mineral Veil brush--$15

• I've been a fan of the Mineral Veil since I first tried Bare Minerals back in 2008.  I used their complete line for a couple of years before switching to Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer and Tarte cheekstain, but I still love the Mineral Veil as a finishing powder.  At only $15, I'm willing to give this new delivery system a try.

Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes! Mascara

• I love, love, love this formula.  It adds just enough volume to my lashes (which are reasonably thick to begin with) and lengthens without making them look unnatural.  It's just a great product and absolutely worth the $19 pricetag.

Urban Decay 24/7 Liner Travel Set in Naked

• This set includes my daily favorite, Bourbon (shimmery brown), plus Zero (black), Demolition (dark brown), Underground (metallic taupe) and Stray Dog (silvery taupe).
• At $32 this is a great deal if, like me, you're looking to try out some new shades of Urban Decay's fabulous 24/7 liners without spending $18 for full pencils.

On my maybe list:

Tarte Starlet Limited Edition Makeup Vanity

• At only $52, this huge shadow collection seems like a no-brainer, especially when you consider that it comes with a full-sized tube of Lights, Camera, Lashes! which I was already planning to spend $18 to buy.  That brings the price of the palette down to just over $30!  I'm really hesitating to pull the trigger on this purchase after my disappointment with the True Blood palette, though.  Plus, I'm seeing some negative reviews about the pigmentation of the shadows.  This may be one I need to see in person before I buy. 

So what's on your "to buy" list this Friends and Family season?

Urban Decay Naked Palette--My Gateway Drug to Eyeshadow

Oh eyeshadow, how I love thee. If you had told me even 12 months ago that I would ever develop an obsession with eyeshadow I would have laughed in your face. Then I had my second baby, realized that my 20's were behind me, and decided to start putting a little more effort into my appearance. The Urban Decay Naked Palette was my ticket into a world of eye makeup that previously had both confused and intimidated me.

First, the UDNP has been gushed about and dissected on so many blogs and beauty sites since it made its debut back in 2010 I'm going to try to focus my review less on why it's the most awesome thing since sliced bread and more on why it was such a revelation to me, and why I think it's a good investment for anyone who, like me, has never really learned how to pick colors or apply eyeshadow.

The rundown:

• 12 warm neutral shadows ranging from a highlighter shade (Virgin) to black (Creep)
• Includes one of Urban Decay's most popular shades--Half Baked 
• Originally packaged with a 24/7 eyeliner in Whiskey (not available for individual purchase, which really irritates me) and a sample of Primer Potion, but currently packaged with medium-sized shadow brush and Primer Potion.
• Flattering with most skintones and eye colors

So what's the big deal?  I think for me (and I'm going to guess for a lot of women, based on how quickly the original NP sold out and how well it's continued to do since re-emerging on the market last Spring) the Naked Palette is appealing because it's so non-threatening.  Let's be honest: it's hard to inadvertently make yourself look like a clown when you're using neutrals.  Besides which (and this is critical when you consider my point about why the NP is a wonderful gateway shadow palette for makeup newbies)  because so many people went crazy for it upon its release, it's incredibly easy to find tips on how to combine the shades for a wide variety of looks that even a beginner can execute.  There are literally thousands of YouTube how to videos featuring the Naked Palette, and thousands more blog entries detailing how to achieve specific looks using it.  The Naked Palette is everywhere.

It helps that the palette mostly lives up to its hype.  The shadows themselves are highly pigmented, soft, and visually stunning in the box.  Because the Naked Palette offers such a wide variety of neutral shades pretty much every shadow is easily paired with several others in the box.   Most are either shimmery or glittery, and if there's one common complaint about the NP it's that there are too few matte shades compared to the number of glittery shades.  I've only experienced glitter fallout problems with one shadow (Sidecar, which I have completely stopped using after coming home from work several times looking like I'd thrown a jar of craft glitter on my face) though, so I'm willing to give the palette a big pass on the matte/shimmer/glitter ratio. 

Why it's a Must-Own for Makeup Newbies:

• Everyone needs neutral shadows.
• The NP is highly versatile and can create looks from completely nude (aka: why are you even wasting money on eyeshadow if you want to look like you aren't wearing any?) to a dramatic smokey eye. 
• The brush currently included with the set is a decent beginner brush, though it's really only for lids and doesn't work well in the crease.
• At under $50, you're getting a good return in terms of quantity and quality of product.

Caveats:

• As with any palette, there are shades on the NP that you simply won't use.  For me those are Sidecar (glittery taupe) and Creep (glittery black that for some reason refuses to blend in any way no matter which brushes I'm using).
• It is $48.  Given the brand and quantity of shadows included it's a good deal, but not everyone can or wants to spend that much money on one collection of eyeshadows.  Everyone is making neutral palettes these days, and while I'm a big fan of Urban Decay's, you can find decent ones for as low as $5 (ELF). 

In conclusion, the approachability of the Naked Palette, the ease with which I was able to find how-to videos that showed me exactly which colors to pair up and how to apply them, and the great formula of the shadows made this a Eureka product for me.  Since purchasing the Naked Palette I've gone on to purchase several other palettes from other brands, which I'll be discussing here in all due time, but the NP is still my one true eyeshadow love.