Marc Jacobs Style Eye-Con No. 7 The Starlet (204) Plush Eyeshadow ~ 3 Looks & Review

The Marc Jacobs Beauty line finally arrived in Singapore just in time for the long-weekend and I decided to stop by Sephora Ion to have a look at it given the buzz it's been receiving.

If there's anything that I am sucker of, it is definitely eyeshadow palettes and let's just say I came home with a huge dent in my wallet because of one particular palette -  The Style Eye-Con No. 7 Plush Eyeshadow in The Starlet No. 204.

So why this palette instead of the infamous Lolita one? The first and foremost reason is because by Fri afternoon, there were no more Lolita palettes left in stock :( The Starlet palette itself is the last 3 they had. Now I'm not sure if this is a blessing in disguise since, honestly speaking, I do not need another neutral palette. The Starlet gives more breadth of colour since it has a mix of neutral and bright colours all in shimmery finish thus giving me the best of both world. The second reason is because Temptalia herself also gives this particular palette an A grade.

The palette comes in a sleek black box and a pouch containing the eyeshadow palette as well as a mini eyeshadow applicator which I most probably will not use (brushes, in my opinion, always apply shadows better compare to sponge applicators)



The palette consist of a huge mirror and 7 colours all in a metallic shimmer finish. From left to right:
Colour #1 - a taupe with a hint of metallic sheen
Colour #2 - a pink champagne shimmery colour
Colour #3 - a shimmery dark brown colour
Colour #4 - a shimmery coppery orange with warm undertone
Colour #5 - a yellow gold-ish metallic finish
Colour #6 - a silvery grey metallic colour
Colour #7 - a dark grey metallic colour

Below are some swatches in natural lighting:

1st row from left: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5. 2nd row from left :#6, #7

My video:

  

First impression:
I am a huge fan of the packaging - it's lightweight, sleek and easy to clean. This is definitely one of most good looking palettes I've seen :) The Starlet sure has a mix of everyday kind of colour as well as more daring colours.

Application wise:
All the colours have very good consistency - it is buttery, easy to apply and easy to blend. The colour payoff is also very good. What you see in the palette is what you get when you blend the colours on your lid. The only downside is the shimmer fallout, especially for the Colour #2 and Colour #5. I would suggest you either put a tape/tissue below your eyes while applying the shadows and do your face makeup afterwards to prevent lots of touch up for your face.

Some looks I've played around (check the video above on how the products and colours used):
Look 1

Look 2

 

Look 3

 

Overall review:
The things that I like from this palette is definitely the packaging and the colour consistency. The palette definitely is of superior quality and has that luxury feel to it which explains its price tag. The colours in my opinion are pretty flattering and easy to use/blend.

On the downside, I have to honestly say that I am not a huge fan of the price tag. I will not recommend this palette if you're looking for a value-for-money kind of palette. This Marc Jacobs palette retails for S$90 and comes with 7 shadows and a small sponge applicator; compare this to Urban Decay's Naked palettes which retails for S$83 and comes with 12 colours and a dual-brush.

Another downside is specifically linked to The Starlet palette. Given all the colours fall under the shimmer and metallic finish, I do feel the need to supplement this palette with matte colours, transition colours as well as highlighting ones. Although it's a compact and lightweight palette, I can foresee this will not be the palette I'll bring when I travel :( maybe I'll have a different story to tell if this is the Lolita palette...

All in all, whether this palette is a worthy purchase depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for a value-for-money palette, I suggest you skip this (maybe until there's a sale coming up) but if you're a sucker for packaging, a fan of Marc Jacobs or has tons of neutral palettes on hand, then The Starlet palette can be an alternative to consider beside The Lolita eyeshadow palette.

Sephora Mini Palette (Sephora White Card Member Birthday Gift) Product Review

One of the perks of being a member of Sephora on your birthday month is the free gift which you can redeem in store without any purchase required (yeah, I sound like a cheapo but let's be honest here - anything free is awesome don't you think so? haha)

So last week I decided to redeem my gift and I would like to share with you what I got - a Sephora Mini Palette.

 

 

The palette comes with 4 shadows, 2 lip gloss and 1 blush.

From top left to bottom right, below are all the colours:

1. Catherine NO3 - I guess I can describe this as a cool undertone grey metallic colour

2. Must Have MO4 - This is a rich black colour

3. Creme Caramel MO8 - Like it said it is a cream colour very close to my skin colour. I have the most problem with this colour since it never shows up on my eyelids.

4. Coffee Brown NO8 - This is a shimmery dark brown colour with a hint of red undertone

5. Rouge Shine 30 - A very pigmented shocking pink colour which you can either build up to a bright pink or use just a hint to give a stained lip look

5. Rouge Shine 05 - A pinkish clear lipgloss colour with shimmers

6. Exclusive Blush - A pinkish coral blush with no shimmer




First impression: I really like how compact this palette is and how it can fit 4 eyeshadows and 1 blush. Realise i didn't mentioned the 2 lip colours? This is because I do not like lip and powder products to be inside one palette because the powder most of the time will transfer into the lip products and stick there. 

 Application wise: 
I am not a huge fan of the pigmentation. For the eyeshadows, I am hugely disappointed by the cream colour as it does not shows up on my eyelids no matter how much I packed them on. The brown colour is also not as pigmented as how it is shown in the palette. The blush also takes quite a few pack on to really build the colour. The pigmentations I like comes from the black eyeshadow as well as the shocking pink lip gloss.

Overall review:

I will recommend you to get this palette only if it is free because I think you can get way better palettes than this if you're willing to splurge. If you're getting this palette for free like me, then get it (You gotta admit that any free palette from Sephora is something you should take ;))

The powder and lips in 1 palette thing again does not work for me here. The fact that brush is about the size or bigger than the colour pan surface really makes the powder fly around to the glosses. The brown one particularly goes inside the pink gloss pan and it's kinda gross (I think this is just a matter of preference, if you're cool with this, I'm glad to hear that :)) The pigmentation on most of the products are also a letdown.

If you'd like to see more details on the products as well as tutorials, do take a look at the link below:

Thanks for reading (and watching)!

NARS Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base Review

Let me just start with the fact that I have the OILIEST eyelids (and oily skin general) and an almost monolid eyelids (as such, my eyeliner can easily smudge)! The fact that I live in a humid place doesn't help either. I've been hearing good things about about the NARS eyeshadow base (misglamorazzi is an avid user) so I decided to try this product out. 

NARS Eyeshadow Base Packaging

The eye primer comes in a black and white packaging and has a sponge applicator. The product itself has a cream texture with a white color that turns transparent after blended into the skin. As for smell, it has a slight stinging chemical smell which I have never realized until I took the effort to smell it for this review. Guess the smell doesn't really bothered me...

Sponge applicator

What I can say is this eye primer works really really well on me. On an average, my eye makeup can last up to almost 7 hours without smudging and almost 10 hours with very minimal smudging. In addition, I do not need to use so many products for both of my eyelids. A little goes a long way. Compared to the other eye primers I've tried, which is Urban Decay's (both Original and Eden version), NARS definitely win hands down.

I can use this amount for both of my eyelids!

On a downside, I'm not sure whether this happens to other people who use NARS eyeshadow base, I find that after using this, I can no longer use my Urban Decay's. It's as if I'm now resistant to the Urban Decay's formula as it creases on me like crazy (even the Eden version one which is suppose to last longer than the original one creases after 3-4 hours). This does not happen before I start using the NARS eyeshadow base. My concern is that the NARS eye primer is too strong that I am resistant to any other formulas. Not sure if this is a good thing or not >.<

But overall, I will definitely purchase this eye primer again since this product by far works really well on my super oily eyelids =) For those with oily eyelids and have problems with eye makeup smudging, this is for you =)