Palette Parade Check-In: Urban Decay Neutral Custom 6-pan

Not sure what the Palette Parade is? Check out this post here.

Sorry guys, this is a fairly tame one. This week I used the Urban Decay custom 6-pan - the pan came with my favorite blending shade, Walk of Shame, and I added Virgin, Tease, Laced, Buck and Secret Service. Very matte, very basic.

How basic is this? So basic. 

I had planned to use it with some Geek Chic singles but I was rushed for time a lot this week and the loose format of the Geek Chic singles mean you really need time to put down a sticky primer like Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy - and there's not a lot of room for error once that stuff is on. (I'm going to try and do a swatch-and-review soon on Pixie Epoxy. That stuff is wonderful and a little scary with how long it lasts.)

Given that, I spent most of the week with my face looking like a variation of: 

Basic face is basic. 

Lipstick is Urban Decay's Gash, which is exclusive to their website

I really wish Naked Basics had a few more shades in it - if it was this palette, plus Crave, it would probably be my favorite thing ever. One of the very nice things about Laced is that it doubles as a blush for me and Buck can also work as a contouring shade - which makes this palette very versatile for me, as it's more than just eyeshadow shades.

Additionally, I feel like the Urban Decay single shadows are a bit overpriced at $18 each - MAC charges $10 for pans, the shadows in Urban Decay's own palettes break down to somewhere around $4 a pan. It really provides an incentive to purchase palettes where you can. That said, I like the build-your-own palettes. I wish Urban Decay had gone with a less bulky way of managing the packaging, think of how much space we could save with something more like a naked pan and it would have less plastic, less to ship, and less expense!

We had a sunshine-lite week last week but I did finally manage to get black shadow comparison swatches. Expect to see them on Wednesday!

Next week's Parade Check In: Naked 2 or Smashbox Full Exposure. I haven't decided yet. 

Palette Parade Check-in: Sugarpill Heartbreaker

Hey there! Checking in with this past week's palette: Sugarpill's Heartbreaker.

Not sure what the Palette Parade is? Check out this post.

Sugarpill Heartbreaker Palette

I'm kind of a completist. I want to have all of the the options at my fingertips, if there are options to be had. I initially bought this palette with that in mind. I liked the purple (2AM) and blue (Velocity) shades in it and figured the lime green (Acidberry) and mint green (Mochi) wouldn't see much use. How wrong I was. That green shade? Is amazing as in inner corner highlight and that mint green blends like a dream.

I really enjoyed using this palette this week. Unfortunately, I spent so much time playing with it most days that I didn't have time to set up good photos for you guys - especially in the suddenly-bright and then suddenly-dark weather of Seattle's standard spring. 

Not very helpful, is it? 

I did get some decent photos on two days and I'll share those with you guys here. 

On my first day using these, I was worried that I was going to wind up with a week's worth of looks that were so similar to what I got from Sweetheart - which I very much liked but were overwhelmingly blue and intense. I think the purple in this palette is what really rounds it out and makes it capable of softer looks, if you need it to be.

 

You can kind of see the similarity to the Sweetheart look here.

(Lipstick is Urban Decay's Obsessed)

That same day, eyes open: 

Indoors, it was a very soft look, which was not the case with Sweetheart.

When you throw the green into the mix, you get something that really pops but doesn't scream that you're wearing neon shadow:

 

I think this looks completely different with and without glasses. Sorry about the brows, we're having a tussle over control of the shape. The brows are winning. The eyeliner (Sugarpill's Royal Sugar loose shadow and MAC Mixing Medium) miss is thanks to a ready-to-leave four year old. :)

See? Glasses seem to make the purple crease seem stronger. 

(Lipstick is Urban Decay's Catfight)

I'm kind of surprised to say this, but I think this may wind up being my favorite of the three matte palettes from Sugarpill. I'll have to do a showdown between this and Burning Heart at some point and see but I see lots of use in this palette's future. The mint shade as a lid color really ties together and grounds brighter purples, blues, and greens. Acidberry brings a color that can't be matches, which really helps keep the colors in this palette firmly out of 80s-theme-day territory. 2AM, the purple, is just red enough to play well with Velocity, the royalest of all blues. Like every other Sugarpill shadow I've put my hands on, these all blend amazingly and can be packed on for intense color or blended out for a soft wash. 

You can pick these up from Beautylish like I did, from Sugarpill directly, or Makeup Geek's store for $32 (shipping varies.) Shades are available in the palette or individually.

Do any of you want reviews on the Urban Decay Revolution lipsticks? The line was revamped not too long ago and a few samples wound up dragging me in - the shade range really fills the gaps that MAC seems to miss, cool-toned mid-range and not-red shades. 

Coming up this week: a new black-shadow face-off - will Makeup Geek's Corrupt out-black Blackout? 

Ellis Faas Skin Veil in S101

I finally got my hands on some Ellis Faas Skin Veil in S101. At $90 a bottle, available from Sephora and Ellis Faas directly, I had some high hopes for this shade as I had been told that it was "paler than reasonable." In fact, Ellis Faas doesn't even keep samples of this shade available because they consider it too pale for common sampling.

I will say that the finish on this medium-coverage natural-finish foundation is astounding. It doesn't glow too much, it isn't too matte, it feels great on your skin. If you have a shade match in this foundation and don't cringe too much springing for a $90 foundation, I would highly recommend this one. It has the finish that so many other brands promise and truly delivers on a flawless face.

Unless, like me, the lightest shade looks like a yellow-orange mask on your face. As I have mentioned, winter light in Seattle isn't the best for photography, so  apologize in advance for the weird shadow on the face photo here. I wanted to take a better arm swatch photo but I also wanted it to match the previous ones so you could really compare them if you went back to my large swatch post of paler foundations, so this is taken in exactly those conditions.

From left to right: Jane Iredale Glow Time BB in BB1, Ellis Faas Skin Veil in S101, and NARS Sheer Matte in Siberia

As you can see, this is pretty close in shade to NARS Siberia. If Siberia is too yellow but not too dark for you, S101 might be your shade. 

Ellis Faas Skin Veil S101 (and MAC Huggable Lipstick in Rusty)

As you can see, like Siberia it's just a hair too dark on me, which is most unfortunate because the finish is astounding. The medium coverage here is not buildable, in my opinion, so if you need a full coverage foundation I'd look elsewhere.

This is a great foundation, alas just not my color. 

Palette Parade: Sugarpill Cold Chemistry

Hello! I'm sorry to have missed all of last week - things were a bit hectic and I'm not caught up enough to have posts queued in advance. I'm going to jump right back into this week with last week's Palette Parade check-in: Sugarpill Cold Chemistry. See my first post on the topic, Palette Parade, for guidelines and general information.

This week's palette was Sugarpill's Cold Chemistry.

At first glance, I was worried I wasn't going to get a lot of versatility out of this one and I have to admit, the first few days I was very heavy-handed with it it. This is a very pigmented set of shades - the lighter looks I did this week were a single tap of the brush to the shadow smoked out with a blending brush to create a lighter look. At this rate, I expect this palette to last approximately forever.

Definitely a keeper, this palette will create some very bold looks and some incredible smoky eye looks. I'm going to put my favorite two looks outside the jump and then the rest of the week behind the jump. 

This look was created using only Diamond Eyes (the white shade) and Soot and Stars (the glittery black shade.) One of my favorite daytime smoky eyes ever.

This heavy-handed purple look was early in the week and is only Diamond Eyes and Elemental Chaos.

Ellis Faas Milky Lips in L201 "Ellis Red"

Let me start off by saying I'm very picky about lipstick. I want it to either not smell at all or have a gentle or soft enough smell that I don't mind - soft mint sometimes works, vanilla is a safer bet. I want it to last most of the day, I don't like constantly fussing with my face when I'm out. I want the ingredients to be something I wouldn't mind terribly appearing in colored frosting for my kid's birthday cake. I want vibrant, versatile colors with nice pigmentation and easy application. I ask a lot from a lipstick. I want it to do all of that and generally be $20 or under - it's a tall order.

Ellis Faas had my attention because their Skin Veil foundation, while too dark for me, feels amazing on and lasts pretty well all day. I figured I'd try one of their lip products to see if they're worth the $35 price point - a Givenchy lipstick price point. The short of it? They're not.

Sleek packaging is great but you also need the color to be a reasonable approximation of the description (for this one, "blood red" - my blood isn't orange but maybe I'm doing it wrong.) It should also be able to last decently without transferring to everything in sight - this transferred to my hand, my phone, my face when my hair blew in the wind, my kid while we were shopping today, and every drinking vessel I came in contact with for the first few hours. As you might imagine, this meant that the lip... liquid? It's not really a stain if it doesn't last and it's not a lipstick. It's not a gloss, either. I have no idea what to call this stuff ... didn't last. It was a patchy mess an hour in and I sheered it out with my finger so that I didn't have to mss with reapplication and an hour later, that was a patchy mess again.

Here's a swatch on my arm:

Ellis Faas Milky Lips in L201 Ellis Red

On the left, as it applies.
On the right, what it looks like when you even out the application with the brush.

It's not what I'd call blood red once it's actually applied but it doesn't look terrible here, although the application is uneven by nature - you can't smooth this stuff out. Then I put it on and all of the orange tones came out to play:

Ellis Red on my face

Not what I wanted or expected from something described as "blood red." Worse, within ten minutes of taking this photo, I noticed feathering on the edges - even though I used a clear lip liner.

If you're looking for something that's more gloss than stain but it somewhere in between, this might be the thing for you. It had no discernable odor, which is great and rare in something gloss-adjacent. Beware the color descriptions - seek out swatches if at all possible.

This product is not vegan - it contains carmine. Have you noticed that the ingredients on higher-end products tend to not be as healthy or non-hydrogenated as some mid-range lines? The ingredients for this product:

Hydrogenated Polydecene, Isododecane, Hydrogenated Styrene/Isoprene Copolymer, Dicalcium Phosphate, Hdi/Trimethylol Hexyllactone Crosspolymer, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Polyethylene, Propylene Carbonate, Octyldodecanol, Candelilla Cera, Prunus Domestica Seed Extract, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Silica, Tribehenin, Tocopherol, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Sorbitan Isostearate, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Palmitoyl Oligopeptide. +/- May Contain: Mica, CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 77491/77492/77499 (Iron Oxides), CI 75470 (Carmine), Red 7, CI 15850 (Red 6/Red 7 Lake), CI 73360 (Red 30 Lake), CI 45410 (Red 28 Lake), CI 45380 (Red 22 Lake), CI 42090 (Blue 1 Lake), CI 19140 (Yellow 5 Lake), CI 15985 (Yellow 6 Lake)

Worse than all of that - at the end of the day, my lips feel like I've been standing in a wind storm. It's going to take some serious repair to make them feel soft and happy again and that's just with one wear!

For me, for the price, this just isn't worth it, sorry to say.

(I purchased this product for my own use. I think I've mentioned before that no one send me free stuff for blogging - all products so far are my own and nothing else. :) ) 

Ellis Faas website product listing - also available from Nordstrom and Sephora online. 

Sugarpill Burning Heart and Sweetheart

Pre-post alert! Sugarpill is having a sale, today (Monday Feb 17) only on most of their website. I picked mine up from Beautylish but 20% off is a pretty great deal, especially given that these are already well-priced! 

Hello folks! Sorry for the disappearance, my computer crashed and then when I replaced it I lost the font I had been using on my photos, which I had picked up on a specific kind of license and ... okay, boring. Moving on!

While I was away, I picked up these wonderfully pigmented Sugarpill palettes. They're so wonderful, in fact, that I have the remaining two Sugarpill palettes on the way. I didn't swatch because there are lots and lots of swatches of these available but what you don't see much of are looks that someone actually wore outside of their makeup application area. So that's what I have for you today after some product photos.

Sugarpill Sweethart (left) and Burning Heart (right)

After the jump, more product photos, two Burning Heart looks, one Sweetheart look, and my Valentine's flowers. 

Foundation Final Round! A Winner Emerges!

Sorry for the delay in posting, I've been having some computer troubles.

I figured that this foundation was going to be a long shot. You might remember in the swatches and the Jane Iredale BB cream in BB1 looked yellow compared to the others. It looked like it wasn't going to be a match at all. Turns out, I was so, so wrong.

First up, the packaging on the BB cream isn't anything astounding - it's more convenient for throwing in my bag to head to the gym, though.

Jane Iredale Glow Time Full Coverage BB Cream

Here's the day one face test for shade BB1, indoors in natural light:

Look at that - it matches my neck, chest, and hairline! It doesn't look dry, it doesn't look overly shiny which is what "glow" usually equates to. The coverage is definitely full. It has a titanium-dioxide sunblock (25 SPF UVA/B full spectrum) built in and my skin feels amazing when I wash my face at the end of the day. I've been using this for two weeks now and my skin has never looked better, which wasn't something I figured a foundation would do. There is a very light sweet herbal scent which makes sense given the number of extracts in it: white tea, green tea, aloe leaf, grapefruit, bitter orange, apple, sunflower seed oil, radish root, honeysuckle. I only smell it when applying and I have a very acute sense of smell.

For a more matte finish, you can layer the Pressed Mineral foundation over the top. My shade match is Ivory (neutral undertones) but they have a variety of undertones available in a fair-to-light pressed powder. The refillable compact is amazing - the hinge is sturdy and will stay where you place it which is so rare anymore in a mirrored compact. Just large enough to hold the powder puff that comes with the powder refill. All of the packaging is recyclable, as well.

Here's my second-day photo, taken a week or so after the first photo with the powder over the top. Sorry for the lack of visibility of other skin for color-matching, it's been cold here! Clearly, I'm outside.

I think I could go on forever, so I will just wrap up with, uh, more photos (after the jump.) I may have gotten over-excited about this being such a good match and throughout the day on day one (first picture) as I ran errands with my little guy, I took pictures in different kinds of lighting situations - see more after the jump, this even looks good in florescent lighting.

Chantecaille Future Skin - Full Face Test (and what KVD looks like)

I'm losing hope, my pale foundation watchers. Here's the results of the full day skin test with Chantecaille Future Skin in Porcelain:

Day 1

Chantecaille Future Skin in Porcelain
MAC lipstick in Studded Kiss

Day 2

Chantecaille Future Skin in Porcelain

MAC Huggables lipstick in Rusty (lightly applied)

Pink, pink, pink and more pink. This oxidization appeared about an hour and a half after application, and to the credit of Chantecaille, stayed steady at this level for the rest of the day. I'm disappointed but it's closer than the Koh Gen Do. Unfortunately, I think it broke my face out - I had to go two days without foundation of any kind to clear up the bumpiness (I usually get rashes, so this was a new one for me.)

Here, let me show you what it's up against, since I'm being so picky. Kat Von D Lock-It Tattoo Foundation in Light 42:

Bright Outdoor Light:

KVD Light 42
MAC Punk Couture and Violetta (layered)

More indirect outdoor light:

(same as above)

Indoor lighting:

Kat Von D Light 42
MAC Punk Couture lipstick (heavy application)

That's after all day of wearing on that last photo. The other two were after several hours. No pink, no orange, perfect match to my neck and chest. Why, oh why, didn't I back up a few bottles of this?

Upcoming: Punk Couture Lipsticks general swatching and round up. I also caved and bought the RiRi VIVA Glam, so expect swatches and photos when that arrives - I'm hoping for a replacement for KVD's Adora lipstick, love the color, hate the formula. 

Koh Gen Do Maifanshi Moisture Foundation Face Test

So, after going through all of those swatches, I came down to a small list of winners. I decided to try the Koh Gen Do Maifanshi Moisture Foundation in 001 first, as it was nice to apply but I had worries about further oxidization. This foundation did something I wasn't expecting - it got more pink as I wore it. I've never seen a foundation oxidize in quite this way and I'd love it if someone could explain it to me. They usually go orange or dark or brown, at least in my experience.

This foundation applies and blends amazingly well and has decent coverage. It does live up to the name - two days of wear and my skin seemed to be a little less dry even in the middle of typically very dry winter skin conditions.

After day one at about eight hours of wear:

Koh Gen Doh Maifanshi Moisture Foundation in 001 at eight hours

Photo taken in natural light, no flash

As you can see, my face is having a bit of doesn't match body issue. It didn't go orange but it certainly did get pinker.

I tried it on a second day and took a photo in the only reasonable amount of natural light I could find - my car. Sorry. This went just as pink as day one, but here you can see it at about three hours of wear, not nearly as pink and much more neutral. Everything about the application was the same, the only thing different, down to the eyeshadow palette I used is day two's MAC Instigator lipstick.

Koh Gen Do Maifanshi Moisture Foundation at 3 hours wear

photo in (car, sorry) natural light

Depending on how the others from the short list perform, this one may be further down the list than I anticipated. The application is great, it's nice to my skin, but the continual slide into pink is a little disappointing.

Next up: Chantecaille Future Skin in Porcelain two-day test.