Sephora Favorites: Draw the Line Eyeliner Sampler Kit

Sephora often releases these 'Sephora Favorites' kits and I thought this one would be worth a try. It is the 'Draw the Line' eyeliner sample kit complete with some great brands and well known eyeliners I already know and love. I thought this kit would be a great way to try some other products out with out fully committing to them!

The kit contains 3 full size eyeliners from Tarte, Stila, and Smashbox. There are 3 sample size liners from Urband Decay, Sephora brand, and Kat Von D.
Included in the kit are:
- 0.007 oz Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in 'Trooper' (deluxe sample)
- 0.028 oz Sephora Collection Contour Eye Pencil 12hr Wear in 'Black Lace' (deluxe sample)- 0.01 oz Smashbox Cosmetics Always Sharp Waterproof Kohl Liner in 'Sumatra' (FULL SIZE)- 0.01 oz Stila Cosmetics Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner in 'Stingray' (FULL SIZE)- 0.034 oz Tarte lights, camera lashes precision longwear eyeliner in 'Black' (FULL SIZE)- 0.03 oz Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil in 'Vice' (deluxe sample)

One thing I really like about this kit is the varied types of eyeliners included. There are 2 liquid pen eyeliners (Kat Von D and Tarte), 2 smudge stick formulas (Stila and Smashbox), and 2 classic pencil liners (Sephora and Urban Decay).

I wish the color selection in this kit was more varied. I appreciate the bright purple and that there was a brown thrown in, but I think a deep navy or forest green would have added a lot to this kit in place of an additional black liner.

The Good:
-I love the Kat Von D pen liner in 'Trooper.' The brush tip gives a very nice and precise wing and I find it really easy to use.
-I really enjoy the Smashbox Always Sharp kohl liner in 'Sumatra.' I find the color flattering and this eyeliner is always sharp meaning its easy to use and apply.
-I like the Stila smudgestick for lining my waterlines as it is very pigmented and doesn't look too harsh since it smudges out a bit. I have to be careful around my outer corner as the color can travel a bit.
-I love Urban Decay's 24/7 eyeliners so I will definitely be getting some use out of 'Vice,' though I tend to reach for my eggplant, deeper purples over brighter ones.

The not so good:
-I was not a fan of the Tarte pen eyeliner. I loved it at first because of its ultra sharp tip and the way the pen feels in my hand, however I felt the product dried up very fast!
-The Sephora brand eyeliner was not very pigmented and so I haven't been reaching for it over my other eyeliners.


I really recommend trying kits like this out if you're interested in a brand inside! This kit was $30 for SO MUCH EYELINER. Fall Out Boy couldn't even go through this much eyeliner.

Give these Sephora kits a shot if you're on a budget and want some different brands and products to add to your stash!

xx, SJ

Ardency Inn Modster Manuka Honey Enriched Pigment in 'Rose Gold'

The endless pursuit of the perfect rose gold shadow ends here, folks.  Rose gold has been hugely trendy for the past couple years and I've hopped right onto that train from my jewelry to makeup.  I think rose gold is a hard color to get perfect...it can lean too yellow/orange or too pink really easily and miss the happy medium we all lust after.  I saw swatches of Ardency Inn's modster shadow in 'Rose Gold' and knew they had captured the color perfectly.

First of all, I love the shadow's packaging.  The shadow comes in a thin plastic container that is much flatter and sleeker than a MAC shadow. 'H' is printed on the top in a graphic pattern, I am assuming standing for the honey that is infused into the shadow blend.  The brand boasts that they are the first to use honey from the nectar of the Manuka tree in color shadows adding to their creaminess.  The lid opens and closes with a magnetic closure.

As you can see, the color is quite rosey in the pan.  The pan holds 0.06oz of product and will set you back $20. 

I love Rose Gold on me personally because it makes my blue eyes pop. If we chat about color theory for a sec, colors opposite to blue on the color wheel are your yellows and oranges--so for my blue-eyed babes out there, golds, coppers, ambers, and rose golds are what are really going to make your blue eyes pop! 

Above is me wearing this shadow pressed all over the lid and under my lower lash line with some soft warm brown buffed into my crease. My eyes look so blue and almost green!

I found that using your finger and pressing the shadow onto your lid gives much greater color payoff than using a brush. I don't mind this since I intend to use this as a lid color, but just a heads up to any girls out there that don't like kickin' it old school and using your fingers Kindergarten style.... but hey, kindergarteners can be cool as hell so I don't see an issue with it.

Check this color out if you're interested in that perfect rose gold shadow and don't mind dropping some hard earned cash for some quality product.  If you're interested, purchase it if you see it in stock! This particular shade sells out fast!

Check it out at Sephora here: Ardency Inn 'Rose Gold' eyeshadow at Sephora

xxSJ

Sephora Beauty Insider Birthday Gift 2015!

Every year Sephora gives members to their rewards program a free gift in their birthday month!   If you're not a Sephora Beauty Insider, what are you waiting for??? There's no catch to join (no credit cards, no nothin!) and you get a free gift every year while also racking up points on every purchase you make to redeem for deluxe samples later. There is also the highly anticipated 15-20% event for Beauty Insiders every Spring and Fall.  This year, the gift was two mini Nars lip pencils for Beauty Insiders and VIBs (and an extra eyeliner if you are a VIB Rouge!). 

The pencils come in sleek containers with the housed color displayed on the end. These minis are .06oz of product each compared to the full size which is 0.08oz of product (pretty close!). The pencils, just like their full size versions, are NOT twist up so require sharpening. 

The two colors that come in the birthday gift are Cruella, a cult favorite bright matte red, and Rikugien, a satin mauvey pink. 

Here is Cruella on my lips. It applies really easy and smooth though I would recommend using a similarly colored lip liner to get a really perfect outline. This one can be a little rough around the edges since it is such a large pencil.

Above is Cruella compared to some other cult classic red lipsticks! 

Rikugien is very similar to Cruella in terms of application, but it is far less pigmented since it is a satin instead of a matte finish. I like how natural this pencil is and I think it is a great everyday lip color! 

Above is Rikugien compared to some other mauve tones I have in my collection.

The wear time of these lip pencils is pretty good at 6 hours, but you have to reapply after eating and drinking. Cruella does not wear off in a flattering way and leaves a red rim around your lips so make sure to bring the product with you for reapplication during a night out on the town.

Overall, I love that NARS included a bold statement color (and a fan favorite), along with a wearable everyday color. The value of this set is about $39 and it is COMPLETELY FREE if you are a Sephora BI!

No, its not a trap, I promise!
xxSJ

Deborah Lippmann Calypso Nail Lacquer Duet

This amazing little nail polish duo is currently at Sephora so I just had to share my thoughts on it with you all before its gone! Deborah Lippmann is a well-known celebrity manicurist known for her high quality line of unique nail colors. She is particularly renowned for her glitter polishes which can be topped by few other brands.  The quality of her polishes comes at a price, however, with her creamy polishes coming in at $18 and her glitters costing $20. 

This particularly duo, called the 'Calypso Nail Lacquer Duet,' comes with one of Deborah Lippman's most famous colors, 'Mermaid's Dream.' It is a sandy seafoam green base filled with different sized and hued blue glitters. It leaves a scaly, sandy, finish on the nails and is completely solid in just two coats. The other complimentary polish in this duo is 'Flowers in her Hair' which is a light minty cream color. It is completely opaque in two coats and very easy to apply. The two polishes come housed in a glittery teal zip up pouch perfect for packing polishes on the go. 

Mermaid's Dream lasted for days on my nails with out chipping. It looked perfect for 4 days before it started chipping around the edges. As with most glitters, this polish is not easy to take off which is a definite downer, but I don't think I've ever received as many compliments or caught myself staring at my nails as much as I did when I was wearing this polish. It is so unique and beautiful! 'Flowers in her Hair' lasted a few days with out chipping and was easy to remove with out staining my nail underneath.

These mini polishes are about half the size of a full size polish at 0.27oz each. The whole kit costs $19 which is quite the deal considering the hefty price of just one Deborah Lippmann polish. Considering this kit has one of her iconic colors along with a beautiful neutral, I wholeheartedly recommend this nail duo. You won't regret it!

Purchase this duo here: sephora.com

xxSJ

Sephora Sale Details and My Personal Wishlist!

It's that time of year again! Sephora's first of their two big sales of the year is happening this week so here is the lowdown for all you makeup junkies out there:

4/12-4/21: VIB Rouges get 15% off with code ROUGELOVE

4/16-4/21: VIBs get 15% off with code VIBLOVE

4/17-4/20: BIs get 10% off

You can use your coupon code more than one time during the time span of the sale! If 15% off doesn't seem like that great of a deal you can wait for their big sale in November where the discounts usually are 20% off for VIBs and Rouge members. Sephora also has sent out generous $20 off your $50 purchase coupons in the late Fall for all your Christmas shopping needs. 

If you're not already a Beauty Insider with Sephora, what are you waiting for? It is a membership service that does not require an attached credit card or minimum purchase every year or anything like that. The perks include earning points for every dollar you spend which are redeemable for deluxe sample, a free gift on your birthday (this year is NARS!), and discounts twice a year. 

Head over to www.sephora.com to sign up for the Beauty Insider program and start shoppin!

Here is my wishlist for this sale if you're looking for some inspiration! I probably won't be making any purchases this week since my grad school budget doesn't include spending oodles on makeup, but here is what I might buy for myself if my wallet allowed for it:

Happy Shopping!!

xxSJ

Sephora Beauty Insider Birthday Gift 2014

If you're not a Beauty Insider at Sephora yet, what are you waiting for?? This free rewards program has really awesome rewards as your rack up points for every dollar you spend at Sephora, offers a special discount twice a year, and gets you a free birthday gift during your birthday month! This year, the free birthday gift was by Makeup Forever. I was so excited to try out some free deluxe minis from a brand I have little experience with. Included in the gift is a Smoky Extravagant Mascara and a Rouge Artist Natural Lipstick:

I wasn't all that jazzed about the mascara since there was one in the birthday gift from Benefit last year. The mini lipstick is so flippin' adorable though that it completely makes up for the repeated product. The color is N9, Copper Pink:

 I really enjoy this color! It is creamy and overall lovely in texture. It reminds me a lot of MAC's Fanfare lipstick.  I was not a fan of the mascara at all, unfortunately.  I found the wand to be far too large. The mascara was clumpy and fell off my lashes through out the day giving me raccoon eyes. The lipstick is awesome, however, and you can't beat the price!!

Seriously, become a Beauty Insider if you're not already... free stuff with no obligation to buy or open a credit card?? Sign me up!!

xxSJ

NARS Lipgloss: 'Orgasm'

NARS just relaunched their lipglosses with whole new formulations and brand spankin' new packaging. To help promote this relaunch, Sephora had a mini version of the new gloss as a 100 point perk in one of the most popular shades, 'Orgasm.'

It's so cute!! I knew I had to get my hands on this to try out the new ish. First off, let's start with the packaging. The classic NARS matte black rubberized texture is used on the cap with the bright white logo printed on to it. I think it looks super classic and sheek. The container is now a perfectly clear acrylic as opposed to the almost completely opaque old packaging which allowed you to see a hint of the color inside. This new packaging gets an A+!

The new spongy doe-foot applicator is really nice and my favorite type of applicator for glosses. The most important detail of this gloss for me was the smell. The old NARS lip glosses smelled like plastic and chemicals. It wasn't necessarily the most pleasant thing to have on your lips all day, and for that reason, I never reached for the NARS glosses I owned. This new formulation has NO SCENT whatsoever. Yay! They must have taken a hint from what seems to be the number 1 complaint of NARS lovers out there and taken out whatever smelly bandit was stinkin' up the place!

Orgasm is a peachy pink gloss with gold glitter streaks running through out. It is the color that I always tend to drift toward and also is my favorite blush color (jumpin' on the band wagon... I know).

The gloss on its own adds quite a bit of pigment to the lips and the wear time is about 3 hours with no touch-ups or reapplication. The glosses are noticeably less sticky than the original formula, but still have a stickier feel to them which is good because it means the gloss isn't sliding anywhere off your lips!
I noticed that this gloss looks extremely similar to another lipgloss I own, which is Revlon's Super Lustrous gloss in 'Peony:'

Peony is a little bit more dark pink, but otherwise, its pretty damn close. This dupe alert brings me to another point about NARS' new glosses: The price. These glosses will set you back $26 a pop and the reformulation included less product per container compared to the old ones. That's pretty steep for a gloss considering a MAC gloss will only set you back about $16.
The glosses are gorgeous and are of much higher quality than their predecessors, but I think if you can find as close a dupe as this Revlon gloss, go for the cheaper alternative. For the more unique colors in the new collection (they've kept the 23 old colors and tacked on 7 brand new ones!) there's nothing wrong with a splurge here and there if you're a gloss or NARS junkie. Guilty!

xxSJ

What a Steal! The Sephora Lash Stash To Go

Mascara lovers out there, this is the deal for you! Sephora came out with their yearly lash stash and it is quite the steal. For $25 you get 5 deluxe sample sizes of some of the best selling mascaras Sephora has to offer in addition to a coupon to get a full-size of your favorite one! That's pretty cool considering the Lancome Hypnose Drama (a deluxe sample included in this stash!) retails for $27.

Inside the little pink package you will find a short description of each mascara you get to try. The mint colored square on the left is the coupon, redeemable for a full-size mascara. There doesn't seem to be an expiration date on it so you can take your time trying out the mascaras.  I wouldn't wait tooooo long though, as you run the risk of the mascara you want to get full-sized being no longer being available.

Slide open the drawer and here are the little mascaras tucked away inside!
You get a deluxe sample of Tarte Lights Camera Lashes, Too-Faced Better than Sex, Lancome Hypnose-Drama, Blinc Mascara, and BareMinerals Lash Domination.

These minis may seem pretty small but you can definitely get at least a month's worth of wear out of each of these samples. Since I'm hoarding makeup knowing I'm about to be heading off to grad school and, thus, poorer than dirt, I thought the lash stash would be a great way for me to stock up on mascaras and to keep me excited trying all the different ones! And of course I'll be able to get my favorite one in the full-size in the future :)

This little lash stash is a great deal and a great way to try out some new stuff! This can be purchased online at Sephora.com or in stores. The coupon has to be redeemed in a free-standing Sephora store.

xxSJ