Category: Yay or Nay

Yay or Nay? Colourpop Disney Villians Collection

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I am a Disney freak I love all Disney stuff especially the villains. So when Colourpop came out with a villains collection to follow up the Disney Designer collection they did for the princesses I was in even though I don’t love Colourpop formulas alot of the time.

Info:

This is available at Colourpop’s website and at Ulta with Ulta carrying a limited selection of the collection.

Ulta carries the Misunderstood palette and the villains kits. Coloupop has everything individually as well as some additional products, 2 shades of their Glitterally Obsessed body glitter gels and 6 shades of their Jelly Much Shadows.

Each Villain Kit has Creme Lux Lipstick, A Supershock Highlighter and an Ultra Glossy Lip all themed to the villain named in the kit. The finishes of the lipsticks and the lipglosses also vary from kit to kit.

The Misunderstood Palette has 15 shades and is a pressed powder shadow palette.

I only purchased 2 villain kits (Hades and Ursula) and the palette. I purchased them from Ulta.

Villains Kits:

The packaging on these are amazing I love the like neon bar sign style they went with and how every single thing in this collection is themed out and custom and fits the theme. They really went there with the packaging it is spot on. Even each compact is like custom to the villain and the lipstick and lip gloss tubes are so detailed. That said the color choices were awful I was pretty disappointed in the colors they chose for alot of the villains. I am only going to talk about the two I have but even these two I am not happy with I bought them more because they are my favorite villains in the collection and not for the colors.

Hades Collection Set

Cost: $25, you don’t save any money buying the kit versus buying individually

The packaging has my heart I love that they chose the Hydra and the colors of the packaging are so perfect for Hades and the whole color story of him and the underworld. I can’t say the same for the shades chosen.

“Everybody’s Got a Weakness”

I love the highlighter from the Hades set it it gives a very glowy natural wearable look. It is a nice champagne shade. Theses are the super shock formula so I find them easiest to apply with my fingers and really pack it on and then blend it our with a brush or a sponge. Also I love the name.

“Hades”

I was really hoping for like a grey toned lilac for Hades I feel like that would have been more appropriate then this very peachy nude. I really won’t wear this shade much it doesn’t look as bad on as I expected but still not what I would have envisioned this is also a creme finish. It is very comfortable to wear and wears decent I drank through a straw with this on and it didn’t all come off but this would definitely need reapplying through out the day.

The lipstick bullet details with emblems for all the villains is perfection though.

“Hot Headed”

The lipgloss shade is more firey so I can live with that but it is still a peachy nude which I would not have chosen for Hades. Either go full fire orange or go the more grey cool tones that he is drawn in. The lipglosses are not sticky so I can tolerate them for a short while but I am just not a lipgloss girl I don’t mark the kits down for that I was never going to like them that is personal preference on my part.

The lipstick swatch picks up on camera alot more coral/pink then it is in real life and I don’t know why. I am sorry about that. You can see how gorgeous the highlight is.

Ursula Collection Set

Cost: $25, you don’t save any money buying the kit versus buying individually

Ursula’s packaging has her tentacles and stormy waves very fitting.

“Poor Unfortunate Souls”

I love a colored highlight and a purple slightly glittery highlight feels very appropriate for the Sea Witch.

How fucking cute is the “Villains” stamped in to the lipstick?

“Ursula”

I love this color this is totally my kinda lip color a nice burgundy dark bloody red, but its Ursula! The seen where she puts on the bright orangey red lipstick in the movie is like so iconic and so her I was expecting that shade. They did alot of reds in this collection and none of them felt spot on to the characters for me personally. That said this is a matte formula in a color I love so this will get wear from me so I am happy about that at least. It wears off very patchy though so I would wipe this off before eating and drinking and then reapply.

“Sad But True

The lipgloss in this set is a clear iridescent gloss pretty and basic.

Misunderstood Palette

Cost: $22

Love the packaging so amazing I love all the blurred out and pixelated imaged from the movies and all the colors. Love all the Details they put on the inside and the holographic inside even though it makes it really hard to photograph. The shade names are also so so cute.

A+ packaging!

Formula I have some issues, lets get to the swatches first.

Lets start with the mattes they really really need to be built up to get them true to color which makes them a bit difficult to blend out I really really had to use alot of Tragic to help blend out The Fates (dark blue) in the look I did with that (See Below). I also found both 101 and The Fates to stain my eyes pretty bad. Now staining usually doesn’t bother me because it means theres alot of pigment and the shadows tend to last a really long time but these also faded alot during the day after like 3 or 4 hrs of just running errands not doing anything too intense they were looking alot worse for wear and pretty faded. Serious no no from eyeshadow for me.

The glitters are also super crumbly there is alot of fallout out and you have to pack them on really heavily on top of glitter glue to get the impact you expect from seeing them in the pan. Not the best performing in terms of shine or glitter but thats how I find most Colourpop shadows to be so I was not surprised.

So theses all in all are pretty hard to work with this is only a palette I would use when I have alot of time to play but also don’t need my makeup to look good for more then a few hours.

Looks:

I used The Fates and Pain and Panic to create a halo eye look. And the eye liner I use totally rub off with in minutes of blinking so don’t mind that. I am also wearing the Hades lipstick in this look. I liked the look but I could have gotten this same look cleaner and easier with other shadows.

I threw on a Sally headband from Nightmare Before Christmas because it was cute and matches and I did a simple eye look with the Flotsam, Forest of Thorns and 101. I am also wearing the Ursula lipstick here. I had a much better time creating this look these shadows preformed alot better these shades aren’t as far out on the extreme as the first look. This also lasted alot better on the eye but there was still fading.

Yay or Nay?

Nay for the palette unfortunately this will be more of a collectors item for me then a go to usable palette. At $22 it is just a bit much for just a collectors item.

For the kits its a maybe they are well themed and good quality nice packaging but the color selections are so off for me they don’t go with the characters.

I think you would be better off cherry picking some individual items so that you know you get shades that you will use and products you like.

This was such a win for aesthetics but a miss for performance for me. Still happy to have it though it fits in both my makeup and Disney collection really well.

<3 Nightmare Before Makeup

Yay or Nay? Nyx In Your Element Palettes

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So Nyx came out with these awesome element themed palettes. The teasers blew up online and like every one else I was super excited.

There are 6 palettes:

Earth

Wind

Fire

Water

Air

Metal

Initial Impressions:

When I first saw the spoilers for these I was so hooked and knew that I needed them. Gorgeous packaging great color selections I was so excited. I always loved elemental stuff especially when I was a kid so these like really maybe my inner kid excited. I figured these palettes would be $20 or $25 I mean it is Nyx they are a great brand but still it is a drug store brand. I was so pissed when they released ad were thirty fucking dollars what the hell was Nyx thinking. That would be $180 for the whole collection. I knew I wouldn’t be buying them unless they went on sale. Which they did at Ulta. They are currently exclusive to Ulta, the Nyx website and I would imagine Nyx stores. I picked up Earth, Air, and Metal those were the ones that spoke to me the most and from swatching in the store seemed the best. I will start by saying the formulas on these all seem very different.

Breakdown:

Full Price: $30

Sale: 30% off Nyx

Coupon: $3.50 off $15

Price: $17.50

 

12 shades

1.41 g per shade

Total Size: 16.92 g

 

Full Price per gram: $1.77

Sale Price per gram: $1.03

 

Full Price per Shade: $2.50

Sale Price per Shade: $1.46

Sephora PRO Editorial Palette

Price: $68

Shades: 28

Total Size: 33.6 g

Eyeshadow Size: 1.2 g per shade

Value per Shade: $2.43

Value per Gram: $2.02

Morphe 35B Color Glam Eyeshadow Palette

Price: $19.99

Shades: 35

Total Size: 56.2 g

Eyeshadow Size: 1.6 g per shade

Value per Shade: $0.57

Value per Gram: $0.36

Metal Palette

These have the most interesting texture. These are almost like a cream they are so smooth and soft. They have almost a thick feel to them in a nice way like you can feel it if you rub it between your fingers I really like it. Some of these are just high shiny and some of these are glitter packed. But they all pretty much have that same thick creamy feel. Of the palettes I chose this has the most consistent formula, but the other five palettes do not contain this formula. I really like this palette it is different than any palette I own.

With Flash

Without Flash

Earth Palette

I normally do not go for a warm toned palette but something about the undertones of these warm shades really called my name. They have almost a true to the color undertone so they feel less muddy than a normal warmed toned palette with its typical brown undertones would. This is my second favorite of the three in terms of formula. The satins and shimmers are great and smooth. The mattes are where things get weird. Some are great and some are patchy and skip. They are all buttery creamy soft that is across the board with all these shadows in all the palettes, I could spend all day just swatching them. Ok off that tangent. Some of the mattes 1,2,3,10,12 (numbered starting in the top left) are pigmented and apply smoothly. 4,7,8 are a bit patchy but more than workable just takes some building.

With Flash

Without Flash

Air Palette

This one you have to go into it with realistic expectations this is a palate of pastels and neon pastels (I know oxymoron) because those colors are based in white pigment no matter how great a shadow is they will be harder to work with. They will be a little patchy and powdery you can’t expect a pastel pink powder shadow to perform the same as say a matte black cream shadow you have to be realistic.

Once your expectations are set this is a great pastel palette in the affordable range. Yes it is a little patchy you have to build these but I’m comparing it to that Lorac Brunch palette that is all pastels and this can completely hang with that palette. Nyx needs slightly more building but Lorac is so so powdery so they can both totally be friends if you want a pastel you should get this really it is a good pastel palette. They are all the same buttery feel and a unique color selection.

With Flash

Without Flash

Look:

So here is the look I created with the Earth palette I was feeling very fall.

Don’t mind how terrible my eyebrows look I really need to get them waxed.

And a terrible shot of me pretending to be an Instagram makeup guru ;p

These blended out really well and were pigmented. I hate when shadows just blend away to nothing or muddy together and these didn’t do that even though I used three very similar shades. The gold was a little hard to make show up I had to make a few layers but if I had placed a white eyeliner base down like I usually do that would not have been a problem. I really liked using this palette.

 

Final thoughts:

I swatched Fire, Water, and Wind in store. Water and Wind in person really read as almost Identical palettes they are both blue toned Water with green undertones and Wind with blue undertones. They also swatched eh still buttery but I expected more creaminess and less patchiness from them. Fire swatched well from what I could tell the color palette just didn’t intrigue me too much yellow.

Yay or Nay:

So for $30 I would say Nay unless there is one that just really calls to you then you won’t be disappointed but you will still feel like you spent too much.

For the sale price (any sale price this one just happened to be a good sale) I’d say Yay pick up two or three that really call to you they are worth $20 they are not worth $30.  These are fun and if you want a cool drug store palette these won’t disappoint as long as you buy them on sale and there are always sales on Nyx at Ulta.

 

<3 Nightmare Before Makeup

 

Sephora Pro Editorial Palette, Yay or Nay

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SEPHORA PRO EDITORIAL PALETTE

So I was able to get my hands on the Sephora Pro Palette. I actually have the Cool palette and the Editorial palette but I can only review the Editorial because at the insane price of $68 dollars. The Cool is a Christmas present from my dad and he’s very strict about not getting to play with your presents until Christmas so I was only able to get a quick look at it but I’ll give you a few thoughts on it.

So unfortunately it looks like only the Cool palette is still in stock I don’t know if there will be a restock. If you are into Cool tones the palette is worth it they have an awesome grey undertone and some beautiful taupe shades that are totally in my “professional” makeup wheelhouse. The formula on these don’t muddy up which is so important for cool tones. I had nothing in this undertone in my collection so it was a must for me.

So grab a snack and a cup of coffee because this turned out to be a ridiculously long review.

But you are here for the review of this bright neon Editorial palette so let’s get into that. Let’s start with the facts before we get totally sucked in by the ohhhh pretty and forget that things like math and value exist.

Background

So this palette was created by 15 different makeup artists and has 28 shades with four different finishes, matte, chrome, shimmer, and satin. It also comes with a booklet of a few different eye looks and I have some strong opinions about that booklet.

Breakdown

Sephora PRO Editorial Palette

Price: $68

Shades: 28

Finishes: 11 mattes, 7 satins, 6 shimmers, 4 chromes

Total Size: 33.6 g

Eyeshadow Size: 1.2 g per shade

Value: $2.43 per shade

$2.02 per gram

So there is the break down of the actual value of the product. For comparison I’m going to add the breakdowns of some similar palettes and singles. Please excuse my nerd I know it is showing.

Morphe 35B Color Glam Eyeshadow Palette

Price: $19.99

Shades: 35

Total Size: 56.2 g

Eyeshadow Size: 1.6 g per shade

Value: $0.57 per shade

$0.36 per gram; 81% cheaper per gram

So considerably cheaper and more shades. Now I don’t have this palette it has been out of stock forever but I love the Morphe shadow formula it is one of my favorite budget formulas they have the the tendency to get muddy and not create a true gradient look with certain shades which in a bright palette the rainbow mermaid effect is usually what you look for so that is a consideration you have to work harder with this palette then the Sephora one.

Urban Decay Full Spectrum Palette

Price: $45.76

Shades: 21

Total Size:  25.2 g

Eyeshadow Size: 1.2 g per shade

Value: $2.18 per shade

$1.82 per gram; 10% cheaper per gram

So this is also out of stock in the US but I do own this one the formula on this sucks compared to the Sephora one and you get less product for your money so even though it is 10% cheaper per gram you are getting less use because these are much harder to work with they are quite powdery and not super pigmented this was a huge fail for Urban Decay.

Sephora Collection Colorful Eyeshadow

Price: $10

Size:  2.2 g

Value: $ 4.55 per gram; 125% more expensive per gram

Again not the same formula but singles always cost way more. Singles in general Are large so if there is only one or two colors in a palette that really speak to you then yes it is a much better deal to buy some singles. In general if more than 4 or 5 shades interest you then you should always buy the palette. Yes that is a gross generalization prices in singles and palettes vary immensly but if you aren’t into math like me then that is a good rule of thumb. If you like to nerd out like I do then go ham and do some price breakdowns to see if you are better off with a palette or some singles.

Tarteist Metallic Shadow

Price: $14

Size:  1.98 g

Value: $7.07 per gram; 350% more expensive per gram

As you can see with high end brands singles are legit insanely expensive.

Urban Decay Eyeshadow

Price: $19

Size:  1.5 g

Value: $12.67 per gram; 627% more expensive per gram

I just added this for shiggles because I don’t know what they are smoking over there at Urban Decay but they need to share because they can’t really think any one is that fucking stupid.  Their singles are $19 a lot of their  palettes go on sale at Ulta for like $18 -$24 you might as well set your money on fire then to buy singles from them.

Sorry got a little off track there.

So when it comes to the actual money value of this palette it is a a decent value. Can you get something similar for cheaper yes of course if $68 dollars is going to break your finances please don’t feel like you have to have this but if you do want it and can afford it the value is there you are getting 28 shades so realisticly if you look at this and see at least 5 shades you really need/want/love/are missing from you collection then the rest are gravy. You’d have to spend more then the palette to buy 5 or more singles.

In terms of value it gets a Yay from me.

Packaging

The box is a nice soft touch black matter with a cool blue holo font and edges. The back has the ingredients and a little picture of the shades. No complaints.

The palette is great it is a sturdy plastic a nice lux feeling black plastic with Sephora Pro embossed on it in blue holo. The back has a label with which palette it is and some other details. Also a super strong magnetic closure. It is classy packaging I look at it and feel like it is an expensive palette.

The inside palette is where I have some complaints because I’m picky.

Good points

  • Huge Mirror
  • Opens all the way to lay flat
  • Will stand open on its own (My favorite)

Bad Points

  • Shades are a little close together so with the kickup there is a mixing of shades risk
  • The names are not on the shadows!!!
  • The plastic liner is not cut straight and meant to be kept this messes with my OCD aesthetic since the names are on it and it isn’t cut perfect
  • I would have liked a way to keep the instructional booklet in the palette not just in the box

Jeffrey The ugly looking yellow in column 2 3rd  row is actually a super pretty lime green that my camera just will not pick up right but you can see that it is lime green on my eyes. All the other colors the camera was able to pick up.

Shadows

Now for the “ohh shiny, so pretty” part of the review. Everyone’s favorite.

The formula on these shadows is very different from any other eyeshadow I own, and obviously different from finish to finish. Much of the value in this palette comes from the variety of finishes as the colors are definitely dupable but the ability to have all of these finishes in one easy to grab place is a lot of the value to me.

These are definitely a pro formulation you need to work with them these are not a formula that you can pack on blend out and have a perfect look done in like 5 minutes. So if that is what you want or expect this is not the palette for you so please keep that in mind. I am reviewing this for what it is a pro palette this is for when you really want to spend time playing with your makeup.

Top Left 4th Row, Top Right 3rd Row, Bottom Left 2nd Row, Bottom Right 1st Row Yes I swatched it most to least exciting in my opinion. Don’t Judge.

The mattes in this palette are have a tone of kick up in the pan I was so worried that they would preform badly but some how on my face they actually do not have fallout I was impressed. These shades are meant to be bright so based on color theory I would imagine these have white bases so that they pop. Anything with a white base is going to be a little powdery and patchy it is the nature of that base pigment so I wont hold it against the palette.

The coolest thing about these mattes is that they do not blend out into a mess when you blend them together normally when you blend to matte colors together I find a lot of formulas blend into a muddy mess or one color just disappears that doesn’t happen with these shadows they hold their own and form that gradient that you want in a palette like this.

The do skip a little so you do have to work at packing them on and building them up but once you do they are really nice.

Forgot to swatch the first orange somehow so here’s a huge close up of it.

The shimmers and the chromes are pretty standard. The shimmers are glittery but still very soft which is nice and only have a little glitter fallout they are good they are my least favorite type of eyeshadow in general so I don’t get super excited nor have a huge opinion but if you like glitters these will probably please you.

These are the chromes I love them they are even more gorgeous in person one swipe was enough to almost totally cover the lies of my wrist tattoo. Lou that second swatch reminds me of a much nicer version of Lounge by Urban Decay.

They are glitter packed for some reason it is not picking up on camera that intensely by I promise they are glitter packed.

The satins are where I was not as satisfied. They are incredibly hit or miss some are great and some aren’t for example Grass and Dina are both satins. Grass is a gorgeous green not patchy smooth builds up and blends out nicely. Dina is a deep bright blue  (I know that’s and oxymoron) I was in love when I saw it. It does not build up I kept packing it on and I could not get it to be opaque. It did blend decently though. This is bizarre to me since satins are usually one of the easier formulas to get right.

You can tell by the swatches that the satins are kind of a let down they are not opaque they are the duds of the palette you can work with them but they are by no means special.

That all being said I am not a makeup artist and could be using these totally wrong but that’s my opinion.

Quick Look

Here’s a look I created using the included instructions. I followed the instructions I did use my own brushes though. This took about 15-20 minutes, but in retrospect should have spent a little longer packing color and blending so in reality it should have take about 20-30 minutes.

I did LOOK 4: KALEIDOSCOPE

I love colorful rainbowy looks so of course I was going to do this one. Excuse my eyebrows they are extra thick and terrible today I am waiting to wax them until I right before I go to Disney. I also didn’t feel like wearing lipstick my lips are way chapped so yea.

 

With Flash

No flash

I found the instructions fairly easy to follow but this could be difficult since there are no freaking pictures just instructions. Also they tell you to use specific Sephora brushes which I find annoying because if you don’t have those brushes you have to look them up so see what kind of eye shadow brush you should be using.

And here’s a similar look I did with my Sugarpill Pro Palette which is almost double the price for only 12 shades but it is a beautiful easy to work with formula and totally customized. So you get what you pay for and you can definitely dupe this Sephora palette if you shop around.

So there are definitely similar palettes you can get if these are the colors you are looking for but it will be difficult to get all the same finishes as this palette.

The shadows lasted ok on my oily eyelids I did use primer but didn’t set them so after 5 hrs they did start to fade but you could definitely prevent that by packing on my color and using setting spray.

If these colors speak to you and you love collecting and playing with make up this is worth it. It that is not your cup of tea then I would say you can pass on this. But I love it and it was worth it to me.

Overall this palette is definitely a Yay.

I hope this incredibly long review was helpful!

<3 Nightmare Before Makeup

FTC: None of these are affiliate links and I make no money off this. Wish I did though buying this stuff is expensive. Not that it would ever change my opinion.