Beauty Product Reviews
Beautiful formula - but snapped on first use
I am so disappointed in this product. I absolutely love the colours in this range, so I picked up one sheer and one ultra rich as a bit of a splurge. The formula is beautiful, it goes on so smoothly and wears incredibly well - very comfortable on the lip. However the first time I opened my sheer one it immediately snapped at the base before I could even finish putting it on! I think that the lipstick must have gotten warm in the package at some point, the stick is so small and thin that it's super fragile, I only wound it up to expose the tip to use it and it broke. Very annoying for a lipstick that is at this price point for such a small amount of product :(
a bit disappointing
I was 50/50 on whether I was going to buy this palette as I wasn't sure how wearable it would be for me, and I already own all Natasha Denona's palettes. I decided to take the plunge anyway, and when I opened it up, I was SO in love with the colours. The colour range is just so beautiful and I love how Natasha has offered colour pairings that I would never have thought to put together myself. After swatching and playing with the colours I can see how the vertical rows work beautifully together even though I was initially unsure.
NOW - the changed formula - I am not happy!! I have no idea why Natasha would mess with the formula of the mattes or the shimmers, they were both so good already in other palettes. The mattes in this palette seem to be a lot more dusty than say the Lila or Sunset. I get a fair bit of kick up even when being very gentle. They still apply reasonably nicely to the eye and blend out easily. The shimmers - just no. I know that with ND shimmers you need to dab and press on with a brush, or use a finger. I found neither method worked with this new formula to get good colour pay off on the eye. Given that the bottom row are meant to be applied along the lower lash line, I could not get the green in particular off my brush, I ended up having to use fix +.
I am not a professional makeup artist, but I am a makeup junkie and wear a full face of makeup every day to work. I have high quality brushes. I do not know whether I am just trying to apply the shadows in a way that they're not meant to be used, or whether the formula on these shadows really is a miss. Given these smaller palettes are marketed towards non-professional use i'd expect to be able to pick this up and make it work without too much effort, like the sunset or lila. I will wait for ND o release more tutorials with this palette to see if I can get it to work. It's not a horrendous mess by any means, it's just a bit frustrating that a palette at this price point is difficult to use.
Beautylish and their service has been top notch as usual and I received my palette super quickly and very carefully wrapped!
Excellent product
I have been using Good Genes for around two years now, and it is my favourite lactic acid product. I love lactic acid as a chemical exfoliator, it is quite gentle on the skin (more gentle than glycolic which I also use). I use this product every second night, one pump is more than enough to do your face, neck and decollate - if you only wanted to do your face I would just use half a pump. Good Genes noticeably refines and brightens my skin, I put this on as a night time treatment on cleansed skin, and follow with an oil. My skin is always super clear and even the next morning. Personally I hate the smell, but it dissipates fairly quickly and I would far rather have a not so pleasant smell than have a heap of unnecessary fragrances added. I have dry sensitive skin with pigmentation.
Love this palette!
I have been playing with this palette for a few weeks now. I love the colour selection in this palette, you can create every day looks as well as more dramatic special occasion looks. Some people have complained about Phoenix & Electra being patchy and less pigmented, but I have not found that to be the case. Excluding the crystal shades, these are all extremely easy to blend and are extremely pigmented.
I am a makeup junkie (nowhere near a professional artist) who wears a full face of makeup to work every day, and I did find the crystal shades a little difficult to work with. As many others have mentioned before me, these shades can have dramatic fallout if not applied with care. ND suggests applying with a finger, but I hate using my fingers to apply eyeshadow, and this did not work very well for me. I struggled to get the shadow off my finger and on to the lid. Instead I used a stiff packing brush and sprayed it with fix plus, then used the brush to pack the glitter onto the lid - this worked well, and working carefully, I did not have any fallout issues. To get an even more dramatic finish, I dabbed glitter glue on my eye and then went in with a brush (spayed lightly with fix plus), I did not experience any fallout with this method either. In my opinion these shadows are worth the extra work and effort as they look stunning once they are on the eye.
I have taken away 1 star as this palette is advertised as "no fallout" and there clearly is fallout with the crystal shadows. I don't mind using glitter glue etc, but it may bother some that this is not just a "pull out and use" palette. I love the packaging, I think it feels luxe and is practical as well.
Just a note on Beautylish: as an aussie customer I cannot recommend this store enough. The shipping is free and amazingly fast (within a week) and all of the items were beautifully and securely packaged.