All Night Long and All Done Up: Julep December Maven Box

All Done Up

I'm still on the $19.99 Julep subscription plan, which means I don't have the ability to customize my box as much as those who opted for the $24.99 plan.  In general I don't mind, although occasionally I waver regarding which box to select.  This month I opted for the "All Done Up" box, which featured new makeup as opposed to nail polish. The overall theme for December is "All Night Long", a la Lionel Ritchie.  Yep, there were a few snippets of the lyrics on an enclosed card.

The featured makeup item this month is a new matte lip mousse, and I was able to chose the color I wanted.  I went back and forth before deciding on the fuschia pink hued Pucker Up ($20), which is described as a "Violet Verve" on Julep's site.  I'm wondering if it darkens on the lips, as the Julep site pictures make it look darker.  Regardless, I think I made a good choice, and I'm super impressed with the container.  It has nice heft and feels and looks like a high end product.  The cap clicks shut, another nice detail.  Now, I just need to try it out:-)

Pucker Up

There were 4 new shades of the Multidimensional Orbital eyeshadow, but they are all new to me as I skipped these when they first came out.  I chose the pale gold Luna ($18), thinking it was be a nice eye brightener/inner eye highlighter.  After swatching it I'm also wondering how Luna would look as a cheek/face highlighter.  We shall see.

Last, but not least is a new Gel Eye Glider called Smoky Taupe Shimmer ($16).  Julep has really nice gel pencils - as good as any I've tried.  And I've got quite the eye pencil stash.

Here are swatches of all three products, and I think the colors really work well together.  I'll be playing with these pronto.

Using my points, I chose one add on this month, a box of the One-Step Polish Remover pads ($8).  That brought the total value of my box to $62, and considering I only paid $20, quite the value. There was also a cinnamon candy stick in the box, which you'll never hear me saying no to.  I see I had a smudge of Pucker Up on my fingers which transferred to the box top.  Side note:  Pucker Up smudges out beautifully, which has got me thinking it could be a nice cheek tint....

Lastly, my apologies for the pictures only post up earlier.  I've been swamped at work (end of semester stuff plus wrapping things up before my 2 week (!!!) Christmas break, and thought I'd have time to write up the post last night.  But I forgot, including that I'd already scheduled the post. Whoops. 

Beauty a la Mode Duo by Laura Geller

 Disclaimer:  I purchased this.

Beauty a la Mode contains a dessert inspired duo for cheeks and eyes, the Blush -n- Brighten in Dreamsicle and the Baked Eye Pie shadow trio in Apple Peach Pie. 

Laura Geller specializes in baked products, and while I've dabbled a few times in her products, I've yet to get hooked on any.  Okay, I did use up an entire Balance -n- Brighten Baked Color Correcting Foundation a few years back, but the Baby Cakes Blushed palette (review here) is still languishing, unloved.  Could Beauty a la Mode change my perception, perhaps?

Well, yes and yes!  Both items are really lovely, with good pigmentation and smooth color.  Let's start with Apple Peach Pie, the eyeshadow trio.  The top triangle is a lovely coppery gold shimmer, followed by a mossy green satin, and then a salmon pink satin.  I was uncertain how all three would look together, but found they do complement each other.

 

Here's a few looks I've done with them.  You can also use these wet to intensify color, which is what I did with the green above my lash line.  The iridescent lighter green on the inner lower lash line is Kudos from the Bare Escentuals Star Treatment palette. :

 I'm even more enamoured with Dreamsicle, a warm learning medium pink with a satin finish.  I didn't have to struggle to get color with this one (I'm looking at you, Baby Cakes palette), nor was there the high shimmer factor that's in a lot Laura Geller's baked blushes.  Love.

I bought Beauty a la Mode on sale from Ulta.com, but I don't see it there anymore.  It is still available at laurageller.com for $39. 

Viridian Bloom Eye Shadow Trio by Elizabeth Arden

I admit it, the stamped flowers and colors of Viridian Bloom enticed me.  I haven't used Elizabeth Arden products in like, forever, and was never a big user of their cosmetics.  I mainly stuck to their fragrances and was a devotee of their Tranquilities blue body spray mist in the early 1990's.  I guess that was one of my earlier forays into aromatherapy, as the original scents were all marketed towards promoting different emotional states, as reflected by the names.  I remember paying big money in my relatively poor state back then for it, long before they slashed prices and started selling them in drugstores.

Viridian Bloom is one of the two eye trios from the New York in Bloom Color Collection.  Viridian means a durable blue green pigment, so that explains the name.  I find cream/turquoise/brown color schemes to be so appealing, which also explains my attraction to this trio.  Just look at how pretty Elizabeth Arden's signature sun flowers are stamped across the shadows!

The compact itself is sturdy, fits in the palm of my hand, and contains a mirror and foam applicator.  The shadows feature three different finishes:  a turquoise metallic, a cream shimmer, and a brown matte.

Applied dry (sun)

Sadly, I did not find the quality of these to be on par with the $32 price.  Pigmentation is lacking, as I found I needed to really bare down hard with my finger or the foam applicator in order to pick up enough shadow to build color.  The brown applied the best and the turquoise provides a sheer wash of color.  The cream provided a few bits of mica type sparkles but very little color.  These can be used wet as well, which did produce more vibrant color.  However, I had a hard time getting smooth coverage, especially with the turquoise.

Applied wet (shade)

I felt like I had to work harder than I'm inclined to make these shadows work for me.  Using a brush did not work with the turquoise or brown, as the shadows were hard and it felt like I needed to scrape the surface in order to pick up the powder.  Perhaps that's because I did use a wet brush when I did the wet swatches, which may have caused a change to the surface.  For the look below, I layered the turquoise color over Urban Decay's 24/7 eye pencil in Junkie, which amped up the color significantly.  I used the brown shade up to the brow bone and under the lower lashes, and the cream on my brow and inner eye area. 

Overall, I'm disappointed in Viridian Bloom.  The compact itself is lovely, but the performance was a bit frustrating.  The description doesn't say if these are baked shadows, but the sheerness of color payoff and how they applied do remind me of  baked shadows.  There are many less expensive baked shadows out there that perform as well if not better, even if they are not as pretty!

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.  

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Sephora Moonshadow Baked Palette: In the Heat Review and Swatches

In the Heat baked shadow palette

There are a lot of really lovely palettes that have been released featuring spring/summer colors, but the one that I decided to purchase was Sephora's "In the Heat" palette.  I personally like baked shadows and how they can be used dry for lighter coverage or wet for more intense color.  It's almost like getting twice the number of shadows!

Packaging on this is nice - a compact plastic case that is 5.5 x 2.5 inches.  It's got some heft to it and feels quite sturdy.  The inside cover has a mirror and the 10 shadows are the typical dome shape you see with baked products.  There is no applicator included.  This particular palette was made in Italy, which is where I usually see baked products coming from.  I previously reviewed Sephora's Hot Hues baked palette in Vivid Mulberry, and that one was made in Taiwan. I honestly can't tell a difference in the quality of the shadows, however.  One nice difference is that they did name these shadows, unlike Vivid Mulberry.

Starting left top row, we have Bronze, Rose, Shimmery Apricot, Gold, Shimmery White.  On the bottom, starting left, we have Champagne, Plum, Toasted Rose, Copper, and Teal.  I almost ran out of arm swatching these, but here they are all together so you can get an idea of how the colors work together - quite complementary, IMO.  The top row is swatched dry using my finger, the second swatched wet with a brush.  All are over Urban Decay shadow primer in original.

All of these have a shimmer finish, although not obnoxiously so.  There is also some fall out with using these dry, less so when wet.  Wear time on these was slightly less than what I experience with regular powder shadows.  I had some fading but no creasing after about 6-7 hours of wear (over primer).  I think that may be one of the limitation of baked shadows.  Has anyone else noticed this?

Teal, Copper, Toasted Rose, Plum

Champagne, Shimmery White, Gold, Shimmery Apricot

Rose, Bronze

In the Heat retails for $30 and is available at Sephora.

Disclosure:  I purchased this. 

Sephora Hot Hues Palette in Vivid Mulberry Review and Swatches

Vivid Mulberry Hot Hues palette

Sephora had two sweet little baked eyeshadow palettes on sale for $7.00 recently.  I picked up the one called Vivid Mulberry, which features 4 purple shades and 2 pale pinks, for a total of 6 eye shadows in a solid little compact that includes a mirror and 2 small brush applicators.  I like baked eye shadows, as they can go from sheer to quite vivid depending on if you apply them dry or wet.  They are not without their shortcomings, however, as we shall see.

I've seen some good reviews on Sephora's Moonshadow baked shadow palettes (I'll be reviewing the "In the Heat" palette soon), and figured at $7 the risk wasn't that great.  The Hot Hues palettes are not the same as the Moonshadow palettes, however, as they have different manufacturers.  Hot Hues was made in Taiwan and the Moonshadow palettes in Italy, but honestly, they both performed similarly so I'm not sure it matters.  I have noticed that most baked products I've used were made in Italy though.  You will also notice that the Hot Hues palettes do not have names for the individual shadows.

Top row:  wet swatches, Bottom row:  dry swatches

The swatches below show show dry swatches on the left and wet on the right.  The first two swatches are the pale pinks followed by the purple shadows, starting with the top lightest lavender shade and working down.  All swatches are over Urban Decay's original eyeshadow primer. 

These do kick up some shadow dust when using them dry, less so when using a wet brush.  It was more problematic when I was using the light pink shades to highlight the inner eye area, as I had to clean up some of the sparkle from my face. I experienced some fading and slight creasing after about 6 hours of wear (click to enlarge photos).  It's quite hot and humid where I live and I have oily skin, so that is definitely an individual factor affecting wear time.  However, I can usually get a good solid 8 hours from many other shadows, so I do think the baked shadow formula is not quite as long wearing.

Fresh application

After about 6 hours of wear

Overall though, I really like this little palette, especially for $7 (it was originally $24, although I don't remember seeing it on Sephora's site other than in the sale section).  One thing I've noticed about Sephora's new site design that I do not care for is that it seems items that are no longer in stock will still be featured.  There seems to be a significant lag time in removing those items, which can be frustrating when you see something you want but once you click on it you get a "Not in stock" or "The product your were looking for was either not found or we no longer carry it" message.  So remove the picture and link!