Sephora Favorites Superstars Beauty Essentials - Superstar Value!

I was lucky enough to get a 20% off coupon code through their employee appreciation sale. One of the things I picked up was their Superstars Beauty Essentials kit because it came with ten products (FIVE of them are full size) for $75 before the discount. It has a nice mixture of products, and they most of them stand out to me a cult classics that beauty fanatics rave about.

The set comes packaged in a nice cardboard box tied with a glittery red ribbon. The outside of the box is a shiny red that I couldn't get a good picture of because I kept getting glare like you see in the picture above. Once the products and insert are removed, this will be a nice storage box.

The Products

*Note* I only did detailed pictures of the colored makeup products in this set.


Josie Maran 100% Pure Argan Oil - .5 fl oz - $14 value -   I have another smaller sample of this oil, but I've only used it once or twice. I just ordered some essential oils to add to this and make it more of a skin treatment for acne-prone skin with acne scars.

Kate Somerville ExfoliKate - .5 fl oz - $19 value - I have another one of these that is almost gone. I LOVE this product, so I'm glad to have another one waiting in the wings. It is a scrub that also has enzymes in it, so it exfoliates two ways. It smells like clove to me, which isn't my favorite smell, but I don't mind it.

 Makeup Forever HD Powder - .035 oz - $3.20 value - I'm  not overly excited about this one. It's just 100% silica powder, and I already have silica powder from TKB Trading, where you can get a full ounce of product for $4.95. I'll use it, and I'll try and compare it with the TKB silica, but I can't see it being that much different.

 Chloe Perfume Rollerball - .2 fl oz - $25 value - This is a nice floral perfume that I will enjoy using.

 Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer - .33 fl oz - $18 value - This claims to be a water-resistant primer with SPF 15. Like most primers it says it with minimize the look of fine lines and pores and make your makeup stay on longer. I've only tried this once so far.

Benefit They're Real Mascara - .3 oz - $23 value (full size) - This mascara hasn't been on the market for very long, but it was an instant success. The feature that stands out with this mascara is the brush, which has bristles around the tip of the brush. I didn't take a picture of it because I'm not ready to use this mascara yet, and I don't want to open it until I do. You can see the brush here.

Sephora Microsmooth Baked Eyeshadow Trio in Sunset - 1.8 g - $17 value? (full size) - This is a nice trio that seems like it would work for most skintones.

Nars Orgasm Blush - 4.8 g - $28 value (full size) - This product is just about the epitome of cult classic products. I have heard of some people who don't care for it, but they are few and far between. It's a pretty peachy-pink blush with gold shimmer.

Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner - .016 fl oz - $20 value (full size) - I have very limited experience with liquid liners. This will be fun for me to play with. I like that it has a fine, felt tip.

Buxom Big & Healthy Lipgloss in Dolly - .15 fl oz - $19 value (full size) - From the limited amount of time that I've had with this set, this gloss is my surprise favorite. It's a pretty plummy colored gloss with gold shimmer. It isn't sticky and gives a slight tingling sensation on the lips. My only minor complaint is that the tube itself is really bulky.

 

Total Value: $186.20 - The box claims that it is $189 value. I'm guessing the difference comes from the HD powder (I had to calculate the price based on a full size, and mini sizes tend to cost more) and maybe the Sephora eye shadow (I couldn't find this exact product listed online).

 Final Thoughts

This is a great set! It would be great for someone who wants to try out a bunch of new things for a great price or for someone who already loves these cult favorites and wants to get a great deal on them. Sephora is supposed to be having a VIB/BI sale soon, so that would be a great time to pick this set up!

I also picked up the In the Glow Sephora Favorites set, and I'll try and get up pictures/first impressions of that one by the beginning of next week.

What do you think? Is this set going on your wishlist? Do you have a favorite product from this set?

Weekend Haul - Sephora, Ulta, CVS, Walgreens, WalMart

My fiance's cross country team went to sectionals this weekend, and I went along as the female chaperone for the group. It was a nice trip with a really good group of high school kids. The bonus of the trip was that my duties were done after the races were over, and since I had to drive separately, I got to go shopping on my way home. It was an area that I was familiar with, so I had a list of stores that I wanted to check out and a list of things I wanted to try and pick up.

My first stop was the mall since I needed lunch and a potty break (there were only port-a-potties at the races, and I wasn't going to use one of those unless I HAD to). I then stopped in at Sephora. I wasn't planning on picking up much there because I had a 20% off coupon for Ulta, but I wanted to check it out anyway.

Look what I found!

This was a boxed set of The Body Shop that was originally priced at $42, and it was on clearance for $20. I had a new eye cream on my shopping list, and I figured I would spend that much even on a good drugstore one, so I went ahead and got this set. I love face scrubs, and I know vitamin C is good for helping with scars, so can't wait to give these a try.

I also asked for a sample of the Urban Decay Naked Skin foundation in 2.0. I got samples in a couple of Urban Decay orders I placed a while back, and I like the foundation, but 2.0 will soon be too dark for me. This way, I should have enough to get me through until I'm back to my normally super-pale self.

After a quick cruise through Bath & Body Works and not getting anything (Victory!), I headed over to Ulta to use my 20% off coupon.

I planned on buying the Urban Decay Naked Skin foundation in 0.5 because that will be my shade soon, but it wasn't in stock. Boo! There were a few other items that I considered getting as well that Ulta didn't have, which was kind of nice because I didn't walk out with much makeup. Here's what I did get:

I got a Clarisonic Mia in Turquoise. My skin started freaking out recently, and I caved to the hype. I hope it ends up being worth it. The cleanser came with it, and I picked up two extra sensitive brush heads since they were 20% off. If you've tried any of the other brush heads, let me know what you think of them. I'm thinking of picking up a couple of the deep pore ones when Sephora does their VIB sale next month.

I picked up some haircare things as well. I got the got2b dry shampoo and volumizing powder because I've been wanting to try both of them out, and I grabbed anohter Salon Grafix conditioning cleanser because I'm out and I miss having it (Side note: Salon Grafix is BOGO 50% off at CVS this week).

My current daytime moisturizer is almost gone, so I decided to give the CeraVe one a try.

I purchased the Essence dual pencil sharpener because I've read that it's a good dupe for the Urban Decay Grindhouse, and I wanted a pencil sharpener with a cap. I grabbed the NYX retractable eye liner in Bronze because I never hear anything about these, and they're cheaper than the Slide On liners.

My last Ulta item was the $9 trio of Tarte primers to try out. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to try the eye primer or not because I haven't had good luck with Tarte eye primers. If you've tried it, let me know what you think.

My next purchases were from CVS. I have a coupon for $2 off any $4.99 Wet n Wild purchase that I wanted to use. I was hoping the CVS that I stopped at would have the limited edition 8-pan palettes, but I was out of luck there. Instead I picked up two liners, one liquid and one retractable (both of them are brown, even though the packaging looks black in the picture. Sadly, I can already tell that the liquid liner is going to be a dud. It is really red when swatched.

My next stop was Walgreens. I love this particular Walgreens because I've had really good luck finding limited edition items there, and yesterday was no exception. They had the Wet n Wild display with the 8-pan palettes I was looking for. Yippee! I only picked up the Sparkle 'Til Morning palette because I thought it would get the most use.

I also noticed some Sinful Colors eye shadow palettes, and I grabbed one in Barely There Shadow. I can't wait to try it out. I just did quick swatches on my hand, and they are nicely pigmented and apply smoothly.

The last item I picked up from Walgreens was another brown liquid liner. EleventhGorgeous on Youtube loves the Jordana FabuLiner, and I've been wanting to play with liquid liners, so I figured I would give this one a try too. Thankfully, it swatches much better than the Wet n Wild one. It's a nice, deep brown.

My last stop of the day was WalMart. I thought I might pick up a couple of the new Hard Candy items, but nothing interested me there. The few things that I did pick up were a Palmer's Cocoa Butter Swivel Stick, Simple Vital Vitamin Night Cream, and a couple of powder puffs.

That was the end of my shopping adventure. Since I didn't sleep the night before (there were bugs in my hotel room beds - Ewww!), I nearly fell asleep watching a tv show with my fiance, and we were both in bed by 9 p.m. Yep...we live really exciting lives. :-)

Did you get the Ulta 20% off coupon? What did you use it on? Have you had any fun shopping adventures recently?

Physicans Formula Shimmer Strips Eye Shadows - Nude Eyes and Brown Eyes

I have always looked at the Physicians Formula eye shadow palettes when wandering the drugstore, but I never bought one because $12 always seemed a bit pricey for what they were. This summer there were a couple of good sales on Physicians Formula items, and I had ExtraBucks burning an hole in my pocket, so I finally caved.

The first palette I picked up was the Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Shadow & Liner in Nude Eyes.

The packaging of this palette is absolutely adorable. I love the lace and the bow. The lid snaps closed thanks to a magnet.

Here's a look at the inside of the palette. It has a total of nine shades broken up into three trios intended to make progressively darker looks. The palette also comes with an angled sponge-tipped applicator.

One of my first complaints about these palettes was the size of each strip of color. The wider strips are almost exactly the width of the EcoTools brush I used for size comparison, and the skinner strips are quite a bit smaller. It makes it hard to get a single color on a brush unless you use mini brushes.

Another disadvantage with these palettes is that the shadows are extremely soft. In the picture above, you should be able to see small divots in several of the shades. Those are from the Q-tips that I used to swatch the palette since the shade strips were too skinny for me to use my fingers very well.

All of the Physicians Formula shadow palettes are aptly named "Shimmer Strips" since all of the shadows have a nearly identical shimmery finish. Each of the swatches above was done with a Q-tip on bare skin. The shades have decent but not outstanding pigmentation.

Now it's time for a confession, I've only worn these shadows on my eyes a couple of times. I disliked using the so much that I couldn't bring myself to test them more.

On the lid, the lightest shades lost their color for me. All I could see was the sheen that looked almost white. I also didn't like the look of having a completely identical finish on both the lid and in the crease. I tried doing a look using the darker shades to have the color stand out more, and I used the dark brown that is second from the left in my crease, and I had a hard time getting it to blend out. That might have been because it is darker than colors I usually use in the crease or just my general lack of blending skills, but it was still irritating for me.

Before I had tried this palette out enough to realize how much I disliked it, another great Physicians Formula sale popped up at CVS, and I got the Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Shadow & Liner set in Brown Eyes.

The packaging of this palette is just clear plastic. It opens the same way the Nude Eyes palette does, but it has a more traditional hook-like closure.

Again, the shades have okay pigmentation, and all nine of the shadows have a nearly identical finish. The lighter flesh-toned shades lose their color on the lids. You can see in these pictures that they appear nearly white. I don't think I tried the purples on my lids at all.

Final Thoughts

I have a strong dislike for these palettes. I didn't like their arrangement in the pan or how they applied on the eye. However, these are not the worst eye shadows out there. My dislike comes more from personal preference rather than a really terrible product. I know there are plenty of people out there who really enjoy using them. I'm just not one of those people. If you are interested in picking these up, I would suggest waiting for a good drugstore sale first. I would also suggest being smarter than me and only picking up one to begin with and decide if you like it before picking up more.

Do you own any of the Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips eye shadow palettes? What do you think of them?

Blog Sale!

This will definitely be my last post today.

I just added a page for a blog sale. You can find it here. I have items from Tarte, Too Faced, Urban Decay, ELF, and several other brands listed.

I'm a little bit nervous about having a blog sale because I want everyone to be happy with their purchases. I did my best to be informative or show the usage on products. Feel free to ask if you have any questions. I'll do my best to be as communicative as possible through the process if you decide to purchase anything.

Thanks for checking it out!

Urban Decay Vice Palette - Review and Swatches - Part 2

This is the second installment of my Urban Decay Vice Palette review. I have several other Urban Decay palettes, so I thought I would take some comparison swatches to see how close the Vice Palette shades were to existing UD shades.

If you didn't see my first post about the Vice Palette covering the basics about the palette itself and the individual shades, you can find it here.

Each of these swatches was done with a Q-tip on bare skin. 

On to the swatches:

Left to right: Bust, Desperation, Pistol

As you can see, Desperation is quite a bit darker than the two comparison shades; for reference, Desperation is similar in depth to Darkhorse. In terms of tone, it is closer to these two shades, as they all three are a mix of grey and brown. Looking at my swatches, I actually think these three shades could create a pretty look together.

Left to right: Twice Baked, Muse, Lost

Muse, like Desperation, is also darker than the two colors I chose to compare it with. Actually, Muse and Desperation are about the same depth. In hindsight, I should have swatched Muse with Darkhorse because they are very similar, with Darkhorse being a cooler, green-tinged brown and Muse being much warmer.

Left to right: Cobra, Jagged, BM's Couture

I have to say it again: Jagged is a crap eye shadow. I would love to know how someone uses this shadow successfully without having dark glitter flecks all over their face in less than an hour. In terms of Urban Decay shades, I find Jagged most similar to Cobra. The BareMinerals shade I used for comparison is from The September Issue palette, and it's what Jagged SHOULD be.

Left to right: Half Baked, Blitz, BM's Pret-A-Porter

When you compare Half Baked with Blitz, the bronze tone of it really comes out. I can also see the slight green-ish tone in Blitz that I mentioned in my previous post (am I completely crazy with this?). While Blitz is a really strong yellow-gold, it looks less-so compared with Pret-A-Porter, which is another shade from The September Issue palette.

Left to right: Chopper, Penny Lane, TF's Copper Peony

Penny Lane has a much stronger golden tone than Chopper, and, thankfully, doesn't have the silver glitter. It isn't as orange as Too Faced's Copper Peony (swatched from my Sweet Dreams palette), but that could be because of the strong gold tone on Penny Lane.

Left to right: Hijack, Junkie, Deep End

I love the depth of Junkie. For someone who tends to use bright colors as liners, it's a great color. It's bright enough to still be fun, but it's dark enough to make it more wearable. It's brighter in tone than Hijack and very similar in tone to Deep End.

Chaos

I don't have anything even close to similar to Chaos, so there really wasn't any point in trying. Instead, I've included a swatch here that was done with my finger instead of with a Q-tip (sorry that it is blurry). I'll say the same thing that I did in the previous post: I don't have experience with bright matte shadows like this, so I'll defer to the experts that have said that it is really good quality for this type of shadow. A base would probably be a good idea with this shade to make it look its best.

Left to right: Gunmetal, Occupy, Ace

The blue tone and multi-colored shimmer of Occupy really stand out when compared with Gunmetal and Ace.

Left to right: Deep End, Unhinged, Haight

This is probably one of the most dupeable shades in the palette. As you can see, it is very similar to both Deep End and Haight. Deep End is a little greener, and Haight is slightly deeper and more muted, but I don't think the differences would stand out very much on the eyes.

Left to right: Perversion, Black Market, Blackout

It's nice that Urban Decay decided to try another variation of a matte black, and Black Market is a nice color. I like the subtle sheen. However, when it's blended out, the sheen pretty much disappears, and it looks the same as Perversion.

Left to right: Bordello, Provocateur, YDK

Provocateur is more grey-toned than Bordello, and YDK looks very brown in comparison. Since Provocateur is a chunky glitter-bomb, I much prefer Bordello.

Left to right: Toasted, Rapture, Bordello

Another shadow that I should have swatched with Rapture is Rockstar, which is probably the most similar in depth. Rockstar is much warmer in tone than Rapture, and it makes Rapture appear to have a slight pink cast. For a company that has quite a few purple shades, Rapture is fairly unique.

Left to right: Psychedelic Sister, Vice, Gravity

Vice is very similar in depth to both Psychedelic Sister and Gravity. In terms of tone, it is between the two with Psychedelic Sister being warmer and Gravity being cooler.

Left to right: Woodstock, Noise, Junkshow

Urban Decay really didn't need to put out another hot pink shadow. The tone and depth is almost identical. The main differences are that Woodstock has much finer shimmer, Noise has slightly chunkier gold glitter, and Junkshow has a blue sheen. If you are a lover of hot pink shadows, you might appreciate the differences, but I personally don't.

Left to right: Pistol, Armor, TF's Nice Ash

Armor and Pistol are quite similar. Armor is a bit darker, more brown, and has more shimmer, but it isn't an extreme difference. I also threw in a swatch of Too Faced's Nice Ash, which is quite different.

Left to right: Nevermind, Suspect, Echo Beach, Verve

I cheated a little bit here because I was going to compare both Nevermind and Echo Beach to Suspect and Verve, so it made sense to me to compare them all together. Nevermind is a little bit deeper and cooler than Suspect. Echo Beach is a little bit deeper and much warmer than Verve. In my mind, these are sister shades. Someone else would probably say that they are close enough that you don't need both. Since these types of shades are my favorite (when people ask, I say that Suspect is my favorite eye shadow), I love having all four.

Left to right: Skimp, Anonymous, Foxy

Anonymous is a perfect highlight shade for my fair, neutral skintone. I hate how yellow Foxy is; I can't really use it.

Left to right: X, Freebird, Snatch

Both Freebird and Snatch lean towards Chunky. I've got Freebird on my lids as I'm writing this post, and I have fine shimmer under my eyes and on my cheeks from it. Snatch swatches better initially, but the glitter particles are larger, so they'll be more obvious when they fall off your lids. X is a clear winner out of these three. The color is similar, it isn't chunky, and the gold duo-chrome is gorgeous.

Left to right: Naked, Laced, Tease

This is a nice trio of soft crease colors. I know that people have complained about the quality of Tease, but I don't mind it. Naked is a nice warm brown, Laced is a pink-toned brown, and Tease is cool toned.

Final Thoughts

Some of the colors in the Vice Palette are easily dupeable and others are relatively unique. Like I said in my previous post, the people who are going to want to pick up the Vice Palette are going to be the hard-core Urban Decay collectors or those just starting out with their makeup collection. Those who already have several Urban Decay palettes who don't feel the need to have them all should be able to pass on this one without any regrets.

Are you passing on this one or picking it up? Are there any close shades that you can think to compare the Vice Palette shades to that I missed?

Urban Decay's Vice Palette - Review and Swatches - Part 1

I tried to convince myself that I didn't need this palette because I really didn't, BUT when the Urban Decay Friends & Family sale came around, I caved. What can I say? I'm addicted to Urban Decay palettes. The only thing keeping me from wanting any of the new Feminine, Dangerous, or Fun palettes is that I already own most of the colors in them.

If you didn't notice in the title, this is the first of two posts on this palette. This one will be a basic overview of the palette. I haven't used all of the shades yet, so this is more of a first impressions post that has been informed by my previous experiences with Urban Decay shadows. The second post will have swatches comparing the shades in the Vice Palette to other Urban Decay shades that I have (and a few other random shades that I wanted to compare them to as well).

If by some miracle you haven't seen anything about the Vice Palette, it costs $59 and contains 20 brand new eye shadow shades. It is a limited-edition palette. I would guess that it will start getting hard to find as it gets close to Christmas, but as with anything limited edition, that is all a guess.

The exterior of the palette is a sleek rubberized case with the initials UD raised with fake jewels. I like that it isn't as bulky as the Book of Shadows palettes that came out in previous years. I am dying to depot my BOS IV, but I don't have any empty freestyle palette space for those shadows yet.

The lid of the palette has a mechanism that makes it slowly lift up on its own after the release button is pushed. It's a fun feature, but it also keep the lid standing up at an angle. This a nice feature because it makes the full-sized mirror on the inside of the lid convenient to use.

On to the best part: the shadows.

Each shadow is .03 oz of product, which isn't quite full size (.05 oz). They are still a generous size that would take a long time to get through.

The only extra with this palette is a dual-ended eye shadow brush. I didn't take any close-ups of the brush, but it is similar to the one included in the Naked 2 palette. One side is a fluffy blending brush (that is slightly less fluffy than the Naked 2 brush), and the other is a flat shader brush (that is fluffier than the Naked 2 brush).

In each of the swatches that follow, the shadows were applied to bare skin with a Q-tip. After doing the swatches, I realized that the Q-tip didn't do the pigmentation of some of these shade justice. I was too lazy to go back and re-swatch all of them using my finger. The color description in parentheses is taken from Sephora.com (with a few adjustments made by me because I can't stand the inconsistency in capitalization and abbreviations).

Row 1: Desperation, Muse, Jagged, Blitz, and Penny Lane

Desperation - (greyish taupe brown matte-satin) - This is a good grey for people like me who are afraid of greys. It has enough brown in it to make it easier to wear for people who can't quite pull of a straight grey or a blue-grey. I've already used this as both a crease shade and as a liner shade, and I liked it for both purposes.

Muse - (dark reddish brown with golden and multi-colored shimmer) - I don't really see the red in the base color, but I would guess they described it that way because it is a warmer brown. I see a mix of red and gold shimmer. The shimmer is really fine, so there isn't going to be a lot of fallout issues.

Jagged - (matte black base with gold metallic) - This color is crap, plan and simple. I did swatches on my hand using my finger, a sponge-tipped applicator, and a brush (both dry and wet). I got decent color payoff with my finger and with a wet brush. It's actually gorgeous looking when applied wet. However, I'd be scared to use it on my eyes because of fallout issues. It looks like it has black shimmers that go everywhere! Not pretty. I'll wait to try it for an evening when I plan on playing around and not leaving the house.

Blitz - (bright gold metallic) - This is a true gold with really good pigmentation. Sometimes when I look at it, I think there is a slight green tinge to it as well.

Penny Lane - (bronze metallic with gold glitter) - This is a really peachy bronze color. I would say that it has shimmer, not glitter. It isn't chunky at all and has good pigmentation.

Row 2: Junkie, Chaos, Occupy, Unhinged, Black Market

 Junkie - (dark green-blue with gold shimmer) - The gold shimmer on this is really fine. It just about disappears when swatched.

Chaos - ( vibrant royal blue with very subtle shimmer) - This color swatched the worst with a Q-tip. It swatches much better using your finger, but the Q-tip swatch is more accurate to what you would get using a brush or even a sponge-tipped applicator. I have seen a lot of reviews that say this shade is amazing for being a matte base shadow, and I'll defer to them on that because I don't have any shadows like this in my collection.

Occupy - (dark grey-blue metallic) - In the pan, this shadow looks like it would be a gritty mess like Jagged, but, thankfully, it isn't. I would use this shadow before applying foundation and concealer though because it looks like it will give some fallout. What the Sephora description fails to mention about this shadow is that it has a lot of multi-colored shimmer that is absolutely gorgeous.

Unhinged - (electric turquoise blue metallic) - I would say that the Sephora description is spot on here. The finish is a gorgeous metallic sheen with no discernible shimmer.

Black Market - (dark charcoal black matte-satin) - This is a black that leans slightly grey and has a soft sheen. I actually like that they pulled back on this shade slightly instead of going for the blackest-black satin they could make. This seems like a much more useable shade for me than Blackout, which is so intense that I haven't attempted using it for anything other than as a liner.

Row 3: Provocateur, Rapture, Vice, Noise, Armor

Provocateur - (light greyish pink with lots of multi-colored glitter) - This is another dud shade in the palette. I love the color, but it is a chunky, glittery shade that has a ton of fallout. It isn't quite as bad as Jagged though because the base color applies a bit better.

Rapture - (dark greyish purple with multi-colored shimmer) - The shimmer is so fine in this shade that it comes across more like a metallic shade to me. I like the grey tone to it because it makes it look a bit more neutral.

Vice - (dark eggplant with subtle red shimmer) - This is an interesting color to me because it looks like it has a blue sheen to it. At the same time, it looks like a warmer-toned purple. I'm assuming that has to do with the red shimmer, that it really so subtle that I wouldn't have notice it if I didn't see it in the description.

Noise - (dark reddish-pink metallic with big gold glitter) - The description here is a bit deceptive. Saying that it has big gold glitter makes it sound like a chunky, crap shade. It isn't. The gold glitter flecks are large enough that they stand out, but they don't make this shadow a gritty mess.

Armor - ( greyish brown metallic with silver micro-glitter) - This shade is similar to Occupy that it looks like a gritty mess in the pan, but it isn't too bad when you actually use it.
 

Row 4: Nevermind, Echo Beach, Anonymous, Freebird, Laced

This row is definitely my favorite! I can see myself using it all the time.

Nevermind - (light taupe-brown shimmer) - I don't know that I would classify this is a taupe shade. It is warmer than what I would typically classify as a taupe. This shade is going to be a favorite of mine.

Echo Beach - (light wheat-champagne shimmer) - This is a golden-champagne shade as opposed to the pink-champagne of Sin. This is another shade that I will use regularly.

Anonymous - (light whitish-pink nude matte) - This is very similar to my beloved Wet n Wild Brulee. It's a great blending and highlight shade for me.

Freebird - (light peachy-pink with silver micro-glitter) - Freebird looks gorgeous in the pan. Sadly, it is slightly chunky when swatched. It is better than Jagged and Provocateur, but it still looks like it will be fallout prone. Proceed with caution.

Laced - (pinky-taupe matte) - This is one of the shades I was most excited about with this palette. I have been wanting more matte shades similar in depth to Naked to help blend out deeper lid colors, and this one fits the bill.

Final Thoughts

This is a fun palette with a good mix of shades and finishes. At about $3 a shade, it is a good value (and an even better value if you are able to get it on sale). It isn't a must-have because most of the shades aren't unique enough that you couldn't find a dupe somewhere (you'll see this in my next post). However, for those who are as addicted to Urban Decay as I am or for someone who is just starting to build their makeup collection and wants a good mix of quality shades, this is definitely worth checking out. Sephora is having VIB and BI sales in November, so that might be a good time to try and pick it up.

What about you? Were you able to resist the call of the Vice Palette or did you pick it up too? What are your favorite shades from it?