SNEAK PEEK! URBAN DECAY VICE PALETTE

Urban Decay is coming out with a BRAND NEW limited-edition Vice Palette featuring 20 exclusive shades in a gorgeous compact. Product will be available on urbandecay.com 9/15 and in stores approximately 9/27. 

Here is the good news, If you are NYC area TODAY – you’re in luck!  

Date: Friday September 14^th

Time: 3pm – 9pm

Location:  Sephora 5 Times Square: 200 W 42nd Street New York, NY 10036 (212) 764-2525.

One day only!  Get The Vice Palette here FIRST before it launches globally. 

Meet Eric, and his team of artists, get a customized look from highly anticipated The Vice Palette.  20 ALL NEW Eyeshadows, an incredible assortment of shades, and a beautiful case with a double ended eyeshadow brush.

A DJ will be on hand and tokens of appreciation for the first 100 customers.

Here is a sneak peek:

Urban Decay Create Your Own Palette- QUADS!

I am super excited to introduce you to the brand new Urban Decay Create Your Own Palette QUADS!  As some of you may know, Urban Decay came out with the Create Your Own Palette system not too long ago, but it held 6 shadows. While I love the 6 pan case, I was majorly craving a 4 shadow palette so that I could take it with me for touch ups, or to switch from a day look to a night look without having to carry around the larger 6 pan palette. In fact, I even dropped an email to Urban Decay a few months back with this request. Looks like the team over at Urban Decay already had something in the works, and now its available!

There are 3 create your own quad style palettes available: Breathless, Rock and Melt

What Urban Decay has to say about the new palettes:

Each one of these perfectly purse-sized aluminum palettes features a different limited edition
design on the outside inspired by our love for color. And the unique pop-out feature
inside makes it easy to change up your eyeshadows on the fly—for an endless array of looks.

NICE
PACKAGE:
Our makeup-obsessed staff loves to experiment with color. From nudes to vibrant hues to deep,
dark shades, these customizable palettes can hold any threesome (or foursome) they can
dream up.

HYPE:
Urban Decay launches three exclusive 4-pan Build Your Own Palette designs for the holiday
season. Build your beauty arsenal one eyeshadow at a time with these collectible (and
completely customizable) palettes. To get things started off right, we’ve popped in a never before-
seen shade that’s universally flattering and perfect for day or night. Whether you go
naughty or nice from there is all up to you—with three empty spaces and a massive selection
of shades, the options are limitless. Load up the remaining slots with your favorite UD shades
or change ‘em out whenever you get a craving for more!

THE SKINNY:
Don’t forget that each 4-pan palette comes with a full-size, never-before-seen shade of
Eyeshadow, an $18 value just on its own! Each one contains Urban Decay’s brand new Pigment
Infusion System™, the proprietary blend of ingredients that gives every shade its velvety
texture, rich color, serious staying power and blendability. UD junkies will definitely want to snap
up all three of these limited-edition palettes:

BREAK IT
DOWN:
Build Your Own Palette (SRP $18) is available at Sephora, ULTA and select Macy’s stores. Or
online at sephora.com, ulta.com, beauty.com, macys.com and urbandecay.com.
• The Sephora - exclusive Build Your Own Palette in Breathless, featuring the
namesake shade Breathless, a medium taupe.
• The ULTA - exclusive Build Your Own Palette in Melt, featuring the namesake
shade Melt, a sheer, shimmery peach.
• The Macy’s - exclusive Build Your Own Palette in Rock, featuring the namesake
shade Rock, a sheer, shimmery oyster/taupe.

What I have to say: I LOVE THEM! Very happy with this design, and I think these are just perfect for girls on the go (like me).  It's a great way to house my single shadows, and I am really happy with the included shadow in each kit, I think they are great neutrals that will work on most anyone. 


Here is a closer look at the quads that I have filled with my own color combos!:

 Each quad comes with 1 unique shadow, but as you can see above, I've filled them with my favs.  Hopefully these will give you some ideas on how to fill yours too!

I absolutely adore the packaging. Urban Decay gets me every time with their beautiful packaging. I mean look at the artwork here, truly thought out. Below is a closer look at Breathless (this shadow below comes with the case):

Breathless is a medium taupe shade which I love for daytime to define the eye crease. In my palette, I've teamed it up with Virgin, Sin and Secret Service (my personal favorite shade from UD). I think this is a nice neutral quad for daytime.

Next up is the Rock Palette, which comes with a sheer shimmery oyster/taupe color:

Rock is very shimmery, and again, I think this would make a great color for your eye crease. Because it's so shimmery, this would look great for an evening eye look. To complete this quad, I stuck with the gem-tone theme seen in the palette's cover and used shades like Shattered, Last Call and Zephyr as a highlight.


Last, but certainly not least is the Melt Palette:

The cover is adorned with "melting" roses and reminds me of the scene in Alice in Wonderland where she is painting the roses red. Melt is a sheer shimmery peach color and I think this would be a great all over lid color for every day. I've completed the quad with Toasted, Foxy and again Secret Service.

Need more color combo ideas?  Have no fear, in addition to the above, here are my top 6 picks for perfect quad color combos:

1. Matte Quad: Foxy, Naked, Tease, Buck
2. Party Girl Quad: Woodstock, Shattered, Roach, Zephyr
3. Office Appropriate Quad: Buck, Sin, Blackout, Secret Service
4. Experimental Quad: Bender, Mildew, Psychedelic Sister, Secret Service
5. Shimmer Queen Quad: Vanilla, Oil Slick, Free Love, Psychadelic Sister 
6. Hippy Chic Quad: Peace, Free Love, Half Baked, Secret Service

To view all shades available and descriptions please visit www.urbandecay.com

What are you waiting for? Go buy one! 

Urban Decay Ocho Loco 24/7 Eye Pencil Set - Tutorial

 
 Like many of you, I purchased the 8 pencil set with sharpener from Urban Decay called Ocho Loco. This crazy eight set of beautifully pigmented eye pencils can be used as eyeliner, blended out as eyeshadow or act as a base for powder eyeshadow. While there are many great product reviews online about this product, I could not find even one tutorial using the product when I was searching for inspiration. I'm assuming it's because most will use these as eyeliners.  I thought I'd create a simple look for you today. This is a sort of grunge look, and my take on a smokey eye. It's super easy and quick.

For this look you will need:

• eye primer (I used Urban Decay Primer Potion)
• 3 eye pencils from the set: Mushroom, Rockstar and Perversion
• 4 brushes that work for blending out cream products (synthetic)
• makeup remover wipes
• Rockstar powder eyeshadow (or another shimmery purple shadow)- optional
• mascara
• concealer 

Note: Apply each color then blend out on one eye only, before repeating the step on the second eye. These pencils dry fast, so you need to give yourself enough time to blend out the color before the pencil sets. You should use a clean brush for each color, so that your colors don't get muddy. You can also use the same brush if you clean it in between each color, but you'll need time for it to dry so it'll be easier to use a fresh brush if you have it.

Here is how I created the look:

Pencil 1: Apply Urban Decay Primer Potion all over the lid, up to the brow and below the eye. Next, apply the color Mushroom from the pencil set to the inner third of your eyelid and blend across your lid using a brush about half way.  It should look something like this:

 Pencil 2: Apply the color Rockstar from the pencil set to the center of the lid. Blend with a clean brush pulling the color out toward the outer corner of the eye.

 You want to see a nice even layer of color across the lid. Your Rockstar will overlap Mushroom a bit. This is fine, this is what we want to create a blended look.

Pencil 3: Take the color Perversion from the pencil set and draw a sideways V shape in the outer corner of the eye, drawing a little bit of color into the crease. Blend the color into the outer corner of your eye, and pull it into your crease using a clean brush.

 

 

 Once blended out completely, it should look something like the picture above. As you can see, the black eye pencil, overtook some of the purple shade from the center of the lid. To correct this, repeat step using pencil 2 above, adding back that beautiful purple shade to the center lid (Rockstar).

Clean Up: Take a clean brush, and blend out any harsh edges. Take a makeup remover wipe and clean any smudges around the eye area. Apply your under eye concealer & mascara.

Finishing Touches: (optional) Apply the 3 colors to the bottom lash line in the order above; Mushroom on the inner corner of bottom lash line, Rockstar along the center and Perversion just at the outer part of the lash line. You may smudge to blend using your finger or a cotton swab if you desire. I used the same brush I used to blend out Rockstar above. Line the waterline with Perversion if you wish.
 
Here is the finished look:

 As an optional step: You can add just a little bit of the color Rockstar in the powder eyeshadow form to the center of your lid and blend across the lid.  This will intensify your middle color and add extra shine. This shade is available in Urban Decay's new Smoked palette as well as a single shade.

I hope you try this out. Play around with your new pencils. Makeup should be fun!

Spotlight: Tarte Cosmetics

Hello everyone! Happy Labor Day!!!!! I thought I would take advantage of this long weekend and swatch some products from Tarte Cosmetics for you. Today I have a few items from their new Fall 2012 collection to share with you as well as a couple of vegan products and an eyeshadow quad I've had for sometime. I'm sure you are all familiar with Tarte by now, but if you aren't they are a cosmetic company that "specializes in good-for-you glamour" according to their website. All of their products are formulated without parabens. Nor do any of them contain synthetic fragrance. Their beauty products are Eco-friendly and they do not test on animals. I really love their products and have been using them for years now.

Here is the lineup of products I'll be showing you today:

Beauty & The Box in Just Deserts, LipSurgence Lip Luster in Adored ( light pink), Maracuja Miracle Foundation 12-hour broad spectrum SPF 15 sunscreen in Fair, Beauty & The Box in Brewed Awakening, Maracuja Creaseless waterproof concealer in Fair

I'll begin with the foundation, because that seems like the most logical place to start. For those of you familiar with Tarte's Amazonian Clay 12-hour full coverage foundation SPF 15, I've included swatches side by side so you can see the color difference. I have to say I really like both foundations.  The main difference for me between the two is coverage. The Amazonian Clay gives you a fuller coverage, while the Maracuja gives you a medium coverage. Depending on how blemish flecked my face is that particular day, I'll reach for one or the other.  I think both formulas work on all skin types, though I guess If I had really oily skin I would choose the Amazonian Clay, and drier skin types might benefit from the Maracuja oil in the Maracuja foundation.

Here's a look at both bottles side by side.

As you can see the Amazonian Clay comes in a squeeze tube, while the Maracuja Miracle Foundation comes in a pump.  The Maracuja Miracle Foundation retails for $42 for 1fl oz., while the Amazonian Clay retails for $38 for 1.7fl oz.

About The Product: Tarte Maracuja Miracle Foundation contains maracuja oil.  Tarte's website describes it as an anti-aging, moisturizing foundation. While Tarte describes this product as full-coverage, I believe it's more of a medium coverage formula. The formula does feel silky, and what I personally love about it most, is that it does give me that dewy glow that is part of my signature look.  One warning- buy a shade lighter than you think you are. If you normally buy light go with fair, these run a little on the dark side. I purchased Fair and it was a perfect color match for me. The product also contains vitamin C which helps with a brighter complexion.  The glass bottle is recyclable which is important for those Eco friendly gals like myself. Luckily this product is free of parabens, and full of nutrient-rich essential fatty acids.

Here is a swatch comparing the Maracuja with the Amazonian Clay.  Since I know many of you may have the Amazonian Clay formula, I thought it was important to show you the two products side by side.

Lower right is the Maracuja, top right is Amazonian Clay (both in the color Fair). Note that the Amazonian Clay appears a bit more yellow, but once blended out, they both look about the same on my skin. On the left side of my hand is the Maracuja blended out, and to the upper right of it is the Amazonian Clay.

Pictured below is the Maracuja Miracle Foundation, as you can see it comes with a convenient pump that dispenses the perfect amount of product every time.

 Below is the Maracuja Miracle Foundation in the color Fair, 1 pump on the right, then a bit blended out on the left.

As you can see from the above picture, it does blend out quite nicely, leaving that dewiness that I love so much. However, I will say again the coverage is medium not full. I don't view this as a negative, because I honestly think most people don't really need full coverage unless you are going to be on stage, or have some serious covering up to do. This coverage will work just perfectly for most people.

However, if you do find that you are in need of more coverage, why not add some Maracuja Creaseless Waterproof Concealer ($24)? This concealer works awesome for under eye circles, and really provides great coverage. I have this in the color Fair. I've found it to be one of the best concealers I've used in terms of coverage. A little goes a long way so this tube will last a long time. The formula is thick, but it blends out easily, and I find it easy to dispense a thin line or dot of product.

In my opinion, all concealers crease at least a little bit, but when used properly, this does seem to crease less than other brands. This comes in 5 shades: fair, light, medium, tan and deep.  This product is in fact full coverage and again has a dewy finish. Like the Maracuja Miracle foundation, this too is filled with nutrient rich essential fatty acids and vitamin C to brighten the skin. Like all Tarte makeup, this is cruelty free (not tested on animals). 

 The product comes in a 0.28 Oz. squeeze tube with a wooden screw cap. I would recommend this product for all skin types. Below, I've blended it out a bit to show the coverage. .

 Next up is my favorite of all beauty products: EYESHADOW!  I love eyeshadow and wear it every single day no matter what I am doing. Sadly, I almost didn't buy these because I was afraid that they might be similar in color to an older Tarte quad that I had in my collection. Luckily, I took the gamble, and realized the colors are totally different, which is part of the reason I wanted to write this blog post in the first place.

This is a quad I purchased a while ago from Sephora called Tarte Beauty & The Box. The shade set is called In The Buff.  I LOVE this quad, and use it a lot. These Amazonian Clay Eye Shadows are a net wt of 0.2 Oz. The outer box is decorated with a wood-like pattern and beautiful flowers adorn the cover, back and inside of the case.

 Colors from left to right: Porcelain, Silk Sheets, Sunkissed, Tanline (above)

 Above, you can see the flip top lid, adorned with flowers on both the inside and outside of the box. The box is about the size of a post-it, making it easy to put in your makeup bag without it taking up much room. I found the colors to be very pigmented and long lasting. Although these are intended to be eyeshadow, I found that when swirled together with a large brush, they actually worked as a bronzer as well, due to their bronzy hue.

 These next 2 quads, are very similar in packaging, look and feel, but the shades are very different. These 2 quads are part of Tarte's new 2012 Fall line up.

In all, they have 3 new quads to their fall line: Brewed Awakening, Just Deserts and Envoke The Smoke. I'll be showing you the first 2, because I do not own the third.  Like the previous quad, these are part of Tarte's Amazonian Clay eyeshadow line, making them great for those with oily lids. I've found that these really do stay put all day, though I do tend to use a primer with all of my eyeshadow as a general rule.

 Brewed Awakening (left to right): foam, raw sugar, espresso, roast

 This coffee-themed quad comes packaged in a cute cube similar to the In The Buff quad. However, this one is adorned with colorful fern like leaves rather than flowers. The wood-like motif is carried through to this quad as well, but only in a thin strip on the bottom, while the ferns decorate most of the packaging.

 Note, the same adorable flip-top lid we saw in the previous quad. I really do, like this packaging a lot, and although it's not a snap closure, it is sturdy. I've carried these around with me in my bag, and nothing has ever come open unexpectedly.

The next quad from Tarte's Fall 2012 line up is called Just Deserts. The colors are appropriately desert-themed names:  desert sand, desert lily, desert wind and desert shadow (from top to bottom).

As you can see, the above Just Desert quad swatched a bit more sheer than the other 2, but when actually applied to the eye, I found the colors were quite buildable and just as long lasting as the other quads.

As I mentioned earlier, I almost did not purchase these quads because I was concerned they were similar to the In The Buff one that I already had.  To demonstrate how different the colors are, I've swatched the 3 palettes side by side.

 Above are the lightest colors in all 3 palettes. As you can see, these are quite close to my natural skin color, so they don't show up much when swatched, but when used in eyeshadow application, they make great highlight colors. From left to right: Foam (from Brewed Awakening), Porcelain (from In The Buff), and Desert Sand (from Just Deserts).  I would describe Foam as a matte peachy color, similar to Urban Decay's Freestyle from their new Smoked Palette. Porcelain is more of a light beige with a satin to light shimmer finish pretty close to Urban Decay's Skimp, Desert Sand is more of a matte light beige, similar to Urban Decay's Kinky. I adore Desert Sand as an all over base color or under the brow highlight because it's very close to my natural skin tone as you can see.

 Above is the second shade from each palette. From left to right: Raw Sugar (from Brewed Awakening), Silk Sheets (from In The Buff), Desert Lily (from Just Deserts).  Raw sugar looks exactly like those packets of Sugar in The Raw you get at the coffee shop, while Silk Sheets has more of a pinky tone to it and is a bit more sheer. Desert Lily is a shimmery gold color.

 Above are the 3 quads side by side for comparison.

 Above, the first 3 colors are the 3rd shade in each quad and the last 3 in each quad.
From left to right: Espresso (from Brewed Awakening), Sunkissed (from In The Buff), Desert Wind (from Just Deserts), Roast (from Brewed Awakening), Tanline (from In The Buff), and Desert Shadow (from Just Deserts).

 Above, a closer look at the third color in each palette: Espresso (from Brewed Awakening), Sunkissed (from In The Buff), Desert Wind (from Just Deserts)

Above, a closer look at the fourth color in each palette: Roast (from Brewed Awakening), Tanline (from In The Buff), and Desert Shadow (from Just Deserts).  I realize in the above picture the first and third colors look similar. In reality, they are nothing alike. Roast, is more of a very deep brown almost black with shimmer in it, while Desert Shadow is a matte smoke color - no shimmer.

When I was swatching Roast, it reminded me a lot of Urban Decay's Cobra. For comparison, If swatched those two colors side by side:

 On the left is Tarte's Roast, on the right is Urban Decay's Cobra

 The 2 colors look almost identical to me, the one difference is, I think Urban Decay's has some green-gold shimmer in it, while Tarte's shimmer appeared to be mostly gold. They are both a very cool toned brown with gold shimmer in it.

 Another treat from Tarte's Fall 2012 line up is their LipSurgence Lip Luster in the color Adored (light pink).  This is a natural lip tint.  It's a shiny lip stain packaged in a chubby pencil format. I find it lasts a long time on the lip and also find it quite moisturizing. I tend to have dry lips, so I find that I really benefit from the jojoba seed oil contained in this product. If you are one that is sensitive to certain ingredients, then this is the lip product for you because it's free of any synthetic fragrance which is often the culprit I find when people have sensitivities.

 As you can see from the below swatch, this is a beautiful lustrous light pink. It's super feminine and when paired with a lip liner and topped with a gloss can really help give you that sexy, kissable pout.

I am ending this post with you two of my favorite vegan products from Tarte. While, all Tarte cosmetics are cruelty-free (not tested on animals), they are not all vegan. However, Tarte has clearly labeled on their website which ones are vegan and PETA approved, and I commend them for doing so. They have a full page of vegan products listed on their website to make it easy for people to find: tartecosmetics.com

 Above: LipSurgence Matte Lip Tint in Envy (mauve berry) and Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Finishing Powder in Bronze

Tarte's LipSurgence natural matte lip stains are infused with peppermint. These chubby lip pencils leave a matte finish on the lip, and are quite long lasting. Though they are a matte product, I don't find them as drying as other matte lip products I've tried from other companies. These lip stains are a cult favorite among makeup lovers everywhere vegans and non-vegans alike.  In my personal opinion, this is the best, non-drying matte lip stain on the market.

 Here I have swatched it for you to show how pigmented it is. This was just 1 quick swipe without pressing hard at all.

 LipSurgence Natural Matte Lip Stains in the color Envy

 This is a beautiful shade, and I think it will look really nice with some of the new Fall makeup looks.

Here is the Finishing Powder in Bronze:

 Note the unique single hole in the center. Tarte designed this to dispense the perfect amount of product. By pressing around the hole, the perfect amount of powder is dispensed. A word of caution: do not do this while looking at the hole or bronzer will spray in your face! Turn the container upside down into the cap, or into a palette and GENTLY press.

 While Tarte calls this a finishing powder, I use it as I would any powder bronzer. It blends beautifully into my fair skin, and because it's matte it looks very natural.

I hope that you have enjoyed this post on Tarte Cosmetics. I really do enjoy their products, and use them quite a bit. If you are interested in learning more please visit: tartecosmetics.com

The eyeshadow quads are available in sets with an eyeliner on qvc.com and the foundation, concealer and lip products are all available on Sephora.com

If you think you'd like to see me create a makeup look using any of these products, leave a comment in the box below.

*Note: All of these products were purchased by me. I did not receive any compensation for this review.