What I'm Not Buying: Urban Decay Moondust Palette

Urban Decay's latest shimmery eyeshadow palette is a collection of their Moondust eyeshadow formula, which is described as "dazzlingly sparkly" with a "diamond-like" effect. Apparently this was Urban Decay's "most requested" eyeshadow palette since the Moondust formula was first introduced. 

And I won't be buying. 

I'll admit that the idea of this palette really sparked my interest. I had heard a lot of buzz about Urban Decay's Moondust formula, and the idea of trying eight shades in a palette was really appealing. 

However, this was something that I needed to remind myself first and foremost: I don't like Urban Decay's eyeshadow formula, especially the formula in palettes. 

I know this is an incredibly unpopular opinion, but after trying so many different eyeshadow formulas, I don't like that of Urban Decay. I find the formula to be inferior to the likes of Make Up For Ever, MAC, Makeup Geek, and Kat Von D. I even prefer the shimmery shadows in the two Morphe palettes that I've tried more than those from Urban Decay. 

In fact, I've decluttered more palettes from Urban Decay than from any other brand. I've decluttered:

• Naked 
• Naked 2
• Naked 3
• Naked Basics 
• Vice 4
• Midnight Emergency Kit
• UD X Gwen Stefani 

That's truly a staggering number of palettes that I have owned, tried, and disliked enough to declutter. 

But what's even more staggering is that I continued to buy from Urban Decay even though I didn't like their eyeshadow formula. 

The main reason I dislike Urban Decay eyeshadow palettes is because they produce a substantial amount of fallout. Another reason is that several of their shadows are packed with glitter, so when I inevitably get fallout, glitter chunks will rain down my face and stay put for the rest of the day. Third, I don't think Urban Decay does mattes well, at least in comparison to Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye, Viseart, and even MAC and Makeup Geek. Lastly, the shadows feel incredibly dry and are prone to flaking in the pan. 

Interestingly, I now only have one Urban Decay eyeshadow, and it is incredible. It is a single in the shade Chase that I bought it because it was a happy medium between my two favorite shades from the Naked palette: Half Baked and Smog.

Urban Decay Chase

Photo: Temptalia 

This shadow is fantastic. It gives off incredible pigment with a metallic finish, it's not too dry, and produces minimal fallout. It's so unlike any other shadow I've tried from the brand. And that's when it occurred to me that Chase was the only shadow I've tried from Urban Decay that wasn't in a palette. 

At $19 per shadow, Urban Decay single shadows are considerably more expensive than those from MAC or Makeup Geek, and it would be cheaper to buy a Naked palette instead of three singles. This leads me to think that the eyeshadow singles could be of a superior formula than the formula in palettes. Of course, I could be absolutely wrong, and Chase just might be a uniquely great shadow. 

The bottom line is that because of the experiences that I've had time and again with Urban Decay palettes, I really can't see myself purchasing another one. 

Still, that didn't stop me from stopping in a Sephora to look at the Moondust palette. There are some positives:

The color selection really is lovely. 

I appreciate that there are neural (enough) colors in here, like the light pink, silver, and bronze, as well as jewel-tones to play with. I also applaud Urban Decay because this color selection looks as though it will work well and look lovely on a true variety of skin tones rather than catering to light skin. 

The Moondust palette has also received generally favorable reviews, however, it has been noted that the best effects come from applying the shadows with a finger and/or wet. If you're looking for a super glittery shadow and don't mind having to work a little be harder to achieve that, than this may absolutely be a winning palette for you. For me, I don't want to work that hard. 

As far as the swatches, I was less than impressed. I swatched with the colors with a finger over bare (non-primed skin), and they swatched terribly. It was just a light streak of colored glitter, and not at all the "dazzlingly sparkly" finish I had been promised. 

This one will have to boil down to personal preference. There have been many favorable reviews of this palette, so if this is the kind of item you're looking for, you probably won't be disappointed. But if you're like me and you want the sparkle without the additional work, this might be a pass. 

In my own collection, the Nubian 2 palette from Juvia's Place has a similar color scheme, has much more vibrant colors, and I don't have to work to achieve nice results. 

Finally, I think cost is important to consider here. The Moondust palette costs $49 for eight shadows with 0.02 ounces of product per shadow. A full-sized single Moondust eyeshadow costs $21 for 0.05 ounces of product. The Naked palette in comparison costs $54 for twelve eyeshadows at 0.05 ounces of product per shadow (the size of a full-sized shadow). 

The Moondust palette is incredibly expensive for 0.16 ounces of product. If you're curious to try the Moondust formula, I would recommend instead buying one of the Moondust singles in a shade you really love and would wear often. 

As for me, I already have high performing shadows in similar colors that give a beautiful finish without troublesome fallout, so the Moondust palette is a pass for me. 

One Week, One Palette: Custom MAC, Makeup Geek, Make Up For Ever, and Morphe Palette

This is a project that I've wanted to start for a long time but never actually took the plunge. And that is a one week, one palette challenge. 

The general idea is that I will use one of my palettes for a week, pulling in other shadows as needed, and do a different look each day. 

I have a significant number of eyeshadow palettes, and I would like to make sure that I am not only rotating through all of them, but that I am also not doing the same look each time I use them. 

To start, I wanted to use one of my favorite but least used palettes, my custom palette. This has MAC, Makeup Geek (MUF), and Anastasia Beverly Hills (ABH) single shadows as well as depotted shadows from the Make Up For Ever (MUFE) Artist Palette Volume 1 and the Morphe 35T palette. 

My custom palette is a doubled-sided MAC palette with inserts. It holds 30 shadows.

I am not a fan on the look of Z-Palettes, especially with circle pans, as they don't look as uniform as I would like. Also (as you can tell), I am very messy with my shadows, and the mess was amplified within the Z-Palettes. I therefore ditched all my Z-Palettes and decided to go with the MAC palette with inserts. 

The palette is very heavy and will only magnetize MAC shadows, so magnets were needed with all the other shadows. 

The Morphe shadows in this palette (depotted from the 35T) do not have names, so I have just listed them numerically in my palette. 

The shadows are:

Top, from left: MUFE Golden Beige, MUG Cosmopolitan, MUG Mai Tai, Morphe 35T shadow 1, MUG Typhoon

Middle: MUG Grandstand, MUG Flamethrower, Morphe 35T shadow 2, Morphe 35T shadow 3, Morphe 35T shadow 4

Bottom: MUG Phantom, MUG Masquerade, MUG Caitlin Rose, Morphe 35T shadow 5, Morphe 35T shadow 6

Top, from left: MUG Peach Smoothie, MUG Creme Brule, MUG Cupcake, MUG Cocoa Bear, MUG Bitten

Middle: MAC Amber Lights, MAC Cranberry, MAC Woodwinked, MAC Coppering, Morphe 35T shadow 7

Bottom: ABH Pink Champagne, MUFE Taupe Platinum, MUFE Pink Granite, MUFE Iced Brown, MUFE Celestial Earth

Twenty-five of the shadows in here have a shimmer or metallic finish, and five have matte finishes. 

Below are five of the looks I did last week. Please note: this was my first time ever attempting to take pictures of my eye or my eye makeup. Please bear with me as I learn my camera and lighting more and can take better pictures.  

Please also note: I used MUFE Pearl on the inner corner and Kat Von D Laetus (from Shade and Light Eye) on my brow bone every day. 

Look 1:

Morphe 35T shadow 7 on lid, MUG Cupcake and MUG Peach Smoothie blended in the crease, and MUG Bitten lightly blended in the outer corner and into the crease. Morphe shadow 7 on the lower lash line. 

Look 2:

MAC Coppering on the lid, MUG Creme Brule and MUG Cocoa Bear blended in the crease, and MUG Bitten blended in the outer corner and into the crease. MUG Bitten on the lower lash line. 

Look 3:

MAC Cranberry on the lid, MUG Cupcake in the crease, and MUG Bitten blended on the outer corner and blended into the crease. MAC Cranberry on the lower lash line. 

Look 4:

Morphe shadow 2 on the lid, MUG Peach Smoothie, MUG Creme Brule, and MUG Cocoa Bear blended into the crease, and MUFE Celestial Earth padded onto the outer corner. Morphe shadow 2 and MUFE Celestial Earth on the lower lash line. 

Look 5:

MUG Flamethrower on the lid, MUG Creme Brule and MUG Cocoa Bear blended in the crease, and MUG Bitten blended on the outer corner and into the crease. MUG Bitten on the lower lash line.

I absolutely loved using this palette all week. I'm actually pretty bummed to have to move onto another palette this week, and I'll be using one of my favorites. 

Since my custom palette has so few matte shadows, my crease options were not all that varied, but I was very okay with that. I was surprised to find that I did two berry and two orange looks throughout the week, but I think those colors pair so nicely with Makeup Geek Bitten, which is one of my all-time favorite eyeshadows. 

My custom palette was easily my least used in my entire collection, and that always made me sad because I knew all the colors in there were incredible. And they are. I think since the palette is so big and heavy, it was a deterrent for me as my other palettes are generally easier to grab for. 

I also get into a strange "rut" if you will of using one palette one day and then moving on to something else the next day just so I always use something new. But doing that has never really allowed me to really fall for a palette the way I have my custom palette this week. 

And this should be a palette I fall for—absolutely—as I have chosen each shadow in it. In a lot of ways, I feel like this palette is close to everything I could ever need. It's very warm-toned, which I love, and is filled with berry, bronze, and orange shades that really complement my skin tone and eye color. 

Getting to use this palette all week really did curb any craving I've had for new eyeshadow palettes that are being launched seemingly daily. I have only chosen shadows of exceptional quality in my custom palette, so seeing palettes lack pigmentation and that are difficult to blend really doesn't excite me. 

I couldn't be more thrilled to have started this project and see where it goes from here. Maybe I'll even find some palettes that I'm able to declutter? More than anything, I'm excited to get to spend time falling for things already in my collection instead of being lured in by something new. 

What I'm Not Buying: Hourglass Surreal Light Ambient Lighting Edit Palette

Hourglass has come out with another palette of their loved ambient lighting products for holiday 2016, and this one was the biggest disappointment of the season for me.

And I won't be buying.

The cost of this palette is a whopping $80 for .30 ounces of product. To put that in perspective, one full-sized Ambient Lighting Powder is $46 for .35 ounces of product.

So this Edit palette costs nearly double the price for less product than one full-sized powder.

According to Temptalia's review, the Edit palette contains $53.30 worth of product. For $80. That is one hell of an upcharge.

The palette contains:

• Surreal Light, an Ambient Lighting finishing power
• Surreal Glow, a blush 
• Surreal Effect, a blush 
• Surreal Bronze Light, a bronzer
• Surreal Strobe Light, a strobe (highlight) powder

There are a few things I would like to address.

Let's start with the positives.

I like the packaging. I've heard some people refer to it as "bathroom tile" packaging, but I personally really like the marble look to it, and I prefer it over the typical Hourglass packaging that quickly becomes covered in fingerprints.

I like that you get to sample so many different finishes within the Ambient Lighting line. You get a finishing power, blushes, a bronzer, and a highlighter. For the very few people this would work for, it would act as an excellent travel palette as you have everything in one small compact.

Now onto the negatives.

Frankly, this product is a blatant ripoff, and as a consumer and longtime fan of Hourglass, that tactic does not impress me.

Typically during the holiday season, brands will give customers a value with their seasonal offerings, with some claiming to be as high as a $350 value for $49. So it truly baffles me that Hourglass does the opposite. They give you a $53 value for $80. That I just cannot understand or support.

What is especially frustrating about this is that I absolutely love Hourglass products. My all-time favorite finishing powder is the Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light:

All-time favorite blush is Mood Exposure:

And all-time favorite bronzer is Luminous Bronze Light:

I love these products. I have used Dim Light daily (literally) since I purchased it, Luminous Bronze Light is by far my most used bronzer, and I wear Mood Exposure almost exclusively during the colder months (about half the year). 

I would have loved to own a travel palette from Hourglass so that I wouldn't have to carry these three large compacts with me, but I absolutely cannot justify the price. 

Another point worth mentioning is that I've heard reviewers say that the colors only work for very fair skin. That also is so disappointing. 

With all-in-one palettes, it can be difficult to figure out the right audience. The palette is either going to absolutely perfect for one specific skin tone only, or different parts of it will work for different people with all people being able to find something that works for them. The biggest problem with the second scenario is that most people won't be able to use the entire palette, only the parts that work for them. 

I honestly don't know which is better. In a perfect world, there would be complete palettes of the same idea that come in different classifications for different skin tones. It would be great if a palette such as this could come in a light, medium, and deep selection. But I am yet to see that from any brand. 

I do find it inherently obnoxious, however, that when brands do decide to go with the first scenario and make a palette perfect for one skin tone, it is always for a light one. I have a light-to-medium skin tone, and most of the shades in this palette wouldn't even show up on me, let alone the spectrum of medium and deep skin tones. 

The only value I could see in this palette is if you have the exact skin tone this palette has targeted and you personally find value in having your Hourglass powders in one compact. If you are willing to pay $80 for that convenience, this would probably interest you. 

But to me, it feels like a ripoff with no consideration for diversity, and I won't be buying.  

What I'm Not Buying: Kat Von D Metal Matte palette

Kat Von D's offerings seem to be the most coveted every holiday season. Last year's Mi Vida Loca Remix palette was a huge success and garnered largely positive reviews. It seems this year's Metal Matte platte will also be a hit.

But, I won't be buying it.

Generally speaking, I'm a fan of Kat Von D shadows. The Shade and Light Eye is one of my favorite matte palettes. The shadows have great color payoff, have some substance to them, and play well with some of my favorite shimmer shadows.

I also really enjoy Kat Von D's metal crush eyeshadows. Thunderstruck has been a favorite of mine for a while.

So, a palette made up of her metal and matte shadows? Perfection.

But I don't need it.

What I like about this palette is that it doesn't look like everything else we've already seen ten times over and certainly doesn't look like other holiday palettes offered this year. It also appears to flatter a multitude of skin tones and will look especially beautiful on people of color. I appreciate that Kat Von D's two latest palette releases seem to carefully consider more than light skin tones.

The biggest reason why I'm skipping out on the Metal Matte palette is because I don't think I would personally get a ton of use out of it. My skin tone is warm olive, and this palette leans a little too cool overall for me.

I already own the Viseart Dark Matte palette, so I don't have any need for dark matte colorful shades. And even then, that is one of my least used palettes because I don't make a dark colorful look very often. So, the dark half of the palette wouldn't get much use. And in order for this to be a "complete" palette for me, I would want different light matte shades. A warm peach or tan shadow is my favorite to blend most colors, so I would have to pull from other palettes to get a look I really like. And the light half of the matte shades would also go largely unused.

The shimmer shadows are beautiful, but I wouldn't regularly wear half of them (the blues and teals) and already have colors similar to the other half.

The only concern that I have with this palette is that Kat Von D as a brand traditionally has had quality control issues. When the Serpentina palette was released, there was not consistency in the shadows or across palette batches. Many people found Serpentina to be patchy and difficult to work with.

But, assuming that there are no quality control issues, I can see this being the "winning" release of holiday 2016. It's different, has colorful and neutral shades, has a mix of beautiful finishes, and looks as though it will flatter most skin tones.

There is certainly a lot to love in this palette if you will get use out of it. And that becomes the real decider on this one. I personally wouldn't get much use out of it. And as much as my gut tells me, "It's pretty! I need it!" I don't actually need it.

I give Kat Von D credit for making a really interesting palette. But I won't be buying.

What I'm Not Buying: Too Faced The Chocolate Shop Holiday 2016

For me, arguably the most disappointing holiday releases come each year from Too Faced. And this year's "Christmas in New York" Chocolate Shop collection is no different.

I won't be buying.

Unpopular opinion alert: I don't think I really like Too Faced shadows. Hear me out.

I've been a makeup (and specifically eyeshadow) enthusiast for going on seven years now. I am embarrassed and a little ashamed to admit that I have owned nearly every major eyeshadow palette that has released during that time.

From Too Faced, I have owned: the Chocolate Bar, Chocolate Bon Bons, Boudoir Eyes, Natural Matte Eye, and Peanut Butter and Jelly palettes.  Of those, the only ones I have not decluttered are Chocolate Bon Bons and Peanut Butter and Jelly, and I'm really close to decluttering PB&J.

When compared to my favorite shadows (Viseart, Tarte, Make Up For Ever, Kat Von D, MAC), Too Faced shadows aren't up to par for me. I found the Chocolate Bar to be very dry, and the mattes weren't the easiest to work with. It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that I didn't like it because it was such a beloved palette. It's only been in recent months that more people have been outspoken about how the Chocolate Bar doesn't work for them either.

Too Faced seems to be a brand that can drum up hype to an unparalleled degree. Nearly every single palette they launch will sell out of stock immediately and leave consumers salivating until the next restock. Part of this, I think, is purely smoke and mirrors. It's the packaging, the cute esthetic, and the gimmicky scents. It's smart marketing, but I don't personally feel the quality lives up to some of my other shadows.

As a result, I've never been wowed by a Too Faced holiday or limited edition release. And that's for two reasons:

1. They all look the same. 
2. The quality is not on par with their permanent line. 

Let's address point one first. Here is the Chocolate Shop palette for holiday 2016:

Here is Too Faced's release for holiday 2015:

Photo: Temptalia

Here is Too Faced's release for holiday 2014:

Here is Too Faced's limited edition Stardust palette with Vegas Nay:

And here is Too Faced's most recent limited edition palette, The Power of Makeup by Nikkietutorials:

To me, ALL of these palettes look like variations of the same thing with minor differences. As many reviewers have said, "If you have one Too Faced holiday or limited edition palette, you don't need another." 

That is what's funny to me about Too Faced. They are seen as leaders in innovation and being on top of/setting trends, but then their holiday releases are so lackluster. And it seems to me that they place more importance, creative energy, and innovation on the packaging than they do the product. 

Which brings me to point two. The quality. 

At this point, it is pretty well documented that Too Faced holiday palettes are not up to par quality-wise with their permanent range. Many shimmer shades feel gritty and are full of glitter and no pigment, and matte shades swatch with barely any pigmentation. 

For the Chocolate Shop, the matte shadows seem to be the worst offenders according to the reviews I've seen thus far. So while the shimmers might be nice, that's at least half the palette that isn't very good. 

But more than anything, the reason I don't need this palette is because I already have more than enough basic natural shades, and in far better quality than what the Chocolate Shop offers. I have champagnes, silvers, bronzes, coppers, golds, and a plethora of matte browns that span the cool- and warm-color spectrums. I have a ton of matte brow bone shades and shimmery inner corner highlights. 

This palette offers nothing for me other than cute packing of a pink box with a vague connection to New York. And that's something else I don't really understand. It seems Too Faced is going for two themes with this palette: "Christmas in New York" and "The Chocolate Shop."

As someone who lives in New York City, I don't at all feel a connection with the city and this palette. I feel the connection is stronger with "the Chocolate Shop" seeing as the shadows are chocolate scented and are various shades of chocolate or chocolate foil wrapping. I've heard people say they will buy this palette simply for the New York connection, and that, to me, is just silly. Because it doesn't seem like that connection is really present here. 

This is just another lackluster holiday release from Too Faced that we have seen year after year. It's boring, the quality is lacking, and it's all packaging and chocolate-scented smoke and mirrors. 

And I'm not gonna buy it. 

What I'm Not Buying: Lorac Mega Pro 3

I figured I'd get a head start on this one as the palette isn't launching until October. (That's one positive I'll give Lorac--that they are releasing their holiday palette a little closer to the actual holiday season than the majority of cosmetics brands.)

The Lorac Mega Pro 3 will be a hit, I'm sure. Tons of people will run out and buy it, and we will be swamped with hyped review after hyped review. Part of this, I feel, is residual hype left over from the original Mega Pro release that most people were unable to get. Since they missed out on that one, people will make damned sure they get this one. 

When I first saw the teaser images Lorac released of the Mega Pro 3, I'll admit I had an immediate reaction of "MUST BUY!" But then I let my rational side come out. And I won't be buying this palette. 

There's no denying it. The Lorac Mega Pro 3 looks beautiful. As I have mentioned before, gold, bronze, copper, cranberry, peach, and mauve are my favorite shades, and all those are present here. So, of course, when I first saw it I wanted it. Of course. But will it fill any void in my collection? Absolutely not. 

That's the thing about having more than a minimal collection. You are likely to already have most colors in new palettes. And if you have a minimal collection, you probably already know what you like and don't want to add to it. 

When I look at the Mega Pro 3, I see a beautiful assortment of colors... that I already own. There is not a single color in the above picture that I don't already have a least one, if not five or more, in my collection that look exactly like it. 

I know the Lorac Pro formula is a favorite of many, but I'm not one of them. I purchased the Lorac Pro 2 earlier this year to try out the formula. I really enjoyed the shimmer shades, but I think shimmers are pretty easy to make and most brands have nice shimmers. I wasn't a fan of the matte formula. I've said it before, but mattes are the workhorses and unsung heroes of all of my eyeshadow looks. And the Lorac Pro matte formula wasn't that great to me. I found they were very powdery with a lot of kickup. The formula was light and airy, but didn't feel substantial to me. I tried look after look using the Lorac Pro 2, and each time I found the matte shades to look muddy on me. The formula reminded me a lot of the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance palette, which I also sadly didn't like. I like my matte shadows to have some substance and weight to really cling onto my skin and then blend creamy and seamlessly with other colors. I didn't feel like the Lorac Pro matte shades were able to do that. 

Since I don't like the Lorac Pro matte formula, that's half of this palette that I wouldn't really enjoy using. That, right there, is reason enough not to buy. 

Let's look at the other two Lorac Mega Pro palettes: 

Lorac Mega Pro (original)

Lorac Mega Pro 2

When I compare the first two Mega Pro palettes to the third, I feel there is not much new going on. If anything, it is slightly reminiscent of the first Mega Pro, but even then, if given the choice, I would pick the first one over the third. 

Something else to consider is how much use you'll get out of one of these palettes. I've heard from countless reviewers that they hardly ever use either of their Lorac Mega Pro palettes because the palettes are so big that they are inconvenient. Or that the palettes have too many options and are overwhelming. 

I've also seen these palettes make an appearance in a lot of eyeshadow palette declutter videos. What's interesting is that the person decluttering will mention that they hardly ever use the Mega Pro palettes, but also can't bring themselves to part with them because they were so hard to get. 

More than anything, I think people need to get off the hype train with these palettes. If you're not going to use them, there is no point in buying them. And really, no one in the real world is ever going to know what eyeshadows are on your eyes, or know the difference between the Lorac Mega Pro 3 or shadows from Too Faced or Urban Decay. 

Most people will likely lose interest in this once the next big release happens, and they you will have a giant, unused palette. 

Finally, something that worries me about the Mega Pro 3 is quality. It was widely noted during the release of the Lorac Pro 3 that the formula that most people loved had been changed, and not for the better. The Pro 3 is also the only palette of the Pro line to receive a good amount of negative reviews. I worry if Lorac has changed the Pro formula to something cheaper (while also increasing prices). And as I've mentioned before, I also wonder if Lorac will source this product out to a cheaper lab, which will also cause a discrepancy in formula. 

Had the release of the Lorac Pro 3 been highly positive, I don't know if I would be worried so much about quality. But since it wasn't reviewed well and it is a permanent item, I wonder if there is a definite change in Lorac Pro quality. 

For me, I didn't care for the matte formula anyway, so it doesn't really affect me, but it would be highly disappointing for people who love the formula if it has been changed. 

Either way, despite it being a beautiful palette, and despite knowing that in a month most people will be raving about this product and the hype will be insane, I've got to say no to the Lorac Mega Pro 3. I won't be purchasing. 

What I'm Not Buying: Tarte Bush Palette Color Wheel

So, as per usual, Tarte has come out with a holiday blush palette. Their Amazonian Clay blush formula has been incredibly popular for years, so the ability to nab a palette full of these pretty shades for the cost of about two full-sized blushes is very appealing. 

But, I'm not gonna buy this. 

This blush palette, with ten (ten!) shades comes off the heels of Tarte releasing and selling out of the Big Blush Book 2, which helped perpetuate the hysteria that if one does not sit in front of their computer frantically refreshing cosmetic pages that they will miss out of the latest hyped release. 

That's just not my style. 

The biggest positive that I can give the Color Wheel is the packaging. It's a smallish round disk that opens to reveal ten shades. 

I think this design is ten times better than that of the Big Blush Book 2, which was enormous and very flimsy with a sliding lid and no clasp. 

The Color Wheel palette is a little less than half the size of the Big Blush Book 2, which makes it compact, easy to store, and potentially good for traveling.

Traditionally Tarte's holiday blush palettes come in square, clutch-style packing: 

And I like the design of the Color Wheel better as it allows for twice the amount of shades.

But, and here's the thing. No one needs ten blushes. And that's the biggest reason why I won't be purchasing the Color Wheel. 

Really, the palette looks to be about eight blushes and two highlight shades. And even though there are eight individual blush shades, I know they would not look markedly different on my skin. And my guess it that they won't look all that different on most skin tones. 

That's the thing about blush. We don't pack it on like we do eyeshadow, and we always sheer it out. We want it to look natural, and when sheered out, most colors look pretty similar. 

For my warm olive skin, these are the blush shades I want:

• A rose
• A mauve
• A warm pink
• A coral 
• A mauve/brown 

That's it. That's all I want. And really, the rose, mauve, and mauve/brown shades all look pretty similar as is. 

If I had cool-toned skin, I would want a cool pink instead of a warm pink and maybe a lavender instead of a coral. But really, I don't see most skin tones wanting/needing more than five blush colors ever. 

I look at Tarte's Color Wheel and I ask myself: 

Will all the colors look markedly different on me? No. 

Will all the colors flatter my skin? No. 

Does the entirety of this palette offer me something I don't already have? No. 

Will I use this over my current collection of blushes? No. 

So, what's the appeal of this palette? Is it the color selection? The packaging? The value? 

I suspect the latter. See, that's how this entire holiday shopping season works. If you compare how much it would cost you to buy each individual blush at full size, this seems like a steal. BUT. You likely wouldn't buy every single one of these colors full-sized if you had to. And I think that's something a lot of people (myself included) forget. If I wouldn't buy them full-sized, why should I get them in a value set?

The last thing I want to address is quality. Year after year I am always SO disappointed in the quality of holiday products compared to their permanent counterparts. I have one Tarte Amazonian Clay blush, and it was made in the USA. The Color Wheel was made in China. I know this can be a controversial topic, but it's important to see that Tarte uses a different factory when making holiday palettes because it cuts a lot of the cost to them. But this also means that the quality is not the same. Sure, the formula could be similar, but since it is made at a different lab, the quality will inherently be different. 

And if you look at it from the business perspective, of course it makes sense to use a cheaper factory and to cut costs. But really, does the product become a value to the consumer? If it was the exact same as the original product, of course it would be, but when corners are cut, I personally don't think the value is there. 

From my personal experience, when companies change labs for limited edition products, the quality is just not up to par. And I won't purchase. Some reviewers will say that they notice no difference between the quality of Tarte's permanent blushes and the value sets. But that is not my personal experience. 

So, frankly, I don't need this palette. I don't need this many blushes in general. And I'm not going to buy it. 

What I'm Not Buying: Urban Decay Naked Ultimate Basics Palette

For the holiday season (as apparently September now marks the beginning of the cosmetics marketing holiday season), Urban Decay has released its Ultimate Basics palette.

So, let's address the obvious (and gorgeous) elephant in the room. The packaging. Holy cow, that's some pretty packaging. I've always prided myself on not being a packaging person. I have read so many reviews of products from people who bought it "just for the packaging." 

I'm sorry, what?

That's just not something I understand. And I especially find it confusing when people mention how great and pretty the packaging is on the box that a product comes in. Again... what?

I do not buy products for the packaging. But I've noticed since I've gotten older and tried my fair share of makeup products that bad or ugly packaging will absolutely keep me from buying a product. So I guess packaging does matter to me.

But, as far as this palette goes, the packaging and the idea of it are all I'm really interested in. And for that, I won't be buying it. 

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This palette marks the third installment of of the Naked Basics series. And I'll just be frank here: the color selection of all the Naked Basics palettes, this one included, is incredibly disappointing. Especially with the first two, I feel the colors only work with very fair cool-toned skin. That leaves out a ton of people. 

I owned the original Naked Basics palette, because I got sucked into the hype of everyone raving that it was an essential item. This was the first popular all-matte palette that I can remember, and so I jumped onto it. I hated it. 

For reference, I have light to medium skin with a warm olive undertone.

Venus was too white and shimmery for me. It was too shimmery for under my brow and too white to be used as an all over lid shade. 

Foxy, WOS, and Naked 2 all didn't show up on my skin. At all. They were essentially interchangeable for me. I would put each in my crease and it would look like nothing. If anything, it made my eye looks all a little ashy. 

Faint was muddy on me, as I prefer a more warm-toned brown. 

Crave broke for no reason whatsoever (I never dropped it, didn't travel around with it) and continually crumbled for months before I finally gave up and removed the shade from the palette. 

After several unsuccessful months of trying to make this product work, I finally accepted defeat and gave it away to someone I hope was able to get use out of it. 

Then Urban Decay released a second iteration. 

I laughed when I saw it. What? How is that any different than the first one other than being even more cool-toned? And I get it. There are subtle differences, but that's it. They're subtle at best. On the eye, I highly doubt the colors in this palette will look any different than those of the original Naked Basics. 

None of these colors would really work for me, and I have a hard time imagining how they would work for those with medium to deep skin tones. And for Urban Decay to come out with two matte palettes that really only work for very fair skin is highly disappointing. 

So that brings us to the Naked Ultimate Basics palette, which was supposed to be an answer to people's complaints about the color selection in the other Naked Basics palettes. 

I had the same reaction to this that I had to the Naked 2 Basics. WHAT? The first five shades on the top row and the first shade on the bottom row all look like subtle variations of the same color. That's HALF the palette! I highly doubt that any of these colors will look that different from each other when on the lid, so for me, this is more like a six- or seven-shade palette, not twelve. 

And if that's not enough, this palette--again--seems to cater to fair skin. There are certainly shades in this palette that will work with deeper skin tones, but not as many as will work on fair skin tones. The exclusion within the Urban Decay Naked Basics range is really troubling. 

Moving away from those issues, at first glance, there are some shades in this palette that I could see myself liking and wanting to use. Though I love a shimmery lid shade nearly every day, some of my all-time favorite palettes are those entirely made up of matte shades. The shimmers are the stars of my eye looks, but the mattes are the unsung heroes. My favorite mattes are shades of peach, orange, tan, and mauve. And this palette kind of has those. 

But, the palettes I already have (Kat Von D Shade and Light, Tartelette in Bloom) fit my needs better than the Ultimate Basics. Not to mention that I already have a very similar palette that I think trumps the Ultimate Basics in shade selection, quality, and quantity: the limited edition (boo) MAC Nordstrom C'est Chic palette. 

Photo: Temptalia 

This is my absolute favorite matte palette. And since I already own and love this palette, I would have little use for the Naked Ultimate Basics palette other than to look at the packaging. 

I think Urban Decay could have done better with their holiday offering. If they would have put as much attention toward the color selection as they did the packaging design, this could have been a lot better. 

Sorry, hype train. I won't be buying. 

What I'm Not Buying: Kat Von D Serpentina Palette

The latest eyeshadow palette from Kat Von D Beauty--Serpentina--has been teased for months. I have to say, this marketing strategy is exceptionally unappealing to me, and I won't be purchasing.

I mentioned this in my post about the Too Faced Sweet Peach palette, but I find it exhausting when brands talk about their upcoming projects months in advance and tease customers with filtered images just to drum up hype.

I get that cosmetics is a business and that engaging in this kind of marketing is clearly in the best interest of the company, but that's why it is so important to be an informed consumer and ignore the hype.

I don't have the best relationship with Kat Von D as a brand. I find that they often have quality control issues (the Shade + Light blushes that were pulled from shelves and the three different batches of Lolita liquid lipstick are just two examples) and are frequently out of stock in most Sephora stores. I have never seen another brand at Sephora with as many stock issues as Kat Von D.

As far as products, I own the Monarch palette. I really loved it when I first bought it because some of the colors are astounding, but the more I used it, the more I hated having to deal with the immense fallout and glitter that would rain down my face. I also bought the Shade + Light eyeshadow palette, but found it very difficult to work with. The colors had so much intense pigmentation that I found they were difficult to blend out and look nice. I much preferred the performance of my Viseart Neutral Mattes palette, so I returned the Shade + Light. I also own the Metal Crush eyeshadow in Thunderstruck, and really love the uniqueness.

I can therefore say that while I like Thunderstruck, the KVD Beauty eyeshadow formula is not my favorite. However, I think KVD Beauty always has a really interesting shade selection, and when Serpentina was first teased, I was a little intrigued.

That all went away, however, when the first "official" image of the palette was released and it had a black and white filter over it.

This is just annoying. I honestly don't see the point in it, other than to get people to go crazy over hype wondering what it will look like. I saw this filtered photo and was so disgusted by this new trend of marketing that I decided that unless the palette was so perfect, so me, so everything I've always wanted but somehow didn't have, I would be passing on it.

Some of you may say it's silly to pass on an item over its marketing, but it is important to me to not support brands that feed off and promote the hype and fear of missing out mentality.

Anastasia Beverly Hills recently released the Modern Renaissance palette, which I personally believe is the best release of the season (review coming soon). The company released the first mention and image of the palette the day before it was available for purchase. That, in my opinion, is an appropriate way to do marketing. The palette is also extremely high quality, and reviews have all been positive. Because of its quality, the palette is selling extremely well, and the brand didn't need to rely on hype and craze.

It's worth mentioning, however, that the ABH palette is permanent while the Serpentina palette is limited edition. Created hype is so much more significant when the palette is limited edition. With the hype in place, hoards of people will likely buy this palette immediately, having been teased about it for so long, sites will crash, and the hype marketing will have worked. That also is not for me.

When actual images of Serpentina were released, the colors were indeed beautiful, but again an easy pass for me. I simply don't wear such intense purple, green, blue, or red shades on my eyes. This also is not a complete palette, though it doesn't seem like it's trying to be one. There are no transition shades, crease colors, or highlight shades.

It is worth noting that this palette would look incredible on people of color, and it would have been nice to see some darker transition and highlight shades to make a complete palette.

I think Serpentina would probably be a welcome and refreshing addition to a lot of people's collections who like color and jewel tones and don't mind pulling other palettes or shadows in to make a complete look. Personally, I don't have a ton of use for it, and the marketing was a major turn-off, so I won't be purchasing.