This Week's Looks: Recent Purchases, Sephora Pro Editorial and Colourpop Yes, Please!

I've recently made some purchases. In a rare move for me, I purchased two palettes within a week. I thought about these purchases for a while before deciding to go through with them and really evaluated what I owned in my collection and how additive they would be. The thing I did not anticipate, however, was that I would be buying them so close together. I bought the Sephora Pro Editorial palette first, and then learned that Coloupop's Yes, Please! was going to be restocked. I purposefully stayed away from Yes, Please! when it originally launched because I wasn't sure if I really wanted it. I think a lot of companies (like Colourpop) have intentionally low stock because they want people like me who are unsure if they want something to go ahead and buy it because they have the fear of missing out. That didn't work for me. I figured that if I really wanted it, I would still want it by the time it came back in stock and I could take that time to evaluate. There were several factors that I weighed in deciding to buy this palette, and since the restock happened so soon after I bought the Editorial palette, I ended up with two palettes within a week. 

And, to be completely honest, that makes me very uncomfortable. It reminds me of the days when I was buying makeup all the time just to get through the day or week. Intellectually, I recognize that the situation is not the same, but getting multiple new makeup items felt very similar. But, these were thoughtful purchases on my part, and I am happy with them. 

Here are six looks I did this week. 

Look 1: Sephora Pro Editorial

Rose Quartz on the lid, Myiesha blended into the crease, Electric Violet padded onto the outer corner, and Porcelain on the brow bone. 

Look 2: Sephora Pro Editorial

Lou on the lid, Tangerine blended into the crease, and Porcelain on the brow bone. 

Look 3: Sephora Pro Editorial

Hector E on the lid, Tangerine blended into the crease, Eliza D blended on top of Tangerine, and Porcelain on the brow bone. 

Look 4: Colourpop Yes, Please!

Chauffeur on the lid, Big Cocktails blended into the crease, Mischief blended above Big Cocktails, and Full Zip on the brow bone. 

Look 5: Yes, Please! and Sephora Pro Editorial 

Colourpop Mischief on first half of lid, Coloupop Big Cocktails beside it, and Sephora Pro Tila on second half of lid. Zoeva Substitute for Love and Colourpop Big Cocktails blended lightly in the crease. 

Look 6: Colourpop Yes, Please!

Louie on the lid, Butter Cake padded on top of Louie in the center of the lid, Big Cocktails and Spoiled blended into the crease, Mischief blended above Big Cocktails and Spoiled, and Full Zip on the brow bone. 

So, this is an odd post for me because it is not quite a one week, one palette post, but it is also not a traditional "this week's looks" post either since I only used two palettes the entire week. So, I thought instead I would offer thoughts on each palette. 

Sephora Pro Editorial 

This palette is so large that it will probably take me a few weeks just to try all the colors. I was limited this week to what would be appropriate (enough) to wear to work, so that meant the blues and greens were a bit of a no-go. Ironically, I bought this palette for the more colorful shadows, and I ended up doing neutral(ish) looks that I can do with a lot of shadows in my collection. I know it's not noticeable, but the shadow I used all over my lid in look 1 is a really pretty pink duochrome (which are always challenging for me to capture in a picture), and I love how it looked paired with the purple shadows. 

The rest of the looks unintentionally followed a sunset theme, which is interesting to me. I may not be all that creative with my makeup looks, but I actually found the palette to be a little difficult to work with in terms of sticking just this to palette. The shimmers, for example, were either light and duochrome or pretty warm-toned. I found it challenging to use a lot of the gorgeous matte shades because I simply could not think of a shimmer that would look good with it. As a result, I ended up with some pretty standard (boring) color schemes. I would have pulled other shimmers from my collection to use with the colorful mattes, but I wanted to see how the palette would work on its own. I'll definitely need to play with this palette more, and in terms of using it as a companion palette, I think it will be great. But in terms of a standalone palette, I don't really know if I think it's all that comprehensive. 

In terms of quality, I was pleased. The shadows do kick up some dust, but nothing more than my shadows from Makeup Geek or Anastasia Beverly Hills. I have a feeling that the pigment may be a miss on some of the shadows, but it was great on all shadows I've used so far. The colors also blended really well, but I have shadows that feel a bit more luxurious to work with. 

Colourpop Yes, Please!

I have to say, I absolutely love this palette. I love everything about it. I love the colors, the color scheme, the quality, and the size. And I find the palette to be very inspiring, which is quite rare for me. I thought these shadows were going to be the same size as a full-sized Colourpop pressed shadow, but they are not. They are a bit smaller. And I actually really like that. It's slim and fits nicely in my storage, and I'm sure it will be really great for travel. I also appreciate the smaller pans because I'm sure that's what helped keep the cost low ($16). 

The one gripe I have about this palette (and it's a major one) is how difficult it is for people to buy it. I had a feeling that the recent restock was going to go exactly as it did (selling out in a matter of minutes), but, I don't know, I hoped it would have gone differently. It's always really disappointing to me when I see so many people wanting to buy something and brands just don't have the stock (intentionally or not) to meet that demand. 

What I'm Not Buying: Sephora Pro Cool Palette

The Sephora Collection X Sephora Pro palettes have officially launched. I've already written an anti-haul post on the warm palette (here), and this post will be dedicated to the cool palette. 

Because I won't be buying. 

As I said in the post about the warm palette, when I first saw the cool palette, I really, really wanted it. But, honestly, that feeling went away really quickly. And it is because, like the warm palette, I was able to see—immediately—that I already have all the colors in this palette.

At a glance, there is a lot going on in this palette. There are light/champagne colors, rosy shimmers, berries, taupes, and standard matte shades. When you break the entire thing down like that, it doesn't sound very extraordinary or unique to me at all. And I think what is happening with this palette, which is something that happens with a lot of palette, is the "group attractiveness effect." And what that means, essentially, is that if you were to look at each of these colors on their own, they likely wouldn't look that special to you. Or, if you were to look at each color individually, you might realize that you already have that color in your collection. But when you look at the entire thing, taking in all the colors at once, it all of a sudden seems completely unique. But it's not. It is just a collection of a bunch of typical shades.

Let's look at swatches:

These swatches were provided by a Sephora Pro artist, which is always something to keep in mind. These were not provided directly by the brand, but there is still a strong association with the brand. What I found interesting is that these swatches look far less appealing to me than the actual palette. And that's because the colors all just look so similar. The majority of colors on the right arm, for example, do not look all that appealing to me because they are just variations of white/cream. And apart from the few berries shades on the left arm, I'm not digging that one so much either. 

This palette also seems like a solid amount of it would not work on various skin tones. There are definitely parts of it that I think could work for all skin tones, which is great, but I always think it's better if entire palettes (or close to it) can work for all skin tones. 

Let's look at the palette again:

Do you know what I see when I look at this palette? The Lorac Mega Pro 1:

It is also very similar to the Mega Pro 3:

The rosy shimmers look exactly like the Lorac Unzipped:

And it also reminds me of the Tarte Tarteist Pro:

And ABH Modern Renaissance:

From my own collection, I have two custom palettes that give me the entire cool palette:

Between these two palettes, there are shadows from Natasha Denona, Lime Crime, Viseart, Too Faced, MAC, Coloured Raine, Makeup Geek, Costal Scents, ABH, and Colourpop. 

The Sephora Collection X Sephora Pro palettes are $68, which is a lot money, unless you are comparing it to the outrageous prices of the Natasha Denona palettes. I have a few Viseart palettes in my collection, which are pricier than these palettes from Sephora for less shadows, but I still think that $40 and up for a makeup item is expensive. And I like to keep that in mind whenever I consider buying something. And that is why I have to evaluate all items with a critical eye. If I spend that much money, I don't want it to be for something I already have. 

And as I have said in other posts, I love my custom palettes so much that I don't see any palette replacing them for me. 

I think it's great that Sephora is upping their game and trying to compete with some of the bigger brands. It's exciting to see Sephora improve formulas (hopefully). But, as with the warm palette, this palette just comes way too late for me as I already have all these colors. And, frankly, I like the arrangements of my customs palettes more than the layout of the Sephora palettes. So there is really no reason for me to buy this. And I won't.