When my interest in make up began to grow a few years ago, one of my wishes was to own a big palette full of eyeshadows and other make up goodies. Last year I made my dream come true by buying Sephora's 2011 Limited Edition Makeup Studio Blockbuster kit. Inside the neat black box we'll find 96 (!!) eyeshadows, 84 (!) lip glosses, 6 cream eyeliners, 3 blushes, 2 liner pencils, 1 bronzer and 1 mascara. The set also contains 4 small applicators (quite useless if you ask me). Sounds impressive, huh? However, after some time, the first excitement was replaced with a slight disappointment. Why? I'll explain in a bit.
The first thing you see when you open the black box with a Sephora sign carved on it, are the eyeshadows. The range of colours is huge (no surprise, since there are 96 of them, right?) so you'll find not only some neutral shades suitable for everyday make up but also some crazy and unique ones like mint or bright red. There is so much to choose from that I highly doubt I will ever use all of them! Too bad Sephora didn't provide a list of all the shades used in their kit, would be great to have some of them in full size. Unfortunately, the eyeshadows lack some quality. They don't last very long on the eyelids and quite a few of the colours, especially the brighter and matt ones, are poorly pigmented, as you can see on the swatches. That is why a primer is a must before applying these eyeshadows.
As we unfold the drawers, we discover the most useless, at least for me, part of the palette - lipglosses. So useless I didn't even bother to swatch them. Just like eyeshadows, the glosses have amazing colours! We have nudes, pinks, reds, purples and even some transparent shades. Some of the glosses give barely any colour and don't last for too long. I could even forgive these imperfections, but it bothers me that those lipglosses seem to be made for home use only. Try as you might, you won't be able to fit the whole palette in your clutch in order to touch up your lips when the colour fades away. So that's a huge no-no for me. I'd be more satisfied if we would be able to get them out of the palette, but unluckily for me, it's not possible. Even though I'm not keen on the glosses I'll do my best to use them, because so many beautiful shades can't simply go to waste, even if it's only for sitting at home
What saves this makeup kit for me, is the bottom drawer. This is the part I use most frequently and I'm quite happy with it. Here we'll find the blushes, eyeliners, eye pencils and the mascara. Before buying this palette I wasn't keen on applying some colour on my cheeks, but it changed thanks to those Sephora blushes (which were very hard to photograph btw!). The shades are well pigmented and seem suitable for my fair skin. My personal favourite is the bright pink blush. As far as the bronzer goes, it has shimmer in it so unfortunately it will not be useful for face contouring. That's a pity because it could have been a great product for fair complexions! Moving on to the cream eyeliners, it is another decent product that can be found in this kit. They apply easily and are nicely pigmented as well. Their longability is ok, however, they tend to smudge by the end of the day. Also, kudos for Sephora for interesting colours, it is rare to find something other than black and brown and in an affordable price! The eyepencils (black and brown) are quite similar, so there's nothing more I can really say about them. And, last but not least, the small mascara is quite a problematic piece. It didn't really work for me and gave zero effect to my lashes, but my friend, who also owns this palette, is very in love with it. Right now I use it to brush through my lashes before applying my current fave mascara. Once again, too bad Sephora didn't give the full name of the mascara for those who are satisfied with the product.
Overall, I don't regret buying this beautiful makeup palette. Even though I've expected something more of it, it is still something I use on a daily basis. This kit will be a great present for those who start their make up journey because it'll certainly help to choose colours that will compliment the eyes and skintone well. I'm certainly having a lot of fun with some of the crazy shades there! However, people who are more experienced with make up will be a little bit disappointed with this product. I'm not sure if this palette is still available at Sephora, since it's limited edition, but I did a little research before writing this review and I found out that the 2012 version is coming out very soon and it's not really different from the one I showed you today.
What do you think of Sephora's Palette? Is it good for us, make up lovers? Do you like such wide ranged kits or do you prefer buying only your favourite shades in good quality? Feel free to comment and let me know what you think! Take care!
A.
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