theNotice: a beauty blog

There is absolutely no way that anything, anything, has any right to be as gorgeously colour-coordinated as this Buxom Color Coreography Eyeshadow Palette (in Tango). I mean — neutrals! Shimmers! Mattes! Silver and burgundy! 

(A huge hat-tip to Jessica, of Beautezine, for the heads-up on these palettes.)

And an upcoming primer:

The new Buxom Stick Around Eye Primer looks pretty interesting, too. It’s not in stock online, yet, but the format has me souring the internet for reviews – all of my eye primers (or, at least, all of the ones that actually seem to work on my lids) are in doe-foot or squeeze tube packaging, so I’m curious to see how a jumbo pencil will hold up.

The ingredients

Color Choreography™ Eyeshadow Palette

Stick Around Eye Primer

Both products are free of parabens and synthetic fragrance.

So… this happened.

I’m not entirely certain when, or why, or how, but it was sitting in my “coming up” folder when I went rooting around for a look to post this Monday, and– well, that’s pretty much all I have to say here. It’s weird, and almost a complete 180 from the neutral lid looks I’ve been posting recently, but (or perhaps “so,”) I hope you like it!

Products used

The basics: NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk, Smashbox Matte Eye Shadow in Smoke, Hard Candy Glamoflauge concealer in Light.

The pigments: MAC Pigments in Vanilla, Grape, and Fuschia; FaceFront Artistic Pigment in Steam.

Everything else: Annabelle Mono Eyeshadow in Lagoon, FaceFront Color Volume Blush in I Dream of Peaches, 100% Pure Fruit Pigmented Mascara in Black Tea, La Bella Donna eyeliner in Black.

The product: Hello Kitty Graffiti Eyeshadow and Blush Palette

The packaging: Alright, so I’ll start with the packaging, because I’m a little love/hate about it. On one hand, I’m not twelve, I’ve never understood the Hello Kitty appeal, and I can definitively say that I dislike the graffiti-ness of the Graffiti palette*.

*Partly because I’m not big on random splashes and speckles of colour; partly because it “pays tribute to the daring artists who decorate Hello Kitty’s favorite downtown sidewalks.” I happen to disagree vehemently with the whole “defacement of public property is cool!” mentality, so.

(I  mean, don’t get me wrong – street art is very cool, but only when it’s been encouraged and/or commissioned!)

On the other hand, though, I like the solid build of the packaging, the bi-layer design, the inclusion of a mirror, and (dare I say it?) I’m even a little fond of the silver bow. Plus, each palette’s packaging is unique (compare this one to the Sephora stock image if you’re confused), which is quite cool.

The eyeshadows: On the Sephora site, the four shades are listed as a shimmery gray, a greyish teal, a soft pink, and a charcoal. Unlike a lot of product listings, I’d say those descriptions are actually spot on, which is a nice deviation from the norm!

The shimmery grey is on the sheer side, with a watery, translucent vibe and a bit of taupe hidden in the shade. The greyish teal is a breathtaking, intense, slightly desaturated teal. (Aside: I’m really liking this “greyish teal” thing — here’s to hoping we see more of it in the next few months.)

The soft pink is the sheerest shade of the four, with wearable yellow undertones and a very low likelihood of making you look like you have pink eye. Finally, the charcoal is a deliciously pigmented, easy-to-blend dark grey.

All four shades are soft, blendable, even-textured and shimmery.

Hello Kitty Graffiti Palette – eyeshadow swatches, dry on primed skin.

The blushers: I admittedly paid less attention to the two cheek products in this palette, but I can tell you that they’re really quite pretty. And I swear, whoever produced this palette got right into my brain when they did the finishes – the eyeshadows are just the right kind of shimmery, and the blushers are spot-on as well.

The shades are described as a bronzy peach (completely matte; think of a cross between a peach blush and a contour powder) and a dusty pink (that newfangled sort of matte – you know the one; where it’s matte but if you look really closely at the pan, you can see a few super-tiny bits of shimmer?).

And, well, yeah. They’re both kind of lovely; pigmented and smooth. Both shades are medium-toned, as well, so most skintones won’t have to worry about them showing up – they’ll be more obvious on lighter complexions, of course, but I can see them working on most.

Hello Kitty Graffiti Palette – blusher swatches; heavily then blended out.

The verdict?

You guys. You guys. This is perfect, absolutely perfect, for Spring.

I’m in love! I’m in love with a ridiculous-looking Hello Kitty palette and I can’t even bring myself to care because everything inside it is just so pretty!

On a more serious note, though, I was actually quite impressed by the quality of this palette – the shades are gorgeous, both individually and together, and the quality of each of the six (four eyeshadows, two blushers) products ranges from “good” to “great.” It’s hard–harder than it should be–to find a palette without a “weakest link,” but Graffiti manages it with grace.

And it’s paraben-free. And on sale. I don’t think it gets any better.

Ingredients, Graffiti vs. Blue Sky, & a whole bunch more photos »

Come on. I can’t be the only one who thinks so, right? I mean, obviously, the palettes aren’t dupes of one another, but I do feel like they run on the same idea: one shimmery charcoal, one gorgeously desaturated teal, and two lighter shades to add brightness.

Review, swatches, and (probably way too many) additional photos of the Hello Kitty palette are in the works. (And on that note — seriously, you guys, Hello Kitty?! I did not expect to get along with this palette, much less actually like it. But I do, which I’m finding a bit mind-boggling.)

Because I’m slow While you wait extremely patiently because you are wonderful humans In the meantime, be sure to give this Clarins Blue Sky review a look if you haven’t seen it yet, and don’t miss last Monday’s Blue Sky eye look.

A ramble/tutorial about hair loss, wigs, and faking it* here.

Plus, a few gifs (which were turned into PNGs on the She Said Beauty site) -

This last one’s relevant to all of our interests, because (let’s be honest), sparse lashes and brows aren’t just a problem for people on chemo drugs. A before and after with super-natural (supernatural!) brow penciling + black liner in the lash line itself, rather than just above or below it:

–

*”It” being lashes and brows, that is. Get your mind out of the gutter.