I do not know what it is about this quarantine, but I must have bright colors and I must have them now! I also must have lost my damn mind because I do not remember spending $38 on a palette. It’s a super cute palette, but I think I got caught up in the branding. I wear eyeshadow literally thrice a year.
Anyway, this palette is “Forever Baby” from Sola Look (the people who brought you the Grease palette). Okay yes, it’s all coming back to me now. They got me with the nostalgia. The packaging looks like an old school VHS tape. My #1 criticism is that there is no watermelon color, but further research tells me that this was included in a retired palette that I missed the boat on. In that case, my new #1 criticism is that they went with “heartbeat” instead of “hungry eyes” for an eye shadow color name. Come on! Otherwise, it’s perfect in every way.
Also bonus points for some truly 80’s colors in here. You could 100% recreate Joan Cusack’s working girl shadow with this.
I don’t own a lot of makeup, but I am a big fan of fun pop-culture related things. So sometimes I get hooked into the makeup stratosphere due to my related obsessions. That’s why I am a big fan of Bésame Cosmetics. Their collaborations are beautiful.
Their most recent line is inspired by Mary Poppins. And while titular character’s set was gorgeous but not quite my speed, I jumped right on the Mrs. Banks nail polish and lipstick duo. Not only because lipstick is the one makeup item that I do semi-regularly wear, but also because this set includes these lovely postcards inspired by Bert’s chalk drawings from the film.
If you’re into purchasing makeup for the sake of the makeup itself and not the stationary that just so happens to come with it, here is a shot of the lipstick and nailpolish:
The lipstick looks great in the tube and it has Bésame’s signature marshmallowy vanilla scent, but I haven’t tried it out yet. I did immediately paint my nails, and I found the formulation to be a bit too thin. I’m not brave enough to leave the cap off for a few minutes, so I’ll have to trust that it will thicken up on its own over time. That said, I’m not sure it’s my color anyway.
As soon as it dried I had a flashback to the time in seventh grade where I had finally vowed to talk to my crush, only to look down at my nails and realize that my new nail polish very closely matched the color of my skin. I promptly told my best friend I wouldn’t be able to go through with it because I looked like I had no fingernails at all. The I spent the rest of the day peeling off my nail polish like a good compulsive.
But oh well I’ll try a second coat and see what it looks like in the daylight. In the meantime, check out the cute packaging:
Mrs. Banks herself.
Votes for Women on the flap.
UPDATE: Turns out all the polish needed was a second coat and a little daylight! It dried into a very subtle shimmery coral. If I had to describe this color, I would call it: 2 parts ballet slippers and 1 part beach sand.
Here are some other makeup reviews I did back in the day. Disclaimer: They, like this one, are not very professional.
Tonight on a Very Special Episode of the The Very Special Blog, I will be reviewing MAKEUP! What?? I’ve watched some videos on how to do this and if I was going to do it the right way, I would be sitting at an all white vanity while dub step played in the background.
But I took note of the steps and I think we can do this the low-tech way.
Step 1: Introduce the Product
I have a feeling we can thank that terrible “Jem and the Holograms” movie for this product line, but I don’t care. I haven’t been this excited to purchase lipstick since I was matching my Tinkerbell lipstick to my stick on earrings. And then I saw this little nugget of joy on the Sephora website for only $10.
I’m guessing real “Beauty Bloggers” do not use stovetops as the backdrop for product shots.
Step 2: Unpack the Product The lipstick is called “Truly Outrageous” and, in classic Jem style, it’s hot pink.
I’m guessing real “Beauty Bloggers” do not use stovetops as the backdrop for product shots.
It also has a branded top, which excited me way more than I’m willing to admit…and of course Sephora co-branded the lipstick on the side.
Step 3: Demonstrate the product This is the part of makeup videos that’s always kind of lost on me. Maybe it’s because all of the presenters have either peaches-and-cream or golden-olive skin tones. Nevertheless, here is a “swatch” of “Truly Outrageous” on my pasty-white arm:
I’d say it’s highly-pigmented, yet not as intense as you might think from looking at it. But still, it’s hard to truly identify the color and what it might look like on your skin tone, so on a scale of Madonna’s Material Girl Dress
to Frenchie’s Hair
I’d rate it at about these shoes: …which by the way look a little dangerous.
Anyway, here’s the lipstick on my lips (which are statistically not the same color as your lips, but for $10 and a piece of pop culture, who cares?) It glides on smoothly and is non-drying. It’s definitely not long-lasting but it doesn’t rub off too easily either. All in all, the wear is pretty average. And it’s definitely something you’d wear for the fun of it, not the practicality at all. I plan to wear it to work when I anticipate having a hard day.
It could be the poor quality of my iPhone photo or the weird lighting in my bathroom, but do I detect a hint of Jem sparkle?
…which by the way look a little dangerous.
The Very Special Blog 