Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Sugarpill Sweet Heart Palette Review

My Sugarpill Story: Amy Doan, the founder of Sugarpill, has been an inspiration many years before Sugarpill even launched. I found out about her Ebay shop through Leesha's videos and  was blown away by the gorgeous makeup looks she did to accompany her product pages. She is an enormous inspiration to me because she's doing what she loves and is colorful and not afraid to express or be herself. So when Sugarpill first launched about 2 years ago (I can't believe it's been that long) I knew I had to get my hands on the goods. But I've kind of patiently waited for the reviews to come in and the line to grow. I did order some things last year, but with me being kinda cheap (:/) I (im)patiently awaited this year's Black Friday sale to get some products. I really hope you enjoy the review and seriously, if you have the money to spend, go to sugarpill.com right now and get your hands on this gold! :3

Today's review will specifically be for the Sweetheart Palette 
This features artwork by the very talented Miss Kika, I love it, will not throw away or let anything happen to it; I'm tempted to frame it O.o :P

Availability: Sugarpill no longer carries these palettes and the only color still remaining for purchase is Tako, which retails at $13 for 3.5g (0.12 oz).
Notes:  I will start with the technical stuff and overall notes before getting into each individual color. First of all, I've heard complaints about the heaviness of the palette. Now, the reason it's heavy, is because it has a magnetic plate under it, which holds the shadows. Amy didn't have to add this and could very well have gone with a design where the shadows were glued in, but I love how thoughtful this is, you can switch out shadows between the palettes (or de-pot the individuals) so you can arrange or travel with them as you like. Personally, I don't really mind the heft, to me, it makes the palette feel more sturdy.

Ok, I've yapped and tempted you with photos long enough, let's get to the colors :D:
Dollipop: I have not seen a single swatch do this color justice - I think it's difficult to photograph because it always comes off as a dull magenta. Which is not my cup of tea. But this is, as described on the website, a hot pink fuchsia color in reality. As soon as I swatched this, I thought it reminded me of something, and that something is actually MAC's Clarity.  Not color-wise, but texture-wise. Clarity is a matte squared (and the only matte squared I own, hence why I refer to it in particular), basically this means the color's matte, but its texture is amazing buttery smoothness that has no problems blending. It's rather delicious. :3 The only con with this is that it stains. If I use a base under it when I apply it, it won't stain my eyelids but otherwise it can be a bit of an issue.
Afterparty: This is a beautiful turquoise-y bright blue with a soft pearl throughout. This kind of shade is something I adore wearing on myself and I like Afterparty because it's bright enough to wear on my lid without looking like I got into a fight. :P

Midori: This is a beautiful grass green with a soft golden pearl throughout. I don't own anything like this and am totally digging it. It's so gorgeous and I think would work wonderfully with my eye color. :3

Tako: Tako is a matte white. It isn't the most exciting color in the world but makes a nice vivid highlight. Lately, I find myself reaching for a matte white and I don't really have anything this vibrantly white (that's also matte) in my collection and am glad to have this. I've read complaints that this can be chalky and honestly, have not had that problem. I find the texture to be buttery and creamy. Maybe it just looks fine because I'm so pale. :/ This is totally random, but the name always reminds me of the weird barbecued baby tako kebabs that were at the karaoke bar. Not only were they creepy but they were over-vinegared xD I do believe Amy named this after her kitty though. :P

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Disclaimer: I bought this palette with my own funds :3

Sugarpill Chromalust Loose Shadow Review: Goldilux, Decora, Asylum, Absinthe, Tipsy, Lumi, Darling, Hysteric, Weekender

This post is going to be a bit different from the others. As in - the makeup photos will come after the general notes. In addition,  there will be photos so you'll see what each product looks like in color and consistency. Onto the blog post then:
My Sugarpill Story: Amy Doan, the founder of Sugarpill, has been an inspiration many years before Sugarpill even launched. I found out about her Ebay shop through Leesha's videos and  was blown away by the gorgeous makeup looks she did to accompany her product pages. She is an enormous inspiration to me because she's doing what she loves and is colorful and not afraid to express or be herself. So when Sugarpill first launched about 2 years ago (I can't believe it's been that long) I knew I had to get my hands on the goods. But I've kind of patiently waited for the reviews to come in and the line to grow. I did order some things last year, but with me being kinda cheap (:/) I (im)patiently awaited this year's Black Friday sale to get some products. I really want to show you folks how everything comes packaged but because this will be a picture heavy post anyway, I'll save it for the pressed shadow review. I really hope you enjoy the review and seriously, if you have the money to spend, go to sugarpill.com right now and get your hands on this gold! :3 

Availability: Update as of 2020: They are no longer calling these "chromalust" but they can be found under the loose shadow section of their site, they retail at $14 for 2g of product. Many of these shades have been discontinued but you can still get your hands on Goldilux, Asylum, and Lumi
Notes: What sets the Chromalusts apart from similar loose shadows or pigments are that a large majority of them contain these amazing micro-glitter particles - they do a good job of staying on the skin as well but generally show up when the product is used dry (it takes a more metallic quality if used wet). I have to apologize that for many of the pigments, my camera just doesn't do the glitter justice because it's just so much more multidimensional in natural light, but I hope my descriptions are helpful :3
I apologize in advance if some of the photographs are less than perfect (in terms of smudges) :/. For all color swatches I used lune+aster Dawn to Dusk Gel Eyeliner in Black  for the black base and Sephora Collection Let It Snow Colorful Shadow & Liner for the white, the far right is swatched wet. Alright then, here comes the fun part:
 I love how each shadow has a little symbol above the shade name, how absolutely precious!




I received a sample of Goldilux with an Ebay order I made earlier this year and am completely out, so of course I needed to restock. This is amazing! It's like ground-up yellow gold. This is one of the shadows with the micro-glitter I was talking about earlier. It has a metallic yellow-gold base with matching micro-glitter particles. I'll be honest, I generally gravitate to more amber-y golds, but this is just so stunning and sparkly that I always want to reach for it if I'm doing a look that includes gold. I just love the glitter this has, super eye-catching. :3




Decora is a beautiful soft hot-pink with bright green micro-glitter. It kind of transforms into a pink-y violet when used over a black base and I find that the green shimmer shows up more over a black base as well. I've been using it as a blush and it's quite lovely - the shimmer on this doesn't overpower it to where it would look weird and green-esque/sickly on the cheeks. I think it'd be quite gorgeous as a lip-color as well.
Asylum is a color that I've been kind of scared of and yet intrigued by ever since I saw it. Reds generally scare me because it's hard to make them wearable. That said, I think it looks a lot more intense on the sugarpill.com swatches. I would describe the color as a shiny warm red with just a kiss of amber/copper. It's actually quite wearable because it's warm - it pairs easily with fall colors like golds, oranges, and yellows. If you're looking for more intensity, this really pops over a white base or when used wet. I think it would make a beautiful blush for darker skin-tones and would make a gorgeous lip-color.




Absinthe is a gorgeous chartreuse with golden sparkle. I don't know what it is, but I have a soft spot for this color, I think it looks good with my eye-color because it brings out the warm, reddish amber-y tones out of the brown. I had my reservations about getting yet another chartreuse shade, but this is unlike anything I own, it's warm and yet somewhat grassy and cool-toned at the same time. It's kind of silly, but I've been looking for this particular shade of chartreuse all year and am glad to finally own it without constantly mixing things. Yeah, I realize how lazy that makes me sound :P 





Tipsy is yet another one of those colors I've wanted but don't have in my collection. Many of the greens I own are either very yellow or very blue and lean heavily teal-esque. I needed a good grass green and this is doing the job quite nicely. Plus it has gorgeous green micro-glitter in it. I think this would pair wonderfully with both warm and cool shades. I'm kind of in love. :3




Lumi is one of my all-time favorites. Why? Well... because I'm an enormous sucker for teal. Lol. Well, really because Amy (or whatever awesome person packed the box) put a sample of this in with my Black Friday order last year. I remember seeing it and thinking "gah, teal! It's like they know me!" It just felt so personalized because I had ordered shades in the blue range and it's like a friend had packed it and was thoughtful and was saying "I see you like blues and I think you need to try this cause it rocks." Now honestly, I have no idea if that was the case. But that's how I like to think about it. It looks like a whole bunch of snowy blah in the jar but as soon as you open it, you'll notice the pretty reflects. I really like how it kind of shows up and flashes teal even over a white base because it makes a lovely highlighter. I am in absolute love with this. :3 




Darling was my very first Chromalust, and as you see, started an addiction. This is one I actually ordered last year and I really like it. This is a green-based teal with gorgeous teal micro-glitter. It looks really cool and metallic when used wet. :3




Hysteric is a gorgeous red-toned metallic sparkly purple with teal-green micro-shimmer. I kind of want to use this as a lip color. It's super unique and gorgeous. :3
Weekender is a beautiful blue-toned purple with teal and magenta micro-glitter. This is super gorgeous. Violet is becoming my favorite color, I don't know what it is, it's kind of a chill, tranquil color but is also mysterious at the same time and I love that this has teal glitter in it.

Overall, if you're looking for really unique, gorgeous, bright loose shadows - I highly suggest checking these out and getting your hands on them. I am so in love, I don't think you'll be disappointed :3

Please let me know if you have any comments or questions.

Disclaimer: I paid for all of these myself. :3