Gifts make me happy, and I love the angels who send me gifts, especially if it's something that I'll love and definitely use, like this 64-piece Be Beautiful set from Ulta, which houses get this, 36 eyeshadows, a concealer, 4 eyeliner colors, 18 lip colors, 4 blushers, a bronzer, and face powder with applicators all in one pretty white box. I know the box is bound to get stained sometime in its work life, but isn't it just so purdy?
Open it for eyeshadows for sparkly and pretty peepers organized according to color scheme, like browns/neutrals, lilacs/pinks, greens, and blues. There are sponge tip applicators included, but I really think I'd go for high-quality makeup brushes to apply makeup. The one on the center is a creamy concealer for (purple) undereyes and discolorations. On either side are pencils, with two colors on each end. I'll be swatching these later.
But wait there's more at the bottom drawer!
Blush and lip colors too so our lips and cheeks aren't neglected.
The colors are pretty much wearable colors to wear for everyday it's easy to take this to a client to do makeup to save on space or scrambling for colors and eyeshadow. Below are swatches of eyeshadows:
Au Naturel - Matte fair skintone, great for neutral no makeup looks where the look really is supposed to be like there's no makeup.
Seashell - Nude, peachy and satiny. This color is nice on the lid and works great for bridal makeup or for clean looks.
Lustre - Cool, shiny tan
Toast - Warm, toasty golden brown, which can be used to contour, on the lid (for warm smoky eyes), or to balance Lustre's coolness.
Silk- Bright, shiny ivory white, which could be used to highlight the inner corners or for browbone color after dark, intense smoky eyes
Mystical - Copper, which could be used to give Toast dimension
Sable - Cool matte light brown, similar to MAC Cork. It could be used to define really blonde eyebrows or to contour
Chianti - Its tricky rusty color can be used to contour. It looks cool if used to contour gunmetal gray smoky eyes, since it gives a nice warmth to it.
In The Buff - a very neutral hi-shine color that looks nice on the lid.
Flirty -Unlike Chianti whichis more orangey, Flirty is a pretty fushia red that's a nice contour.
Zephyr - Purple gray for editorial-like smoky eyes.
Love - A neutral light pink that looks sweet on bridesmaids or brides.
Bloom - A sugary springy lilac with silver sparkly flecks.
Pearl - A bit more on the cool side than Silk, great for inner corner highlight.
Wisteria Lane - Reminds you of Desperate Housewives doesn't it? Think Edie Britt sexiness - deep gray with a bit of plum which could be used as a lid color for smoky eyes or a contour, for subtle smokiness like Gabby Solis does.
Pink - a neutral and natural pink (of course)
Majesty - Royal and true purple color that would make emerald green eyes stand out.
Calla Lily - Sweet, simple warm white to balance the coolness of the pink and purple palette.
Molten - Deep, dark brown with gold flecks if you want earthy smoky eyes without making it look like someone blackeyed you.
Mint - Cool, springy minty green
Bone - Warm yellow white, another alternative to MAC Ricepaper, but more matte.
Envy - A deep shiny green
Naked - Another ivory white color that's nice on the browbones.
Sage - Yellow green, a color that would look great with Molten and Toast for green-golden brown smoky eyes.
Stardust - A warm pretty gold that would be an excellent tear duct highlighter for dark skin.
Verdigris - A deep yellow-green, which would look nice on the lid as a transition from Stardust.
Brown Sugar - warm, sweet, and toasty golden brown.
Granite - Deep blue gray
Bayou - Dusty violet-gray
Sterling - Shiny silver to start off smoky eyes
Glamazon - Deep blue green
Ice Queen - A cool dusty white that can be used as a browbone highlight or to clean up the sides after doing smoky eyes.
Peacock - Gunmetal gray, a must for dramatic eyes.
Platinum - High shine silver
Deep Sea - a deep blue green that makes blue less 80's
Galaxy - Just like the galaxy skies, a true black color with silver sparkly flecks, if the thought of deep dark black matte and smoky still scares you.
The eye pencils glide like butter so they could be great when I'm tightlining. I like how they're true to their colors though, and I just need one single stroke to produce much pigment. As you could see though, it tends to get too smudgy for waterproof abilities, so I really think that to hold these in place, we need powder to set it so our smoky eyes don't look like panda eyes. At least they're soft enough that they don't scratch or poke your eye out. To be clear, the pencils, since they're soft can't be used on brows unless you want the ageing look.
The blush swatches made me go boing boing, not for their provocatively sexy names but how natural these colors look on skin. I wish there were some matte ones though, since they're sheer and shimmery. I could use these as toppers for cream or matte blush or a sheer sheen of sweetness.
See? They're not as intimidating as you might think. They look like sweet kisses of prettiness.
Flush (okay what was I thinking typing in "Blush?" I must have been too sleepy by this time) - The browny-pink color on the pan made me hesitant to use this but it came out quite naturally, almost just like a flush after workout.
Afterglow - This could be a dupe of NARS Orgasm but it's more pinky on the skin. Very candylike, fresh, and girly that I'd use on a bride, a natural glowy look paired with a light pink lip color.
Bronzer - This type of bronzer isn't too red or brown. It does what bronzers really are supposed to do - to give warmth to the skin. Since it's fairly light, it could be used on fair skin (except alabaster skin, which has the tendency to make skin look muddy with bronzer). However, it's got sparkly flecks so no-no to use this as a contour.
Infatuation - Sweet mauve that looks fresh and pretty on fair skin.
Adore - It's like Infatuation for morena skin, it looks really fresh and pretty paired with mauve or plummy lips.
For lip colors, these lip colors may look pigmented in their containers, but if you're after in-your-face true blue colors, you might not be too keen on this. The colors are mostly very sheer. The light-colored ones are more like glosses that lipsticks while the dark-colored ones look like stains.
Don't get me wrong though, these are pretty when paired with your favorite pigmented lip colors. Or better yet, you could wear lipliner as a lipstick and top it up with any (or a combo) of these glosses.
Not to overwhelm, the eye colors could be mixed and matched, so you necessarily don't need to stick to one color scheme. The purple could be mixed in with greens and teals. I like wedging a blue or green color to a neutral bridal eye to make it less dull, depending on the eye color. I do recommend primers to be used in conjunction with eye colors though, so they all come out prettier and brighter (on its own, swatched it's pigmented, but I really like the hold the eye primer gives).
This is such a pretty gift and in fact, I already used it in my shoot earlier. They blend perfectly well with my other products. It's a great buy for makeup artists who are still starting. I'm not quite sure if it's available still on Ulta, since it's a limited edition set, but knowing Ulta, it's bound to come up with stuff similar to it.
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