Things I’ve Returned #1

The Sephora VIB Sale came and went and with it, my purchases from the sale. This year, I only snagged three things, but of the three, two will be returned to Sephora. After playing with the lipsticks, I decided they weren’t for me even though I tested one of the two out before making the purchase. In an effort to curb my spending habits and write some more meaningful posts, I’ve decided any time I return something, I have to write about it so I don’t repurchase it down the road.

Here’s why the two items (BITE Beauty Amuse Bouche Liquified Liquid Lipstick in Infuse and Pat McGrath Labs LuxeTrance Lipstick in Tropicalia) are being returned.

BITE Beauty Amuse Bouche Liquified Liquid Lipstick in Infuse

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  • Price: $24/0.25 oz (making it $96/1 oz)
  • Ingredients: Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Glyceryl Rosinate, Silica*, Coconut Alkanes*, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Hydrogenated Coconut Oil, Shellac Wax*, Hydroxystearic Acid*, Bismuth Oxychloride*, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride*, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax*, Vanilla Planifolia Fruit Extract*, Aroma (Flavor), Polyglyceryl-3 Stearate, Vanilla Tahitensis Fruit Extract*, Coco-Caprylate/Caprate*, Tocopherol*, Resveratrol*, Gardenia Tahitensis Flower Extract*, Ascorbyl Palmitate*, Momordica Grosvenorii Fruit Extract*, Cylindrotheca Fusiformis Extract*, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Extract*, Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Oil, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Skin Extract, Polygonum Cuspidatum Root Extract* +/- May Contain: Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI77499), Carmine (CI 75470), Blue 1 Lake (CI 42090), Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140), Yellow 6 Lake (CI 15985), Red 40 Lake (CI 16035), Red 6 Lake (CI 15850), Red 7 Lake (CI 15850), Red 27 Lake (CI 45410), Red 28 Lake (CI 45410), Red 30 Lake (CI 73360), Manganese Violet (CI 77742), Tin Oxide*.
  • Do they test on non-human animals?: No.

When I tried Infuse originally, I swatched it a few times before deciding I needed it as a perfect vampy lip color. At that point, I made the decision to try it (it was a brand new tester) and used a cotton bud to apply it, and when I did, it applied beautifully and was this nice dark berry color with very slight patchiness.

When I finally bought this and wore it, it was a different story. The application was a nightmare; it was patchy, and the coloring was much darker than how I initially tested it. Plus, the doe-foot applicator made it so much more difficult to apply (which I thought would be more useful). The product in general is very thick (and this is consistent across the line) and more like a pigmented gloss than traditional liquid lipstick, but this particular shade requires a lot of fussing to make it work.

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(L-to-R): BITE Amuse Bouche Liquified Liquid Lipstick in Infuse vs. Charlotte Tilbury Love Liberty

I’ve worn this a few times since buying it and it wasn’t what I was expecting even after trying it for a test ride first. Even using it with a Q-tip doesn’t help the difficulty in applying it, and blotting doesn’t reduce the depth. I’ve also gone through my existing collection and while my beloved Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution in Love Liberty isn’t as dark, it’s a gorgeous berry that I know works for me and is wearable as a work-friendly, “vampier” color for fall/winter. Given this, I know I don’t need to fill this niche as badly as I originally did.

I’m not sure what caused the difference in the shade in how I fell in love with it at the store versus when I had it in my possession, but it’s something I haven’t been able to recreate and as such, will be returning.

 

Pat McGrath Labs LuxeTrance Lipstick in Tropicalia

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  • Price: $38/0.14 oz (making it ~$271.43/1 oz)
  • Ingredients:
  • Do they test on non-human animals?: Yes (when required by law).

This is a “shame on me” situation.

I knew right away in my heart of hearts that something about this wasn’t going to be quite right. I could tell based on the Sephora swatches that the colors seemed off, especially once I saw Auxiliary Beauty’s swatches on the lipsticks, but I went and did it anyways, because hope is a dangerous thing sometimes. (I have a dream of finding the perfect muted, orange-based, dark retro coral instead of this white-based pink shit that gets shoved down our throats.)

But I went and did it anyways because “muted” and “coral” are apparently two words together I cannot resist. And boy, did I get a surprise.

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Swatches from the Pat McGrath Labs website.

And when you compare to the swatch on my hand, there is obviously a big difference between these two. The actual coloring on this is a pink-primary, orange-secondary coral with a muted base. Meaning, the primary color in terms of strength is pink, secondary is orange, and the color is dulled (muted).

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God damnit, Pat McGrath Labs.

I knew it was Photoshopped. I did it anyways. I am disappointed in myself.

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(L-to-R): Givenchy Le Rouge in Mandarine Bolero vs. Pat McGrath Labs in Tropicalia

To boot, while it isn’t exactly the color I was looking for, I already have a similar color to this in my collection; the Givenchy Le Rouge in Mandarine Bolero. That lipstick, as you can see for comparison, is primary orange-pink, albeit not as muted. (I typically use the Make Up For Ever Aqua lip liner in 23C to add a little more of an orange muted punch.)

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(L-to-R; top to bottom): Pat McGrath Labs in Tropicalia, Givenchy Le Rouge in Mandarine Bolero. Underneath: PMG Labs Tropicalia + MUFE Aqua Lip Liner in 23C Orange, GLR Mandarine Bolero + MUFE Aqua Lip Liner in 23C Orange, MUFE Aqua Lip Liner in 23C Orange.

So, I already have a color in my collection that better meets my needs and doesn’t Photoshop lie to me? This is a no brainer: Tropicalia gets returned.

(As a side note: the formula is a total knock-out and easily earned itself a spot in my favorite formulas. It reminds me of almost a hybrid between the Givenchy Le Rouge and Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution lipsticks with all the good qualities of both, so if you’re in the market for a luxury lipstick, I strongly recommend it. I just would make sure you can swatch them first on account of the stock photos being made of Photoshop lies.)

 

Have you returned anything lately? If so, why? Or what do you do to make sure you don’t have to return something?

 

Yours ’til Niagara Falls,

Jupiter Gimlet

Sephora Sale Anti-Haul #1

In a few days, one of the most anticipated sales of the year will begin: the 20% off Sephora sale (for VIB Rouges and VIBs, at least) that only happens once a year. For weeks before hand, people scramble to find out the date and it’s a mad rush to determine the shopping list before it goes down. Inspired by Bad Outfit, Great Lipstick and Faceonomics, this is going to be one for this holiday season as well.

Much like the previous pin-up based anti-haul (expect to see another one coming up in the next few weeks with the onset of the holiday season!), this one will follow the same type of perspective. As a reminder, “the purpose of an anti-haul isn’t to be mean to brands and businesses (there are some I don’t like and won’t purchase from and there are plenty which I do like, but will not be buying because I’m going to be smart about what I do spend on!), but to be smart about what you do choose to spend your money on. Unlike a wishlist of things to pine over, these are things I know I will not be purchasing and why I will not be spending my money on it.” You may also disagree with my reasoning behind why I’m not purchasing something–that’s cool. You do you.

Here’s the list of what won’t be going in my cart this season.

Fenty Beauty line

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When Fenty Beauty hit Sephora earlier this year, people lost their gotdamn minds–and with good reason! I’m not knocking Fenty Beauty by having it here, I think it’s awesome she’s another brand that is providing 40 shades in a wide variety of undertones and depths. She also has products that are getting a lot of love by people who are typically left out, and that’s a great thing.

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But I won’t be purchasing anything from the line. It’s not just that there isn’t a color shade option for me (though, this is true. The line tends to run towards pinker skin tones for the undertone range I would fall within, whereas I’m a pretty high saturation yellow.) The entire foundation line is strictly meant for oily skin types, which rules my very dry skin out. I suppose I could using a nourishing primer, but why do extra work when there are other foundations out there that get the job done already? I don’t need to buy something for the sake of having it.

But there are other products, you’ll say! And I am aware. The reasons I am not going to buy them are practical–I’m in a professional graduate program and while I don’t have a front-facing position, wearing a heavy amount of glitter at work would really be distracting, so how often would I actually wear it? The answer is, maybe once or twice a year, and that’s not enough to warrant the $20 for the eyeliner or the $59 on the eyeshadow palette.

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And just looking at the palette alone–it’s entirely glitter. That might be nice if you already have some matte or other palettes to round it out, but being completely honest: are you really going to use an entire palette of colorful glitters on the regular? Is this also the formula you’re willing to commit to? Looking at it alone, I wouldn’t use most of the colors in it. So for the 5-6 I actually might use, that is a pretty tall order for spending $59 on only 5 eyeshadows. Whereas, I could get similar singles from MAC for significantly less *and* have the added bonus of being able to add them to my MUFE magnetic palette and take them with me in addition to my other singles.

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Similarly, the highlighters and Match Stix run into a similar line of thought. Sure, there are some really pretty colors in each. Lord knows that Amber in the Match Stix is actually relatively tempting, especially having swatched it in person. It’s definitely something I thought about, and managed to talk myself out of buying. Here’s the thing: I know my makeup usage habits and I know, realistically, buying a cream product (Match Stix) is inherently a bad idea because it will probably dry out before I actually get close to using it up. I know I don’t contour every day, so having a cream product isn’t a good idea for me. Powders last significantly longer, and as such, the Match Stix wouldn’t be a good fit for my collection.

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The highlighters are lovely, but again: I wear highlighter even less than I do contour. And while these are in a powder, they’re also not colors I would personally use. I also don’t use highlighter enough as is, so I definitely don’t need ones with two different shades in them. For the two solo ones, only the Metal Moon might work, but for $34, I could buy a single pan highlighter that I could easily magnetize into my MUFE single palette to take with me when I travel, would be significantly cheaper, and would be less of a hassle in working with for depotting.

In short: the Fenty Beauty line as it stands now is not something that really fits in with my makeup habits or personal style, and it’s not anything I would add to my collection.

 

La Mer The Introductory Collection

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First of all: La Mer is that one skincare line that everybody has seen celebrities using and costs at least a kidney on the black market to use on the regular.

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Second of all, even if you’re OK with spending the money for La Mer–why would you ever bother with this set? Let’s break down the cost on this one per oz of product.

The Treatment Lotion is regularly sold at $145/5 oz, making it approximately $29/oz. You get 1 oz within this set.

The Revitalizing Hydrating Serum is sold at $195/1 oz. In this set, you get 0.17 oz, making it $33.15.

The Eye Concentrate is regularly sold at 0.5 oz for $205, making it (a rough estimate of) $410 per 1 oz. In this set, it is available at 0.10 oz for about $41 of the cost.

Last, the Moisturizing Soft Cream which comes in at a few different sizes (but it is $170/1 oz), but there is a “travel size” form available at $85 for 0.5 oz on the Sephora website.

In total, for this entire set, the cost of the products added up alone is $188.15, making it a decent deal at about ~20% off the normal prices per oz, all things considered. I can absolutely see how this would entice someone, but I’m not the type to fall into this. And when paired with the Sephora sale prices (another 20% off if you’re a VIB Rouge or VIBs, and 15% off for Beauty Insiders), I can see even more people being interested. But, as Kimberly Clark points out: buying something just for the sake of because it’s on sale is a terrible reason to buy something. You’re still spending a lot of money on a bunch of minis because of the brand name.

Half of the set has products under 0.2 oz; although you will likely not be using a lot of the eye concentrate, the sizes are small enough that it would be difficult to have a grasp on the performance of the products before they are used up. Skincare takes time to see its effects; it’s not makeup where it generally appeals to instant gratification.

There are better holiday sets out there for skincare that are much friendlier on the wallet than the famed La Mer, if you insist on one of these. For those reasons, this isn’t worth it and I won’t be buying it.

 

Besame Cosmetics Mini Lipstick Set

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I am going to get accused of hating Besame one day, and I want to be upfront and say explicitly: it’s not true. I actually really love Besame. What I don’t love are things like this set.

Besame does red lipstick very well. In fact, of any red lipstick on the market, I tend to think their formula is easily in the top 3 best and that’s including liquid lipsticks. They are exceptional formulas that don’t run into a lot of other problems you see with other lipsticks, like bleeding, feathering, and easily smudging. Red is an exceptionally hard and high maintenance color, so the fact that their formula is this exceptional is definitely worthy of praise. That being said–

There are 3-4 (depending on your coloring and perceptions) red lipsticks in this set. Even if you are the pinup type: why? Yes, I see that there is a very dark red, a brown red, a blue undertoned red, and a neutral red, but realistically speaking: how often do you wear reds to warrant having even 3-4 mini lipsticks of it? Are you really going to wear them all? Be honest, average makeup consumer–probably not.

Now, for other skintones, these may not appear as red, and if that’s the case, I can understand how the set would be appealing.

But if you have warmer undertones, at least 3/5 of those lipsticks are going to clash (if this is something that matters.) So, given that 60% of the $25 you’d be shelling out would be unusable–is it really worth spending the money? Even if you have pink or neutral undertones, do you still really need 3-4 red lipsticks in your collection, even if they’re minis?

I can understand how this set might be appealing to someone looking for era-appropriate makeup or even to try and discern their “perfect red,” but it’s still spending money on extra things you don’t necessarily need, especially if it’s unlikely you’ll actually use it in your collection.

If you’re going to spend the $25 on lipstick, get a shade from Besame that you know works with your undertone and keep your collection manageable.

 

Pat McGrath Labs Mothership Eyeshadow Palettes

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For $125, this eyeshadow palette better wash my damn car, take my dog out for a walk, and figure out a way to teach my dumb ass how to get Veronica Lake waves, because WHY.

Look, I have no doubt that there is probably a high quality attached to that price tag. I’ve seen the Temptalia swatches and I won’t lie, the purples on Mothership III look incredible, and I’m generally not persuaded by color. I also think these palettes have generally a nice mix of workable neutrals with straight up color.

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My feelings about those purples too, Niles.

But that $125 price tag? Even with 20% is still going to be $100. I don’t know about you, but there is no single eyeshadow palette worth $100 in my book. It is something that will be removed in hours. There’s something to be said about whether higher-end brands are worth it when drugstore brands are getting to be better in terms of quality than they were even just 5 years ago.

Additionally, even if I were to get Mothership III (the one I was most attracted to), I know there’s at least 2 eyeshadows I wouldn’t use which makes it all the more insulting I would drop $100, with $20 going unused. With that $20 I’d have spent on that, I easily could purchase 3 MAC eyeshadow refill pans (at $6 each) with similar-ish colors to what I would use there, and I already have a decent set of neutrals, and have $2 leftover.

In short, this isn’t worth it and I’m not going to buy it.

 

That wraps it up for this Sephora Sale Anti-Haul. Tell me all the things you won’t be buying this round!

 

Yours ’til Niagara Falls,

Jupiter Gimlet