Review: NARS And God Created the Woman Eye Kit

As a present to myself for my upcoming birthday, I decided to go ahead and order the new NARS And God Created the Woman Eye Kit from Sephora ($59 and a $105 value). It seems like every brand has been coming out with neutral eyeshadows so I guess it was only a matter of time before NARS did the same. I’ve read lots of really great reviews on several of the eyeshadows included in this palette, and these kits are always really good value for the money so I decided to splurge.

The kit contains a #3 eyeshadow brush, a 0.09 oz sample of the smudge proof eyeshadow base, and an eyeshadow palette containing 6 colors each of which are 0.03 oz. The colors included in the kit are the following: Alahambra (1), Kalahari (1), Bellissima (2), Galapagos, Coconut Grove and Night Clubbing. The numbers indicate which half of the Nars eyeshadow duo is included in the palette. As with all Nars products there’s a large mirror in the palette and the packaging is the usual matte black.

The eyeshadow brush isn’t quite as flat as your typical shader brush and has a domed top. I found that I could use this both to pack on shadow to the lid using the flat side as well as place a crease color using the domed top. The bristles are soft and dense, and I am sure I will get a lot of use out of it.

The smudge proof eyeshadow base is probably my favorite eyeshadow primer that I have tried. It is clear and is applied using a doe-foot applicator. The finish on the lid is matte and eyeshadows appear brighter and last much longer when used underneath. This is my go-to primer if I know I’m going to have a long day.

And now for the palette, the whole reason why I got this kit. As I mentioned before, it includes 6 eyeshadows. There are 2 mattes, 2 satins and 2 shimmers that contain glitters in the palette (mattes are an essential for me). Additionally there’s 1 highlight color and 1 black which I think are important for any palette to truly stand on its own. The colors are soft and blend beautifully and there doesn’t appear to be a dud in the palette. There’s also a good mix of both cool and warm eyeshadows, so a lot of skintones should be able to use this. I don’t own any of the Urban Decay Naked palettes (I have several of the colors in both in other limited edition palettes from them) but I do have the Lorac Pro Palette. While I love the diversity of colors and finishes in the Lorac Pro, some mornings it is just too overwhelming to look at so many color choices. The Nars palette still allows you to create a lot of different looks but doesn’t overwhelm you with 24 different colors. The size and selection make it ideal for everyday use as well as travel.

Overall, I am really pleased with this purchase! It lived up to all I was hoping it would be :)

Product Photos and Swatches!

Review: Tarte BB Tinted Treatment

I recently placed an order on Sephora.com and was able to get a deluxe sized sample (0.25 oz, full size is 1 oz and $34) of the new Tarte BB tinted treatment 12-hour primer broad spectrum SPF 30 sunscreen. Yeah, that’s a whopper of a name for a product that is more or less the same idea of a tinted moisturizer with some added benefits. There are four shades in the range (fair, light, medium and tan) and I ended up going for the medium since I’m an NC35/NC30 in MAC depending on the season.

At first when I swatched this on my hand, I was definitely a little concerned that I had gone too light in my choice but as I blended it out onto my face it actually matched fairly well. On first touch, the Tarte BB tinted treatment definitely felt like a silicone based primer going onto the skin. As the title suggests, there is a primer aspect to this product and I felt that it smoothed the surface of my skin and filled in any larger pores that I have. The BB cream isn’t runny or liquidy but isn’t super thick either (pretty similar to the Revlon Whipped foundation in consistency). I was expecting this to have light coverage like most BB creams especially because it’s marketed as a primer, but I actually find that it easily covers up any redness and small hyper-pigmentation on my skin and I would say its more like a medium coverage product. I personally wouldn’t use this as a primer and add a foundation on top because I think that the BB cream with some concealer for spots would definitely be enough coverage. The product sets demi-matte on the skin which is great since I tend to have combination skin and get oily in my T-zone. I took a picture of my face with flash to check for any white cast due to the high SPF content but found that it photographs really well. There’s also no sunscreen smell to the product.

I wore this on my face for about 9 hours, and set it with Makeup Forever HD finishing powder when I first applied it. At the end of the day I was not shiny at all and I didn’t need to blot or touch up throughout the day. My blush and bronzer were also intact and had not faded much, which goes to support the BB tinted treatment’s primer claims. I didn’t wear it for the 12 hours the product claims, but based on the 9 hour mark I wouldn’t be surprised if it could last up to 12 hours.

Overall, I found this product to be surprisingly good. If you are looking for a BB cream that doesn’t break down on oily skin and actually has some decent coverage, this is probably a good bet. The only downside is the limited shade range, but perhaps over time Tarte will release some additional shades. If you have dark skin there may not be a shade for you as of now.

Product Photos and Swatches!

*Note: Swatches were done on my hand which is almost always a shade or two darker than my face/neck/upper body.