Stoked to get information about a new Urban Decay product launch — Moondust Eyeshadows. Feels like cream, goes on like powder, super sparkly. Here’s an excerpt from the press release:

Super-secret new technology at our lab gives Moondust an amazing effect not found in traditional pressed-powder shadows. It feels like a cream but goes on like a powder to create a smooth, brilliantly reflective look. The result? Sexy, twinkling sparkle with a ton of depth and movement. (And a LOT of questions about what you’re wearing!) The colors are like nothing else out there. Our staff is already going nuts over Zodiac, an amazing smoky black with a blue-green shift and a sparkly 3-D effect.

Moondust Eyeshadow ($20.00) (New, Permanent)

  • Moonspoon Medium gray with bright silver sparkle
  • Diamond Dog Deep brown with white-gold sparkle
  • Intergalactic Medium purple with bright silver sparkle
  • Space Cowboy Light champagne with bright silver sparkle
  • Glitter Rock Metallic pink with pink 3-D sparkle
  • Zodiac Smoky black with blue-green shift and blue-green 3-D sparkle
  • Stargazer Metallic lime-gold with gold 3-D sparkle

Available beginning April 9th at Urban Decay online, and April 2013 at Sephora, ULTA, and Macy’s.

After filming for a project at Milk Studios yesterday I walked over to Sephora because I haven’t been in ages and promptly spent forever swatching products and hoarding samples. I love Sephora. It’s my church.  I took photos of things I loved.  Those are all the new Stila Color Lip Balm Lipsticks - $20 a pop. I luuvvvVVvvv these.I would say they are of similar formulation to the Urban Decay Super Saturated Lip Colors, even though the packaging is similar to Revlon lip butters. My favorites are Gemma and Valentina, the purple and orange. Supremely glossy.  I’ve been wearing Buxom lipstick in Menace (click) for awhile. I do love it so. It ends up drying into your liplines though which none of my other lipsticks do — this is without reapplying or touching up, though. The standouts in these swatches are Rouge (the orange / fiery coral) and Exhibitionist (bright fuschia).  NARS eyeshadows: Mad mad world duo, Strada, night porter, night flight and outremer.  The crown jewels, though, were the MUFE lip products. Definitely expect the Lab Shine Lip Gloss in Chrome Onyx (the black one) and perhaps the orange lipstick, too.  I left with a bunch of samples of foundations and serums to test out for PD, too. WoOOooooOoOoOo. Have you tried these products? Thoughts? High-res

After filming for a project at Milk Studios yesterday I walked over to Sephora because I haven’t been in ages and promptly spent forever swatching products and hoarding samples. I love Sephora. It’s my church.  I took photos of things I loved. 

  1. Those are all the new Stila Color Lip Balm Lipsticks - $20 a pop. I luuvvvVVvvv these.I would say they are of similar formulation to the Urban Decay Super Saturated Lip Colors, even though the packaging is similar to Revlon lip butters. My favorites are Gemma and Valentina, the purple and orange. Supremely glossy. 
  2. I’ve been wearing Buxom lipstick in Menace (click) for awhile. I do love it so. It ends up drying into your liplines though which none of my other lipsticks do — this is without reapplying or touching up, though. The standouts in these swatches are Rouge (the orange / fiery coral) and Exhibitionist (bright fuschia). 
  3. NARS eyeshadows: Mad mad world duo, Strada, night porter, night flight and outremer. 
  4. The crown jewels, though, were the MUFE lip products. Definitely expect the Lab Shine Lip Gloss in Chrome Onyx (the black one) and perhaps the orange lipstick, too. 

I left with a bunch of samples of foundations and serums to test out for PD, too. WoOOooooOoOoOo. Have you tried these products? Thoughts?

By now you have probably seen swatches of this at least a trillion times (I really like Leesha’s swatches), but here are mine. Since my visit to Urban Decay Headquarters (pictures here) I have been kept busy with fashion week prep and back to school prep so I haven’t had enough time to thoroughly test this until just now. I’ve used it several times now and I’m quite fond of it! I’ve been using Naked2, Faint, and Crave daily, and Venus is a great brow highlight. 

For a big matte shadow lover like me this palette is such a good buy and it’s sooo travel friendly too. In an ideal world they’d come out with another version of this for darker skintones because I know this would be so chalky on dark skin. Perhaps time will tell. For pale skinned babes who want some matte neutrals (which are surprisingly hard to find), this is a good bet.

This product was provided for editorial consideration but it doesn’t impact the review — honesty to our readers is our #1 priority.

Arabelle’s January Favorites  Lots of products to review, so here are some new ones by way of a monthly favorites post. (Here’s the last monthly favorites one — you’ll see some old faces).  Jane Iredale Triple Pearl Powder Finishing Powder* ($68) - It’s probably the best setting powder I’ve ever used, it really blends in any imperfections and smooths, I’ve been using it for a few weeks and it has delivered all it promises for me. I don’t have to touch up throughout the day either. Packaging is kind of bulky but I guess that is also ‘luxurious’. I’d rather have something travel appropriate, personally.  Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette* ($27) - I have been waiting for this product ever since the Naked came out because I love matte shadows and personally, for my super fair skin, this is great, compact, and so worth the price. The colors blend out well, are pigmented and not as chalky as some UD shadows can sometimes be. Love. These would look chalky and unnatural on medium to dark skin though. Also, the palette is kind of hard to open but maybe that is just me.  Benefit High Beam ($26) - Previously reviewed here. Zoya Nail Polish in Song ($8) - Swatch and discussion to be posted a few posts before this, go check it out. NARS Danmari Palette (LE/DC) - I love orgasms and also Orgasm. (this is my blog i’ll be inappropriate if I wanna) Urban Decay Setting Spray* ($29) - I have been using the Cooling/Hydrating formulation the most because I have dry skin and I think it does help, but the Long-Lasting formulation is definitely the best and practically cements my makeup into place.  Eve Pearl Salmon Concealer in Fair/Light ($39) - Best under-eye concealer I’ve tried. It’s heavy enough to use on acne and scarring too, and doesn’t get wrinkly or cakey or whatever. You need very little of it as well.  K- Palette Real Lasting Waterproof 24h Eyeliner ($15.70) - This has the thinnest brush. The thinnest. It’s also super super black and does not budge.  MAC Violetta ($15) - On me, this is like a ‘natural’ lip color because it perfectly, and I mean perfectly, matches my hair color. I’ve grown bored of my usual purples (Belladonna, Kontrol) but this breathes new life into the color for me.  INGLOT 545 AMC Lip Gloss ($16) - Paraben free & not tested on animals if you didn’t know (and if you care). I don’t really wear lip gloss very often but this is soooo pretty and you can actually see the duo on your lips, it’s really pigmented and strange and lovely.  Dermablend Quick-Fix Concealer ($23) - I actually ran out of the tube I had of this. Like I ended up scraping the very last bits of it out. I have never hit pan so thoroughly on a product before and before I even hit pan I ordered 2 more backups because this is my Holy Grail Concealer. If I could only limit my makeup collection to like 3 things this would be one of them.  Disclaimer: * = provided for editorial consideration by the brand. This doesn’t mean I was obligated to blog about them & certainly doesn’t mean I am obligated to be nice and fawn over these products! Check out our disclosure policy here. High-res

Arabelle’s January Favorites 

Lots of products to review, so here are some new ones by way of a monthly favorites post. (Here’s the last monthly favorites one — you’ll see some old faces). 

  1. Jane Iredale Triple Pearl Powder Finishing Powder* ($68) - It’s probably the best setting powder I’ve ever used, it really blends in any imperfections and smooths, I’ve been using it for a few weeks and it has delivered all it promises for me. I don’t have to touch up throughout the day either. Packaging is kind of bulky but I guess that is also ‘luxurious’. I’d rather have something travel appropriate, personally. 
  2. Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette* ($27) - I have been waiting for this product ever since the Naked came out because I love matte shadows and personally, for my super fair skin, this is great, compact, and so worth the price. The colors blend out well, are pigmented and not as chalky as some UD shadows can sometimes be. Love. These would look chalky and unnatural on medium to dark skin though. Also, the palette is kind of hard to open but maybe that is just me. 
  3. Benefit High Beam ($26) - Previously reviewed here.
  4. Zoya Nail Polish in Song ($8) - Swatch and discussion to be posted a few posts before this, go check it out.
  5. NARS Danmari Palette (LE/DC) - I love orgasms and also Orgasm. (this is my blog i’ll be inappropriate if I wanna)
  6. Urban Decay Setting Spray* ($29) - I have been using the Cooling/Hydrating formulation the most because I have dry skin and I think it does help, but the Long-Lasting formulation is definitely the best and practically cements my makeup into place. 
  7. Eve Pearl Salmon Concealer in Fair/Light ($39) - Best under-eye concealer I’ve tried. It’s heavy enough to use on acne and scarring too, and doesn’t get wrinkly or cakey or whatever. You need very little of it as well. 
  8. K- Palette Real Lasting Waterproof 24h Eyeliner ($15.70) - This has the thinnest brush. The thinnest. It’s also super super black and does not budge. 
  9. MAC Violetta ($15) - On me, this is like a ‘natural’ lip color because it perfectly, and I mean perfectly, matches my hair color. I’ve grown bored of my usual purples (Belladonna, Kontrol) but this breathes new life into the color for me. 
  10. INGLOT 545 AMC Lip Gloss ($16) - Paraben free & not tested on animals if you didn’t know (and if you care). I don’t really wear lip gloss very often but this is soooo pretty and you can actually see the duo on your lips, it’s really pigmented and strange and lovely. 
  11. Dermablend Quick-Fix Concealer ($23) - I actually ran out of the tube I had of this. Like I ended up scraping the very last bits of it out. I have never hit pan so thoroughly on a product before and before I even hit pan I ordered 2 more backups because this is my Holy Grail Concealer. If I could only limit my makeup collection to like 3 things this would be one of them. 

Disclaimer: * = provided for editorial consideration by the brand. This doesn’t mean I was obligated to blog about them & certainly doesn’t mean I am obligated to be nice and fawn over these products! Check out our disclosure policy here.

My Sugarpill haul! If the new palettes were out yet I would have purchased them (Mai has nice coverage of the to-be-released Sugarpill products I’m talking about). Got to finally meet the sweet Jasmine from Beautylish in person and she was absolutely adorable, too. 

Purchased: Heart Breaker, Bulletproof, Asylum, Junebug. 

A closer look at the Naked Cosmetics pigments I hauled at IMATS LA (combined with my previous IMATS NYC Naked purchase). I am very fond of these stacks for photoshoots — the shimmer trio is wonderful for highlighting on a variety of skin tones  so I naturally wanted more. Naked always has a great deal at IMATS — a stack for $30, 2 for $50, 3 for $75, 4 for $100 with 1 free. I split the 5 with my cousin and aunt.