Beautopia Nails

Pantone Jewel Lacquers at Sephora

beautopia — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 14:43:40 EDT

Don't these look amazing? I spotted these on the Sephora site here: (http://m.sephora.com/sephora-pantone-univese-alchemy-of-color-jewel-lacquer-P375646) and was so excited.

They weren't out yet at my Sephora, the manager said they were getting them on Monday, so they're extremely new. They appear to be a mix of metallics, duochromes, and some speckled iridescent glitter/shimmer, so I'm very excited to see how these look.

There also appear to be some lipsticks and a gloss that are similar, and look like duochromes and seem to have some iridescent glitter also. Very intriguing. I don't remember the collection name but it had the word "Alchemy" in it so it's got to be good.

Are you interested in trying these? Do you think these will be new and unique or just rehashed from other brands? How do you feel about the possibility of duochrome glitter lip products? I'm curious what you guys think of these.

Sephora PURE Natural Believer Palette in Star Gazer - Photos and Swatches

beautopia — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:23:41 EDT

Sephora PURE Natural Believer Palette in Star Gazer - $15 at sephora.com

Please click the photo above to see the palette in more detail! Last week I posted about another one of these awesome palettes, in Island Sunset, and I like this one nearly as much. These palettes were originally about $36 but then were marked down to $15. So during the 15% off sale at Sephora I picked them up. I am so glad I did. First off, as I said before they are purported to be made of recyclable metal pans, sustainable bamboo and no less than 95% natural ingredients. I was afraid that since these are "all natural" and "pure" that staying power, texture and color pigmentation would suffer, but they don't. I am exceedingly happy to be able to tell you that these six shadows and blush are smooth, soft and packed with color that sticks around pretty well. The shades are beautiful and range from cool to neutral, as opposed to the warm shades of the Island Sunset palette.

Like the other palette, the packaging is attractive, includes a large mirror and includes all the shade names on the back of the palette, which is hard to come by in a pre-made palette, especially such an inexpensive one. The textures again range from buttery mattes, to lustres, frosts and satins. All are blendable and pack a punch whether it be in shimmer or pigmentation. Click to read shade descriptions and see swatches...

Sephora PURE Natural Believer Palette in Island Sunset - Photos and Swatches

beautopia — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:10:42 EDT

Sephora PURE Natural Believer palette in Island Sunset - $15 at sephora.com

During the 15% off sale at Sephora I picked up two of these palettes from the Sephora Collection. These were originally $36 or something and then they were marked down to $15 and had remained there for quite a while. I don't know how long they'll stick around, especially at this price, because they're really nice. Each palette contains 6 shadows and a blush and are packaged in sustainable bamboo and recyclable metal. The Sephora PURE line is all made of ingredients that are at least 95% natural and at least 10% organic. If you're into natural beauty, then you might love these. I found that the quality matched, and in some cases exceeded, the quality of some of my other favorite eye shadow brands. Both palettes that I got contain at least a couple dupes for either Urban Decay or MAC shadows that I love, so that was also a plus.

The Island Sunset palette is filled with warm tones and gorgeous textures. The shadows range in finish from matte to satin, lustre to frost, and are highly pigmented, blendable, and have decent staying power. The packaging is sleek, compact, eco-friendly, and attractive and contains a decently sized mirror. The shade names are listed on the back as well which is nice for a pre-made palette.

Click for more photos and swatches

Sephora by OPI Nail Colour in Run With It

beautopia — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:12:17 EDT

Run With It - $9 at sephora.com

I haven't been blown away by the other Sephora by OPI polishes I've tried so far, so I was ecstatic when I tried out Run With It. Metro Chic was pretty but a bit thin and I just didn't love it. The much-talked-about 212 was a solid "meh" in my book. Run With It is one of those shades that normally fly just under my radar being neither jewel-toned nor overtly sparkly. This subdued sandy shade is such a gem, though. I can't remember where I saw this first, it must have been another blog, but my curiosity was piqued big time. Now I'm thinking of it, it might have actually been the Sephora blog that got me drooling over it... I grabbed it finally when the 15% VIB thing was going on at Sephora and I couldn't be more thrilled. The light dusty beige base and the gold and silver microscopic shimmer are a sight to behold, albeit you must "behold" it fairly close to your face to appreciate it all. The effect reminds me of fresh sparkling sand. The application was very good, two coats would do it for most anyone, but three for this neurotic gal. The finish can look a tiny bit frosty till it dries, but disappears once it cures completely. I love the slightly-off and dusky quality of this neutral beige, and the shimmer just puts it over the top.

Starry Night Blues - Some Night Sky Polishes

beautopia — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 09:59:36 EDT

Like a lot of nailies, especially blue-loving ones, I've got a bit of a thing for polishes that look like a night sky. Deep sapphire with loads of sparkling glitter shining out from within. What's not to love? I'm going to show you six of my favorites in this family of polishes today. From cheapie drugstore treasures to hard-to-find salon anomalies to a homemade mix by yours truly, there are some lovelies in here.

Wanna see them up close? Click here to read on!

Valentine's Day Gifts: 5 Gorgeous Palettes from Sephora

beautopia — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 10:40:23 EST

tarte Flower Child Natural Eyeshadow Palette $44 at sephora.com. tarte's newest eyeshadow palette is gorgeously decorated and full of great shades for spring and summer; beautiful floral pink and burnished bronzes. Like all tarte products, they're full of skin-loving ingredients.

Josie Maran Natural Wonder Powders Palette $35 at sephora.com. I don't hear Josie Maran products talked about much, but this palette is the most gorgeous I've seen in a while. I think that I'm going to treat myself to it this Valentine's Day, or perhaps I'll request it from my Valentine.

LORAC Color Me Couture Palette $37 at sephora.com. I'm a huge fan of LORAC palettes and this one is at the top of my "to buy" list. With all the neutral shades you need to take you from day to night, I can see myself using this one a lot.

Kat Von D for Sephora - True Romance palette in Memento Mori, $34 on sephora.com. I've never been tempted enough to buy a Kat Von D palette. Yet. This one looks irresistable. The cream shadow on the left looks like it would make an amazing base for my Make Up For Ever #92 shadow, and the packaging and the eye shadow shades are really drawing me in.

Philosophy The Supernatural Coloring Book $37.50 at sephora.com. I LOVE me some Philosophy and there's something about their new-ish palette that is really appealing. Especially around Valentine's Day. I can see myself doing a natural look with a flushed lip and cheek. Very flirty!

Josie Maran My Favorite Lips Palette - Now Only $12 at Sephora.com

beautopia — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:49:58 EST

This Josie Maran palette full of great-for-any-occasion shades would be an amazing alternative to a dozen tubes of various lip products in my bag. The original price for this palette was $35, so $12 is an awesome price for 8 natural lip glosses and lipsticks that are paraben-free and sulfate-free, with a biodegradable compact, to boot!

Sephora Brand Glittering Nail Polish - Blue Sapphire

beautopia — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:29:09 EST

Sephora Brand has a small range of nail polish that include glittering polishes, metallic polishes, and lacquer (i'm assuming this is to denote the creme finish) polishes. This particular shade is obviously from the glittering category, and it's a stunner. These bottles are .16 oz for $5, so with most popular brands containing .5 oz in their bottles for around the same price, it's a bit steep. In the end, however, it is still a $5 polish and you may consider it an inexpensive luxury.

Blue Sapphire is a very saturated clear neutral blue. Some compare it to Essie Starry Starry Nights, and for me there is no comparison at all. Simply put, I feel like the Sephora is much prettier than Essie's much touted classic. It's not to say I don't like SSN, but this is a gorgeous polish in it's own right. The glitter in both is about the same size and the effect is similar in that the glitter from each coat shines through the next creating a night-sky look that seems to be twinkling and alive. Unline the Essie, however, three coats was more than enough to get a finished look with this Sephora brand polish, and the blue is more vibrant. The formula on this polish is flawless, it's not too thick, and not too thin and even though the bottle and brush are small, I feel like it just gave even more control as opposed to some other minis I've tried. And don't kid yourself, this is a mini. Still at the $5 price point, it's still very worth checking out in my book.

On a scale of 1-10, I'd gladly give this a 8.5. If the bottle were a bit bigger, it would be a 10.

Sephora 212 Nail Polish - Sephora by OPI

beautopia — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:32:17 EST

Sephora 212 nail polish; Sephora by OPI; $9 at sephora.com

This Limited Edition polish is available exclusively online or at Sephora's Times Square flagship store. To my eye it's a semi-sheer dark olive base with gold shimmer, burnt orange flakes and teeny square holographic glitter specks. I used two coats and it covered decently well, but since it's somewhat sheer, another coat would probably deepen it slightly but kick up the glitter a notch.

CLICK TO SEE MORE PHOTOS!

Fall Faves: Sephora City Fog Eyeshadow

beautopia — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:10:32 EDT

I am in love with this eyeshadow from Sephora. I've been looking for the perfect matte grey that could work for everything from a simple subdued smokey look to a light neutral contour to set off the green in my eyes. I've found that perfect matte grey. This shade is from the new revamped Sephora shadow singles like and is called City Fog and will run you $12 bucks at sephora.com. Here's an Eye-of-the-Day I did with it:

CLICK FOR MORE PICS!