A Little Sephora Haul: NARS Wild At Heart 15 Year Anniversary Palette Review & Swatches

I've had my eye on the limited edition NARS "Wild at Heart" palette ($75) for a little over a month now and I was super excited to finally get my hands on it. The palette is available on Sephora.com (online only), Beauty.com, and Narscosmetics.com (and other department stores such as Nordstrom, etc.) I placed an order on Sephora last week just for the palette -I'm trying to save up and didn't want to spend on anything else. The package included a Sephora catalog and coupon for 20% off all sale items (expires December 31, 2009). The promo code is "EXTRA."

I also redeemed 500 of my points for the new (Beauty Insider 500 point prize) -the Sephora OPI Set of (full-sized) nail polishes. I also got a free 4oz Philosophy "Perfumed Firming Body Emulsion." Use the promo code "WISHME" and you can choose from 1 or 3 choices: sample size Yves Saint Laurent Faux Cils mascara (my favorite mascara), sample size NARS double-sided lipgloss (I'm pretty sure one side is Striptease the other is Dolce Vita), and the Philosophy "Perfumed Firming Body Emulsion (I thought this was the best deal.. the other choices were tiny.) I also received 3 free samples of my choice and free shipping. Great deal!

I rarely pay for shipping online -I think it's such a waste. Always search for promo codes when shopping online -for every store. It also helps to sign up for your favorite sites' emails because they'll email you with special promo codes, sales, and free shipping deals. For instance, I always thought those MAC free shipping (on any purchase) deals only come around every few months but I get the emails pretty much every week.

Here's the NARS Wild at Heart 15 Year Anniversary Palette..

Notice that instead of the standard black box with white print, the anniversary box is a brilliant bright red with shiny print -"NARS" is printed in shiny red and "15" is printed in shiny silver.

Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the palette but I'm not too sure about dropping 75bucks on it. Luckily, I paid with a gift card. It's a great value -if you use/like all the colors. The palette has the amazing quality I always expect from NARS but I'm not really sure I'd use these lip colors on a regular basis. I kind of want the other eye/cheek/lip palette that they're offering for the 15 Year Anniversary -the "Everlasting Love" palette (mainly blue shadows, nude lips, & same cheek shades), but I'm going to wait for another 20% off sale on Beauty.com so I can get it for only $60.

The palette includes 4 Eyeshadows: Abyssinia (delicate pearl sheen), Alhambra (golden champagne), Ashes to Ashes (violet brown with shimmer), and Pandora (matte black.) 1 Blush: Orgasm (peachy pink with shimmer.) 1 The Multiple: South Beach (shimmering apricot.) 1 Lip Lacquer: Baby Doll (cotton candy pink.) 3 Lipsticks: Red Lizard (semi matte full powered red), Manhunt (sheer poppy red), and Fire Down Below (semi matte pure blood red.)

(Shade descriptions are from the Sephora site.)

Here are the eyeshadow & blush swatches. (From left) Abyssinia, Alhambra, Ashes to Ashes, Pandora, Orgasm blush, & The Multiple in South Beach. (Sorry for my goosebumpy arm)

Here are the lip swatches. (From left) Baby Doll Lip Lacquer, Red Lizard lipstick, Manhunt lipstick, & Fire Down Below lipstick.

I do like this palette. However, I do not wear red lipstick a lot and these lippies just don't really work with me. Baby Doll Lip Lacquer goes on kind of sheer (on my lips) and a lot has to be applied for a color to show. My favorite things from the palette are the eyeshadows in Alhambra and Ashes to Ashes. Ashes to Ashes is something I will definately buy as a single -the perfect plummy brown color with a nice sheen. I also like the Orgasm blush. If you do not wear red lipstick much though, I recommend going with the "Everlasting Love" Palette which contains the same cheek shades (Orgasm blush and South Beach Multiple) but has bold shadows and nude lippies. I really don't think this is worth $75 for me because I won't use the whole right side of the palette. If you're not into red lips, skip this palette -unless you're a die hard NARS fan or have some extra cash to spend. I do admit the shadows and cheek shades are gorgeous though.

500 Point Prize: 3 Full Size Sephora by OPI nail polishes (each are sold individually for $9.) I will post swatches of these in another post.

FREEEEEEEEE STUFF!

1. Philosophy 4oz "Perfumed Firming Body Emulsion"
2. Yves Saint Laurent "Parisienne" Eau De Parfum sample
3. TEMPTU "ADORN Temporary Tattoo Sheet" sample
4. First Aid Beauty "Ultra Repair Cream" sample

Sephora Brand Flashy Liner Set

The limited edition Sephora Flashy Liner Set consists of 7 mini-sized Flashy liner pencils in a nice variety of colors. The set includes blue, silver, mauve, copper, brown, green, and deep black. The Sephora Brand Flashy Liners are described (on Sephora's site) as being waterproof, longwearing, and are also supposed to "glide on easily" so there is less tugging on the skin. I noticed this set so, so many times in the past month as I've been to 3 different Sephora stores at once or twice a week. I kept neglecting it and assuming they were just a gimic.. come on, 7 pencils for just $20?? Yea right! Anyways, I was looking through the Sephora site and noticed that the rating for this set was 4.5/5 stars! I looked at some other liner sets that Sephora was offering, and found that more customers preferred this set to the others. Compared to the others, this set contained more colors and a lower price. Over the past 2 weeks, my need for this set grew. I wanted it BAD. I went to my local Sephora store and found that they were sold out and wouldn't be receiving anymore of these sets. The other Sephora nearby was also out and I didn't want to wait. Sooooooo, my lovely boyfriend drove me to the Sephora in the pouring rain last night and I finally got my hands on this set. I immediately swatched in the car and fell in love. Here are the swatches:

Top Row: Deep Black, Blue, Copper, Mauve. Bottom Row: Brown, Silver, Green.

I wore the Blue Flashy liner today for a family get together and the color was very -flashy. A super bright blue-teal color and I had to tone it down a bit and add Mauve to it. In the end, I added some black over and it turned into an amazing bright blue-black. Surprisingly, the color lasted from 5:30PM and beyond. 9 whole hours later at 2:30AM, it was still in place. It didn't budge whatsoever. I have extrememly watery eyes so I was surprised by the wonderful staying power. I actually had to remove it with some good makeup remover (I always use baby wipes to remove makeup.) NO liner has ever stayed (on my waterline and lashline) for over 2 hours -in my whole life. Not MAC, Revlon, MUFE, Tarte, Urban Decay, CoverGirl, etc.. none of those. I'm really amazed by this. If you have issues with liner always disappearing from your waterline, I'd say go for this. If you like experimenting with colored liners, go for this. If you're on a budget, go for this!!!! Pick one of these up while you can because they're selling out in lots of Sephora stores.

Here are some other liner sets that are currently on sale (I passed these up for the Flashy liner set.) They're all around $20-$35:

CARGO

Smashbox

MAKE UP FOR EVER

Urban Decay

Cherry Culture Haul (All under $20 with FREE shipping!!!)

I recently purchased a few items from Cherry Culture when they were having a 20% off sale. I missed the last one but I figured there would be another one in a month or 2 and I was right! =) For under $20, I received 6 pairs of NYX lashes (glue included), NYX Doll Eye Mascara, NYX Glitter Liner (the one with the tassle), NYX Black Label Lipstick, NYX Diamond Lipstick, and a Styli-Style Brow Pencil. I've been wanting the brow pencil for months and when I finally ordered it, it turned out to be too light! Oh well, the other items were nice.

Anyways, how did I receive all this for under $20 WITH free shipping?? Well, I forgot that Cherry Culture has a "Rewards Program"-much like Sephora or Ulta. For every $1 spent, 1 point is earned. Later on, you can redeem your points for store credit. 250 points = $10, 300 points = $12, 500 points = $20 and so on. So basically, ever 25 Points = $1. Soooooooo, I didn't know that I already had lots of points in my account from previous purchases. My basket had to have at least $40 (20% promo added + before taxes) to receive Free Shipping. So, I added all these items to my basket at 20% off (with the promo) and was left at exactly $40 and a few cents (you need to spend at least $40 to recieve Free Ground Shipping.) After that, I added my store credit which was over $20. Then I paid the rest on my card and that's why I got all this for under $20! Great deal!

If you've shopped at Cherry Culture before, make sure to redeem your points on your next purchase. Also, I always wait for promotions because they have them so frequently so wait for those if you want to save more! Also, sign up for the CherryCulture email subscriptions and they'll send you emails when there are promotions (no spam here either!) Here are pictures of what I got..

Love the lashes.. they were on sale at $4 each too. (Add 20% off to that and each pair was only $3.20!!!)

Top is NYX Diamond Lipstick in "Orchid." Very pretty pink-purple color with lots of shimmer. Underneath is NYX Black Label Lipstick in "70s Pink." I expected this to be a bubblegum color looking at the Cherry Culture and NYX swatches bu it was just a normal bright pink -which I already have. That little line on the right is the NYX glitter liner in "Disco Queen" but you can't really see it =\ It's really pretty though, a greyish pewterish dark color with multicolor glitter. I have something similar from MAC but I like this one more because there's more glitter.

The only other thing that I REALLY wanted to buy was some LASplash liners. They have really pretty, colorful colors and were placed at a low sale price. I think they had to sell them all to make room for the new liners. These look great also but there's only like 1/4 of the colors they used to offer for the old liners. Click HERE to view the new LASplash liners.