Review: Anna Sui Eye Color Palette

Hello Princesses!

Today I'm going to be talking about the Anna Sui Eye Color Palette!

"Anna Sui Eye Color Palette is a luxurious collection of eye shadows which create alluring looks.

Featuring a wardrobe of satin, shimmering and glittery finishes, Eye Color Palette offers highly pigmented, rich colour in mesmerising shades which will take you from day to night with ease and sophistication.

Complete with highlighting and contouring shades, Eye Color Palette also features seductively smoky hues and playfully bright colours. Paying homage to Anna SuiÉs love of baroque styling and the symbolic effect the rose has on womenÉs beauty, Eye Color Palette is a true collectorÉs piece and is sure to be a Beauty Bay best-seller.

Eye Color Palette also features a double ended brush for application on the go whilst the highly pigmented, luxurious formulas can be applied wet or dry and can be blended to a seamless finish."(1)

This palette comes packaged in the absolutely gorgeous Anna Sui style rose packaging. The actual palette feels like it's made of cardboard and honestly feels a little cheap, almost like I could break it! 

This palette comes with a dual sided brush that has the typical sponge applicator on one side and a fluffy brush on the other side. The fluffy side is actually really great quality for a brush that comes in a palette

This palette comes with 10 gorgeous colours of eyeshadow with various glitters and shimmers, but also various quality and consistency. Most shades are super buttery and delicious, but some are dry and chalky.

The choices of colours are quite interesting, they are mostly everyday colours but there are a couple of adventurous colours there too!

The first shade in the palette is white. This shade is super bright and shimmery.

The second shade is a frosty champagne colour. This shade has a very lacklustre colour pay-off and is almost invisible on the lid.

The third shade a mid toned pink with yet another frosty finish. I don't like to use pink shades on my lids so I tried to use this as a blush. Big mistake, it looks terrible! Frosty finish blushes are not good for my skin! This shade needs two or three layers to build up a visible colour on the lid.

The fourth shade is a gorgeous frosty taupe shade. This one has a lovely buttery consistency and is very vibrant on the lids. It's a great neutral colour for everyday wear!

The fifth shade is a warm pumpkin bronze colour. I'm struggling to differentiate between all the browns, but this is definitely the most orange brown in the palette! It's very buttery and vibrant even without a primer.

The sixth shade is a a golden brown. This one is also really buttery and vibrant, it's super shimmery!

The seventh shade is a smoky purple. This shade is another shimmery shade and another that I don't use. I much prefer neutral shades for my eyes!

The eighth shade is a cool toned brown. This is another buttery, vibrant shimmery shade. It's a great neutral tone, though I would have preferred this one in particular to not have shimmer.

The ninth shade is a deep khaki green with gold glitter. This shade is really gorgeous, the gold glitters really pop in the light!

The tenth and final shade is a matte black with silver glitter. This shade in particular is quite difficult to work with because the black is so chalky! The silver glitter is quite intense too, though if you blend it to death you can flick most of the glitter off (this could be great or terrible!).

Like I said previously, I prefer to use neutral shades for my eyelids, so I use this palette for two eyeshadow looks. The first is using the warmer tones in the palette. I used shade #2 on the lid and inner corner (can barely see it) shade #5 in the crease and shade #4 in the outer V.

The other eye shadow look is using the cooler toned colours. I used shade #1 in my inner corner, shade #4 all over the lid and shade #8 in the crease and outer V. I honestly rarely wear eye shadows because they feel quite intense for every day life!

What I Love

- Very rose scented (this could be good or bad)

- Most shades are great quality

- Great range of shadows

What I Don't Love

- Some dud shades

- Black shade is a little hard to blend

- Quite expensive (around $60NZD)

Final Thoughts

Though I do think that this is a good eye shadow palette, it's just not quite right for me. I usually just wear neutral shades because I'm actually not very good at eye shadow, and I don't wear eye shadows very much in my everyday life anyway. I think that most of the shades in the palette are great quality, they are mostly very buttery (almost rivalling the UD Naked Palette in softness) but there are four shades that just don't cut it for me (#1, 2, 3 and 10). It is quite an expensive palette at around $60NZD so it's a little bit of a regret purchase for me because I just never get any use out of it!

I would recommend the Anna Sui Eye Color Palette for any Princesses that are looking for a very shimmery and glittery palette that smells heavily of roses! ^.^

Review: Anna Sui Liquid Foundation; 100 Alabaster

Hello Princesses!

Today I'm going to be talking about Anna Sui's Liquid Foundation in the shade 100 Alabaster! I swatched this while on holiday in Taipei and absolutely adored the shade, however it was much more expensive to purchase there in comparison to online stores. I ended up purchasing it from BeautyBay for $50NZD!

 

I also made a video demonstrating how I apply this foundation, so check it out! ^.^

This foundation comes housed in a gorgeous frosted heart shaped bottle. It has a pump underneath the cap which I love, its very hygienic and mess free! The glass container means that it is quite heavy which isn't great for travel, and it is reasonably fragile so I do need to be careful with it around tiled or stone floors.

The detailing on the glass and cap is absolutely gorgeous! Like all of Anna Sui products, this foundation is heavily scented with the classic Rose scent. This doesn't irritate my skin or bother me too much, but if you dislike rose scents then you will not enjoy this foundation!

"Anna Sui Liquid Foundation is a soft focus foundation which creates a flawless complexion.

Boasting SPF20 protection against UV rays, Liquid Foundation moisturises the skin and utilises Soft Focus Powders and Trick of Light Technology to provide exceptional blurring results for a soft, silky and pore-less finish.

The perfect Liquid Foundation for a natural, flawless and radiant complexion, Liquid Foundation glides smoothly onto the skin to deliver a translucent, dewy finish. A fusion of Fruit Extracts, Hydrolysed Silk and Antioxidants help to soften, nourish and protect the skin whilst the fluid consistency blends seamlessly and leaves the skin looking picture perfect and radiant.

Tip: For a lighter coverage we love Anna SuiÉs Powder Foundation.

Shades Available:

         Alabaster - for fair skin tones.
         Porcelain - For light skin tones.
         Cameo - For medium to light skin tones.
         Nude - For medium skin tones with warm undertones.
         Natural - For medium skin with cool undertones.
         Biscuit - For medium to tanned skin tones.
         Tan - For tanned to dark skin tones.

Ingredients

Water (Aqua), Cyclomethicone, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Alcohol, Butylene Glycol, PEG-9 Polydimethylsiloxyethyl Dimethicone, Methyl Methacrylate Crosspolymer, Isotridecyl Isononanoate, Boron Nitride, Glycerin, Hydrolyzed Silk, Pearl Powder, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Rosa Canina Fruit Extract, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil, Acrylates/Dimethicone Copolymer, BHT, Dextrin Palmitate, Diethylamino Hydroxybenzoyl Hexyl Benzoate, Dimethicone, Dipentaerythrityl Hexahydroxystearate/Hexastearate/Hexarosinate, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Ethylhexyl Salicylate, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Lauryl PEG-9 Polydimethylsiloxyethyl Dimethicone, Methylene Bis Benzotriazolyl Tetramethylbutylphenol, Polyglyceryl-10 Laurate, Polyisoprene, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Silica, Sodium Chloride, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, Zea Mays (Corn) Oil, Methylparaben, Fragrance (Parfum), Citronellol, Geraniol, Linalool, May Contain (+/-):, Iron Oxides (CI 77491), Iron Oxides (CI 77492), Iron Oxides (CI 77499), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891)" (1)

This foundation is quite pale, but slightly more neutral toned rather than warm/yellow toned. I found the formula quite thick and not so  easy to spread and blend with my fingers, but is easy to use with a beauty blender. This foundation actually gave me much more coverage than I was expecting and set itself really well without needing to be powdered.

The Anna Sui Liquid Foundation is quite decent in terms of oil control too, I actually wore it for 10 hours in the photo above (naughty, I know!) and it looked like it could do with a little blotting and powdering in the T-Zone which is normal for me, but it didn't look disgusting like a lot of my other foundations do after a mere 4 hours.

What I Love

- Great lasting power
- Great colour (neutral/soft warm tone)
- Elegant packaging
- Easy to apply with a Beauty Blender

What I Don't Love

- Hard to blend with fingers (extra brushes while travelling)
- Not easily available in New Zealand
- Heavily scented with roses (OK for me, not great for everyone)

Final Thoughts

I actually really enjoyed wearing this foundation! I don't mind the rose scent too much, but I can imagine that it would be problematic for a lot of people that have sensitive skin or are just adverse to strong scents being applied around the nose. I loved the finish of this foundation, it's not super dry and matte, but also not so dewy that I look oily and gross after a couple of hours. I also loved that it didn't break up on my skin or turn excessively oily, so it won't need many touch ups throughout the day, which is great because I am so lazy when it comes to touch ups!

I would totally recommend this foundation for anyone who either really likes rose scents, or is at least OK with them, and anyone who wants a semi-matte, medium coverage foundation that has quite good lasting power! ^.^

Store Review - BeautyBay

Hello Princesses!

Today I'm going to be talking about my shopping experience with BeautyBay! Beautybay is an UK based beauty store that stocks almost everything that I can't purchase in New Zealand. I decided to make an order from them during February because they stocked a super pale foundation that I swatched in Taipei, but was almost twice the price to purchase in the mall in comparison to online. Generally I prefer to buy in store rather than online if the price is similar or the sales assistant has been exceptionally helpful, but in this case neither happened, so I felt that purchasing this product online was justified by that.

Website Practicality

I find BeautyBay very practical to navigate and quite aesthetically pleasing. The pure white background is very fresh looking and makes the site look clean and free from cluttered. I love the drop down bars to sort through brands or department/categories, but I don't particularly have any use for the My Beauty drop down bar. It's easy to create an account and check out, although I dislike that there is no Paypal payment option, only credit card payment. I prefer to purchase online through Paypal (especially after the Lime Crime fiasco!) and in all honesty I get a few payments through Paypal, so it's annoying to me that they don't offer that payment option.

 Price Comparison

I could only find this foundation stocked in two stores that would send to New Zealand! I converted both the NZD so it would make a little more sense, and you can see that BeauyBay wins by a long shot, especially due to the free shipping and 10% off currently running!

BeautyBay - $50.25 + Shipping $0.00 = $50.25NZD
ASOS - $66.66 + Shipping $7.00 = $73.66

Shipping and Packaging

My package was shipped the same day as I ordered it, and took  days to 13 business days arrive at my house in New Zealand. I was really surprised that the product itself wasn't bubble wrapped, despite being a solid glass jar, but rather just popped into the box with a bunch of scrunched up brown paper. The foundation was securely housed in it's original box and wasn't damaged during it's journey to NZ.

Products

I purchased the Anna Sui Liquid Foundation in 100 - Alabaster! I swatched this foundation while I was in Taipei in February and decided to purchase it from BeautyBay instead of the store because of the massive price difference due to store expenses and exchange rates. I know it's not the nicest thing to do (although admittedly the store assistant didn't really help me that much) but when the price difference is $22.68GBP ($50.25NZD) and $1950.00TWD ($83.51NZD) I think it's just a little bit justifiable.

Anna Sui Liquid Foundation is a soft focus foundation which creates a flawless complexion.

Boasting SPF20 protection against UV rays, Liquid Foundation moisturises the skin and utilises Soft Focus Powders and Trick of Light Technology to provide exceptional blurring results for a soft, silky and pore-less finish.

The perfect Liquid Foundation for a natural, flawless and radiant complexion, Liquid Foundation glides smoothly onto the skin to deliver a translucent, dewy finish. A fusion of Fruit Extracts, Hydrolysed Silk and Antioxidants help to soften, nourish and protect the skin whilst the fluid consistency blends seamlessly and leaves the skin looking picture perfect and radiant

I haven't included any thoughts or swatches of this product since this is a store review not a product review, but let me know down below if you would like to see this product reviewed soon - it's close in colour to NARS Siberia and It's Skin Green BB Cream!

What I Love

- Free shipping! (At least at the moment)

- Great range of products

- Well priced (plus extra discounts)
- Good site interface and aesthetic

What I Don't Love

- Questionable packaging

Final Thoughts

I quite enjoyed my shopping experience with BeautyBay! The only thing that concerned me is the slightly unsafe packaging, although the scrunched paper did do a fair job of protecting the glass bottle. The packaging was also enormous in comparison to the small product, so I wonder what the packaging would be like if I bought more products! I would definitely recommend them as a good site to shop with, especially for New Zealanders that can't buy most brands in store!

Have you shopped with BeautyBay before? What was your experience like?