Friday, December 3, 2010

Decisions, Decisions...

As I am sure that all of you are doing, I've been busy trying to buy Christmas presents and decide who to give what. I find myself in a bit of a dilemma in deciding what to do for my son's girlfriend, who is from Japan. My son will be returning home for the holidays and she will be coming with him (the same as last year). I had lucked out and purchased a NAKED palette for her a while ago. I also bought this really cute tunic top, which I'm not sure is her style but she can always exchange it while she's here.

No other pictures since we've all seen lots of pictures of it before on a lot of blogs

I then came across a really interesting palette from Tarina Tarentino called Sparklicity Gold Palette. It comes in a nice gold box and I was surprised to see that the palette was also enclosed in a gold sheer organza bag.


As soon as I saw the casing, I thought that it was a design that Japanese girls would go for.


I really like the palette case design as well except for the skull that was included. I know that it's really popular right now but I can't see what is so attractive/cute about skulls.

The palette includes 5 different color eyeshadows and a mirrored lid. Quite a well-made compact, in my opinion.

The eyeshadow colors are on the neutral side so I think that it would go well with Japanese girls'/womens' preference.


The only thing that I'm not quite sure of is the quality of the eyeshadows--if they are pigmented, blendable, etc. I don't want to swatch it since it's supposed to be a gift.

So my question is, which one should I give to her or should I just give her both? Her birthday was in October and I also have a small birthday present for her--NARS Orgasm Lust set so should I combine one of the eyeshadow palettes with that and use it as her birthday present as well? Return the Tarina Tarentino palette?

Please tell me your thoughts on what you think I should do.

*Kat*

11 comments:

Brianna said...

This is a tough choice! I personally think the Naked palette would be great, and lots of shades and is a great value despite its kinda lackluster packaging. I don't know much about the Tarina Tarantino brand but from what I looked up online it doesn't seem to be getting great reviews. Temptalia said that the quality of the e/s she got was like drugstore.
I wish my fiance's mother was as awesome to give makeup or celebrate xmas lol! :)

Jenni said...

Yay for the Naked palette since there's more diversity in there ^^ combining it with NARS set i think she'll like it!

galpal.hi said...

@Brianna--That's for your input. I completely forgot to check reviews online so thank you for checking for me and reminding me to do so too.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@Jennifer--Thank you for your input too. I'm leaning towards my original plan of giving her the NAKED palette and returning the Tarina palette. Japanese brand eyeshadows are usually not as pigmented as I like so perhaps the Tarina palette might be on par with Japanese brands but I also saw some swatches and they seemed kind of ugly.

*Kat*

Rica said...

Naked palette for sure and I think Tarina Tarino compact is good too because of it's cute packaging. I dun really like the NARS set bc of the stuff u get in it. I think a cute compact always wins lol. I know giving her two eyeshadow palette seems like a lot but thy serve different purposes. I hope this helps!

x
Rica

galpal.hi said...

@Rica--Thank you! I really do think that the Tarino Tarentino compact is so feminine looking and reminds me of something that Japanese women would really like. I did buy two palettes so perhaps I should just open up one and swatch it. Argrr! I can't stand being so indecisive.

*Kat*

Anonymous said...

The tarina palette packaging is not as cute as those Japanese brands which is normally princessy. I think the naked palette would be great and versatile.

BV said...

I know that NARS is impossibly expensive in Japan (like Australian prices) so I defn think the Lust set would be great for her.

The difficulty is I am not sure UD is available in Japan but I know the Tarantino is defn not available.

I think the only thing that cancels out the Tarantino is that the Naked palette is so great that it wins out by a hair... I think this is the general consensus although the palette looks so cute with the diamontes!

BV

galpal.hi said...

@Anonymous--Thanks for your opinion. I really love the NAKED palette for it's versatility.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@BV--The NARS set is definitely going to be given to her as her belated birthday present. I don't think that UD is available in Japan and even if it is, the NAKED palette is quite impossible to get, even for us here in the States. I just like the Tarentino palette because the outside looks like something that Japanese women would like. hehe

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

Thank you to everyone for your input. I've thought about it and made a decision!

I'll be giving her the tunic as her Christmas present from us, the Tarina Tarantino Sparklicity Gold Palette and Sparklicity Shimmer Dust will be given to her as presents from the two younger sons and the NAKED palette will be Santa's present. Yes, Santa still makes an appearance in our home and gives everyone individual presents. This includes the dog and cat. LOL!

*Kat*