Thursday, September 1, 2011

Purchase Review: Josie Maran Beautiful Smoke Palette

I am on a "no buy" but lately I've been purchasing things, mainly eye shadows. Fall is the season when many neutral palettes come out and since the colors are usually too warm for me, I pass on purchasing the collections. Dior's newest collection features 6 3 colouer smokey palettes and I'm wanting 3 of them. I'm hoping to cut it down to 2 but we'll see.

I recently saw Josie Maran Beautiful Smoke Eyeshadow palette in Sephora and really liked the look of it. Mind over matter and I bypassed it. I've actually been waiting for the mail person to deliver my Sleek Bad Girl palette, which I felt would create the same smoky eye using some similar colors. I decided yesterday to no longer wait and picked up the Beautiful Smoke palette.




The attraction of this line is the fact that the naturally formulated shadows are infused with Argan Oil and a blend of floral and fruit extracts. I use an Argan Oil treatment for my hair and love it so thought that it would be good to try an eyeshadow that is infused with it. It is suitable for sensitive eyes and contact lens wearers.

Sheila of Maddy Loves recently posted a review on NARS Grand Palais here and the silvery taupe color caught my eye. When I went to Sephora yesterday, it was to check out Grand Palais. While I really loved the silvery taupe, the dusty rose color was a little too warm for my tastes. I debated whether or not to pick up the duo anyway because of the silvery taupe. I then went and looked at Beautiful Smoke and another debate was going through my head. I then got the idea to swatch the deep brownish taupe color in Beautiful Smoke and compared it with the silvery taupe in Grand Palais. I don't wear browns well so I wasn't sure about the color. I then decided to layer the silver color over the brownish taupe color in Beautiful Smoke and to my amazement, the color came out almost identical to the silvery taupe in Grand Palais.


This was all that I needed to decide to forego Grand Palais and pick up Beautiful Smoke.

Did an EOTD this morning using Beautiful Smoke.

Products used:

Mezaik Double Eyelid Stretch Fiber
Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden
Josie Maran Beautiful Smoke Palette
K-Palette Real Lasting Eyeliner

Included in the box is an "instruction" sheet, similar to what you find when you purchase Japanese brand eyeshadows.


I basically followed the instruction sheet, mainly because that's how I usually apply my eyeshadow anyway. I did layer the silvery crease shadow over the deep browish taupe shadow to the inner 1/3 or my eyes to create the silvery taupe color that I loved from Grand Palais.



These shadows are really nice. While they are not buttery soft and highly pigmented like Urban Decay shadows, they are nicely pigmented. I think that there is a fine line between buttery soft and too hard and these shadows fall within that fine line. The liner shadow is actuallly much firmer, which is nice because I experienced no fallout using it or any of the other colors. You can also layer it and build up the color to achieve a darker, richer color which would be good for an evening look.

It's my first purchase from this brand and I'm really happy with it.

*Kat*

18 comments:

Georgina said...

i always see Josie Maran cosmetics when i browse US cosmetic sites but this is the first time i've read a proper review on a product. the palettes has a nice combination of silver & taupe! the compact is quite sleek too! me likey! :D

ps. i also skipped grad palais, you're right, the dusty rose shade is quite warm. good for our wallets! :P

galpal.hi said...

@coffretgorge--The one thing that I forgot to mention in my review is that the palette is a shiny metallic case which is definitely a fingerprint magnet. Otherswise, I really like this palette and hopefully they come out with more. The other two that I saw weren't as appealing to me.

*Kat*

Ria said...

You made me laugh when you said you were in a "no buy" mode but were still picking up eyeshadows!^^ I agree with Georgina that its a nice combination of silver and taupe.:-) I wish we have Josie Maran here.. read so many good things about it.

Jamilla Camel said...

Your idea of a no-buy is the same as mine, lol! The palette is very nice, and flatters your skintone. I also skipped Grand Palais because the rose shade would make me look like I have pink eye!

Anonymous said...

I have seen this name cropping up a few times now, this palette looks pretty and I like your smokey, soft and wearable!

BV said...

Greys and blues really suit you! I only wish they'd look as nice on me!

Josie Moran, I haven't really used many of her products - you've got me interested!

My "no buys" seem to amount to "less buys" which is still better than nothing - right?? but the rest of this month + October will be an 100% no buy. (I hope!)

Thank you for this

BV

Bijin Blair said...

I usually experience fallouts with liner shades, it's a nice change to hear that the JM palette doesn't do that!

Personally, I like the idea of a quint more than a duo. Price wise, how does JM compare to NARS?

Haru said...

Thanks for the review! I've been wondering about these Josie Maran palettes and how they are like. The shades look lovely on you!

Brianna said...

I love the taupey/silver smokey eye, very wearable!
I've seen the Josie Maran items in sephora, but never ventured to try them.
As for your "no buy", I honestly think I buy more things when I am supposed to be buying nothing lol! SO I feel your pain!

Anonymous said...

i agree that's beautiful!
love ^^

galpal.hi said...

@Lemon Tart--Thank you! Yes it is a beautiful palette and it's my kind of colors. I have to admit that I definitely do not have any self-control. *sigh*

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@Jamilla--LOL! I guess most of us are like that when it comes to our "no-buy" intention.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@Nic Nic--It seems like a good line and I'm looking forward to trying more items from it--after I decide to take myself off of "no-buy" hahaha!

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@BV--Thank you! I love grays and blues.

Definitely less buys is better than nothing. October will be 100% no buy? I don't think so...you're forgetting Sephora's FF sale happens at the end of the month. Hehe!

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@Blair--Actually I used the palette again another day and experienced some fallout. I guess that it all depends on how heavily I load my brush and how much of a rush I'm in.

The NARS duo is $33.00 and the JM quint was $36.00. That's also another reason why I liked getting the JM palette.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@Haru--Thank you for your comment! I'm glad that I was able to review something that you were interested in as I'm always reading your blog since you're so way ahead of the game when it comes to what's upcoming and obtaining new products.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@Brianna--Smokey looks are definitely my thing.

*Kat*

galpal.hi said...

@Diane--Thank you for your sweet comment!

*Kat*