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My Summer Eye Palette featuring ULTA eye shadows

Jun 25, 2011

by GlassofWin
posted in Esthétique

Exclusive to the Lunch Network

Rating:

Ever since I got contacts I have thrown myself head first into the wonderful world of eye makeup. It's no easy task for someone coming into makeup in her late twenties, but thankfully I have a couple of reliable beauty blogs that have never failed me. Such a blog is Phyrra, whose blog energy is as admirable as her makeup applying skills.
Not too long ago I found myself browsing her "looks" section and ran across a gorgeous peach pink eyeshadow she wore - credited as "Sunburst" from ULTA.

Now, I'm still becoming acquainted with ULTA. I'm lucky there is a physical store relatively near me but that doesn't stop me from trying to be lazy and ordering from the website. Their checkout process leaves much to be desired because of continuous hiccups in recognizing promotion codes and updating their stock. However, their selection and deals outweigh my frustration (sometimes) and when they recently offered free S&H on orders of $25+ PLUS a grab bag of samples on top of the 3 free samples you receive with every order, well, how could I resist?

I made a beeline directly for Sunburst - lo, and behold all of their eye shadows were on sale for $3.00 a pop AND Ulta mineral loose shadow for only $4.00 each. Well, it was time to gather some new colors to explore and potential use for my summer eye palette.

While I enjoy wild and bright colors, I'm also a sucker for romantic colors like dusty pinks, mossy greens, and nudes with some character to them. ULTA shadow selection is a virtual treasure trove of colors seemingly (suspiciously?) created to my tastes. I resisted ordering all of them and narrowed it down to six:

Top Row: Verdigris, Rose Dusk, Gleam (loose mineral)
Bottom: Organza, Sunburst, Petal (loose mineral)

There are no product descriptions of these colors on the ULTA website, so I just have to go on their images and whatever my eyes are telling me these colors look like.

Verdigris: This is the second color I added to my virtual basket because I am on the hunt for the perfect dupe of "Green Brier" from the now defunct makeup company Aromaleigh. It's a woodsy green that goes perfect with pinks and neutrals. First is the swatch provided by ULTA on their website. Compare that to my swatch on my skin below it and the images above.

with flash
You can see that the swatch wasn't too far off from the actual product, and ended up being less yellow than I was originally expecting; which is great because this green is that lovely moss color with just a fleck of nude-gold shimmer I was looking for.

Rose Dusk: Oh, I'm a sucker for antique pinks. Something about them just reminds me of turn-of-the-century elegance. Maybe they remind me of my grandmother, too, on a certain level. OK, same drill. ULTA swatch followed by my own.

Not as bright or warm as advertised, but I'm extraordinarily happy with this color anyway, common though it may be.

Organza Now. Here is where we're getting into misleading product hell. From the swatch ULTA provides, it looks like pink - more specifically, the antique pink that Rose Dusk turned out to be. But look at the actual product above - it's a gauze purple grey.

Yeah, gauzy purple. I'm pretty disappointed in this product. I would have never ordered it had the swatch been remotely accurate. I'm going to end up giving it to my thirteen year old cousin (and she can pawn it off on her older sister if she wants).

Sunburst I knew what to expect despite the ultra apricot color of the ULTA swatch.

As you can see, not at all peachy-apricot but more of a dominant pink nude with a hint of pale peach. It's actually more fantastic than my picture is leading on, I promise.

Petal: Hrm. Another Organza situation. Proceed.

So, not quite as neon coral pink as advertised but still a nice shimmery pink. Don't know if I'd have ordered it had the swatch been accurate, but it's nice. Super shimmery in sunlight and has a nice golden sheen, which I do like.

Gleam: I don't know what kept pulling me to this color but I kept going back to it...actually, I only wound up ordering Petal because I thought they would compliment one another. The ULTA swatch was just so incomparable to any color I'd really ever seen before; nude, pink, coral, peach, gold all swirl about. I HAD to order it to figure it out.

flash
It's difficult to capture the depth of this color without flash, hence the blur but it really is a beautiful color. Similar to Sunburst if one swapped out the peach undertones for a more buff tone. I'm definitely in love with it.

Summary
Order of favorites: Sunburst, Gleam, Rose Dusk, Verdigris, Petal, Organza
True to their swatches? I'd say 4 out of 6 weren't so misleading that they're entirely different colors. Would I order ULTA eyeshadow again? As long as they stayed on sale and I could score free S&H, sure. There are about seven colors I'm seriously eyeballing and keeping in the back of my mind for future purchases.

ULTA eyeshadow Pros:
Reasonable price
Wide selection of colors
Frequent sales/specials/opportunities for free S&H

ULTA eyeshadow Cons:
Color may be inaccurate
Shipping is $5.95 if you don't have a promotional code or do not hit the required minimum for free S&H
The pressed shadows contain talc, which has been linked to cancer. If you are a woman who is at-risk for ovarian cancer and needs to remain completely talc-free, do not purchase the pressed shadows.

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devora June 30, 2011

Oooooh, these are so pretty! I only wear... black. But now I want to add some romantic, pretty summer shades into the mix! Gotta check 'em out :)

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Sharrie June 28, 2011

I love how systematic you're when it comes to the reviews you presented here on Lunch! Great stuff, Rachel! Oh, I recently bought a light purple cream eye shadow from Shu Uemura as well. I'll have to experiment on that one soon! These are a lot cheaper than what I got though.

Thanks again for your contribution to the community! Keep up the excellent work!

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review by PattyTherre. July 09, 2010

Ulta Eyeshadow singles pack a big punch in a little compact!

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About the reviewer

Rachael (GlassofWin)
Ranked #84

I am a freelance travel/food writer with my own hobby blog, Glass of Win. I am a regularly featured writer for Visit the Place Los Angeles magazine and online community.