It’s Valentine’s Day! Oh, yes, it is, just look at this palette by Sephora, and you’ll feel it too. I mean, this is the most Valentine of all Valentine’s Day editions. Talk about hearts and flowers. Hearts and lips. Heart and kisses. Whatever J Isn’t it nice to have something like that, and it doesn’t cost much either. Sephora quality is usually below what I like to have, but this limited edition so got me.
The name is very becoming too. It is Beautiful. A very very Beautiful Crush.
When I get over my initial joy, I look at the palette closely and come to love it even more. Here’s why. With all these hearts and kisses it could have easily gone in candy and baby doll shades direction, but it didn’t. It’s adult, it’s wearable, it’s stunning. The shades are awesome. You can wear them anywhere you go. It’s truly one of the best shade selections I’ve seen in a while. But before we get to the shades, let’s quickly look at the three lip gloss and three blush shades, which aren’t the strongest part of this palette, as far as I’m concerned. But they are there.
So, there are three blush shades that you can’t even see until you open the box. The quality is kind of Ok, not great though. The shades are pretty pale, because there’s not too much pigmentation in this blush.
And the shades are:
Lightest possible satiny coral
Very natural looking beige pink
Cool matt pink, not too bright.
I mean, I kind of like the shades, and maybe, for some people the fact that there’s so little colour to them, is a good thing. That is, if you don’t like bright cheekbones highlighting products.
Done and done with the blush. Moving on to the lip gloss. It’s just so cute. So cute. These kisses are so nice. But… there’s almost no colour to them. I mean, compared to this lip gloss, the blush is like super duper pigmented. This is just a sheen on the lips plus a hint of colour. Still, it’s worth knowing, at least, where they were going with the shades, even if they didn’t really get there and stopped at almost sheer coverage.
We have here:
Lightest possible pink to the point, where it’s more like a transparent shine with some sparkle without much colour to it.
Warm pink. The colour is very sheer and loose, but there is something there, as opposed to the first one.
Cool pink. Very little colour again. Some pink sparkle, very fine sparkle.
Let’s take a final look at lip gloss shades and blush shades swatched side by side:
Finally, we’re getting here to something I really want to tell you about, that is, to the eye shades. The quality is quite good, actually, pigmentation is good too – finally 🙂 And the shades… the shades… Oh, they are gorgeous. Just look. I mean – wow.
Let’s get to it, shall we? The first four.
matt base like white, not pure snow white, more subdued than that
pearly and shiny warm beige with golden sparkle, a very appealing shade, nice and elegant
this is a nice one, it’s not really quite bronze. It’s brown with a warm golden undertone and shine to it. Well done, Sephora 🙂
matt grey kind of brown. Not chocolate brown, but this complex brown shade that gets released only rarely, so, I’m quite happy to have it.
The second batch of four.
pearly shiny cool beige about to tip into the lilac abyss, but not really quite doing that
bright matt purple, swatches warmer than it looks in the palette. It’s a happy purple. A bold purple. Not your elegant and classic plum.
Pearly, sort of warmer pink lilac. How romantic. How Valentine’s Day like. Very cute.
Looks kind of brown purple in the palette, swatches more purple like. It’s this iris like purple. Yet again, it’s not plum, not enough red in it. Matt, dark and mysterious.
Next batch of four shades.
This looked white in the palette, but proved to be a heavily metallic light silver shade. Wow, that’s festive.
Cool violet. Matt. No trimmings. Very elegant. Very womanly. Pretty rare.
OH MY GOD. Just look at this super pearly and super cool lilac shade with a silvery sheen to it. I mean, talk about romance. This is it. Right here.
Medium matt grey. If you have to do matt grey, this is definitely the way to do it.
And the last four shades.
Pearly, but not too pearly, light blue. Baby blue with a little pearly twist. What I like about this shade is that it’s actually blue as opposed to white bluish, which is often the case, when blue is so light.
Bright and matt turquoise. Very nice. Very summery looking. Great eyeliner option.
If the other heavily metallic silver was light, this is heavily metallic silver proper. With a cold blue sheen to it. Beautiful.
Looked medium grey in the palette and turned into a kind of an ink blue sparkling wonder when swatched. It’s a complex and stunning satiny darker blue with the finest possible silver sparkle. This shade is fabulous.
When I look closely at the layout of the palette, I think to myself – hm, I guess, not only I could go in horizontal rows of four shades for a look, but it vertical lines too. Why not? It’s a more sophisticated match.
And, of course, you can handpick and mix and match the shades in this palette any way you want. And create the makeup you want. You and not some makeup manual out there. You can go with romantic, there’s enough opportunity for that in the palette. After all, it’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow. And the upcoming season is just right for romance. Spring. In fact, it’s probably the most romantic of all seasons. But you can also go with a sophisticated look here. I think, sophisticated is the key word to this palette. There’s something subtle and truly chic about it.
This Crush here is so Beautiful I can’t get enough of it. I’m going to use these eye shades long after Valentine’s Day is gone and forgotten till next year. Well, of course, there are those moments about it that are unforgettable. This palette will always remind me of them. On any day of the year. Thank you, Sephora!