My Beauty Wish for the Holidays

Oh the holidays, a time of joy, a time of giving, and a time of treating oneself to fabulous holiday sets at Sephora and Ulta!! With single pots of eye shadow running me $14.50 a pop (hello MAC!) or $18 a pan (ouch Stila!), who can resist the fabulous deals on eye shadow kits out around this time? I have two faves, and both are AH-MAZING because not only do they include a ton of shades, but they have a little tutorials too for beauty queens in the making. Now which one should you get? Well, that’s completely up to you and where your loyalty lies with brands...but I went ahead with Smashbox.

Smashbox's Eye Wish Set

Smashbox’s Eye Wish palette is making me wish I met this eye shadow brand before I met MAC. Their vibrant colors go on smoothly thanks to Vitamin E, and this $45 palette includes Smashbox’s famous Photo Finish Lid Primer—an amazing sample (and almost as good as Urban Decay’s Eye Shadow Primer Potion…check back later for reviews!) and their incredibly volumizing lash DNA Mascara (still, Maybelline is great and less pricey). With 12 incredible shades, 4 cream liners, AND 8 tutorials on how to apply them for the bombshell in the making, this is a deal I could not resist. Ok fine…I really didn’t know about the tutorial until about five minutes ago…but I plan on using them!

Stila's Color Wheel

Do I regret my purchase after I saw Stila’s $38 beauty deal, the Color Wheel Eye Shadow Palette? I’m not so sure now. Stila’s individual eye shadows retails at a whopping $18 a pan, this 37-color wheel is an outstanding deal and a big competitor. Smashbox includes primer and mascara, but no brushes. The color wheel includes a 16-page tutorial, two double-ended eye shadow brushes, and 37 vibrant shades. I sound like I’m in regret heaven (or hell?)…but I’m pretty pleased with my Smashbox Eye Wish palette. Maybe if I make it on Santa’s Nice List this year he’ll get me the Stila set for Christmas? *HINT HINT TO MY FIANCE*

There is no denying that both brands offer solid colors and are both incredible sets to share or purchase for oneself. I personally find them to be a better deal than MAC’s Holiday “A Tartan Tale” collection which has just 6 shades and retails at $36 at Nordstrom. Not worth the money at all! Their holiday brush set is $49.50 and sells out QUICK!, however, since their brushes retail at about $18 each, I think these are totally worth the price. I’ve had mine for over two years and have had no complaints.

MAC's A Tartan Tale Collection

For all the beauty geeks out there who are suffering still from this recession, the holidays are the BEST time to get amazing deals on palettes and sets like this, so I highly recommend you stock up now.

Next post: me trying to use the tutorials that Smashbox includes!