HOT DEAL! 50% OFF Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Palette & 66% OFF Nail Polish

Great news! The limited edition Pulp Fiction Palette by Urban Decay, which was released during the summer of 2014, is now 50% off at both Ulta and Urban Decay's website (I originally ordered this palette and you can check out my full review of it here). The original price of the palette was $34 and it's now on sale for $16 (that's even more than half!)

I am able to create stunning everyday and dramatic looks, for an example, I created this Mrs. Mia Wallace Eyes of the Day post using just the Pulp Fiction Palette.

I'm not sure why this palette wasn't more popular, since I find that it has become my go to over any of the Naked palettes and even the Naked Basics palette. The shades have a good matte variety so it's easy to pair them with any other more colorful shadows you may have.

The even better deal is the Pulp Fiction Nail Color that was released in this collection, which is now 66% off on the Urban Decay website! The color is a vibrant oxblood, deep red with a slight shimmer. It originally retailed for $15, but was marked down to $5!!

Product Review: Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Palette (Limited Edition)

Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Box Packaging

When it comes to cool packaging and unique ideas for palettes, Urban Decay definitely takes the cake. They're a company that's always thinking out of the box and creating unique, trendy packaging and products. The Urban Decay Pulp Fiction palette was released as a limited edition product, along with their entire Pulp Fiction line, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the release of the movie.

The front and back of the packaging are very informative and even have a little blurb about Mrs. Mia Wallace and why she was chosen as the inspiration for the palette. I especially like the blood red double-ended brush and the little band-aid at the bottom of the packaging.

Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Box Packaging - Back

Samuel L. Jackson's (aka Jules Winnfield) famous quote is even included on the packaging (this is somewhat of a strange decision though because his character isn't really connected with Mia Wallace's in the movie, so it's cool but seems a little out of place).  Regardless, it's an amazing quote that my husband has memorized from the movie!

Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Palette Packaging

When you open the packaging up, it has a very grungy chaotic feeling of paint splatter and blood stains (very reminiscent of the movie)1. The palette consists of 5 eyeshadows and 1 double-ended miniature brush.

To see a look created with this palette, refer back to my Mrs. Mia Wallace Eyes of the Day - this post went into the look card which came in the box and how to re-create Uma Thurman's look in the movie.

You can easily use this palette for every day looks and this palette, upon first glance, looks fairly similar to the Naked Basics palette. However, upon further inspection, Vengeance (Pulp Fiction) is more bronze than the taupe-leaning Faint (Naked Basics), Anger (Pulp Fiction) is more silver than cream-based Venus (Naked Basics) and Righteous (Pulp Fiction) is lighter and less peachy than W.O.S. (Naked Basics).

I think if you were to own both Naked Basics and Pulp Fiction palettes (like I do) that you wouldn't be disappointed. I particularly love the color Tyranny since it's a perfect caramel for warming up the crease or transitioning between shades.

I love the quality of the cruelty-free synthetic dual sided brush, it has one end as a shadow-packing brush and another for precise inner corner or brow-bone highlighting (or even defining your eyebrows).

I think if you have the extra $34 and you're a big fan of Urban Decay, this is a palette you could pick up, enjoy and not be upset about how much you spent. However, if the price is a little steep or you're not a Pulp Fiction fan (and then you must clearly not be a child of the 90's!) then you can easily make do with the Meet Matt(e) palette from theBalm, Physicians Formula Matte Eyeshadow Quad (in Canyon Classics), or Urban Decay's Naked Basics. If you own Naked 1 and 2 you probably already have a large quantity of neutral eyeshadows as well and this wouldn't be too unique in your collection.

Eyes of the Day: Mrs. Mia Wallace Look

Since this year is the 20th anniversary of the cult classic Pulp Fiction and Urban Decay has released a Limited Edition Pulp Fiction eyeshadow palette  (based on the iconic character Mrs. Mia Wallace), I decided to do an Eyes of the Day post about her iconic look using the new palette.


In case you've been living under a rock for the past 20 years, this is what Mia Wallace (aka Uma Thurman) looked like in the movie, she was the quintessential babe of the 90s (1994 to be exact). She is subtle and natural and yet so dramatic with her severe lips, haircut and perfectly groomed brows.

The eyeshadow look tends to be quite wearable and natural, the guide for this look are on an insert inside the Pulp Fiction palette packaging. You can add more drama by using a black liquid or cream eyeliner, but I opted for the original with the eyeshadow "Furious" from the palette.

How to get the look:

This is what the shadows look like (you can re-create this look even if you don't own the palette, something similar like the Naked Basics or Physicians Formula Matte Eyeshadow Quad in Canyon Classics would do the trick).

I absolutely love this palette, it's so cute and reminds me of the 90's, I'll do a review very soon on it!

Maybelline Color Tattoo Limited Edition Collection "Dare To Go Nude" Swatches

Maybelline Dare To Go Nude Color Tattoo Collection. Credit: nouveaucheap.blogspot.com

The beloved Color Tattoos by Maybelline are getting new shades! For a limited time only, these exclusive shades from the "Dare To Go Nude" Collection will be available at Walgreens, Duane Reade, and CVS (I can only confirm these retail locations for now).

I checked out the shade range and was expecting to see some new colors, I was a little bit disappointed because I only thought the shades "Caramel Cool" and "Stroke of Midnight" were unique from the line-up. Swatches of the entire line-up can be seen below:

Maybelline Dare To Go Nude Color Tattoo Collection Swatches. Credit: nouveaucheap.blogspot.com

I was so excited about this collection in its entirety until I saw it in my local Duane Reade. When I compared the first two lightest shades ("Pure Nude" and "Beige-ing Beauty") they looked so incredibly similar to "Barely Branded" from the premanent Metal collection. I already have the whole Metal collection so there was no reason for me to pick up 2 more colors which looked identical to the naked eye (especially once they're blended out or used as a base). The next colors, "Nude Complement" and "Sleek & Spice" were very close to "Tough as Taupe" and "Bad to the Bronze", respectively. I'm just not thrilled about those shades so I didn't pick them up, either. That really, unfortunately, only left me with "Caramel Cool" and "Stroke of Midnight" by default!

Maybelline Dare To Go Nude Color Tattoo Collection - Caramel Cool and Stroke of Midnight

 I was most excited by "Caramel Cool" as it is an absolutely beautiful crease and transition color, especially for fair skin. "Stroke of Midnight" is a little bit patchy, as you can see from the swatches below, but it is definitely workable and I would only consider using it as a base to make colorful eyeshadows pop and transform shades.

Caramel Cool and Stroke of Midnight -  Natural Light

Caramel Cool and Stroke of Midnight - with Flash

 Maybelline releases at least a few Limited Edition collections a year and with my already absurd stash of these, I reserved myself to buying only the ones which were unique to my collection. There's a good amount of product inside of these pots so unless you exclusively use these (and you know I sure don't with my vast collection of makeup!). Let me know if you guys picked any up and what you think of the collection!

3.1 Phillip Lim for Target Collection

Hi all,

I don't know if I've been living under a rock but Target has some really cool stuff... I guess I never really paid attention to how fashionable some of their items are because I assumed they were just like their counterpart (Wal-Mart) and didn't obtain anything young or hip.

I was pleasantly introduced to the Phillp Lim 3.1 limited-edition collection by my sister-in-law, and serendipitously my husband informed us at 3:30AM on the collection release date (Sept 15th/2013) that the items were up online. I guess we got lucky that he was up watching some UFC match that ran late otherwise we probably wouldn't have gotten our hands on these bags. So of course we went into crazy panic mode and bought 2 of the large bags, 5 of the smaller bags, 2 overnighter Cheetah print bags, and I got a weird-looking sweater-dress. We also went into the store and battled the masses, but we only walked away with one small black bag.

When they arrived, I absolutely loved these bags (with yellow being my favorite) and they even have side zippers so you can configure them as shown in the taupe (appears grayish) purse, the pricepoint was $34.99/each:

Phillip Lim for Target 3.1 - Mini Satchel with Gusset  (Yellow)

Phillip Lim for Target 3.1 - Mini Satchel with Gusset (Taupe)

Phillip Lim for Target 3.1 - Mini Satchel with Gusset (Black)

I was even more thrilled a few days later that my overnight bag (only sold online) arrived just as my husband and I booked our plane tickets for a flight to Portland, OR scheduled for the very next day for a freelance booking. The bag pulls up about to double its size (shown in second photo). Now the only real problem with this bag is that it is really intended only for traveling, you can't walk around with it too much, if you pack it too full you will barely be able to get it over your arm, and it'll feel very uncomfortable. That being said, it's a terrifically made bag for its pricepoint ($49.99) and it is quite large, I was able to fit 3 large sweaters, 2 jackets, a scarf, my enormous makeup case and misc. other items.

Phillip Lim for Target 3.1 - Canvas Tote

My sister-in-law, also named Alex, purchased the large bag for herself as well. It's super cute and roomy, I personally love the taupe version of this bag, but she prefers the black so it'll match everything she wears. This bag did seem very large, you could pretty easily fit a laptop in there and I think it's probably an amazing bag for work. They also offered an online-only color of this bag in a deep purple.

 




I have yet to see the sweater-dress, so I will update you guys later on that one, as it arrived after we had already left NYC for Portland. For those of you that are not from the US, you can purchase these items all over eBay, it's pretty flooded with the collection. But buyer beware, I really thought that the majority of the clothes were very poorly made and definitely did not warrant the high price-point (at least in comparison to other Target clothes).

Let me know if you purchased anything from the Phillip Lim for Target 3.1 collection and what you think about it in the comments section below!