Calling all Sephora Beauty Insiders! There’s an exciting new 500 point perk that I’d love to explore with you all!
Sephora stores in Canada just got the new “Backstage Beauty” kit from Makeup Forever and I pretty much bowled people over in the street to make sure I got one. I had seen some reviews online and I knew that I had racked up a total of something like 900 points (I always find that the 500 point perks are quite lame, but maybe that is just me). However, finally, something that was 500 points piqued my interest and I was really excited for stores in my area to get them in so I could check it out in person. I went into 2 stores in my area last weekend and they both were sold out already, and that’s a little nuts because they only got the shipment on Thursday. One of my friend’s who works in my local Sephora was nice enough to call the Sephora located near my work and (hooray!) they had a couple left, so I rushed down there on my lunch to get it. Success!
Now, I was expecting something very different than what I actually got based on the pictures online, but was I disappointed? Heck no!
Want to hear my specific thoughts and see swatches? Come on, you know ya want to! Click read more!
Alright, so the kit comes in a little plastic bag/case, and to be honest, that is the only thing that I was really disappointed about. I hadn’t seen what it comes in online and, I don’t really know what I was expecting but if I was a part of the marketing team at Makeup Forever, I would have gone against that decision. The samples are already pretty small, and the customer is using 500 points to get the kit, so it would be nice and probably more encouraging to put them in a nice little bag or something.
Anyways, moving on… the kit includes the following items:
- HD Microperfecting Primer in #0 Neutral (0.05 oz)
- HD Microfinish Powder (0.035 oz)
- Aqua Eyes in 0L Matte Black (0.025 oz)
- Smoky Lash in Rich Black (0.10 oz)
- Lab Shine Lip Gloss in S2 (0.05 oz)
 |
| The sample that came in the kit! |
Luckily, my mom went on a major foundation finding spree a few months ago and a few of the things that I told her to keep an eye out for was a face primer (as that makes the foundation look smoother and keeps it looking fresh for longer) and the brand Makeup Forever. She bought a couple of foundations from MAC and Smashbox but had to eventually return them because of different reasons (mainly the colour didn’t match or she didn’t like how heavy they were). Finally, I decided to go with her to Sephora and, needless to say, she came home with a Makeup Forever primer and foundation. She loves them! One day, she asked if I’d like to try it, and what kind of beauty-obsessed girl would I be if I declined her kind invitation to try a beauty product!? So, I did and I loved it! I was really happy that I got a sample of it in this kit, because that way I could use it again!
The sample that comes in the kit would only be enough for about 2 -3 uses,
depending on how much you use, but honestly, it is a really good primer. It has a bit of a different consistency than other face primers that I have used, and at first, I wasn’t sure if I liked that, but now that I have used it multiple times, I think that is one of my favourite things about it. I have combination/dry skin, and as you can see from the photos below, the primer isn’t a creamy, smooth, silicone-y texture, but rather a lotion-y one. It feels more like a second layer of moisturizer than a primer, but boy-oh-boy does it work well to keep your face makeup on! I was allowed to use a little bit of my mom’s on the day of my uncle’s wedding in Vancouver (read more about that here), and I put my makeup on at around 11 am and I partied until around midnight, and my face makeup looked like I had just applied it! How awesome is that!?
The product is transparent, but it also comes in different colours for colour correction and what not…which makes the product even more of a hit in my eyes! 🙂
 |
| My mom’s full sized size of it! |
 |
| A pea-sized amount of the primer, unblended (natural light) |
 |
| The same pea-sized amount of primer, slightly blended (natural light) |
My rating: 9.5/10
Reason why it isn’t a 10/10: Sample wasn’t big enough! I don’t want to buy the full sized product for $38 CAD, but maybe that’s just me being stingy… 🙁
On to the next item! 🙂
Hi, Mr. HD Microfinish Powder! I really, really wanted to like you, but alas, you somewhat disappointed me! Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good powder (though it could never compare to my go-to Laura Mercier Transparent Loose Powder), but I felt that it had one major thing lacking: transperency. According to the Sephora Canada website, this powder is supposed to be a “universal translucent finishing powder”. HA! When I applied this powder to my hand to swatch, I thought it was amazing, because it is soooo smooth and silky. However, I blended it out with my finger and I could still see white powder. Other powders don’t do that for me, they just sink into my skin. I considered that it’s because of my dark complexion, but call me crazy here, but translucent powders shouldn’t show up, at all. If other companies can do it (make a powder that works for lighter complexions and darker ones), then shouldn’t Makeup Forever be able to do so?
When I blended out the powder with a brush (I chose my Quo Blush Brush), it did get a little better but I could still see the edges of where I put the powder. The lines only disappeared when I vigorously blended away. I was so upset, and would definitely not pay $35 CAD for 0.35 ounces)
I was also not impressed with the stoppage on this powder. There are three holes to get the powder out, but I find that they are much too big. If I went through on the idea of using it for travelling (as I originally planned to do), I’d have a disaster on my hands when I took it out of my makeup bag; the powder would be everywhere!
Need to see it to believe it? Here you go…
 |
| The powder (natural light) |
 |
| The powder, on a different background in attempt to show you how large the holes are (natural light) |
 |
| The powder on my hand (natural light) |
 |
| The powder on my hand, blended with finger (natural light) |
 |
| The powder on my hand, blended with brush (natural light) |
My rating: 6/10
Reason why it isn’t a 10/10: Overall, I would say that if you are of a lighter complexion than me, you might really like this. I did like the fact that, once blended vigorously, the powder seemed to work well on my face; it kept oil away and it didn’t seem to dry my face out. If only it didn’t require so much work/blending… let’s just say that this is not exactly what I expected from the oh-so-popular HD Powder. 🙁
Next up!
Aqua Eyes in 0L Matte Black
..or in other words, a pencil eye liner. Again, my first experience with this product was quite surprising, not at all what I expected. I wasn’t overly impressed with this one. I didn’t hate it, but I wasn’t blown away either. One thing that I can say is that it wasn’t very dark, and that was slightly upsetting to me, as I like my eye liners dark black. However, it was really good under pressure, and by that I mean that I dunked my hand in water, and the eye liner didn’t smudge or fade. I also tried to smudge it out when my hand was dry, and it barely moved, which is always a good sign for an eye liner. The formulation was also really nice, so buttery smooth! It actually reminded my of the NYX Slide On Pencils, but just with a much more expensive price tag ($20 CAD for 0.04 ounces)!
A random thought, though, there are plenty of colours to choose from in this line!
Alright, alright, back to black (comment if you got that reference!)…
Here are some photos!
 |
| The eye liner (natural light) |
 |
| The eye liner, swatched (natural light) |
 |
| The eye liner, swatched, a little thicker (natural light) |
 |
| The eye liner after I tried to smudge it out (natural light) |
My rating: 9/10
Reason it isn’t a 10/10: I would have preferred if it was a smidgen darker.
Moving on…
Smoky Lash in Rich Black
My, oh, my! How awesome is this mascara!? It’s actually one of my favourite mascaras. It will give you great, voluminous lashes in a flash! If you are looking for a high end mascara that is actually WORTH the money, I 100% recommend this one! Plus, it is cheaper than a lot of other high end ones ($24 CAD for 0.23 ounces)! That is one of the main reasons I have gone through 2 tubes of it and have many of these size that I use for various reasons (doing other people’s makeup and travelling)! I really have nothing else to say…so let’s see a photo!
Sorry, I didn’t take a picture of the wand, but I will add one soon!
My rating: 9/10
Reason why it isn’t a 10/10: Ask anyone, I seriously adore this mascara, but there is one problem, it dries out so quickly. Seriously, a small tube like that dries out in about a month, maybe a month and a half. Sure, you can still get mascara out of it, but it’s not as amazing as when you first buy and apply it.
And the last one, please!
Lab Shine Lip Gloss in S2
I have never heard anything about Makeup Forever’s lip glosses…and i can see why. Again, it’s not that it was terrible, but it just didn’t really do much for me. Sure, it was a pretty colour and I think that it would suit every complexion, but it just didn’t wow me!
However, here are some pictures so that you can see the gloss for yourself!
 |
| Such a pretty peachy colour! (natural light) |
 |
| Natural light |
 |
| Wand and lip gloss (natural light with lamp on) |
 |
| Swatch of lip gloss (flash) |
My rating: 7/10
Reason why it isn’t a 10/10: This lip gloss is the epitome of the word “meh”. Nothing fancy, nothing bad. Middle of the road. I do like the colour and the formulation wasn’t sticky and tacky, but I don’t think that it is worth the $21 CAD price tag – and only for 0.09 ounces! Um, no thanks. I’ll pass.
Here are a couple of photos of me with all of the items from the kit on:
 |
 |
Alright, so that’s it for my review! I hope that you enjoyed that detailed look at what the kit is like. I did enjoy the chance the try out a few more of Makeup Forever’s products, and I do like them, but I don’t know that I would rush, rush, rush to go out and get it. I would still want it, and I am glad that I do have it, but am truly not sure if I would still hunt for it in the manner that I did. Honestly, the primer and mascara are the saviour products here, as they elevate it to the status of “not a complete fail”. I do not believe that this should be a 500 point perk, though. If Sephora were to invent a 250 point perk, this would be perfect for that. 500 points is worth A LOT and if I had the ability to go back to the past and stop myself from spending 500 points, I would (and how COOL would that be!? :D).
That is my honest opinion, as always.
That’s it for now, so I shall bid you farewell! Have a fantastic day!
Much love,
S♥
