Monday 29 December 2008

Becca Shipment!

I took advantage of the Becca Friends & Family 20% discount code earlier this month to place an order for their holiday collection. I had the package shipped via Borderlinx.



This was my second order through Borderlinx and the process was just amazingly hassle-free and fast. I placed the order on 17 December; Becca shipped the order on 19 December by FedEx; the parcel arrived at Borderlinx in Ohio on 23 December; and DHL delivered it to me this morning (29 December)! The 20% code more than covered the cost of shipping as I saved US$29.20 on my order and paid US$6.28 (FedEx) + US$12.18 (DHL) =US$18.46 for shipping. There was a cheaper option for shipping by USPS on Becca's website but I decided FedEx was the safer option as it had online tracking, which was handy given the heavy mail traffic in the Christmas season.



I got the new limited edition Aurora palette (US$65), Beach Tint in Watermelon (US$25), Eye Tint in Baroque (US$24) and Soft Touch Blush in Songbird (US$32). The prices were much cheaper compared to Sephora in Singapore where the Beach Tint is S$55 (US$38).



I was quite worried about the Aurora palette as after I placed the order, photos of how it looked in real life started surfacing on Makeupalley. Most of the reviews were that it was a disappointment and worse, that it looked nothing like the picture on Becca's website.

Here's the picture from Becca's website.



And here's the palette in real life! It contains an Eye Colour Wash in Madras (bronzy plum), a Compact Eyeliner in Aubergine (eggplant), a Crème Blush in Terracotta (neutral apricot), a Crème Eye Colour in Ametrine (smoky mauve bronze) and a Nude Lip Gloss in Hibiscus Tea (neutral rosy nude), plus a dual-ended brush. The Latin-inspired palette features the vibrant tones of Peruvian and Spanish Colonial textiles and pottery.





The Aubergine Compact Eyeliner is described as an eggplant shade but to me, it is a muted dusky pink. Haven't the folks at Becca seen an eggplant before? It's deep dark purple, not pink! The most misleading pic is that of the Madras Eye Color Wash (extreme left) which looks like a vivid magenta in the promo pic but instead turns out to be more of a plum-toned brown with some sparkles. How did Becca's photographer get it so wrong?




Similarly for Songbird blush which looks like a bright coral peach on the website but turns out to be a semi-matte deep coral.




Baroque Eye Tint was the most disappointing item as I had been hoping for a nice metallic shade but this turned out to be a boring creamy tan with some shimmer. The Watermelon Beach Tint is one of Becca's bestsellers and winner of many magazine polls so I have high hopes for this.


I haven't tried any of the products yet so I can't give a full review. The misleading promo pics aside, the Aurora palette actually turned out to be nicer than I was expecting and I can probably make the blush work too. The shades look easily wearable, if not the most exciting.

6 comments:

birkinbagbeauty said...

Online chart-swatches can be so misleading...sight. I love the look of Songbird, though, it looks lovely.

invie said...

I may be wrong but could it be that the deep purply brown is the aubergine eyeliner cake and the pinky mauve is the eye color? The palette does look quite disappointing but perhaps it looks better on the eye than in the palette?

Anonymous said...

you are one smart girl!!! i will hunt you down (for tips only) when i do online shopping one day. :P

hey, i just got that becca tint in watermelon for my birthday. beautiful tint but a hassle for me. i can't use it on my lips as it's too dry. please let me know what you think? thanks

also, i like the look of that palette!

Haru said...

Hi Invie,

I thought that the two might have been swapped in the promo pic too. I tried out the eye colors in the palette yesterday and was quite pleased with it actually! The cream shade creased a bit but turned out to hold up rather well through more than 12 hours of wear! I used it as the base with the two powder eyeshadows on top, applied it at 8am and at midnight, the powder eyeshadows were still quite pigmented!

I wasn't too happy with how the powder eyeshadows applied on top of the cream though, especially the dark brown shade which had some small bits that didn't blend well so that made it look a bit like dirt! But I think with a better eyeshadow base, it would apply and blend much better. The dark brown shade itself is quite a lovely smokey shade with glimmer.

Hey Jojoba,
I've only tried the tint on my cheeks once, not on my lips yet. Will post a review when I do! I do think the tint is a bit tricky to apply, I have better luck with a gel blush like Tarte or cream blushes.

beautyparler said...

I've never tried Becca but the shades all look so nice!

Anonymous said...

Hello Haru

I am interested to know your view on Becca Beach Tint. Do you like it?