My Faves Modified

I'm pumped! I've been following Beauty and the Blog (that's Sephora's very own beauty blog) and saw some great things they are discovering at Sephora's San Francisco Headquarters. Check 'em out. I can't wait until they come out!

Product 1 - Laura Geller Tinted Spackle - beginning September 24th, you can now buy this excellent foundation primer in a tinted version. How great is that!! Now, I can use Mario Bedescu's regular moisturizer and save the tinting for the primer during the winter months. I'm sure I'll switch back and forth, however, on the Stila tinted moisturizer and the good old original spackle

Product 2 - Benefit BADGal Plum Mascara - Our fave blue mascara for the summer will now be available in a deep purple for the fall! Purple is the new black and is certainly the fashionable color for this next season of leaves dropping and cool breezes. Walk out into the world with fashionable eyes and use purple mascara to accent your eyes. This sounds absolutely amazing!

-A

What's in a Name?

I'm always intrigued by the names of products. It is so important for marketers to name their product with just the right touch, like I would write a headline for an article or an author might name their book. It's products that have strange names that really get me thinking about how they'll work. What you call your product is almost as important as the product's productivity and is the key to success.

My Laura Geller Spackle intrigued me from the moment I saw it. As a sample, I figured I should try it anyway, but the spackle part made me feel as if I were about to fix my face like they fix a wall on the DIY Network. Now while that may seem strange - who wants to pretend their face is part of carpentry - it was an interesting concept to me. Spackle is actually something that fills in holes and smoothes out a surface. I tried it and fell in love.

Similarly, I got an email from the Sephora Beauty Insider this morning, entitled "Best. Mascaras. Ever." That, in and of itself, was intriguing to begin with. Then when I opened it up, they listed a few mascaras I might be interested in. Here are just some of the names:

DuWop Lash Venom Mascara
Sephora Brand Atomic Volume Mascara
Too Faced Lash Injection Pin Point

The terms venom, atomic volume, and lash injection immediately caught my attention here. I mean who wouldn't want lashes so large as to have been injected with some kind of venom to get volume that's just atomic?!

It's true, however, that not all products can live up to the names they sport. It's like juding a book by its cover. You may be attracted at first, but will this product leave you looking attractive?

-A

Photo: Sephora.com

A Tip About My Favorite Spackle

I fell in love with the Laura Geller Spackle when I used a sample from my giant collection. I then got my mom hooked on the stuff too. When I ran into Sephora to buy the full size, I grabbed the box labeled spackle, saw it had some extra perks like eye and lip primer, and threw it in with my huge stash of common products to be purchased. This is the Spackle Trio (pictured, right). Mind you, this purchase took me about five minutes and I spent almost $150. Why is it that you run out of the most important, expensive stuff at the exact same time?! I hate that!

Anyway, this was a serious mistake. My mom got the real bottle, which is comprised of 2 oz (pictured left), while mine only has 0.85 oz. I may have the lip and eye primers, but I am certainly not a fan. I tried the eye primer one day thinking that it could be a good switch from my beloved F.Y. Eye (not because I don't want to use my lovely Benefit product, but because sometimes it's good to switch it up). I was seriously mistaken. My shadow was all over the place within an hour and I was quite upset. And we already know how I feel about putting things on my lips so I doubt I will use the lip primer. But who knows, maybe I'll give it a whirl.

My other point about the spackle is that not only will you get more out of a regular bottle, but it also costs a lot less. For 2oz, you'll pay $21.50, but for the Trio it'll run $30. That was certainly a mistake purchase for me and I definitely will know better for next time!

-A

Photos: Sephora.com