Sephora Birthday Gift - 2017!!!

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope it's off to a great start for you!

I joined Beauty Insider program in Sephora in 2014 and ever since, every holiday season I patiently wait for sneak peaks of the free birthday gift! Being a January born, I am always excited to get the gift way early in the year! We all feel excited about the free makeup but I have to agree, I feel extra excited when it is from a coveted brand. 2016 gift was from Marc Jacobs (reviewed here), 2015 gift was from NARS (reviewed here) &; 2014 gift was from Make Up For Ever (reviewed here); I have thoroughly enjoyed all of them.

I am going to sound like a Negative Nancy, but I am not at all excited about this years gift. I love that this year they gave you 3 options to choose from. Read about it more here. I have been reviewing the makeup product every year so I picked up the Tarte "happy birthday tartelette" Lip and Cheek set. I love Tarte as a brand, but this type of deluxe mini lipstick and blushes were included in so many different Holiday sets that it kind of diminishes the elusiveness or the charm of the gift. May be it just me, but it does not feel luxurious like the NARS or Marc Jacobs sets! Additionally, I am 31 and my dry, chapped lips aren't really excited about another liquid lipstick. 

Keeping my disappointment aside, let's discuss the shades. Both the blush and the lip paint are in exclusive shade!

Amazonian Clay 12-hr Blush in Paaarty: This is a deluxe size, but believe me when I say that this tiny compact is going to last you months, if not years. I love these blushes, I have Tipsy (reviewed here), Flush (reviewed here) and one other shade from the permanent line and I use "Tipsy" quite regularly. Paaarty is a very pale soft nude-y mauvy pink. It has a strong cool-undertone! When I first got it in the mail, I was afraid that it is not going to work on my skin tone. But now that I have tried it on my cheeks, I think I can be easily wear it! But I am afraid that it will not be flattering on skin tones that are few shades darker than me. Also, staying power, pigmentation and blendability feels about the same with the permanent Amazonian Clay blush formula, however as you can see from the picture, it kicks up a lot of powder. I don't see that happening with the permanent blushes.

Tarteist Creamy Matte Lip Paint in Birthday Suit: I am not very intrigued in liquid lipstick so I don't really experiment a lot. But I have had tried a few and I like only a handful of them. I personally feel that all the best liquid lipstick formulas are already in the market and the we don't really need anymore new formula. Anyway, I thought this will be a very very light shade on me and will give me "concealer lip look". I do NOT like that look, at all! But surprisingly, the shade looks ok on me and I actually quite like how it looks on me. The formula however I did not enjoy! It applied nicely, was even in one coat and it was light on the lips. It did not even feel dry on my lips but it appeared so very dry and it made me me look so aged! All the fine lines on my lips were exaggerated. After 4-5 hrs, the inside rim of my lips got even mor dry and it kind of got all wrinkle-y! It is a very embarrassing look! I tried to put on lipbalm, or different lipgloss on top but everything turns out into milky pinky shade! Ughh, it is annoying!

I am not sure if I would wear the lipstick that often but I will definitely use the blush. When is your birthday? What are you going to pick up? Pictured above are the 3 different set available :-)

Love,
~Arrru