Need help cutting down wishlist!

[Toby]

Hi all,

I am in desperate need of help in cutting down my wishlist! As much as I would LIKE to get everything, the bank account, it protests. Please help me figure out if there are any similar colours I could do without, or colours that would Simply Not Work for me?

Eyeshadow wishlist:
Mixed Metal Palette (Burnished, Alloy, Heather, Papyrus, Patina, Tawny, Wheat Penny)
Eclipse
Truffle
Bare
Cybertron
Fairy Dust
Frosty
Gargle Blaster
Legend
Luxe
Poly
Satin
Sizzle
Slick
Sprite
Superstition

I have:
Groove
Vanilla
Diamond
Platinum
Carbon
Coal
Sapphire
Brown Sugar
Orbit
Intergalactic
Solar
Planetary
Idolize
Chestnut
Fete
Soiree
Cheer
Fire

Lippies wishlist:
Bobbie
Cultured
Modern Poet
Berry Crush
Black Dahlia
Precious
Sultry
Gleaming
Rare Berry
Raisin

I have:
Nectar
Caramel
Breathless
Hot Blooded

Unfortunately, due to the vagaries of Christmas shipping and Canada Post, the only things I have gotten so far are Nectar, Vanilla, Groove, and the GWP Unique (which I ADORE). I find Vanilla too sparkly for everyday and am looking for a better highlight, and Nectar was absolutely perfect.

For background: I'm a medium-skinned Chinese girl (still trying to find a proper colour match, but currently using 6 scoops base to 1 scoop buttery gold, which is too light for me). I do tend to wear colours I'm not supposed to, though, assuming I'm warm-toned -- white, jewel tones, and silver. I rarely -- if ever -- use makeup, but want to change that and experiment, so I've been trying to build up my makeup collection.

For lippies, I am looking for a good nude, a light pink, a plum, and a true red. I was also wondering which of the clear glosses was the most shiny. I would call my lips medium-pigmented, sort of a dusty rose colour, though my top lip is more pigmented/purpley than the bottom.

For shadows, I was wondering whether I should get the Mixed Metals palette or the Stonewashed Nudes clone. I want some "fun" colours, but would like a few everyday staple sort of colours as well. Which of the eyeshadows in the Christmas collection are LE? I might have to go for those first. When do they go down?

I'd also be open to suggestions for blushes, am interested in learning how to "countour" my face (so anything that might work for that?), and am thinking about buying either the flat top brush or the vegan buki brush, although I am currently using a buki brush from B.E.

Right, that was a lot -- sorry! Any help would be much, much appreciated.

[Rhys]

Pain here - I know what you mean, and about Canada Post, too - the last package I got was the one with Unique as the GWP - I'm waiting on three orders, two of which were shipped on 1 December - ouch.

Boom might be a good highlight for you if Vanilla is too shimmery, and I think you'll like Bare. Maybe get the Mixed Metals, those, Fairy Dust (an essential of life here), Eclipse, and Poly as your GWP this time around? That'll give you your sensibles, and a few fun colours, too.

Sultry TOTALLY rocks. You need it. Rare Berry is probably a good choice too. You realise they're all great, of course, just if we're limiting....

I like Modern Poet for a nude/washout colour, and while I'm not crazy about the vegan lip gloss formula, a lot of people like Cultured for a pink.

If it helps any, I got a sample of Black Dahlia and it was pretty much completely brown on me, so that one got crossed off my wish list.

But you can take time to collect - pretty much all of it will be here next month, too.

[egerandi]

Well, hmmm. The only two things that may help:
Cybertron is pretty similar to Gargle Blaster, so maybe you can get away with one of them.
Also, I find Slick pretty similar to Idolize, so at least you can push that one back on your list for a while.

I second Boom as a good highlight - I barely use Vanilla, and Boom, well, I need to re-order soon.

I vote for the mixed metals too, but I don't really wear browns, so yeah, hehe. I have Heather and Burnished, love 'em both. And you need Eclipse Such a great shade when foiled or layered over dark base. Frosty works nicely with Intergalactic, but I think you can prolly get away with Fairy Dust and move Frosty and Sprite lower on your list.

For the lippies, Cultured would be a great nude for you. Bobbi is almost nude, considering your lip color, but it's leaning towards the plummy. I like both a lot. Black Dahlia is a sexy twist on plums. Sultry sounds like would be a great red for you, but not sure how 'true'. I guess that depends on everybody's definition, but it would definitely work nicely on your complexion. I have Crimson for that, but that may be a bit too cool for you.
What sort of a light pink are you looking for? Something pink pink, or barely there pink or light opaque pink?
I would recommend Carnation (or Daydream, but Carnation is a bit warmer), Soft or Peace.

[packgal]

hi toby!
your wishlist looks very fun. for eyeshadows, if you are just interested in lovely neutral shades without a twist, go for the stonewased nudes. If you want nudes with a shimmer/sparkley twist, go with mixed metals (that's what i would do. the mixed metals are not over the top at all). With either of those, youll be good on neutral shades for awhile (along with your brown sugar and chestnut) so I wouldn't probably worry about truffle (unless you REALLY need a matte brown for a liner or something), legend or luxe (those are both bronzey/copper, and so is chestnut).

if you think vanilla is too sparkly, i do not think you are going to like fairy dust or frosty for everyday. both of those are going to be pretty sparkly. sprite is pretty shimmery too. maybe you could wait on those and see if you like fire. it is similar to sprite, only copper instead of yellow gold. for an everyday highlight, i would try boom or cream. they are more satin than sparkle.

you have lots of fun blues on the way (interalactic, planetary) so you can probably wait on sizzle too. eclipse, cybertron, gargle blaster, altough they are new, will not be LE so you can get them anytime. both gargleblaster and groove are listed as very shimmery golden brown greens--do you need both? (haha, it's so fun to talk about needing makeup...) slick is a popular and versatile neutral gray, but some find it similar to idolize. i would recommend poly--that's a really fun color. satin would be a fun one too. you might want to wait on superstition because you already have a sparkley silver coming to you (platinum).

so, eyesadow summary--my recs would be to get the mixed metals, bare, boom or cream, poly and satin--and eclipse, cybertron if you can. you could wait on the others until you get some of the other packages on the way to you.

Lippie recs:
for a good nude: go for your modern poet

a light pink: cultured will work here. it also leans nudish. for a very true light pink, i recommend bloom. egerandi also gave you great recs for other true (more medium) pinks.

a plum: bobbi is kind of plum, but if you want plummier, do figment or fig leaf. nectar is my favorite color, and i love figment; fig leaf is also a favorite of many who like nectar. the swatches of bobbi and breathless look kind of similar to me.

and a true red: you don't have one on your list. if you really want red, you should do reddy or crimson. rare berry is a bright reddish strawberry. it is pretty but is very bright on my lips (i have lighter lips than you though.)

i would also get sultry; it is kind of bold, but a really cool color--and so pretty. raisin will be even darker than sultry, so unless you want really dark, i would forego black dahlia and raisin. i tend to get enamoured by the swatches of dark lippies, but when i get them, they are too dark and i only wear them to bed
i love both precious and gleaming. if you want some pink with your gold sparkle, buy precious. if you just want a visible gold wash that lightens your lips or to put on top of other lippies, gleaming is gorgeous.

if you are interesed in contouring, drama blush was made for it. get some sort of glow or perfecting glow for highlighting too (my favorite is angel). i have light medium yellow/peach skin and i love cider, tart, and bronzed beauty blush (but have to use a light hand/fiber optic brush). do not be afraid of tart, it is the best. i bet nina and palace would look good on you. i have been wanting to try palace.

whew hope that helps a little instead of confusing you more.

[Toby]

Canada Post is absolutely ridiculous! It makes me sad. Sometimes I think about moving to the US just so I can get my online shopping faster! How silly am I?

As far as "light pinks" go, I was thinking pink-pink, but not too opaque; I'm not sure how "pink" I can go without looking clownish, as I've tried a few pinks in the past that look absolutely ghastly on me.

By "true red", I mean fire-engine red, which I don't think SN has yet... I'm currently using a beautiful one from Shiseido, but would definitely like to go with something more natural if possible! (Perhaps I should make a request on the Wishlist part of the forum?)

As long as the Mixed Metals aren't as sparkly as, say, Vanilla, I think I could get away with those. I do like sparkliness, just not for everyday, and that is what I would use the neutrals for.

The description for Eclipse says that it IS LE... is that a mistake? I'd like to know, since it looks like a beautiful colour and I'd like to get it before it's gone.

Sultry sounds GREAT and is definitely on my list of immediate to-buys. How does everybody feel about Negligee? I forgot to add it to my wishlist, but it looks so gorgeous!

Thank you ALL for the recommendations, this has been really helpful!

[egerandi]

i tend to get enamoured by the swatches of dark lippies, but when i get them, they are too dark and i only wear them to bed

Hahahah, that's too cute I don't give up my mistake colors either (ok, I sent one back, at the very beginning, my BF told me it made me look grandma-ish), unless they fit my friend perfectly (she ended up with two of mine already). Symphony is not my color, but the black label formula is soooo nice, so I just wear it in the mornings to walk my dog. My lips need it, and at that point it's prolly the prettiest thing on my face anyways

[packgal]

By "true red", I mean fire-engine red, which I don't think SN has yet... I'm currently using a beautiful one from Shiseido, but would definitely like to go with something more natural if possible! (Perhaps I should make a request on the Wishlist part of the forum?)

The description for Eclipse says that it IS LE... is that a mistake? I'd like to know, since it looks like a beautiful colour and I'd like to get it before it's gone.

there used to be a true red lipstick called platinum red, which me loves as a red lip. some have asked for it to come back. in sam's swatches, crimson looks warmer (maybe leaning a teeny bit orange?) than platinum red. a wish put into the forum is never a bad idea, especially with a valentine's collection approaching

sometimes karen will say that something is LE due to a pigment that gets discontinued, so that may be the case with eclipse. but i think she's not going to retire any more colors. rare berry and nectar are both listed as LE as well but they have been around forever. quiver was also listed as LE because of the mica, and it is super popular, and has been around for several months now. so either way, i wouldn't stress out about eclipse too much--like rhys said, you definitely have a couple months. and if you're worried about the sparkle, i would get the stonewashed nudes. there doesn't seem to be a person who's been disappointed in the least by them. (but don't judge them in the jars

i tend to get enamoured by the swatches of dark lippies, but when i get them, they are too dark and i only wear them to bed

Hahahah, that's too cute I don't give up my mistake colors either (ok, I sent one back, at the very beginning, my BF told me it made me look grandma-ish), unless they fit my friend perfectly (she ended up with two of mine already). Symphony is not my color, but the black label formula is soooo nice, so I just wear it in the mornings to walk my dog. My lips need it, and at that point it's prolly the prettiest thing on my face anyways

i bet symphony looks great in the morning! heh heh. and more importantly, it probably feels awesome.

[Toby]

I've put in a request for Platinum Red in the wishlist. Thanks for the info!

I'm not sure how I feel about the matte eyeshadows in Stonewashed Nudes (I am so picky! Haha!), so I will probably go with the Mixed Metals.

Thanks again for all the help -- all of this has given me a great starting place with what I should purchase.

[pquaffer]

Babydoll is the first thing I thought of when you asked for a really pink pink that wasn't opaque. It applies sheerly but is buildable. Best to start with a light hand and work your way up. You only need to use a little bit.

[Rhys]

For a not too opaque pink lippie, take a look at Soft. That's a very pretty one. Bloom is more opaque, and not really my fave colour - it's a little too light. But Soft seems to hit the balance nicely.