Freestyle Palettes

Depotting make up definitely helps to free up space especially if you have a lot of make up.  Product packaging although pretty can really take up a whole lot of storage space.  But what happens once you've depotted?  Empty palettes are only available for certain pan sizes.  What about irregular sized pans (i.e. elf Studio, NARS, HiP, etc)?

Fortunately a number of companies provide a solution to that problem.  Freestyle palettes!

Photo from Z-palette website

Z-palettes
Website: http://http://www.zpalette.com/
Free shipping to US & Canada (excluding tax)
Ships internationally (more info)

One of the more popular freestyle palettes are the Z-palettes.  They come in 2 sizes:

• Large (8" x 4.75" x .44") - $20
• Small (3.8" x 3.8" x .44") - $14

And it comes in 4 beautiful colors and patterns:

• Black
• Fabulous Pink (Light Pink)
• Zebra
• Leopard

The palettes feature a clear top so you can see all your products in it and comes with a strong magnet base to hold your pans.  The body is made of durable recycled material and the cover can be folded back completely and stay out of the way while you hold your palette (especially convenient when doing client's make up).

Chances are your depotted pans are not magnetized and for $4.30, you can get a pack of 40 pre-cut square magnet stickers sized at 3/4" x 3/4" x 1/32" each to stick onto the base of your make up pans.  The palettes are also available on ACW.

Review: Sigma Complete Brush Kit

I believe the Sigma Complete Brush Kit came out some 2 years back but honestly, I was a bit late on discovering them.  Having started a YouTube beauty video obsession only a year and half ago, I'd only heard of them last year and honestly, after watching reviews on the brushes, I was sold.  Patiently though I waited til early this year to place an order as a belated birthday present to myself (mainly to await to Premium Kit which I'll review in another post/video).  After some international postal challenges and amazing assistance from Tara (Sigma), I finally got my package some time in April.

Anyways, on to the review and those comparison photos:

Sigma Complete Brush Kit

Without Brush Roll: $79 (Black)
With Brush Roll: $99 (Black/Light Pink)

The kit includes 12 brushes (5 face & 7 eyes).  The brushes are of either natural or synthetic bristles and are generally soft to touch and skin.  The brushes are made of a metal (not sure what kind exactly) ferule and a nice matte satin finish black wooden handle with the Sigma logo and brush name & number imprinted on it.

If you have been following me on Twitter, you would have probably seen my TwitPic of the packaging and the brushes when I first got them.  The packaging is just gorgeous.  The brushes and brush roll were packed in an organza drawstring pouch.  The one thing that I noticed off the bat was the smell.  I think it's the mix of the faux leather scent and the glue that created this really strong awful scent.  Good thing it only needed to be aired out a day or two to get rid of the stench.

The brush roll (Ind. Price: $20) is nice and has 12 main pockets to store the 12 brushes in the kit and it comes with a protective flap over the brushes.  Then there are the 3 additional brush pockets to store additional brushes you might have or even lip glosses, concealers, eye liner pencils, mascara, whatever fits.  Technically it's more of a brush pouch/fold than it is a roll considering it doesn't actually roll up.  The brush roll is held closed with a strap and a magnetic button.

All brushes and brush roll are available for purchase seaprately too.

New Product: Sigma Premium Travel Kits

Today Sigma had just announced the launch of their latest offering - Premium Travel Kits!

Photo from Sigma website

The new travel kits comes with 7 mini brushes selected from the brushes available in the full-size Premium Kit and is encased in an elegant travel pouch/clutch upgraded from the original Travel Kits.

Faves: July/August 2010

So I'm a little behind on my July/August 2010 faves and I do apologize for that.  It's been a busy couple of weeks especially with the Hari Raya celebrations this weekend and the preparation during the last weeks of Ramadhan leading up to it.  That said, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all.  *smiles*

Anyways, now that I'm back from my grandma's house because work beckons tomorrow, I've had some time to transfer the pre-recorded video from my camcorder, edit and uploaded it.  So let's get to it, shall we?

Haul: Sephora, ULTA, ACW

A couple of months ago I went on a US online shopping spree of my own and picked up some things that I've had my eye on for awhile and then some.

So I was definitely super excited to get my packages.  Don't be fooled.  The boxes may be big but it was 90% padding except the package from ULTA which was quite nicely packed without the need of way too much padding.