Hi, Beautiful Blossoms! Yes, I do realize that TRE was due yesterday but unfortunately I couldn’t make the deadline because I had to go out of NYC for most of the day to take care of business – I’m not a big fan of mobile blogging because the Internet signal isn’t always as stable as it could be (the “Dead Zone” as Verizon puts it), so rather than risk typing out a lengthy read, I decided to hold off until I got home so I can type, which took me well past midnight.

Now that that’s out of the way, I also struggled with what to write for The Raised Eyebrow. I really didn’t come across anything in particular that had me raising an eyebrow, until a quick trip to Sephora (it’s amazing what a trip to a store can do) gave me a lightbulb moment for TRE: high-end makeup. To be more specific, Lancome’s and Clinique’s (though this one had me raising it earlier but the instance was once, so I was willing to give them another shot) eyeshadow palettes.

Holy shit, for high-end brands the eyeshadow palettes that they have SUCK.

So how did this TRE moment come about exactly? You see, I bought the Lancôme AudaCITY in Paris eyeshadow palette (did 2 YouTube vids on it too. Clickety -click for Part 1 and Part 2) because I wanted to give high-end makeup a try. I figured high-end makeup = better, since you’re shelling out more for the good stuff. I also invested in a Clinique Wear Everywhere Pinks eyeshadow palette because ROSY COLORS.

The Lancôme AudaCITY Palette retails for $69 for 16 shades and the Clinique Wear Everywhere is $36 – kinda pricey compared to other palettes that are available but fairly reasonable compared to what’s generally sold in Sephora. You would think that you’d get a good bang for your buck with these palettes, right?

I learned the hard way that Clinique’s eyeshadows are a haaaard miss and Lancôme thinks their eyeshadows are hot shit, so they feel justified in what they charge for their eyeshadow palettes (I’m looking at you, Color Design 5-Shadow and Liner Palette for $50! ಠ_ಠ). For $69, I expected the Lancôme eyeshadow to blow my Urban Decay Naked 3 out of the water. Nope. It fell flatter than a sheet of paper – the fallout was really bad and even with the Urban Decay Primer Potion, I had to load the Lancôme Double-Ended brush in the AudaCITY palette just to pick up the eyeshadow and apply it onto my eyelid.

Now, imagine if I opted for the $50 Lancôme 5 shadow palette instead. 5 FRIGGIN COLORS AND A LINER WITH SHITTY PIGMENTATION FOR 50 BUCKS. Hell nah. ಠ_ಠ

The Clinique palette came with a double-ended eyeshadow sponge applicator. And it was the same case as the AudaCITY in terms of color pigmentation, though I’m willing to be more forgiving with the Clinique palette because of the eyeshadow sponge applicator. I’m going to do a video and try it with my eyeshadow brushes and see if the outcome is better.

Now, don’t get me wrong: Clinique and Lancôme have been around for a long time for a reason – some of their skincare products (I haven’t tried ALL of them) are pretty good. But the makeup lines are badly neglected to the point where you’re paying more for the name and packaging than the content.

I haven’t stopped using my AudaCITY palette because it serves my intended purpose: to wear eyeshadow makeup that’s safe for work. The verdict is still out for the Clinique, so expect an update via YouTube as soon as I get to reviewing it.

And that’s it for this week’s TRE! I’m definitely scouting out for next week’s topic already, but so far it’s only Monday – I’m hoping something interesting will pop up that’s worth an entry.

Stay Blooming, Beautiful Blossoms!