Swatchfest: Senna Cosmetics

Before you say, "Senna Cosmetics? That's not very Nouveau Cheap", please allow me to explain:

One of the only drawbacks of having a blog that focuses primarily on drugstore/mass market beauty is that I sometimes have to politely decline offers to review higher-end beauty products. But recently the folks at Senna Cosmetics reached out to me to let me know that there are lots of choices available in their Last Chance section, and the prices of these items are very much equal to drugstore makeup prices.

Senna sent me a nice selection of "Last Chance" items that will be available on their website "for the foreseeable future". So if you've always wanted to give Senna a chance but couldn't afford their products, here's a nice way try some things at a fraction of the regular cost.

Note: this is not a formal review of these products, but more of a swatchfest with brief commentary. I wanted to get these pictures up as quickly as possible so that you'd have plenty of time to place an order, so I have only used these products a few times each.

All of the products in this post can be found in the Last Chance section of the Senna website.

Senna Lipsticks: $18 each

Last Chance price: $8.75

This is a nice assortment of work-friendly, natural-looking lipstick shades that each look soft and subtle on my lips. The most pigmented is the matte shade, Taffy, which isn't really matte in the truest sense of the word. It doesn't look extremely matte on the lips, and it's got a nice, soft, buttery feel upon application. I would classify this one as more of a creme texture (no shimmer at all) but with matte tendencies. Intuition and Rapture are both sheer shades with soft, subtle shimmer.The consistency of Intuition and Rapture is a tiny bit sticky, but not heavy. I actually like the texture because, unlike so many sheer lipsticks I own, these have really nice staying power because of that little bit of stickiness. 

My favorite of the bunch is Faded Lace, which is a beautiful, sheer berry (no shimmer) that has nice pigmentation and just like Rapture and Intuition, a tiny bit of stickiness which helps make it stay put. Again, I'm very pleased with this texture because sheer lipsticks usually last for under an hour on my lips, and I can get about three to four hours from these lipsticks.

Faded Lace and Intuition had very little fragrance or flavor to me, while Rapture and Taffy have a more pronounced fragrance (sort of a generic "lipstick" scent) with a slight, generic "lipstick" flavor to them as well.

4 in Ones eyeshadow compact: $30

Last Chance price: $10

This compact in Sorbet blew me away for one simple reason: the white shade. In the pan, this white looked like any other plain white eyeshadow. But once I swatched it, I was stunned to discover this:

Swatched on the skin, the white shade in Sorbet turns into an icy, pale violet blue, and it's THE closest (pressed shadow) dupe I have ever found to my beloved (and long ago discontinued) Urban Decay Road Stripe. It's nearly identical and such a nice surprise!

Here are the colors over Urban Decay Primer Potion:

As you can see, the peach and white shades were nicely pigmented to begin with but become a little more intense over primer. But the lime green and plum shades seem to really come alive with primer. The top three shades all have a nice buttery consistency, but the plum shade is harder in texture, and much drier. I think that this might have been intentional given the size of the "stripe" in the pan--this seems like a shade you would apply wet to line the eyes, and the drier, harder texture would work well with a wet liner brush.

Senna Lip Lacquer: $19

Last Chance price: $9

The consistency of this lip lacquer very much reminds me of MAC Lipglass. If you like sticky glosses because of their staying power, I think you might like this gloss as well. The shade, Naked, is a nice, opaque, mid-toned nude creme (no shimmer).  The fragrance is vanilla-based and so is the flavor.

Senna Linear Lip Liners: $17

Last Chance price: $8

Admittedly, lip liners aren't my thing. I rarely if ever use them, so I'm not the best judge on these products. But I can tell you that these colors, Truffle and Cashmere, look very versatile and seem like they'd work with a variety of lip colors. Also, after swatching these liners on my arm, it took a lot of effort to remove them with a makeup towelette, so I'm assuming they'd be fairly long-lasting on the lips as well.

I hope this post helps those of you who are thinking about making some purchases from the Last Chance section of the Senna Cosmetics website. It's a nice way to try some products and see if they're for you before you invest in other products from the core collection.

Are you already a Senna Cosmetics fan? Any favorites you'd like to share?

A sample of this product was given to Nouveau Cheap for editorial purposes, either directly from the manufacturer or from the agency that works on behalf of the manufacturer. All reviews on NouveauCheap.blogspot.com are the honest opinion of its author and editorial samples do not, in any way, affect the outcome of product reviews.