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Thursday, August 23, 2012

Review & Swatches: NYC Halloween 2012 Limited Edition Sweet & Devilish Collection (eyeshadow & polishes)

Can you smell that? Halloween is in the air! (Well, at least at the drugstores...)

I finally found the NYC Halloween 2012 Limited Edition Sweet & Devilish Collection at my local Rite Aid (click here for pics of the display) and I couldn't resist picking up a few items. I of course bought the eyeshadow duo with the bright red shade, and also the polishes (except for the clear top coat that glows under black light--I don't come across too many black lights at my age. Sad.)

So let's start with the eyeshadow:

 NYC Limited Edition City Duet Eye Shadow in Devilish
(retail: $2.99, 0.07 oz)



You all know I'm a sucker for true red eyeshadows (why are there so few options at the drugstore??). Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers has a true red shadow again this year as well (I'll be showing you more pics of that duo in an upcoming post) but let's take a closer look at NYC's offering:


It's hard to see, but if you look really closely, you'll notice that there are tiny, sparse flecks of glitter in both colors. The glitter is so sparse though, that you cannot see it when on the eye. Both shades are true mattes with no shimmer whatsoever.


Using the exact directions as printed on the packaging, here's the eye look I was able to achieve using just the two shades in this duo (no other shadows were used on my eyes; just my usual liner, mascara and eyebrow pencil):





I didn't use eyeshadow primer for this look, and look at how vivid that red is! It's a TRUE red too. It doesn't lean magenta or orange.

I'm very happy with the performance of the red shadow. Unlike a few other shadow duos I've tried from NYC over the years, this shadow was not hard, dry, powdery, weakly-pigmented or difficult to work with. It's everything you want in a matte shadow: highly pigmented, soft and easy to blend. Also, very little, if any, fallout. I dare say it's close to perfection when it comes to a drugstore matte shadow.

As for the black shade, it's not quite up to the level of the red (but I'm pretty sure that if you're reading this, you won't be too bummed about that since most of already have a zillion black matte shadows). I just find this particular black matte to be a bit dry, and if you look torward my inner eye region above, you can see that it's a bit patchy after blending. 

Staying power for this duo without primer is about 3-4 hours for me (remember, it's hot here in San Diego right now and I also have very oily skin; your results may vary). With eyeshadow primer, this look lasts all day for me, with some creasing at the 6-hour mark.

FINAL VERDICT: If you love red matte shadows, don't hesistate to grab this one when you see it. For $2.99, I think you'll be very pleased with the pigmentation and texture of this shadow, but you'll probably want to use another black matte shadow in your stash because the one in this duo is a bit dry and patchy.

Next up: the nail polishes...

NYC Limited Edition In A New York Color Minute Nail Polishes in Enchanted and Haunted
(retail: $1.99 each, 0.33 oz)

Enchanted

Enchanted looks so pretty in the bottle. But sadly, I have some issues with this polish. First, the tiny hexagonal gold glitter is very sparse (not always a bad thing!) but in this particular frosty polish, it's hard to "dab" the glitter where you want it because, if you do that, you disrupt the frost finish. Usually with frosts, we want very uniform, vertical brush strokes. But since the glitter in this formula doesn't distribute itself evenly with each brush stroke, I found myself making a mess trying to get the glitter where I wanted it, and I ended up disrupting the brush strokes in the process.

Also, this polish is sheer, so it requires three coats for what you see in these pics. I don't know...there's something about a frosty polish with glitter that intrigues me (we don't see too many of them at the drugstore) but this one just doesn't have enough glitter in it to really work, and the glitter that is here really wants to pool up near the cuticle and tip of the nail.

 Haunted

Featuring the same tiny, sparse, gold hexagonal glitter as Enchanted, this time it's in a black jelly-creme base. Again, this one requires three coats for what you see here. Unlike Enchanted, I like that the base is more forgiving (no brush strokes to worry about) which means you can take your brush and dab it with the glitter to get it where you want it. HOWEVER, the formula of this polish is thick and goopy, and it wants to pool up on the ends of the nails. So dabbing the glitter around sounds much easier than it actually is. After I was done with glitter placement, this polish was a lumpy, bumpy mess the first time around. I had to remove it and try again (these pics were taken after my second attempt) and the second time produced better results because I did less dabbing and sort of just let the glitter go where it wanted to go.

If you plan on buying Haunted, I definitely suggest adding a few drops of nail polish thinner to this formula. I think it with help immensely.


In a nutshell, I say "YES!" to the red shadow and "skip" to the nail polishes in the NYC Sweet & Devilish Collection.

Have you spotted the NYC Limited Edition Sweet & Devilish Collection in your area yet? Have you tried any of the other products in this collection? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
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45 comments

  1. Bummer. Guess no hunting for me. No Rite Aids here, just walmart for nyc so I'm all too happy to not fight it out.

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    1. Do you have a KMart there, hun? They sell NYC too, and sometimes they have these LE collections.

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    2. I see NYC at target too, look there.

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    3. We do have a kmart but it's pretty far off. Not at Target either or else I'd definitely look there! Wish my cvs had it! I love nyc!

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    4. Which is funny, because the CVS where I live has stopped carrying NYC. ):

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    5. So lame! They consistently sell out of wet n wild... You'd think NYC would be a smart edition to the drugstores!

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  2. Now that I've read your review I will get the shadow. I saw it the other day at Rite Aid, but I didn't get it thinking it would be crappy. I regret it now.. I hope they still have some left.

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    1. Oooh, I hope it's still there when you go back!

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  3. I agree with your recommendations. Now, to hunt down my NYC coupons that don't expire til next year! I just hope these shadows find their way to CVS or Walgreens. :)

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    1. Thanks, K! Does your Walgreens carry NYC??

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  4. Wow, I'm very impressed by the eyeshadow! The red looks great.

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  5. My local Big Lots has Fantasy Makers entire Halloween Collection from last year. Plus Sally Hansen Halloween Nail Strips!

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    1. Awesome!! Thanks so much for the heads up, sweetie!

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  6. Ooh, that red! I already have Bite Me from Fyrinnae, though, so I'm not sure I can convince my wallet that it's worth getting considering I don't even wear Bite Me all that often :/

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    1. Lol yeah, one true red is kind of all you need! :)

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  7. I bought the red/black shadow duo and I found the pigmentation sheer to medium on me - however, it builds up nicely for me with primer and overall is definitely worth it for the price.

    I'm also super curious about the half red / half black lipstick - I keep seeing it around & picking it up then not buying it. I already have half a dozen red lipsticks I love (and a black one too!) so I know it wouldn't get much / any use, but, so curious!

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    1. Hey Emi! May I ask what brush you use to apply the shadow? I use my e.l.f. $1 eyeshadow brush for these, and wow, it really seems to grab the shadow and do a great job of depositing it. But I know that sometimes if I use other brushes, my shadows look more sheer-to-medium. Anyway, I'm so glad you were able to build for more intensity, and I DEFINITELY agree that primer is a must. Like I said before, this one faded in about 3 hours without primer for me, but with primer I was good all day.

      Again, so glad this worked for you, and thanks so much for sharing your insights.

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  8. Red shadow scares me, but this one looked so nice on your eyes, I want to try it! Maybe if I use a different color with it, not black, it wouldn't be so intimidating

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    1. Don't let it scare you! :) if you keep the red just on the lids and then use a brown in the crease and blend like crazy, red can be very wearable. :)

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  9. The shadows look so good on you, G! With my fair, pink-toned skin, I would look like I had been crying for hours. LOL Thanks for the review, I was considering those polishes but I'm glad I read this first. I'll save myself the $.

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    Replies
    1. Lol!! Thank you, and I know what you mean. Purples and pinks do the exact same thing to me. So sad!

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  10. I just moved somewhere where I have no Rite Aid, no Walgreens and CVS hasn't been built yet. I think I will be missing out on a lot of good Halloween stuff.

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  11. I Was Wondering If You Have An Instagram Account I Recommended Your Account To A Few Girls On There And One Of Them Wanted To Know If You Had An Account?

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    1. Thanks so much for asking, but at this time I do not have an instagram account. :(

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  12. Don't worry, I don't have any Rite Aids near me either. I will try Walgreens or CVS or Target at some point in the future when Halloween keeps coming. I like the Haunted polish better since I tend go for blacks more than frosts. And the pulling at the cuticles and tips, that tends to happen! I remembered having Caboodle polishes with the hearts in them but sold them, same thing happened with the glitter placement, it was hard. I will keep an eye out for them.

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  13. The red looks great on you! I have found that liner is key to pulling off red/pink on the eye. Just TL/WL with black or brown, it separates the color from the whites of your eyes and keeps you from looking like a rabbit.. or like you are sick. I have green eyes and wear a lot of pink/reds. I picked up a NYC duo in the spring collection (pretty sure it was LE) that was peach/orange.. and it was gorgeous. The colors were much nicer than they appeared in the pan, something about the plastic on the lid. Both were excellent quality, one was a shimmer and the other matte. Hopefully NYC has made some changes to their formula and we can look forward to some nice shadows in the future.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much! :) and thanks for sharing that great tip!

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  14. I had this in my hand today but I was afraid it would be powdery! I'm so going back for this! I live how it looks with your brown eyes! And I hope I can achieve a similar look!

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  15. I want the eyeshadow,but i can do with out the nail polish.Even though I like nail polishes...I saw the swatches you done....and I'll pass

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  16. I wonder how red shadow would look on a blue eyed blonde... was there any fall out into your eyes G.? I guess I will skip the polishes.

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  17. I'm a little bummed out at seeing the swatch for those polishes. The colors just aren't as cool as I thought they were going to be. ):

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  18. In general, I love the NYC quick dry nail polishes and try to collect all of the limited editions but I think I'll skip the Halloween ones. They don't look or sound all that spectacular. Hopefully, NYC will come out with something more interesting for the holidays.

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  19. The red looks pretty good. Probably something more pink would make one look more sickly or something, but the red works. I've wanted a red shadow for a while, too, but don't want to pay big money. Hoping Kmart has these!

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  20. I LOVE that red on you G! Do you know if there's a good way to wear red, pink, or orange eyeshadow for a nice daytime look? Thanks!
    -hannah

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  21. Until I saw your photos I just could not fathom a red shadow. I just kept thinking "who does that? It can't look good, or 'natural'" And then I saw your photos and it looks absolutely gorgeous on you. I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull it off or not, but I'm willing to take risks when makeup is that cheap (plus I can always give it to my cousin if I don't like it). It paid off with my fuchsia Wet n Wild lipstick, so maybe red is a gamble I out to take.

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    Replies
    1. I felt the same way Kayla! But these look so stunning on you, G!

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  22. Irony! I've found NYC's shadow duos to be unusable for all of the reasons you cited: dry, powdery, LOUSY color payoff. I ended up tossing all of the ones I'd purchased. However, I've LOVED all of the In a New York Minute polishes I've tried. Nice, smooth formulas, even complete coverage with two coats, and they've held up under the punishment I put my hands through. It seems as if they've flipped it with the Halloween collection.

    Last year I ran all over town searching for that Fantasy Makers red/black duo, only to discover that it was much like the NYC shadows. Disappointing, since Wet n' Wild's color payoff and consistency is usually on point. I was lucky enough to find a couple of Enter a New Realm trios to satisfy my red craving, but I might just have to purchase Devilish as a backup.

    An aside: thank you for the effort you put into your reviews. Their thoroughness make me confident that my money is well spent!

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  23. The red shadow looks great on you!

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  24. NYC is coming out with some really great stuff!

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  25. Picked them up today. Can't wait to try'em out.

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  26. Don't skip out buying the clear nail polish that is black light activated. If you look closely you will see that there is a purple tint to it. The tint will help neutralize yellowed nails. It will also help neutralize any old glitter polishes that might have turned yellow too. Try it, you won't regret it.

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