Archived Post

The Spring 2015 Report Card

The Spring 2015 Report Card:  The Best Products from Q1

There are so many products releasing each month that it can be hard to keep track of what was worth considering that I wanted to try putting together a quarterly overview that looks at the last three months of reviews with a best-of-the-quarter compilation. I’ve tried to group by formula when it makes sense to, and other times you’ll see specific shades or a collection. I’ve only included products that scored at least A- or higher (or else we’d be here all day!).

You can always browse all of my past reviews by rating and choose your threshold (or go diving for those F reviews) as well as view any Temptalia Recommends products. For a list of all my all-time favorites, see my Editor’s Choice Awards.

Clinique Cheek Pops
Clinique Cheek Pops are now available in eight new shades! You can check out the full roundup here, but they performed extremely well and in line with the original four released last year. All of the new shades rated A- or higher: Fig Pop (A+), Heather Pop (A-), Melon Pop (A-), Nude Pop (A), Pansy Pop (A-), Pink Pop (A+), Rosy Pop (A), Cola Pop (A+).

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Where to Buy

$21 at Clinique, Sephora

ColourPop Super Shock Shadows
We’ve reviewed a lot of ColourPop’s Super Shock Shadow range in the first quarter, and there were a lot of winners! Here are all of the shades that were rated A- or higher: 3 (A-), Acorn (A), Bae (A+), Bandit (A-), Chipper (A-), Desert (A), Downtown (A+), Drift (A), Eve (A+), Game Face (A), Get Lucky (A), Hanky Panky (A), Heat (A), Lace (A-), La-la (A+), Mittens (A-), Mooning (A), On the Rocks (A), Pop Rocks (A), Shop (A-), Smash (A), Snapdragon (A), So Quiche (A-), Sour (A), Sunnies (A-), Taco (A-), Truth (A), Rebound (Set) (A-), Shaanxo (Set) (A)

VIEW ALL SHADES

Where to Buy

$5 at ColourPop

ColourPop Super Shock Cheek
The ColourPop Super Shock Cheek released twenty shades of cream blushes from vibrant fuchsia to subdued neutrals, as well as three new, limited edition shades just for spring. I’m still working through reviews of the permanent range, but here were the top performers for Q1: Clutch (A), More, Please (A+), Olive (A-), Pie (A-), Rain (A-)

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Where to Buy

$8 at ColourPop

Too Faced Melted Metals
Too Faced Melted Metals are a new, liquid lipstick with a metallic finish. There are eight shades with most falling in the B+ range, but there were two standout shades: Metallic Jelly (A) and Metallic Macaron (A-).

Too Faced also added new shades of their original formula: Melted Strawberry (A), Melted Jelly Donut (A), Melted Villain (A).

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Where to Buy

$21 at Sephora, Macy’s, Beautylish, Beauty.com

Becca Blushed Copper is a stunning, medium-dark copper-brown with a very shimmery finish. It scored an A-.

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Where to Buy

$38 at Sephora

Becca Shimmering Skin Perfectors are available in a liquid, cream, and powder format, and this spring, we worked through a lot of the newest formula, the Poured, as well as wrote up a everything you need to know guide about the family of formulas. The Poured (or cream) formula rated quite well across the shades released: Moonstone (A-), Opal (A-), Pearl (A-), Rose Gold (A-), Topaz (A).

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Where to Buy

$38 at Sephora, ULTA

Bite Beauty Butter Cream
Bite Beauty Butter Cream Lipsticks launched as a new, permanent formula with eight shades. The blunt tip is supposed to make it ultra creamy. Gimmicks aside, the formula was excellent. I hope they’ll consider adding more cool-toned neutrals next! Here were the top performers: Hazelnut (A), Marzipan (A), Pecan (A), Rosewood (A).

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Where to Buy

$28 at Sephora

Burberry Wet & Dry Glow Shadow is a new, permanent formula of eyeshadow with a more metallic finish. I loved both Shell (A) and Nude (A+).

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Where to Buy

$29 at Nordstrom

Chanel Malice
Chanel Malice (A) is a medium, pink-coral with a luminous finish that is, thankfully, permanent. This is one Chanel blush that was well worth the hype.

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Where to Buy

$45 at Nordstrom, Chanel

Chanel Rouge Coco
Chanel Rouge Coco was reformulated and launched with 29 different shades this spring. The formula was more inconsistent, as some shades did well and others were shorter-wearing and didn’t apply well. Here were some of the best shades reviewed so far: Antoinette (A), Arthur (A-), Etienne (A-), Julia (A-), Marie (A-), Misia (A-), Suzanne (A-).

VIEW ALL SHADES

Where to Buy

$36 at Nordstrom, Chanel

Giorgio Armani Eye Tint
Giorgio Armani Eye Tints are a new, permanent liquid eyeshadow formula available in twelve shades from your traditional neutrals to bolder blue and green. Six of the twelve were exceptional: Cold Copper (A), Emeraude (A), Green Iron (A), Minuit (A), Rose Ashes (A), Senso (A), Shadow (A).

VIEW ALL SHADES

Where to Buy

$38 at Norodstrom, Sephora

Guerlain Meteorite Compact
Guerlain Medium (03) Meteorites Compact is a lightly luminous finishing powder that gives skin a natural look without looking shimmery. It’s that extra oomph after you’ve set with powder to keep the skin from looking too matte.

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Where to Buy

$62 at Nordstrom, Sephora, Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus

IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Undereye
IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer (A) is a fantastic, medium-to-full coverage concealer that covers evenly, smoothly, and wears long. I’d love to see the brand expand their shade range, as I have to mix two shades to get a good match (there are only four shades).

Where to Buy

$24 at ULTA

Kat Von D Shade + Light Contour Palette includes three highlighters and three sculpting powders in a slim palette. The palette had really soft, silky textures, which made it easy to blend on the skin. It may be more or less useful depending on your contouring application and coloring as the palette runs warmer.

Where to Buy

$46 at Sephora

Kevyn Aucoin Medium The Sculpting Powder has an unbelievable texture that’s very soft, smooth, and blendable. The color is more taupe-like, which makes it one of my favorite hues for contouring. I wish they had more shades.

Where to Buy

$44 at Beautylish, Sephora, Beauty.com, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom

Make Up For Ever Artist Shadow
Make Up For Ever Artist Shadows continue to be an impressive formula. I think I’m down to less than fifty shades (about half of them are blushes, too) that I haven’t actually worn, and there are very few duds. Here are the highlights from this past quarter: D552 Crystalline Gray Beige (A+), I212 Periwinkle (A), I318 Linen Khaki (A),I628 Reptile (A+), I824 Ocher Pink (A+), I872 Pearly Pink (A), ME232 Turquoise Blue (A+), ME614 Graphite Brown (A), ME644 Iced Brown (A+), S502 White Sand (A-).

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Where to Buy

$21 at Sephora

Marc Jacobs Contour Duo
Marc Jacobs Beauty Hi-Fi Filter (A-) is a highlighting and contouring palette on a large scale. There are three combinations available, and the one I tried was the darkest of the three.

Where to Buy

$49 at Sephora

Marc Jacobs Beauty The Enigma
Marc Jacobs Beauty The Enigma (A) is a muted, neutral-themed palette that ranges from soft brown to gray and smoky black.

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Where to Buy

$59 at Sephora

Maybelline Rebel Bloom
Maybelline Rebel Bloom Collection had an assortment of grades, but there were a few good shades in the release: Rebellious Raspberry (A), Black Orchid (A-), Coral Burst (A-), Rose Rush (A-).

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Where to Buy

$7.49+ at ULTA

Sugarpill Loose Eyeshadow came out with nine new and permanent shades this spring! Here were the best ones: Charmy, Clickbait (A-), Countess (A-).

VIEW ALL SHADES

Where to Buy

$13 at Beautylish

Surratt Beauty
Surratt Beauty had a few hits that we tested this spring: Cuivre Eyeshadow (A-), Perfectionniste Lipslique (A-), and Soigne Lip Lustre (A-).

VIEW ALL SHADES

Where to Buy

$20 to $34 at Barney’s, Sephora

Tom Ford Lip Color Matte is a new, permanent formula that features more opaque, matte lip color. Half of the shade range were big winners: Plum Lush (05) (A+), Flame (06) (A), Pussycat (04) (A), Ruby Rush (07) (A).

VIEW ALL SHADES

Where to Buy

$50 at Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Saks, Bloomingdale’s

Tom Ford’s Spring collection was fairly memorable with four of the six pieces rating well: Spring 2015 Cream Color for Eyes (A+), Black Jade Nail Lacquer (A), Indigo Night Nail Lacquer (A), Raw Jade Eye Color Duo (A-).

Where to Buy

$32 to $60 at Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom

Urban Decay Sheer Revolution
Urban Decay Sheer Revolution Lipstick is new take based on their original Revolution Lipsticks, just sheerer and glossier. There were ten shades released and six of them did quite well: Sheer Anarchy (A-), Sheer F-Bomb (A-), Sheer Liar (A-), Sheer Rapture (A-), Sheer Slowburn (A-), Sheer Streak (A-).

VIEW ALL SHADES

Where to Buy

$22 at Sephora, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Beauty.com

MAC is Beauty seemed to be the best of MAC’s spring launches, but there were also MAC x Mia Moretti, MAC x Philip Treacy, MAC x Bao Bao Wan, MAC x Julia Petit, MAC x Cinderella that were reviewed. Click any of the previous links to get a closer look at the collections. Here were MAC’s top performers this spring: Burmese Kiss Lipstick (A), Stroke of Midnight Eyeshadow Palette (A-), Maria Moretti Lipstick (A), Cardinal (A-), Hollywood Cerise (A), No Faux Pas Lipstick (A), Opera Lipglass (A-), Tenor Voice Lipglass (A), Victoriana Lipglass (A-), Barbecue Lipstick (A), Boca Lipstick (A), Forbidden Sunrise Lipstick (A), Lavender Jade Lipstick (A-), Make Me Gorgeous Lipstick (A), Opera Lipstick (A), Oxblood Lipstick (A), Petite Red Lipstick (A-), Silly Lipstick (A-), Tenor Voice Lipstick (A), Victoriana Lipstick (A), Viva Glam Miley Cyrus (A), Petrol Blue Eyeliner (A-), Linda Blush (A), Blacktrack Fluidline (A-), Blacktrack Fluidline (A-), Blitz & Glitz Fluidline (A), Blue Peep Fluidline (A), Blue Peep Fluidline (A), Lowlights Fluidline (A-), Royal Wink Fluidline (A-).

Where to Buy

Price varies at Macy’s, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s

69 Comments

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Carly Avatar

I love this round-up. It’s like a list of everything I should throw my money at! There should be a disclaimer…don’t read if you’re on a no-buy! LOL But seriously, super helpful especially when I don’t visit the site a few days and sometimes miss posts. This helps in case I missed something really good. I also didn’t know we could browse your review by rating. I placed a ColourPop order for the In Bloom set, Olive blush and Yasmin lippie stix yesterday. Can’t wait to play! Thank you!

Nicole Avatar

I like this idea a lot! I hope you continue it! I want to get some of the Tom Ford lip mattes after my bank account recovers from the summer collection and Sephora sale. Pansy Pop sold out before I could snag it at Sephora this am. So, That is on my must-get list along with some of the Urban Decay new stuff and Cle de Peau luminzers, and a couple of lipsicks in TF regular.After that, I think I need to cool it on the spending a bit for a month or two.But, I want to get back into re stocking my mufe shadows and Guerlain rouge G collection.(Sorry for the mental spill here,lol), So, When do Fall collections generally start? My wallet needs a break of sorts.

Jules Avatar

Hey Christine, i always read your blog but have never commented befor. A lot of people in line at the sephora event were definitely checking this site for product reviews, you really do give us invaluable insight! I just wanted to thank you for this post and the reviews in general. You do a fantastic job!

Lacey Avatar

Holy cow, that’s a lot of products. I’ve been pretty much a daily reader this year, and I’d actually forgotten a few of these releases altogether. This will be such a helpful feature! Thanks for taking the time to put it together, Christine!

Pearl Avatar

This is a great idea! I really appreciate this as I am looking to branch out from my current brand and this will be very helpful when I re-purchase. Can’t wait to see the summer list! 🙂

rashmi Avatar

I remember once wishing to see a quarterly report … if am not wrong I even mentioned …
nevertheless … am soooo sooo sooooooooo happy to see this

already placed my VIB rouge order through your link 11th night …. yaaaaaaaa
and am so glad the list is approved by my mentor 🙂

Nancy T Avatar

This is such a cool feature! And sooo invaluable what with the VIB sale going on too! Thank you so much, Christine! Oh, I have been loving my goodies from my last haul, today I have on Maria Moretti l/s and Summer Wind as my cheek highlighter!

Christine Avatar

No, I meant riff – as in Urban Decay is riffing off of their original formula of the Revolution lipsticks (taking their original and changing it up to create a familiar but tweaked version), but I guess I misunderstood the definition of it, but I did not mean a rip off.

BonnieBBon Avatar

You didn’t misunderstand the definition 🙂 riff off is used in the exact context you used it in. I can understand someone not knowing the phrase if they aren’t around musicians, writers etc since it’s mostly something of a creative term. Exactly in the manner you used it, so riff on girl 😉 Or Urban Decay should riff off their existing non naked products more often. I’m loving the shift in the revolution lipsticks! But then again I might just be swayed by my inner lipstick hoarder…..must have all the lippies!!

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