Purchase - Paul & Joe Fall 2009 - Verite (061) Eye Shadow and Reckless (063) Lipstick

image from beautyhabit.com

Paul & Joe is a brand I have mixed feelings about. On one hand I adore their cute packaging and their lipstick formula is afreakinmazing! On the other hand their eye shadows are beautiful in the package but the texture and color payoff isn’t always what I like. That’s not to say the eye shadows are bad. No. Joeybunny loves them as do many other bloggers around the web. I’m just picky and my personal preference is to not spend my money on the eye shadows.

So you may be scratching your head right now asking yourself. “Hey Elvira. Then why in the hell did you buy another eye shadow? Are you stupid or just have a shopping addiction?”
HA! Much to the contrary my dear judgmental reader. (Since I put the words in your head I can put a label on you too…and honestly you should be ashamed of yourself for labeling me with a shopping addiction, when clearly I don’t have one. For Shame. For shame.)

I saw an auction on evilbay for the Lipstick Reckless and Eye shadow Verite from the Paul & Joe 2009 Fall collection. Knowing full well that the lipstick alone retails for $20 I put in a starting bid at $11 and wished for the best. I knew I didn’t NEED a new lipstick or an eye shadow, but Paul & Joe isn’t about need. It’s about HAVETOFREAKINHAVE! Yes. I HAD to have that lipstick. I had to. It’s a) Red and b) Paul & Joe and c) Limited Edition and d) Paul & Joe. Well 5 bids later and $20 later I WON that auction. Yup I got a lipstick and eye shadow worth $44 retail for only $20!

Now you might use some silly thing like MATH and say, “Elvira. Um why didn’t you just buy the lipstick for $20 and save yourself the trouble of getting an eye shadow you didn’t like?”

And with that I look at you with my head slightly cocked to the side and say “Ruh?”

No. No. No. You have it all wrong. I’m gonna love this shadow. It’s champagne and gold. A perfect compliment to red lips. I can do my classic Marilyn look with this set. It’ll be different this time. This time it will be special! (Cue ominous music)

So I get the package in the mail and I’m elated. The packaging is this cute blue and tan paisley. The lipstick has the classic Paul & Joe Chrysanthemum stamped into it. The Eye shadow comes in this adorable oval container with a sweet little sponge tip applicator. Half of the pressed shadow is champagne and the second half is humm…looks like brown not gold. Meh. That’s cool. I like that color too! The packaging is so darned cute, who cares about the color!?


OK let’s start with the lipstick. This is a warm red color with micro gold and red shimmer which does not show up upon application. The lipstick went on to my arm sheer when I swatched it,
but upon application it became a gorgeous creamy opaque red. It was the classic Paul & Joe formula, it was moisturizing, pigmented and long lasting. The BEST!



The Eye shadow was smooth and more pigmented than I expected. The champagne was lovely and frosty and warm. The gold/brown color in the pan showed up as a warm coppery gold on my swatch. It is lovely truly pretty; don’t let the pan color deceive you. This is definitely a warm eye shadow color. It applied loverly. Very smooth and creamy. The champagne color is a way more sheer than I am used to but the coppery gold color is well pigmented. (Sorry no eye pics). However, the champagne color blended so well into my skin it was invisible. This would look much better on someone with darker skin than me.

Do you NEED this? Yes. a) Red and b) Paul & Joe and c) Limited Edition and d) Paul & Joe. Oh wait. I said that already. But the answer is still YES at least for the lipstick. You can skip this if you are cool toned. Honestly this is not the shadow or lipstick for you. OH. Did I mention that this is limited edition? Yeah. You better more quickly if you want it!

So there you have it. See it was a good bargain! $20 for a $44 retail value. I should mention in the interest of full self disclosure that I am giving the shadow to Joeybunny. I just couldn’t get the coppery shade to work for me and the champagne side was too sheer and too light for me this time. That’s OK. She will enjoy it so it was still well worth it!