Review and Swatch: Makeup Forever for Sephora Birthday Gift

Every Year Sephora gives out birthday gifts to those part of their Beauty  Insider program. Last year it was a deluxe sample of Benefit’s Watt’s Up highlighter and They’re Real! Mascara. This year  (2014) the gift is from Makeup Forever (MUFE) and it’s a deluxe sample of their Rouge Natural lipstick in N9 and their Smokey Extravagant mascara.

First let’s start off with the packaging and what a “deluxe sample” means in this case. The two products come in a cute cardboard box with “Happy Birthday!” written on it with a bow. The details on the box and quite intricate (the top looks like it has hinges!) which I really appreciate. Each product is in a black plastic case and looks like a smaller version of the full sized product. The mascara has the same brush as the bigger size and the lipstick is in a twist up tube as per normal. The size of the lipstick is 1.5 g/ 0.05 oz. A full sized wet n wild lipstick is 3.3 g/ 0.11 oz and the full sized mufe lippy is 0.12 oz. So the sample is a little less than ½ sized (it’s 41.6% of the full sized) making it ~$8.5 worth of lipstick. The mascara is 4ml/0.13 oz of product. The CK ONE mascara is 0.31 oz and the full sized of this product is .23 oz and Sephora also sells a mini at .16 oz. So you are getting a little more than half of a mascara (~56.8 %) and only .03 oz less than the mini! The mini runs at $12 and the full at $24 so you have about $12 of mascara!

So now that all of the math is done let’s get to the products…

MUFE Rough natural in N9 is described as a “copper pink” it is a warm toned brown pink that looks very natural (and a bit more red than pink) on my lips. It goes on smoothly and evenly without being too slick and sliding around. It goes on opaque the first coat; it has a shiny crème finish which is very natural and flattering. This is a good lipstick and a good formula.

MUFE Smoky Extravagant mascara is “What it is:
A precision mascara that adds volume, length, and curl. 

What it does:
This clump-free mascara delivers long-lasting wear in one stroke. Using 4D technology, an exclusive microdefining wax complex envelopes the lash surface in ultrablack pigments for far-away impact and up-close precision. The dual-purpose, cone-shaped brush has a precision tip that separates lashes as the rounded base creates extravagant volume from any distance.”

The brush is an exaggerated cone shape which I think is supposed to get to the center of your eye and the  big part for the outside, but since I do not switch hands when applying is just annoying for me. This mascara does nothing to curl my lashes; as soon as I apply this all the curl from my curler disappears. It does not add a lot of volume or thickness to my lashes. It doesn’t clump or flake though. Overall, it is a disappointment and does nothing for me.

My favorite part of this set is the lipstick which I can see wearing until it runs out which hopefully will take a while considering it’s about half a full lipstick and I haven’t gone through any of my lipsticks yet. The mascara was a disappointment, but not many mascaras work for me; the Benefit one from last year didn’t work for me either.