Hello Kitty for Sephora

Shawn and I went to Yorkdale, so I decided to check out the new Hello Kitty collection at Sephora while I was there. Overall, very nice packaging – sleek and streamlined in metal tubes, not cheap and tacky. I like the packaging more than the Hello Kitty for MAC collection, which was super cute, but not as adult-friendly. I only picked up three items because most of the lip products were sold out, and I wasn't interested in the rest (perfume, eyeshadows, cream blush, etc.).

The Apple Balm is a pinky-coral lip balm in an apple-shaped jar. The consistency is fairly creamy and moisturizing, but a bit tacky, and slightly sticky when worn. On lips, it looks like a sheer peachy-pink, similar to MAC's Gentle Coral Lip Conditioner. But the point of this product is not really for the colour, it's for the cute packaging. If you want colour pay-off, this isn't the product for it. It's really just a tinted lip balm. And though it's in an apple-shaped jar and the product is called Apple Balm, it doesn't actually smell like apples at all. The smell kind of reminds me of Strawberry Lip Smackers, but perhaps with a mix of something else that's fruity. Not apples, though. The biggest con to this product, though, is the lid. Yes, the packaging is cute, but the lid doesn't stay on properly. It's a lid that you twist on and off, but I find that if you twist to close, it's super hard to re-open (I swear, I'm not even twisting it tightly), and if you don't twist hard enough, the lid will just fall off. It's definitely not a product to keep in your purse, it's more for your home, looking cute on your vanity.

I also picked up two shades of Sweet Gloss in Charmmy and Grape Frosting. On the lips, it feels very much like MAC Lip Conditioner – smooth, moisturized lips with no stickiness or tackiness. But it's far less messy than the Apple Balm, since they're in lipstick tube applicators. They also have the same fruit scent as the Apple Balm. Charmmy will add a nice sheer brown-rosy shade to the lips; it's very much a my-lips-but-better shade. Grape Frosting is a gorgeous plum shade when applied to lips, so don't be scared of what it looks like in the tube (it reminds me of Clinique's Black Honey lipstick). They're definitely targeted for younger girls who want to start wearing make-up or are just starting to wear make-up. That being said, though, they are super-cute and are great if you're looking for a tinted lip balm. I like these quite a bit more than the Apple Balm in terms of feel and consistency. I want to go back to Sephora to check out Apple, Pinkie, and Sweet Berry.

While I was in Sephora, I redeemed 500 Beauty Insider points for their "Benefaves" gift, which includes a full-size box of Benefit's Coralista powder blush and a mini tube of their Bad Gal Lash mascara. Coralista is probably my favourite boxed powder by Benefit (aside from Hoola, which is a fantastic matte brown bronzer). It gives a gorgeous coral pink sheen, sort of like a more subdued version of Nars' Orgasm blush. Seriously, this is probably one of their best Beauty Insider gifts to date, since they rarely give out full-size products. That blush alone retails for $36. If you have the points, go redeem them!