Those Holiday Makeup Blockbuster Kits

Hi grammarqueen-

Although I have a soft spot in my heart for these kits as I used to occasionally get them as a gift from my dad when I was a little girl, I haven't purchased one in YEARS. I know myself too well at this point and I have a funny feeling that I wouldn't use the products. They are SOOO appealing, though. It's like little dollops of candy and chocolates and shiny things!

They don't even appeal to me anymore. I know I wouldn't use most of the products, so they would be a waste of my money.

I gave up on these blockbuster kits years ago for that very reason. Everything looks all pretty in the kit, everything is coordinated and I was attracted to the glitz of them. In reality, many of the colors weren't anything I'd use. Eyeshadows were left unused, lipsticks weren't for me and I gave them away or they turned rancid. The great deal wasn't there.

I buy those that Sephora/Ulta have. I really like the ones from Tarte and definitely use them! I bought several last year and really enjoy them and make sure I use them consistently.

i always get the kits because i break them up and use some of it myself , let my daughters and mom look through hit, and send some of the pieces overseas as gifts. it definitely never just "sits" or gets wasted.

Yes and no. Yes to my tarte gorgeous getaways set and no to EL's big holiday kit. I've bought two. I hate their eyeshadows and the colors in their palettes. Their eyeshadows are powdery and flat. They just don't do anything for my eyes. They are also in very small squares and hard to use. They both gave me one great nude lipstick and two other terrible colors. One cool bright berry and one dirty pumpkin/terra cotta. In another set I got a brick red I will never wear and an orange. The mascara is great. The makeup remover, so/so. My tarte gorgeous getaways gave me 16 full size shadows, 4 full size blushes. 3 lipglosses all equally beautiful for $38. The packaging was like a jewelry box. The quads had magnetic backs so you could take a quad which had a blush and take it with you in a smaller portable palette. I ended up putting them all in a z palette which was much more convenient! No depotting necessary because they are magnetic. The blushes and the shadows are all gorgeous! There is not a dud. It's a nice mix of both warms and cools, satins and matte. Some look glittery in the pan but they are not actually when you apply them. I am so looking forward to see what tarte will offer this year! ))

Actually, the best kit I got this past Holiday was Sephora's BB cream sampler, which contained generous minis of Stila, Smashbox, Boscia, Dr. Jart & Too Faced. I use them just about every day, and still have 2 left. I also love the Estée Lauder Black Friday lip gloss set, & nice lipstick & gloss set from Elizabeth Arden.

I also stopped purchasing them as I knew there would be some things in the kit i wouldn't use and I was tired of always giving half of it away,so I no longer purchase pallettes and kits like that.

I'm the same as most. My late mother gave me the Estee Lauder one every year for my birthday (which is right before Christmas) from the time I was a teenager. After she died, I found out DH was running around trying to find one. Back then they used to sell out, but he was lucky and got the last one somewhere! I told him how much I appreciated that, but next year he would have to start earlier. Finally, it was just easier for me to buy it and give it to him to wrap. I found myself using one or two products, and I had enough "Frosted Apricot" and "Tiger's Eye" (which really are pretty colors) to last a lifetime! So a few years ago, I stopped getting it. DD has never been an EL fan, so I was just wasting a lot. DH still gets me EL or Lancome fragrance though!

I like the "small" holiday kits with makeup that I'll use. I got Laura Geller's cookie stack set last year, and Tarte's holiday lip colors.