Nars at Sephora, Lorac Snake Charmer palette

So I finally bought my third Lorac palette last month. I already own two Lorac palettes, the Showstopper and the Greatest Hits CD2 so I had been lemming this one for a while.

Since it was only available online I ordered Nars Aqua Gel Hydrator and Givenchy's Perfect Again concealer palette to go with it:




By the way...I discovered that some Nars items are sold to Canadians at the US price :)

I was quite upset a while ago when the Nars counter at The Bay told me the Aqua Gel Hydrator had a Canadian retail price of CAD$115. The US price is $76, and even with the weak Canadian dollar $115 is way too much of a mark up.

However I found that on Sephora.com, if you add Aqua Gel Hydrator to your cart and checkout, they only charge you CAD$75.24. They didn't charge me any duties on it either!

Same goes for Nars Mud Mask. It costs US$45 and probably more at The Bay Canada. However, when you do Canadian checkout at Sephora.com they'll only charge you CAD$44.55! How awesome is that :) So before you buy any Nars from The Bay, check Sephora's online pricing first.

It seems to work mainly with Nars products that aren't carried in Sephora Canada stores. When I tried this with Nars Vitamin Serum US$75 (which is sold in Sephora stores), it'll come up as CAD$91.


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Review on the Lorac Snake Charmer palette



This was supposed to be a limited edition release last year, but somehow it came back again and has been available on Sephora.com and Lorac.com for a long time. Not so limited after all...

The palette itself has a snakeskin pattern and a red jewel in the centre surrounded by metal studs. Honestly I find it just tacky, especially if you compare it to the gorgeous beaded cover that the Showstopper palette has.





Colours




The colours are kinda washed out in the labelled pic so I took another one - this shows the actual colours more accurately:




Swatches



Enchanting Ivory: Shimmery off white colour.
Mystical Gold: Champagne-y gold. I have to pack it on for it to show
Charming Copper: It photographs a bit cooler than it actually is. Its actually a bit warmer in colour.
Royal Brown: Dark brown

Hypnotically Peach: Nicely pigmented peach blush. You do have to use a light hand to get a natural look, else it might be too orange.

These colours are more toned down and less shimmery compared with the Showstopper palette.

EOTD






Overall

Great palette for the price. Packaging is a bit tacky but shades are still great.

You'll like this if you:
- are looking for a neutral palette suitable for day / work
- want a travel-friendly palette (comes with a mirror)
- already tried Lorac shadows and love them

You won't like this if you:
- already own the Croc palette (similar neutral, safe shades)
- hate tacky packaging


By the way I've heard this is on sale at Sephora for US$20 (thanks May!). I believe its also on sale on the Lorac website but it'll probably be easier for you to get free shipping (and an extra 8% off at Ebates) if you go through Sephora.

Sadly for Canadians the discount doesn't apply when you click on Canadian checkout (I have no idea why, since they've fixed that same problem with the other sale items).

FYI Sephora is having a sale on several holiday sets and all Vincent Longo and Pop Beauty! I checked and it seems that most of these discounts do apply to Canadian checkout (it'll be the % off the Canadian retail price).