With two days til Christmas and Hanukkah almost over, lets hope that you have your shopping done.  If you are a procrastinator, there’s still time, and most often you can find great gifts on sale.

I received a lot of holiday gifts and collections this year for review and I have to say I saved one of the best for last.  Every year, Sephora releases a massive blockbuster gift set, usually with tons of eyeshadows, blushes, lip glosses, you name it, all housed in one convenient set.  For 2014, Sephora literally put a bow on it, and released the mecca of all gift sets, the Color Festival, a 130 colour makeup palette.

Containing a staggering 72 eyeshadows, 18 cream liners, eight blushes, four lip and cheek stains, 28 lip glosses, and six tutorial cards, if you are looking for a great gift to build up anyone’s makeup collection, this is it.

I have tried Sephora’s holiday sets in the past, and although I don’t usually gravitate towards their products in store, I’ve always been impressed by the eyeshadows. Since it’s the holidays and I wanted to a) review this thing properly and b) create a holiday look, I came up with a bronzy smokey eye (my usual go to) to see how well these products apply/hold up/look/etc.

1. Set down an eye primer (I used Too Faced Shadow Insurance), then with the matte brown colour and a fluffy crease brush, work this lightly into your crease, acting as a transition.

2. With an eyeshadow brush, grab the shimmery champagne (last row, very left) and work this into the inner corner of the eye.

3. With the shimmery copper beside the matte brown we used in the crease, apply this in the middle of the lid, creating an ombre effect.

4. With the shimmery brown above the copper, and a pencil brush, lightly work this along your lash line and then bringing it into the outer crease. Using a fluffy crease brush, blend this out.

5. To darken up the crease area, grab the matte black under the matte brown, and using that same pencil brush, apply it over the colour we just put in the crease.  Blend it out.

6. With the matte black gel liner and an angled liner brush, liner your upper lash line, slightly winging it out.  Note, on these liners, if you are applying falsies, don’t use the liner from this set. I had a hard time getting the adhesive to stick over this liner because its so oily. I had to completely redo one eye, as a result, I ended up just grabbing a black pencil liner.

7. Spray a pencil brush with makeup setting spray, or MAC Fix+ and grab one of the gold colours and place this on the inner corner of your eye.

8. Mixing the copper and the shimmery brown, apply this along your lower lash line, then coat your lashes in mascara.

9. For the brow highlight, I used the matte cream colour to just brighten, not draw too much attention.

10. Apply your foundation, concealer, and bronzer for contour.  For the cheeks, I used this pinky-peach shade from the palette.

The stars of this palette are definitely the shadows and the blushes.  I just used one section of shadows, there’s also two more, one with colours and one with smokey shades.  Seriously, this thing has every shadow you would ever possibly need, and they are pretty good quality to boot. I wasn’t a fan of the gel liners, as I said it was frustrating applying false lashes and I did have to go over the liner with the matte black shadow to set it, otherwise I could see that smudging.

Overall, considering this set retails for C$59, I think that for what you get, and especially the quality of the product, it’s a great gift.  The only thing I don’t like about these sets is usually the size of the product, but I completely understand that due to how much stuff they pack in here, it’s going to be rather large.  Just make sure you have a lot of counter space ;).

Is the Sephora Color Festival on your wish list?

Please note, I was sent this product by PR. All opinions are my own.

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