I recently attended a wedding and had my make-up done pre-show at Napoleon. I hadn't actually heard…read moreof Napoleon Perdis before (I'm from Canada and the brand hasn't made it overseas yet), but my partner's mum and all the ladies from his family were spending the morning getting their make-up done at Napoleon, so I headed along.
As with most brands, there is a minimum charge for product spending, rather than an actual charge for the service (so, you have to spend $89 on products to cover your make-up application). With an $89 spend, it's dearer than most brands, but the products are quite expensive and you can generally cover the cost with two product purchases.
Normally, I only wear cruelty-free make-up with all natural ingredients (particularly for foundations and skin care), so I made sure to do some research on Napoleon Perddis before the big day. Very surprisingly, they don't list their ingredients on any of their product packages or on their site (this is the only make-up company I have come across that does this). I took that to mean they the products must be full of some nasty chemicals, and after doing some research, I found out I was right. Napoleon products contain chemicals similar to most other brands, but the fact that they don't like their ingredients just didn't sit well with me, so I decided not to purchase any skin or face products, even though they are heavily pushed by staff.
The store is lovely and all of the staff are friendly and knowledgeable. My make-up application took about an hour, and the woman who did it seemed to genuinely listen to my questions and concerns about how certain products and colours would look on me. My skin tends to get dry and make-up can 'cake' on it, so she took the time to test out a couple different foundations with different consistencies to find the right one, which I really appreciated.
When the process was finished, I did look very beautiful, if I may say so myself. For my purchases, I chose a lipstick and an eyeshadow quad. At $35, I wasn't totally sold on the lipstick, but figured I'd need to touch it up during the wedding. Sure enough, I was very correct. During every trip to the bathroom (which is many, for a pregnant lady such as myself) I found I needed to re-apply the lipstick and sure enough, my lipstains could be found on every drinking glass I came near. Though the colour is just lovely, I am quite disappointed with the staying power of the lipstick.
The eyeshadow is more impressive, though at $62, I wouldn't say it is great value. The colours are lovely, but the packaging doesn't seem as though it will hold up because it's very flimsy. As well, the applicator that it comes with is of the drug-store variety, so you have to apply it with a brush in order to blend the colours and have a smooth application. Though this is true for most eyeshadows, I would expect a better applicator for $62.
The day ended up being long and lovely, and I am happy to say that my make-up lasted through the night (bar the lipstick). It looked great in photos, but in real life the foundation started to cake, as it was quite thick and heavily applied. At the end of the night, my fake eyelashes came off easily and were in such a condition that I saved and re-used them (huzzah!). When I had completely washed and dried my face though, I was disappointed to find that my cheeks were already breaking out in pimples due to the heavy foundation (I do have very sensitive skin, so most people probably wouldn't have this reaction, but I do feel that it speaks to the quality of ingredients and weight of the foundations).
Overall, I was impressed with the store and staff and I was happy to have make-up that looked amazing in photos. However, I wasn't happy with the quality of the products, particularly considering the price.
