These beauties look like they came straight out of a build-a-bear shop! Amidst the drama, both positive and negative surrounding this collection, I expected someone else to have noticed the similarities between the B-A-B store colors and the packaging of these bears, but I may be alone on that!

Worst Launch Ever or Clever Business Tactic?

*Note: Feel free to skip this section if you’re just looking for the product review further down below!

Sophie Shab aka Trendmood generated a ton of buzz when she released sneak peeks of this collection. Moschino fans and makeup lovers were particularly excited by the chance to obtain Jeremy Scott’s creations at relatively affordable prices via the company’s collaboration with Sephora.

The initial US release date was Aug 11^th but only the bear mask was made available that day. It was rumored that Sephora employees had a temporary 50% off discount on all Sephora Collections, so the beauty giant allegedly pushed the launch date to the 18^th when the promotion ended. I’m not a Sephora employee so I can’t confirm whether or not this is true, but I’m more inclined to believe that a shipment was delayed. Some would call it another indication of delay and scarcity tactics being used on consumers.

On August 17^th at approximately 11:50 pm PST the complete collection was released online. The large bear palette and highlighter duo had the ‘sold out’ banner within the first 30 minutes, but the status continued to fluctuate at random between ‘sold out’ and ‘only a few left’ for the next 12 hours. The following day I saw them become available again for a maximum of 90 seconds before going out of stock again.

The first error I got was a red ‘add to cart’ button which once clicked would then read “sorry this item is out of stock.” I had no issues obtaining the brushes and lip glosses but my biggest challenge was checking out fast enough to complete the highlighter order before it could sell out whilst in my cart.

8/18 11:29 AM EST

8/18 3:50 PM EST

8/20 7:53 pm EST

Everyone who refreshed the pages long enough throughout the day noticed that at least once every hour the items would come back in stock. I’m not sure if that was purposely done on Sephora’s part to combat resellers. If it was, I doubt they would ever admit it considering the amount of frustration some people felt over this method.

I find it interesting as well that the “notify when in stock” button was removed. It was available when the web page was first created before the launch, but by the 18th it was removed. Considering available online stock was being released in trickles, I’m sure people would be even more annoyed if they received email notifications only to find it out of stock again by the time they clicked onto the page.

Part of the added frenzy was the fact that although the collection became available in stores on Aug 24^th (Aug 25^th for Canadians), Sephora JcPenney stores are not carrying the collection, which is a huge problem for people who don’t live in or near metropolitan areas. My nearest standalone store is 45 miles away and many other people have standalone stores even farther away than that.

I thought the ordering issues would deter customers but somehow it fueled the frenzy! The situation was very reminiscent of the Epic Fail and Extraordinary Reward point redemption events, but this takes the cake as the strangest collection release to date!

MOSCHINO + SEPHORA Bear Brush Set

Price: $54

*Note: I will be comparing this set to the previous limited edition brush set I purchased from Sephora.

All-Over Face Brush – blend and buff pressed powders or powder foundations

Cheek Brush: blend blush

Highlight Brush: precision highlighter application and blending

All-over Shadow Brush: apply and blend eyeshadow

There was an extra long hair on this one!

Crease Brush: apply and blend eyeshadow into the crease

I was surprised to discover that, just like the ferrules, the bear heads/entire handles are made of metal! They aren’t plastic like Tarte’s Make Believe In Yourself Collection nor did they have an odd holographic spot nor threads poking along the ridge between the handle and ferrule from being improperly glued. I regret buying that set, even though I didn’t pay full price for it. The Moschino brush set is much better quality but also $14 higher in price.

The bristles in the Moschino collection are definitely not loosely packed but they aren’t very dense either and tend to splay/flop under pressure around the outer edges a bit more than I’d like. A careful read in the “what it does” section on Sephora’s website confirms that these are “semi-dense synthetic fibers.”

If you want to get this set to display the cute handles on your vanity, just remember that if you store them with heads up then your bristles will get crushed on the bottom of your container. However, if you intend to have the bristles upright then the bear heads won’t be seen unless you lay them flat, keep them in a brush tree, or house them in a clear storage container without beads/sequins/objects. The bristles are soft but there’s nothing super special or innovative about them. E.L.F and Real Techniques are just a few examples of brands that make brushes that perform the same way for a much better price. When buying this collection you’re essentially paying for the designer name and handles, which is perfectly fine, but just something consumers should be mindful of and acknowledge. That being said, I like them and I think the price is fair.

MOSCHINO + SEPHORA Bear Lip Gloss Chain

$32

The chain is relatively light but the bear attached is HEAVY. I get neck pain, due to a past injury, and there is no way I would be able to wear this on a night out. It’s so heavy that I have a hard time imagining anyone else wearing it for an extended period of time either. That being said, the bear is adorable and I bought it mainly for decorative purposes so there’s no way I’m parting with it! I like that I can put a lip gloss in its head, and once done, it looks like a bear honey bottle. The chain is 24k plated gold, which is a nice bonus, but it’s not detachable from the bear. The bear’s left ear has a soldered on ring from which the entire weight of the chain hangs. Because it’s not connected evenly from both ears, the bear sits tilted unless the chain is placed in a specific ways to counterbalance the weight.

The lip glosses are 0.049 oz / 1.4 grams each. That’s a bit on the small side considering a Buxom deluxe sample from Sephora’s Reward Bazaar is 0.07 oz and the Sephora x Disney collection had five 0.1 oz each lip stains; although the Minnie collection didn’t come with a hefty accessory.

I can tell by looking at the vials that three of the six glosses are not my kind of shades, so I won’t be trying on Malibu (pink-nude), Paris Pink (true pink), and Miami (hot pink). I’ll find homes for them with someone else.

Soho

This is my favorite shade in the collection. It’s a beautiful burgundy color which I find super flattering and it’s highly opaque for a lip gloss. The foot of the applicator could have benefited from being a little smaller but the initial dip from the tube is more than enough to cover the entire lip. These photos are single-dip lip swatches. I wanted to show how pigmented they are from using the bare minimum.

Milano

I consider this type of red to be universal even though it has a tinge of fuchsia to it. The shade isn’t too cool toned as to be unwearable for those of us with yellow undertones. In fact, it looks just a touch orange in the wrist swatch photo below (I think it’s my lights) but it’s a true red shade. I really like it!

Hollywood

I love the look of glitter but the side effect of having loose glitter particles that stick on the skin all day, despite washing the area, is a pet peeve of mine. This shade is stunning but upon my first time wearing it I discovered that removing a glitter lipgloss in a room with a fan is a bad idea! Once the emollient layer was gone the glitter particles started spreading across my face! I learned my lesson and my second time wearing and removing this gloss was not an issue. Soho has some shimmer in it but the glitter is bigger in Hollywood and I’d consider that a negative. It’s also less pigmented than the other two but still impressive for a gloss.

All three of these feel hydrating, buildable, and spreadable but they’re also easy to transfer and cause color-bleeding/feathering the longer they’re worn, especially if extra layers are added. I can feel the oil when I put it on but I wouldn’t go as far as to call it oily. At the same time they also feel and smell waxy. It’s very confusing to see it partly spread and partly stick to the lips. Soho and Milano passed the meal test but those two stain the lips so perhaps they produced an illusion of potential staying power. I will be trying out Soho and Milano again to see if there is a better way to wear them (perhaps over a lip primer, lip liner, or lipstick).

Also noteworthy is the fact that these share similar ingredients with other Sephora branded glosses but the arrangement is different enough that they can’t be called the same formula. Based on the amount of product in the tubes, I’m getting the equivalent of 1-2 full size lip glosses plus the bear necklace for the $34. I consider that a good price!

MOSCHINO + SEPHORA Bear Highlighter

Price: $22

Since this is a gift for my friend, I won’t be swatching it. Quite a few photos of broken highlighters have surfaced, so be aware that these highlighters are a soft formula. I was lucky mine arrived intact but the inconsistencies around the edges (and even that small dip on the bottom) hint at a possible pressing issue during production. This product looks like it would be too dark as highlighter for very fair skin tones (although it could make a nice shimmery blush) but I think those with light to dark skin tones will really like this. I appreciate seeing a limited edition product that can compliment as large a variety of complexions like this one.

Anti-Haul (The YT Trend Started by Kimberly Clark)

I decided not to get the incredibly adorable Bear Palette because I have all those colors in my collection and some of them are extremely similar to each other within the palette as shown on Trendmood’s instagram.

The other reason I decided to skip this is because the palette is too large to be kept flat in the drawer and would look bulky even if stood vertically on my vanity. I have very little vanity space to begin with!

Of the remaining items, I think the mask is overpriced whereas the shopping bag eyeshadow palette and compact mirror weren’t unique enough to catch my attention, especially the compact because $4 more gets a gold bear instead of a brown one and actual makeup with a mirror instead of just two mirrors.

Moschino and Sephora created something truly eye-catching that succeeded in drawing me in far more than I intended or expected. As I was about to post I noticed this from a moderator on Sephora’s Community forum.

I hope my review has helped you if you plan to purchase in-store or if you couldn’t get your hands on it I hope the anti-haul portion helped make the fomo (fear of missing out) much less.

❤ Lili

UPDATE: As of December 8th, 2017 Sephora has restocked the entire collection (perfumes included) online only.