Temptalia

Temptalia is a medium, strawberry milk pink with muted, warm undertones and high-shine, metallic finish. There is a touch of golden sheen to it, which gives it more warmth in action. The texture has a moderately-firm feel to it, which ensures minimal to no fallout but gives it great shine and shimmer.

Inspiration: Originally, this shade was conceptualized as a brighter magenta, but after several attempts, it was always too close to existing Sydney Grace (either Once in a Lifetime or Magic Act). I decided to take it into a different direction--something lighter and brighter--and thought about rose quartz, pink sapphires, and pink diamonds.

We tried something with a lot of sparkle to it, but there was more fallout than ideal, and I felt like it was prone to applying unevenly so after a few different tries to balance binder, sparkle, and firmness of pressure... another direction: higher-shine, less sparkle, refined pearl. This color was actually something I was originally thinking of for Quintessence but moved away from!

This was the last shade finalized, and in a way, it was crowd-sourced, because I shared the four options provided by Sydney Grace where I knew one of them would be what I'd approve. This ended up being shade #4 as I shared on Instagram. (Shade #3 became Dear Reader!)

Behind the Name: Who could possibly explain how I arrived at this name? 😂

Development

I wanted a "vivid, pink-toned purple" in either a matte or shimmer finish. The first loose color sample I received was exactly what I wanted, but then the second, hand-pressed pan went very violet (which was certainly pretty but not my vision!). The third, machine-pressed pan was closer to the original color sample but was so close to Once in a Lifetime.

On the fourth attempt, it still remained far too similar to Once in a Lifetime, so I went in a different direction: more of a lavender with heavier sparkle. Unfortunately, that introduction of sparkle made it hard to balance binder, fallout, and even application; this encompassed the fifth and sixth versions. The seventh version was still too chunky/hard to apply, so I decided to go for a more high-shine finish and lose the sparkle.

This was the last shade to be approved, so for the very last set of color samples, Sydney Grace created four versions of this shade. The first two were very similar, while the third was cooler-toned and more lavender while the fourth was warmer, almost like strawberry milk. I shared some of this on Instagram, and sharing actually made this more challenging to decide between.

There was tremendous support for the third version, but ultimately, I felt the fourth version was the right mix of depth and undertone to work with the color story overall. I asked if Sydney Grace would consider making the third version a single, and they said yes; it'll be named Dear Reader in honor of Temptalia readers' feedback.

FURTHER READING: Formula Overview, which is a detailed review of the range as a whole.

• Brand Description
• Ingredients