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Showing posts with label Eyeshadow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eyeshadow. Show all posts


Get this palette!! Seriously.
 I probably own about 10 Urban Decay eyeshadow palettes and with the exception of Naked2, this is hands down my favorite. The texture of these shadows is buttery (think Lorac Pro) and the pigmentation is really, really good. There's a decent mix of matte and shimmers and all perform equally as well on me. Also a huge bonus: it comes with a deluxe sized Primer Potion AND full sized Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Perversion (it was in my purse when I took these pics). I don't know about you, but I can always use another black eyeliner, especially one as pigmented and creamy as Perversion. 
The palette includes a mirror and comes in fabric zippered case, which I thought was unique. The word "Smoked" is embossed (?) on the fabric so it has a cool black on black effect. 

But here's the best part. This palette is currently on sale for $20! Put in perspective, one full sized liner from Urban Decay is $20 and you're getting that included with this palette! Last time I checked this was "temporarily" sold out on both Ulta and Sephora's websites, but 2 of my local Ulta's had this palette in stock.  

From left to right: Barlust, Rockstar, Evidence, Loaded, Asphalt, Kinky, Freestyle, Mushroom, Backdoor and Blackout. 
Overall, don't miss out on this palette. Even at full price ($49) I'd still recommend getting it. At the sale price, its a no brainer. Its got a great mix of everyday practical colors as well as some fun colors.
Essentially these are just a more sophisticated version of a glitter eyeshadow. But the formula Urban Decay uses feels silky to the touch and makes these a joy to use. The glitter itself is more finely milled and the effect is sparkly, but not disco ball level. At $20 each, they're not a necessity (I waited for a sale before purchasing) but they are a nice addition to a standard eyeshadow collection.

Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadows in Stargazer and Space Cowboy.

Although I only purchased 2 of these, I did swatch the entire collection (forgot to take pics, boo!) and they all swatch more like the color "Space Cowboy." Meaning they're more on the sheer side, but can be layered over themselves or another eyeshadow to intensify the color. "Stargazer" was the only color that looked more opaque on its own to me.

Overall, these are not a must have. They're fun, but not super practical for everyday use. Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadows can be found at Ulta, Sephora and most department stores.
I'm not sure how I feel about this color combination, but I wanted to step out of my comfort zone a bit. This look was a little too out there for me though and so I promptly washed my face before going anywhere, lol.

Beauty Breakdown:
Mac Pure Creation Paint Pot as a base
Mac Electric Eel eyeshadow all over lid
Sugarpill blended above the crease and under the lower lashline
Lorac Espresso blended into lower lashline
Physician's Formula 2in1 Lash Boosting eyeliner
Ardell false lashes
Make Up For Ever recently revamped their entire line of eyeshadows changing them all to a new formula that they call Artist's Eyeshadows. I've swatched these new shadows and been amazed at the creaminess and color payoff...however the hefty (for a single eyeshadow) price tag kept me from actually purchasing any. 

Enter the Studio Case, a limited edition boxed set that includes 12 (!!) of the new Artist's Eyeshadows, a full size Artist Liner and a booklet with instructions on how to create 4 different eye looks. This set is exclusive to Sephora and although it says "online only" my local Sephora had about 5 of these in stock and so I purchased mine in person. 

In inches the case measures approximately 6x5x1.75 and each eyeshadow is roughly the size of a dime. 
The set comes with a booklet with instructions on how to do 4 different eye looks. 
The case has a nice sized mirror and a slot to keep the Artist Liner. Click to enlarge

The tray with the eyeshadows and liner can be lifted out to reveal a compartment underneath to store other cosmetic items. Even small travel makeup brushes would fit in there! Click to enlarge
Close-up of the eyeshadows. Each row has a different name and co-ordinating look in the included booklet. But instead of names for each individual shadow, MUFE uses a letter/number system. Click to enlarge


Swatches of the right half of the palette. Click to enlarge

Swatches of the left half of the palette. Click to enlarge

I was very happy with the pigmentation of all of these eyeshadows except for two: M-100 (matte black color) and M-530 (matte cream color). These two were lacking in color payoff and were not as creamy as the rest. M-350 was especially chalky and difficult to get a good swatch of without a primer. 

Overall this set is great for trying out the new Make Up For Ever Artist's eyeshadows without paying the full price for each. Even with the 2 dud matte eyeshadows, the rest of the colors in this set more than made up for them. The color variety is great and most of the shadows feel silky and easy to apply. The packaging also makes this an ideal gift for the makeup enthusiast in your life, or for yourself. Since it's a limited edition set, there's no telling how long it will be available so I'd suggest grabbing a set as soon as possible!

The Make Up For Ever Studio Case retails for $59 and is available at Sephora stores (not Sephora inside JCP) and at Sephora.com.



I'm not sure why my skin is 3 different tones in each of these pics. They were all taken in succession standing in the same spot in front of a window... Oh well, I guess thats what happens when you use a cell phone instead of a real camera, lol. 


Beauty Breakdown:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance all over the lid up to brow. 
All Too Faced eyeshadows, 
Icon all over lid
Hopeless Romantic blended into crease
7 Year Itch on inner corner
Pink Diamond on brow bone

Physician's Formula 2in1 Lash Boosting eyeliner

Ardell #120 false lashes

Tarte Amazonian Clay gel liner on brows applied with an Anastasia Beverly Hills #7 angled liner brush


This set comes with 15 eyeshadows, a black pencil eyeliner, deluxe sized Too Faced Shadow Insurance eye primer and 3 cards with detailed instructions on how to create specific eyeshadow looks. However I'm only going to review the palette (feeling lazy today)

The palette case is a very sturdy hard plastic with a mirror inside and a slot for the eyeshadow look cards to slide behind the mirror. This is a very handy feature for keeping the cards close at hand, but out of the way. The case snaps closed securely and in the short time I've had it, I've already dropped it several times, but nothing inside has cracked. 

All of the shadows in this palette are shimmery with the exception of the shade "pink diamond" They're all soft and silky in texture, but also have an annoying amount of fall out when used without a primer. However the colors are so gorgeously pigmented that I'm willing to overlook the fall out, lol. 
The eyeshadows in this palette are broken up into sections (The Bombshell, The Icon and The Ingenue) with each section containing a certain "color story" All of the shadows were swatched without primer.


Overall The Return of Sexy set is a great value for the amount/quality of the eyeshadows, the eyeliner and eye shadow primer. It retails for $49 and is available at Sephora!

As the title suggests, I don't know what to call this look, lol. It started out with just a simple green eyeshadow, but then I darkened the crease and blended some purple above that...

Beauty Breakdown:

All Urban Decay Eyeshadows:
Damaged all over lid
Smokeout in the crease
Voodoo blended above the crease
Righteous under brow
Vengeance in crease

Mac Pearlglide liner in Undercurrent on waterline
Sephora "Mink" lashes (I know I said I didn't like these, lol)

Tarte Brow Mousse in brows
 These Eye Encyclopedias are another ELF product I had been wanting to try out for a while now. I got all three encyclopedias during the 3 for $10 promotion a few weeks back.

Each Eye Encyclopedia contains 12 powder eyeshadows, 2 cream eyeshadows, an eyeliner pencil and a mini applicator brush.

Like most of ELF's product the shadows in these palettes are hit and miss. Some are highly pigmented and feel creamy to touch, while others are chalky, powdery and hard as a rock.

I guess for the price and the amount of shadows in each encyclopedia I really can't complain too much. And I do really like some of the colors.

The cream eyeshadows are very greasy feeling with little to no pigmentation and in some cases only a whole lot of glitter. I wouldn't even attempt to use these on my lids for fear of a  greasy, crease-y disaster on my eyes.

The eyeliner pencils are actually okay. They glide on fairly smoothly and are a rich black color. Even the mini brush applicator is pretty good. While I wouldn't use it to apply my makeup, I will be keeping it in my purse for emergency touchups when I'm out.

ELF Basic Eye Edition Encyclopedia. Click to enlarge.

ELF Sparkle Eye Edition Encyclopedia. Click to enlarge.

ELF Eye Edition Encyclopedia. Click to enlarge

 I picked up these 2 Nars duos when they were on sale at Sephora for $10 each! I've heard that Nars quality can be hit a miss, so I wasn't expecting too much from these considering the discounted price. But to my delight, they're both really good. Cheyenne is definitely more pigmented than Wicked. The Cheyenne colors also feel creamier and seem to blend a little better. I also happen to like the colors in the Cheyenne duo better. For me they're more wearable and versatile than the greens in the Wicked duo.








I swatched each color on its own, and then on top of Too Faced Shadow Insurance.


 To see the swatches, click read more.



I love finding great quality makeup at a price that both me and Bank of America can agree on, lol. A few months ago, a trip to my local TJ Maxx yielded this gorgeous six color eyeshadow palette from Nars for a mere $15!

Sometimes cosmetics at discount stores are gross and obviously used and picked over. So I was super lucky to get to this palette while it was still in the box and before some random shopper with NO  appreciation for makeup could make a mess of it, lol.

The colors included are:
Himalayas - Looks almost white in the pan, but is actually a light pinky/gold color


Ondine - I don't really know how to describe this color, its like a purply-mauve with lots of gold shimmer in it. Very unique and gorgeous.


Night Flight - Black based rich navy color with some shimmer


Surbaya II - Another one thats hard to describe. Its reddish brown with some shimmer


Bohemian Gold II - A coral-y/gold-y/peach-y color


Kilimanjaro I - Like Himalayas this color also looks white-ish in the pan, but swatches as a beautiful white-gold color.
To see the swatches, click read more.
Iman Beauty Success kit.

 While shopping on Target.com, I needed to add $10 to my cart to get free shipping. After searching the site for something interesting, I stumbled upon this kit from Iman. Since my local Target store doesn't even carry the brand, I was shocked to see it on the website. But in any case, even though one of my sisters loves the brand, this kit was my first experience with Iman's makeup.


Inside of packaging.

The Beauty Success Kit contains 1 lipgloss, 1 lipstick, 2 eyeshadows, 1 blush, 1 bronzer and 1 mini lip pencil. Which is great because I get to try several products from Iman without paying individual prices and risking $$$.

For some reason I thought this was going to be in a compact form, since many of the reviews said you can throw it in your purse and go. Instead the pots are glued into a molded plastic thing, meaning you have to leave the kit in its original packaging if you want to take it with you.

*I've been thinking of getting either a Z palette or Unii palette and I'll probably end up putting these Iman pots in one to make my own compact.*

I do like how the back flap opens up with info about the various colors and instructions on how to do a simple look. 

Back flap opened.
So far I like the pigmentation of everything in the kit. None of the colors go ashy on me and all of them are versatile enough to be worn daily.

* My Target order also came with a freebie/bonus/mistake in the form of a Maybelline Foundation that I never ordered and wasn't charged for. Too bad its about 10 shades too light for me to make any use of it.*



To see the swatches, click read more. 


I got this email from Rock and Republic, and not only are the eyeshadows bogof, but they're also $14 each instead of the regular $28!

*edit: I was so excited about this deal, but apparently its only bogof for ONE eyeshadow. I added about 8 to my cart and the coupon only worked for one shadow, plus the shipping is like $17. Really?!? Almost 20 bucks to ship some makeup. Looks like I'll be passing on this, which is a shame because I really love Paranoid, and was looking forward to adding a few more R&R eyeshadows to my collection.

*Another Edit: Apparently theres another discount code "rockcosmetics" for 50% off that can be added to the free eyeshadow coupon. PLUS since this is my first order since I got my invite, I get another $25 off. This would mean I could get 6 shadows for $33.65 shipped. This would make each shadow a little more than $5 a piece. Should I do it?

Also if anyone wants an invite to get the additional $25 off, I'd be happy to send you one!
This was done early in the morning, so excuse my sleepy face, lol (and yes I'm wearing a fluffy red bath robe)

Face:
Estee Lauder Double Wear Light in 5.0
Black Radiance Complexion Perfection Concealer

Brows
Calvin Klein Brown Velvet Eyeshadow

Eyes
Chanel Tentation Cuivrée (all colors except the pink glittery one)
Mac Modest Tone (highlight)
YSL Fauxcils Mascara (just got a new tube!)

Cheeks
Makeup Forever HD cream Blush #6
E.L.F. Studio Gotta Glow

Lips
Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Hazelnut
Chanel Glossimer in Spark
When I was swatching my new UD pigments, I realized that Rockstar looked like a perfect dupe for Later pigment from Mac.  Sure enough as I put them side by side on my arm I could barely tell the difference.

Although both are black based purple shadows with some glitter in them, the glitter in Rockstar is chunkier and shows up more when its applied over a primer and the pigment itself looks richer and darker with a primer underneath. Later swatched about the same with or without a primer and it also wins points for being easier to apply and for the more conveinent packaging.

* I know a lot of people complain about the Mac pigment packaging, and I was never a huge fan of it, however after using the very poorly designed and super messy UD packaging, the Mac doesn't seem all that bad anymore.
 Click read more to see the swatches side by side.
 Back in December, HauteLook had another Urban Decay sale, but this time everything was $2.00 (no thats not a typo, lol). So since I already had 5 UD loose pigments from a previous Hautelook sale, I decided to complete my UD pigment collection.

These are no different from the first 5 that I brought: the packaging is silly, the built in brush is useless and creates a huge mess, and these really need a good primer to stick to your skin.
To see the swatches click read more.
Gingersnap Artisan Baked Bronzer

Toasted Almond Artisan Baked Blush
While I'm not too impressed with some of the Black Radiance makeup I got the other day,  some of it I'm absolutely in love with! The Toasted Almond blush is so gorgeous on brown skin, the color is like no other in my collection. Its not too pink, red or brown, but just a perfect combination of all three to leave a natural looking, warm flush of color to my cheeks. Its pigmented, but blends out beautifully and can also be built up for a more dramatic look. 

The Gingersnap bronzer swatches as more of a slightly pinkish-gold and works well as a highlighter. The glitter isn't too chunky and if this is applied with a light hand, its subtle enough to use as a brow bone highlight as well as on the tops of the cheeks.

The eyeshadow were prob the biggest disappointment. The swirling baked colors look so pretty in the pan, but apply as one basic gold and basic bronze. They're still pretty, but nothing spectacular.
Rum Spice Artisan Baked Eyeshadow

I've had this loose eyeshadow from NYX in Penny for years and loved the shimmery, rich color, but never knew how to use it. Well it appears I still don't know how to make it work for me.

Everything with this look turned into one big fail. I was going for a simple but still festive and shimmery look. This red however, was just too overpowering and made me look kinda sickly in person. My eyes were also irritated for some reason and wouldn't stop watering which led to my falsies not staying on because the glue couldn't dry. Ugh, it was such a mess every time I blinked the lashes came off!

The next time I use this color, I think I'll add some dark brown or even black to the outer corners to give it more depth and maybe some gold to the inner corner to make the red less overpowering. What do you guys think? I love the way this color looks in the jar and really want to put it to good use. Should I keep trying with this or is it time to just move on?


One of the things I love about visiting my family is having access to products and brands geared more towards woc and that aren't sold where I live. One of these brands, Black Radiance looked really promising, and the prices weren't too rich for my bank account, so picked up a few items.

So far I have:
Complexion Perfection Concealer in Light to Medium
Artisan Baked Eyeshadow Mint Julep
Artisan Baked Eyeshadow Rum Spice
Baked Blush in Toasted Almond
Baked Bronzer in Gingersnap
Prismatic Lipgloss in Diva
Shimmering Lipgloss in Mocha

The concealer is dual ended, with one side a liquid and the other a creamy stick. I wore the stick side yesterday and it faired really well, not creasing under my eyes and covering my dark circles. I did notice that the liquid side is slightly darker in color and may be better for my blemishes.

The eyeshadows aren't as gorgeous on as I thought they would be. Mind Julep looks mostly like a plain gold on me and Rum Spice looks like more of a bronze. They're both rather sheer unless applied wet.

The blush is my fav of the bunch. The color is highly pigmented and blends beautifully into my skin. The bronzer is also pretty good. It works better as a highlight since it does have glitter in it.

The glosses are also good. I love the texture, its smooth and not too sticky. Diva is a gorgeous pinky-gold thats sheer but buildable and very flattering on brown skin. Mocha is a more pigmented dark brown color with tiny, tiny flecks of gold and green (yes GREEN) glitter in it. I know that sounds weird for a lipgloss, but the overall effect is really pretty.

I have closeup pix of the blush, bronzer and lipglosses, but blogger will only let me upload 5 pix in this post, can anyone tell me how to change that?

This look started out as something completely bland and wearable, but I was bored by it so I added a ton of black to the outer corners, some dramatic falsies and really packed the gold on my lid.

After all that, I kinda hated the way the lips looked with the more dramatic eyes. But since I used a OCC liptar, my lips were stained a pinkish color for hours even though I tried to wipe it off and go with a more nude lippie. Oh well, here are the final results.

Face
Keyvn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer
Rock and Republic Classic Tinted Primer
MAC Prep and Prime Powder

Eyes
Urban Decay Loose Pigment in Baked
Sleek Black eyeshadow
Sonia Kashuk Lashes
ELF Black Eyeliner
YSL Mascara

Brows
Sleek Storm Palette

Cheeks
Lorac Soul

Lips
OCC Liptar in Demure
Bobbi Brown Black Garnet Lipstick
Armani Pink Lipgloss (can't remember the name)


Just got these brushes in the mail today. These are fairly new on ELF's site and even though I don't really need new makeup brushes, I couldn't resist. I already own brushes from the ELF Studio line and the regular line that I love, so I was fairly confident the quality of these would be up to par.

According to ELF, these brushes are anti-bacterial with synthetic taklon fibers, bamboo handles and aluminum ferrules. They're recommended for mineral makeup and can be used with wet or dry products.

From first impressions I think these are going to be great; they have the same super soft, dense hairs like the studio line brushes except these are more densely packed. I haven't used them on my face yet since they are still wet from their first washing and will probably need a second washing to get rid of the chemical smell all ELF brushes are famous for (is that why they're so cheap?). Even without using them, I can already tell I'll be getting backups of the allover eyeshadow brush, the blending eyeshadow brush and the contoured blush brush since I can tell I'll be getting a lot of use out of them.

These are normally $5.00 each, but when I brought them there was a %50 off coupon available, so I only paid $2.50 a piece!

Will post a more detailed review and close up pics soon.