Sunday Chat | Palette Lust List

Hey! I hope you've had a really good weekend.
What have I been up to? Well, it feels like my life only consists of tidying, unpacking and sorting these days, even though I moved in over two weeks ago now. I managed to get some blog photos done yesterday morning so I will have some content up over the next week, hooray! I hope you're excited; I'm excited.

Anyway, as usual with my Sunday posts, this is just going to be a chatty no-photo no-fuss ramble, basically. This time, it's about the palettes I'm lusting after right now.

1. Hourglass Holiday 2015 palette

Have you seen this? Holy shit, that's my Christmas list sorted. Everything Hourglass makes is so beautiful. I don't actually own anything of theirs, but it's hard not to trust the millions of reviews which say their products are absolutely top notch. So this palette looks like it has highlights, setting powders, blusher and bronzer. So basically everything. I read a blog post which said this palette would be $79... so £50? That seems a steal considering each powder is around £35. And you get six...? Surely not. If this is a US exclusive, I will cry.

2. Zoeva Cocoa Blends Palette 

This was buzzing around the blogosphere a few months back, and I haven't got over it quite yet. It  really does look amazing, I love the warm browns and the touch of pinky mauve- ness for the autumn season. Plus, it is somehow only £15- a really good deal if the product is as good as everyone is saying!

3, Charlotte Tilbury, The Vintage Vamp Quad

You hear a lot about CT's Dolce Vita, but personally, Vintage Vamp appeals to me a bit more. It's probably those beautiful deep maroons which look absolutely dreamy. I've been hunting for a good quad recently, as I find my collection is significantly lacking in anything between a single and a 16-pan whopper, and I have pondered on these many a time. The only snag is that they cost as much as a Naked Palette, and house significantly less shades. Still, it does look like total quad- perfection...

4. Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette

Chocolate and make-up, my two favourite things, brought together in this beautiful array of eyeshadow goodness. Could it get any better? Basically, no, it can't. The colour selection is this palette is right up my alley, with some buttery mid-tone crease shades, bronzey browns, and hints of purple and red. Amazing. Is it my birthday yet?

So yeah, I hope you enjoyed this, and can sympathise a little with my palette obsession.
Thanks for reading!
Lou x

Laval Eyeshadow Palette ~ swatches and review

I really need to calm down with the old eyeshadow posts don't I...

I just couldnt resist sharing this one, it's so beautiful and so incredibly CHEAP.

This is the Laval Nude palette, available on amazon for £2. £2! 

Have a look at that amazing selection of shades...

This is genuinely my second one of these, I actually had to repurchase it because I used the first one up. 

Such a great collection of nudes, but with a twist- a really reddy brown, a purple, khaki's and two peachy shades.

I really recommend this palette if you're on a budget, they last really well and blend like a dream.

Here are the swatches:

Oh ma gosh. Dat shimmer tho....

Check out my video to see the peachy shades in action:

http://youtu.be/tAy_q_1xioY

Thanks for reading!

Lou xx

Collection Eyes Uncovered Nude Bronze Palette ~ Review and Swatches

I've already chatted about this palette a little bit on here, but I thought it deserved a separate post because it's so worth picking up. 

Let's just appreciate this amazing selection for a minute.

The only down side to this palette is that it's an entirely shimmery collection, so those of you who prefer your mattes might be disappointed. I love the shimmers, especially for the summer, its such a nice collection for a summer holiday!

These are one swipe swatches, so you can see how pigmented and shimmery they are. The light shade is really good, it just doesn't show up here because it's basically a creamy white...which is the colour of my skin.

My favourites are the second and fifth shades, which are very similar, but the second is a bit of a cooler tone whereas the fifth is warmer.

The only colour to not impress me so much is the golden shade, which is a little sheerer, but builds up really well.

This looks a lot lighter on camera than in person, but I basically did a wash of the palest colour, the golden in the centre and the fifth colour into the crease, just to create a soft daytime look. 

The shadows are so pigmented but easy to blend out so great to do both a day and a night look.

The shadows last really really well, each time I've worn them they make it through the entire day!

Overall, definitely pick this one up, it's such good value at £3.99 ( It was on offer at Boots for £2.99 the other week so I'm sure it will be again sometime), and the quality is amazing for the price.

This is the kind of palette I'd take away on holiday because of the cardboard packaging, and the lovely selection of shimmery bronzey shades. I will definitely be looking at the other two palettes...

Thanks for reading!

Lou x

Maybelline Colour Tattoo On and On Bronze ~ Does it last a whole day?

If you haven't heard about the Colour tattoos by Maybelline yet...have you been living under a rock?

The most talked about shade- by far- and the first one I purchased, is 'On and On Bronze', or Bad to the Bronze in the USA.

I love this as a base or on it's own, and I thought I would test it's longevity ( it does claim to have 24 hour wear) and document a whole day's wear without eyelid primer or even concealer to keep it in place.

Here's the original hand swatch. You can see how amazingly pigmented and shimmery this cream eyeshadow is with just one swipe.

 So here's how it looked about half an hour after it went onto my eye. I was  short of time this morning so there's absolutely nothing else on my eyelid apart from the colour tattoo.

Two hour time check- the colour looks roughly the same, I do notice that it fades slightly from when you first put it on and doesn't pack the same punch as when first applied.

Here's about four or five hours later. I notice with this shade the colour seems to fade but the shimmer stays put really well. It doesn't look noticeably faded and patchy, but doesn't compare to the original swatch. 

Here's the last check up of the day. I swapped eyes, I'm not sure why but they look identical to be honest. This photo is after over nine hours wear, and I have to say, for one swipe of product, this has held up pretty well. I definitely think with a concealer or primer underneath the colour would hold up a little better, or even if I just packed the product on in a second or third layer. I think this is a really good one for quick morning make-up, as the shimmer and colour stay pretty well throughout the day.

(I have to say the photos show my mascara and how well that held out during the day too- it was Maybelline Falsies)

Budget Bronzers

Even ghost white girls like me want to bronze up a bit, and I've found its quite hard to find bronzers in general,  let alone cheap ones.

These four are my four favourites, all really affordable and really really good.

Firstly, here's the Body Shop Matte Bronzer in 01 light matte, and if you are pale and you need a bronzer or a contour powder, go and buy this right now. I think it's £12 but the Body Shop often do 40% off so its easy to pick it up for seven or eight pounds. To me, this is fairly expensive, but I can assure you, its worth the money. So silky, such a nice colour, pigmented but not too harsh so you can built it for a more cheek-bone-y (?) look. The packaging is also really nice, sturdy with a nice mirror which makes it really good for travel

This is a slightly darker matte bronzer, its from MUA and its Bronzer Shade 3. I think it's fairly universal as a bronzer shade, but I can get away with this even with my pale skin, so good for all skin tones. Really pigmented, and I'd use this for contour in the summer when I'm hopefully slightly more tanned. The picture above shows the body shop bronzer on the right and the MUA version on the left. It is slightly darker but if you're looking for a more budget option than the Body Shop bronzer, this MUA one is really good, and i think it's one or two pounds- amazing.

 Onto Shimmery Bronzers, and this is slightly different because its bronzing pearls, which I feel like aren't really a thing these days. The swatch makes it look quite orange,and I suppose it is, I'd use it if I wanted a shimmery golden bronze look. Really easy to build or use lightly, definitely good on all skin tones because of the buildability. This pot is from Avon and it was around £4- really affordable, and this has lasted me for YEARS.

If you're looking for a shimmery budget bronzer, this three tone 'Bronze, Shimmer, Highlight' from Revolution is definitely one to look at. I love this product so much. It's not glittery, it's a really nice shimmer. On a normal day, I'll sweep the middle tone over my cheeks or under my cheekbones, depending on the look I'm going for. If you had darker skin, the darker bronze colour is amazing too, I can only get away with this shade mixed with the middle shade but it's so lovely. The highlight is amazing, basically a light skin- coloured powder which is really nice mixed with the bronzers just to add glow, or on top of the cheekbones by itself for a really subtle sheen. Lovely. This was £4 and I think this is such a good product. It  feels very similar to the Body Shop bronzer in it's silkiness, and it is beautiful and buildable.

I hope this helped if you're looking for a bronzer to help you into Spring/ Summer!

Thanks for reading :)

Lou x