New to my MAC Palette | Coppering & Sumptuous Olive

Y'know, I am really enjoying this whole palette - building situation, and my DIY MAC collection is actually turning out to be a lot more adventurous than I had imagined.
I started off with fairly neutral shades, and have a nice selection of mattes, along with Star Violet and All That Glitters as beautiful lid shades.
However, one evening I got caught in a swatch- photo hole on Google, and I fell in love with these two shades; both a little more out there than my original selection. Copping and Sumptuous Olive are both beautifully pigmented and highly metallic, and I think are going to be so lovely for the summer months.
Coppering is a really warm burnt- orange copper with gold shimmer. It's very red-toned so may be quite tricky to wear, but I've given it a go a couple of times already and I think it's soo pretty.
Sumptuous Olive has really opened my eyes to the world of green eyeshadows; I just want loads more because this one is so beautiful. It's a yellow- toned olive- green with gold shimmer - really high- shine and would look beautiful on any eye colour.
So yeah, here are the new recruits, I'm v. excited about them. The only problem is, now I need a lovely warm, mid brown crease shade...

Thanks for reading :)
Lou

Starting my MAC palette

Hello!!


Long time no see! I put my absence down to a busy few weeks - Christmas, New Year and my birthday all fall within two weeks of each other, and getting back into the swing of work/gym/friends/life was spread out between them.
I can't say I've had the healthiest start to the year- tangent, but I'm really struggling to get to the gym, see my friends and loved ones, and finding time for my blog is something else to find time for at the weekends, as I don't see enough day light during the week to take photos.
Anywayy, tangent over.


So MAC. Yes. I was very lucky on my birthday when my lovely work colleagues gifted me a MAC Pro palette, insert, 3 shadows and a voucher to purchase my own. I know, I work with awesome people, and I've always dreamed (cringe) of my own customised MAC palette.

Needless to say, the 3 shadows I was gifted were absolutely perfect and definitely ones I would have picked myself - Swiss Chocolate, All That Glitters and Vanilla. I then used my voucher and a little of my own money to purchase 3 further shades. As I pretty much had my brown basics down, I went on a google-swatch fest to find the best purples. Without even visiting a store, I chose Haux, Star Violet and Blackberry. Luckily, the online swatches got it spot on and  they were exactly what I wanted.
I am so happy with how my palette is shaping up, and so excited to add to it little by little.

Here are some lovely swatches - you'll notice that Vanilla is missing but that's because it's the same colour as my skin so you basically can't see it anyway.


Thanks for reading :)

Easy eye look | Make up Revolution

Just a quick one today - to show you how I used this palette from Make up Revolution (Romantic Smoked) to do a really easy everyday look.


I started with the matte taupe in the middle of the palette, and applied it to my crease, with a wash of the third shimmery colour all over the lid - it's a really lovely almost - peach. I then added some of the bright white shimmer to the centre and inner corner of my lids and finished the look with the shimmery purple smudged along my lashline and pulled into a messy flick.


I have always really loved Make Up Revolution eyeshadows, I find that they wear really well and blend together nicely. This palette is a bit different with a few fun colours, but you can definitely use it to create such a simple look - just like this one.



If you haven't already, I would definitely recommend having a look at the shadow palettes from MuR - this one was only £4 and I've got so much use out of it!

Thanks for reading :)

Lou

Stila In The Garden Palette

This is my first go with this palette, and I wanted to create something really wearable. Looking at the colour selection, it can come across a little bold: mossy greens and bright blues which might be bit outside your comfort zone. 

I think greens can definitely be wearable, especially at this time of year, and I really love this combination.

First of all, I washed Nectar in my crease just to create a little depth. There definitely wasn't a good selection of matte shades in this palette, which could be a downside for some people, but Nectar was just about dark enough to give the lid a little dimension.
I then went ahead and washed Breeze all over  the lid and Bark on the outer third and on the lower lash line. I added a hint of Chinois in the inner 1/4 and finished with a small dash of the liner which was included along the top lash line.

The shadows and the liner lasted so nicely all day, and I really love the soft day time look I managed to get from this palette.

I will hopefully manage to do a full swatch review on the whooole palette so you can see the beautifulness of it. I'm also really excited about using the blues... which look amaaazinggg...hang tight, coming soon!

Thanks for reading!
Lou xxx

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

Naked 1 and 2 Comparison | Swatches and Review

 We all know the drill, the Urban Decay Naked palettes are pigmented, buttery goodness with excellent lasting power. I've owned Naked 2 for almost a year now, and I had a tough time deciding which would be my next purchase. I decided on Naked One, mostly because I know there's a couple of really good, staple, warm brown mattes in there which I am definitely missing in my collection. On top of that, what's a dozen more shimmery browny/ gold shades?
Instead of just swatching Naked One, I thought I'd investigate a few of the similar shades between Naked One and Two, so we can see how many colours truly cross over between the two palettes.

First comparison: Naked One, Virgin and Naked Two, Bootycall.
On the surface of it, these two look very similar- shimmery champagne-y goodness. Up close, Virgin is a lot more pink-toned, whereas Bootycall takes on a more cool goldy- undertone. Very similar, but definitely with something between them.

Naked One, Sidecar and Naked Two, YDK
Probably my favourite shade(s) in the two palettes. Buttery, smooth, shimmery goodness, a brown with a hint of pinky/mauve. They are both very coppery, and I think the most colours similar between the two palettes. If you want something a hint more pink, Toasted in Naked One is just a more flushed version of these two.

Naked One, Hustle and Naked Two, Busted
Some lovely Satin- finish chocolate browns. Very similar, but you can definitely tell that the Naked Two offering is cooler toned and slightly darker.

Naked One, Smog and Naked Two, Snakebite.
In the pan, I was fooled into thinking that these are almost identical. Swatched, Smog is a lot more yellow, even khaki- toned than Snakebite, which is a cooler mid-toned shimmery brown.

Naked One, Buck and Naked Two, Tease
Only similar at a glance in the pan, when swatched these are completely different. Tease is definitely my most- used shade in Naked Two: a really perfect cool mauve matte. Buck is a mid- toned warm brown which is excellent when creating a brown smokey eye.

Naked One, Creep and Naked Two, Blackout
You would think both palettes has a nice, basic matte black. But infact, only Naked Two does. Creep is more of a charcoal grey with chunky glitter, which is pretty but defintely not up to the standard of the silky smooth, deep black of Blackout.

I think, for a make-up junkie, having both the Naked One and Two really provides the full range of browns, bronzes, nudes and coppers, meaning I don't think I'll ever need to ( although I will want to), buy another palette based around those shades. I love them both, and I'm already waiting for a time when I can buy the Naked Three...

Thanks for reading, I hope this was helpful!
Lou x

Revolution Ultra Blush Palette Sugar And Spice ~ Mini Review and Swatches

This is the Make Up Revolution Blush Palette in Sugar and Spice which is a set of 8 'blushes'.

It is a strange set of powders to be honest, with two intensely glittery, unwearable highlighters at the far end, and then 6 completely matte, insanely pigmented powders in the rest of the palette.

1. Is a colour I stayed completely clear of until very recently. It's like a deep browny peach which I thought would be horrible on pale skin, but actually looks really natural, and can be used as a contour/bronze/blush hybrid because its matte

2. Is a really dark bright pink, I will never ever use this colour to be honest. It's so pigmented and dark that it just won't look right on my skin, so I don't think I'll ever use this colour, but  I think would look really nice on darker skin.

3. is a lighter, less brown version of 1, as you can see, so it's a really good all-in-one shade.

4 & 5 are ridiculously similar, I tend to use 5 rather than 4, I just think it's a shade lighter, but is still quite a full-on darkish pink

6 is my favourite shade out of this whole palette. It's a proper bright coral with a huge pigment punch, love it

7 & 8 are highlighters. Now...I don't understand how you would use these, except maybe as eyeshadow. 8 especially is just...unwearable. It's incredibly, incredibly glittery, and a super bright pink. Totally unwearable and basically a little bit crazy. 7 is like the same thing but a silvery lilac, so could work as a really super intense highlight, but I still think is not very wearable.

All in all, I don't think this palette is really worth getting, unless you love a range of super matte, SUPER pigmented blushes and crazy highlights. They are so pigmented that they are quite hard to blend, so you have to apply with a really light hand. However, I love having a range of blushes in a palette, and I'm eyeing up the All-About-Cream blush palette from Revolution which I think would be more usable. 

Thanks for reading :)

Lou x

My Kiko Palette

*the shadow three from the right should be 220 not 240

So this is my Kiko eyeshadow collection. Kiko is the nearest thing  I can afford which is similar to creating my own MAC palette. Kiko eyeshadows are £5.40 each (compared to MAC's £13 or something ridiculous), and recently have been on an offer making them £2.80 each. Amazing. In the summer I picked three up, you can probably tell from the palette view which ones from how destroyed they are. So I originally had a three- palette and I enjoyed the eyeshadows so much that when I saw them on offer again I grabbed four more, and then another one. These eight are actually sitting in a 24- place palette. I know, I got really excited. The reason is, the 9 palette was only £1.50 cheaper than the 24 palette. So, ya know. I'll eventually fill it up I'm sure.

So here are my eight eyeshadows. Two I use for eyebrows as well, and the rest are a sort of wintery collection of pinky purples. I've lent towards purply colours because, firstly, I have a lot of browny eyeshadows, and secondly, its winter. Oh, and thirdly I got told purple looks good on green eyes, which I have, so I'm trying to use them more.

In the swatches photo, these two are the colours on the far left. I have no idea how they have come out looking so brown, but I found the palette so hard to photograph too. They look their truest in the top photo of the whole palette. These are 293 and 233 in that order. They are both deep cranberry, 293 is slightly darker. It's really hard to talk about how lovely they are when the picture is so bad, but have a look if you are in a Kiko store.

This is 236 and 239. They are two of the originals, and these photos are so much better. 236 is a beautiful champagne shimmer which is so lovely as a base colour, and also works well as a shimmery highlighter. 239 I use as a brow colour, but it is very so slightly too dark since my hair got lighter. But, I have to say I can tell you that these last ALL DAY in the brows, and on the lids too, no smudging or budging. Also a really good ashy taupe crease shade.

This is 218 and 237. 218 is my least favourite of all of my shades. It's basically a base colour, cream with sparkle, but the colour pay off is really poor on this one, meaning its super sheer. This could be dusted over matte eyeshadows to make them shimmery, but its not very pigmented compared to the others. 237 is my new brow shade, and is basically a lighter version of 239, and matches my brows perfectly. I mix in a little of 239 for a stronger brow if I fancy it, otherwise this is the perfect everyday replacement for the shade 'Frisk' in the Naked 2 basics palette which I do NOT want to use everyday and use up.

This purple shadow is 246, and its a cooler- toned purple with a lot of shimmer. It's so pretty, and works really nicely with the more cranberry shades, as well as the lighter shades. The last one is 220 (labelled 240 in the top photo) and it's my first more Spring/ summer shade for this palette. It's a bit darker than it looks here, its a really pretty peachy colour with gold shimmer and its soo lovely, perfect for warmer weather, and I know this will look great with a tan. 

Kiko eyeshadows are definitely worth checking out, so cheap, and the chance to design your own palette which is amazing. The pans are actually really big too, so I was considering having a look for a couple of blusher/ contour/ highlighter colours too.

I've got another 16 slots to fill up and I can't wait!

Thanks for reading, hope this was useful!

Lou x