A Heavenly neutral palette?

Ever since I saw the pictures of the new products of the Professional Range from Budget Brand Mua Cosmetics, I've been longing to get my hands  on 'Heaven and Earth' a gorgeous neutral eyeshadow palettes, at a record price of £4.







A triumphant open bloggers event later, where all  participants were able to see 'Heaven and Earth' in action, and an overwhelming wave of rave all across the board later, and I was still not  sure whether this palette was for me. Why? I was scared it would be too shimmery for me.



 



My palette is a generous present from Danielle, who blogs at Madame Gourmand who kindly donated it to me and I have never wished more  than any other time to be in love with it. The shadows are utterly gorgeous, they are very soft, very pigmented but as I feared it right from  the beginning, they are too shimmery for me and I am unable to make it work. The shimmer is not chunky and is quite delicate but it still  remains too intense for me to wear the shadows confidently in the crease of my eye and beyond.





The search for a heavenly neutral palette  carries on...

What: Heaven & Earth Eyeshadow Palette, MUA Cosmetics, Pro Range
Price: £4.00
Where: Selected Superdrug Stores

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Will you be mediterraneaning? I will !

You'll never guess what I have received in the post this morning: the latest Sleek Makeup palette... Yeah right. As if!


There is nothing quite like the release of a new sleek makeup collection to set the beauty blogosphere alight. I don't know what it is but there is a fascination around the i-divine sleek makeup palettes and I, for one, am a big fan, and have been waiting impatiently for the release of the latest sleek makeup collection: the Mediterranean Collection.


As I am a mere mortal and common muck, I will be purchasing mine tomorrow to the nearest Superdrug stocking Sleek Makeup. I even rang the store to reserve it. Before you get too saturated with posts about this collection, I wanted to get in there sooner rather than later and write a little bit about it.

Inspired by the Mediterranean, this 12 shade palette is the perfect addition to your summer make-up. Choose from sunset oranges and browns, or breezy turquoise to highlight your holiday tan! Best worn with our hot pink Monte Carlo pout polish and Santorini blush to achieve the perfect Mediterranean summer look.

The blush and the pout polish are very nice but it's the Monaco palette which will make part with £7 tomorrow. Yeah, not even £6.99 to make it psychologically cheaper, 7 quid. At this rate, the special 2011 Christmas edition palette will be £9.99. *grumbles grumbles*


And now for the meat of the palette, the lovely eyeshadows it contains. There are already some eyeshadows in particular which have caught my attention, but I won't tell you which ones, in case my first play with the palette goes wrong and I've ruined the 'surprise' of my next Sleek Med Post.





Sleek Monaco Palette: £7.00
Train Fare especially to get to the Superdrug which sells it: £7 bleeming 95
Delight to play with these gorgeous shadows: priceless.
Heck, I am just as well go the whole hog and treat myself with a pasty from Greggs for the train trip.


remix baby:





Will you be buying from this collection too?

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My favourite palette and a tropical fruity makeup look

It's about time I wrote about my ultimate favourite eyeshadow palette. I must confess, I feel a bit embarrassed to write about it: everybody must know someone who owns the 'Ebay 120 palette'. My palette looks awful, bruised, battered but at the  time I bought it, the thought of taking a photo in its pristine condition never crossed my head. I didn't have  a blog back then. It was my best friend Jo who suggested me to buy it, and I couldn't be happier about my investment. Thank you twinnie babes <3





I was just starting out with watching YouTube videos, experimenting with makeup. I didn't know where to start.  I wanted to participate in all sorts of makeup challenges (just for the sake of practising) but I just didn't  have the colours. First palette (containing more than 3 shadows in it) I have ever bought was the urban decay  deluxe palette but that didn't leave me very far: I just wanted all the colours in the rainbow.


I had heard all but good things about this 120 palette, but I just had to see it for myself to believe the huge buzz about  it. £17 later, and a few years after my purchase, I'd like to think it's my best makeup investment. I've  stopped counting the number of times I've used this palette. It's about the size of a small netbook, quite big  but I could not bear not having it with me when I go for a night out or a week end away.





Why I love it so much:  all the colours you could ever think off and the excellent pigmentation.

What I dislike the most about it is how fragile they are. Drop the palette and you can say bye bye to it. The shadows are extremely soft, some of  them too soft for their own good and you need to tap gently with your brush/applicator to take some colour from  it, rather than swiping the brush/applicator as you will only make a mess. If you think sleek makeup shadows are soft, the shadows from the 120 palette are even softer! The other drawback of this palette  is that many colours are way too shimmery, disco ball shimmery but then again, none of them have really chunky  glitter in them.





I have stopped counting the number of looks I've done with this palette and how much joy it has given me. I am  not going to swatch every colour but let me give you some swatches of my favourite colours.


The orange below in  my favourite orange of all times and whenever I am in need of orange, this is where I will go. It's not an  unique shade, but it's just how I want my orange, and how orange should be (scroll down to see the look I did with the orange) 
I've also 'hit the pan badly' on  the three gold you see below, and these are probably the colours I use the most in the palette. Again, these  are not unique. You could find them in other palettes, but when you have nothing, this is such a superb palette  to start with.






I am not quite sure what to do with myself when I will have run out with my favourite pinks in there (see  below) I love them so much. I used to use the bright purple a lot, but it is now replaced by the purple from  the acid sleek makeup palette, which is everything I want from a purple and hardly unlikely to fall from its  no.1 spot any time soon. The darkest purple you see below is so handy to darken a crease. Perfect in fact.









One of my looks entirely made with the 120 palette is my cut crease butterfly look actually (see post here) the very same  look I'm wearing on my banner. Pretty decent for a poxy palette from eBay, no?


While I reminisce the past, I hope you will forgive me posting this old look of mine. I actually never posted  on my blog, and at the moment it only exists on my YouTube channel. The look was born as a makeup contest  entry. The theme was 'juicy' and I decided to create a look inspired by a juicy papaya, reminding me of my native island.





The big black rhinestone stuck on the outside corner is bit odd, but let's just call it art,  shall we?
It's supposed to emulate the pips from the papaya fruit.









Looking back at it, some blush of some  description would have been nice but I didn't even know what it was back then (not sure if I do have more of a  clue now). Some fancier lashes with pips (sp?) stuck to them would have been a nice touch, and a highlight colour for the brow bone, did I even wear eyeliner?  But hey. This look  is very special to me. I actually won that contest (ok ok only 5 people entered) but it was my first YouTube  contest win and you have no idea how happy it made me.






120 palette from eBay? a big fat thumbs up for me.
A must buy for bright colours lovers and makeup enthusiasts who are starting out.

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Catwalk False Lashes by BeautyUK

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False Lashes are probably definitely my favourite 'makeup item'. I've been trying lots of Beautyuk products lately and when I heard they were releasing some false lashes, I couldn't wait to try some and purchased the 'catwalk' set of false lashes at £3.99 from the website.





This was the first time I ordered some beautyuk items from the website. I paid £1.75 for first class delivery and my order reached me in no time at all. I was pleasantly surprised and received a discount voucher for a future purchase. The second surprise was the size of the box of lashes: I bet you could actually fit one of their eyeshadow palettes in there, the box was huge, complete with fully detailed instructions on how to apply them on. Did I read the instructions? Of course, not. I was too impatient to put them on.



 



The second thing I've noticed is how slightly uneven they are. You'll see that the right hand side differ a bit from the left hand side and vice versa. What you lose in symmetry is gained however in 'natural looking effect' of the lashes. The lashes are very long (perhaps longer than the lashes I am used to wear) but also very light, and once they're on and you can hardly feel they are there.







As for the application, as with 99% most of the false lashes I needed to trim them from the outside corner so that they can fit my small eyes. The lash band is very thin and very flexible and you'll have no problem putting them on. The vertical curl on these lashes is absolutely superb and they instantly lift your eyes. I bought many lashes before (corner eye lashes from nyx from the top of my head) that just won't cut it: as they're so straight, you wonder why you put them on in the first place.








how ridiculous do my bare lashes look, seriously. If nothing else, this should boost your self esteem ^_^





However, the fussy false eyelash lover in me was slightly disappointed with the horizontal curvature of the lashes. When I took them off from their support, they felt a bit straight and not as curvy as my beloved eylure 101. This was not a problem because the lashline is very thin and very flexible but if the lashline had been a bit thicker, I could have seen myself having to spend a bit more time trying to make them 'marry' the curve of my lashline.







Overall, I am quite happy with my purchase. The Catwalk lashes are a bit longer than I would personally usually go for but oh boy, they gave me such drama, I can't wait to wear them again. I hope beautyuk will make them available in Superdrug soon.


how much: £3.99
where to buy: online at http://www.beautyukcosmetics.com/ (accessories section)
disclaimer: I bought these lashes myself.

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A rainbow in Soho EOTD & Review of the Soho Bright Eyeshadow Palette

I don't know about you, but when I think about Beautyuk, the first item which springs to mind is the 10 eye-shadow palette, in particular the almost iconic no.2 'Soho Bright Palette' which I would like to call the 'rainbow mini palette'.





I am first and foremost a bright eyeshadow lover, a fussy one at best so I was a bit apprehensive to purchase this one in case I would be disappointed, even though I really liked the earth child palette and the day and night palette. Why? Because  Soho Bright contains yellow and orange, colours I tend to use a lot, and I am extremely fussy when it comes to these colours. To give you an example, I own a 120 palette containing galore of yellow eyeshadows and there is none I like in them, they're always too greeny, or not bright enough, or something else, they're not quite right. So, from the outset, even before purchasing it, I didn't give much hope to this palette to impress me.






I was pleasantly surprised. As with the other palettes I've tried, I couldn't fault its pigmentation. The shadows are very soft, easy to blend and mostly shimmery, apart from the neon pink and the lavender maybe. The greens and the deep blue on the top row were my instant favourites and I knew straight away that I wanted to play with them first.


As with the other palettes, the shimmer in this is definitely there but not in your face and very easy to work with. There is one shadow though which i can't see myself getting a lot of use for: the very light 'sky' blue near the yellow which is way too metallic and shimmery. Now if only they did put a true red in there, that's my only regret really.





swatched over nyx jumbo pencil in milk




How did the orange fare? It's ok, but it's hardly going to replace my favourite orange: the one in my 120 palette, which was the first shadow I hit the pan of!
The yellow surprised me, I would have preferred a totally matte yellow but the shade is spot on and I will definitely use this. Overall, I like 8 shadows out of 10, which is extremely good value when you think the palette is only £3.99

The look I created today is very predictable, so please consider this look as more like an eyeshadow swatch rather a unique avant garde work of art lol. I used 5 colours from the palette, the black from the Day and Night palette and my favourite highlight colour, Vanilla from Mac.

















Would I wear this look out? Oh my, totally! Can you eye spot other colour combinations in this palette? 

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Neon Bargain

Deliriously excited when I saw this little neon palette does not quite describe it. When I thought my day could not get better (was given a second hand iphone for free, and received some awesome giveaway prizes in the post today) I stumbled on this little NEON EYES palette in TJ Hughes. If you know me, even only un petit peu, you would know I like my bright colours, so I just could not resist and at £1.99, why would I even try to resist?



 


The neon eyes  palette comes  in 3 colours (same colours inside but different colour for the case) but it struck me as obvious to go for the pink one. The stand where it was displayed was bit of dusty mess, as per usual with such a bargain shop but I was super lucky as there were still lots of palettes totally fresh and never opened. I wonder whether they had just arrived? They also had 1 or 2 other more neutral palettes (Zzzzz) and I totally ignored them.





It feels very sturdy,  has a mirror inside, and was designed with a young audience in mind: with smiley faces on the shadows, and when you close the palette, you can see the eyes kinda winking at you, peeking through the transparent part of the case. It's very cutesy and might put off your average adult.





So, how does this £1.99 palette fare then? (I am hoping I am using the word 'fare' in the right context, it;s the first time I'm using it lol) Let's jump right into it and say that this will never replace my SleekMakeup acid palette which is my favourite sleek palette of all time but it's a lovely little addition. Considering this is a matte palette, (that I've found with lots of matte shades in general, that the colour pay off is disappointing and chalky) this is pretty impressive. I found the shadows very soft, and they are NOT  fragile like the 120 palette or the sleek makeup palettes, who crumble at the sight of a fingernail. After you swatch them, they wont leave either that waxy sheen that some cheap shadows (boots no.7, mua etc) leave. You will need to layer these over a white base (I used Nyx jumbo pencil in milk) apply the eyeshadow colour generously, and you can obtain these swatches:









I cannot believe this was just only £1.99. I would have preferred a more neon shade of orange rather than a orangey red) and the green is a miss for me (the less pigmented of all shades) but I am still over the moon and cannot wait to play with it. I would totally recommend this palette for makeup lovers of all ages on a budget or people who need neon colours for a particular occasion, and who can't justify spending lots of money for shades they're not going to reach out very often.
Do you like your neons?

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St Patrick's Day Inspired Makeup

One of my favourite makeup artists on youtube, letzmakeup has been hosting a makeup contest for her birthday based on  St Patrick’s Day. I spent ages wanting to have to have shamrocks on face, thinking what was the best way to do it, as my freehand skills were failing me. After also being unsuccessful at designing my own stencils, I wanted to do a look inspired the lovely black, brown, golden colours of a pint of guinness and this lovely cloud forming when you pour the drink inside a pint. Result nowhere near a pint of guinness.

My third inspiration had to be the one: the Irish flag. I was thrilled to be able to use orange again on my lids, and ended up AGAIN wanting to have orange lips. I have stopped counting the looks where I want to wear orange lipstick.

 
Thanks to my lovely hairdresser de merde who hacked off my fringe, I am sporting a black hairband. I will probably carry on wearing this for the next month. 


This is what I used on the eyes:

- 2 greens from 120 palette and 1 green from the ACID sleek makeup palette
- Orange from 120 palette
- Two faced shadow insurance, nyx jumbo pencil in milk
- Brown from Gosh Cosmetics Trio TR2 smokey
- White & Black from Nyx Trio Palette TS01 
- Vanilla from Mac
- 2 pairs of eyelashes (eylure glamour 101 & green ones)
- about 3 random cheapo eyepencils (white, brown, black)

I had to show in the youtube video how I ended up to the finished result but I’ll spare you watching the video. To start off, basically I literally wanted to have the irish flag on my eyelids, but that looked hideous. So I opted for orange on all the lid, but then ended with something very very one dimensional so I tried to add a bit more depht my way.
A little before and (some time) after for you. Although I did muck about with it for ages after that photo.

 

I never know how to end a post, so, i see you around then, bye xxm oh and happy st patrick’s day if you’re still out celebrating x

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