Sunday, 8 May 2011

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


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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.


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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.



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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.



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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.



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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.


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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.


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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.



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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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