Urban Decay's "Beached" Eyeshadow Palette

Everybody loves a taste of summer - am I wrong? I have to admit, it's one of my favourite times of the year for new make up and beauty releases. There's something about summer packaging and shades that just makes me feel all warm and glowy inside. I also feel with summer you can get away with experimenting with different colours more than any other time of the year, which is why I was so please when Urban Decay bought out their new "Beached" collection, which included an eyeshadow palette with turquoise in it. Yes, turquoise.

My Top 3: Glossier Make Up

Have you heard of Glossier? No? Have you been living under a rock? Glossier is quite possibly one of the most hyped up brands I've come across since I started blogging, and honestly I was pulled into the hype. So much so that I have actually tried almost every single product from their make up range. I'm sorry bank balance, I truly am. But - is the hype justified?

Beauty | My Essential Drugstore Eyeshadow Palettes

For the past few years I've always been more of a liquid liner girl than a full on shadow kinda gal. I just bought out my shades for special occasions, or a neutral base to lengthen the stay of my liner. However, the past few months I've done a complete 180 and I believe these palettes have a little something to do with it. A range of colours, full or pigment, long lasting - and the best part? They're only £10 each.

The Haul | Space NK Mini Spree

Not going to lie, this really was a very mini spree! I had some points to spend on my N.Dulge card so I decided to put them to good use and chose a couple of products I'd never tried before, but really wanted to. Luckily, there was also a deal on at the time as well so I got even more pennies off. It was definitely a meant to be kind of an order.

The Review | Maybelline The Nudes Palette

I do love me a nude palette, and when I see high street ones I get a little bit too excited. I was a bit disappointed by the L'Oreal La Palette Nude (which is why you haven't see it on here...) However I was quite excited by the Maybelline offering, thanks to the amazing quality of their cream eyeshadows. The main questions was whether or not they could bring the quality from those little pots, into a beautiful nude palette.

The Dupe | Urban Decay Naked 3 v W7 In the Nude

This week on the blog I'm talking all about high end products! To kick off I wanted to talk about a new dupe for one of my favourite high end products. The Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette is an absolute beauty, it has amazing rose toned nude shades that would suit anyway and it's normally my everyday pick up.

The Review | No7 Shade and Define

NO7 STAY PERFECT SHADE AND DEFINE £8.00

These were a drunken purchase one evening at Waterloo station, not going to lie. But I have to say - I should drunk buy more often. Everyone is raving about the By Terry Black Ombre shadow sticks so when a few people said there was a high street dupe I was intrigued.

No7 isn't usually a brand I go straight to when I pop into Boots, I have a love/hate relationship with their products. This is definitely on the love side. First off I picked up Cool Mink, a beautiful nude beige with a definite hint of lilac in it - I think it's definitely a great dupe for the Misty Rock high end product. I love this colour and its been donning my lids every day since its purchase. It's a beautiful all over lid shade. The second shade I picked up was Coffee Bean, a dark coffee brown perfect for contouring and creating a natural smoky eye. 

The thing that really sells these is their quality. Creamy consistency, they don't crease in the slightly and create a lovely natural sheen. They are incredibly easy to apply and equally as easy to blend. They really come into their own with longevity. They literally last all day and into the evening - which for just £8.00 is frigging amazing. Love it.

These have made me realise I really need to pay more attention to No7 products - and I definitely want to pick up more of these crayons in different colours. They are my new eyeshadow love.

Have you tried these high street dupes?

The Review | Urban Decay Naked 3

URBAN DECAY NAKED 3 PALETTE £37.00

I caved to the hype and bought this at the beginning of January. It's the first ever Urban Decay product I've bought and I have to say, I'm hooked. You've probably seen a mission of reviews singing this palettes praises so I won't bore you with a whole load of gushing.

For me, this is the perfect palette. It's the right balance of natural and girly. I love pairing shades of this together, the paler across my lid and the darker shaded into my outer corner and crease to create smokey tones. I love mixing Burnout and Buzz for my every day look - it's a subtle change but Buzz is just enough for contouring the eyelid. For a darker look I love pairing Liar and Mugshot together - the perfect combo indeedy.

The colours are long lasting, don't crease and buttery soft, so easy to apply. In terms of the brush, I only use the crease side of it. I use my RT base shadow brush for the base than the crease end of the Naked 3 brush for the outer corner and crease shading. It works perfectly together. I will definitely be doing a "The Face" post based on this - I've tried a couple of times but just not been happy with the pics so this is still upcoming I promise!

In terms of price, yes it is £37, but honestly it's worth every penny. I use this everyday and it doesn't look like I've made a dent. There are enough colours here to keep it varied and interesting and it's honestly such good quality.

Have you tried the Naked 3 palette?

The Review | Pure Colour Raisins

This product has been raved about continually about over blogs, yes it's Estee Lauder Raisins palette. I blame Tanya Burr and Zoella - they are where I first saw it and from there it seems to have spiralled. So much so it's ridiculously hard to get hold of. I was lucky enough to get it for my birthday last month. My Mum raves about the quality of Estee Lauder's products, and while I've tried a couple I've never been overly overwhelmed by them. This was a game changer.

The powder shadows are buttery soft, apply with ease and grace and stay for hours. These two colours are slightly different from my usual nude. They add an extra winter plum to the mix and change it up, yet still feel incredibly everyday and neutral. I use the paler colour as a base over my entire lid, and then the darker plum to contour by brushing through the crease and blending in the outer corner. It creates a beautiful look.

I've been turned into an eyeshadow gal. Mixed with my usual winged liner this is beautiful. If you can track this down I would get it. It's a tad pricey at £23.00, hence why it was on my birthday list. But it really is a beautiful, luxury product. You can by Estee Lauder Pure Colour Eyeshadow Duo in most Boots store, online here and Debenhams stores.

What's your luxury pick for the Christmas season?

Make Up | Bourjois Cream to Powder Eyeshadow

BOURJOIS COLOR EDITION 24HOUR CREAM TO POWDER EYESHADOW IN PRUNE NOCTURNE £6.99

I've been wanting to try this since it came out a few weeks ago. I love cream eyeshadows as I find they apply a lot nicer than powder, however they always seem to crease like anything, so when I saw they were a cream to powder finish I had to give these a try.

This comes in six shades, I chose Prune Nocturne as I don't have any other shade like it and thought it'd be perfect for the Christmas season. It's a gorgeous deep berry purple colour with flecks of rose gold through it and a subtle shimmer. It's so easy to apply, it transfers to powder really quickly but is cream in the tub so you do need to work quickly to blend this in.

It doesn't crease (woop) and lasts for a good few hours. I'm not entierly sure what this obsession is with 24hour make up - I'm not awake for 24 hours so I don't really want my make up to last longer than my waking hours but hey. It doesn't last 24 hours but it does last a good few. I will definitely be getting more of these, I love the range of colours and think I prefer these to the Maybelline Color Tattoo just because of the finish these give. 

Have you tried these eyeshadows? Do you prefer these or the Maybelline Color Tattoo?

Make Up | ELF Jumbo Eyeshadow Stick

ELF JUMBO EYESHADOW STICK IN LITTLE MISS THING AND BALI BOUND £2.50 EACH

I'm a bit curious about this new wave of make up products that centre around crayons. First lips and now eyeshadow. I've used the Rimmel Scandaleyes Eyeshadow Crayons so was curious when I saw these on the ELF website. I've had a bit of a haul of ELF products so be prepared for many reviews to come!

Little Miss Thing is a pale champagne that is the perfect eyeshadow base and highlighter. I've been using this on the inner corner of my eyes and a base as I said above. Bali Bound is a gorgeous sage green. Both have a shimmer finish to them. I've found these really easy to use and blend. At £2.50 each I wasn't expecting them to be fabulous quality but was pleasantly surprised. They didn't last all day but they did last a good few hours without really creasing. They are a creamy formula so I was expecting some creasing but these are really good.

I would definitely recommend these, especially the gorgeous green. I love the colour and for a night out to dinner or something similar it's the perfect colour boost.

What's your favourite item from the ELF website?

Make Up | Maybelline Immortal Charcoal

MAYBELLINE COLOR TATTOO 24HOUR CREAM EYESHADOW IN IMMORTAL CHARCOAL £4.99

So, after the amazingness that is On&On Bronze I wanted a new colour in these amazing eyeshadows. As a mostly neutral kinda gal I went for Immortal Charcoal. It's a metallic smokey dark silver that looks gorgeous once it's on.

I say once it's on because this is so much harder to apply then On & On Bronze. I found it really really stiff and just really hard to create an even finish as I can with the former mentioned colour. Very confused I have to say as the first one I used was so easy to use and apply, but this one I have real trouble with, which sucks as the colour is gorgeous - once you get it all on. 

As with On & On Bronze it is very long lasting and incredibly smudge proof - a really great thing about these products really in their lasting power. There isn't any fading and I love it for that.

If this colour was a bit easier to apply I'd be running out the door to buy others, but this has put me off a tad. Has anyone else had this issue?

 

Today I am off to lunch with the gorgeous Paige from paigejoanna.com so be prepared for some pics on Instagram and Twitter. I've been a bit sporadic in terms of posts this week - mainly just cause I've had a couple of things going on which have taken priority, and honestly it's been nice to take a bit of a back seat this week. Having said that I still got my 5 posts out this week so I can't really complain at myself! Hope you guys have a lovely weekend whatever you're doing!

What's your fave colour? What cream eyeshadows do you recommend?

Make Up | Colour Tattoo in On & On Bronze

MAYBELLINE COLOUR TATTOO 24HOUR EYESHADOW CREAM IN ON & ON BRONZE £4.99

Yes, I know, I am ridiculously late jumping on this bandwagon. I don't know why but everytime I popped one in my basket, it would find its way back out of the basket before I hit the checkout. So when I popped into Superdrug recently I put it in, and kept it there, telling myself it was about time I tried one! Let's face it, a £4.99 eyeshadow isn't really doing to break the bank.

So, this is a cream gel eyeshadow that is long lasting and comes in metallic shimmery shades. It's also meant to last for 24 hours (as the name suggests). I got On & On Bronze because I tend to wear this type of colour on my eyes all the bloody time, it's very predictable but hey, it works. I do also really want to try Everlasting Navy as well though, I am a navy lover!

So what did I think? Well, it's easy to apply - however I use my fingers and my nails keep digging into it which isn't ideal, but apart from my fingers I just can't get to grip with any other type of brush with cream shadows. Anywho, it glides onto the lids easily and blends like nothing else I've used, it's lovely and smooth. The colour is a gorgeous bronze that helps bring out the brown in my eyes. Longevity wise, it lasts for hooours and what I love most - it does NOT crease. I find cream shadows tend to gather in the creases, but this doesn't at all and I love it for that.

Overall, I am so glad I FINALLY bought this. It's a great little product and I will definitely be picking up more shades.

Have you tried these eyeshadows? What's your favourite shade? 

Make Up | Revlon ColorStay Eyeshadow Quad

REVLON COLORSTAY EYESHADOW QUAD IN GODDESS £7.99

I've actually had this for a good few months now, but for some reason I just haven't gotten around to reviewing it. I bought it, used it for a couple of weeks and it seems to have been hidden in the back of my make up cupboard ever since. Opps.

Anywho, this is part of Revlon's ColorStay range and is meant to stay in place for 16 hours. There's a variety of quads to choose from, all of which come with a very handy pic on the back to show you what shade to put where to create the desired look. 

I love the colours in this, I seem to be obsessed with combining pink and greys at the moment - so this seemed like an obvious choice for me, and together the colours go really well in the combination set out by the back of the palette. I'm not a huge fan of the brush provided - it's your standard eyeshadow pad brush type thing, but it seem really rough to me and a bit messy on application. Note to self: must buy proper eyeshadow brushes. In terms of staying power - 16 hours is definitely a bit ambitious - I'd probably say 6/7 hours tops and it's fading.

Overall - I love the combined colours and I think Goddess is a great little twist on a smoky eye with the addition of pink. I would definitely pick up another quad, it's not bad at all for £7.99 and I think they are perfect for creating a set look if you're a beginner in the make up world. Just use a different brush!

What eyeshadow quads would you recommend?

Make Up | Mac Copperplate

MAC EYESHADOW IN MATTE COPPERPLATE £12.50

After using Woodwinked and Brule, I knew I had to invest in another Mac eyeshadow and fast. I decided to go for a smoky grey to try and work at using one colour for a smoky effect. It was a bit of a whim to be honest - one I'm glad I took.

It's a gorgeous buildable grey, subtle but you can build it to create a gorgeous smokey grey. Compared to the finish on Woodwinked - it is very matte, but it does last longer, it doesn't seep into the cracks as Woodwinked tends to and I love it for that. 

I really do love this eyeshadow. It's become my everyday baby along with my liquid eyeliner. A classic look that works whatever the weather.

What's your favourite MAC eyeshadow?

Make Up | Mac Brule Eyeshadow

MAC SATIN EYESHADOW IN BRULE £12.00

I treated myself a little too well to Mac a few weeks ago - and this was one of my many treats. Described as a soft creamy beige, it is exactly that (as you can see). It's also described as a "satin" eyeshadow. Again, a pretty apt description.

It applies really nicely, incredibly silky smooth and without mess or fuss. I'm not usually one to buy a shadow this colour as I've never seen the point when it's the same as your lids, but I wear this under liquid eyeliner when I don't want any coloured shadow and as a base with other colours as well. With both uses it's the perfect shadow. It holds other colours on well, and makes you look effortlessly bright eyed without other colours.

I'm so glad I bought this little beauty and would definitely recommend if you're looking for a high quality base. Long lasting and just incredibly pretty. A lot of love for this. I do love my neutrals!

What's your favourite MAC eyeshadow colour? Any you'd recommend?

Make Up | Mac Woodwinked

MAC EYESHADOW IN WOODWINKED £12.00

This eyeshadow became the object of my affection after I saw Zoe wearing this on one of her recent videos. I think I missed what she was talking about as I spent it staring at her eyes going "I must have that eyeshadow...". Turns out it was Woodwinked and now it's mine. Woop!

Described as a warm antique gold, I would say it's more of a bronze than a gold with definite brown tones. I love the colour. I'm definitely a neutral eyeshadow girl and this is the epitome of that, with a touch a style to it. It's very easy to apply and looks gorgeous on.

One thing I'm a bit disappointed in is the longevity of the shadow. I find that after a few hours it tends to crease, which is something I have only found with cream eyeshadows. It does last a good few hours, but by the time I get home from work it has all but disappeared and just looks patchy. Otherwise, it's a great eyeshadow and I still adore the colour.

Have you tried Mac eyeshadows? Which is your favourite?

Review | Bad Girl Bronze

RIMMEL SCANDALEYES EYESHADOW CRAYON IN BAD GIRL BRONZE £4.49

Yes, I know, I have already reviewed this in another colour but - I love this one more. I honestly didn't think it was possible to love this colour more than Bulletproof Beige but I do. I wanted to review this seperately because I used this in a completely different way than the other one.

WIth Bulletproof Beige I tended to use it just as an eyeshadow base, or purely in the inner corners to brighten my eyes. With this I'm using it more as an eyeliner on my waterline than anything else, teamed with a brown eyeliner on my top lid. It works really well like this and I love the affect on the bottom lid.

It has a metallic finish which is really subtle and just adds a little extra something, and not only that but it really does last all day and doesn't smudge. Yay! Such a fab bargain and a great guy - on my every day list!!

Which colour should I get next...