Review: Too Faced Natural Eyes Palette

Hello my lovelies

I have a much loved palette to share with you guys today, I am actually a bit surprised it has taken so long for me to review as I have been using this since September, as it was a birthday gift. WARNING this post is a little picture heavy :P

This is the Too Faced Natural Eye Neutral Eyeshadow Collection Palette, a bit of a mouthful but an absolutely stunning neutral palette. As you may know, I love neutral shadows, it is my definite go to look and I feel like most neutral shades suit everybody! 

This was my first Too Faced product, I was always aware of the brand and its good reputation in the beauty community, I just had not yet purchased anything. 

This palette consists of 9 shadows, 3 kind of large base shadows and 6 smaller crease or lid shadows (this is my personal preference but does not have to be a rule for you). The palette also contains a guide for how to use the shadows in a day, classic and fashion look. 

All of the shades are very soft, pigmented and blends easily. Honestly this palette is a dream to use and I would recommend it to anyone who loves neutral and a mix of matte and shimmer shades. 

Heaven, Cashmere Bunny & Sexpresso

Silk Teddy, Push-Up & Erotica

Nudie, Honey Pot & Chocolate Martini

What are some of your favourite palettes?

Love Liz xx

Review: Models Prefer Nude Eyeshadow Palette

Hey Lovelies!

So I purchased this on a whim after seeing a gorgeous photo of it on Instagram. I can hear the collective groaning, another nude palette, really?! Yes really! I am standing by my choice as I truly love this palette. Warning, this gets a bit picture heavy. 

The Models Prefer Nude Eyeshadow Palette contains 10 neutral shades which are a combination of matte and shimmer formulas. Perfect nude palette alert? The shades are named and I will give each a quick description below.

Bare - this is a great highlighting shade as it is a yellowy beige matte shadow. Not hugely pigmented but not chalky. 

Sand - a lovely shimmer light golden brown colour. Minimum fallout and well pigmented.

Golden - a yellow gold shimmer shade. Minimum fallout and decently pigmented.

Glisten - a brown shimmer shade. A bit more fallout but great pigmentation. 

Earth - a dark brown matte shade with a tiny bit of shimmer particles. Bit chalky and somewhat pigmented.

Bliss - a champagne coloured shimmer shadow. Great pigmentation and buttery texture. 

Natural - dusty pink matte shadow. Medium pigmentation and no fallout.

Desert - deeper champagne coloured shimmer shadow. Great pigmentation and minimum fallout.

Nature - dark brown matte shade. Good pigmentation and minimum fallout.

Willow - dark brown shadow with red glitter particles. Decent pigmentation and slight fallout. 

I actually quite like the packaging of this palette. Black sleek outside which is not too bulky and quite a small size in comparison to the shades inside. There is a eyeshadow applicator inside which annoys me as who even used those anymore anyways! There is a large mirror which is handy if you had to apply this on the go or if you took it with you travelling. This would be great to travel with as it is such a small size and has so many shades which you could create many great eye looks with. There is even a guide on the back of how to create a great eye look. 

This retails for $12.99 AU at Priceline but is not listed on the website but I have seen it in several stores. I really cannot recommend this palette enough if you are a lover of neutral shades. Almost all of the shades have great colour pay off and minimum fallout, there is 10 shades to choose from, with a combination of matte and shimmer, all for under $15. Not sure what else you could want really (apart from the removal of the horrible eyeshadow applicator, grr!). 

Love Liz xx

Review: ChiChi Nudes Palette

Hey Lovelies

I purchased this ChiChi Glamourous Eyeshadow Palette in shade Nudes a while ago at Target when it was on sale. I was originally after the Naturals palette but they were sold out, and how many nude coloured palette's can you own?

The palette contains 12 shadows, some matte and some shimmer. There is a slight amount of fallout from some of the shadows but nothing drastic. None of the shades are chalky and all are very well pigmented and have a decent pay off. They are easy to blend and wear for around 5-6 hours on my eyelids without primer/base (keep in mind I also have oily lids and poor shadows tend to crease, these don't). I think that these palettes are gorgeous, when they go on sale again I would consider picking up another palette. Unfortunately I am barely plain and boring and mainly the neutral palettes only appeal to me but there is I believe 12 palettes in total to choose from. For the price I don't think you can get much better. These retail for $22.95 AU and can be purchased online or in participating stores. 

A trip to Sportsgirl

I recently went on a Holiday to the Gold Coast, the shopping centres they have over there, Oh My God! I have a Sportsgirl shop in my local shopping centre at home but it just felt ten times bigger and better while on the Gold Coast. I have seen a lot of hype about the Sportsgirl lipsticks on Instagram lately and while I am not a lipstick person, I was intrigued. So I wandered into Sportsgirl with a mission to check out their lipsticks.

I did end up picking up a lipstick to take home, which is called the Pout About It! Lip Colour in shade Beauty Queen. It is fairly simple but I am quite intrigued with the packaging of these lipsticks. Sleek black at the top which is is fine but the really interesting part is the glass/plastic bottom in which you can see the colour of the lipstick. I really like this idea as it is quite easy to see what colour you are picking out of your collection (not that I really have that issue as my lip drawer is seriously lacking lipsticks).

This is a lovely pink colour which applies quite sheer on the lips. It does take a couple of swipes to build up the colour, but I wasn't going for something super pigmented which the line does offer in shades such as Pink Ladies or Bombshell. I just wanted a nice wash of colour which stays on my lips for a reasonable 3-4 hours without food or drink

. I quite like the formula, moisturising a little but definitely not drying. I might have to go back sometime and pick up a few more colours as they are a bargain for $9.95 AU and they have some cute colours, I have my eyes on Tropo, Catwalk Queen or Fruit Tingle. 

What is that, another nude palette to add to my collection? Yes you heard me correctly, I have purchased another nude palette, actually I ended up purchasing two on my holiday. They were different colours though and both cheap so I think that is justifiable! I picked up the Sportsgirl Wild at Heart Eye Palette Bronze for $9.95 AU.

This palette is made from cardboard so I know from experience that it will get quite bent and bashed around after a while of use, the eye shadows will hopefully remain in contact however. It contains 6 neutral shadows, 3 light colours and 3 darker colours.

They are decently pigmented, not chalky but not as smooth as butter! You can make quite a few different looks using the one palette and I think for only $9.95 it is quite worth the price.

 Considering the quality and price point of this I would be willing to look at the other palettes they offer as well! Sportsgirl here I come.

Love Liz xx

All About Nude

While I was in Priceline on my holidays I managed to find this palette from Essence Cosmetics which I wanted when I purchased my other Essence items from Target but sadly they only had the candy palette which I have no interest in, nude all the way baby. I have told you of my love for Essence products time and time again, and this palette did not disappoint. It is called the All About Nude eyeshadow palette. It is in plastic clear packaging and contains 6 shimmer eyeshadows with one highlight shade, 2 pink shades, 2 brown shades and a deep plum/cranberry shade. 

The eyeshadows are quite good quality, not chalky at all in my opinion and were quite smooth and easy to blend. I wish there was more brown shades than pink but I guess I have enough neutral brown shades in my collection! The last time is quite good, I don't actually own a primer but I am sure they would have a better lasting time with one. I will have to try using them with my color tattoo as a base and see if they have a longer lasting time. 

This retails for $6.45 AU and does come in another shade which is candies and as I said does not interest me at all, but they are lovely shades just nothing I would wear out! It is only a limited edition so if you like the look of the colours I would definitely recommend you go out now and try to pick it up! 

Love Liz xx

Maybelline Hyper Diamonds Eye Colour Palette

Hey Guys

So I broke my spending ban a while ago on a few sale items at Kmart. Everything was between $2 and $10 because they were removing all free standing items and changing them with hanging displays.

One of the items I picked up was this Maybelline New York Hyper Diamonds Eye Colour Palette in shade Berry Diamonds BR-2. I think this is an absolutely gorgeous palette and I think the berry colours will be great in winter time and a nice change from my very typically neutral shadows.

This contains 5 different shades which are all shimmers, hence the hyper diamonds name. There is a light pale white shade with pink and golden shimmer flecks, this would be good for highlighting either in the corner of the eye or below the eyebrow. There is also a slightly similar pale pink colour with smaller shimmer flecks, this should make a good solid base colour. There is a brown colour which is tinted with purple and gold shimmer. There is a purple mauve, berry coloured shadow with gold and purple flecks. The last colour is a very deep purple coloured shadow with purple flecks in it.

When I took the pictures for the swatches, the lightest colour was prone to some fallout, it has the largest shimmer flecks in it. They also did not immediately rub off until I lathered up with some hand soap.

I will test out the wear time closer to winter or on a night out, the shimmer is probably a bit too much for day time. This retails for $18.95 AU but I purchased it for $5 AU on sale. I am happy to try out some new colours that I don't actually have in my collection.

Have you purchased anything similar lately?

Love Liz xx

Another Haul

Hey Everyone

I have another haul to share with you today, this was the result of some online shopping, one package was from a month ago, whilst the other only a week. I will list the products in groups of which website I purchased them from, one was a pleasant experience but the other not so much, and I will have to think carefully about next time I want to purchase off their website. Unfortunately this is not full reviews of the products as I only just received them today, but I can follow up with reviews later if you guys are interested. 

iHerb.com

I have purchased twice now from iHerb and both times have been for the Real Techniques by Samantha Chapman brushes, which as any beauty guru could tell you are amazing for their price. As I have mentioned in a previous post, I started out with the core collection and then received the blush brush, expert face brush and the your eyes/enhanced starter set. I have no idea what I was thinking as I desperately needed a new powder brush as my current brush is cheap and has been shedding all over my face. So I looked up the prices in Priceline and eBay and it was cheaper to purchase them off iHerb and pay for express shipping than it was to buy in store.

Your Base/Flawless Powder Brush

This is a rather large but fluffy powder brush that looks like it could do my whole face in just a few small sweeps! It does feel lovely and soft and not scratchy at all on my face. If like the other brushes in the range, I know this will hold up well with continued use and washing. My other brushes have yet to shed unlike some of the other brushes I own. I purchased this for $9.99 US or $11.18 AU, in Priceline it retails for $24.99 but is currently 20% off.

Your Finished/Perfected Stippling Brush

I am not 100% sure what to use this brush for, the lovely Samantha Chapman does provide youtube tutorials of how to use her brushes though, I will watch the one for this brush very soon. The packaging claims  that the stippling brush is her

Trade secret for creating airbrushed, high definition results with all types of makeup.

This brush costs only $9.99 US or  $11.18 AU, it retails for $22.99 AU in Priceline but is currently on sale with 20% off.

 E.L.F Tone Correcting Concealer

I placed this in my online basket on a whim as my current under eye concealer is starting to show signs of running out! I could not resist purchasing this for $2.99 US or $3.35 AU, I will just use this after my current concealer has run out and while I am waiting to research what new concealer to try. I am considering buying the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Circles Concealer and Treatment, which I have heard quite good reviews about.

BeautyBay

This is the second purchase I have made on BeautyBay and unfortunately I was left fairly disappointed with the service provided. The website quotes 7-10 days for their international saver delivery which is provided at no cost for any orders off their site, my last delivery took around 25 days to arrive, and although longer than last time I was still happy with free shipping. This time around I had still not received my items for close to a month, so I emailed their customer service and asked what the process was, and told them I was happy to wait a bit longer as I knew that it had been Christmas time so a busy time of year for the postal services. I received a quick reply which was an automated response, it mainly told me I should have paid for tracking, there was not much they could do and that it should arrive. Obviously it did arrive so I can not complain about that, I realise that once it leaves the warehouse or what have you it is in the hands of the postal company. Never have I received such poor customer service however, even when buying cheap items off eBay the sellers are more considerate and helpful than the customer service I talked to. I googled the problem and it seems like a lot of people have had very similar issues with BeautyBay. I am just left disappointed with the lack of help I received, but I understand their side to the story. Ultimately I will try to shop off other websites with cheaper tracking parcel options in future.

Pixi Eye Glow Cube

This was part of the many presents I received from my partner for Christmas, of course it never arrived on time, hence why it wasn't featured in the What I got For Christmas 2013 post.  Unfortunately I am unwilling to part with the money to purchase an Urban Decay Naked Palette, instead I chose this palette which contains 2 eye base powders in a cute little pull out drawer in the bottom along with 2 duo sponge applicators, and 16 eye shadows in the top compartment. This palette is said to be

Daylight-hued eye-glow-in-a-cube of silky coordinated lid-finishers wraps your lids in embellished lustrous metallics. Fresh, natural & youthful, this palette enhances with creamy gold, nude, caramel & ancient bronze colours.

 This sounds like the perfect palette for me and I am excited to create a few new eye looks with it. I purchased this for $30.70 AU, but it is currently on sale for $28.90 AU off the BeautyBay website. 

Head Jog Teasing Brush 103

I have misplaced most of my combs somewhere and was interested in purchasing a teasing comb for quite a while now. This is a fairly cheap brush for $5.10 AU but it feels like it is nice quality and looks like it will last a while. I am excited to try this out and see how it goes teasing my thick hair!

BeautyBay Premier Service

I paid an extra $2.71 AU for the premier service added to my order. The premier service includes having your order dispatched within 24 hours of ordering and you receive at least one deluxe sample with your order. With my order I received a BeautyBay.com blending sponge (which is not available for purchase to Australia, yet they can ship it to me as a sample?) which after some digging, I discovered retails for $9.00 AU. I also received a sample of Jane Iredale's Glow Time Mineral BB Cream, I have not tried anything by Jane Iredale as I believe it is not the easiest to get a hold of in Australia. I am not a huge fan of BB creams but I am always willing to try out new ones in order to find one I am a fan of. Overall I think it was well worth the extra $2.71 for this 'premium service', I love surprises and am always happy to try out new beauty or skincare products.

Have you had any bad experiences with online shopping? Or bought any new items recently?

Love Liz xx