L'Oreal La Palette Nude Swatches & First Impressions

I'm not entirely sure if this palette is actually "out" yet, as the Boots.com website still says something about a waiting list and I've yet to see it pop up on the Superdrug site, but while browsing my local Boots today, this was sitting on the shelf under a note that said "la riche eye palette". I've heard a wee bit of buzz surrounding this of late, and after getting hold of it its pretty easy to see why. As I said, I only bought this today so I've not tried it properly - this is purely a swatches and first impressions post based on what I've seen of the texture of the shadows.

As the name suggests it's a pretty nude palette - moreso than even the likes of the Naked(1,2,3) in my opinion as there's no super dark black/grey shades and even the deeper colours are very wearable. The first shade in the palette didn't show up on my skin in the photos, and registered merely as a shimmer in person.

The first five shades in the palette. For the most part, muted rosy tones. Similar to the Naked 3 colour family.

The second lot of shadows. These are all slightly darker but still very wearable. I'd have no trouble wearing these day to day alongside the lighter tones in the palette.

The swatches. As I said, the first shadow doesn't really show up on my skin and isn't visible in the photo. The black intrusion you see to the far right is a tattoo, apologies - I ran out of arm space while swatching.

The formula of these is soft and buttery to the touch - this is my first experience with L'Oreal eyeshadows and I have to say I'm quite impressed. The mattes felt no drier to the touch than the shimmers do, and I think they'll all blend quite nicely.

The palette is £14.99, which I think is quite expensive given that it's a high street offering, but the quality is there if you don't mind paying a little extra for it. I found this in Boots, but I daresay it'll be available in Superdrug at some point in the future. I've not seen an official release date for it anywhere, so who knows when it'll be popping up.

What do you think of the colour selection? Are you still liking the pink tones, or think it's getting a bit samey now?

Review: Stila In The Light Palette

Have you ever made a spur of the moment decision to grab something you've wanted for ages, just because it's the first time you've seen it in person? That's pretty much the experience I had with this palette. I've been eyeing it online for ages, never committing to making the purchase because I just wasn't 100% sure I wanted to spend £25 on something I'd never seen - and let's face it, I've got more than enough eyeshadow as it is. Seeing it sat alone on the shelf in Boots (apparently the ones in Liverpool have all the mid-high end stuff out on display too! it's not like that where I'm from), I made the snap decision then to just pick it up and take it home with me. I could've had a bit of a case of regret that night, but it turns out that I absolutely love it, am so glad I picked it up and its become basically my absolute favourite eyeshadow palette. I've only used something different (the MUR Iconic 1 palette, if you were wondering) since I've had it.

We'll talk about packaging to start with. The outer packaging is made of cardboard, with the brand name and palette name on the outside. It has a magnet that holds it shut, but it isn't all that strong so I probably wouldn't trust it out loose in a bag. On the inside is 10 1.4g eyeshadow pans (with the names printed on the packaging, hallelujah!), one of Stila's smudge sticks in the shade Damsel and a massive mirror. I really appreciate the inclusion of the eyeliner rather than a brush that I'd likely not use with the palette. I've never tried a smudge stick before but after experiencing how good Damsel is, I'm really interested in trying more from the range.

There's quite a lovely quote printed on the cardboard above the mirror - "believe in the beauty of the future", which is quite nice to read of a morning when getting ready :) 

That's the basic layout of the palette. I have to say I get a lot more use out of the shades on the top row, but that's just because I've not been wearing overly dark makeup at the moment.

A closer look at the shades in the palette. It's very neutral, but I like that because it means I'll get a lot of use (and my money's worth!) out of the palette as a whole. I have to say, Kitten is absolutely beautiful, and I think I'll buy it as a single when I've used it up from the palette. 

L-R on the top row the shades are Bare - a matte, creamy white shade. Kitten - a highly shimmery champagne shade, perfect for highlighting and lightly dusting across the lid. Bliss - a light, neutral matte brown. This has become my favourite for using in my crease, either as a transition colour, or as my crease shade when keeping my makeup really light. I've also used it in my brows and it works well for that! Sunset - Possibly the most beautiful bronze shade ever. It's neither too warm, nor too cool, looks lovely on the lid and really brings out blue eyes. Sandstone - a darker and warmer matte brown.  I use this predominantly on the lower lashline, but also for deepening up the crease and outer corner for slightly heavier looks.

As I mentioned, I get the most use out of the top row and I think it's obvious why that is! Those five shades alone would make a wonderful quint, if Stila released smaller neutral palettes.

L-R on the bottom row - Bubbly - a gorgeous neutral toned gold shade. This is my most used colour from the bottom row, again this shade looks lovely all over the lid. It is shimmery, but not overly so. Gilded Gold - more of a true gold shade - this is darker than Bubbly, and has little pieces of glitter in it. It can be difficult to get the glitter to show on the eyes, so a sticky base when using this shade is a good idea. Luster - a dark, shimmery fairly cool brown. Although this does have some shimmer it would work nicely in the crease and on the outer V of the eye. It's probably my favourite tone of brown from the whole palette, and I think it'd look lovely blended out alone on the eye. Night Sky - A shimmery gun-metal shade. This is the one I think I'll get the least use out of in the palette, as because I have blue eyes I don't find blue-toned shadows to be particularly flattering. I daresay I'll find some use for it though, so it doesn't go to waste. Ebony - a matte black. This isn't the most impressive black shade I've seen, I find the Sleek ones to be more pigmented, however this is certainly the easiest to blend matte black I've used. It works well as a liner for the eyes, and for blending into looks to deepen them up. 

Smudge Stick in Damsel - a creamy, deep chocolatey brown liner. This is the perfect choice to accompany this palette, and is lovely smudged out or just applied straight from the pencil. It's automatic so doesn't need sharpening, I didn't find it to smudge after it'd set or transfer, and the pigmentation is absolutely perfect. I'm intrigued to see if their black is as impressive.

Shade swatches in the same order as above, with Damsel on the side. I swatched these on paper because I don't have enough room on my arms, sorry! You can see that very little of the shimmer in Gilded Gold has stuck in the swatch, hence the need for a sticky base, but with one it'd work fine.

In the palette you get 10x 1.4g eyeshadows and a 2g liner for £25. Stila retails in Boots, on FeelUnique, Asos and the Stila website.

Have you ever tried any of the Stila palettes? They have a couple of others I'm interested in, but I think I'll stick to In The Light for now :)

My Cheeky Trio

What you see before you may be my all time favourite trio of cheek products. Since obtaining these little beauties, I've been using them as a trio on my cheeks (or a quad, since the Bourjois product contains both bronzer and highlighter but heyho!) and the result is rather lovely. I use the Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Hollow to slightly contour - a process I think I've officially mastered thanks to the Real Techniques Contour Brush, who'd have thought?! - the Bourjois bronzer lightly just to warm up my complexion, since my very slight hint of tan has all but abandoned me and I'm back to my pale ways, and the highlight side lightly on my cheekbones and up onto my brow bone. The highlight is a lovely, lovely subtle highlight. I've read some reviews where people have said they're quite disappointed with its subtlety, but I think it's a selling point personally, if I wanna go all out and glimmer the day away I'll just bust out Mary-Lou! The final point of my trio application is NYX Blush in Peach. I picked this up in Next a few weeks back and it's been on my cheeks almost exclusively since. The colour is the most beautiful pale pink shade, and the finish is quite sheer so it's difficult to over-do it, but easy enough to layer for a more intense colour. I find this shade to be absolutely perfect for my cool-toned complexion (as a note, the Rimmel Light Porcelain shade of foundation is a perfect match for me, if you're around that sort of skin tone, I'd urge you to check out Peach. It's massively complimentary) and can see myself wearing it into the depths of winter. 

Bar the Illasmasqua pigment, the products are all quite affordable (saying that, though, I also own NYX Taupe blush and that works in a very similar way - I just don't have it with me and slightly prefer the ease of application with Hollow, but Taupe would be a good substitute for a lower budget) and I'm very, very happy with the results. Cheek makeup is the one thing I always feel like I accidentally go overboard on and it's not something I have to worry about with this little combination of bits :)

What are some of your favourite cheek products, any recommendations?

FOTD | Simply Autumnal

It was definitely feeling more autumny in Liverpool today - and over the last few days! So I decided to embrace that in my makeup. Nothing says autumn like a berry toned blush and a deep lip to me, so that's what I opted for. With the majority of the focus being on my lips, and a little lent to my cheeks, I decided to keep my eyes very very simple.

Products Used.

Base & Cheeks.

Rimmel Lasting Finish Nude Foundation - Light Porcelain | NYX HD Concealer - Fair | Essence All About Matte Powder | Illamasqua Cream Pigment - Hollow | Illamasqua Velvet Blush - Peaked | No7 Instant Radiance Highlighter |

Eyes & Brows.

Milani Nude Eye Primer | Make Up Revolution Salvation Palette - Iconic 1 | Rimmel Micro Eyeliner Pen | Essence Get Big Lashes Mascara | Maybelline Master Shape Brow Pencil - Dark Blonde.

Lips.

Illamasqua Glamore Collection - Vampette.

I really quite like the way this look turned out, and I think it's one I'll be turning to regularly over the autumn/winter season. I don't go a bundle on the way the lipstick smells (a bit plasticky), but I really enjoy the finish and the way it sits on my lips, making it a winner in my books. The eyes I kept super simple, just using the two matte browns and light shimmery pinkish colour from the MUR palette and doing a simple winged liner to finish off. I'd recommend checking out the Illamasqua lipstick and blush if you're looking for some new bits to add to your collection for A/W.

A New Found Love - Illamasqua Hollow

Illasmasqua is a brand I've wanted to try out for the longest time - with this being one of the products in particular. It's raved about in the beauty world for being the best contour for people with pale skin, and I have to say I agree! It's difficult to find a product that's not too dark/orange/murky to use on pale skin and Hollow certainly cuts the mustard with being absolutely perfect for it. As the name suggests, it has the ability to make your cheeks look hollowed out without looking unnatural, and I believe it's absolutely worth its price tag.

The product is a cream, and one that's surprisingly long wearing. I actually find it difficult to get off my hand when swatching it for whatever reason. Although these are marketed as multi purpose products, I've yet to try it anywhere but my cheeks for fear it'll crease on my eyes and this isn't the sort of colour to use on your lips, ha!

The product is highly pigmented and so so so easy to blend you'll be done before you even know it. I've already mentioned how perfect the colour is for fairer skins, but I think if your skin is much darker than fair-medium, this isn't likely to work for you, and you'll need something a little darker. I daresay Illamasqua offer something darker in the same product family though, although I haven't checked personally, but it may be worthwhile looking into. Another thing I like about the product is its quirky packaging - I actually spent a good five minutes trying to figure out how to open it (the lid lifts off, and I was trying to twist it. Oops!) and then another couple going "look, it's all curvy!" to my boyfriend, with a bemused expression and "yes Charlotte" being the basis of the reply I received.

Swatch of Hollow against my arm. I've not been matched to a MAC foundation shade, but I'm equivalent to an NC15, for reference.

If you've got fair skin and want to check out a good contouring shade, I'd definitely recommend Hollow. For something cheaper and a powder formula, NYX Taupe blush is absolutely wonderful also, I've written a post on that here.

What's your favourite product for contouring?

Maybelline Colour Drama

Hands up if you're a stickler for anything in a pencil! *raises both hands and begins to jig merrily.*

We all know we have Clinique and their chubby-anything-going to blame for this phenomenon, but we go along with it anyway, continuing to purchase, peruse and try out anything that comes our way in a stick. I've tried most of the high-street pencil like offerings, and I have to say these new pencils from Maybelline are up there in my top 3 (second to Revlon Matte Balms, but just pipping Bourjois Colour thingy-mi-bobs to the number 2 spot) due to their ease of application, massive colour pay off and predominantly matte finish. Be still my beating heart.

These came to me in an attempt to purchase the Colour Elixirs (which I also bought, self restraint? Naaah.). My eyes drifted to them as if it was destiny that we should meet that day. At £4.99 and on a 3 for 2 offer, in to my basket they slipped after some copious swatching, and merrily we skipped to the till to make the purchase. I normally wouldn't buy three of something on first purchase for fear of not getting on with them, but I went for colours I know I like, and I knew the formula was a winner from first swatch. These are creamy, but not too creamy, amazingly pigmented and pretty much matte. Only Minimalist (the pinky shade) has a little shimmer in, but the berry and red are entirely matte. They last nicely on the lips and I don't find them to be too drying, though they're certainly not moisturising by any means at all. They're not twist up, and you will have to sharpen them (though this could be a bonus, as it'll mean you'll keep the tip sharp and precise enough for a sharp-ass application!). They fit into the larger side of my Bourjois sharpener, so they should fit into any standard larger sized sharpener you have lurking about. 

You might be surprised at how small these are when you first see them - I thought they were just a special size for testers when I picked one up to swatch it, but they're all quite stubby. I can't find it written anywhere on the packaging how much product is in them and couldn't find them at all on Maybelline's website so your guess is as good as mine as far as that goes, but there's a good amount in there and it'll last you long enough - who really uses up lipsticks anyway? 

L-R Berry Much, Red Essential and Minimalist.

Overall, I really like these little pencils. They're definitely products I can see myself getting a lot of use out of, and I'll probably pick up a few more if I see any colours that catch my attention, they seem to have a fair few on offer!

Have/Would you try these out? What do you think of them if you have?

Make Up To Perk You Up

This is a bit of a "three-in-one-er" kind of post. It's the makeup I use to kind of perk me up when I'm feeling a little blue, but it's also a post including some new additions to my stash, and an "every day makeup" sort of post, since I've been wearing it most days of late.

Apologies for the oddly photographed products - I've yet to figure out a good place for pictures and there are few clear surfaces in this room! What you see before you is a bit of a mish-mash of bits and bobs. For the most part, they're newer products that I've added to my stash since being at my boyfriends (most of my makeup is still at home at the moment, I'm waiting to get it posted to me, ha), and they're all things I've found make me feel a little better through the process of applying them and the look they create at the end of the process.

I've been feeling a little down in the dumps recently, for quite a few reasons if I'm honest and I've been looking for any way possible to make myself feel a little better, so making myself look awake, a bit sparkly and slightly dramatic of the eye has been working for me. 

Products

Rimmel Lasting Finish Nude Foundation in Light Porcelain - Essence Match to Cover concealer in 10 - Illamasqua Hollow Cream Pigment - NYX Peach Blush - Bourjois Duo Bronzing Powder in 55 - Stila In The Light Palette - Rimmel ScandalEyes Micro Liquid Eyeliner Pen - Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara in Extreme Black (Lower Lashes) - Essence Get Big Lashes (Upper Lashes) - Maybelline Master Shape Brow Pencil in Dark Blonde - Maybelline Colour Drama Lip Pencil in Minimalist.

Are there any particular products you use when you're feeling a little down in the dumps? What are they, if you do?