Review: Morphe Jaclyn Hill Palette (Bling Boss)

                This beauty is the first Morphe Palette I've ever bought and now 
                reviewed. I've heard mixed reviews on their brand as a whole, but I 
                wanted to try this palette out and come to my own conclusion. The first 
                thing I noticed when I opened the box is some bubble wrap protecting 
                the eyeshadow palette inside. This is the only palette I've bought that 
                had this protective feature which I really appreciate.
      

            The packaging in clean and simple. Making it even more affordable
            and appealing to newbies trying out Morphe products. Despite it's
            super affordable price it has a decent sized mirror, and the matte
            silver packaging makes the ten shades inside pop even more.
      

            There are four matte shades, four shimmer shades and two foiled 
            shades. As for blending, the shimmer and foiled shades blend beautifully. 
            Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for some of the matte shades like 
            'Rockstar'. As you can see from my swatches, it went on chunky and 
            took 8 swatches to get to the point you see in the photo! It's such a 
            pretty shade but the formula seems so different from the others. 
            However, I'd say my favorite shades are 'Gem', 'Ballsy' and 
            'Berry Treasure'.

Amazing pigment; Gem blended out very well

You can see where 'Rockstar' was not blending out

            Would I recommend this eyeshadow palette?

            I would for those on a budget who want some glam in their life, 
            and with patience when it comes to carefully blending out a couple 
            difficult shades.

RCK: Red Carpet Kolour Review

First off, I got this product awhile back and only tried once. I wore it all over the parts

of my body that would be showing for a Halloween event. The product did give me 

an amazing glow and lasted all night long (despite sweating and clothing contact).  

I didn't know you could also use it on your face if done correctly. I've noticed a 

couple reviews that are out there from people who are either sponsored or have a 

PR relationship with the brand itself. When I see reviews like that I think twice
  about believing their opinion which may be a bit biased. 

So, I grabbed a new brush intent on testing it on my face, something I have seen

in a blog or two from makeup artists recommending this product as a 'must-have'.

My skin is fairly pale and I was concerned that even the 'light' version of this product

would be vastly noticeable after drying. I washed, dried my skin, and applied some 

drug store primer before testing this product. My skin has been VERY dry as we are 

just coming out of a brutal winter here in Australia, therefor I recommend exfoliating

 and cleansing any dry dead skin away before application of this product. RCK Body 

Glow takes up to 5 minutes to dry. With a brush you have to be very careful how

hard you brush it in so that you don't leave lines or streaks (blend away!). 

Small Amount of Product Not Yet Blended In 

After blending product without Primer into my hand

With Flash it has a gorgeous golden undertone
and covers any uneven tones in your skin.

I applied the product to my face and made sure to blend it out as much as 

I possibly could with a foundation brush before it dried. It dries fairly quick,  

and if you ad additional product over the area you have blended some in already  

it will just build up and become darker as you can see on my left cheek above.  

My usually pale skin looked tanned and when the light is on my skin it has a  

almost pale golden shine to it (as pictured below). I am not wearing any blush, 

bronzer or using a contour palette.

The overall results were amazing! My skin looks sun-kissed  and relatively even.The only
two negatives I could find is;  One, that it dries quickly and if not blended out will leave
streaks. Two, you will feel it on your skin throughout the day as it is fairly thick after being
applied. I won't be using it as an everyday product, but it is nice to have if I want to use on
my body to even out skin tone or cover scarring. 

Review of Sleek Makeup Solstice Highlight Palette

      When I first heard about the this highlighting palette I knew I needed to try it 

       out for myself. The reviews I came across seemed almost too good for such an 

       affordable palette ($15-40 AUD depending on the seller). They are pretty hard to
       find in Australia so I ordered it from the UK and waited a little over 2 weeks to
       receive it. 

      The packaging is very nice, and almost reminds me of some Tarte Palettes I've

      come across. The amount of product you get in this palette seems very generous.

      I don't think I'll be using the type of brush provided as I have some decent highlight
      brushes to apply it with, but it is nice to have a brush provided either way. 

With Flash 

Without Flash

      As you can see from the swatches above and swipes with my finger 

      below it is fairly pigmented. Each shade is stunning and unique in its
      own way. I knew that this little palette had good reviews, but it is incredible
      value for the price. I've seen Too Faced highlighters with less pigmentation
      than this amazing little palette. For 1,2 & 4 I swiped three times to get the
      swatch above. For 3 It is thicker and more of a cream texture so it took
      between 1-2 swipes to the swatch above. 

      Any doubts about this product have certainly been put to rest as far as
      I am concerned. I am still blown away by how amazing these four shades
      look after being thoroughly swatched. I can't argue with the overall quality  
      in this product in any way. I'd love to hear from anyone who has used this
      palette and what your experience with it has been like.

My Fav Swatches Coastal Scents 120 Five Palette

As you probably already know from this blog, I like to test products before fully
reviewing them. This palette was no different, and I wanted to give it the time

and respect it deserves by testing out a variety of colours. Coastal Scents put
out quality products that are also pretty damn affordable. So here some of my
favourite swatches from the 120 Five Palette.


The formulas vary from Matte shades that need building up. The foiled shades
are pigmented and go on so smoothly. Shimmery shades that have a buttery
formula which barely needs to be touched for a decent swatch. I did not apply
primer before swatching these shades. Each swatch took between 2-3 swipes,
but the matte shades needed to be blended more than the foiled and shimmery
shades. 

Number 3, 14 and 18 are comparable in quality to some of the shades/formulas
I have found in Urban Decay's Naked 2 palette. Yes, that is a big claim and huge
price difference between these two products. You get quite a bit out of this
diverse Coastal Scents Palette. They give you quality eye shadows that can
almost be compared to larger premium brands for just 1/4 of the price tag. 
If you want a wide variety of colours to play with without having to commit 
to buying an $80 (AUD) eye shadow palette...I highly recommend this one or
any of Coastal Scents range of products. 



Note: All images above are property of this blog and the owner.
          Please do not use without expressed permission.

Colourpop Matte Lip Gloss Tried and Tested

I didn't know exactly what to expect when I bought Colourpop lip products
having never used them in the past. There are so many beauty gurus who
have used their products, and I wanted to test them out thoroughly myself. 
I picked two colours that I wanted to add to my collection.


Colourpop Ultra Matte Lip In Lumiere 2

This was the first colour I picked to try from Colourpop's Ultra Matte
Lip range. One of the reasons I chose it was because it is also
recommended as a dupe for Kylie Cosmetics Dolce K liquid lipstick.

This colour took a few minutes to fully dry and become matte without

transferring or smudging. The image above is a bit lighter than the
actual shade as you can see from my photos below. 

Wearing Lumiere 2

Colourpop Ultra Matte Lip In Teeny Tiny

A helpful tip on spotting fake Colourpop lip gloss would be the lack of

bright lime green on the inside of the packing (not pictured). There are

so many fakes online I encourage you to do your research like I did to

be able to weed out which ones are not the real thing. 

Wearing Teeny Tiny 

The second colour I wanted to try is Colourpop's Teeny Tiny. This
was a suggested dupe of Kylie Cosmetics Dolce K liquid lipstick.

This colour dried fairly quicker than Lumiere 2, not sure exactly why

that would be. This colour is so bold and deep. I was worried it would
be too dark for me when it arrived but after drying I was happy to pair
it with cool-toned earthy colours.  

Immediately after swatching

24 hours after swatching

I wanted to put this swatch through a 24 hour wear test on my hand

to see how much it faded. As you can see above, even after washing
my hands several times and sleeping with it on it it's staying power is
impressive. The only problem I ran into is when you eat oily foods  it
will remove the lip gloss fairly easily. All in all these have become my
favourite long-lasting lip glosses. 

Making My Own Pressed Glitter Palette

I'm sure many of you are familiar with pressed glitter palettes 
and single pans. If you're in the beauty community and you love 
DIY projects this is a must for you! I have read several different
methods of making your own Pressed Glitters

To be clear this is the how I made my pressed glitters, and I don't 
consider this a tutorial. I am simply documenting my first experience
making them. 

I had ordered a mixing tray and batch of isopropyl alcohol for this DIY,
and it was lost in the mail during my move/change of address. 

Therefore, I had to improvise on a couple things.

As you can see I'm using cupcake wrappers instead of a mixing tray
to mix the glitter together to make the specific colour that I want. I
have my palette, empty pans, mixing bowl, syringe (no needle
necessary), Coconut Oil, Aloe Vera Gel, Assorted glitter, tooth picks
and a Citrus note based Perfume (80% Alcohol). 

I mixed the Coconut Oil, Aloe Vera Gel and 80% Alcohol together by
using the syringe to suck it up and plunge it repeatedly until the solution
is a cloudy colour.

These are the three colours I used to make 'Unicorn Horn'

Colour combination: Matte white, Shimmery white and baby

pink iridescent sparkle. I ended up adding a larger amount 

than pictured, but it was easy to mix together with enough
of the solution (I filled the pan with solution before hand). 

I filled the syringe pretty much around the '1' mark but I added a
few drops while mixing if the glitter seemed a bit clumpy/dry. I put the pans in the palette, and the palette went into the refrigerator
for 24 hours. 

Here are the results

Here are all the finished pans inside the palette. After fully drying they are even more
vibrant than in the single pan photos above. Swatches on the right were done after the
24 hour drying period.

I was very pleased with the results. It is much easier than I originally thought
it would be. The biggest issue you might have is the glittery mess that is left
over. If you intend to try this, I would highly recommend that you wait the

24 hours for your pressed glitters to fully dry. Some of mine dried quicker
and some were still moist. Either way, I am glad to have to have successfully
my own palette.