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.

Review: Too Faced Just Peachy Mattes Palette

At first I had my sights set on the popular Sweet Peach palette which at one point
was extremely hard (as well as pricey) to get when I was previously based in Australia. 

Having left a lot of my makeup collection behind I wanted to build it back up with the
most versatile colors.

The palette features 12 shades that go seamlessly with one another. From an almost
pure white to an almost charcoal black. Each eyeshadow is so easy to blend and has
more intense color than you would guess. The only negatives I found was some fall out
when applied, and the shade 'Chocolate Dipped' was hard to blend out as you can see 
from my swatch.

My Favorite Colour Combo:

Peach Tea, Fresh Picked and Just Ripe

Does it really smell like peaches? YES. It doesn’t kind of smell like them. In fact, it literally
smells like a fresh peach that you have taken a bite out of, or even a freshly baked dessert.
Too Faced Cosmetics has taken their talent for adding scents to each of these beautiful matte
eyeshadows and nailed it. 

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.

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.

Makeup Journey of a soon-to-be MUA

If you've been following my content from the very beginning
you would've probably heard me mentioning wanting to study
to become a professional MUA (Make Up Artist). It wasn't a crazy
spur-of-the-moment decision, or anything like that. I've been 
looking into doing this for about three years, and I still have the
same passion I did in the beginning. 

In one of my very first videos, I briefly discuss my early experiences
with makeup. Growing up in an abusive home environment, and not
knowing how truly wrong it was. It isn't easy for me to discuss,
but I want to help someone who may be going through what I did.
To have it make such an impact on you and your aspirations so much
so that you give up on it. 

Whenever I would experiment with makeup; My then step-father
would get so mad he demanded I remove my any makeup and say
I looked like a 'whore'. My mother would sit there stone-faced next
to him, even when it made me cry. This happened from age thirteen 
on-wards to the point that I never wore makeup in front of him.

I wasn't wearing any crazy colours, and I didn't cake anything
on. I had on pink lipstick, and some shimmery silver eye shadow.
I didn't know how to do makeup yet, and my mother never tried
to teach me. She had mountains of beauty products, but was pretty
basic when it came to applying makeup. She has expensive taste,
and would get angry if I touched her products. I don't think I'll
ever truly understand her, or their combined treatment of me.

So, I stopped wearing makeup, for years until the end of year 12
 (Senior year). Even then I only wore tinted lip balm, and liquid
eyeliner (if I had time to do so in the morning). This was ages ago,
 literally right before Youtube was around. So I couldn't find makeup
tutorials, or how-to-style videos. These girls are doing so many women
of all ages a service, and I am forever grateful to the many I follow. 
This is where I want to take the next step. It no longer makes me 
sad/upset when I think of makeup. Not only have I come so far in my 
makeup skills, but I am also confident I can do this with flying colours. 


If you are going through anything like this, and need someone to
talk to feel free to email me. You're not alone.

Tartelette In Bloom Palette Review (Swatches)

Firstly, let me just say how impressed I was upon first opened this packaging.
It is stunning and has a high-end feel the whole way through. The second thing
I noticed was a lovely smell, that was sort of sweet with a hint of flower. The
palette is scented. I had no idea it would be, and fully expected it to be similar to
other clay based products (such as Naturals). I have also received a bonus
deluxe 'Gifted' Mascara sample having spent a certain amount on Tarte
products which was a nice little surprise.

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If you keep up with me on social media, you will have seen my 'Unhaul' video on
YouTube where I throw out toxic out-of-date makeup from my own collection. In it,
I throw out most of my mascara. For the past five days I've had swelling on my 
eyelids and my eyes are very sore after using out-of-date makeup as a test. For this 
reason only I will not be applying any makeup to my eyes and show you look I can 
create with this palette. Instead, I will swatch it and give an in-depth review. As
much as it sucks to wait to use this palette on my eyes, I am too excited to not 
swatch it for my lovely readers.

Note: Click to view larger image

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As you can see there is a variety of Matte Shades and foiled ones as well.
I picked this palette because of the deep matte shades it has. Even though
a couple of the deeper colours go on slightly patchy such as Smokeshow,
Activist and Leader.  Be ready to blend with these three shades. If you apply
it quickly it will look uneven and patchy as you can see in my swatches which
were done using my fingers not a brush. Perhaps this has something to do
with the product being clay based? The formula of these eye shadows
feels silky and almost a bit buttery in texture. As I mentioned above some
of these shades need heaps of blending, and the swatches below were not
done in one swipe. 

A stand out shade for me would be Funny Girl. Not only is this a stunning
pale golden shimmery eye shadow, but can double as a highlighter if you
have a fairly light touch. I had to take a couple photos (below) with and
without a flash to show the beauty of this shade in either conditions. 

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I do recommend this palette for someone who loves earthy-warm tones.
This is also for anyone who wants a palette that is more compact than
Urban Decay's Naked Palettes range, but still has a good selection of
shades. 


NOTE: All images in this post are property of Samantha Marie and this Blog,
and are not to be used without obtained permission.

This is not a sponsored post, and I am not currently sponsored. 
As always my opinions and views are my own.