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. 

Review: Tarte Rain Forest By The Sea Palette II

              When I first laid eyes on this pallete I was attracted to the darker colors 

             instantly. Tarte described how this palette's eyeshadows contained built-in 

             primer. The second thing that drew me in was the stunning packaging. It's

             not only stylish, but functional.The mirror with Tarte's logo is large and very

             helpful. Tarte is always generous with their mirror size inside palettes.

Swatches

My favorite colors are Pearl (Foiled), Sunset (Shimmery), Seaside (Matte), and Breezy (Matte).
The swatches above took a minimum of three swipes to be as pigmented as they look. I believe
that this is due to the built-in primer that the Rainforest By The Sea collection prides itself on. Having the built-in primer was definitely a selling point for me, but it seems to make it harder to blend once it is applied. The key to using this palette is patience and LOTS of layers in order
for you to get the pigmentation you see above. Please comment below if you have used this palette and let me know how it works for you.

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.

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.