If I could keep only 10 eyeshadow palettes

Recently I saw the aforementioned tag on YouTube. This piqued my interest, forcing me to take inventory of my own modest collection. If a situation were to arise where I could grab only 10 eyeshadow palettes, which ones would they be?

After a deep dive (and a deep clean), I came up with these 10 beauts. Some are new, some are rather old, but still near and dear to my heart. These are in no particular order:

1. Juvias Place 'Nubian 2 Palette'

This is one of my recent purchases and boy am I glad I got this. The thing about this palette is that you can create all sorts of looks; the pops of colour are so pretty. The quality of these shadows are second to none and their lasting power is impressive too. This would fall into the 'not too expensive, yet not too cheap' category but honestly speaking, with the amount of product in each pan, and with the stellar quality, every penny invested is so worth it.

2. Colorpop 'Dream St.' Kathleen Lights Palette

A girls' palette. So feminine, and irresistibly cute. The shimmers in this are so foiled and rich. I always get compliments when wearing this palette. That pop of red is pretty unique and the other two pops of colour are so compatible. This one is directly out on my vanity and it is staying there for the forseeable future. Affordable, small and compact and high on quality. I wish there was a small mirror, but at the price point, I'm not complaining.

3. Huda Beauty 'Desert Dusk' Palette

Speaking of mirrors, the Huda Beauty Desert Dusk Palette boasts a really good quality one. Honestly, I've given my palette so much love - except for the glitter shade on the bottom row which I haven't even touched yet. What's unique about this palette is not only its colour story, but the sheer 'top coat' like shades it has - I believe there are three of them. Looking for a pop of shimmer in the center of your eyelid, this palette provides brilliant options. Use them on lips too for that matter. The mattes are so pigments and the shimmers are so vibrant. This one is pricey, so it comes down to whether you'll be able to use the colours. My sister for instance, doesn't reach for it much as she finds the colours hard to work with. Me - well I'm going to hit pan on this one this year!

4. Anastasia 'Amrezy' Palette

ABH has been chucking out palettes in 2019 like nobody's business. This particular one is rather old and discontinued. Nonetheless, it has a brilliant, almost convenient shade selection with the quality her name is famous for. No regrets here. This one I feel I can travel with. No fuss, no muss!

5. Smashbox 'Smoky Cover Shot' Palette

This one was gifted to me. There are a range of these tiny palettes available, but this one has to be my best. Smashbox shadows are pretty good, but they really brought it with this palette. If sultry is your thing, you can't go wrong with this one. That burgundy is absolutely glorious as an accent colour. It's just such a good quality product!

6. Morphe 'Jaclyn Hill' Palette

This one is quite large - but honestly, if you're looking to buy just one palette- go for this one! It's so pigmented, the colours so delightful, soft, buttery and the great thing is that it is super affordable.

7. Stila 'Eyes are the window to the mind' Palette

You look at this palette and you feel so fancy. It's so sophisticated looking. With a golden metallic body with a giant 'S' embossed on it and with a very high quality mirror, this one is a total spurge, but so worth it. I find that it is so work appropriate and lends an air of professional finesse. Definitely one for the woman on the go.

8. Urban Decay 'Naked 2' Palette

A gal needs a cool toned palette. I love these cool tones bejeweled shades. The black adds the oomph factor. The packaging is quite sturdy and it comes with a mirror and a brush (which I honestly can't use). Again, it is on the pricey side, so if you're not a fan of greys and silvers, this one might not be for you.

9. Too Faced 'Shake Your Palm Palms'

Oh the packaging on this! And that coral; oh and that moss green! What's not to love? Too Faced have outdone themselves. I love everything about this palette although admittedly, it is quite a recent addition to my vanity. This one is the kind of palette you can easily throw into you 'to go' bag.

10. Makeup Revolution 'Emily Noel The Wants' Palette

Again, this is a bit of huge one. This reminds me of my younger days. You look at this palette and you think 'how sweet'. I love the colour selection but of all the palettes I have mentioned, this is the one that has possibly the least colour pay off - but mind you - it is still amazing... It just needs a little more cajoling than the others. I love the mirror, the cute pink packaging and for just 20$, it's a steal.

So those are my top 10 eyeshadow palettes. Do you own any of these? Which ones do you really enjoy? Drop me a comment below!

Loreal True Match Blendable Powder- Worth it?

Hitting pan is one thing, but finishing a makeup product right down to the very end is truly a moment of great victory and pride. Most girls would start thinking about either a repurchase of the same product or an alternative midway between the two.

I am one to always keep trying new products, so after I cleaned out my MAC Mineralized Skin Finish Powder, I broke out the Loreal True Match Super Blendable Powder.

Sorry for the murky bit, the tape left behind sticky residue and the powder just keeps getting on it.

For the review just read on.

Dupe for Urban Decay's Naked 3 Palette

It can't be argued that dropping about 6 to 7K Pak Rs. is not an easy task for most of us common folk. And so we turn to the cheaper versions that are out there, only are they really close enough to be called dupes?

Thanks to makeup bloggers and other beauty junkies out there, close enough alternatives to the more expensive products can be found on the click of a google search.

Bringing you a very good dupe for the Naked Palette 3- Makeup Revolution's Iconic Palette 3...

Read on for swatches and other details...

Can an Eyeshadow Palette be More Than Just an Eyeshadow Palette?

Do you ever think, "How am I ever going to hit pan on my super expensive Urban Decay eyeshadow palettes?" If you have, and if you are are the proud owner of the Urban Decay Vice 3 Palette (or any of the Vice palettes), you'll consider reading this post.

This is an amazingly versatile palette, and limitless looks can be achieved with it. Read the review HERE.



Here are a few suggestions on how to use this particular palette in a variety of different ways.

A Review- Medora Nail Polish

I am NOT a nail polish person. Never was, never will be, it's just not my cup of tea. However, it just so happened, that a while back, I got myself a hot glue gun. I happened to come across a number of tutorials that demonstrated how to make awesome (cute and pretty) DIY decorative items, stuff like jewelry, containers, art work and coasters.

I decided I was going to take up 'hot-gunning', and make some 'stuff'- kind of make it a thing to do with my very creative young nieces. So I went ahead and made myself a coaster. It turned out well enough, but disappeared after a couple of days. I think the help probably looked at it long and hard, tossed it out shaking her head and thinking about what the object could possibly be. After all, I hadn't given it any colour.

Now in one of the tutorials, it was suggested that nail polish could be used to paint over things made from the glue. So when I saw this particular shade of nail polish, it was not with the intention of using it on my nails that I bought it.

Shade No. 359

Makeup Products I have Fallen out of Love With + 1 Acquisition

It's all about perspective. 3 makeup products that I had intense love for, a couple of which I have also used extensively, now just lie there on my vanity, pretty much idle. Let me reintroduce:

From the left:

1. Loreal Blush in 04- Rosewood
2. Urban Decay's Naked Palette 3
3. Color Pop lippie in Tulle

Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick (540 Hollywood Red)

Price: Depends from place to place, but the price my sister got it for was 1000 Pakistani rupees.

Packaging:  Such a nice and decent looking packaging. It kind of gives a high end lipstick look. And I really like the fact that the red line of the lipsticks have red and silver packaging and the neutral lippies have neutral kind of packaging.

The Face-off: Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair vs. The Body Shop Drops of Youth Bouncy Mask

The big 4 0 is right around the corner. It's a time when one checks for new wrinkles, a bit of sagging skin around the mouth, discoloration around the nose. Then to battle these nasties, one has no choice (eating healthy and adequate sleep are not choices where I'm concerned), but to resort to looking up reviews for a magical elixir of youth. After days of research, I narrowed it down to two products:

vs.

     

Mini-Rave: Blender Cleanser

I should have taken pictures, but I was skeptical. So I went ahead, in utter desperation, for there was no way my makeup brushes could be used without a deep and thorough cleansing. After a wonderful wedding in the family, (confession: quite a bit of brush sharing went on), my poor brushes were just begging to get all the gunk off, especially my slanted Sigma kabuki foundation brush (love love love).

My sis in law told me I should use her Beauty Blender Brush Cleanser. I looked at her and it with an one eyebrow up to my hairline. Really, a glorified bar of soap? This was going to give me pristine brushes, after trying every shampoo and makeup remover? Ah well, what had I to lose, things could not get any worse right?

Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette (review)

Who does not know about the original chocolate bar palette. A very nice neutral palette by too faced for day to day use. It is a warm tone palette.

Price:  It is available at Sephora or even online for Rs 6500/-

Packaging:  Very elegant packaging, looking just like chocolate bar and also inside it smells like chocolate.  It comes with a paper which show three different looks pulled of by this palette.Opens and inside there is a mirror which is use-able. 

Product:  This palette contains 16 eyeshadows. All sort of neutrals are in here, metallic, mattes and shimmery shadows. Out of sixteen shadows, two of them are bigger in size and one is matte and the other is shimmery.

Gilded Ganache: It is sort of deep brown shade with a hint of green mixed in it and contains golden shimmer inside. The colour payoff is good but keep in mind.. Also it is quite buildable and easy to blend.

White Chocolate: This is one of the big eyeshadows in the palette. One of my favorites from the palette reason being its matte and gets on beautifully. Has very buttery consistency to it.

Milk Chocolate: Another matte eyeshadow, a medium brown shadow, very good transition shade also can be worn on the lid. Super soft and just lovely.

Black Forest Truffle: This shadow is deep purple with lots of sparkle to it. This shadow in my opinion is not so great reason being the texture is not so good and it is not pigmented. Like when you apply with brush, you have to do extra effort to build up and it does not show the sparkle a lot.. if you use this shadow wet it will work good. Otherwise there will be a lot fall out also.

Triple Fudge: The most darkest matte and pigmented deep brown shadow. It blends easily and it builds up easily also can be used as a liner if used wet.

Gilded ganache, White chocolate, Milk chocolate, Black forest truffle and Triple fudge

Salted Caramel: okay, this shade is very pretty, orangey brown warm toned colour with excellent colour payoff. What makes it pretty is that it is another matte in the palette. The texture is very soft and I did not notice any fall out also.

Marzipan: This shade is on the peachy side with metallic finish to it. This shade is very pigmented and it has very good colour payoff.

Semi-sweet: another warm medium brown eyeshadow. Yes its matte and its very soft and blends very nicely

Strawberry Bon Bon: This is a very beautiful colour. It has good colour payoff and it is matte. It can be used for highlighting tear duct area or your brow bone. For my skin tone it cannot be used as a lid colour because it does not show on my skin.

Candied Violet:  This shadow has warm pinky sparkle to it and is very nice violet colour. I have used this wet and on its own, both ways it looks decent.

Amaretto: This colour is medium brown and it has metallic finish to it. Super soft and very pigmented and very good colour payoff.

Salted caramel, Marzipan, Semi-sweet, Candied violet and Amaretto 

Hazelnut: This shade is medium brown colour with frosted golden sheen to it. Good colour payoff and very pigmented.

Creme Brulee:  Another favorite colour of mine in this palette is this warm pure golden colour with a little metallic finish to it. Super super pigmented very soft texture and smoothly applies.  

Cherry Cordial: This is dark plum yet wearable matte shade. Since it is a warm palette overall, so this shade goes beautifully in the crease.

Champagne Truffle: This is the second big shade in the palette. A very frosted pinky white metallic shade. It can also be used for highlighting you face also. Now since I am reviewing this palette now, so let me tell you also that this shade is also in nikkietutorails too faced palette( limited edition) as a highlighter in her palette.

Hazelnut, Creme Brulee, Cherry cordial and champagne truffle

Over all: I feel this palette over all is very good. You can go from neutral eye look to very smokey eye look.. I like this palette. Will I recommend this palette to anyone? Yes I will.

Also FYI, I like this palette better than the naked 1 palette because it has more variety of colour as well as it has a lot of mattes which makes this palette more useable than the naked 1 which has a lot of sparkle to it.

Score: 9/10

Our First Z-Palette... The Experience

By 'our,' I mean my sister and I. She called one fine evening last week asking if I would like to get a z-palette, they had turned up on a makeup selling site and things usually sold out fast. Being a makeup junkie, and having so many singles just sitting in the darkest recesses of my lower most drawer, I thought, shouldn't I  have one already?

"Yes, yes, we'll split the delivery charges".

"Do you want the pink one or the zebra printed one?"

"We'll draw straws, flip a coin or something," Who was I kidding? It would have to be the zebra printed one, and she knew it.

There was some delay in the package, and for a time, all was forgotten until the phone rang this morning, "I'm on my way and I have the loot."

I made a bee-line to my drawer, pulled out my shoe box that held the poor desolate singles and few trios. Piling out the shadows and knowing it would require a complicated algorithm to derive which lucky one would make it into the new fancy lodgings.

Some eyeshadows that made the list.

Clinique Cheek Pop in No. 15 Pansy Pop

Finally! These fantastic blushes from Clinique are old news now, but how does that saying go? Old is gold. Quite a long while back my sis-in-law reviewed the couple she had and they were just brilliant. Read her review here. This product has been a long time coming and now that I have it, I'm over the moon about it.

Clinique Cheek Pop Blush in 15 Pansy Pop

Stila Eyes Are The Window Shadow Palette - Mind (All Mattes) Review

I had a resolution this year- that I'd hit pan on my Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette. It was within my reach and I would have done so by now, had it not been for the culprit which is the subject of this review today. My sis-in-law sent this beauty a while back. I had seen this palette making the rounds but it did not prepare me about the actual feel of the packaging or the buttery consistency of the eyeshadows themselves.

Urban Decay Naked Palette (The Original)

Who does not know about this palette, it is maybe the most famous palette out there, but still for those who want some info on this palette, I hope you find this helpful...

Makeup Tips to Slash Years Off

Another year bites the dust. It's been a roller coaster ride. As experiences led to more wisdom and eye-opening lessons, the skin went on to mature as well. Getting older is generally dreaded, especially after 35. Personally, I believe it's beautiful. The little wrinkles attest to all the times you should never have gotten up, but did. The little bit of salt and pepper says you have learned a thing or two, the reading glasses that you now need to read the fine print just proves that your inner voice is now smart enough to say, "Hey! Read the fine print."

That's not to say that you should just let yourself go. Keeping ship shape regardless of age obviously begins with a healthy life style, you know... healthy diet, plenty of water, regular exercise, the usual, but makeup can help boost your look by kicking a few years off, making you look more vibrant, fresh and that of course, leads to more confidence. Look good, feel good has a lot of truth to it.

Here are a few tips that women can incorporate in their daily makeup routines that lead to more younger look:

Colour Pop Ultra Matte Liquid Lipsticks

Ultra matte is an accurate description. Girls, I have to say, was not expecting these to be a wowing product for me, prior experience with liquid lipsticks has not been pleasant, and I'm talking higher end brands. Suffice it to say, these little suckers packed one hell of a bang for the buck.

Makeup Favourites: 2015 Edition

It's been quite a year. And it's almost over, 2016 holds new exciting unknown adventures. Thought I should really get on top of this one, have been doing a favourites of the year regularly and it's time to see what made the list of the most used, most loved products of this year.

This year the theme of my go to look has been the no makeup makeup look. Seriously, looking at my most reached for lippies I saw no hues of wine, burgundy or red. Not even deep pinks. I've used them on occasion, but not enough to make the list.

There's an idea for a new year's resolution: use more deeper shades.

I just love seeing what everyone out there has in their stash and what they love most. So let's just get into mine.

Clinique Cheek Pop Blush in Ginger Pop and Plum Pop Review

Clinique Cheek Pops are by far the most beautifully packaged blushes I have ever owned/seen. Just take a moment to admire the cuteness of these beauties. The moment I laid my eyes on them, I knew I had to get one and ended up with 2 out of the then released 4 shades.

Clinique Cheek Pop Blushes in Ginger Pop and Plum Pop

Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua- My Holy Grail Foundation at Last

I realize that I have been absent from the blogging arena for a while now. Some things went down, but the dust has finally settled. Suffice it to say, the reviews, tips and makeup related posts will now a be a more frequent part of your feed.

Right, moving along... as you all know I am a self-professed makeup junkie, but among the makeup categories, foundation takes the prize. The wisdom of all top-makeup artists makes so much more sense; a flawless (or as flawless as can be) base, makes for the ideal canvas for the rest of the paraphernalia on your vanity. I should totally do a post on my humble vanity ( ahem ahem) sometime soon. But I digress.

This puppy has been in my stash all sealed for a while now. Come the dry winter months combined with my prior experience with the big sister of this foundation (find the review and dupe here), I gave it a go.

Loreal LA Palette in Rose - A Mini-Review

The Naked Palettes from Urban Decay have set off the revolution of nude eye shadow palettes, but let's face it, they have the tendency to break the bank. Good news is there are great drugstore versions now, like this particular one...

Here is the low down on this palette by a co-author of this blog: