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.

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.

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.

New MAC Lipstick and Dupe

I was all excited for the unveiling of my new MAC lipstick. This one was on my most wanted list for ages and ages. As I was happily swatching it, it dawned on me that I had put up a post of a lipstick that was very very similar to it just a while back; in fact it was my last post. Okay I'm telling you already... the name of my newest addition is none other than MAC's infamous Velvet Teddy.

Color Studio Professional Lipsticks

There's love at first sight, and there is falling in love steadily; which is what is happening between this brand and I. I brought a brush from this line on the advice of my sister (reviewed here) and just recently, my sister-in-law and I were standing at the display, pondering what to buy.

 As we stood their leisurely swatching things, ladies were coming up asking the sales woman to give them lipsticks with the particular lipstick name. My sister-in-law and I looked each other, a little surprised. Was this range the new MAC? It certainly looked like it from the way things were going. So we just took the plunge. We tried getting our hands on a matte shade, but it was sold out, so we picked out two from the creamy finish line. We got the two shades in 'Tornado' and 'Runway'.

Maybelline Color Drama Velvet Lip Pencils

I thought that these pencils would a little bigger, but they are smaller than your average jumbo lip pencils. When I first caught a whiff of them online, I was intrigued since they looked very nice and were reasonably prized. They are not the retractable ones, they need to be sharpened. This is a plus for me since I like the tip to be sharpish to get a clean lip line.

It was a pleasant surprise to receive these from my sister-in-law (also co-author of this blog) though I believe she has left the heavy lifting to me...(I'm ducking).....nevertheless, I tried them out albeit just once. If you want to know my first impressions, read on.

Shades: 510 Red Essential and 210 Keep it Classy

My Brown/ Brown based Lipstick Favs

With the return of the brown/ browny nude/ brown based lips this coming season, I decided to go through my stash and fell in love of some my since forgotten and hardly used lipsticks and I just kept wondering why I hadn't been using them for some time. But here they are....

I love this entire color range so much, and it looks absolutely gorgeous on medium to dark skin tones, it's pretty for night events and goes superbly with gold eyeshadow.

Marsala 2015 Pantone Colour of the Year Makeup Picks

This year's colour is super awesome and one my favs in terms of makeup. It's a rustic wine shade. It looks amazing with medium to dark skin tones, but fair girls can pull it off too. It's festive, but toned down, it could also be used for everyday makeup. I just went through my stash and picked out a few of my wine/rustic hued makeup products that I just need to use more off (me being the neutral look kinda gal).

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in 04 Peach Club

These are old news now, but I couldn't pass off not not owning at least one of these babies especially when they were on sale. When these first came out there were rave reviews, nobody had anything bad to say about them, and the packaging was also to die for. The color selection is somewhat limited, but even within the 8 colors they have, there is something for everyone from pinks to reds to peach, and they are all matte.

The one that I ended up bringing home was the bright corally peach one. This color is somewhat out of my comfort zone, but life is short right?

Essence Haul and Mini Reviews

After a great many days I happened to venture into the local beauty mart. I was not really expecting anything new, but Essence had a few new products on display. Some things I had already read reviews on, and most reviews were all good. A couple of items were on sale at half price. Most Essence products are priced between 12 and 22 dhs, which is a very good price, especially for the price. I am glad with all the products in my haul and am generally pretty impressed with the brand.

So these are the things I bought:

From L to R: Waterproof eyeliner pen, XXXL Longlasting Lipgloss Matte Effect in 05 Velvet Rose, Rebel Soft Matte Lip Glosses in 02 Rebel Delight and 01 Mauve Like a Rockstar, All About Matt Oil Control Make-up Base, Essence Blush Up in 10 Heat Wave

A close up of the products open....

Revlon Matte Lipstick in 003 Mauve It Over

Matte lipsticks are back with a bang. I've always been partial to a good matte lip. This particular line from Revlon has something for everyone, whether you're a nude lips girl, to a hot red one. There are a couple of beautiful reds in this collection. But my personal favorite is the one called Mauve it Over. The name sounds so cute.

The Tarte of Giving Pure Delights Lipsurgence Set

Now I realize that writing a review on a limited edition item is pretty pointless because if you like it, you will probably not be able to get your hands on it, but the point of this post is to give you my opinion on the lipsurgence liptints by Tarte. Now all eight of these shades (4 glossy and 4 matte) are also limited edition but at least you'll know what they do for you and then it's just a matter of shade selection from the permanent line.

Revlon ColorStay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick in 006 Ultimate Orchid

I featured this product in an Orchid schemed post I did a few days ago (click here). The reason was the most beautiful light mauve pink color that directly attracted me as being the most beautiful lip color for a no makeup makeup look. I am a huge fan of Revlon lip products, including their glosses and chubby stick type balms and their classic lipsticks, but sadly this one product just does not even come up to that mark even by a fraction.

Revlon Liquid Lipstick in Ultimate Orchid

My Current Everyday Makeup Routine- Makeup Application 101

We love our makeup products, they are our little handy helpers. But with so many options and overload of information it becomes difficult to make simple choices, like to use a matte or glossy lipstick, to use a tinted moisturizer or BB cream, or what type of concealer to use. The options are limitless. But most of us have that one standard method of applying makeup that works for you. So in this post I'll be telling you about how I do my standard everyday makeup and what products I am using, and little tips on how to add variety while still sticking to your routine in a time effective way.

Dior Ultra-Gloss Reflect in Shade 257 Organdi Pink

Lip glosses are so pretty. Though to be honest, I do not have the passion for them as I do a lipstick, I still enjoy the sight of them in my hand bag. And of course it adds a nice shine to your lips when you need it or soothe parched lips in case you don't have a balm on hand.

Lip glosses are again, one of those products that I feel you can find easily in a drugstore. Some even beat the higher end ones. But lets face it, a dior is a dior period!

I don't think I'll ever splurge on a dior gloss ever. But having a sample size (still a pretty good amount) makes me feel all girly and feminine. This range of glosses comes in such a lovely array of colors.

MAC Lipstick in Russian Red

I love my neutrals, be it eyeshadows or lipsticks. I tend to shy away from bright/vibrant colors when it comes to lipstick which is probably the only reason that I didn't own a proper pure red lipstick till now. I never even felt the urge to swatch them in stores and my eyes just used to skip over all those beautiful reds and bright pinks. 

theBalm Girls Lipstick in Amanda Kissmylips

I'm a huge fan of theBalm Instain Blushes and Eyeshadows, particularly the Balm Jovi Palette. I've reviewed that here. So naturally I was curious about the lipsticks. I hadn't heard about these at all. I wondered why. The colors looked decent enough, but to be frank only one stood out to me to be unique and different. But you have to hand it to theBalm for their fancy slightly questionable names (and packaging).

theBalm Girls Lipsticks

I have the one that is the third from the left. Yeah it is scary looking...

Avon Color Trend Lipsticks

I've always enjoyed Avon Lipsticks. I've never has an issue with hydration, primarily speaking and they have a whole array of finishes in an affordable price range. The only issue is, picking out a shade from their catalog or online swatches is not 100% reliable. I've had quite a few surprises too.

These color trend lipsticks caught my eye one day, especially so since they were on sale. I was soon to travel, I thought having a few new lippys in my arsenal would definitely be a plus. I was looking though to see which shades would be different from the ones i already owned and finally picked out two, but me being me, threw in a neutral pink for good measure.

Avon Color Trend Lipsticks

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Crush

2013 was the year of the giant chubby pencils....all products were taking this convenient, cutely packaged form....eyeshadows, lip products, concealers, contouring and highlighting products and who knows what else. So having heard about the hype about these Revlon Balms, I thought I should also dip into the pool of the jumbo pencils. And it wasn't difficult to do, let me tell you that.

The marketing was intense, the blogosphere was rampant with positive reviews and everyone was clambering to get one. And the colors...oh the colors!!!

Does that seriously not want you to reach out and grab a few?

MAC Lipstick in Mocha

Do you ever feel irritated by the sales ladies at these department stores that eye you, sum you up, and hover over you sending a telepathic message "lady buy something or get out"? I just wish they'd let you at least take a couple of breaths and browse around, and then when you want to buy something or require assistance we will call you immediately. So one day when I saw a MAC store relatively empty, and only two ladies, both of whom were bust doing something behind the counter, I saw an opportune moment to walk around the shop and see if there was anything new. I even thought I'd treat myself to something if it takes my fancy. Armed with these thoughts I entered. Sadly, nothing really struck me as being outstanding. As I turned to walk out of the shop, one of the sales ladies came up (yes I was shocked that one of them did not approach me earlier) and asked me if I saw anything I liked and if she might help me with something. Since I had mostly decided I'd be hitting the road something struck me about her. It was her lip color. I had to ask...and she said it was her no fuss yet something with a punch, favorite Satin finish MAC lipstick. Really I thought, it was suiting her and as her complexion was close to mine I was baited and predicted that I'd soon be reeled in.

And so it was that I became the proud owner of MAC lipstick in Mocha.