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).

Benefit Cheeky Sweet Spot Box o' Blushes

How can any makeup junkie pass this up? Reason? 6 of Benefit's famous boxed blushes, each of them around 2/3 of the original sized boxes for just a fraction of the total price. Let's face it, who actually goes through a whole blush? This palette gives us blush addicts the perfect opportunity to try out cult products without breaking the bank.

The cardboard box, the palette and a little pamphlet with tips and ingredients 

The Perfect Palette Tag

This one has been done to death all over the net. So here is my take on it. This tag consists of a series of questions about the makeup palettes that you own and so without further ado let's get into it....

Urban Decay Electric Palette Dupe

It no surprise that when this palette came out, I was intrigued. It was a colorful pressed pigments palette consisting of 10 pans. These bright and bold colors are not so easy to use on a day to basis, unless that is your thing, I'm the more neutral kinda girl, with an occasional pop of color on the lash line (top or bottom depending on the mood). But on closer inspection (on other blogs and looking at swatches) I realized that even though they were nicely pigmented, the color range could have been better. There are 2 blues and one green blue type of color. That's a lot of bluish tones in a palette of 10 eyeshadows. Also it hit me that I had a wonderful rainbowy palette in my stash- the 42 matte eyeshadow palette that has 10 blushes on the bottom for good measure at like half the price. I'm not saying there will be an exact match for every shadow but they'll be coming quite close, except the shimmery silver obviously.

theBalm Nude 'Tude Palette

theBalm Nude 'tude Palette with the cover

I guess when it comes to neutral eye shadows, I'll always be partial. They just look good on everyone, and if you have the right palette, you can pull of so many diversified looks to suit almost any occasion. Staying in tune with the Urban Decay Palettes, which are just amazing, theBalm brought its version of a neutral palette as well, and I gotta say...it does not disappoint.

The back

Lorac Pro Palette

I love my neutrals and Lorac Pro Palette is absolute eye candy for all you neutral makeup lovers out there. Though I love shimmers but they can be a bit over the top while getting ready for day time parties or small get togethers. Therefore, I was on a hunt for a good palette with matte shades. And when I saw the Lorac Pro Palette with 8 matte and 8 shimmery shadows and that too in the neutral colors spectrum, it was love at first sight. Really!! :)

Sigma Smoke Screen Palette

After the much hyped about Warm Neutrals Palette, Sigma brings out another beauty, the much coveted and talked about Spring palette: The Smoke Screen Palette which is a more cool toned palette.

This was on my wish list, to be honest I did want the Warm Palette but in the end I went with the flow of the season and took a leap (not much of a leap because everyone was going crazy about it). I could go on and on so I'll just move on.

Urban Decay Smoked Palette- Guest Post

I am so jealous of my friend AZ who is always flaunting this gorgeous palette in front of me...it's on my wish list of course..(let me just take a deep breath to gain some self-control...okay..... that's better), I'll come around to it some day. Any how, I asked her to review it for you all and since she's had it for a while now she can give you an accurate summation.

Guest Post: Stila in the Garden Palette Review

Today I have invited a friend of mine FZ, who is just beginning to step into the world of makeup, to give her two cents on a certain makeup product that she was gifted. It was sad to see her not knowing what a jewel she had acquired, but as we all know, good stuff doesn’t need any selling, it sells itself. Surely she fell in love with the all famous “Stila in the Garden Palette”. I find it quite interesting to see what someone who is relatively new at trying out different products and brands has to say are unbiased and more pragmatic in their approach and this is what she has to say about it:

Hi all! I am a 24 year old housewife, just beginning to appreciate the world of makeup. It makes sense then that when recently I was gifted a Stila eyeshadow palette, as appreciative as I was of the gift sender’s gesture, the product itself didn’t cause me to swoon. I hadn’t heard of the brand name before this… but then how many brands do I do know?! :P. I tossed it aside as just another addition in my collection of unused shadows which will make it all the more difficult for me to choose a shade in the fifteen minutes that I  am willing to spend on makeup before going out. A certain makeup geek friend of mine had a totally different reaction however. One look at it and she exclaimed what a catch it was, envying my luck for having such makeup gifting friends.  (Boy ain't that the truth!)

The geeks are more right than wrong they say. This Stila “In the Garden Palette” is the first thing I reach for now when giving myself a quick presentable look. 

It contains ten shadows and a smudge stick eyeliner. The palette itself came in a cardboard box which doesn’t really look very appealing at first sight.

Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette

So many brands bring out eyeshadow palettes with a host of finishes and colors, sometimes it becomes difficult to just stick to the basics having so many options thrust into your face. And this is why this palette is holds a special place for me- its simple, to point and there is no drama.

The Front

The Back

The Inside (has a nice mirror)

An idea of the size of the palette.

Victoria's Secret Metallic Eyes (The Trend: Glam shimmer and sheen)

I did a post on the items in my to go makeup pouch and I got a request to review this particular item. As far as tiny cute palettes go, this one definitely takes the prize. Its the opposite of the UD Basics palette in that it has all shimmer shades with metallic finish, which means they all have a high sheen. The word sheen implies that it gives off a reflective look, but not glittery. A nice sheen means that the shadows have to be finely milled and soft.

The Palette

Price: Around 60-90 dhs.

Packaging:

 Flips open, does not have a mirror, but has a magnet click when closed, so it won't open on the go. Made of hard cadrboard, quite sturdy.

This palette contains 6 shimmery eyeshadows, 1 eyeliner, 1 highlighter, there was a little brush but I've long lost it, it was not good at all.

So how does this palette fare....

Flormar Pretty Compact Quartet Eyeshadow in 47

When the Naked Basics Palette came out, it created such a splash that other drugstore brands wanted their piece of the matte eyeshadow craze. Mattes were back in style and who can blame these eyeshadows? They're subtle and look beautiful in all situations on all types of women, especially the nude variety.

Strolling along the stores one day, this particular palette caught my eye and it was on sale on the Flormar counter. This is a Turkish brand and not very well known, but I have sampled their products and always felt them to be top notch. On closer inspection I noticed that this palatte had all matte shades. It was too good to be true. I thought they'd be chalky, or really hard so that there would be hardly any color pay off even though they looked to vivid in the pans. But this is what I found out:

A Classic Timeless Makeup Look

This look is a no brainer...

The type of look you could really pull of anywhere anytime.

Read on:

The Look:

Products Used:

From Top: Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliner, Glossy Stain by YSL in 4, Tarte Blush in Magic, Lancome Tient Miracle in 3, Chanel Bronzer Base, Essence Brow Pencil in Black, Prestige Lip Liner in Spice, Wet n Wild Walking on Eggshells Eyeshadow Palette, MaxFactor Falsh Lash Effect Mascara, Rubenesuq Paint Pot, NYX Stay Matte but not Flat Powder Foundation, Givenchy Mister Light Concealer, Prestige Intensity Liner In Deepest Black, Essence Eyelash and Brow Gel, Bourjois Ombre Stretch Eyeshadow in Black.

Brushes:

From Top: Sigma Angled Kabuki, RT Blush Brush, Essence Eyeshadow Brush, RT dome shaped Brush, Maybelline Gel Eyeliner brush, Sigma Blending Brush,  Essence Crease Brush.