The Balm Nude'Tude Palette Review and Swatches

Recently The Balm Cosmetics had a 24 hour flash sale where everything was 50% off on the entire website and the proceeds went to charity. In case you haven't heard of The Balm since you cannot get them at Sephora or Ulta they are a brand of cosmetics that in my opinion has some of the cutest most 1950's esq. packaging ever.

 (Nude 'tude palette $36.00 at TheBalm.com)

Nude 'tude comes in two different pallet forms, you can get the Naughty Palette which has the cute nude pin ups. (Get it NUDE 'Tude? eh? eh? okay I'll stop ^-^) or the Nice Palette which just has the same image as the front on the inside in case the girls aren't your cup of tea. I personally think they add personality and are super cute. 

The palette comes with 12 shadows, a large mirror, and a tiny two sided brush.

As you can see the palette isn't built anything like the Naked palettes. You get a large range of colors that don't all have the same underlying base color like the Urban Decay palettes do. This is highly appreciated by me because every now and again a good burgundy/wine color makes for a good crease color.

(Left to Right: Sassy, Stubborn, Selfish, Sophisticated, Sexy, and Stubborn)

Sexy-

Sexy is a white pearl that is super rich and pigmented. It makes a nice sheered out highlight or a good concentrated lid color.

Stubborn-

Stubborn is a beige pearl shade. This shade like the rest of the palette are very pigmented, soft, and buttery. 

Selfish-

Selfish is a light taupe-y brown pearl with micro glitter that does look like it would be straight out of the Naked (one) palette.

Sophisticated-

Sophisticated is a nice mid-range brown with golden micro glitter. Also very reminiscent of the Naked (one) palette.

Sexy-

Sexy is my perfect matte wine color. It's so smooth and works perfectly as a crease shade for me to smoke out a lot of the darker shades in this palette or any of my other palettes just in case I don't want to stick to browns, blacks, or my new go to shade grey.

Serious-

Serious is a nice buttery matte black. Like jet black. A little goes a long way guys and gals so be careful with this shade. It can be applied as softly or intense as you see fit. 

(Left to Right: Snobby, Stand-offish, Sultry, Seductive, Silly, and Sleek)

Snobby-

Snobby is a crazy color to me and honestly maybe the most interesting. It isn't gold, it's a yellow with micro glitter. Like a canary yellow with glitter guys! AND it's completely wearable! I'm super impressed by this color.

Stand-offish-

Stand-offish is a champagne color with so much shimmer! It's pretty, nothing crazy out of this world but really pretty none-the-less.

Sultry-

Sultry is a matte mid toned brown that works wonderfully at blending or as an all over lid color. It's buttery and perfect.

Seductive-

Seductive is a golden brown with tiny glitters again. The color yet again is perfect but I'm sure I have something similar to this in my collection.

Silly-

Silly is a dark brown with reddish, gold micro glitter. It's like the shade Blackheart from The Naked 3 Palette only unlike Blackheart you can actually see the glitter when you apply it. However, it is also less pigmented than Blackheart. (I just swatched them side by side to check)

Sleek-

Sleek is a dark almost blackish matte brown. Really blendable and awesome. 

Overall:

I was iffy about this palette when I got it, but after playing with it for a while I really came to enjoy it a lot. It's really versatile and can give you a basic look or a very smoke dramatic look. The brush is really stiff but I found it good for applying the shadows as liner for the bottom or top lash line. It's thin and has a magnetic closing. I can't find any downside to it besides having to order it online because none of the normal high end make up retailers sell it. All in all if you ever find them having a good sale (they are on Hautelook very often) try it. 

Lorac Unzipped palette review and swatches

The Lorac Unzipped pallet isn't exactly the newest thing on the market but it was something that I was super curious about it because of the rose gold trend that was started up thanks to the Naked 3 that came out late last year. 

The pallet is sold at Sephora, Ulta, and on the Lorac website.

($40 on lorac cosmetics website)

This palette comes with five large shadows and an eye shadow primer and also has a large mirror. The palette is small and really easy to travel with. It also has really cute cleaver names.

Undercover

Is a shimmery very pale beige. It's super subtle and contains no glitter, just a soft shimmer to it. It's super soft and pigmented.

Unbelievable

Is also a shimmer that contains several rose undertones with gold shimmer and is absolutely stunning!

Unattainable

is less of a rose color and very much more of a darker more sunset gold color.

Unconditional

This shade is a matte rosy brown that reminds me a lot of Nooner in the Naked 3 pallet. However, Unconditional is a lighter less intense shade than Nooner. 

Unbridled

Is also a rosy brown matte shade. However, Unbridled is darker and a lot more brown than rosy.

(The matte shades are pigmented and really easy to blend just fyi)

Undiscovered

Undiscovered would be the shade that I would have figured would have been like Half Baked from the Naked 1 & 2 palettes but this shimmery gold is like sunshine in an eye shadow. It's beautiful and a shade lighter than Unattainable.

Unreal

This shade is like a classic shimmery beige, nothing too impressive about it honestly.

Uncensored

Is a shimmery brown with rosy/gold shimmer. In the swatch it definitely looked more golden and like Smog from the Naked 1 palette.

Unspoken

Is the perfect midtone shade of matte brown. It's just matte brown though, there are no hints of rose or gold in this shade and works perfectly as a blending shade. 

Untamed

Is a shimmery darker brown. It has a tiny bit of gold to it but nothing insane. This is the darkest shade in the pallet and can be built to add more intensity and darkness.

Overall:

I really enjoyed this pallet, it's cheaper than most of the other palettes (I also got it with my professional discount so I got it super cheap) and Lorac makes great quality eye shadow. I think it's worth it if you like these type of colors, don't have any of these shades in your collection or are just interested in something that could really just be a basic palette in your collection. I love it and would really love to try out more Lorac palettes. 

Eyes Lips Face (ELF) Mineral Eyeshadow Review and Swatches

I should have most likely started off my blogs with these because I have had them for so long and you know everyone is always love/hate with ELF because it's inexpensive AND has hits and misses. I point out that AND because I don't think that since it's inexpensive it should be awful quality. 

ELF Mineral Eyeshadows $3.00 each at eyeslipsface.com

They have a mixture of matte and shimmer shades in 26 different shades total. At $3 a piece and how often they have website sales these eyeshadows are a good deal in general but lets go over the 8 eyeshadows I have.

"Wild"

Wild is a nice true brown with gold sparkle in it. 

 (Left No Primer, Right Primer) 

With these eyeshadows a primer makes all the difference. Also not being afraid to layer the color until you get the intensity you want helps. This shade is one of the most pigmented of the bunch and even then I like to add two coats in order to make the color pop! The sparkle is more intense with primer but either way this shade is beautiful.

"Royal"

Royal is a nice dark purple shimmer.

(Left No Primer, Right Primer)

Yet again this shade is really pretty to me. I can't help but love it and use it as an accent color or for a smokey eye. Pigments in general to me don't seem to go on full color, but they are easy to layer because of how finely milled they all are. With flash this shade does become a mid-range purple.

 "Sweet"

Sweet is a pink with gold sparkle in it.

(Left No Primer, Right Primer)

This shade is a little bit too barbie for me personally but I have used this as a lip color and it looks really nice because of the golden sparkles. (Yeah I know it's too barbie for my eyes but not too barbie for my lips? I'm weird don't mind me.) It's a cute color, I don't think it would look good as blush since it has so much shimmer but using it as a lip color is something worth trying.

 "Elegant"

Elegant is completely the epitome of eggshell shimmer.

(Left No Primer, Right Primer)

Eggshell in general isn't a very pigmented color on my skin tone but this color would be completely lovely with a simple, updated vintage look. (Since all vintage looks are done with matte shades) You put this eggshell shimmer on the eyelid add a nice brown crease with a winged liner and a red lip. Perfect.  

 "Temptress"

Temptress is a very light matte pinky-taupe.

 (Left No Primer, Right Primer)

This shade is definitively the least pigmented (on me at least) of the bunch. I have to wonder how much better it would look wet because it really isn't pigmented dry, even over primer which is super disappointing, I love the idea of the color.

"Partier"

Partier is a matte blue/grey.

(Left No Primer, Right Primer)

As you can see this eyeshadow is non-existent without primer, however over primer it's completely pigmented and actually a good smokey eye base. I wore this one today under a couple of purple Urban Decay eyeshadows from the Vice 2 pallet and I really like the outcome. 

(Excuse my eyebrows I need to go get them threaded again)

See? Not too shabby.

"Socialite"

Socialite is a dark brown/taupe color that is less sparkle more sheen.

 (Left No Primer, Right Primer)

This shade may very well be my favorite of the bunch. It makes the perfect smokey eye for me. It's buildable, blendable, and just beautiful. However, the swatch on the website and how it looks in person is completely different. I have no idea why, but I couldn't even recognize the thumbnail when I was looking for it. It's a really lovely color though, completely worth the $3.

"Glamorous"

Glamorous is a muave shimmer.

(Left No Primer, Right Primer)

This one is really not too pigmented without a primer but does pack a nice punch over primer. With shades like this one you have to be careful you don't end up looking dead, since the shade can drown you out but you can use it as a lip color and I'm betting wet it would take on a whole new dimension that would be fabulous.

Anyway, my overall conclusion is I like them a lot. I do think that NYX has loose eyeshadow that is more pigmented and needs less layers but the packaging in these is more convenient. Not exactly the best pigment on the market but I do love these a lot and a few of the shades really stand out from other things in my collection. Hope that helped. 

XOXO

Smashbox Wondervision Mega Palette review and swatches

The Wondervision Mega Palette by Smashbox is a new product that is (from what I can tell) exclusively sold at Ulta.

 The palette retails for $49.00

 It comes with 30 eyeshadows (8 of them matte) 3 blushes (1 with shimmer) and a matte bronzer. The colors seem fairly even when it comes to the amount of neutrals and brighter, bolder colors. Each one of the shades is very pigmented, bendable, and seem just amazing to me.

 You receive 4 cards that give you ideas on how to use the shadows and come with numbers on top so you know what shade should go where and which shades were designed to be used together.

It also comes with a half sized mirror and stays upright by itself.

The formula for the entire palette is the epitome of the word "rich" to me. They are super soft, buttery and amazingly textured. These shadows outshine even the best Urban Decay or MAC shadows I've tried, not to mention that it seems as though a lot of work and thought went into the making of this pallet. So let's start with the swatching. 

The first row is all neutrals with only one shade that isn't matte. All six shades are a dream to work with and Golden has a beautiful pearl finish. The top row alone makes a very wearable day or night look for girls who aren't always looking for big and bold.

The second row starts off with a shimmer shade. The rest of the row is a solid pearl finish row (as are most of the eyeshadows) This row reminds me of Fall completely. Also Umber is a dupe for MAC's Club, but takes less to get a good pigmentation for me.

This row starts off with a matte shade. Mint, Turquoise, and Green are both pearl finishes but Blue and Dark Blue both have more of a shimmer/glitter to them. This section completely makes me think of the ocean though.

These purples are what I wish most pallets would give you. You get a pearl finish with a hint of lavender, a pink with shimmer/glitter, a matte lavender, a pearl violet, a shimmer/glitter purple and a matte black. You can give yourself an impressive purple based smokey eye with just this section (As you could with all of the other sections though) and you can get it in any finish you want.

Last but not least (for the eyeshadows) you get this line of smokey shadows that has 4 pearl finishes and 2 shimmer/glitter finishes that my best friend describes as space. Don't be fooled by the swatch of Pewter it's a lot more taupe than it seems. I am glad that you have your matte browns and black while you also have a shimmer/glitter brown and black.

All three blushes are wearable, even glow which seems to have scary-ish amounts of sparkle in it before you apply it. These shades like the shadows are really pigmented so a little will go a long way. The bronzer was also flawless for my skin but I could see it being too light for medium to dark skin tones. 

No matter how I look at this pallet, I found no duds in it and I am completely happy that I made this purchase. No regrets at all. However, if you aren't in the market for bright colors or shimmers you might want to stay away from this one. You don't get enough matte shadows to warrant a pallet for this price or enough neutrals either. 

Hope you enjoyed.

Urban Decay Vice 2 and Anarchy Pallet Swatches and Reviews

The much anticipated holiday pallets are making their way into stores rather quickly. The company that caught my eye the most though? Urban Decay with their Vice 2 pallet and their Face Cases. I personally have come to the conclusion that my collection of make up has enough browns in every finish so I get super excited when something is released  with some really fun colors. Plus ladies, Halloween is approaching quickly and some of these colors in Vice 2 are just what the doctor ordered. So lets get on with it. 

Vice 2

Retails $59.00 at Sephora and UrbanDecay.com

The pallet comes with 20 shadows, all new and exclusive to this Limited Edition pallet. You also receive a double sided brush with this pallet.

First Row

Smokeout is a dark black/grey "satin" that honestly has a hint of duo chrome to me actually with a hint of taupe. Lovesick is a black glitter (if you've ever tried their stardust shadows, it's basically that) that has silver micro-glitter. Shellshock is a beautiful true silver metallic with no glitter. Coax is a pink metallic with hints of gold shimmer. X-Rated is a baby pink shimmer.

Second Row

Prank (even though it looks purple) is a navy blue with green shimmer. Madness is a metallic blue. Strike is a metallic gold. Stash is an olive color with gold shimmer making it look duo chrome as well. Poison is charcoal color with silver glitter. 

Third Row

Radar is a Metallic brown with glitter. Damaged is an emerald green shimmer. Voodoo is a jewel toned purple with shimmer. Betrayal is a light purple with a blue shimmer to it (again very duo-chrome). Derailed is a metallic taupe shimmer.

Fourth Row

Dope is a champagne satin. Toxic is a rose gold shimmer with glitter. Habit is a nude matte shade. Ambush is a metallic brown. And Rewind is a medium brown matte shade.

All of these shadows are incredibly pigmented. Be very aware of the shades with glitter because those have some fall out. I really did enjoy the entire set up of this pallet. It came with a lot of fun shades to give you a bright look, enough dark shades to give you a smokey eye (not exactly a matte black smokey eye but you know) and enough neutrals to make a soft look with it. Not to mention the mirror is huge and stays up on it's own. The brush is nice, I personally wish the fluffy side was a bit more fluffy to allow better blending (like the naked 2 brush) but I'm happy with it over all. If you want to try using shimmers, colors, metallics, or glitters I say go for it. You won't find a dud in this puppy. 

Anarchy Face Case

Retails for $44.00 and I've only seen it sold at Sephora.com

This pallet comes with five shadows, two blushes, one highlight, a 24/7 travel size liner and a travel sized Super-Saturated High Gloss Lip Color in Scandal. Scandal isn't available in the normal line of Urban Decay products and is exclusive to this pallet. The five eyeshadows are also exclusive to this pallet. I think the darker blush used to be part of the line of blushes but has been discontinued (don't quote me on this) but the other blush, and the highlight are also exclusive to this pallet.

It also comes with two full sized mirrors.

The Shadows

Redemption is a charcoal satin with a hint of shimmer. Fray is a matte nude shade. Vaporize is a metallic taupe/grey shade. Provocateur is a metallic muave with chunky glitter. Revolt is a silver metallic with glitter.

Face

Fetish is a mauve/pink with a hint of shimmer. Quickie is a bright barbie doll pink that's matte. Highlight which is the highlight shade is a golden metallic shade.

Pencils

Scandal is a berry colored, deeper pink shade and Perversion is a really dark matte black pencil. 

Does anyone remember getting the Naked pallet when it first came out and reaching into Sidecar and trying to apply it only to realize that was a horrible idea because of all of that chunky glitter fall out? That is exactly what happened when I reached into Provocateur which was super disappointing. Other than that as I said before the shimmers have a bit of fall out, nothing drastic. The colors aren't exactly something to bounce with joy over and they actually weren't the reason I bought the pallet. Work yourself a nice classic smokey eye or a soft romantic eye with this pallet. 

The blushes are really nice but be aware that Quickie is super pigmented so a little bit goes a long ways guys. You can go overboard really quickly with the blushes not to mention that highlight. It's nice that it's a golden color but a little goes a super long way. You don't want to light up like a light bulb.

Now for the reason I bought this pallet. I was super intrigued by this lip shade and as we go into fall/winter it's a perfect bight shade with a hint of darkness because of the berry shade. If you've never tried these lip pencils you do have to sharpen them, and they aren't very moisturizing either. They are pigmented (their lipsticks have better pigmentation) and the staying power is fair. Now Perversion is a really popular black pencil. It's super creamy, and really black. This pencil completely lives up to it's hype of being better than Zero (as someone who has owned zero before) in every way, shape, and form. I'm so happy they finally put it into a pallet.

If you are curious about the pencils like I am, do yourself the favor and just buy yourself the pencils, unless you are super curious about any of these shades it isn't worth the money. Then again I'm not super big on blushes to begin with so maybe that's why this pallet felt a little lacking to me. I'm still going to use the hell out of this pallet though.

Thanks for reading!

ELF Disney Villains Lookbooks (Review, Picture heavy)

Last year ELF teamed up with Disney to create look books that were sold exclusively at Walgreens based on four of our favorite lady villains, The Evil Queen, Cruella De Vil (anyone notice the interesting word play in her name?), Ursula, and Maleficent. Last years look book was very differently structured and you were given different products. You received an eyeshadow pallet (8 shadows), two mini lip pencils, a liquid eyeliner, an eyeshadow primer, and a pair of fake lashes. 

However, this year you get an eyeshadow pallet, a liquid and a pencil liner, an eyeshadow primer, a mascara, a lip gloss and an eyeshadow brush. The same four ladies are the basis of these pallets which retail for about $10 each.

(Side note: Walgreens is also carrying make up bags, nail art kits, hair ties, fake eyelash kits, and a box set of 12 mini polishes, each for about $10 also)

This year I was able to obtain all four look books and a nail polish box set (that I'll review soon) so lets get the ball rolling.

The first kit I got was the Evil Queen pallet.

I really enjoyed these pallets aesthetically. I feel as though a lot of thought and detail went into these pallets. I enjoyed their watercolor motif much more than I enjoyed the design last year. As you can semi see it does have a step by step guide on how to create a day time look and a night time look. 

Also for the record, since I won't have swatches of the eyeshadow brush I personally love it. I bought mine years ago, and it is still in perfect condition, doesn't shed, and I have been able to pack on color, blend, and apply soft washes of color with that one single brush. It's amazing, and I'm kind of excited that I have four now haha. 

(left to right: Dark Magic, Vanity, Witch, Majesty, Jealousy, Huntsman)

Dark Magic and Vanity were the duds in this pallet for me. Dark Magic, in the packaging looks like a beautiful dark purple with bright purple sparkles and once swatched it takes a few coats to get it that intensity. Vanity, like most of the other mattes were done kind of poorly, and don't show up as well as I'd like. However, Witch (which is a lovely matte dark gray), Majesty (a more green brown shimmer), Jealousy (a creamy lighter brown shimmer) and Huntsman (a cream colored shimmer) are pigmented and easy to blend. Just be a aware that most of these are shimmers and do have a tiny bit of fallout. 

Then there was Cruella De Vil

Cruella also has the amazing watercolor detail and a day and night guide on the inside. (brush not pictured because it is on my vanity =) 

(left to right: Stolen, Eccentric, Cruelty, Fur, Puppy Love, Maniac)

Stolen was the dud for me in this pallet it's a matte chocolate brown that really doesn't have good pigment at all. Eccentric ( an orange brown shimmer), Cruelty (a golden brown shimmer), Fur (a chocolate brown -almost gray- shimmer), and Maniac (another light cream shimmer) are all super buttery, pigmented and blendable. This pallet is perfect for a (shimmery) more neutral look. It doesn't exactly scream Cruella to me but it is the most wearable pallet. I just wish there was an actual dark shade to take your look into a more smoky night time feeling.

Onto Ursula.

 Yet again you get the amazing packaging and the say and night look guide.

(left to right: Bewitched, Triton, Kiss The Girl, Shell, Sea Witch, Coral)

This pallet was honestly the most disappointing for me. Maybe it was just that I wanted more from it because the colors look gorgeous all packaged together for this kit, and it SCREAMED Little Mermaid to me but gosh was I sorely disappointed. Bewitched, Triton, and Sea Witch are all mattes, and this is over primer and really trying hard to bring out the colors. Sea Witch even with a heavy hand doesn't produce good color pay off. Kiss the Girl (a nice brown shimmer), Shell (a pretty sea foam green shimmer) and Coral (a beautiful champagne shimmer) have good pigmentation but make me feel like this pallet almost isn't worth it unless you are a big fan of the Little Mermaid or you don't mind a challenge.

Lastly there is Maleficent.

You yet again get watercolor magic and a day and night make up guide.

(left to right: Raven Black, Thorns, Deep Sleep, Spell, Fauna, Flora)

This was honestly my favorite pallet. Yes there was a dud, Raven Black is matte and not so pigmented but it's like the grey in the Evil Queen pallet, it's good enough. The rest of the pallet is awesome though! Thorns (a dark brown/grayish shimmer), Deep Sleep (a silver shimmer), Spell (a forest green shimmer), Fauna (a light gray shimmer), Flora (another cream shimmer) are all pigmented and the mixture of the grays with that out of left field green was amazing. You end up with everything you need for a classic smokey eye in this little eye kit.

Now for the lippies.

(left to right: Maleficent, Ursula, Cruella, Evil Queen)

Maleficent is your classic red. Ursula a very bubblegum, barbie pink. Cruella is a orange-ish color. Evil Queen is a wine colored gloss. All of these glosses aren't exactly super pigmented. They aren't by any standard sheer though. The red gloss would look better and compliment a nice red lipstick or pencil. The pink gloss looks good alone, but would top a nice pink lipstick/pencil. The orange was the stand out for me here, it neutralized my natural lip color just enough that it gave me the perfect nude lip, so I love it alone. The wine color looks a little more fuchsia on my lips but would top wine colors beautifully or deepen fuchsias just a bit. The glosses have a sweet scent that is mixed with a hint of chemical scent. These aren't sticky on the lips while they retain color, right after I wiped off the swatches the skin became sticky so make of that what you will. 

The liners.

They are all black the liquid as you can see doesn't dry matte and the pencil is a bit dry, nothing major.

The mascara (not pictured) is a normal bristles smaller wand. The formula seemed really dry to me, and didn't cause clumping and added a little bit of length but added no volume. I thought it was a nice on my lower lashes, defining them without making them look spidery but I can do better on my top lashes. There was no smudging through out the day either.