Smashbox Heatwave Palette

How perfect is this palette for the weather in the UK right now?

Appropriately named Heat Wave, this is the latest palette by Smashbox for summer 2013 and since the sun has been shining I have been wearing it every day because it adds that extra bit of good to my mood.

The colours are summery but in a subtle way, rather than filling it with bright colours, which I don't feel comfortable wearing on a daily basis, the shades are wearable for both day and night.

The shadows are all soft and pigmented and there isn’t one shade that is a lesser quality than the rest.

The colours included are a matte peach, a champagne beige, a matte caramel, a golden pink/peach (my favourite), a gold, a pink beige with silver flecks, a grey, a blue, a purple taupe and a deep brown.

A huge plus point about the palette is that the shadows can be used wet or dry. To use wet I dip my brush into water and then use it to pick up the shadow. The result is that the powder becomes more like a cream and the colour that much more vibrant.

My favourite look to date is the combination of the peach and gold shades with the light brown in the crease to add definition — but there isn’t a colour in the palette that I won’t use, which is a first.

The wear time of the shadows is good lasting over 10 hours with a primer and over 8 hours without.

It is also worth mentioning that this is the first palette I own that comes with a high quality brush that is actually useful for application.

The Heat Wave palette costs £36 and the summer collection also has some bright lip glosses to compliment.

What do you think of Heat Wave? And what is your favourite summer look?

p.s I was lucky enough to receive this palette after attending a Smashbox event.  

Rimmel quad eyeshadow in smokey brun

This is an oldie but goodie eyeshadow palette that I pulled out the back of the cupboard and has led to a lot of compliments on my eye makeup when I have worn it.

Now I’m a bit confused about this palette, in store there is a product with the same name but that has been redesigned, but online this same look palette is available.

I had forgotten how good this palette is. The shades are great to wear on an every day basis and because they apply so smoothly and blend well, I can easily do a quick smokey eye look in under 5 minutes.

What is even more impressive is that without a primer and the shadow has lasted over 8 hours without creasing! Using a primer it lasts for around 12 hours.

In this pic I am also wearing the nude eyeliner I blogged about here!

I remember buying this as a student and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have spent £6.99 on it. I think it is a little pricy for 4 eyeshadows, but as part of a 3 for 2 deal or another other offer it would be worth picking up. This would make a great gift for a newbie to makeup or as a handy sized palette for your bag, which is how I use it.

Review: Urban Decay Naked Basics

Urban Decay are the only brand that manage to create products that I NEED to have, without a review or a swatch to help make up my mind. It happened with the original Naked palette and it happened once again with Naked Basics.

I've mentioned my love of nudes before, and my love of matte shades. Although I own a few they are tricky to get right in terms of colour payoff and texture. Some shades, no matter how good they look in the pan, end up looking grey and chalky on my skin tone.

But, Naked Basics has got it all just right. The shadows apply smoothly, are finely milled and the pigmentation is great and, as you can hopefully see from the swatches, the colours are true to what you see it the pan. They last best when applied over a primer, but even without they last around 6 hours before creasing.

The shades complement my skin tone well, with two of the shades (Foxy and W.O.S) almost matching my skin tone perfectly (Foxy has a slightly more yellow tone). The inclusion of the shade Venus, which has a slight shimmer, and is perfect as a highlight, is a good addition to the palette, I don't think that the palette needed to be all matte to be exactly everything the beauty world was waiting for. Naked 2, a taupe colour, is good as a transition shade or in the crease if you wanted something subtle. Faint is a great medium-brown crease colour and can be built up to make it darker and more dramatic. Finally, Crave looks black in the pan but is more like a very dark brown.

I see the combination of W.O.S, Naked 2 and Faint being my go to look, which is what I am wearing in the picture below.

Packaging wise, the palette is completely the opposite of Naked 1 and 2. I was surprised at how small the palette is, it is compact and slick looking and I know I won't be opting to leave this at home when I go away. 

The palette is £20, which I think is great value for 6 full sized shadows. I did miss the inclusion of a primer potion with the palette, but overall I guess that keeps the cost down.

From left to right: Venus, Foxy, W.O.S, Naked 2, Faint and Crave

I don't own all three Naked palettes so it is hard for me to comment on if you need to add this to your collection if you do own the other two. I personally think the original palette and Basics compliment one another well and I'm glad to have both.

So, do you NEED this palette in your collection? If you do, you have the chance to win one in my blog birthday giveaway here.

Maleficent inspired look (using Sleek dark matte palette)

Have I told you all how much I love matte shades? I’m sure everyone is aware by now that Sleek have released two matte palettes. I picked up version 2, which is a perfect mix of dark shades, which can create subtle day or smoky night looks.

I decided not to do a review of the palette, since there are so many good reviews and swatches out there. But briefly, most of the colours are very pigmented and all are soft and easy to blend. So far it is my favourite palette by Sleek and unlike some of their other palettes, I don’t see myself not loving it as much in a few months time.

On to the look I created. Whenever I see deep, dark purple I think of Maleficent, the villain from Sleeping Beauty, she was my favourite Disney villain so I took my inspiration from her.

I used the shades thunder (as a base), highness (all over the lid), villan (in the crease) and flesh (to blend out and as a highlight). I used a grey eyeliner on my water line and on my upper lashes and finished off with Benefit’s They’re Real mascara. I think the look could be improved by using some false lashes to really dramatise the eyes.

On the rest of my face I used No7 BB cream and ELF concealer. On my cheeks I used MUA blush (shade 4), which is a beautiful plum colour and helps to bring out the plum tones in the lighter purple eyeshadow. I also added some highlighter (from the Sleek contour palette) and rather than go for a red lipstick to really emulate Maleficent I chose to wear Rimmel nude delight lipstick. 

I’m hoping to put together a blog post containing lots of different looks, which can be achieved using the matte palette. In the mean time, tell me, who was your favourite Disney villain?

Face of the night: another matte smoky look

Just a quick post to share with you the makeup I wore this evening. I feels like ages since I have done a full face of make-up so a night out with the girls was just the excuse I needed.

I’ve broken out quite badly recently, so I wanted to use something that would provide coverage without looking or feeling too heavy. I have been using the No7 BB cream and having not initially loved it, I am now converted (full review coming up soon!)

I am loving matte eye makeup at the moment and used the Nivea matte eyeshadows I purchased in Dubai.  The look is my standard smokey eye, with the lighter colour all over the lid and a darker shade in the crease, and can be easily replicated using the new Sleek palette or the NYX palette I have mentioned in the past. I decided to line my eyes thicker than I normally do and I only realised once I came home that I forgot to add mascara!

On the rest of my face I used the Bourgeois bronzing powder and Sleek highlighter and my lips were filled in using a nude lip liner and topped off with Revlon lip butter in creme brulee.

Sleek in the Mediterranean

If there was ever a time to make the perfect use of my Sleek Mediterranean palette it was in the Mediterranean sunshine. I challenged myself to try and create new looks to the ones I have featured previously which I found a bit of a struggle if I’m honest!

I apologise now for the poor quality of pictures and use of flash, the lighting in the room was less than ideal and didn’t give justice to the brightness of the colours, I also don’t know what was going on with my facial expressions!

Look 1. Using the pinks and purples of the palette I placed ‘lotus flower’ all over the lid and ‘magenta madness' into the crease. To deepen the colour I placed ‘moors treasure’ into the outer corner very lightly and blended.

Look 2. I don’t really like this look but I thought I would include it anyway as it demonstrates the limitation of the palette for me. I wanted to make the use of the green just underneath the lower lashes, but the lack of neutrals in the palette meant I couldn’t do a neutral eye to pair it with which is my default look when I pick a bright colour for the lash line. Instead I opted for ’sand walker’ and ‘moors treasure’ in the crease.  

Look 3. Quite easily my most daring look to date. Not satisfied with my attempt at using the green I went for this peacock/ocean inspired eye. I started with ‘aquamarine’ in on the inner third, followed by ‘hummingbird’ on the remainder of the lid. I then placed ‘midnight garden’ into the crease and the green into the inner corner also working it lightly across the two blue colours. On the lower lash line I followed the colours as they were on the lid.

For each of the looks I used Urban Decay zero eyeliner (note to self must remember to pack a sharpener next time!) and mascara. 

With all looks on the rest of the face I used; Garnier BB cream (light), Benefit Coralista blush (with the exception of look 3 which was a mix of coralista blush and magenta madness eyeshadow, ELF eyebrow kit, and Sleek pout polish in monte carlo.

With the exception of 'summer breeze’ I believe I have used all the colours in the palette which is a first for me since I tend to go back to the same looks again and again.

My previous two looks are here and here. Which one is your favourite? If you have any requests for particular colour combinations let me know and I’ll see what I can come up with.