Review: Sigma Flare Eyeshadow Palette

This is the third installment of my Sigma Eyeshadow Palettes review, today it's Flare. This palette "contains a beautiful combination of greens and purples, combined with browns and beiges that are perfect to create fun and colorful looks! This palette includes beautiful iridescent undertones, which offer a must have selection of bright, yet sophisticated hues. FLARE is perfect for those days when you want to highlight your eyes with fun and flirty colors! Includes Sigma Beauty's best-selling E55 and E40 in a practical dual-ended brush. Contains matte and satin formulations." This retails for $35 on the Sigma website.

Review: Sigma Dare Eyeshadow Palette

I promised that I would review all 3 Sigma eyeshadow palettes, the other day I reviewed the Bare palette and today it's Dare. This palette is definitely the widest and "out there" least wearable palette out of the three in my opinion. When I first looked at this palette, I thought when would I ever wear these colours? The red ones I would definitely never wear, but if you looking for something different maybe you could love this palette? These palettes retail for $35 each on Sigma's website.

Review: Sigma Bare Eyeshadow Palette

Sigma recently came out with new eyeshadow palettes. If you remember back in the day when they first started getting big Sigma used to have a makeup line, so it's nice that they are bringing out makeup items again. There are three palettes available: Bare (neutral tones), Dare (warm bright colours) and Flare (green and purples). These palettes are $35 each. I was sent all three palettes for review and will be doing separate posts on all three. It's just easier to do three because I want to do separate swatches and talk about the brushes that you get etc.

Review: Wet N Wild Comfort Zone Color Icon Eyeshadow Palette

Yesterday, I reviewed the Wet N Wild palette in Petal Pusher, and today it's time for Comfort Zone. Like the name, I think these are shades that what most people would be comfortable wearing, they are neutrals and greens. I like purples too, but I tend to steer more towards browns personally. This palette is hands down my favourite Wet N Wild palette that I own, this includes my 3 pan palettes too, it's super pigmented and the shadows are all buttery smooth. I can't find a fault in this palette at all. These 8 pan palettes are not valid in Canada yet, which is a shame, but hopefully they will become available soon. I got this palette as part of a swap.

Review: Wet N Wild Petal Pusher Color Icon Eyeshadow Palette

It's always great to have friends in other parts of the world, because they can send you makeup goodies! I recently got a package from Stephanie of Imperfectly Painted (check out her blog if you haven't already!) as part of a swap that we did. Since we don't have the Wet N Wild 8 pan Color Icon eyeshadow palettes in Canada yet, she was gracious enough to send me two of them! Which I was so excited about since I don't know when we are getting them in Canada, and everyone is talking about them, I felt so out of the loop. But now I have them, thanks again Stephanie!

Review: MAC Paint Pots Swatches and Review

Today I will share with you my small MAC paint pots collection. If you aren't familiar with paint pots, MAC describes them on their website as "A highly pigmented eye colour that goes on creamy but dries to an intense, vibrant finish. Long-wearing, colourfast. Creates seamless coverage without weight or caking. Blends smoothly over the lids. Cream-based, can be mixed with M·A·C shadows and liners." Personally, I use these as either a base for my eyeshadow (primer so to speak) or on their own as eyeshadow. They help shadows look more vibrant, which is great.

Wet N Wild: Walking on Eggshells Color Icon Eyeshadow Palette

I love Wet N Wild's "Walking on Eggshells" palette, these colours are the tones that I reach for most often from my MAC, Urban Decay, and Too Faced palettes except for a fraction of the cost. I don't know how Wet N Wild is able to offer these exceptional quality shadows for so cheap, it's been said before, but it's like a disgruntled MAC employee started working for them and created shadows just as good.

Review: Wet N Wild Silent Treatment Icon Eyeshadow

Silent Treatment is one of the newest 3 shadow palettes from Wet N Wild. We don't have the 8 pans in Canada yet. We did get all the 3 pans, I haven't had much luck finding them, but Silent Treatment was the only one that I really "had" to have. If you haven't tried Wet N Wild shadows you really should, once you do, you will totally be impressed with their quality and awesome pigmentation. They are very affordable, I get them at Walmart for about $7 Canadian.

Review: Wet N Wild Sand Castle Eyeshadow Palette

Before Wet N Wild had their Color Icon palettes, that everyone speaks very highly of, and before they were really popular, they had eyeshadow palettes that looked very different. Today, I will review for you the Sand Castle Ultimate Expressions Eyeshadow Palette. I am not sure if this is still available, I don't see it on their website, please let me know in the comments below. I really like this palette because it provides a nice selection of light and dark colours.

On the back of the package this palette is described as "Smooth, powder formula. Define, highlight and contour, 8 long-wearing shades. Dress up your eyes... these eight-color combos are designed to accentuate and bring out your eye color. Each shade is perfectly harmonized to work well together or individually for ultimate defining, highlighting and contouring. Turn your everyday eyes into eye-popping masterpieces".

The palette comes with 8 shadows, I am assuming the vertical ones are meant as highlighters and the horizontal ones the lid/crease colours? You know how drugstore brands put out palettes and they have the lid, crease, browbone labelled on the package so that it's easy? I think this was Wet N Wild's attempt way back when, but it's a tad confusing for me. I am totally fine with finding my own combinations and ways to use these shadows though.

Here are the swatches, the top ones are the vertical and the bottom the horizontal shades. The first two are the two left colours, they aren't as smooth as the rest of the palette and the second down from the left doesn't have much pigmentation, is chalky and prone to fallout. The two on the right (and right on palette) are very nice and probably my two favourites, they are very smooth and buttery. The four bottom (or in middle of palette) are all stand out shades, very smooth and buttery. There is a taupe brown (similar to Nutty), dark gold, bronzy brown and deep brown.

The packaging is quote hefty and large, in comparison to my palm here, you can really see how big it is, I prefer the current packaging of Wet N Wild shadows much more.

And here is the palette opened all the way, you get a huge mirror that comes out in the bottom of the palette, great for taking with you travelling. There is also a double-ended sponge applicator, I've never used it. The shadows are really nice however. I thought it would be neat to show you what Wet N Wild used to look like, I think they have really improved, but the shadows used to be just as good. Oh and I wanted to add...the shadows smell cheap, I haven't noticed this with the Color Icon palettes.

Do you have any retro Wet N Wild?

Updated MAC Eyeshadow Collection and Swatches

My MAC eyeshadows are my favourite part of my makeup collection, I love looking at the pretty colours and use them regularly. I love how you can customize your palette, no one else's is the same and it's fun collecting them. I am a fan of neutrals, so that's mostly what you will see here, I have very few "colourful" shades, since I don't wear them and prefer to spend my money on everyday shades. I did a MAC eyeshadow collection post about a year ago, and it's come a long way since then, so I thought I would do an update. I have acquired these from MAC purchases (obviously), blog sales, makeup/discounted etailers such as allcosmeticswholesale and bridgette's boutique and the many were purchased "free" on Amazon from Swagbucks. I redeem my Swagbucks for amazon.com gift cards on a regular basis and have one seller in particular that I purchase from again and again, with shipping it ends up being a bit more than retail, but since they are "free" I have no issue with that at all. I always buy pots, and then take them back to MAC once I have 6 and get a free one.

Review: Too Faced Glamour To Go 2 Palette

The Too Faced Glamour to Go II palette is the second installment of Too Faced's compact eyeshadow, lipgloss and blush pocket palette. This is the updated version of the first Glamour To Go palette and sells at Sephora (and other retailers that sell Too Faced) for $19.50US. Since this palette, there has been a Part III and recently a "Fairy Edition". I got this from a relative a few Christmases ago, I found it recently and decided it was worth a review.

I like the packaging of this, it's small and compact, when closed it fits in the palm of my hand. I wouldn't want to carry this around in my pocket that's for sure. This palette gets you 8 eyeshadows, 4 lipglosses and one blush. The lip/blush section is a hidden compartment that pulls out from underneath the shadows. Honestly, the best thing about this palette is the blush, it's a pretty pigmented peachy pink. And I hate when lipglosses are packaged like that, in fact I didn't touch the lipglosses until I took the swatches for this review (after this picture was taken).

Here are the swatches of the eyeshadows, the choice of colours is really weird in my opinion, you get a lot of green tones. All the shadows have shimmers, but nothing obnoxious and once applied you don't really notice it. But I found the pigmentation of these was not very good, I had to swatch multiple times on many of these to get adequate colour payoff. The lighter shadows especially aren't very good quality. And the shadows had a funky smell too, like really cheap eyeshadows.

Then you have the 4 lipglosses and the blush here. The lipgloss part in the palette looks pretty gross once you've swatched it I gotta say. I know you can use a brush to apply these, but I'd rather just have lipgloss in the old fashioned way, in a tube. The glosses are very sticky and gross, and something that a little kid would play with, not a grown up, and not so 'glamourous' at all. I like the blush here, it's pretty nice.

Overall, not crazy about this palette, wouldn't recommend it. Not a huge fan of the shadows in this and although it's nice that it's compact and small, I think that's all it has going for it. I don't (and haven't) reached for this palette at all in my collection.

What do you think of this palette?

Review: Too Faced Natural Eye Palette

When I returned my Laura Mercier Silk Creme foundation a few days ago at Sephora, I knew exactly what I wanted to trade in for. I have a mental list in my head of items that I want from Sephora, but I am not made of money and unfortunately cannot have everything, not all at once anyway. The Urban Decay Naked palette has been sold out at my Sephora (and surrounding area) for the longest time, I don't "need" but you know, I would like to have it, wouldn't be against that. Actually if you girls are in/around Toronto, Yorkdale Mall has an Urban Decay section at Shoppers Drug Mart and they have the palette in stock, I was there yesterday so I am going to try and redeem for that during the Shoppers Drug Mart Bonus Beauty Redemption tomorrow, how sick would that be? to get the Naked palette for free when everyone is paying crazy amounts for it on Ebay?

Wet N Wild Nutty: A Dupe of MAC's Satin Taupe?

So we all love our Wet N Wild shadows, don't we? And I have read many comparisons and even dupe mentions to MAC shadows. Today, I will review whether Nutty, a Color Icon shadow from Wet N Wild is really a dupe for MAC's Satin Taupe. Nutty is available for about $3 CAD at Walmart (where I got mine), it's a single shadow, really simple packaging. It is a really pretty colour and I admit I picked it up because I heard it was a dupe, but even if it wasn't this is still a pretty colour. It's like a frosty taupey brown. Whereas, Satin Taupe is described as "taupe with silver shimmer (frost finish)".

Review: Wet N Wild Lust Color Icon Eyeshadow

This is Part 2 of my Wet N Wild Color Icon eyeshadows review, yesterday I did the "Vanity" palette and today I will review "Lust". Next to neutral browns, my second favourite eyeshadow colours to wear are purples. I have green eyes so purples make them pop, so I had to get this palette.

Review: Wet N Wild Vanity Color Icon Eyeshadow

I am no longer a Wet N Wild eyeshadow virgin, I finally went out and got two of the Color Icon eyeshadow palettes the other day. I know everyone loves these, but I am true to my MAC shadows and do not get as excited about eyeshadow as I do foundation. Plus these are like $7 in Canada, I know that's still cheap but you know, it adds up. In the US these are on sale all the time, but not here. And we never did get the limited edition holiday ones that everyone was raving about, I wish we did (edit: apparently we did get them, I just didn't bother looking.. oops!). Anyone want to send them to me? ;P

Review: Rimmel Smokey Brun Eyeshadow Quad

Today's review is Rimmel's Smokey Brun eyeshadow quad. It comes with 4 small squared neutral shadows (4g of product) in a plastic container with a sponge applicator. It's very simple and I was not expecting to like this because it was so cheap. But I think it's great for subtle, everyday neutral brown eyes or you can deepen it and make it more "smokey" by adding more of the dark brown shade. I can't speak for the quality of Rimmel's other eyeshadows, this is the only one I've ever used.

Here is a closer look at the shadows that you get. Top left is a shimmery brown (probably the weakest shade in the bunch see swatch below), shimmery caramel brown, pretty champagne (my favourite) and a cream highlight shade. I've used the sponge applicator, it's okay, it has a pointed end on the other side, which is nice.

Okay here I have included some swatches, the darkest brown is a tad ashy and takes a few swipes to get it to look like that, it has shimmer in it too, I wish it didn't. The caramel brown shade is pretty, no issues with this. The champagne colour is the best, I would buy this quad again and again just for this shade. It's very creamy and applies nicely on the lids, it basically matches my Urban Decay Primer Potion in sin, so it's nice to use it overtop. I think this colour is universal, and a lot of palettes have a colour like this. The cream colour is pretty nice too, I use this in the tear duct sometimes. The colours swatch nicely, but I find on the eye you need a primer to get them to show up as vibrantly and last, which I expect from drugstore shadows. In terms of fallout, I get a bit of the shimmer under my eyes, but nothing terrible.

And here it is on the eye, not the best picture, but you get the idea. I have the champagne colour on the lid and the caramel shade in the crease (mostly what shows here). It is light, not dramatic at all, but I like it.

Have you tried this quad? or any of the other Rimmel shadows?

Review: Chanel Beiges Velours Quadra Eye Shadow

When I think of the ultimate luxury makeup item, I think Chanel. I actually have never purchased anything Chanel myself, all of the Chanel products that I own came from Elle Canada Beauty Grand Prix last year. I was chosen from a hundred or so other Canadian women to test out some of the beauty industry's best products. All the items were covered up and I had to test them blindly (not knowing what the brands were) and review them. After the review process was over, I did take the packaging off and found out I had some lovely, and quite expensive makeup in my possession including Chanel, YSL, Lise Waiter, Lancome and some others. Today, I will review the Chanel eyeshadow palette that I received.

Review: ELF Smoky Eye Edition Beauty Book

ELF has a couple of these Beauty Books available online, there are several different ones: smoky, neutral and eye brights. There are also beauty encyclopedias which come with additional items like cream shadows and blushes depending on which one you get. I have the Smoky Eye Edition Beauty Book to show and review for you today. This one has a variety of light and dark shadows, perfect for creating a smoky eye depending on how dramatic or subtle you want it to look. I am also giving one of these away in my 500 Follower Giveaway if you haven't entered yet, definitely check that out.

Review: ELF Studio Eyeshadows

A few days ago I brought you a review of ELF's Studio Blushes, today it's their Single Eyeshadows. I have 5 of the 10 available on the ELF website. These retail for $3 and are a great value for what you get. ELF's website describes these as "The beautiful soft texture melts into the skin for a vibrant color that lasts. Convenient and easy to apply, just layer the color to achieve the desired intensity. Apply wet or dry for a fabulous look that never creases or fades." I would suggest to always use a primer under your eyeshadows, I do that with every shadow regardless of whether it's cheap or expensive.

The packaging of these is almost half the size of the blushes, however judging by the size listed on the back label, you get the same amount of product, 2.75g. They come in the standard Studio line back packaging and have a little window (and mirror inside) which is helpful that way you can find the shadow you want easily without having to look at the name on the back. No sponge applicators in these, cause you will just throw them away anyway. Most, if not all these shadows contain shimmers, but they are not gritty to the touch, the consistency of these is pretty good, they do not feel overly powdery or chalky. They are very blendable, pigmented and have good colour payoff, they do come out a bit more vibrant when used with a base. I find the best way to apply these is to dab the colour on with your brush, do not sweep too much.

Review: Urban Decay Ammo Shadow Box

The Urban Decay Ammo Shadow Box came out ages ago, I got it three Christmases ago from my sister. It is quite slim and compact which I like, the packaging is cute too, the lighter purple print in the pic above is actually velvet. The print is quite elaborate too, with a pistol shooting out butterflies, skulls, fish, hearts and other swirly things. This shadow box retails for $36 on the Urban Decay website.

This shadow box came with 10 best-selling shadows to celebrate Urban Decay's 10th birthday at the time. They are said to be arranged in duos to be used together, if you want to go that route. It comes with a large mirror inside, and a double ended sponge applicator. The palette also has a magnetized closure, which is nice to keep it all tightly closed. Since it's black on the inside, it can get fairly dirty if used often.

The shadows in this palette are gorgeous, and they overall, are less glittery than the ones in the Sustainable Shadow Box. I would get this palette alone for the gorgeousness that is "Last Call" that shadow is soo beautiful and I think similar to MAC's Starviolet.

I will go over the shadows that are found in the Ammo Shadow Box, descriptions taken from Sephora:
Winners:
Smog - deep coppery bronze, this is a beautiful buttery brown everyday crease brown colour.
Maui Wowie - sandy sheen, I thought this shadow would be too glittery, but it's actually not horrible when swatches, pretty smooth gold champagne colour, extremely pigmented.
Mildew - shimmering metallic green, I don't have a lot of green shadows and this one is beautiful.
Last Call - iridescent plummy purple, one of the prettiest purples ever, love this shade and my favourite in this palette.
Chopper - shimmering fawn with glitter. Peachy colour with subtle shimmer.
Shattered - bright iridescent aquamarine. Pretty oceany blue with no shimmers, glitter anything.
Sin - light shimmering champagne, this is another beautiful colour, shimmer is delicate and the shadow is smooth and lovely.

Losers:
Oil Slick - black with rainbow glitter. I have this in the Sustainable palette too and hate it, never wear it.
Polyester Bride - sheer white shimmer, crumbly, thick mess.
Grifter - sparkling pale purple ,too much fallout and crumble on this one.

This palette is really nice, the packaging is cool and the shadows contained are pretty good, aside from the three "losers" that I pointed out above. I am happy that I have this palette in my collection and reach for it from time to time. I only have the two for now, Sustainable and Ammo and I would choose Ammo over the other in a second.

If you are thinking of picking up an Urban Decay palette, please keep in mind that their shadows can be crumbly, glittery and have lots of fallout, but some shadows are also very, very good quality and some of those are in this palette.