e.l.f Eye Transformer Palette

Today's post will be a short review on the e.l.f. Eye Transformer Palette. This was another birthday gift from my lovely sister (Happy Birthday to her, btw!) and I'm glad she gave it to me because otherwise I wouldn't have known it existed. I've never seen it reviewed or talked about elsewhere so it was brand spanking new to me. The palette consists of 4 very pale, pearly shades and comes with a small, stiff brush.

 At first glance, the colors aren't exactly impressive but they're not really meant to be used alone. According to the package, "Wear alone or in combination with your favorite dark eyeshadow or line color to transform the shade." And as you can see in the photo, when swatched over a dark color (in this case Nyx's Jumbo Eye Pencil in Dark Chocolate)the shades really do come to life. I also applied each color to my eyes to get a better idea of what they would look like:

 I was most impressed with the green and purple/blue colors - they popped the most on top of the dark base. The other two were more muted, but still pretty. It's definitely a fun concept to be able to change your shadow color but the extra step doesn't seem like it would necessarily be worth it. If I want any of the colors in the photo above, I would be more likely to just choose them from an eyeshadow palette instead of creating them myself. Still, not a bad little palette and for $3.00, it's worth it just to play around.
 

e.l.f. Ariel Collection Haul

I first saw glimpses of this collection on the blog nouveaucheap. And I, being a huge Disney fan, could not wait until I got my hands on it! When it arrived at my Walgreens, I snapped several pieces up.

As you can see above, I bought the lip set, lash set, shadow duo set, and eyeshadow palette. There was a small brush set and a few hair accessories available as well but I was mostly interested in the makeup items. The artwork is absolutely gorgeous and this set is probably one of the few things I'll actually keep in the packaging just so I can hang on to it. 

The item I was looking forward to the most was definitely the eyeshadow palette. I have a weakness for eyeshadow so I knew I would be purchasing that for sure. It comes with 9 shadows, 2 bronzers, 1 lip gloss, and 2 brushes. The palette also has a small mirror and some artwork demonstrating 2 looks you can create with the colors.

I swatched everything over bare skin - no primers used. The bronzers are very pigmented but shimmery; they almost have a metallic finish that I think would be more suited to an eyeshadow than a bronzer. The shadows would certainly benefit from a base underneath. I've found this is the case with most e.l.f. shadows though so no surprise there. The gloss has a creamy, semi-sheer finish that looks like you can build up to more full color.

I also swatched the rest of the collection:

Sunrise and Sunset are their super glossy lip shines and Pink Petal is a lip stain marker. Sunrise is fairly sheer while sunset was surprisingly pigmented. I'm excited to see what Sunset will look like on my lips. (My lips have been stupidly chapped so it'll be awhile before I can try them out. Boo.) I was pretty impressed with the staying power of the stain; I really had to scrub at my hand for awhile to get it off. The shadow duos had a little more pigmentation than the larger palette. The purpley color in the Coral Reef duo has a really pretty almost duo-chrome finish that looks fun. The waterproof eyeliner pen is a very rich, solid black.

I really love the collection. The packaging and artwork is beautiful and the products inside look like they'll be fun to play with and create some great looks. I bought a few items from their Disney villains collection when it came out over the holidays and I'm pumped they're continuing to collaborate with Disney to create more collections. I hope e.l.f. comes out with more fun collections in the future! 

Galaxy Chic palette review

I received the Galaxy Chic palette on my birthday from my wonderful sister who knew I'd been eyeing it for awhile. I had received a single of the color Neptune in an Ipsy bag and thought it was super pretty. (For those of you who don't know what Ipsy is, it's one of those monthy subscription programs where they send you a small sampling of makeup, skincare, and haircare items for $10.) The Galaxy Chic palette retails for $22.95 and can be found here. It consists of 18 shimmery, baked shadows that are named for different celestial bodies. Hence the name! 

Typically baked shadows can be used wet or dry so I swatched them first dry on bare skin, then wet on bare skin. Top photo are the shadows in the first row, second photo is the second row, and third photo is the third row.

Swatching them wet really brought out the metallic finish and definitely helped with pigmentation in some of the colors, especially the pinks & burgundies in the top row. I'm absolutely happy with the palette. They are all shimmery finishes so if you're not a fan of those, I would steer clear. I do have a couple of matte palettes from other brands so if I need to, I'll use one of those to help blend out the edges so I don't look like a glitter bomb. There's a wide range of colors but not so many you get lost and I think you could really create some fun looks with this. 

For this look I used Milky Way all over the lid, Moon & Eclipse in the crease and outer v, and Neptune in the outer v to add a little more intensity. I also smudged Eclipse over Jordana's 12 Hour eyeliner in Purple Fix along the lower lashline. Kat von D liquid liner for the wing and Jordana Best Lash Extreme mascara to finish out the eyes and Loreal Extraordinaire in Blushing Harmony on the the lips.

Sephora Haul

I made a trip to my local Sephora to pick up a few things. Well actually, I only went in there to pick up one thing but you know how well that always works!

 I wanted to test out the Becca mattifying primer because I kept hearing great things about it. My skin is combination/oily and it gets especially oily in the summer. I've tried several options and nothing really works as well as I would like so I decided to plop down the money and try this. I've heard it's tricky to work with, you have to pat it into the skin vs. rubbing it in or it tends to pill. Despite its uncooperative application possibilities, I'm excited to try it.

I've also been on the lookout for a new moisturizer to help keep my oil and shine at bay. I pretty much just grabbed this Clinique Dramatically Different moisturizing gel while I was waiting to check out. I see it mentioned a lot on different blogs and forums so I'll have to see if it works for me.

The biggest purchase was the Bare Minerals Get Started Complexion Kit. It includes 2 of their foundations - one regular, one matte, a prime time primer, a blush/bronzer, mineral veil, a brush, and a bag to hold everything. I've never tried anything from Bare Minerals before so I'm looking forward to testing everything out. I'll be doing a full review on this kit sometime in the future. Stay posted!

And last but not least, a mini Tarte Flushed cheek stain that I got as a 100 point perk. I don't have a ton of experience with Tarte. I received a large set of their Lip Surgence lip crayons from my sister Jessica and a kit that had a blush, mini Maracuja oil, and a mini Lights, Camera, Lashes from my coworker Anna for Christmas this past year. But that's really it. Typically cream-like blushes don't work well with my oily skin but I still want to give this one a try.

So that's it. Like I said, I will be doing a full review on the Bare Minerals kit in the future but if there's anything else you'd like a review on, please let me know!

Electric eye look with the Creative Me 1 palette by Coastal Scents

One of my favorite eyeshadow brands is Urban Decay. I have several of their palettes and they're definitely my first choice when I'm deciding what to put on my eyeballs every morning. I'm a huge fan of their vibrant colors and I'm equally impressed with their neutral palettes. Their Naked 3 is my go-to when I want something neutral but pretty and I want it to look great every time. So when they came out with their Electric palette, I swooned. But, I just couldn't get myself to fork over the money for something I probably wouldn't wear all that often. Neon eyes aren't exactly work appropriate, ya know? Eyeshadow is definitely my weakness when it comes to makeup so this was a pretty big thing for me. Me? Not buy a new shadow palette? What?!?!?! 

I started looking through the palettes I already owned to see if I could recreate some of the amazing looks I'd been seeing made with the Electric palette. I had a couple that I might be able to work with, but for the most part I was batting zero. So I started browsing around on different websites to see what I could find. And I found this: Creative Me 1 palette. From the photos, it seemed pretty spot-on. And I love the fact that I found something that didn't have 100 colors in it. Sometimes with those huge palettes it's really easy to feel lost and overwhelmed when choosing your look. 

Swatches on top are on bare skin, ones on bottom are over Nyx jumbo eye pencil in milk

 I was really impressed with the colors and pigmentation. They swatched really well over my bare skin and did amazing over a white base. Since I don't have the Urban Decay Electric palette, I can't say which colors might be spot-on dupes. The 2 colors that don't really appear are a limey green and a silver (which I probably wouldn't use much anyway). The Coastal Scents are all matte where the Urban Decay have a few that have satin/shimmer finishes. For $14.95 though, I really don't have any complaints. Another great thing is that each color is removable so you can customize it to your liking if you want to trade out a few shades.

My peacock inspired eyes. I used the green on the bottom right of the palette on my lid, the teal blue two to the left of that color on the outer third of the lid, the dark purple in the outer v, with the light pink/purple in the crease. I also smudged a little of the dark purple on the lower lash line. Other products used are Kat von D liquid liner for the cat eye, Jordana 12 hour pencil in black smoke in the waterline, and Jordana Best Lash Extreme mascara.

Overall, I think it's a great palette and I know I'll have a lot of fun experimenting with different looks.