Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette Swatches!

Yes, yes, oh God, yes!!! Ahem... I mean... So my Naked 3 palette turned up today and I wasn't excited in the slightest *cough, lie! cough*.

I've been wanting to get this palette since I first saw Kandee Johnson (amazing girl from YouTube, I adore her) show this palette last year. And now it's mine at last!!! Mwahahahahahaaaaaa!!!

I do apologise! And now for the rest of my blog...

So before I show you the shadows, I'll show you a neat little freebie that Urban Decay have kindly added for their buyers so that they can make the most of their eyeshadows... 

There's a booklet, and inside this booklet there are four - yes, four - samples of their famous eyeshadow primer. 

They're tucked handily in the sleeves in this booklet, with each different primer's name, colour and effect written on the package for your convenience.

I think that these are a brilliant way to advertise their own primers for anyone that hasn't tried them so they can make up their mind. I used to be a huge fan of UD e/s primer (original) but ended up using MAC Paint Pots. 

Anyway, swatch time! 

I am so excited to use this palette; the first eight colours are light enough for me to use on a regular basis (with Naked 2 I can only use the first five - the rest are too dark or too grey), the colours are beautiful, pigmented, creamy and a delight to use. I am very happy with this palette indeed! 

As for the primers, I won't be using the samples, I'll stick with my Paint Pots. I had a very bad experience with UD Sin (creased within an hour, no matter how I applied it) so I'm not tempted to use anything but the original, but I'm hoping my sister might take these off my hands... *hint hint, mei mei!* 

Do you like/hate the Naked Palettes? Got a palette you recommend? I'd love to know xx

My First Bridal Makeup Experience...

So this weekend has been so busy, I haven't had a chance to blog about makeup or beauty at all!

On Friday (22nd August) I went to my friend's wedding. The Bride's makeup artist said she couldn't do her makeup last minute due to timing, so she asked me to do it. I've never done Bridal makeup, and I had no time to practice on her for a trial run (she asked me on 21st in the evening when we were super busy doing last minute running around), so you can imagine I was under a lot of pressure to get it right first time. 

I can't even begin to tell you how nervous I was. To make things even harder, she'd gotten a spray tan done two days before the wedding, which means that none of her foundations were the right colour anymore. 

So I turned up armed with all of my foundations, half of my makeup stash and most of my eyeshadow and blending brushes, plus face & concealer brushes. 

Above is the makeup & palettes I used on the Bride. I ended up using my own foundation that I use every day (Estée Lauder Double Wear Light, Intensity 3.0) on her as it is light but super hard-wearing. 

I tell you, it was so stressful, trying to make a bride look perfect for her special day; my hands shook and I was sweating buckets. Plus, she blinked her eyes insessantly when I applied all of her eye makeup; doing her eyeliner and mascara was a real challenge.

Then to top it off, with only 40 minutes to go until she was due down the aisle, she suddenly asked me if it would be ok if I did her maid of honour's makeup too. I was shocked and dumbfounded, to say the least. Good makeup takes care and time to apply; 40 minutes was only enough for a hasty, half-done job! So I prayed for a miracle and rushed (carefully) through her maid of honour's makeup too, then I ran out of the house, ran to the car and sped to the church ahead of them. 

As it turns out I never even managed to get a close up of her (or her maid of honour's) face the entire day! But I'll show you some pics of the day... 

The last picture ^ is the bride and her MoH (plus her gorgeous flower girls, who were adorably cute).

Although doing bridal makeup for the first time was scary, it has only deepened my love for cosmetics and made me appreciate makeup and makeup artistry even more. I know that all I want to do is follow this path of beauty and cosmetics until the bitter end!  

Benefit Stay Don't Stray Primer

I love eyeshadow primers, my favourites being Urban Decay, Too Faced and MAC's paint pots (Painterly and Utterly Becoming), so I decided to get this two-in-one primer using my Birchbox points, so this beauty item was completely free. 

As you can see I got it in the shade Light/Medium, it comes in a nice large tube, with a doe foot applicator for precision primer-application. 

I like how the lid has "Stay" and the bottom of the tube says "Don't Stray". Cute. 

It says put three dots on the eyes (both on the lid and three under the eye) and blend, then apply eyeshadow (and concealer under the eyes). This dries down pretty fast, so once it's on your skin you have to work with it quickly. I put a fair amount of primer on my upper lid (I always do, I find it prevents creasing) but less on my undereye area, as I don't have trouble with my concealer moving or straying, especially once it's set with a powder.  

Picture taken at 4pm

I used MAC's Mineralism & Showstopper and Feather (from Little Mix loves All About The Eyes Palette) for the highlight. I used Bourjois Healthy Mix concealer and set with Bourjois Healthy Balance Unifying Powder to set it. 

Pictures taken at 3am

After eleven hours, my eyeshadow still looked pretty good. There was less eyeshadow in the crease, but it hadn't become so oily that a crease had formed, so thumbs up there. As for my concealer, that was still there, but as I've already stated, that's never been an issue, so I can't say with any certainty that it works. I think I'll stick with my MAC Paint Pots as a primer for the time being but this one would do for me in a pinch. 

Any eyeshadow primer suggestions? Love/hate? I'd love to hear xx

Avon 8 in 1 Eyeshadow Palette in The Nudes

Because there seems to be no slowing in my ongoing addiction to makeup, and with my holiday to Ibiza getting ever-closer, I decided to buy this eyeshadow palette from my local Avon Rep.

It's really small and compact, at only 4 and 1/2 inches long (almost 12cm), so this is the perfect size to travel with.

Inside it has an inbuilt mirror inside the lid and two, double ended sponge-tipped applicators for ease of use.

The first four colours close up. There are no names for these eyeshadows, which is a shame.

The same first four colours, swatched on the back of my hand.

The last four colours in the palette...

And again, the last four colours swatched on the back of my hand.

My thoughts: I bought this palette when it cost £7, down from £12, and I'm kind of glad that I didn't pay full price; the colours are a little on the powdery side, and the pigmentation and quality isn't the best. I have MUA palettes that cost £4 that have better colour payoff than these, but I do like how portable this palette is, and I will be taking this abroad with me as it is cheap and the colours are good for everyday use.
Would I repurchase?: No, I don't like the eyeshadow colours enough and there are better palettes out there for cheaper. Despite this, it's not too bad and I will definitely be using it as an everyday eyeshade palette when I go abroad.

Review: bareMinerals Shine On Palette

At the moment feel unique (click on link and type "OUTLET" into search bar - awesome offers on there at the moment) are doing a sale on loads of beauty & fragrance. I've recently bought Dior Pure Poison 30ml EDP for £23.50, a Lancôme Gloss In Love lipgloss for £10 and now bareMinerals Shine On palette for a mere £12.49!

It comes with a glittery gold purse and the palette itself is rather large, very shiny/reflective gold colour and prone to fingerprints so it looks grubby quickly. Inside there are two eyeshadows, a blush, a lipgloss, a waterproof eyeliner pencil, an eyeshadow primer, a little blusher brush and a double ended sponge applicator. 

Top: Glitterati eyeshadow swatch, a shimmery pale pink/gold.

Bottom: Center Stage eyeshadow swatch, a blackened plum with microfine red glitter (that can't be seen in this picture, apologies).

The Big Break blusher swatch, a muted shimmery pale pink/gold, very similar to Glitterati. It's buildable and pretty for a naturally flushed look. 

Marvelous Moxie Lipgloss in 'A-Lister' swatch, a sheer pink gloss with a golden sheen.

Round the Clock Waterproof Eyeliner in '4pm', a deep, dark purple. Looks brighter on the waterline than it does on the upper lash line. 

Prime Time Brightening Eyelid Primer on my eyelid. It's a shimmery gold primer to prevent creasing and keep your shadow looking more vibrant. Looks great on its own. 

This is my makeup on. Shimmery blush alert! 

Ok, down to the review: 

I really like this palette and everything in it. Centre Stage eyeshadow is very pigmented, but tends to blend out and loses it's beautiful plummy colour. Despite that, it's versatile and can be layered to create a sultry smokey look. The lipgloss is mint flavoured (I've never liked mint lip glosses but gotten used to them) and quite long lasting but loses it's sheer-pink colour quickly so it might best be used over a lipstick for maximum shimmer-effect.

The blusher needs to be built up on light/medium skin for it to show but once it has it looks natural (but very shimmery).

The eyeliner is fantastic. It lasts for around 5hrs on my waterline; once it sets it takes a lot to get it off. 

The primer is also pretty good, it looks great on it's own and the eyeshadow over the top didn't crease for 8-9hrs which is pretty darn good. 

Summary: I really like this palette, it's portable, lightweight (although a little chunky and too big to fit in little handbags/purses - just thought y'all should know), the colours are neutral, shimmery and absolutely perfect for spring and summer. Total bargain at just £12.50, worth the money and the colours are great. 

Drugstore Eyeshadow Primer Smackdown: MUA Pro Base VS Rimmel Exaggerate Undercover

Yeeeehawww! Welcome guys and gals, it's time for a good old fashioned Smackdown of drugstore eyeshadow primers! 

Ok, with the theatrics over, I'll get right down to it. I have oily eyelids that makes my eyeshadow crease within an hour, so I have to use a primer before I apply my eyeshadow. I always use high end primers, be it Urban Decay, Too Faced or MAC paint pots, and I always love their products and results. But sometimes we don't want to have to cough out £15-£17 for an eyeshadow primer/base! 

I saw these two products in Superdrug and thought I'd test them out and blog about the results for y'all to see. 

Here they are, so now it's time for the test.

Above Left: MUA Pro Base. It's a thick, creamy, flesh coloured base. It applies well and dries quite quickly, but it will quite likely show up on women of colour due to it's finish colour.

Above Right: Rimmel Exaggerate. It's a thinner, clearer base with a slight shimmer. It takes a little while longer to dry but more appropriate for all skin tones due to the sheerer finish. 

Above; my right eye with Rimmel base, with Wet 'n' Wild eyeshadow over the top. Picture taken at 8pm.

Above; my left eye with MUA Pro Base with Wet 'n' Wild eyeshadow over the top. Picture taken at 8pm.

Above, my right eye, 9hrs later at 5am. The colour has faded a little but there's no creasing. Rimmel has done a great job. 

Above, my left eye, 9hrs later at 5am. The colour has faded a little - not quite as much as Rimmel - but again there is no creasing. MUA's primer has also done very well. 

Crease prevention: 

Rimmel 5/5

MUA 5/5

Colour hold over time:

Rimmel 4/5

MUA   5/5

Cost:

Rimmel (£4.99) 4/5

MUA   (£2.50) 5/5

My final thoughts: Although they both performed well, MUA Pro Base won this Smackdown, but only just. My only gripe with the MUA primer is that it contains Methylparaben, which as a rule I try to avoid. That being said, it held colour and prevented creasing very well. Plus it's very affordable at a teeny tiny price of £2.50. Rimmel is definitely a close second place, and worth a try at just £5.