Tarte Young, Wild & Free Palette

Somehow I always seem to feel when QVCUK does an update on their Tarte stock.  I'm just surfen the net and than a little voice says "go check out Tarte on QVCUK" and voila, 9 out of 10 there'll be a restock and new items.  And usually the new items are on an introductory price (which is just a fancy word for sale or discount) so there no excuse not to buy something, as a matter of fact you should buy right then and there because it's on sale.  Right?  So it's no surprise that this cutie found his way home to me even though I wasn't planning on buying it.

I really love the fun factor of the palette, it's like a feel good palette.  I smile every time I pick it up, even on a pre-coffee monday morning it makes me smile.  I feel like this is what the world needs: more kindness and more confetti (and more makeup)!

After buying the Tartelette and Tartelette in Bloom palettes I completely fell in love with Tarte.  Their palettes are just so userfriendly and the eyeshadows are great quality.  The only thing is that their colorsheme seems to be the same all the time: neutrals.  And this palette is no different.

There is a particular smell to this palette when you open it.  It's a sweet smell that reminds me of the whole Too Faced chocolate frenzy.  I'm no fan of funny smelling eyeshadows, it makes me hesitate to put it on.  I mean, I don't like putting perfumed things on my eyes even if they are dermalogicaly tested.  It just doesn't feel right to me.

from left to right:

wow, party, dream team, lucky charm, weekend, virtue, happy place, simple life

The quality is what you expect from Tarte eyeshadows, great pigmentation and smooth application except for Wow.  What bothers me about the palette, and this is the first time I've felt this with a Tarte palette, is that the finish of the palette itself isn't up to normal Tarte standard.  Maybe it's just mine or maybe it's just the batch but you can see that Simple Life isn't put in straight.  The pan even comes out of the palette slightly on one side.  I noticed it the moment I opened my palette and I feel that just isn't right.  I assume it's just a fabrication error since I don't see this on pictures of others but it's still there.

There are tutorials for a day and night look that come with the palette which is always nice for when you're lacking inspiration (or on a pre-coffee monday morning).

If you're looking for a nice neutral palette and you like sweet smells you can always take a look at this palette.  Overall it is a good palette but I do prefer the Tartelette palettes over this one.

Where to buy:

Tarte.com does ship internationally so you can buy it directly from them (taxes and duties may apply).  You can also buy it at Qvcuk.com together with an LCL mascara for £38 (app. 45€).

LORAC Pro Palette

A girl can never have too many eyeshadowpalettes right?  If you're looking for a great everyday palette there are lots of choices out there, one of them is the Lorac Pro Palette for sure.  

As you know by now I have a bit of a weak spot for brands that you can't buy in European stores, I don't know why it is.  Maybe because I feel like there are so many descent makeup brands out there that are cheaper than what we can normally buy here and that are great quality.  I'm also an avid youtube watcher and blog reader and I feel like I get all the information on certain products but I'm just not able to buy them and that is pretty darn frustrating!

So when I discovered in 2014 that Nordtrom started shipping internationally (also for beauty products) and that they carry LORAC I treated myself to a few palettes, one of them being the original Pro Palette (the others being the Pro Palette 2 and the Unzipped palette, reviews will be on the blog in the future).  Ordering 3 at a time might seem a bit over the top but when you do the math with shipping and duties it's a lot cheaper to buy 3 than to buy just 1.  And who am I to defy science?

The LORAC Pro Palette contains 16 eyeshadows and 1 travel size Behind The Scenes Eye Primer (review on this is on the blog next week).  The quality of the eyeshadows is great, I really can't say anything bad about them.  The color pay off is great and they are so easy to blend.

Swatches top row

Swatches bottom row

So if you're living in Europe and you want to treat yourself or if you have a friend that's totally into make up and you want to buy a special present, this palette is worth looking in to.

Where to buy:

If you live in Europe you can get LORAC through Nordstrom.com, the palette costs €41,77 which is a really good price but you have to take in to account the shipping and duties that are charged at the end.  For Belgium that would be €20,35 shipping and €11,69 duties, making it a total of €73,81.

Urban Decay Alice In Wonderland Through The Looking Glass eyeshadow palette

YESSSSS!!! That was my initial reaction when I saw this palette appearing on the net the first time.  I got to know UD because of their gorgeous I love New York Palette and I feel like it's been ages since they brought out an eyeschadow palette with artistic packaging like that.  Don't get me wrong, I love their naked palettes.  These have all your everyday colors and are very convenient for traveling or if you're doing someone else's makeup.  But when it comes to packaging, they're just not that interesting.

So I was really excited when I saw that UD was 'going back tot their roots' in a matter of speaking and of course I just had to get this palette (or what did you expect?)!  I left my email on the notification list of Feelunique.com and waited.  Well, I'm lucky that I didn't wait until I got a mail because I never did!  I saw on instagram that the palette was in stock and ordered immediately, good thing I did because it sold out very fast.  And not only the palette but also the lipsticks of the Alice In Wonderland collection.  So that tells me that there are people out there that are even more into collecting makeup than I am because those lipsticks aren't the most wearable colors (which is why I didn't get them).

This palette is so gorgeous.  The packaging is a real work of art!!  I absolutely love it!!  Of course this isn't made for traveling and it's not the most handy palette but hey, all's fair in art right?

The eyeshadow collection is very colorful and great for experimenting.  I know UD shadows are great quality shadows but these shadows just blew me away.  The pigmentation is to die for and they go on so buttery and creamy.  

You get 20 all new shades in the palette and each column is dedicated to a character of the movie: Alice (left column), Mad Hatter (second column from the left), Mirana (third column), Iracebeth (fourth column) and Time (last column). You can recreate the look of your favorite character by using the colors in their column or you can just mix and max the colors and create your own looks.

I had so much fun swatching these.  I always do swatches before I start playing with the shadows and I already knew I was going to love putting these on my eyelids.  These shadows are so pigmented, I swiped once with my index finger on my arm to make the swatches and as you can see the pigmentation on these is just fabulous.

top row

second row

third row

bottom row

I know there are colors in there that I'll probably never use but to me this palette is more of a collectors item with the benefit of great shadows.  

Where to buy:

I bought mine at feelunique.com but unfortunately it's totally sold out.  I paid €56,76 for mine.

Too Faced Sweet Peach Palette

If you're no stranger to my blog than you know by now that the word 'limited' has a special effect on me.  Sometimes it feels like I'm collecting makeup (and I admit that I have way to much to ever use up) so when something is limited or hard to get, I just have to have it.  Thankfully my man finds it all very funny.  He can't understand why a new - limited - makeup item makes me happy (and somewhat proud maybe) but as long as it makes me happy, he doesn't care.  

So it shouldn't surprise you that I really wanted to have this palette.  It was released in the States a while ago, has sold out completely and Too Faced has announced that they will be re-releasing it in a few months.  I knew if I wanted to have this one I had to be fast.  Sephora France announced on instagram that the palette would be in stock on Monday May 2nd and since I had a week off I was prepared!  The palette sold out fast so if I was working that day I probably wouldn't have been able to get it, sometimes luck has to be on your side with these things.  Delivery was fast and by Friday I got to hold my new little treasure.  

First thing I noticed was the smell (of course).  It's a very fruity sweet peachy smell and the sensation feels very weird to me.  Eyeshadows aren't supposed to smell like this, lipsticks maybe but eyeshadow?  Weird.

The palette contains 18 eyeshadows and the colorselection just screams summer.  I'm usually one to go for the more neutral tones so this palette will be a nice and welcome addition to the ones I already have.

I'm sorry, I just had to include a picture of this cute little peach...

With the palette comes a little booklet with instructions on three different looks.  I love it when they do this, especially with this palette where some of the colors can be a bit out of the comfort zone for most people.  Now at least you know where/how to start and you can let your artistic freedom flow as you go.

Top row (from left to right):

White Peach, Luscious, Just Peachy, Bless Her Heart, Tempting, Charmed I'm Sure

Middle row (from left to right):

Nectar, Cobbler, Candied Peach, Bellini, Peach Pit, Delectable

Lower row (from left to right):

Peaches 'n Cream, Georgia, Caramelized, Puree, Summer Yum, Talk Derby To Me

As usual the pigmentation and formula of these eyeshadows is great.  It only took me one sweep with my ring finger to get these swatches.  The colors are very build able and blend like a charm.

I'm really happy I got my hands on this one!  I've been experimenting with the palette ever since I got it and one of the reasons I love it is that you can go bold and neutral with this.  A great palette for spring/summer!!!  The smell though ... weird!!

Where to buy:

Unfortunately the Too Faced Sweet Peach palette is currently sold out at Sephora.fr but you can join the waiting list.  I paid €44 for it (I had a discount code but the discount was around the same amount as the shipping costs are).

I Heart Makeup Naked Chocolate Palette at Kruidvat Belgium

I'm not a big fan of companies that make exact copies of a product.  Maybe it's because I studied marketing and I know how strategies are made and how much effort and creativity goes into launching a product line or theme.  So when I first read about I Heart Makeup I really wasn't impressed with the company.  Their I Heart Chocolate palette is an exact copy of the Too Faced Chocolate Palette and when I say exact, I mean exact.  The packaging is slightly different (cheaper looking and feeling) but the colors and the theme are exactly the same.  But curiosity got the best of me and when I saw the I Heart Makeup palettes in a Kruidvat promotion I couldn't help myself and I decided to take a closer look at them.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the quality, especially for the price you pay.  Kruidvat had a tester of every palette so I could swatch them before buying.  This shouldn't come as a surprise but I decided to buy one.  Since I already have the Too Faced palette I decided to go for The Naked Chocolate one.  Natural everyday colors, you just can't have enough of those right? (please say yes as my bestie already called me out on this and banned me from buying other palettes like this, I think her exact words were "buy neon the next time, I'm sure you don't have that already")

First thing I did when I came home and opened the palette?  I smelled it and I mean I really inhaled the scent of it (I could just hear my man thinking "she's lost it completely now") ... A little word of advice?  Don't do that!!  I was expecting a sweet chocolate scent but instead I got a cheap makeup scent.  It threw me back in time to when I was 16 and buying eyeshadow for the first time in the supermarket.

The packaging feels cheap but hey, it is a cheap palette so that really doesn't bother me and the quality and amount of the eyeshadows makes up for the cheap packaging. 

top row swatches: Smoothy, Divine, Mocha Lover, Dipped, Choc-fest

It's interesting because I read this article recently about how we pay too much for makeup and this palette proves that we do.  Especially these days when drugstore brands often are as good a quality as some high end products are. That being said, I'm pretty sure we are all aware that we pay a lot for marketing or the brand name when buying makeup.  Or maybe we just want to go along with the hype.  I know I do.  Which is exactly why I believe in mixing high end and budget products.  

middle row swatches: Adorable, Buttons, Frosted Choc, Delight, Sweet Shop, Sugar

My swatches were made with one swipe of my finger rubbed over the eyeshadow.  They were taken by daylight and I did no editing where the light was concerned to keep the result as real as possible.  

Some of the more matt colors are a bit chalky (which they often are) but the shimmers are just so buttery and soft!!  

bottom row swatches: Double Dip, Tob-le-rone, Wonka, Milky, Way

If you're looking for a nice natural palette that isn't expensive and gives you a lot of product than this is definitely one to look at!

Where to buy:
The I Heart Makeup promotion at Kruidvat Belgium runs until the end of this week and all the palettes are €9,99.  If you can't find them at Kruidvat you can always order them online at www.makeuprevolution.com .

Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette

Once you’re hooked, there’s just no going back.  I’m talking about the naked palettes by Urban Decay.  I remember chasing after the first one (which was always sold out everywhere) and finding it in a Sephora in San Fransisco at opening time.  There were 4 palettes in stock and I took 2 (one for me and one for the bestie), sorry not sorry for the people coming after me.  Mind you, this was like the 10th Sephora I visited that trip and the only one that had it.  That was the trip my man first got to know Sephora, learned that MAC isn’t always short for McDonalds and saw a Naked Palette bring pure happiness to his girl.

It was a good marketing trick, making sure stock is always low, the product is hard to find and bloggers write about it.  It became a cult product, a legend on its own.  A good quality eyeshadow palette with only natural/nudes in there.  Since than almost every brand has come out with a similar palette but they started the whole thing.

UD had added 2 more naked palettes and of course the 2 naked basics (that are great for traveling) to their range.  And like I said, once you’re hooked, that’s it.  So it should come as no surprise to learn I almost have them all.  The only one missing is the Naked Basic 2, I’m still planning on getting it but waiting on a promo of some sort.

from left to right:

High, Dirtysweet, Radar, Armor, Slanted, Dagger

Black Market, Smolder, Password, Whiskey, Combust, Thirteen

from left to right: High, Dirtysweet, Radar, Armor, Slanted, Dagger

from left to right: Black Market, Smolder, Password, Whiskey, Combust, Thirteen

And now Urban Decay came out with this one: The Naked Smoky palette.  Sure you can make a more ‚natural’ look with this palette but there mostly darker colors in there, perfect for the smoky looks.

Just like most palettes these days there is a booklet in there on how to make certain looks.  I love this!  I’m no make up artist and even though I watch tons of tutorials on youtube, I really love these little ‚how to’s’, they just make everything look so easy.

I love the packaging, it’s very solid.  It has a plastic case which makes it easy to clean and has a magnetic lock.  No need to push hard to close this baby!

The shadows are great quality, as usual with Urban Decay but I especially love the glittery shadows.   To me they scream girls’ night out!  I really need to plan more nights away just so I can bring out the full potential of this palette.

And of course UD is a real make up brand which means they know you can't do much with a 'sponge thingy' so instead they give you a full size dual end brush with which you can make all the eye looks in the booklet.

Where to buy in Europe:

I bought mine at feelunique.com for €53,58 (I did have a £5 discount so I paid less) but you can also find it at Sephora.fr for €49,95 (they charge shipping so feelunique will probably be cheaper).