Showing posts with label Palette. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Palette. Show all posts

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Mini e.l.f. Haul!!

Hi everyone! 
Today I have a mini e.l.f. (Eyes Lips Face) haul for you! e.l.f. recently came out with their new Mineral Pressed Mineral Bronzers and I was dying to try it, sooo I threw a few more items in my online shopping cart while I was there! :)
First up is the e.l.f. Studio Blush Palette in Light. I have been wanting to order this for a while now so I jumped on the chance! It was out of stock online pretty much as soon as it was released earlier this year. I already have the Dark palette that I wore mostly during the winter and early spring months and I love it! I wish I would have been able to get my hands on this one earlier in the summer months because the colors are so bright and fun! Three of the shades are totally matte and the fourth has a bit of shimmery glitter in it! They are have great pigmentation to them of go apply really smoothly! 
I went a little blush crazy and also picked up a few of the Mineral Pressed Mineral Blushes. I have been hearing so many great things about these from various beauty gurus on YouTube, and couldn't wait to check them out for myself! The colors I chose (from left to right and swatches underneath) are: Cabo Cabana, Jet Setter, and Wanderlust. I chose these colors because I thought they would great for transitioning from Summer to Fall. I'm obsessed with Jet Setter, it is my absolute favorite and so so pretty! I'm excited to keep messing around with these!
I was so excited to get the new Mineral Pressed Mineral Bronzer! I chose the color Tan Toffee and I have already used it a few times this past week! I LOVE this bronzer! It is totally matte and gives your skin a warm glow without adding and shimmer or sparkle! Its a great contour shade as well! I think I'm going to have to pick up a few more shades to try a deeper contour with! I think e.l.f. did really well with the formula for this! My only complaint for these bronzers would be the size. I wish the pan was a bit bigger. Especially for $5, get with it, e.l.f.!
I was also really excited to try the Studio Long-Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadows! I ordered two of these, Toast and Gala, and I'm not entirely sure about them yet. They are sort of a a weird texture, and something about it reminds me of a sponge. They are creamy, but not like a smudge pot and have a "foiled" look to them on the eyes. I tried both shades out this weekend and found them a bit difficult to blend and get them where I wanted them to go. I'm going to have to keep playing with these to really see if they are any good. As of now... ehh I'm on the fence!
I also ordered a few eye brushes! I LOVE e.l.f. brushes! They are SO affordable at $1-$3, super soft, and really do a great job! Whenever I place an order I can't help but repurchase some of my favorites! I can never have too many brushes (especially because I'm lazy and never feel like washing them). I ordered a Blending Eye Brush, an Eye Crease Brush, a Smudge Eye Sponge (which I love for eyeliner), and an Eye Contour Brush.

So far, I love most of the items I ordered! It's so fun using new products and seeing what ways they work best! E.l.f. is one of my favorite brands because they really do have some great quality products at SUPER affordable prices! I love that you can try something new without a huge, high end price tag attached to it!
Do you have any favorites from e.l.f.? Let me know either in the comments below or on my Facebook page (Facebook.com/bakingandbeautydepartment).

Thanks so much for reading!!
♥ Nichole


Thursday, August 7, 2014

Too Faced Rock N Roll Rock Candy Eye Shadow Collection Review

Hi guys!
So as you know from my previous Ulta haul, I picked up the new Too Faced Rock N Roll palette that I just couldn't wait to have! I planned on waiting until closer to Fall for this one because of the pretty jewel tones and darker shades, but I ran out of patience! Is anyone else DYING for fall yet or is it just me?
First of all, how adorable is the packaging?! I love the pink and black design! There are nine colors in the palette, all named after various music genres, which I thought was a really cool way to present them! There is only one totally matte shade in the pallet (Rockabilly) that makes a great highlight shade, while the other eight shadows all have a shimmer or glitter to them. The more shimmery shades are New Romantic (also a highlight shade) and Ska. New Wave, Rap, Pop, Heavy Metal, Glam Rock, and Punk all have a very glittery finish.
The right side of the palette has all of the lighter highlighting colors. The top color, Rockabilly, is a creamy matte shade that is best for highlighting. Its a basic neutral color that is cream/ off white and always good to have on hand in a palette like this! The middle color, New Wave, is a very, very, very glittery pinkish toned highlighter. I find this one to be a little bit chalky with really chunky glitter. Not my favorite look! The bottom color, New Romantic, is my favorite! It is a creamy, almost champagne toned color that is so pretty on the brow bone! I really like the way it plays off the darker colors in this palette and blends everything together really nicely! 
The middle column of the pallet has some of the brighter pops of color. The top color is Rap, a gorgeous bright gold, edgy color that definitely gives off  a bit of that Rock & Roll feel! I love this in the inner corners of my eyelids for a pop of color! It's creamy and has glitter throughout, but I think the bright color tones down some of the sparkle! It's one of my favorite colors in the palette! The middle color, Pop, is a pretty, but super dark plum color...like SUPER dark! Much darker on the eyes than in the pan or swatch! This also has some glitter in it as well, but nothing crazy. I was able to use this the other day as my outer corner color and blend it up into the crease to soften it up a bit and get a really pretty eye look without it being too harsh! The bottom color, Glam Rock, is a really hard color to describe! Its is almost a gun metal or pewter type of color with a greenish undertone that also has glitter in it. I've been a little puzzled over how I want to use this one honestly! It is really pretty and I'm thinking it might be good for a darker smokey eye!
The left side of the palette has the darkest colors. I'm slightly obsessed with the top swatch, Ska! It is such a pretty brown color with a little bit of bronze in it! It is one of the few shimmery shades in the palette and I think it is really versatile! I love using it all over the lid with a darker shade in my crease or with a lighter color on the lid and then put this in my crease! So many options with this one! The middle color, Heavy Metal scares me just a little bit hahaha! I find this one really difficult to use! It is a very dark navy blue color with glitter and I'm really just not so sure about this one. Other than using this as a liner on my upper lash line, I don't see a whole lot of options for it in everyday use. I think this one is the color that they really could have omitted from the palette altogether. The bottom and last color is Punk. This one is a dark forest greenish color that almost pulls black with (you guessed it!!) glitter in it. I'm not a huge fan of this one either to be honest. I think this is also a difficult color to work with. I would have much rather seen a true black shadow with some shimmer or glitter than a greenish shade. Just kinda meh about it really. 
Eye look using Ska on lids, Rap in crease and inner corners, and Rockabilly as highlight
Overall, I am really on the fence with the collection of shadows in this palette. I definitely had higher hopes for it and expected to be more excited to use it/ more impressed by it. It's just kind of confusing and I don't think there are a ton of different looks that you can really create with these nine colors alone. I feel like all you're really getting are a bunch of highlight colors and a bunch of dark colors. Neither of which really scream Rock N Roll to me! While the concept is a good one, I think they just totally missed the mark with the colors they chose to include. I think they would have been better off mixing up the finishes of these shadows a bit more. DEFINITELY less glitter would have been better, but more matte color options or more shimmer would have been great in my opinion! Even something a little more like the packaging would have been nice. Including a nice pink color, black, or silver would have tied it all together nicely! I think if they released their three newest palettes (Country, Rock N Roll, and Cat Eye) together in one larger palette (kind of like the Chocolate Bar) the look options would have been amazing! 
I plan to keep messing around with different looks from this palette and seeing if any of my opinions change (which I will definitely update if they do). I may try to work in some other shadows I have to see if I can balance some of it out or create a look that works better for me. 
Let me know if you have given this palette a try and what you think!
Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great weekend! 

♥ Nichole