palette – Forty, Flirty & Fabulous

NARS Makeup Your Mind Eye & Cheek Palette Review

Hi All! I’m here with a palette review – The NARS Makeup Your Mind Eye & Cheek Palette. I’ve had this for over a month now and really love it!

I purchased this at Ulta for $35 a few weeks ago, the original price was $49. Here’s a photo of the inside of the palette:

The palette includes three blushes, one bronzer and 8 shadows. The blushes from clockwise are Luster, Orgasm and Dolce Vita. The bronzer is Laguna. These are all classic shades, but the only one I own is a sample of Orgasm blush.

The eyeshadows going in rows of two from the top are Hammamet I and Nepal, Pattaya and Fuse, Fex and Tropical Express I, and Sophia and Mekong.

Unfortunately, this is no longer for sale on Ulta.com, and it was an Ulta Exclusive. But, maybe they’ll restock it at Ulta.

Here’s swatches of the blushes and bronzer:

From Left to Right — Luster, Laguna, Orgasm a Dulce Vita. I love all of these products! Laguna is such a gorgeous blusher and all three blushes are so pretty! The powders are very easy to blend.

Here are the shadows:

The shimmers and glitters obviously swatch better than the darker mattes. But the mattes do work nicely on the eyes. You can build them up nicely.

I use this palette everyday! I at least use the bronzer and blushes and I use the eye shadows often. LOVE! And it was such a good deal at $35.

Did you pick this up? What did you think?

Revolution x The Emily Edit – The Wants Eyeshadow Palette Review

Hi all! Happy Friday! I am so ready for the weekend!

I decided to do a fun palette review today! This is the Revolution x The Emily Edit – The Wants Eyeshadow Palette. It’s a larger palette with lots of fun colors!

It is in collaboration with Youtuber Emily Noel. She does beauty videos and has an easy-going personality.

I purchased this on sale at Ulta. It is normally $20 USD, which is not bad, but it was on sale for $12! I’ve had my eye on it for a while, so I scooped it up!

The packaging is sturdy plastic. Here’s the inside:

It has 24 shades and a huge mirror! This has a lot of cool and warm toned neutrals with a few pops of color. Here are the shades:

The Cream (white cream, matte finish)
Midwest (light tan, matte finish)
Oh Heavens! (beige cream, satin finish)
Cupcake (peach, satin finish)
Hobby (light brown, matte finish)
Dues Paid (red brick, matte finish)
LoveTons (plum, matte finish)
Laughcry (blood orange, matte finish)
Prayer (sepia brown, matte finish)
Eve Rose (light lilac with a gold shift, satin finish)
Pizzazz (maroon purple, shimmer finish)
Cheer (maroon, matte finish)
Grateful (lime green, shimmer finish)
Belle Violet (lavender, shimmer finish)
Family (deep purple, matte finish)
Heartbeat (chestnut, shimmer finish)
Good Vibes (rich copper, shimmer finish)
Capricorn (mocha brown, satin finish)
Top Story (gold, shimmer finish)
Corduroy (emerald green, matte finish)
Side Hustle (khaki green with a gold shift, shimmer finish)
Pi Phi (plum purple, matte finish)
Apartment (wood brown, matte finish)
Dark & Early (black, matte finish)

Here are close up photos of each side:

I haven’t tried all of the shades, but I have tried some mattes and shimmers.

Swatches!

This photo is a bit blurry but the rest are okay. ( I’ll reswatch it when I can and replace it).

The shades in the first row from left to right are The Cream, Hobby, Prayer, Grateful, Good Vibes, Side Hustle.

Hobby and Prayer are good transition shades and cream is nice all over the lid. I haven’t tried the other shades yet.

Second row from left to right — Midwest, Dues Paid, Eve Rose, Belle Violet, Capricorn and Pi Phi.

Midwest and Dues paid are great crease shades. Eve Rose and Belle Violet are very sheer shimmers. They are more like shadow toppers. They are okay.

Third row left to right — Oh Heavens!, Love Tons, Pizazz, Family, Top Story and Apartment.

I enjoy using Love Tons and Apartment to deepen an eye look. Pizazz and Top Story are gorgeous lid shimmers.

Fourth row left to right — Cupcake, Laughcry, Cheer, Heartbeat, Corduroy and Dark & Early.

Cupcake is another sheer lid shade. It’s really pretty, though. The rest of the shades on this row are nice to create more dramatic looks.

I’m still trying out this palette. The first time I used it, the shadows only lasted two hours. I just put it over concealer. The other times I have worn it, I used an eyeshadow base and set it. That works better and they last a few hours longer. This isn’t a highly pigmented palette. It’s nice, but not one for really dramatic or very long lasting looks.

For $12, it’s a pretty good deal, but I’m glad I didn’t pay $20 for it. You can get Colourpop palettes for the same price or less and they have better pigmentation.

I will continue to play with this palette, and recommend it for those who like more natural looks or want to support Emily Noel.

Do you have this palette? Are you a fan of Emily Noel?

NARS Summer Lights Face Palette Review

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Hi all! Happy Saturday! I hope you are having a great weekend!

I’m back with a face palette review! I gifted myself this gorgeous NARS palette for my birthday last month. It’s the NARS Summer Lights Face Palette ($59 USD) and it’s available online at Ulta.com.

Here’s closeup pics:

Gorgeous! I like the packaging. It is simple and elegant. It’s made from sturdy plastic and it has a nice mirror.

What I don’t like is that the shades aren’t printed on the inside of the palette. They are on the back. The shadow shades from left to right are Rainwater, Hibiscus, Papeete and Hei. The highlighter is Paper Flower and the bronzer is Destination Unknown.

Here are the swatches:

I’ve swatched the four shadows first, then the highlighter and bronzer.

The eye shadows are my favorite shades in the palette. They are nicely pigmented and very easy to blend. I can make a complete eye look with them. I put one of the left two shadows all over my lid. The brown matte shadow is nice in the crease. The darkest shade is perfect to deepen the outer corner, create a smoky eye or use under the eye.

The highlighter doesn’t swatch the best, but it’s really glow on. It can also be used on the eye. The bronzer is light, but it’s nice for a subtle bronze look and also as a transition shade on the eyes. I wouldn’t recommend it for deeper skin tones, though.

I also wanted to share the free gift I received with this and share a tip. If you purchase online from Ulta, the are frequently offering free gifts with purchase. I usually wait until one is available to shop online. The gift this time was a free Beauty Bag with any $30 online purchase:

The bag says Talk Beauty to Me, which is so cute! And it has all these great goodies inside. I bought this in June, but they are often doing cute gifts with purchase if you are thinking of placing an order with Ulta. Also, don’t forget their points program. I’m a Platinum member and there’s always fun deals.

I do really love this palette! I think it’s great for travel and easy summer looks. The quality is great, too! This is my first NARS palette and definitely not my last!

What’s your current summer palette? Do you have any from NARS?

Natasha Denona Sunrise Eyeshadow Palette Review

Hi all! I hope you are having a great weekend! I am, it’s storming right now in Kansas City, but I have a pretty new palette to play with, so that’s okay!

I bought myself a birthday gift — the Natasha Denona Sunrise Eyeshadow Palette ($65 USD). I’ve been wanting to try a Natasha Denona palette, but the normal sized ones are $129, and I can justify spending that much on eyeshadow. $65 is still a lot, but it is half the price. I have heard that the quality of these shadows are amazing, so I was excited to try it out!

Isn’t she gorgeous?! The shades are:

Poppy (crimson bronze metallic)
Citrine (warm yellow matte)
Phlox (burnt warm crimson metallic)
Awakening (lavender nude duo-chrome)
Laurel (peachy champagne metallic)
Aster (violet mauve duo-chrome)
Glory (fuchsia matte)
Azalea (pink copper duo-chrome)
Morgan (pastel coral creamy matte)
Agate (champagne apricot metallic)
Clove (dark maroon creamy-matte)
Carnelian (burnt light orange creamy-matte)
Jasper (bright terracotta creamy-matte)
Morning (light apricot creamy-matte)
Day Spring (nude bronze metallic)

Here’s a close up of each side of the palette:

And here are the swatches:

Top Row left to right — Poppy, Citrine, Phlox, Awakening and Laurel

All of these shimmers and metallics are gorgeous and so buttery! I had to swatch Citrine twice. It does blend out nicely, I just wanted a very bright swatch so you could see the color. My favorite shade of this row is Awakening. It’s a stunning duo chrome that is described as lavender nude. It looks amazing all over the lid.

Second row left to right — Aster, Glory, Azalea, Morgan and Agate

My favorite shades in the row are Aster and Morgan. Morgan is gorgeous in the crease as a transition shade with any of the other shadows in the palette. It’s so versatile. And Aster is just purpley goodness!

Third row left to right — Clove, Carnelian, Jasper, Morning and Day Spring

Such pretty warm shades! Clove was the hardest shade to blend. It’s a bit patchy. but it is a nice color to deepen a look. Day Spring is a beautiful bronze and is perfect for topping the oranges and yellows.

This palette was quite a splurge, but I’m so glad I got it. The quality of the shadows are so luxe and blend very well. I’m having fun creating bright looks for the summer. I also think that this will work well in the fall, too!

Have you picked up the Sunrise palette or do you have a Natasha Denona palette?

Shop My Stash March 2019 Results and Monthly Empties

Hi All! Can you believe it’s almost April? It’s a nice, warmer day today (yesterday it snowed in Kansas City), and Easter is in a few weeks!

I’m here with the results of my March Shop my Stash. I had a fun time using products that I haven’t either used in a while or it’s newer to my collection and I want to give it a go. If I don’t like the item after the month, I will move it out of my collection to make some room!

My most used item from my stash was the Dose of Colors Desi x Katy Friendcation Eyeshadow Palette. I used the mattes in the palette all month long! Like I suspected, the metallics are too glittery for me. When I use them, all I see is glitter! And that’s not my everyday look. I am going to keep it, though, because the neutral mattes are so nice!

I used the tarte Rainforest of the Sea highlighting eyeshadow palette vol. III’s shimmer shades with my Friendcation palette. They are very pretty, but kind of boring. All the shades are so similar. I might end up passing this one on to my daughter.

The Laura Geller Baked Gelato Swirl Illuminator Palette is so pretty, but the shades are a bit dark for my skin. I might keep it and try again in the summer if I tan, or pass it along.

I am not a fan of the Becca Glow Gloss in Malibu Soleil. The shade isn’t very flattering on me. I probably won’t keep it.

The Julep Eyeshadow 101 in Champagne Shimmer is so pretty! I haven’t really given it a chance before. It’s nice for the inner corner, under the brow or even all over the lid. I paired it with the Friendcation palette and used it all over my lid — it was gorgeous!

Here are my empties for February and March:

I just have four empties for the last two months. I didn’t post empties in February because I only had the Smashbox spray then. I have been trying lots of new skincare, so I haven’t used up a lot. I’m almost out of a few more skincare items, so I should have more next month!

This month I used up the Derma E Firming DMAE Eye Lift, The Smashbox Photo Finish So Chill Coconut Primer Water, Mario Badescu Facial Spray with Aloe Chamomile and Lavender and Derma E Purifying Daily Detox Scrub.

The Derma E eye cream is amazing! It really smooths my eye area. I also really love the Derma E scrub. It makes my skin so soft! The two sprays were also so nice. Especially the Smashbox So Chill Coconut. I’m sad that it was a limited edition.

This was a fun month. I found a couple of products I will continue to use and a few I’ll move out of my collection and let someone else love them!

I will be posting my April Shop My Stash tomorrow. Do you like to shop your stash?

IT Cosmetics Palettes That Are New To Me!

Hi all! Happy first day of spring! Didn’t it feel like it would never come after that cold and snowy winter?!?

I’m excited to be reviewing IT Cosmetics products that I haven’t tried before. I love the brand, but I have mostly tried their skincare and base products.

I was sent these products for my honest review:

Superhero Eye Transforming Anti-Aging Super Palette ($42 USD)

IT Girl Vol. 2 Makeup Palette ($38 on sale for $25)

Hello Cheekbones Contour Palette ($36 USD)

Heavenly Luxe Hello Cheekbones Contour Brush #19 ($48 USD)

Here are the palettes opened. I did noticed that the eyeshadow shades in both palettes are fairly similar. But they are pretty and good for every day looks.

I have been wanting to try this palette and am so glad I did! The top row are eye foundations, which are bases for under shadow. The first two are matte, and the last one is a shimmer. The first six shadows are shimmers and metallics and the last three are matte liners.

These are so gorgeous! The shadows are creamy and blend nice. The only thing I wish there was is a matte transition shade. I am going to do a full review on this palette with swatches soon!

I believe this was It Cosmetic’s limited edition holiday palette. It is on sale right now so if you want it, it’s the time to pick it up!

This palette has some of the same colors as the Superhero palette, but it does have more mattes. The left shadows are shimmer and the right shadows are mattes. The blush is a pretty pink ombre.

It’s a great palette for everyday, or use some of the darker shades for a nice smokey eye!

This contour palette and brush is so fun!

The brush is very soft, like all IT Cosmetic brushes. They’re such great quality. This is easy to use. Just sweep it as shown above and then apply it to the cheekbone. It blends out easily. The bronzer is pretty warm, but can be used as contour. I also take this with a fluffier brush to bronze my whole face.

The highlighter is pretty, but not very blinding. It does give a nice glow and for more impact, I wet my brush and it did give more shine.

Have you tried any of these IT Cosmetics products? What do you love from the brand?

Urban Decay Elements Eyeshadow Palette Review

Hi all! Happy Saturday! I’m so glad it’s the weekend. And the weather is beautiful in Kansas City today.

I had to return a foundation that didn’t work for me at Ulta, so I exchanged it for this beautiful palette (and a 20% off coupon). This palette is $52, but with coupons or sales coming up, you could get it for less!

Here’s the inside of the palette. There are 19 shades. Here’s some info from the Ulta website:

Inspired by the elements – Air, Earth, Fire and Water – a constellation of unique colors orbit around Luna, an ultra-iridescent transformer shade. The 19 new multidimensional pigments include bright mattes, holographic shimmers and molten metallics.

Shades include:

Silver Burn (smoky purple w/ pink iridescent sparkle)
Electric Air (pinkish silver w/ iridescent micro-glitter)
Tectonic (chocolate brown w/ iridescent micro-sparkle)
Volcanic (bronze metallic)
Earth Bound (forest green satin w/ tonal micro-shimmer)
Hex Remedy (bright purple w/ iridescent sparkle)
Fool’s Gold (metallic gold w/ tonal sparkle)
Antidote (soft warm nude)
Dream Weaver (bright pink matte)
Ego (soft pinkish-purple w/ blue micro-shimmer)
Fortune Teller (metallic pink-red w/ green 3-D sparkle and shift)
Moon Rock (metallic copper w/ iridescent sparkle)
Secret Keeper (bright green satin w/ gold shift)
Luna (white shimmer w/ iridescent micro-sparkle)
Lioness (smoky burgundy satin w/ bronze sparkle)
Elemental (sienna matte)
Heavy Water (bright metallic teal)
Sapphire Dream (bright navy blue metallic)
Fire Starter (deep red w/ gold micro-shimmer)

Here as swatches:

Sapphire Dream, Electric Air, Antidote, Secret Keeper, Earthbound, Elemental. Elemental and Antidote are two of the three mattes in the palette and I use them with a lot of different looks.

Volcanic, Lioness, Fire Starter, Dream Weaver, Ego and Heavy Water. I’ve been doing a lot of bronzey looks and Volcanic is gorgeous on the lid. Ego’s also another one of my favorites. Heavy Water is beautiful but I haven’t tried it yet. Maybe I’ll use it for holiday looks.

Fortune-Teller, Silver Burn, Fool’s Gold, Moon Rock, Tectonic, Hex Remedy and Luna. These are the inner circle shades and they really call to me! So beautiful. I love purples and bronzes, and that gold looks amazing on the lid!

What I liked: The packaging is gorgeous! The out box and the compact itself is well made. The palette has a large mirror and is easy to open. I love the shades. I picked it up for the purples, but the other shades are beautiful, too. The mattes are easy to blend and the metallics are creamy and really pigmented.

Not so much: I haven’t tried all of the glitters, but I put Silver Bullet on my lid in the morning, and by evening all of the glitter was gone. It just looked like I had a smokey eye at the end of the day. I did use a glitter glue. The same with Tectonic. I’m going to keep trying these out.

I do recommend this. Especially if you can get in on sale. I do like the Urban Decay Born to Run palette more, but I will use this for glam holiday looks.

Have you tried the Urban Decay Elements palette? What do you think?

New Makeup For Fall!

Hi all! Fall is just around the corner and I’m starting to do my fall makeup reviews. I’m so excited because this is one of my favorite times of year!

Below are new fall products that I have been sent for my honest review:

Just launched is jane iredale’s NEW Triple Luxe Long Lasting Naturally Moist Lipsticks ($35 each). there are 15 fresh “power colors” in a breakthrough luxury, clean formula. From electric pink (Natalie) to fine wine (Ella) to bold red (Gwen) to made-for-you nudes (Gabby, Molly, Sharon, Tricia), each lip-loving shade uses antioxidant-rich Moringa Oil to soothe and nourish, plus Tahitian Vanilla and Blackberry for subtly sweet, natural flavor.

I love how these feel on. They are hydrating but feel really light on. I do have to layer them to get an opaque look. I have these in Jackie (peachy pink), Rose (light merlot) and Ella (deep rose brown). I love nude and lighter colors and Jackie is so pretty on! I will wear the other two in the fall when I deepen my lip color.

Morgan Taylor Lacquer has just launched their African Safari collection for Fall 2018. Inspired by the sweeping landscape of a safari, the Fall collection embodies the rich earth tones of this destination. Brilliant pearls of sapphire, pewter, and garnet compliment saturated crèmes giving the entire collection the uninhibited feeling that anything can happen under the starry skies of the Serengeti. Here are the shades:

· Are You Lion to Me? – Pewter Shimmer

· Off The Grid – Black Brown Crème

· No Cell? Oh Well! – Sapphire Blue Pearl

· Wanna Share a Tent? – Garnet Red Pearl

· No Sudden Mauves – Rose Mauve Pearl

· Neutral by Nature – Warm Nude Crème

These are all gorgeous for fall! I find that Morgan Taylor Lacquers apply easily and stays on for days! I love deeper polishes going into the cooler seasons and am exited to have these shades to play with!

I just received these these gorgeous Hard Candy eye shadow palettes and have been testing them out. The shadows are nice, but they do take some building up to get pigment. When I do build them up, they look so pretty all day! And there is little kick up in the pan or fall out on the eyes!

The Neutral Eyes are new for fall, so I don’t know if it is available for sale now, but the Hard Candy Pro Palette Glitter ($10 USD) and the Hard Candy Pro Palette in Mauve($8 USD) are available at Walmart.com.

What do you love about fall?

Anastasia Beverly Hills Norvina Palette Review

Hi All! I’m excited to be reviewing the new Norvina palette by Anastasia Beverly Hills. This palette was created by Anastasia’s daughter Norvina.

“I have always wanted to create a palette that embodies my spirit. I’m a dreamer at heart and get lost in my own fantasy world daily. It’s a whimsical place that leaves you feeling carefree. If I had to explain how these colors made me feel, I would say “happy”.” – Norvina

I was so excited when I first saw this palette! Purple is my favorite color and I thought it was so gorgeous! I have a few ABH palettes, and I noticed that this one has more glitters — which I love!

The packaging of this is the soft velvet of all of the ABH palettes. It’s pretty, but does get dirty really fast.

The inside has a large mirror and comes with a double-ended brush that is good quality.

Shades:

Dreamer (metallic pink champagne)
Base (matte eggshell)
Summer (metallic foiled golden topaz)
Soul (matte wisteria)
Wild Child (duo-chrome frosty pink w/ a magenta shift)
Incense (matte dusty terracotta)
Rose Gold (metallic rosewood)
Love (matte mid-tone cool pink)
Celestial (duo-chrome plum w/ a violet shift)
Volatile (matte warm charcoal)
Dazzling (duo-chrome cool-tone bronze w/ a violet shift)
Eccentric (matte dark burnt orange)
Drama (duo-chrome aubergine w/ a cool bronze shift)
Passion (matte deep garnet)

Here are swatches:

These are the metallics and shimmers — Dreamer, Summer, Wild Child, Rose Gold, Celestial and Drama. They are all gorgeous. Wild Child is the hardest one to work with because it’s really sheer, I had to build it up in the photo. Drama is more of a matte with glitter.

Here are the mattes — Base, Soul, Incense, Love, Volatile, Eccentric and Passion. You can’t really see it in the photo, but Base, Soul and Love all have a little shimmer in them. I still use them in my crease and on my lid, but they are a bit shimmery. The other mattes are pigmented and a little powdery like normal Anastasia mattes.

There is kick up in the pan on most of the shadows in this palette. But all of the Anastasia palettes I have do this, so I’m just careful while applying.

So I have been using this for about a week, and honestly am still deciding how much I like it. It isn’t as bright and fun as I had hoped, but it is a really pretty neutral palette with a few pops of purple. And I have created natural glam and smokey eye looks using it.

I will keep playing with it and I think it will transition nicely into the fall months.

Have you picked up the ABH Norvina palette? What do you think?

Urban Decay Born To Run Eyeshadow Palette Review

Hi all! I’m excited to be reviewing the Urban Decay Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette! When I saw it was about to be released, I had to have it! I drove to my nearest Sephora last Sunday to pick it up as soon as it came out.

The first picture is the front of the box and this si the back. I like how it shows all of the gorgeous shades! Here is the front and back of the palette:

I love all of the travel photos! They are really fun. I haven’t seen a palette designed like this before. Plus, its made of a sturdy plastic and has a really nice mirror.

Lets look inside:

The top photo shows the amazing mirror, but in the bottom photo the light was better. In the bottom photo, the shades look truer to life.

I love the shade selection! I think a lot of palettes being released right now look very summery — lots of bronzes, blues and oranges. And they are really pretty. But this palette has those shades and so much more, plus I think the shades will work so well in the fall and winter, too!

On to the swatches (I’ll be going by rows):

From left to right — Breakaway (warm ivory shimmer), Stranded (pale rose gold with tonal micro-shimmer), Blaze (light metallic peach with pink shift), Weekender (light neutral beige matte), Still Shot (bright peach), Riff (brown-nude matte with floating micro-sparkle), Good As Gone (deep brown with iridescent micro-shimmer)

Hell Ride (deep fuchsia matte), Baja (burnt orange matte), Accelerate (reddish copper metallic), Guilt Trip (smoky purple shimmer), Ignite (rose gold metallic), Smog (deep coppery bronze shimmer), Wanderlust (forest green with gold micro-shimmer)

Wildheart (bright fuchsia), Punk (red-brown matte), Double Life (metallic rust), Jet (black with deep shimmering purple shift), Drift (charcoal satin with tonal micro-sparkle), Radio (deep emerald satin), Big Sky (frosted green shimmer with iridescent micro-sparkle)

So pretty! I was excited to play with the different colors, but of course I have been reaching for the bronze and purple shades because they are so easy to use. I have just tried out the blues and greens on, and they are amazing, too! I can get SO MANY looks with this palette!

And for the quality, they are very pigmented and blend well. The quality reminds me of my Anastasia palettes. I don’t have a lot of Urban Decay, but if this is what their shadows are like, I need to get me some more. Any suggestions?

Have you picked up this palette or are you planning on it?