3rd May, 2013
Today I have a review on a make-up palette by one of my all time favourite brands, Sleek MakeUP. It’s an affordable UK drugstore brand that is all about amazing pigmentation and intense colour. They are hands down the best make-up brand I’ve tried when it comes to eyeshadow pigmentation. Nothing beats them, especially for the price!
This is one of their limited edition i-Divine eyeshadow palettes, the Sleek MakeUP Sparkle 2 palette. It was launched for Christmas 2012 but you can still grab it at the awesome online cosmetics store, Licila.si. Make sure to check out their site as they have many other Sleek palettes and Sleek MakeUP products available! (I am totally eyeing up the pout paints and the new Showstoppers palette! 
)
These are the 12 shades that come in the Sleek MakeUP Sparkle 2 palette. From left to right: Chocolate Penny, Blue Spruce, Mulled Wine, Truffle, Mistletoe, Illusion, Festive, Gold Ribbon, Glitz & Glamour, Tinsel, Twinkle and Starry Night. All shades contain a lovely fine shimmer. It’s definitely a very festive palette!
These are all twelve shades up close. As you can see it’s a nice mix of shades. They’re all quite vampy shades, perfect for sultry smokey eye looks. Though you can definitely create a wearable everyday make-up look with it as well using the browns and grays. I love that there’s a very broad mix of shades but they still work really well together.
These are the swatches which I’ve made on my arm over an eyeshadow base. How crazy pigmented are these? I was honestly blown away. I think out of all my Sleek MakeUP palettes this is by far the most pigmented palette I own! Especially the top left shade, Chocolate Penny, is so intensely pigmented I was honestly gasping out of amazement.
Finally here’s the eyeshadow look I created using the Sleek MakeUP Sparkle 2 palette. I used Chocolate Penny across the inner half of the lid and blended Mulled Wine and Starry Night in the crease. I think this came out as a fairly wearable look but it’s still intense and smokey.
You can find this awesome Sleek MakeUP palette at Licila.si, as well as many other great Sleek Palettes. They’re €11.95 a piece which is a great price for 12 high-quality intense pigmented eyeshadows. If you’re not from Slovenia you can easily navigate the Licila.si site using Google Translate. Are you a fan of Sleek MakeUP like me? Which of their palettes (or other products) do you own? Any recommendations? Let me know in the comments!
9th April, 2013
I have a review on another MUA product today! This time one of their lovely make-up palettes which was provided by Maja, the owner of Licila.si. Ličila, which means “make-up” in Slovene, is a Slovenian online store that carries an amazing range of brands such as Barry M, Sleek, MUA, Urban Decay, and many more. You’ll find all the hottest make-up, nail polishes and tools at affordable prices. Make sure to check out their site if you live in Europe! If you’re not from Slovenia (like me!) you can easily navigate the site if you use Google Translate. And if you have any questions, simply drop the lovely Maja an e-mail, she’s the sweetest person ever!
On to the MUA palette! This is the new Undress Me Too palette that was recently released. It’s said to be a dupe for the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette. I can’t compare as I don’t own the Naked 2 palette but the swatches I’ve seen online say it all! This is a lovely budget alternative to the Naked 2 palette at a significantly lower cost. Dupes aside, this is a lovely neutral eyeshadow palette that is a must-have for any make-up lover on a budget.
There’s twelve shades in total in the MUA Undress Me Too palette. You’ll find nudes, coppers, medium and dark browns and a black. It features both matte and shimmery eyeshadows. It also comes with the standard dual-sided applicator. I really love the sleek white packaging MUA opted for with this palette. It looks really beautiful and stylish!
Top row from left to right: Naked, Devotion, Shy, Fiery, Lavish, Dreamy
Bottom row from left to right: Tranquil, Exposed, Reveal, Wink, Obsessed, Corrupt
These are all twelve shades swatched on my arm over an eyeshadow base. Look at that pigmentation! It’s so amazingly pigmented. Especially the shade Devotion which had me gasping when I swatched it. It’s so lovely and creamy and applies like a dream. The matte shades are nicely pigmented too, though Naked was too close to my skintone to show up properly.
Finally a simple and neutral eyeshadow look I created using the MUA Undress Me Too palette. I started with my favourite eyeshadow base (Zoeva!) and I used the shade Shy as a highlight on the inner corner. Fiery and Devotion across the lid and a mix of Wink, Obsessed and Corrupt blended in the crease. On my lashes I used the Estee Lauder Sumptuous Waterproof Mascara.
The eyeshadow stayed put all day long so I have to say I was really impressed with this palette. The quality is flawless, and especially for it’s extremely affordable price tag. You can find it for €7.95 on the website Licila.si. Make sure to take a look at the other MUA palettes and at the other products Licila has to offer! For easy navigation, simply click on my Licila.si sidebar banner.
26th January, 2013
So I’m back today with another blogpost, this time I’m reviewing products from online store KKCenterHK. They have an amazing range of nail decals but I’m personally a HUGE fan of their make-up! I was incredibly impressed with their single eyeshadows from the brand Cuicu and today I’m reviewing loose eyeshadow pigments from the brand Love Alpha.
Love Alpha is a brand that’s completely new to me, but I instantly fell in love with the packaging when I saw it on the site. There’s 18 different shades in total, I picked three shades that caught my attention.
From left to right: Light baby blue No. 09, Dark Navy Blue No. 08, Gold No. 13.
Check out this pigmentation! WOW! I swatched these on my hand, without eyeshadow base. I was completely blown away when I first swatched these. They are incredibly opaque and easy to use. A little product goes a long way!
Here’s an eyeshadow look I created using just the three Love Alpha pigments. I used the gold on the inner corner, the light blue on the lid and the navy blue in the crease. Capturing eyeshadow looks is so tricky! It’s really hard to translate to pictures, I thought this looked much nicer in person but I hope the picture still shows how beautiful these pigments are.
You can find Love Alpha eyeshadow pigments on the KKCenterHK website, not only are they amazing quality but they’re only $3.94 a piece. They hold 8 grams of product so you are getting a great deal! If you order with KKCenterHK, make sure to save some money by using my 5% discount code: “VERYEMILY”.
Do you like using loose eyeshadow pigments? Or do you prefer regular eyeshadows? Let me know in the comments!
19th October, 2012
Today I’ll be showing you another palette by the brand Technic. Remember that bright palette I spoke about not too long ago? When I was browsing the web for more info on Technic, I stumbled upon the site Blush Cosmetics. They sell many great budget cosmetics as well as a few products from Technic. Since I loved that bright palette so much I was dying to try more from this brand. Blush Cosmetics kindly allowed me to try the 12 eyeshadows Fashionista palette!
It holds 12 neutral shades ranging from blue to purple to gunmetal and browns. It comes with two double sided foam applicators. I used these to swatch the shades on my arm.
I think the first thing that’s quite obvious about this palette is that it looks a lot like the Urban Decay Naked palette! This is why I made a handy side-by-side comparison for you. As you can see the Technic palette is slightly larger. The shadow pans are larger too, they hold 1.85g per pan, and the Naked palette holds 1.3g per pan. Much like the Naked Palette, the Technic palette is a mix of shimmers and mattes but the colours are somewhat different.
These are the swatches I made on my arm. As you can see all shades are nice and pigmented! I only had trouble with two shades, the light blue (second from the left) and nude shade (eighth from the left) were less pigmented but the others had great colour pay off. Especially the two last shades were nice and creamy.
This is the eye look I created with the shadows! I went with a very subtle and simple look I would wear during the day. I used the third and fourth colour from the left. The purple has an amazing shimmer to it, it has subtle hints of blue, orange and purple shimmer. Really stunning!
You can buy this palette from the Blush Cosmetics website for just £3.99 (about €5 and $6.40). I highly recommend you take a look at their site, they have an awesome range of products, all very budget friendly! Since they are based in the UK the shipping is very reasonable to Europe as well. They don’t just sell make-up, they also offer nail polishes, skin care, tanning products and more!
7th October, 2012
I’ll be brutally honest with you and admit that I don’t have a lot of experience with high end beauty products. I simply do not have the budget for it. This is why it is pretty special for me to be able to talk about some Estee Lauder make-up products today! I was able to try these after my collaboration with them on the Vogue FNO nail look which you can see here.
This is one of the Estee Lauder Pure Color eyeshadow palettes. How beautiful is this packaging? So luxurious! The outside is gold with matte gold lettering.
The Pure Color palette I received is called Film Noir and features five gorgeous smokey shades. The palette comes with a large mirror and two eyeshadow applicators. I don’t tend to use these for applying eyeshadow to the lid, but the pointy applicator and brush end are very useful for the inner corner and below the browbone.
Estee Lauder monogram pressed into the black shadow! Isn’t it gorgeous? 
*swoon*
Here’s my swatches! I used tape to mark the edges which is a fun trick I saw at the blog Bows and Curtseys. I still need to practice though! I am not sure these eyeshadows have names but the back of the palette does indicate finishes. From left to right: Shimmer, Satin, Shimmer, Metallic and Matte.
I created an eyeshadow look using the palette. Pictured above are the products I used for my look. The Estee Lauder Pure Color Eyeshadow Palette, the Sumptuous Waterproof Mascara, Estee Lauder Pure Color Intense Kajal Eyeliner in Blackened Cocoa and the Estee Lauder blending eyeshadow brush which I absolutely adore. That brush is utter perfection. I find blending brushes often on the large side for my eyes but this one is the perfect size and works amazingly.
I created a simple smokey eye with the palette using all five shades. When applying, there was barely any fall-out which is a huge plus and really shows the quality of these shadows. They were easy to blend and apply and the colour pay off was great. I’m in love!
Have you tried any Estee Lauder products? Which are your favourites? Are you a high-end or drugstore kind-of-girl? Let me know in the comments!
27th September, 2012
Today I’ll be introducing you to Femme Fatale Cosmetics. It’s a fairly new brand on the market as they only started about a year ago. They are an Australian-based indie company that specialize in hand blended mineral cosmetics (and they recently delved into the world of indie polishes!). Owner Sophie formulates, tests and produces everything. I briefly talked to her about how she got started with the company. It was clear to see that she is extremely passionate about her business and has an eye for detail.
I received 6 eyeshadow pigment samples from Sophie to test and try out. The colours she sent me are absolutely stunning! I was so excited to see pastels, mint greens, purples and even a duochrome pigment. The baggies come with a sticker that provides you with ingredients and additional information, which I found very useful. The labels tell you the name of the colour, whether it’s vegan friendly and whether it’s safe to use on your lips or not.
She also included the Femme Fatale business card which has the most stunning artwork on the front. You can find a variation of the artwork on the website. Isn’t it gorgeous?
- Hallowed Ground: A matte asparagus green with pink shimmer running through it. I know I’m contradicting myself saying it’s matte but also has shimmer. You can sort of see what I mean if you scroll down to see the swatch. This shade is really beautiful, it’s unique (as are all the Femme Fatale shades to be honest!) and nicely pigmented.
- Spark Of Life: Super shimmery pistachio/mint green. I love this shade! I guess that’s no surprise seeing as it’s mint green. I’ve not come across many pigmented mint green eyeshadows so I hugely love this one.
- Poison: Again a matte shade with shimmer running through. This time a vivid yellowish green with subtle golden shimmer. This shade is just… wow! It’s so intense! Seriously beautiful.
- Phantasm: A pastel matte purple with pink shimmer running through. This is bright! Like really bright. It blows my mind how it’s so pigmented for a pastel shade. It looks amazing on the skin!
- Efflorescence: Gorgeous purple/green duochrome! The duochrome effect in this eyeshadow is really strong. It’s simply beautiful. Highly recommend this shade! It’s really different, I don’t own anything even remotely like this in my eyeshadow collection.
- Divinity: A shimmery pale pink. Leans towards peach/coral because of the orange shimmer. It’s very beautiful and great as an inner corner shade. It’s also safe to use on your lips!
Here you can see the eyeshadow swatches on my inner arm. I swatched all of these over an eyeshadow base. It was a bit tricky to capture the depth of the shades but I hope this gives you an idea of their beauty! They are swatched in the same order as the images above.
These are two eyeshadow looks I created with the six shades. I used the green/teal colours for the left eyeshadow look and the pink/purple shades for the right look.
Overall I was very impressed with Femme Fatale Cosmetics. I highly recommend purchasing with them, the quality of the products are amazing and the thought and detail put into the brand are what makes them stand out. Their prices are also very affordable, especially considering they are based in Australia were cosmetics are usually a lot more expensive. The eyeshadow samples are priced at $1.10, the mini size is $3 and the full size is $5.75 a piece. The samples are shipped free worldwide! She also sells beautiful glitter nail polishes, but they are currently only available for purchase inside of Australia so keep that in mind.
I hope you enjoyed my review! If so, make sure to take a look at the Femme Fatale Cosmetics website, as Sophie offers an amazing range of colours. You can find Femme Fatale Cosmetics on Facebook as well as Twitter. They are also currently hosting a giveaway to celebrate their 1 year existence. It closes in three days so make sure to enter now!
15th September, 2012
I have a really cool review for you today! An eyeshadow palette with amazing pigmentation, 12 shades AND priced under $4. Impossible you say? Meet the Technic Electric Beauty eyeshadow palette!
I actually spotted this palette on several Dutch beauty blogs. I read the words “Sleek dupe”, “amazing pigmentation” and “super cheap”. I simply had to get my hands on it! I sent my boyfriend to Bart Smit stores and he grabbed it for me. Thanks man! Seriously that guy deserves the boyfriend-of-the-year award
Bart Smit stores aren’t the only place that carry these. I had a quick look around and you can actually find this on a few online stores as well as a few UK retailers. Amazon carried it at one point but it seems to be out of stock at this time. In any case you should be able to find this if you are not located in Belgium or The Netherlands.
This is what they look like swatched! Pretty amazing right? I swatched these over my Zoeva Eyeshadow Base. The formula is on the creamier side but they break down a little when you pat your brush inside the pan. Not chalky, but not perfect either. But for under $4, who could complain really?
Here’s the eyeshadow look I created with this palette! I used the yellow on the inner corners, then the teal, blue, and purple blended in the crease. I really love how this looks! I never used to be very adventurous with colourful or bright make-up but my friend Emmie has been constantly inspiring me to go for colour. I have to say I really love it now! I was also quite impressed with the wear, I wore this eye make-up all day and it still looked stunning in the evening.
Overall this palette is a steal for just $4 / €2.99 and I could honestly recommend it to anyone that loves make-up and colour. You could even use these as eyeliners if you used them wet, something I definitely plan on wearing!
27th March, 2012
For Spring 2012 Illamasqua released the collection Human Fundamentalism. This is what they have to say about the collection:
“Human Fundamentalism is an explosion of your alter ego. It’s becoming who you are and not who you’re told to be. Because beauty isn’t conformity, but the fundamental human desire is to express your inner self on the outside.”
This is what I love so much about Illamasqua. It’s about being different, unique and bringing out the best in yourself. It of course helps that they have amazing products! Let’s take a look at a few items from the Human Fundamentalism collection.
The lovely Hayley sent me the Sealing Gel, Nail Varnish in Nomad and Powder Eye Shadow in Obsidian and Cancan.
Let’s take a look at all the items up close!
Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Nomad – £13.50.
I have to say I am hugely in love with this polish. You all know I am all about the mint greens and own many in my stash but I honestly have nothing like this. It is different to all the other mint greens I have. It’s a lot darker and greener to China Glaze Re-Freshmint for example. I love it so much! It’s a perfect two coater, the Illamasqua formula never disappoints. In my opinion they are the Rolls Royce brand of polishes!
Illamasqua Powder Eye Shadow in Obsidian and Can Can - £15.50 each. (scroll down for swatches)
This is my first experience with Illamasqua eyeshadows and I have to say I am very impressed. The quality and pigmentation is gorgeous. I was expecting these to be amazing since I knew how great the quality of their nail varnishes are. They really lived up to my expectations!
Illamasqua Sealing Gel – £10.50 for two bottles.
This is such an awesome little product. It turns any eyeshadow into an eyeliner! I think it’s so amazing. The possibilities with eyeliners are now endless! The product comes in a small bottle and you drop it onto the eyeshadow, quickly take an eyeliner brush, mix it and use the paste to create a line. It dries very quickly so you have to work fast. I haven’t tried it as an eyeliner yet only for swatches so I can’t comment on staying power or smudging.
This is Obsidian and Can Can swatched, the lines were made with the Sealing Gel. Both eyeshadow are matte and you get 2 grams per pan. The pigmentation of Obsidian is seriously impressive. You won’t find anything blacker than this! It is so gorgeous.
Final Thoughts:
Overall I am once again hugely impressed with these lovely Illamasqua products. From packaging to quality to concept there is nothing I don’t like about Illamasqua! Perhaps that the price tag hurts my wallet! But in my opinion, the quality makes it worth it. I think Nomad is a must-own for any mint green nail polish lover and Obsidian is the perfect black eyeshadow, they are great items to splurge on. Take a look on the Illamasqua website to check out the other items from this wonderful collection.
Finally, I will leave you with two of my favourite make-up looks and two manicures from the Human Fundamentalism imagery up close. Feast your eyes on these beautiful images!
True masterpieces! With each new Illamasqua collection the first thing I am dying to see is the creative imagery. They always come up with the most inspiring looks.
How amazing are these nails? Simply gorgeous!
26th January, 2012
When I first started blogging occasionally I would post about make-up too. I stopped doing that since I felt like I was more skilled to do nail art, there’s people out there who do make-up a lot better than I do. Nevertheless I still really love make-up and have the best fun experimenting with new looks. When I was browsing Born Pretty for the thousandth time I came across this eyeshadow palette and fell in love with the colours. I own a few eyeshadow palettes like these, a matte 88 palette, a shimmery nude 88 and a metallic stones, all from Zoeva. I usually go for more neutral eyeshadow shades and since this had a lot of earthy tones to it (which suit me best) I simply had to try it!
This is what the inside looks like. The eyeshadow pans are very large, they’re 3,5cm or 1,5″ in diameter. All colours are metallic and shimmery. The colours remind me of jewellery tones, gold, copper, silver and bronze. You get 18 shades in this palette with a good range of colours going from light to dark. They aren’t very powdery, the eyeshadows are almost a bit on the creamy side so there’s minimal fall out. They do smell a bit strong which I was a little disappointed about, the smell reminds me of paint, Ecoline in particular (liquid watercolour). It’s nothing too severe but do keep it in mind.
Here are my swatches of each colour, they were swatched over a very thin layer of Urban Decay Primer Potion.
This is the top row of eyeshadows.
Second row. The charcoal grey is absolutely gorgeous! As you can see, the pigmentation in this palette definitely doesn’t disappoint!
And the last row. As you can see the black is less metallic than the other shades, perfect to add contrast in the crease. Aren’t the colours amazing?
All in all I really love this 18 Colour Eyeshadow Palette. It’s sold for just $14.40 at the Born Pretty website. If you order at their website don’t forget to use my code EMILYJ61 which will give you 10% discount on your entire order. They also have free shipping to all countries!
I was kindly sent these products by Born Pretty Store to review. I am not in any way affiliated with this company nor am I being paid by them! All opinions stated are honest and my own, as always.
3rd June, 2010
This was requested by Laurein, a brown smokey eye look. I decided to make it a really simple look, using just one eyeshadow, something for everyday that won’t take more than a few minutes.
STEP #1
First prime your eyes. Then apply your favourite brown to your eyelids, just right above the crease. I used the sigma 252 brush for packing in lots of eyeshadow. It’s fine if it doesn’t look perfect yet, we still have to blend it out so this step is just applying it evenly all over your lid!
STEP #2
Blend, blend, blend! I used the sigma 224, a fluffy brush is ideal for this.
STEP #3
What I always like to do is use an eyeliner brush and apply some of the eyeshadow just under my bottom lashes from the outer corner to about 3/4 of your lashline. Apply mascara and eyeliner to finish off your look!
STEP #4 (optional)
Add false lashes! I used the Revlon defining lashes, applied them with DUO lash adhesive. (I know I was going to do an entry about false lashes, I might do that later on I’m not sure. Also, you can buy DUO lash adhesive at MAC Counters, just be careful with the one in Antwerp. First time I went there a really nice girl helped me, the others times I had appalling service, very rude staff!)
Hope you liked the look! I used a more warm copper coloured brown to compliment my brown eyes, you can also use a darker colder brown.
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