Beauty Product Reviews

Good palette for those who want shimmery/frosty nude eyeshadows

I have mixed feelings about this palette. Before I got it, I was super excited about it. I thought it would be a holy grail product. But when I got it...I wasn't exactly disappointed, but I wasn't exactly thrilled either.

Basically. this palette is Urban Decay's take on neutral shades. Which means that the majority of the shades here have shimmer or sparkles. Now for someone who wants an nude palette with mostly shimmers and sparkles, this is perfect. But I suppose I was looking for things that were more of a true nude...mattes and shimmers only.

But on to the pros and cons:

Pros: this palette offers a pretty good variety of colors. There are two champagne/beiges, two taupes, two browns, one gold, one black, one grey. one light purple taupe, one dark purple brown, and one dark green brown. The quality of the shadows is pretty good, but there are some mishaps, which I will discuss in the cons. Along with the 12 different colors, the palette comes with a mirror and a full size eyeshadow brush. The eyeshadow brush is nice, if a little big for more detailed or small areas of your eye look. I really like that the palette is nice and slim. This makes it much more portable than alot of other palettes, especially the bigger urban decay palettes. The mirror is very handy too, and I find myself using it alot.

My personal favorite colors from the palette are: Virgin (a light champagne sheen that is perfect as either an all over color for a light natural look or as a highlight), Sidecar (a pretty frosty taupe), and Half-Baked (a warm, frosty gold)

Cons: My biggest gripe with the palette, which is perhaps due just to my personal preference, is the lack of variety in finishes and the lack of matte shades. There are only two mattes here; Naked (a mid-tone taupe-y brown) and Buck (a warm mid-tone brown).

And for your information, I'll describe the rest of the shades here and finishes here: There are three shimmers; Virgin (which I descri bed above) Creep (a soft black with sparse multi color glitter that doesn't show up really as glitter), and Hustle (dark purple brown). And the rest are frosts: Sin (pink champagne), Sidecar (described above), Half Baked (described above), Smog (warm golden brown), Darkhorse (dark green brown), Toasted (light purple taupe), and Gunmetal (mid, cool toned grey).

Actually with Darkhorse, I would say that it is kind of in between a frost and a shimmer.

Personally, I wish there were more matte shades. Or more shimmer shades at least.

Also, I find that some of the shades don't go on as well as they seem. Darkhorse (dark green brown shimmer/frost) was disappointing to me, because I saw it in the pan and was thrilled. A pretty dark green brown with lots of shimmer? I'm all over that! But when I put this on....the green part of the shade pretty much disappears. It turns into a murky brown on the eye. I don't know, I'm just not very pleased with how it looks when I wear it. I really wish I could see the green more.

Also, a couple of the other shades go on a little chalky, like Hustle and Creep. The matte shades as well can be a little difficult to deal with, especially when using them wet. But Urban Decay has never been very good at making matte shades that work wet in my opinion. And their matte shades often don't go on well dry either for me. But the matte shades in this palette do seem to be better than the single ones I had tried from UD before.

So in conclusion,...this isn't really a very "naked" palette to me. While all the shades featured are on the neutral side of the color spectrum, some of them are quite frosty and bright and really don't fit my definition of naked, like the grey Gunmetal and the other super frosty colors.

But it is a nice change from Urban Decay's regular palette offerings. There are no bright crazy colors here, and the variety of different colors means you can produce a lot of different looks. You can do everything from a light daytime look perfect for work to a super smokey eye for going out, and everything in between.

But I wouldn't buy this palette if you are looking for nude colors that are truly nude, and are either matte or only slightly shimmery. But for those who like shimmery and frosty nudes this is a good buy.

What a disappointment...

These facial buffs perplex me....

First of all, they are very stiff. Its hard to use them around the curves of the face, such as the nose and eye area. They are hard to bend around curvy areas, and thus it makes it difficult to use to exfoliate or cleanse those areas.

The exfoliating loofah side is extremely rough. This is a very harsh exfoliation, and I imagine that most people will find it too rough. It turned my skin red, and I don't think thats healthy for it.

The other side of the facial buff is a MUCH softer but still mildly exfoliating fabric, kind of like a washcloth. But I'm not sure if this side is supposed to be used, because the strap that you use to loop around your hand is on this side, and it doesn't move to the loofah side very easily, though you can do it. I tried to use that side on my face, and though it was much more gentle, it was still too difficult to maneuver around the curves of the face.

Personally, I think these are not worth purchasing, at least not for the face. They just seem too harsh for me, and are too difficult to use. Its almost as if EcoTools took a body loofah and just made it smaller for the face, without taking into account the fact that facial skin is much more delicate and sensitive than the skin on your body, and that you have to make a facial buff or cloth flexible so you can bend it around such small areas.

However, they might work well for body exfoliation. I will try this later and update this review with the results.

Almost perfect! Great foundation for a great price

I think I've found my favorite foundation (for now)!

Not only does Revlon's Colorstay come in a shade that perfectly matches my skintone, (NC15 in MAC) but it offers me the medium-heavy coverage that I really want and need. It covers perfectly, and it really does last way longer than traditional foundations.

There are some days when it doesn't last as long as others, and I haven't figured out what it is that causes that. (Excess sweating? Using too much moisturizer/sunscreen underneath?) But when I pair this with a misting primer/sealer like the one from Urban Decay (De-Slick is the one I use) then I find that it helps this foundation to last even longer.

I really can go all day with my foundation looking good. Does it look as great as when I first put it on? No. But does it look a TON better than other foundations do at the end of the day? YES!

And as I said before, I love the coverage this gives me. Definitely thicker coverage, but since I have some skin issues right now I need that. And I love how the foundation does not turn flakey on my skin. And it also does a good job of covering blemishes. Not all foundations can sit on top of blemishes and look good instead of making your skin look worse.

One of the few complaints I do have is that the foundation can feel very heavy on your skin. Its not as uncomfortable a feeling as MAC's Pro-Longwear foundation (kind of a sticky, mask like feeling when you touch it) but it is similar. I think it has something to do with the ingredients they put in these long lasting foundations. The foundations definitely last long, but they leave your skin feeling weird.

Definitely give this a try if you have oily/combination skin and are looking for a heavier coverage foundation to last you throughout the day.