Makeup Haul! B.O.M.B. Makeup from Juvia’s Place

I am so excited to have brought in three new eyeshadow palettes with my current makeup haul. Earlier this month, I placed two orders with Juvia’s Place and one with a black-owned indie brand (look forward to that post soon). One of those orders has come in and today we are going to go over a brief overview of these three palettes.

The first palette is the Nubian Mini eyeshadow palette. This palette includes six shades in neutrals and bronzes. This palette is perfect for travel, with the pan sizes being smaller that the typical shadow size allowing for the palette itself to be smaller. This is a good palette for an everyday look, but appears to have some depth to take a look from day to night.

The second palette is the Nubian Three: Coral palette. This palette has twelve shades, with the pan sizes being that of a typical eyeshadow. The primary colors in this palette are coral (as the name would imply), brown and grey. This palette sparks a lot of inspiration in me and is something I would consider more of a neutral palette for my color loving preferences.

Finally, we have the Zulu palette, which consists of nine shadows with much larger pan sizes. This palette is quite colorful and offers different shadow types then the other palettes. This one includes two duo-chrome shades which again allows for even more variety and uniqueness from the other palettes.

Please stay tuned as I will be doing separate reviews on each of the palettes with much more detail in the future. I am greatly looking forward to playing with these palettes and updating with my findings.

Meet My Stash: Revolution x Soph Palette

Today, we are going to be talking about my most used eyeshadow palette, the Revolution x Soph eyeshadow palette. As you can probably tell, I’m a huge fan of this palette. This palette was so popular at the time of its release, Revolution and Soph created a second palette but that’s for another day. Today we are talking about the original collaboration.

This palette has a wide variety of shades ranging from neutral to colorful. With 24 pans, there are colors to create the perfect everyday look or spice it up with some depth or even color. While this is by no means a rainbow or overly colorful palette, for a color lover, like myself, there are some great shades that help to add the desired pop of color but still be wearable. This palette has another pro in that it includes a white and a black. As most makeup lovers like to comment on, with those two colors in the palette, the possible looks you can create are endless.

The formula in this palette is one of my favorites. It’s forgiving, allowing new makeup users the flexibility to practice their blending. While these eyeshadows are on the buildable side, they never seem to look patchy on the eye.

Honestly, Revolution as a brand can be a bit hit or miss with their eyeshadow formula, but you won’t regret this purchase. This palette is the one I reach for time and time again. I love all the looks I create with this palette and it’s the one I will continue to use, knowing it won’t fail me.

Haul Update: Natasha Denona Mini Palettes

Today, we are coming back to my haul that I did back in March. At the time, I picked up three mini Natasha Denona palettes: the Mini Star Palette, the Mini Tropic Palette, and the Mini Lila Palette. Each retails for $25 and can be found on the Sephora site or Natasha Denona’s site (with the exception of the Mini Lila Palette which has been discontinued).

To start with, my least favorite of the three was the Mini Star Palette. While the palette is beautiful and performs very well, the colors that come in this five pan palette do not lend themselves to a variety of different looks. The pigmentation of the shadows is impressive, but I have a hard time feeling as inspired by these colors as I hoped to. This palette is great for an on the go, everyday look or to vamp up a day time look for a date night. As I did still enjoy this palette, I would recommend it to people who enjoy doing the same look everyday and enjoy neutral looks, or if this color scheme inspires you.

My second place palette is the Mini Lila Palette (discontinued). As a color lover, this purple palette called my name. For the most part, the shadows in this palette perform beautifully. As you will see in the swatch pictures, one of the shadows can be a little patchy and this was the case on the eye as well. The solution to this problem is to pack that shadow on. The other shades were buttery and blended beautifully in the eyes. This palette does have a bit more range in the looks that can be made with it, but it’s still only five shadows and mostly purple. I was not disappointed by this palette and feel that unlike others opinions, I didn’t struggle with this palette.

My top mini palette pick actually surprised me. It’s the Mini Tropic Palette, which when you first look at it, seems like a palette full of shades that might look nice together but what will you use as a transition? This palette doesn’t actually need a transition shade from my experience. The colors blend so smoothly together and with good blending, you can create a transition shade out of any of the matte shades in the palette. The palette has been the easiest to work with and I’ve created some of my favorite looks with this palette. I highly recommend this palette!

Meet My Stash: Nars Velvet Lip Glide

Today, we are discussing my collection of Nars Velvet Lip Glides. It’s worth noting that most makeup collections have extensive liquid lip collections, but on the typical day, I just wear lip balm or a bullet lipstick. However, when I wear a liquid lip, I opt for the Nars Velvet Lip Glides.

I enjoy the whipped formula that the Lip Glides provide. They do, in fact, glide on easily with a lot of pigmentation. They are extremely comfortable to wear on the lips.

Due to the formula, the color doesn’t last forever, but while they do wear down after a few hours, it wears very naturally. I have never noticed them wearing down on the inside of the lips causing that “butthole lips” effect.

My collection includes six mini versions of the Velvet Lip Glides in the shades: Burning Love, Staying Alive, Night Together, Immoral, Californiacation, and Rapture. Besides the comfort of the formula, I enjoy the color that this range has in it. I prefer to wear pink or mauve colors when not wearing a red. My favorite from the bunch is Californiacation. Which color is your favorite?

Meet My Stash: Melt Cosmetics Smoke Sessions Palette

Most of the things in my stash are things I hold on to because I love them. To be honest, I hold onto this palette out of spite (lol). This is one of the few makeup purchases I regret.

Don’t get me wrong, this palette has beautiful grungy colors in it, but the formula, from my experience is extremely unstable. As you can see from the pictures inserted, this palette did not hold up over time. My first palette arrived in that condition so I contacted Melt and they shipped me a replacement, no problems. The replacement arrived in great condition but within 2 weeks, it was like the shimmer shadows expanded and were now no longer fitting in the pan.

I do want to say, working with Melt to resolve the issue the first time was a delight. They were very quick to respond and got me a replacement immediately. I just don’t know that I can trust their eyeshadow formula. This is the first and only product I have bought from Melt, but it does give me pause when considering purchasing other palettes.

As for the palette itself, I have de-potted the shimmer shades into loose eyeshadow containers and they still perform beautifully. It saddens me to admit that I love this palette, but I haven’t gotten much use out of it because of the problems it’s brought. I hope, now that those shadows are in their own container and I’m not worried about making a mess every time I open the palette, to get more use out of it.

I will add one more thing to consider with this formula. Now that the shadows are in a loose form, there is A LOT of fallout. Make sure to wet your brush when using these shades this way.

New Makeup Alert! L.A. Girl Shockwave Neon Liner in Fresh

I have found my new favorite colorful eyeliner!! That’s a strong statement, I’m aware, but it needed to be the first thing said. The L.A. Girl Shockwave neon liner in Fresh is a mint green eyeliner that I use for my lower lash line and waterline.

I have always struggled to find a liner formula that will actually stay in the waterline. As many others, my eyes tend to be on the watery side, especially when I use eyeliner (go figure). This is the first formula that I have found to actually stay put. After trying many different formulas, I just figured I’d buy whatever was cheapest since none of them lasted as long as was needed. This formula however, did last! It’s also a bonus that these eyeliners are only $5, very much in the affordable range.

At the end of the night, the color was still put and honestly, was a little difficult to remove. The formula is very creamy, gliding on smoothly and pigmented. The claims of this liner is 16 hour wear time and waterproof, hence the lasting power. Because it is creamy, you can even smudge it out if you are looking for more of a kajal formula.

I have only tried the color Fresh so far, but I completely intend to pick up some of the other colors. You can find these at Ulta or on the L.A. Girl website. The formula comes in 6 colors including a black (which is very intriguing). Don’t let the title of “Neon” scare you because most shades in the eyeliner line seem to be more of a pastel neon.