Let's Talk... Eyeshadow Palettes!~

Welcome to a new segment of my blog! For the life of me I’ve been struggling to maintain this thing and figured doing ‘Let’s Talk’ posts will help push me to write about stuff without necessarily needing to go pestering poor Ama for shoots or spending money for hauls!

So this is gonna be like a review-not-review where I basically talk about products I have…? Not really sure what else to say, but maybe it’ll inform you a little bit more about me, my spending habits, and maybe even give you ideas of stuff you might potentially like? Anywho…

Anyone who knows me well will know that lately I have been extra obsessed with eyeshadow palettes. Currently -and rather sadly- I only own a few, but I definitely have my eye on more, so watch this space I guess!?!*

For now, though, we’ll just talk about the ones I do have and I’ll give a little run down on value, quality, etc., and some swatches, so yeah, like I said, kind of like a review-but-not-review.

I’ll start with the cheaper palettes first; here we have Makeup Revolution’s ‘Iconic 3’ palette:

Makeup Revolution Redemption Palette (in Iconic 3) - £4 - available from TAM Beauty or Superdrug

Apparently this is a dupe for Urban Decay’s Naked 3 palette, but what do I know? Visually, I guess you could say they are pretty similar, but I’ve never tried Urban Decay eyeshadows beyond swatching, so meh, guess you gotta go find out yourself? Regardless, this palette is a steal at £4 and the quality is pretty amazing for such a low price! Definitely one of my favourite colour selections with its pinks and browns, very romantic!

Also from Makeup Revolution, I have the ‘Give Them Nightmares’ palette:

Makeup Revolution Salvation Palette (in Give Them Nightmares) - £6 (currently on sale for £4!) - available from TAM Beauty

Value-for-money-wise, the Salvation palettes appear to be on top; a lot of shades for very little money. However, the quality does stumble and vary a little because of that, though not in an overly disappointing way. Most shimmers are amazingly pigmented, most mattes are a little sheer and there can be a fair bit of fallout, but like I said, price-wise, it’s all good. And as for this palette in particular, the colour selection is just soooo me and soooo Halloween! So awesome!!

Next up, we have a palette from Sleek:

Sleek Makeup i-Divine Eyeshadow Palette (in Bad Girl) - £8.99 - available from Sleek or Boots

This is the ‘Bad Girl’ palette and just like with the previous palette, the colour selection for this is just on point! Very, very me, or at least how I like to see myself, but that’s neither here nor there! Sleek eyeshadows, as far as I know from endless swatching, are some of the better quality eyeshadows available from the ‘drugstore’ and it’s definitely a brand I see myself buying more from in the future.** This palette definitely does it's brand justice with the colours all being super pigmented and easy to blend. The only ‘eh’ I’d have to say, is that the amount of shimmer is insaaaane and it goes everywhere, though maybe that’s not really a bad thing…? Still LOVING it though!!

Now for my newest palette, which is the ‘Northern Lights’ palette from Cargo:

Cargo Cosmetics Eyeshadow Palette (in Northern Lights) - £35 - (no longer available)

This palette, I had to buy off Depop, as it’s actually from their 2014 holiday collection. However, I love the theme of this palette and upon finding it at a bargain price, just had to have it! The colour selection is not really one I’d normally go for, but there are definitely some colours I’m glad to now have within my reach. Despite the higher pricing, I don’t really feel like this blows my mind with how much better it is than my cheaper palettes, because really, it’s okay, but not phenomenal. I dunno, maybe I just need to play around with it more? We’ll see…

And lastly, my precious baby, my Tartelette In Bloom palette!

Tarte Tartelette In Bloom (Tartelette 2) palette - £35.40 - available from QVC

I mentioned this in my recent beauty haul post, and now that I have actually played around with it a bit can happily report that this thing is LIFE. It is the perfect everyday palette for me and I am just sooooo chuffed that this wasn’t a waste of money! Definitely worth the price; the quality is great and the colours are wonderful for so many different looks and skin tones… and did I mention it smells great too?!? I love this so much! <3

So those are all my palettes (so far, ehem…); I don’t know what it is about eyeshadow palettes, but I just can’t stop wanting more! I’m becoming somewhat an addict, I think… oh dear!

Hope you enjoyed reading my first ‘Let’s Talk’ post (sorry it was a little wordy!) and I hope you’ll be looking forward to future ones!

Philippa. x

*zoeva palettes! lusting after them, will definitely be adding them to the collection soon! and the kat von d ones! particularly metal/matte and innerstellar, such beautiful shades! so much want!!

**i know they’re hard to find now, at least in-stores, but check out sleek’s ‘goodnight sweetheart’ palette! that thing is soooo gorgeous!!

#KVDxDEBENHAMS

Something a little different today; as many of you may know, the one and only Kat Von D recently finally released her Kat Von D Beauty line in the UK! Woo! To celebrate said long-awaited release, Kat had a special Meet & Greet in London’s flagship Debenhams store on Oxford Street, which, I was fortunate to attend earlier today! Oh my gahhh!

Freebies! Feat. tote bags, mini eyeliners, mini lipsticks and vegan biscuits! So cute! (sorry that the second pic is so out of focus, btw! i suck, know!)

I’m sorry, but how awesome are these freebies?! Made the 3.5 hours shuffling reaaaally slowly around Debenhams so worth it! They were even giving out mini Kat Von D transfer tattoos, which was an awesome way to incorporate her tattooing side with her make-up stuffs!

I did actually have to buy one of her products earlier in the week in order to get a wristband granting me entry (and whoopsie me, totes forgot to take a picture of the wristband as well!), and I decided to buy one of her Studded Kiss lipsticks in the shade ‘NaYeon’, which is a really cool super dark grey colour with gunmetal glitter in it. I think it fits right in with my current KvD collection! ^^

Studded Kiss lipsticks in ‘NaYeon’, ‘Vampira’ and ‘Cathedral’ - £16 each (via Debenhams.com)

All in all, the day was pretty awesome; got to meet Kat (albeit, only for about 5 seconds, lol), got a pic with her, got a couple of hugs, so yeah, worth my time in the cold and rain I’d say! Also, shout out to the lovely gals I met in the queue who helped the time pass a lot quicker! Much love! <3

Typical me, too excited to look decent in the photo! Oh dear... xD

SO, potentially interested in trying out Kat Von D Beauty? Her full collection (minus the odd bit here and there) is now available in the UK exclusively at Debenhams.com! Something missing? Can’t wait for it to get to the UK? Check out her full, full collection at Sephora.com!

Philippa. x

PS.: this is not an ad, lol!!

PPS.: something i am super looking forward to is her latest palette, the metal/matte eyeshadow palette! can’t wait for it to reach the uk!

PPPS.: damn, should have taken some pics of the awesome displays they have all over debenhams; if you happen to be in the area, go check it out! it's amazing!

Return to Crystal Palace~

Dress - Motel Rocks

Mesh top - Boohoo

Boots - Topshop

Necklace - The Rogue + The Wolf

Photo credit - Ama Charles-Adarkwa

So... it's been a while, huh? I have to say, despite not having done an OOTD shoot in quite a while, this was probably one of the more successful ones! Thank goodness!

The shoot was done in Crystal Palace Park which I have only been to once before for another photoshoot, only that time I was the photographer. Mad to think that 5 years later I'd be the model! Okay, so I'm not a model, but you know what I mean! Note to any bloggers/photographers/etc., this is a great location for shoots; lots of variety in scenery and fairly little traffic!

As for my outfit, this is one of my favourite dresses cut-wise and material-wise. I have this exact same dress in plain black and honestly, I'm a little sad Motel don't do more dresses like these anymore; sometimes you need to have more cute than sexy in your wardrobe!! However, it is a bit more of a summer dress, despite the colour palette, so I chose to match it with a mesh top to give a more Autumn/Winter feel, alongside my favourite ankle boots.

A shame I didn't amp up the make-up though - you can barely see it! So sad... anyway, finally another OOTD posted, I promise there will be more in the near future, so please don't give up on me!!

Philippa. x

Review? Nyx Cosmetics~

Nyx Cosmetics has recently exploded onto the UK scene after finally launching in-stores in Boots nationwide (despite also having previously been available online) and I have to say that I too am totes in love with this brand!

For me the selling point is this: they are a cruelty free company selling a large selection of conventional and non-conventional shades to suit everyone’s tastes and at an affordable price point. The one thing I will point out, however, is that the international pricing is super inconsistent, which is a little bit annoying (see example below), but that’s just how the cookie crumbles I guess...

Nyx Lip Suedes:

UK = £6.50

US = $7.00 (about £5.40)

Norway = NOK109 (about £10.20)

Silly, right? Anyway, onto the products. I currently only own lip products, but as I mentioned before the thing about Nyx that really caught my eye was the variety of non-conventional colours that they offered.

Nyx Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick (in Stone Fox) - £6.50 (via Boots.com)

I love the texture of this! It’s really creamy and thick and because it’s so pigmented application is super quick and easy for full coverage. It doesn’t dry down fully and maintains tackiness, which means that it is definitely not transfer proof. However, apart from when eating, the colour lasts really well and won’t become patchy even when rubbing your lips together. Overall, love this product, need more colours!

Nyx Lip Lingerie Lipstick (in Embellishment) - £6.50 (via Boots.com)

I first discovered these after watching one of Jessica Haze’s (/mirrorsandhaze) videos and fell in love with the colour ‘Embellishment’ and just had to have it! Unlike the lip suede this does dry completely matte (though still with a very slight tackiness to it) so is almost completely transfer proof. Because of this, however, it is very drying on the lips, but I mean, that’s to be expected with liquid to matte lipsticks, right? My one sadness with this product is that, sigh, my skin tone doesn’t do it justice, as it’s meant to have quite a noticeable lilac undertone which is pretty much non-existent against my skin, but that’s my fault rather than the products, so what can you do. =/

Nyx Matte Lipstick (in Up The Bass) - £6.50 (via Boots.com)

Lastly we have one of their matte lipsticks. This is probably the product I use the most, despite this being my least favourite of the three. I love the colour and the texture of the product, though it is a little on the cheap side in terms of staying power and evenness of application and isn’t really as matte as I had hoped. On top of that, the packaging sucks a fair bit as the bullet doesn’t click in properly and frequently shifts to hitting the lid when in my bag, which is super annoying. Other than that though, for the price and the pigmentation, it’s definitely worth a go.

So that's my review-not-so-review on Nyx Cosmetics - I highly recommend anyone that hasn't tried some of their stuff to go out and do so! I know I will definitely making a few more purchases in the near future (*ehem* despite having no money *ehem*)!! ;D

-Philippa. x

Holiday Beauty Haul!~

Someone once said to me that the whole point of going on holiday was to spend money, and while I still argue that that isn’t really true, I sadly did end up spending all the money during my recent summer holiday trip, sigh.

Okay, so looking at it all, it’s not really all THAT much, but still, quite excessive for someone with no money and especially weird for someone who probably uses beauty products like, once a week… =/

Sephora Collection Eau de Toilette (in Peony, Blueberry and Lagoon) - 4.50€

Sephora Collection Cream Lip Stain (in Always Red) - 10.95€

Sephora Collection Hand Cream (in Lagoon) - 4.95€

But how could I help myself? Look at all that Sephora goodness!! Why don’t we have a Sephora yet anywhere in the UK?! Oh, the injustice… but anyway, whilst having the rare pleasure of being in an ACTUAL Sephora store I had to pick up some of their little own brand products and the mini perfumes in particular are just the perfect stocking filler type purchase I just couldn’t resist! 

Tarte Tartelette In Bloom (Tartelette 2) palette - (currently unavailable on QVC, sadly)

Tarte Tarteist Creamy Matte Lip Paint (in Bae) - £20 via QVC

Also in Sephora I picked up these lovelies as, sadly, they aren’t available anywhere in the UK either, so… yeah. Actually, that’s a lie, Tarte products recently became available on QVC, but it’s not really the same as buying the stuff in person, amirate?! And the ‘Tartelette In Bloom’ palette has been on my wishlist ever since it first came out and I saw Bunny (a.k.a. Grav3yardGirl) post a video about it and I am sooooo happy to finally own it, so yayyy! And it smells good too!

Tony Moly Panda’s Dream So Cool Eye Stick - 10.90€ via Sephora.fr

Tony Moly Pure Eco Bamboo Cool Water Soothing Gel - 9.90€ via Sephora.fr

Look at how cute these bits are!! I know that ‘kawaii’ is Japanese and Tony Moly is a Korean brand, but whatever, all their stuff is just so kawaiiii!! Upon visiting their store I made it a point to leave with at least one panda product  (thank you tumblr) and just look at how cute that panda eye stick is?! And it works well too, so worth it! As for the bamboo gel thing, look at that packaging! Not as cute, but still very cool!

(honestly not sure where to find links to this stuff online, sorry!)

Lastly, I got a few interesting things I found in Daiso, which is basically like Poundland but the Japanese version. I’ve noticed there’s been a bit of a craze with charcoal beauty products recently and couldn’t help myself when I saw these as I reaaaally wanted to try it out but couldn’t afford anything back home, so I’m really happy I found these! Goodness knows after the torture my skin has been going through this summer I’m going to need some extra help, and if YouTube is telling the truth then this should do the trick!

So again, not THAT much stuff, but still enough to be considered a haul, right? At least it’s a new post I guess… first post of the year, woop woop! (lol, whoops more like it’s already september!!)

BONUS: I SPENT SO MUCH MONEY AT SEPHORA I GOT ALL THESE FREE SAMPLES! HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!!? xD

-Philippa. x