Guerlain 4 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette in 06 Les Fumes Review and Swatches

     So the taupe eyeshadows trend has been going around for a long while now and I must say I really enjoy it. Whether it's a shimmery taupe across the lid or a matte taupe crease color, I find the color extremely flattering in all the hues it can come in, warm and cool. I tend to use cooler taupes for a more dramatic look as I think it contrasts with my warm/neutral tone skin. Maybe later I'll do a round up or all of my taupes and show you all the warm and cooler colors.
     The Guerlain 4 Couleur Eyeshadow Palette in 06 Les Fumes is a high end take on the taupe trend. Here are some photos and swatches!

      Guerlain 4 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette in 06 Les Fumes is definitely a cool-toned taupe palette. The palette consists of 4 different variations of taupe. Clockwise from the left you get a mid-tone taupey brown with a pink micro shimmer, a matte pinky tawny taupe, a high shimmer almost metallic pinky silver taupe, and a satin taupey gray. All of the colors in this palette have a dry yet smooth texture. The second and third shades have the best pigmentation while the last shade swatched a bit sheer and unevenly. 

     I'm sure you think the first and last shade are really similar, and I honestly agree, but one does have shimmer and the other does not. When on the eyes however, I see almost no difference, especially since the pigmentation of the last one really decreases the color saturation of the shadow. It could have been much darker, but it's not. In addition, both of those shades were harder to blend.

     The palette ends up for me as a cool smokey eye which was really quite dramatic when I wore it. I really like the second and third colors and I think they'd be perfect for a lighter cool toned pinky eye.

     Overall, although the packaging is beautiful, I don't really think the palette is that great to justify the high price tag it carries. There are definitely better palettes out there for a lesser price and I wouldn't recommend this palette unless you don't mind the price tag. If anything, I think this palette is more suitable more the moe mature ladies. It's like a classy, not so mainstream, smaller version of the Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette.

Thanks for reading! Please leave me a comment. Byebye. x_o

Laura Mercier Lingerie Eye and Cheek Palette for Spring 2012 Swatches and Review

     I'm of to SoCal guys! Seeing that I'm a junior I've begun to visit colleges and get a good idea of what type of school I'm looking for. I'm still completely unsure about what my passions are and what I want to major in, but hopefully something might be sparked from this trip. I'm also taking three days in Disney Land while in down in Los Angeles.
     Speaking of traveling, today's post is going to be on a palette that is perfect for traveling. I don't think I'm taking this palette to travel because I don't want to deal with eyeshadow on this trip and I'm afraid I'll lose it. Paranoia is my worst enemy...

(Sorry about the fuzziness of the first picture)

ohmygod, gorgeoussssss.

I hope you guys can guess what is what. But from left column to right column:

(1)buff pearl, tawny apricot, rich cocoa, (2)rose desire, fresh peach, (3) pale pink, african violet, black plum

buff pearl is a multi-shimmer creamy white champagne (long description, yes?). What makes this color stand out is the multi-colored shimmer, but once it's on the eye or if its not looked at carefully, it just looks like a normal cream champagne. The shimmer particles are also quite large.

tawny apricot is a pinky mauve with very small purple shimmers. It's quite a muted color, and I don't see any "apricot" in the shadow. Once again, the shimmers are on the larger end. This is one of the sheerer colors in the palette, when swatched.

rich cocoa is exactly what it says it is, a matte rich cocoa brown. It's not the darkest brown, but I like that. This matte shadow is incredibly smooth and blendable. It applies evenly and it's really pigmented.

rose desire is quite a cool-toned hot pink with a satin finish. It's the first of the two blushes in the palette. It is very smooth, nice pigmented, and I don't have anything bad to say about it. Note: cool-toned pinks are great brighteners for warm-toned skins like mine, just don't go overboard.

fresh peach is a neon-pastel peach with a satin finish. It's the second of the two blushes in the palette. I think that this blush is one of the more true peaches that doesn't lean pink, coral, or orange. However, depending on your cheek's natural tint, this may alter the color of this blush. The characteristics of this blush are same as I described for rose desire, above.

pale pink is a matte pinky-purple creamy white. It's nicely pigmented and can be blended easily. Not much to say about this eyeshadow, quite normal.

african violet is a red-plum purple with a lot of gold shimmer/glitter. This is one of the Laura Mercier shades that gets talked about a lot, but I don't love it. I'll talk about the wear of the product later, but first of all, I had to continually pack on this shadow for it to show and the glitter basically goes away with any blending.

black plum is a matte very dark browned royal purple. It's smooth like rich cocoa, but it applies more unevenly and it's less pigmented.

     The wear of one of the shadows is my biggest criticism of this palette. I've found a good eye primer, so I'm pretty confident that it's not my primer. I just find that african violet fades and loses its purple-ness as the day passes, which bothers me. The other colors are fine though.

     My highest accolade for this palette goes to the blushes. I'm amazed that these blushes last on my skin because I have literally never found a blush that I can truthfully say lasts on me (NARS, MAC, Illasmasqua), even cream blushes. Though they weren't as vibrant as when I applied them, they still remained largely intact by the end of the day. I also did a little duo-blush thing one day by applying fresh peach from the apples to the hairline sheerly, then concentrating rose desire on the apple and the combo was really pretty

     Overall, even though I don't think the eyeshadows in the palette are particularly interesting, I think the palette is a wonderful palette to have. It's everything a neutral wearer would like i.e. me. It's an amazing all-in-one palette and it took me a while to review this because I was really testing out everything so I could give a good review on how the product actually works. There are so many combinations and looks that can come out of this palette, but I really like the simple neutral eye look that can be achieved using only the first column. I definitely recommend this palette, get it while you can!

     Maybe I'll do one or some FOTDs with this palette?...

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment. Byebye. >w <'

theBalm Meet Matt(e). Eyeshadow Palette Swatches and Review

     Matte eyeshadows are essential to my everyday eyeshadow looks. Matte colors create realistic depth and shadows. The thing about matte shadows is that they're hard to perfect and a matte shadow that is pigmented, smooth, and blendable does not come by often. In terms of my favorite matte eyeshadows, I've come across a cople from MAC, a couple from NARS, and a few from Too Faced. This time around, I tried our theBalm when they came out with an all out matte palette. So let's Meet Matt(e).

     I'm actually very impressed with theBalm Meet Matt(e) Palette. The palette is of course the quirky kind of vintage theme the company tends to follow and I guess the idea is that all the shadows are named after Matt ________. The packaging is simple cardboard and it's extremely sleek; it has magnetic closure, a mirror, and a two sided brush.
     Now on to the actual shadows. (These shadows are all matte unless I say so.) Matt Smith is an off white cream. Matt Gallagher is a slightly grayed light brown. Matt Ramirez is a neutral to warm dark brown. Matt McDonald is a satin green-dark gray. Matt Horowitz is an almost satin, more matte, muted teal blue-gray. Matt Chung is a off-white baby pink. Matt Batali is a red-toned dark cocoa. Matt Schilling is a muted-murky green. Matt Patel is a taupe. Overall, this palette is great quality. Most of the shades are incredibly smooth and pigmented. I found all of the shades to be extremely blendable, perfect for a hazy smokey eye. The shadows also last all day with a good primer. Now the downfalls are first of all, Matt Chung which I find to be sheer and chalky. All of the shades are also so smooth that you get excess after placing a brush on the product. But other than that, all I have to say is that two of the nine shades in this palette are not completely matte to me.
     I've been testing out this palette for the past week and a half and I really enjoy it. Of course because I am a high schooler and an avid neutral color wearer, I tend to stick with Matt Smith, Gallagher, Ramirez, and Patel. But I have tried a couple colored smokey eyes with the other colors and I'm still impressed. My favorite colors have to be Matt Smith (to even out my lids) and Matt Gallagher + Matt Patel (because I love my taupey crease shades).
     I definitely recommend this palette to people searching for good matte shadows. (:


Thank you very much for reading! Please leave me a comment. Byebye. C: