Stila Luxe Palette Review, Swatches and a FOTD

Before I show you this lovely palette, I just want to say that I'm really struggling with writing new posts at the moment. Firstly, I am currently very busy with school and children related activities. Secondly, due to the gloomy weather we've been having in the UK, I've found it incredibly difficult to take proper photos of products, which means if I can't take pictures of my new acquisitions, I then can't start using them, and obviously can't review them in detail. So for the time being I think you might be seeing a few more nail polish posts, I have a big backlog of NOTD pictures that were taken back in the autumn when we still knew what the sun looked like. Hopefully I'll be back with some proper product reviews soon.

For now, here's a lovely palette from Stila to drool over. This one is called Luxe palette and it contains 3 matte and 6 sparkly eyeshadows, plus a smudge stick waterproof eyeliner in Ladyfish (an exclusive shade). You also get a small booklet with ideas on looks to create with the palette. I bought it with my £5 off discount code StilaKiss which is valid for another 3 days on the Stila UK website (minimum spend £25).

I have to say, I'm a bit on the fence about this palette, I'm just not sure about the matte shades. I would've preferred either 3 more sparkly eyeshadows instead of the matte ones, or at least shades that go better with the rest of the palette. Quality-wise I can't really fault the palette, because the matte shades are really nice, the sparkle shades are gorgeous and the eyeliner is lovely too.

I have only worn the eyeshadows over a primer (Too Faced Shadow Insurance), but I didn't experience any creasing and there was only minimal fallout (usually during application). The smudge stick is really long lasting, even on the waterline.

The matte shades are a bit brown for my liking. Actually Bubble Bath is a pinky highlighter colour, it's pretty, but I prefer highlighting with more sparkly, satiny colours. I couldn't combine the two different finishes in the palette. I did do a look with the mattes, it was a nice, but rather boring look for my liking.

I also used the shadows in the middle row which resulted in a lovely pink/purple look. But my most favourite shade in the palette has to be ♥ Of The Ocean. At first it looks really dark and a bit dull in the palette, but on the skin it turns into an amazing teal/peacock green colour with loads of pearl. Absolutely gorgeous! I've included pictures of the look I did with it (actually not including any other eyeshadow from the palette, I used it with Sassy Marshmallow and Time Resist White L'Oreal Infallible as well as Stila Peacock smudge stick on the lower lashline). It was really lovely, probably even better in real life.

The palette costs £30, but you can get £5 off with StilaKiss on stila.co.uk. I'm too tired to work out how much value you get, but altogether there's 13.5 g eyeshadows and 0.28 g eyeliner, so you can be sure you're getting great value for your money. I also like it that you get a mirror in this one, definitely something that was missing form the other Stila palettes before.

See lots more pictures including swatches and a look I did after the jump!

Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Silk Eyeshadow #07 Review and Swatches

After falling in love with Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Silk Eyeshadows #27 and #28 I decided to order #07 as well, a beautiful rosy pink shade. I know a lot of people don't like wearing pink eyeshadows, but I find they go very well with my dark brown eyes and my colouring and I had been really wanting to get this shade as it's so pretty.

The formula is once again really lovely, buttery smooth, yet very long lasting and creaseproof. I wore this on top of my Too Faced Eyeshadow Insurance primer and it lasted all day without fading or creasing. I find this shade so easy to wear, on days when I don't have much time, just sweep it onto my eyelids, pair it with black eyeliner and mascara and hey presto!

I won't go on about how fantastic these eyeshadows are, for more details please read this post, but I do think that these are well worth their price (£26 for 4 g) and if you can afford them, check them out. For a cheaper alternative I would wholeheartedly recommend the L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows as they are comparable and probably easier to get hold of anyway.

Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Silk Eyeshadows are available from House of Fraser, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Bentalls and maybe Harrods too, but I'm not sure about that one.

See more pictures including swatches and a look I did with this after the jump!

Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Silk Eyeshadows #27 and #28 Review and Swatches

Even though I'm very happy with my L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows, that I have on many occasions compared to Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill eyeshadows, I just couldn't resist picking up a couple of shades from the Armani summer collection. I bought shades #27 and #28 (I don't know if they actually have names at all).

These are so gorgeous! And not just gorgeous, but absolutely fantastic. Pigmented like crazy, long lasting, crease proof, the lot. Although I have never reviewed them on this blog, I already owned two of the permanent shades, #01 and #03. I have compared the L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows to these, and if you don't have the money for Armani, definitely check them out because they are very worthy opponents. But these are something else. They swatch and apply smoothly and pack on loads of pigment, yet there is no fallout and they don't crease at all (I do use primer under eyeshadows though). They feel quite creamy, but they're more pressed powder like L'Oreal Infallibles, rather than bouncy jelly-like cream eyeshadows (Chanel Illusion D'Ombre). If I had to pick a favourite, these would have to be it.

The two shades I got are #27, a red-silver mix that applies taupy-purple, and #28, a warm gold with purple/burgundy flecks that applies purply-copper. Both are extremely pigmented, smooth, and lasted on me all day without creasing. I used #28 with a purple eyeliner and it looked so pretty (scroll down to the bottom of this post to see a picture). I didn't get around to taking pictures of #27 on my eyes, but it was equally pretty.

The eyeshadows come in a glass pot with a plastic lid and plastic stopper (like the L'Oreal Infallibles), and you get 4 g in each pot. Each eyeshadow costs £26 (ouch!) which is really quite steep, but there you go, it's Armani. I bought mine from Selfridges, but House of Fraser also sells them (these shades are not available on their website though). I'm planning on picking up #07 next.

Do you own any of these eyeshadows? Let me know which ones are your favourites!

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows Review and Swatches Part 9 - Golden Emerald and Endless Sea

New shades of L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows! Yay! Sadly these are not available in the UK, but I tracked them down on eBay and hey presto.

I got Golden Emerald and Endless Sea, both are really lovely. Golden Emerald is especially pigmented and smooth, it is an amazing green colour with lots of gold shimmer. Endless Sea is a lovely teal colour with blue/gree duochrome, depending on the angle. It is very similar to Mac Electric Cool eyeshadow in Fashion Circuit, although it has sheen rather than shimmer like the Mac shadow.

Speaking of dupes, I thought I'd swatch them next to Permanent K(h)aki and Innocent Turquoise, but they aren't dupes at all (you can see the swatches at the end of this post). Also, there is a post I did which contains all the links to my reviews of the other shades I own, check it out here.  

As usual, you get 3.5 g eyeshadow in each pot. I paid around $6 each, in the UK these eyeshadows (obviously not these shades) cost £6.99, and are available from Boots, Superdrug and some supermarkets.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Mac Electric Cool Eyeshadows Review and Swatches

Earlier this month Mac has launched a new collection of 12 cream eyeshadows called Electric Cool. I wasn't sure whether I wanted any of them because they were rumoured to be the reformulated Big Bounce eyeshadows, but thankfully they aren't. I ended up picking up 4 of them: Fashion Circuit, Brilliantly Lit, Superwatt, Electroplate.

These little pots of eyeshadows are actually very impressive. They feel very creamy, but they dry down pretty quickly and stay put without any creasing for 10+ hours (I always wear them over a primer). They are brilliant on days when I only have time for a quick wash of eyeshadow. I wouldn't compare them to the Armani Eyes To Kill, Chanel Illusion D'Ombre or L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows because their textures are different, but I guess they're in the same family. The Electric Cool eyeshadows I've bought have lots of shimmer and are quite frosty, except Brilliantly Lit which is more satiny.

Colourwise the available shades aren't very unique, I'm pretty sure all of them can be easily dupeable. I have found that Fashion Circuit for example is extremely close to Endless Sea L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadow. The L'Oreal shadow is more frosty and at certain angles blueer, but on my eyes they are practically the same. Fashion Circuit is a gorgeous colour though and well worth picking up if you don't own anything similar yet. Brilliantly Lit is a bit more unique, you don't often get cream shadows in yellowy lime green shade.

Mac Electric Cool eyeshadows cost £14.50, and you get 2.1g product in a screw top black plastic container. They are limited edition, but most shades are still available, so if you're interested, take a look at your nearest Mac counter.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows Review and Swatches Part 8 - Glistening Garnet

As you know, I love L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows and I'm always in search of new shades. I picked up Glistening Garnet from eBay as this shade is sadly not available in the UK. (I'm also awaiting the arrival of two other non-UK shades, so I'll review those as soon as I can too.

Glistening Garnet is a darkened fuchsia shade that looks quite dark in the pot, but applies quite a bit lighter. I used it with a blending brush in the crease and it applied and blended really nicely. It's a really pretty shade and I would love it if they released it in the UK too.

I bought this for $7.95 on eBay and with postage it cost me around £7.50 which isn't too bad. In the UK they cost £6.99 (obviously not this one).

I have a recap post with links to all my prevous reviews of L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows here. There is also a website with a brilliant list comparing all the shades available in different countries here.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows - The Recap

Having swatched and reviewed all the shades I was possibly interested in (until some new ones come out of course), I've decided to do a summary post with links to all the individual reviews, so you can find what you're looking for more easily. I will update this with more links as and when I have more reviews up. For now these are the ones I have done so far:

Part 1 (Purple Obsession, Flashback Silver, Goldmine, Bronze Divine)
Part 2 (Permanent Kaki, Sahara Treasure)
Part 3 (Infinite Sky, Amber Rush)
Part 4 (Naughty Strawberry, Innocent Turqouise, Sassy Marshmallow, Magnetic Coral)
Part 5 (All Night Blue, Time Resist White)
Part 6 (Forever Pink, Smoothie Kiwi) 
Part 7 (Metallic Lilac)
Part 8 (Glistening Garnet) 
Part 9 (Golden Emerald, Endless Sea)

I have also found a really extensive comparison list of all the shade names, as you may know most of the shades have different names in the US, Canada and Europe. And of course some of the shades are only available in certain countires. So if you've seen a shade you like and want to know if it's available in your country and under what name, click here: MACnunu L'Oreal Color Infallible Eyeshadow Comparison List Thank you to Nunu for putting this list together, it has been very helpful!

FOTD: L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows

I did this look a little while ago using some of my lovely L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows and I really liked the look, so I thought I'd share it with you.

To create this look I used the following products:

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer all over lid
L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadow in Forever Pink all over the lid
L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadow in Metallic Lilac in the outer corner and crease
L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadow in Time Resist White in the inner corner and on browbone to highlight
Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner pencil in Radium on lower lashline
Givenchy Phenomen'eyes mascara in Acid Blue
Mac Brow Set in Show Off

Face:

Guerlain Parure Aqua foundation in 02 Beige Clair
Guerlain Perles D'Azur Meteorites
Lancome Blush Subtil Rose #10 Rose Rose on cheeks

Lips:

Mac Girl About Town lipglass

See more pictures after the jump!

L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows Review and Swatches Part 7 - Metallic Lilac

I wasn't going to get this. Honest. But then somehow it ended up in my basket in Superdrug. You know how these things are. I am happy I got it though as I really like the L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows and Metallic Lilac is a very pretty shade. It's a silvery purple shade (more purple than Flashback Silver) with pretty pink flecks in it. The pink doesn't really show up in the overall colour, but it's ever so pretty to look at in the pan.

The texture and longevity is pretty much the same as the other L'Oreal Infallible shadows I own (except for Smoothie Kiwi which isn't that great). If you would like to check out the other reviews I have posted on here, please click on the links below:

Part 1 (Purple Obsession, Flashback Silver, Goldmine, Bronze Divine)
Part 2 (Permanent Kaki, Sahara Treasure)
Part 3 (Infinite Sky, Amber Rush)
Part 4 (Naughty Strawberry, Innocent Turqouise, Sassy Marshmallow, Magnetic Coral)
Part 5 (All Night Blue, Time Resist White)
Part 6 (Forever Pink, Smoothie Kiwi)

As always, these eyeshadows acost £6.99 and available from Boots, Superdrug and other places that sell L'Oreal make up.

See more pictures after the jump!

L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows Review and Swatches Part 6 - The Hungarian Edition

I know, there seems to be a neverending supply of these reviews, but I just can't get enough of these amazing eyeshadows. Nowadays I really don't buy a lot of eyeshadows from high street brands, but if I find something real good I'll keep going back for more.

In this post I have Forever Pink and Smoothie Kiwi to show you. I bought these during my trip to Hungary earlier this month as these shades aren't available in the UK for some reason. Forever Pink is a lovely shimmery light rosy pink colour, Smoothie Kiwi is the only matte shade I own, it is a light little bit yellowy grass green. Forever Pink is very similar to the other shades I own, smooth, pigmented, easy to blend. Smoothie Kiwi is actually quite hard to work with, it's quite sheer and needs a few layers to show up as intense as it looks in the pot. It also fades rather quickly. It's a lovely shade, but I would love it more if it was shimmery (not a big fan of mattes) and as easy to use as Forever Pink.

As I said, I bought these in Hungary and I really can't remember how much they costs, but they were similarly priced to UK prices (currently £6.99, although I'm sure there's some sort of an offer going somewhere).

If you would like to check out my reviews on all the other shades I own, here are the links:

Part 1 (Purple Obsession, Flashback Silver, Goldmine, Bronze Divine)
Part 2 (Permanent Kaki, Sahara Treasure)
Part 3 (Infinite Sky, Amber Rush)
Part 4 (Naughty Strawberry, Innocent Turqouise, Sassy Marshmallow, Magnetic Coral)
Part 5 (All Night Blue, Time Resist White)

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows Review and Swatches Part... Erm, 5 I Think?

I can't even remember how many of these posts I have done already and this isn't the end either! I have thoroughly got sucked into buying these eyeshadows, they are so good and easy to use, yet really reasonably priced. If you'd like to check out my other reviews, please click on the links below:

Part 1 (Purple Obsession, Flashback Silver, Goldmine, Bronze Divine)
Part 2 (Permanent Kaki, Sahara Treasure)
Part 3 (Infinite Sky, Amber Rush)
Part 4 (Naughty Strawberry, Innocent Turqouise, Sassy Marshmallow, Magnetic Coral)

This time I have All Night Blue and Time Resist White to show you. All Night Blue is a dark royal blue and Time Resist White is a frosty white shade (it looks quite yellow in the pot, but applies white). Out of all the shades I own I found All Night Blue the hardest to work with, although that doesn't mean it's bad, just less good than the others. It swatches beautifully, but applies quite unevenly and therefore requires more work to blend it out. I think it might be because it's quite dark, the lighter shades are always easier to blend. It's a lovely colour though. I wore All Nigh Blue in the crease with Inifinite Sky on the lid and Time Resist White to highlight yesterday and it looked lovely. Time Resist White is quite frosty, so you might not like it if you don't do frosty highlighters, but it looks pretty cool in the inner corner even if you don't fancy it as a browbone highlighter. 

L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows cost £6.99 each, but there's usually a deal on, currently it's buy one get one half price at Boots and 3 for 2 at Superdrug.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows *New Summer Shades* Review and Swatches

Here we go again, lol. I just can't stop buying these eyeshadows, and of course when I heard that there were 5 new shades being released, I had to go and check them out. I didn't get Metallic Lilac because it looked a bit too grey and I already have Purple Obsession which to me is a nicer colour, but I did buy the other 4 and here they are:

These eyeshadows remind me very much of the Giorgio Armani Eyes To kill shadows, even more than usual, as they all have specks of different colours in them. In fact Sassy Marshmallow seems very similar to the Armani shadow #22 Ecailles, although I have not swatched them next to each other (I don't own the Armani one myself).  Biggest difference is that these eyeshadows only cost £6.99 each and you often have some sort of an offer going, plus I actually think they come in better colours than the Armani shadows.

These new shades are all very summery (except for Sassy Marshmallow), and have the same wonderful formula that stays on all day and doesn't crease even without a primer. I wore Naughty Strawberry the other day with just a glittery eyeliner (Urban Decay Heavy Metal glitter eyeliner in Catfight) and black mascara and got lots of compliments. I love using these when I don't have much time in the morning, I just use them as a wash of colour on my lids, add eyeliner and mascara and done. 

As I said above, these cost £6.99 each, but Superdrug has a 3 for 2 offer on all cosmetics and so does Boots, but I have not seen these new colours in Boots yet.

See more pictures after the jump!

L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows Review and Swatches Part 3

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you will know by now how much I love L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows. I have already reviewed them here and here. When I found out that in the UK we once again didn't get all the shades that are available in the US (just like we didn't get all the Revlon Lip Butters or Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadows), I got onto eBay and had a good look to see what other shades were available and I found these two.

Infinite Sky is a beautiful light sky blue colour and Amber Rush is a light pinky bronze (to me not at all amber), it actually reminds me a lot of Mac Sweet Heat Extra Dimension eyeshadow. Both Infinite Sky and Amber Rush are shimmery and rather frosty, especially Amber Rush, and they are both really lovely. I have worn them with and without primer, they lasted really well both ways, although without primer I "only" wore Infinite Sky for about 10 hours (I normally wear eyeshadows for about 14 hours or more). Still, there was no creasing either way which is definitely very impressive. Amber Rush is more pigmented, but Infinite Sky is pigmented enough for a nice wash of colour and of course can be layered for more intensity. They are both really smooth and easy to apply and blend, they feel like cream eyeshadows, and they're certainly very comparable to the Armani Eyes To Kill eyeshadows for a fraction of the price (£6.99 with a 3 for 2 offer in Superdrug at the moment I believe).

It's a shame we didn't get these shades in the UK, but you'll be pleased to hear (well I was) that there are some new shades that have just come out including a gorgeous turquoise, a coral, a pink, a light grey and metallic lilac and I will be reviewing four of them (I didn't get the metallic lilac shade myself) very soon!

For now, see more pictures including swatches and a look I did with Amber Rush, after the jump!

L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows Review and Swatches Part 2

This isn't so much a detailed review because I have already reviewed these eyeshadows before (click here to read my review), but I wanted to post the swatches of these two shades I picked up after the initial four, because I liked those so much. In this post I'd like to show you Permanent Kaki (Khaki, no?) and Sahara Treasure.

Permanent Kaki is an olive green/khaki colour and Sahara Treasure is a golden sand colour (darker and not as yellow as Goldmine). Both are gorgeous colours and the texture of these is the same as the other 4 I've reviewed already. I apply them over primer (UDPP or Too Faced) and they stay on all day without creasing. They are a really good option for me when I only have 5 minutes to do my make up.

I'd love to get these in more colours, but I'm not that keen on the other ones available (I think there are 12 in the UK), so I'll just stick with the 6 I have. Have you got any favourite shades? Let me know in the comments!

See more pictures after the jump!

L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows Review and Swatches

Having heard lots of good and some bad about these eyeshadows, I decide to check them out for myself. I was browsing in Superdrug and noticed that they were on offer (£3.99 down from £6.99), so I picked up four of them.

I like my Armani Eyes To Kill eyeshadows as well as Chanel Illusion D'Ombre eyeshadows, but let's face it, they are very expensive. Who would say no to a cheaper alternative, especially if they were just as good. But are they? I'm happy to report that these L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows are really good. They are nice and creamy, but not too creamy, so while they apply and blend easily, they also dry down quite quickly, so they don't crease on my eyelids. Okay, that's not 100% true, I did wear Goldmine the other day without a primer underneath and it did crease a tiny bit after about 8-9 hours of wear, but do you know what, that's good enough for me. I wore Flashback Silver and Purple Obsession over my beloved Barbara Daly eyeshadow base and they did not crease at all.

So yes, I do think these are a very good alternative the more expensive eyeshadows, and they come in really nice colours too. The colours are very rich and well pigmented, so pretty in the sunlight (see the swatches at the bottom of the post!). Out of the four I like Bronze Divine most, but Goldmine is also beautiful. I wore it with Stila Curacao (bright blue) liquid eyeliner on the top lashline and it looked gorgeous. I have since picked up another two shades, I will try to review them too.

As I said before, these are on offer from Boots and Superdrug at £3.99 instead of £6.99! Available in 12 shades, most of them shimmery, but there seem to be some without any shimmer too.

Do you own any of these? Let me know in the comments!

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!