Eye Shadow | The Blush Brush

Feb 1, 2012

Tarte NeutralEYES Volume II Palette

The Tarte NeutralEYES Volume II Palette is a 10 shadow palette with colors ranging from pale pink to a a milk chocolate brown. This palette comes with a Tarte emphasEYES brown eyeliner, a dual shadow brush, and a sample of their eye primer. I think it also came with a card with some ways to use the palette but I lost it. I bought mine from ULTA for $44.00. I’ve had about a month to play with it and I have some good and bad things to say.

I’ll start with the packaging:

The case is pretty sturdy and the lid is magnetic so it snaps into place. I feel like this would work really well for travel. It’s not too bulky or large and you could easily throw it in a suitcase and not worry about it shattering everywhere.

Next the eyeshadows themselves:

You get an even mix of matte and shimmer shades with the palette. The top 5 colors are matte and the bottom 5 are shimmer. None contain any noticeable glitter which is great because I hate glitter fallout. The colors themselves look nice in the pan but I find that the colors themselves don’t have the best payoff. The first 2 top shades and first 2 bottom shades had the least color payoff for me. When I swatched them on my arm you could barely even seem them. I also found that the 4th bottom shade also shows up very light. Considering I spent 44 dollars on this set I was a little disappointed that almost half the shades didn’t show up against my skin. However, the buttercream shade (third in the top row) and the two brown shimmer shades on the bottom have great payoff and I love wearing them. The brown shimmer shades both remind me of cooler toned versions of Urban Decay’s smolder. I also think the grey shade in the top row looks nice paired over Maybelline’s Tough as Taupe Color Tattoo. Here are the colors swatched on my arm:

The feel of these varies, the matte shades are a little more powdery while the shimmer colors are pretty creamy. One huge plus is these colors literally last ALL day on me. Tarte products always have amazing staying power for me these are no exception.

The freebies that come with this are great. The eyeliner is such a crazy consistency. Its an aqua-gel liner in pencil form, it’s so soft it almost feels like a liquid when you are applying it. The only problem is that since it’s so soft you could blow through this pencil in 2 weeks if you used it as an everyday liner and I’m pretty sure they retail for $22 so that would be a big budget buster. The brush is great and I enjoyed the primer as well.

Things You Need To Know:

1. The color payoff isn’t great on some of these shades but the lasting power is unbeatable.

2. My favorite way to wear this palette is to apply the buttercream shade all over my lid and then mix the 2 shimmer brown shades into my crease.

3. This palette has a good mix of matte and shimmer shades and avoids chunky glitter

4. Be careful when you apply the eyeliner to your waterline, it melts into a liquid and I’m always getting it in my eye which burns like crazy for the first 10 seconds. (However the staying power is great so I still use it, I’m just very careful)

5. I use these with a primer to get the most color payoff

Overall I feel like this palette was more a miss than a hit for me. I definitely can find ways to wear it and the eyeliner it came with was awesome but I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone on a budget. This was kind of an impulse buy for me and I wish I had done a little more research and swatched the colors in the store. While I still love Tarte products this just didn’t impress me very much.

Jan 25, 2012

Posted by Holly | 0 Comments

Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 Hour Cream Gel Eyeshadow vs. L’oreal 24 Hour Infallible Eyeshadow

This past month Youtube has been flooded with reviews and tutorials on the new Maybelline 24 Hour Color Tattoo and L’oreal 24 hour Infallible Eyeshadows. While both products boast intense pigmentation, 24-hour long lasting power, and crease-resistant shades there are some differences between the two so instead of another blog with swatches you’ve already seen I thought I’d compare both eyeshadows. To be honest both are pretty great but if you don’t have a ton of money to spend to try both out here’s some things you might like to know before deciding which one to buy:

Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 Hour Cream Gel Eyeshadows: This line has 10 shades. I own Tough as Taupe, Pomegrante Punk, and Bad to the Bronze

1. These shadows are actual cream shadows. Most have shimmer finishes except Tough as Taupe

2. These have been called dupes for Mac Paint Pots. They work well as a shadow base but can be worn alone.

3. Without a primer these lasted about 8 hours on me before starting to fade out. I did not notice any major creasing with any of the colors I purchased.

4. While these can be worn on their own I felt I got the nicest look when I used these as a base. They are very pigmented when swatched but I felt on their own the eye look they created was a little too subtle for my taste

5. The packaging for these are great. They come in sturdy glass jars with twist off tops. I do not see these drying out.

6. I think these apply best with fingers, they are easy to blend and do not set too quickly.

7. I wish they had a black shade. I feel like while they have some nice neutrals and vibrant shades they lack some deeper shades.

L’oreal Infallible 24 Hour Eye Shadow: This line has 12 shades, I own Continuous Cocoa and Eternal Sunshine

1. These shadows are actually a powder that has been pressed into a cream like texture. When applied they finish more like a cream shadow then a powder

2. I find that the texture on these are a little harder to work with. Fingers work best for application, trying to pack the pigment on a shadow brush can be a little difficult.

3. These do not blend as easily as the Maybelline 24 hour shadows but I felt they were slightly more pigmented.

4. I got a good 8 hours of wear from these before fading and they did not crease.

5. I like how this line had some darker colors, you can create some really dramatic looks that will last all day without smudging or creasing.

6. These also had nice packaging. The shadow comes in a sturdy little jar with twist off lid. Don’t lose the little piece inside used to pack down the pigments!

Overall I have really liked both of these products. For a drugstore buy they really do what they say and are such a great alternative to higher end shadows.

If I had to choose one over the other I would probably spend the money on the L’oreal Infallible shadows only because I like wearing a darker smokier eye most days and the L’oreal line has a better selection for that. Honestly though I love combining these 2 products together if you can get your hands on both. My favorite look so far is using the Maybelline Bad tothe Bronze all over my lid and then lining and smoking my upper and lower lashline with the L’oreal Continuous Cocoa. I believe I spent about 7 bucks a piece on these so price isn’t really a big difference.

Hopefully this helps those of you who still haven’t had a chance to try these out, let me know your thoughts if you are already using them!

Oct 17, 2011

Posted by Holly | 2 Comments

My FAVORITE (and cheapest!) Neutral Eye Palette

Hi everyone!

For a long time I was skeptical of Wet n Wild makeup. It was a product I had used when I was in middle school and I had my doubts it could ever hold up against the pricier makeup I began purchasing as I got older. I was wrong!

The Wet n Wild Vanity Palette cost me $4.99 at CVS and is my absolute favorite collection of neutral eyeshadows. The set comes with three highly pigmented matte shades as well three frosted colors.

When I’m going for a fast neutral eye I take the middle shade on that matte side and use that in my crease and I’m all set! If I have a few more minutes I’ll use the lightest matte color all over and the middle beige shade in my crease. The lightest color on the shimmer side is a great highlight and inner corner shade. This past weekend I used the darkest matte shade on my outer V area and then lined both my top and bottom lashes with it to make my lash line more pronounced. It gave a great subtle smokey eye look.

I probably use this palette 3 times a week and would recommend it to anyone looking for a great neutral eye set of shadows. I reach for this over my NYX nude on nude palette all the time and its a fraction of the cost.

Oct 10, 2011

Posted by Holly | 0 Comments

NYX: Nude on Nude Eyeshadow Palette

Hi everyone

For those of you looking for a cheaper alternative to the Urban Decay Naked Palette I suggest you try this NYX dupe.

For $20 you get 20 eyeshadows and 10 glosses. The palette has a nice mix of shimmer and matte shades and are nicely pigmented. The texture isn’t as creamy or blendable as Urban Decay but with a primer you can make some great neutral eye looks. There are some nice highlight shades and the navy and black shades work well in the outer v area or in the crease. I could live without the glosses, they aren’t anything special, but I do use them from time to time. I think this set makes a great gift as well. I bought mine at ULTA but I believe you can order it from the NYX website as well.

This is definitely worth your money and a great overall value.

Sep 30, 2011

Posted by Holly | 0 Comments

Urban Decay Sustainable Shadow Box

So I was at ULTA a few weeks ago and on a whim decided to buy this palatte. I had never read any reviews on it and it wasn’t on my WANT list but I saw it and grabbed it and hoped I would love it as much as my Urban Decay AMMO shadow box. The cost was $ 36.00. I listed the colors in the palatte and my opinion of them below:

YDK – Love, a very nice blendable bronzy neutral

Flipside – Love, a great pop of turquoise

Grifter – Like, a pretty lilac

URI – No color pay off, too glittery, should be white but looks like nothing by the time you blend it

Twice Baked- Love, a rich chocolate brown

Midnight Cowboy Rides Again- Too glittery, but swatches a neutral pinky beige

Flash- Like, bright purple

Oil Slick- Like, glittery black

Kiddie Pool- Too glittery, sky blue but very hard to blend because of the glitter

Half Baked- Love, a rich coppery orangey color

The swatches start with YDK and go in order across the top, ending with half baked on the bottom

I know the packaging is supposed to be eco-friendly but I don’t like it. The lid flops all over the place so its not good for traveling.

My favorite colors to use are YDK and Half-Baked for a neutral look and if I want to add a pop to the look I’ll take flip-side and use it as a liner under my bottom lashes.

Oil Slick is also in my AMMO palette and I feel like it has better pigmentation in that one.

While I do like some of the shades that came with this I don’t feel like this was a very good buy. I rarely reach for it and have had a better experience with other sets by UD. Save your money and buy the AMMO or NAKED palette instead

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Sep 28, 2011

Posted by Holly | 0 Comments

L’oreal Project Runway Limited Edition Quad: Sultry Raven’s Gaze

I picked this up from Walgreen’s the other night on a whim and it was a big waste of money. I think I paid $8.99 for this and I’m pretty sure I wont be wearing it again. The quad comes with one gray shade, a silver, black, and a purplish grape color. All swatch pretty terribly and they go on even worse. The color pay-off was pr non-existent and I couldn’t get them to blend at all. Out of the 4 colors the silver was the best but you could get a silver shade anywhere. I tried using this for a smokey eye but in the end my eyelid just looked dirty. I did use a primer with this, it didn’t make a difference. This quad did come in some other colors, I think I saw a brown quad and one with a turquoise shade in it. I’m not sure how those work but this one was a dud.