Product Review: Maybelline NUDES Palette

Hey guys! I'm coming to you today with a Product Review! Today I'm going to talk about the New Maybelline NUDES Palette. It's one of the first really substantial, affordable, drugstore palettes and I was so excited when I first heard about its release! I was really excited to pick it up!

Maybelline finally got this product out! I was so excited to try it out so I went to Target and picked it up. 

This palette runs from about $7-$10 which is super affordable, especially because Maybelline eyeshadow quads run for around $6. That means you get a lot more product, for a lot less!

It comes with 12 shades - 6 matte and 6 shimmer shades.  

As you can see below, you get a really good variety of nude, and neutral shades. These are the eyeshadow colors that you can use for every single look, especially for everyday!

Here's a closer look at the shades. As you can see, they're so gorgeous.

Below I have swatched the 12 shades. They actually swatched really nicely, except for some of the lighter matte colors. The shadows are just like the ones that come in the normal Maybelline Eyeshadow quads, so they have the same formula. They're a bit chalky but blend really nicely and have a pretty great pigment for what they are. I especially like the shimmer shades, because they're really beautiful on the lid and blend amazing and don't have much fallout on the under-eye area!

I tested out the palette as soon as I got home and below I'll share the look I created!

I started off by using a light, matte, pale white shade all over my lid as base, then took a fluffy brush and took the light, matte, soft brown shade into the crease and blended it with windshield wiper motions until there's soft definition. 

Next up was to take the matte, dark brown shade into the crease to darken it up. 

To finish off the crease, I took a shimmery, dark brown shade and took that with the same fluffy brush and blended it with the same windshield wiper motions.

Lastly, I took the shimmery, white shadow in the corner of my lid to highlight and bring a little more glitter and brightness to the makeup look!

Here are all the shadows I used to create the look!

 

Maybelline has done it once again with this palette. It's one of my favorite brands and I adore this look!

 Hope everyone is having a fun weekend!

xo Emily

Product Review: Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Radiant Firming Foundation

Hey guys! Today I'm coming to you with a product review! Today's product is the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Radiant Firming Foundation. As anyone whose ever met me or visited my blog might know, I am a massive fan of Maybelline products. It probably makes up over 50% of my makeup bag at any given day and I have no qualms about that. They just make absolutely incredible products - some of my all time faves. 

So with all that prior knowledge, I decided to pick up the new Instant Age Rewind Foundation. I have been obsessed with the Instant Age Rewind dark spot and under-eye concealers for a long time now so I thought that it would be a good idea to try out the foundation version. 

This foundation runs for about $9 which isn't a bad price and I got the shade 

'Classic Ivory'. It matches your skin tone really nicely, especially since I usually have so much trouble matching my skin tone, I was happily surprised at how it matched mine!

Excuse my nails! Yikes

I also love this foundation because it evens your skin tone, firms your skin, and has Goji Berry and Caffeine. It also has SPF 18 which is just ESSENTIAL during summer. It's so nice to have SPF in foundation, especially during summer. Skincare and protection against the sun is so important so I love this foundation. 

To apply this foundation, I decided to use two different ways to apply it, with a brush and a beauty blender! 

First, I put about a quarter-sized amount on the back of my hand and then used my Real Techniques Buffing Brush and dotted it across one side of my face. I just blended and buffed that into my skin until I had a flawless finish. I then grabbed my damp beauty blender - mine's from Ricky's and 10$ cheaper than the original beauty blender - and blended in the foundation on the other side of my face. After using both applications, I think I prefer the beauty blender. It gives you a smoother finish and really melds with your skin.

The foundation looks really natural and nice on the skin, as you can see above.

After applying this foundation, I found that I really loved it. It matched perfectly with my skin and wasn't sticky, heavy, or too wet. I put on the rest of my makeup after and really love how it ended up looking.

Here's how the foundation looks with the rest of my 'face' on!

My face in natural light:

I went about the rest of my day as normal, even going on an hour long walk and the foundation held up really nightly. It didn't sweat off my face and really made my skin still look flawless, even after 8 hours. (As you can maybe see in the picture below)

Overall, I 100% recommend this foundation. It's quickly becoming one of my favorites. 

I hope everyone had a great day! I sure did! Look at the lovely view of my walk!

xo Emily 

Product Review: Tarte Golden Days and Sultry Nights Palette

Hey guys! I hope everyone had a great weekend! I was away visiting family without wi-fi, so I am coming to you finally with a blog post.

 Recently, as I've been shopping and getting various bits and bobs, I've kept my eye open for a new eyeshadow palette. I really hadn't wanted to spend $50 on a massive, fancy palette but I also didn't want to spend $10 on a low-quality palette. I finally found my happy medium when I was at Ulta a few days ago. I picked up the Tarte - Golden Days and Sultry Nights Amazonian Clay Collector's Shadow Palette (wow what a mouthful) for $36 and today on my blog I'll be doing a product review! 

I know for a lot of people, myself included, $36 dollars is not cheap. I really wanted to get a palette from a higher quality brand (like Tarte, Urban Decay, Benefit, etc.) but I also wanted to keep the price in the $20-$40 range. This was my compromise. I know Tarte has great products so I was expecting a lot and (spoiler alert) this did not dissapoint. I think the price, although steep, is worth it. Don't get this palette unless you're absolutely in love with all the colors and think you'll use them regualarly. There's no point in an expensive palette unless you know you'll get use out of it!!

Okay! On with the review!

First off, the packaging is really stunning. It caught my eye in the store and upon opening, it doesn't disappoint. 

There are five beautiful colors inside as well as a pretty decent sized mirror! 

1. Toes in the Sand - matte creamy white

2. Espadrilles - light matte brown

3. Caparinha Cocktails - shimmery gold

4. Oceanview - shimmery green with teal undertones

5. Tropical Sunset - shimmery chocolate brown

First off - the two matte shades. I love these two colors. I'm not a huge fan of all-matte palettes and so having two essential matte shades with shimmer shades maeks for a fantastic group of colors. 

White/cream and brown are essential matte shades that everyone should have in their makeup collection. These two help produce any and every makeup look you could imagine. For any look, a matte brown in the crease helps to define the look and darken it and a matte white is perfect for a brow bone or inner tear duct highlight. 

The shimmer colors - caparinha cocktail, oceanview, tropcial sunset - are the huge draw for me. I'm obsessed with the green/teal color and think it can add the perfect splash of color to a summer look!!! As in the look I'll do below, the green color is a great lower lash line color, giving your look a bit of quirkiness and a perfect balance of color.

Caparinha cocktail - the shimmery gold - is also a favorite from this palette. I've been looking for a perfect gold shadow and I'm pretty sure I've found it. 

Here, I have the three shimmer colors swatched on my arm. As you can see, the shades are pretty impressive and deliver warm tones and gorgeous shimmer.

As you can see, this palette has a great summery-warm toned look to it and I was eager to try it out once I bought it!

Below is the look I achieved using the palette.

This is a new favorite makeup look and perfect for summer.

This was really easy and other than my base and eyebrows, I only used this palette! First off, I started off with Toes in the Sand and spread it across my lid as well as highlighted my brow bone and inner tear duct. Next, I took Espadrilles on a big, fluffy blending brush and just blended that into my crease until I got nice definition. 

Then, I took the golden shimmery shade, Caparinha Cocktails and spread that over my lid, focusing the color away from the outer corner of my lid, and more as my all-over lid color. Then, to leave my crease and outer corner even more defined, I went in with the shimmery brown, Tropical Sunset, and blended that into my crease until I got a really beautiful dark brown, glow.

Finally, I finished up and lined my bottom lid with the green shimmery color, Cceanview, spreading it across my lash line up to the inner corner of my eye. 

This was an incredibly easy look to achieve and I'm so so pleased with how it turned out. 

Not only does this palette deliver fantastic color and shimmer, but these shades are easy to blend and easy to apply. You really don't need much product on your brush to create a look, which means these are perfectly concentrated and easy for packing on.

It's so beautiful!

A close up of the look - don't mind that LOVELY red eye I've got going on here (don't worry it's my contacts, not anything nefarious)

Overall - I love this product. I think it's totally worth the $36 and I have already been using this non-stop and don't plan to stop anytime soon!

Hope you guys liked this post!

See you soon

xo Emily