The Lo Down - My MAC Eyeshadow Collection

Hey Guys and Dolls,

MAC is one of those brand I've been using for years from paints pots to lipstick, there's so much to choose from from this brand. I adore their eyeshadows, they such an amazing selection of shades.

Last Summer I bought one of their empty palettes that fit 30 eyeshadows, sure you can never have too many MAC eyeshadows. Well I can't anyway. I've already filled up a half of the palette already so if you have any recommendations for the other half definitely let me know.

Top Row - Cork, Expensive Pink, All That Glitters, Nylon, Brule
Middle Row - Brown Script, Rule, Antiqued, Coppering, Texture
Bottom Row - Amber Lights, Shadowy Lady, Tempting, Sketch, Embark

The newest shade to my palette is Shadowy Lady and it's a very dark purple shades that would be great in the crease and in the outer corner I think. As you can see all the shadows I have are on the neutral side of things. I prefer to go with a natural eye as opposed to a vibrant look. I'd be too scared if it all went wrong to be honest.

My favorite eyeshadows are Coppering, Sketch and Embark. Coppering is a gorgeous all over the lid shade and the other two look perfect in the crease blended out. I really like all these eyeshadows though they are extremely pigmented and really pretty.

I use this palette alot and I like how you can choose the shades you like. I'm probably going to get a few more neutral shadows considering they are only €7 a pop which is such good value.

What are your favourite MAC eyeshadows?

Laura<3

The Lo Down - Boots Haul

Hey Guys and Dolls,

I love a good Boots haul so I do. I recently told you guys how quick and easy it is to buy products from their website. You can get the products sent you your home or to your local store. It's that simple, I purchased three products on Saturday and opted to get them sent to my local store Dundrum and to my surprise they arrived yesterday, such wonderful service I have to give it to them.

I ordered two Sleek products, their colour corrector palette and their Cleopatra's Kiss highlighter palette plus I bought a Aveeno daily body lotion. The latter is a lovely product, it's a daily body lotion that I bought for my elbows as I'm getting really bad eczema by the looks of things from stress. I hope this stuff works as it seems pretty good, it was inexpensive aswell. The two Sleek palettes dont need no introduction they've been doing the rounds lately on lots of blogs and YouTube channels. They look amazing and they weren't too pricey either. Boots are currently doing a buy one get one half price. So I payed in and around €14 for the highlighters and paid €4 for the colour corrector which was a steal, definitely the best price I seen these products at.

There's definitely going to be some reviews on these products once I give them a go so keep an eye out for them.

Have you tried these products? What did you think?

Laura<3

The Lo Down - Charlotte Tilbury Seductive Beauty Instant Look in a Palette

Hey Guys and Dolls,

As you all know I love a good palette. I already featured one of my favourites, The Sweet Peach palette from Too Faced in the first Lo Down I did. There are some amazing palettes out there at the moment, some containing eyeshadows, some with both shadows and face products and this palette I have to show to you is one of those.

I'm a huge fan of Mrs Tilbury's products so when I first saw this palette I couldn't wait to try it. It is on the pricier side of things at €69 but it contains everything you need to create a gorgeous glam look sans the foundation, mascara, powder, lippy and eyeliner. So in my eyes it was worth the money. So basically this palette contains three shadows ( brighten,enhance, smoke) which are so beautiful, buttery and very pigmented, then you have some amazing cheek products, two pretty blushes and a bronzer and highlighter. I love her cheek products like her eyeshadows they are exceptional. This palette in my mind is kind of like makeup by numbers as every item has a number that helps to create the makeup look if you are new to makeup which is great.

I've created a look with this palette that you can see below, I like how it's so wearable and can be taken from day to night in a instant just like what it says on the tin. The lipstick I'm wearing is from Charlotte Tilbury aswell and it's her new limited edition The Queen lipstick which I will go into detail on in the a upcoming post. So far so good I love it as I'm not a big red wearer but this shade is really wearable and glams up any look in my opinion.

I think this set  would be perfect as a gift, I know I'd be delighted with this as a surprise. There are two options the seductive beauty palette and the natural palette. I can't wait to try the latter once I save my pretty pennies up soon. The seductive palette is apparentyl based on the golden goddess look and the corresponding products that go along with it. Great idea! If the rumours are true there are more palettes to come.

I love how you can check out how to beauty videos on Charlotte Tilbury's website and YouTube channel. I find them so informative and helpful if you want to try something new with your makeup. Plus it's a great way to catchup on new beauty launches.

What's your favourite Charlotte Tilbury product? I'd love to know!

Laura<3

MUA The Artiste Collection Palette

Lately I've found myself reaching for my MUA palettes even more, in particular the Heaven & Earth and Undressed palettes. Both contain gorgeous everyday neutral shadows which is definitely my eye look of choice on a regular basis. The new Artiste Collection palette* is something different to their previous palettes. Inside not only do you get six marbled eyeshadows, there is also two blushers, a bronzer and a nice little highlighter too.

The MUA Artiste palette is the same size as their previous palettes, just a little bit thicker. When I first seen this online I was intrigued to see what it was like. After your foundation, powder, liner and mascara, you'd get everything in this multi-use palette to achieve an everyday makeup look. The eyeshadow pans are huge so it will be easy to get a brush in there, while the blushes/bronzer/highlighter are smaller so it will be hard to get a standard brush in there. I found the Real Techniques Contour brush the perfect size to get into the bronzer and highlighter, it's picks up the colour really well too. All the shades (bar the shadow on the far left) are really well pigmented which MUA are well known for with their range of palette. My favourite shadows in the palette are Mocha, Chocolate and Cookie as they make up a really nice everyday natural eye look. I don't think I'll ever steer clear of neutral shades as they work really well for me. The blue shadow is the only one I can't see myself using from the palette too much. I may pull it out over the Summer, I think it would be real under my lower lash line to add something different to my makeup look. Everything in the palette (excluding the bronzer) has shimmer in it. I love shimmery eyeshadows so this doesn't bother me at all. After buying the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette at the end of last year, I've been using that alot too. I'd love to see MUA come out with a matte palette, I think it's something alot of their fans (including me!) would be interested in.

For £6 you can't go wrong with this palette. MUA have definitely done it again and brought out a lovely product for such amazing value. The Heaven & Earth and Undressed palettes still remain my favourites from the brand but the Artiste palette has some lovely shadows in it too. I can see myself  getting alot of use out of it. If your not familiar with the brand they also have regular offers running on their website, some of them are really good so there worth watching out for. After they reach a certain number of "likes" on their Facebook page they unveil a new one. There next big milestone is 50,000 likes which is huge and when that's reached they'll be giving 50% off everything on their website plus free shipping. That's definitely not an offer I'd want to miss. If you haven't tried their Heaven & Earth or Undressed palette yet, there wouldn't be a better time to treat yourself to them. If you don't own any neutral palettes yourself, both these palettes would be ideal for you. I use mine pretty much everyday, I've hit pan on a couple of the shadows so I may have to buy replacements the next time I'm in Manchester.

Are you a fan of MUA? What's your favourite product?

Laura<3

Fashionista Custom Palettes

On my trip to Manchester in July, I popped into Superdrug on the look out for some new products. We do have them in Ireland but there is a wider range of products and brands in the UK stores to choose from. I went to a few different Superdrugs while I was there, but I ended up picking up the most stuff in the first one which was their Manchester Picadilly store. The brands I was drawn to the most were Fashionista, Sleek and Look Beauty, their products don't seem to be available in the Dublin store yet. Suprisingly I was quite reserved and I didn't buy as much as I though I would of done. I'm still testing out most of the products so I don't have too much to report back on. One of the products I have been getting quite alot of use out of so far is Fashionista's Custom Design Palette. I've seen alot of great reviews so I couldn't wait to try one myself. I went for two blushes (cinnamon & butterscotch) and two eyeshadows (Nude Glimmer & Brunette Bombshell), all quite neutral shades that I knew I would get alot of use out them. I went for the black palette as it looks super sleek, it is also the perfect size for my makeup bag when I'm on the go. As prices go, this was a bargain at £5 for the palette and £4  for each individual shade. There is a great selection of eyeshadows, blushes, bronzers and highlighters to choose from so you can mix & match to your hearts content. The mirror on the palette is such a good size, not an essential for me but still great to have as you can see from the picture below. I was only unhappy with the eyeshadow Brunette Bombshell, as I find it to be quite chalky which results in a lot of unwanted fallout but once blended it does look alright. Both the blushes I bought are matte and I've been using them a hell of alot, there just so wearable and very pigmented, which for the price is amazing.

I was surprised when I got back to my hotel to find a email from the brand themselves, asking did I want to try some bits from their range. They sent me another custom palette* with a random selection of eyeshadows/blushes along with their new brow kit* (review to come later). I love getting random selections of shades as they may not be ones I'd usually go for but I end up using them alot. I received a blush (London), two bronzer (LA & Rome) and a eyeshadow (Trend-setter). The latter is one of their new baked shadows, the shade isn't one I'd usually go for but you could work into a night time look. The baked blush and bronzer, LA and London are beautifully pigmented, they do have a light shimmer which I love and gives a nice glow to the skin. The matte bronzer, Rome is great on my milk bottle skin so it's definitely not too dark and it's certainly buildable.

I really think a selection of drugstore brands have stepped up their game lately and have brought out great additions to their range of products. Fashionista is no different and I can't wait to try some more bits from the brand.The only problem I have with these palettes is that it's almost impossible to remove the pans once you put them in. Maybe I'm just doing it wrong but I don't think its rocket science to remove a pan from a palette, like how hard could it be to take them out.

Have you tried anything from Fashionista? What products have stood out for you?

Laura<3

MUA Going For Gold Palette

Like alot of people my eyes have been glued to the telly watching the games for the past few weeks. My favourite sports to watch were the Athletics, Boxing and Swimming. I think this is the only year I've actually watched the Games as much as I have. I was lucky enough to attend a Team GB football match while I was in Manchester last month and the atmosphere was intense. It's something I'll remember for a long time. With the closing ceremony of the Olympics on tonight, I thought it was about time I did a post featuring this gorgeous palette. Inspired by the London Olympics, MUA's Going For Gold palette* contains twelve eyeshadows in a range of gold, silvers and bronze shades. Different to other MUA palettes, the shadow pans are square and not circular which makes the amount of product you get a bit bigger.

At first I wasn't too sure if this palette was for me. It contains some eyeshadows that I wouldn't usually wear on my eyes but surprise surprise some of them actually worked. All the eyeshadows are well pigmented bar the top and bottom two on the far left. I had to heavily swatch them both so you could even see them in the photos above. Don't let these two eyeshadow put you off as it's actually a gorgeous palette that I myself have been more than impressed with. At first I was scared that the two vibrant gold shades would look a right mess on me but they blend beautifully on the eye lid, so I couldn't be happier with them both. My two favourite eyeshadows from the palette are on the bottom row, second shades to the left and right. I have been using them both alot, the light shimmery gold on the lid with the bronze in the crease, they make a gorgeous everyday look. I wouldn't choose this over Heaven & Earth or Undressed, but it's still a lovely addition to their range. I do think this was another wonderful idea from MUA and like the other palettes at £4 you can't go wrong at all. As far as I know Going For Gold is Limited Edition so snatch it up while you still can.

Will you be trying the Going For Gold palette?

Laura<3

MUA Undressed Palette

When I was packing for Manchester I knew I didn't want to bring too much makeup with me. I still went a bit overboard as per usual but I only ended up bring two eyeshadow palettes. Instead of bringing my much loved Naked 2 palette I decided on one of MUA's newest offerings Undressed*. This palette has been compared to the Naked palette and I can see why as it's full of gorgeous neutral shades. For a drug store product I wasn't expecting too much at first but this has quickly become my most reached for palette throughout the month of July. It contains 12 round eyeshadows a mixture of extremely pigmented light and dark shades perfect for daytime and night time looks. I'm been using the second shadow from the left as a base and one of the darker shades as a crease colour. It's great to have all these amazing shadows in the one place, this would of probably done me for my whole trip but I couldn't leave my Too Faced Neutral Eye palette behind. I haven't used the latter once since I got here so maybe I should of left it at home.

At £4 this is an absolute steal, I loved it so much I picked up the Heaven & Earth palette in Manchester yesterday. It's similar to Undressed in the fact that it's full of neutral shades but probably more for daytime looks. I shall let you know in due course how I get on with this one.

Have you tried the Undressed palette? What's you thoughts?

Laura<3

My Inglot Eyeshadow Palettes

My blog posts have been far and between lately as I'm still in the process of getting my laptop fixed. I brought it to a laptop shop that told me everything would have to be wiped to fix it, so annoyingly, I have to backup everything. I have no idea how to do this, so it will be quite a while before I send it away to be mended. In this post I thought I'd show you my Inglot eyeshadow palettes. I've been using them quite a bit lately.

As you can see I have three in total, the round eyeshadow palette was my first purchase from the brand. The second shadow from the left I use occasionally as an all over the lid colour but not alot. The two other palettes have shades that I use pretty much all the time, I bet you can guess the shadow I love the most.Yes it's the brown sparkly shadow that I've hit pan on, I use this in the crease all the time and it blends so easily. You may have spotted it in one of my monthly favourites posts too. The palette containing this shadow is also my favourite palette out the three I own. All the shades are very wearable, I love the purples for nights out while the top shade (Pearl 397) is gorgeous all over the lid and a fantastic brow highlight.

Pearl 397, Pearl 452, D.S. 465, D.S.493, D.S. 491

Matte 378, Pearl 434, Pearl 420, Pearl 421, AMC Shine 12

Matte 390, Pearl 402, AMC Shine 37, AMC Shine 42, AMC 53

Another thing I love about the square palettes is the packaging. I can see whats inside each one if I was in a hurry looking for a particular shade. I wouldn't be scared of putting these in my bag either as they are magnetic and sturdy. The only thing they don't have is a mirror which isn't something that would put me off them at all. I know some people find it hard to take the shadows out of the square palettes, but I just use the magnet from the lid and they come off with no problems. I heard Inglot sell a magnet thing to remove the shadows, it's not really essential in my opinion.

 I'm considering purchasing a new Inglot palette soon maybe a 10 pan one as they're so affordable and the qualities amazing. All their eyeshadows are so pigmented, I think they could give some MAC ones a run for their money. I do own a MAC eyeshadow palette but I'd be more inclined to purchase other one of these as they aren't as expensive and there quicker to fill. Size wise your getting a 2.7g  eyeshadow with Inglot while MAC's are 1.5g. All three Inglot palette from what I can remember are around the €20 mark which is a bargain, don't you think? One thing about these shadows that is constantly mentioned are the names (numbers). Have you seen the amount of Inglot eyeshadows there is, like hundreds so it's understandable why they don't do names. Alot of the eyeshadows tend to look alike also so this is probably why they do numbers instead.

If your starting a makeup artist course or want your own eyeshadow palette, I'd certainly recommend investing in one of these. It's easy to choose eyeshadows you want on the counter as they are colour coordinated together which makes for much easier shopping, for me anyway.

What's your favourite products from Inglot? Have you tried their eyeshadows?

Laura<3