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“On Holiday” from the ColourPop Bare Necessities Palette
The palette in general is pretty good but I like this shade in particular because they managed to get the undertone just right. It is the most perfect neutral transition shade for my skin tone and I bet it would even work as a contour for my face as well. I would love to see this shade released in a single but I doubt ColourPop would do that, heh.
ColourPop Mint To Be Palette
I like this palette for the tones, mainly. The quality on this is also pretty good in general but really, it is the uniqueness of the shades to my collection that makes me love it. It makes me want to explore colors like this that are lighter and brighter.
Sydney Grace Snow Queen Eyeshadow
I realized a while back that I didn’t have a good basic white eyeshadow in my collection. Originally I picked up one from Ulta’s Single Eyeshadow range but I wasn’t super happy with it. Recently I decided to place an order with Sydney Grace and picked this up hoping it would be better – and it certainly is. This is very pigmented and really shows up even on my pale skin tone. A white eyeshadow really helps lighter transition shades stand out and gives your looks more dimension overall.
Sydney Grace Sea Breeze Eyeshadow
This is another shade I picked up with my recent order. When I was deciding which colors I wanted to try, this is one that I was on the fence about. I wasn’t sure if I’d like this shade of green on me but after playing with it, I really like it. This is more yellow-toned than the shades in the ColourPop Mint To Be Palette and looks really cool paired with rose and plum shades.
Sydney Grace Green Mango Pressed Pigment from the Danny’s Dream Bundle
Can you tell I’ve been loving green eyeshadow lately? LOL. Anyway, this is a minty green with a light golden sheen and a shimmer finish. There isn’t any glitter in it (thank the makeup Gods), which is great because most of the time glitter falls out onto my cheeks, which I then have to clean up. This is similar to the shade Freshman in the ColourPop Mint To Be Palette but it is deeper, more opaque, more pigmented.
Sydney Grace Sweet Sop Pressed Pigment from the Danny’s Dream Bundle
This is a deeper blue-toned green with a strong yellow gold sheen. There is something about a blue toned green combined with a yellow gold shine that creates magic. Just looking at it seems to give me life. I like that this shade is both deeper in tone but still adds brightness to a look.
Makeup Geek Illuminaughty Foiled Eyeshadow
This is a pale olive green with a metallic finish. There are some small-medium sparkles mixed in but I have not had any glitter fallout on my face with this shade. It adheres well to the eyelid, even over other matte eyeshadows. I am working through swatching and playing with the Makeup Geek Eyeshadows and so far the foiled shadows really do pack high shine on the lids. Although this shade looks green, it comes off as very neutral on the eyes.
Nars Tinted Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base in Light
I was aware this existed but held off on buying it for quite a while. I had the original translucent one and was skeptical that the tinted one would work well on my lids. I have oily lids but at the same time they are textured and beginning to show signs of aging. Along with aging comes more eyelid discoloration and more visible veining than I had when I was younger. Tinted eye primers tend to exaggerate texture on me but I wanted to find one that would even out the skin tone. I am pleasantly surprised that this lasts just as long on me as the original (about 7-8 hours) and works almost as well as a concealer to even out my eyelids. For now this works as a solution for my issues with eyeshadow longevity and wanting a clean canvas to apply color to.
Fenty Beauty Full Frontal Volume, Lift & Curl Mascara
I got this as a free gift/sample along with a recent Sephora order. The wand is flat along two of the sides and wider along the other to sides. Surprisingly, it works quite well at reaching all my lashes without smudging much around my eyelid during application. I find this gives me more length than it does volume, which I prefer. It holds a curl well and does not flake on me throughout the day. At the end of the day, it is reasonably easy to remove too.
YSL Black Opium Eau De Parfum
My mom got this for me as a Christmas gift. This is another product I was aware of for a long time and never tried. I read reviews of it a long time ago and the way it was described made me think it would be too overpowering. I’m not sure why I thought that, because this is nothing like I was expecting. It’s a very soft, subdued scent. I get a fair amount of headaches and migraines and can be sensitive to scents on those days. This is soft enough that I could wear it during a headache. It isn’t a particularly long lasting scent which most would probably consider a drawback. For me, it is a positive thing because longer lasting scents can sometimes trigger a migraine.
Sigma E56 Lid Shader Brush
This is like a concealer brush but a little more narrow. It has longer hairs that are densely packed together. This gives the brush only a small amount of “give”, meaning it doesn’t bend or flop too easily when pressed against the skin. These qualities make it easy to apply color (particularly shimmery color) to the lid and helps it to transfer to the skin much more easily. This brush is like applying color to the lid with my finger but with much more precision.
Sigma E46 Inner Corner Shader Brush
This is similar to the brush above, but a smaller version of it. I like both of them equally but this one gives me even more precise control of where I place color.
Sigma E47 Crease Shader Brush
Over the years, I seem to be acquiring smaller and smaller fluffy crease brushes. The main ones you see from every brand that carries eyeshadow brushes are great for applying transition shades and maybe one crease shade. If you want any more more precision than that, the hunt for smaller brushes begins. I also have small eyes and smaller brushes just work better for me. This one is small but it’s also pinched so it has a wider side and a narrower side. It works great for adding depth to the outer corner of the eye or sweeping color along the lower lashline (without blowing the color out too far).
Morphe M160 Brush
This is a teeny tiny version of an angled brush. I use this to fill in gaps around the edges of my brows. It is a bit small to use for filling in my brows and takes longer to do so but it also works for that. The other good thing to use this for is applying dark eyeshadow as eyeliner. It is thin enough to get real close to the lashline.
Morphe M149 Brush
This is a mini dome brush with a decent amount of density. I use it for buffing out spot concealers and applying highlight shades to the inner corner and brow bone. It isn’t the softest thing in the world but I have yet to find a soft brush that is this shape and size.