Olivia Palermo x Ciaté London "The Smouldering Eye Palette" ::: Review and Swatches!!!

Olivia Palermo is an American Socialite and is currently serving as Guest Creative Director for Ciate London. She has also collaborated with the brand to create an 11-piece Fall collection that is as chic as you would expect from something she created. For US folks it is presently available in Sephora and if you happen to read this from UK it can be found at Ciate London website. This collection includes 2 eyeshadow palettes, 4 lipsticks, 2 eye pencils, 2 blush-bronzer duo and a few nail polishes. 

If you google “Olivia Palermo Makeup” you will see eye looks that can be defined as effortlessly glamourous. Very sultry, expressive and yet subtle!  She took inspiration from different fabrics and fall colors to create a collection that can be easily transitioned from day to night time wear for every skin tone. I can see that thought reflecting in the entire collection! Today I will be talking about The Smouldering Eye Palette which has more colorful shades compared to the The Smokey Suedes Palette! There are a total of 9 shades in matte, pearl and shimmer finishes. 4 of the shades has 0.042 oz. of product and the rest has 0.052 oz. of products each. So you get a total of 0.42 oz. of product at a price of $39. You can see in the picture that the eyeshadow pan is very close to the rim of the palette which means you are getting a bit more than the average amount you will normally get. It is quite a compact palette and very easily fits into my fist. But when I keep in mind the size, I cannot help but wonder if a $39 price is justified.

I absolutely adore the packaging. Simple & chic, edgy and yet has a girl-next-door vibe to it. I think it quite fits her personality. It’s a very well built palette. The palette is gold metallic and has a leather type of textured lid. That is quite uncommon and I absolutely love it. It also has big mirror that stands on its own! As I already mentioned the actual product comes very near to the inner rim of the palette; whoever designed it, did an excellent job in optimum space utilization! I love the outer paper box too! It’s quite festive looking! Also, it is definitely one of the smaller palettes with these many shadows, in my collection.

As described in Sephora website it is an “An eye palette with nine fabric-inspired, suede-like textures for simple to smoky eye”. Formula wise these shadows are ultra-soft. When I touch them with my finger it almost feels too soft and delicate and a just a tad dry for my taste! But it is not a bad thing either! Because of this texture they blend almost immediately. I was watching on YouTube and one reviewer said that one has to be careful not to over-blend and I totally agree! If I put way too much time and effort in blending, it can quickly become muddy-looking and all shades merge into each other but not in a good way! For the same reason I find it difficult to create much intricate looks! But I do enjoy how soft and fast they are to work with! In my experience, this is best for effortless smokey eye looks that can also be viewed as “slightly undone”. Did I mention how easy these shadows are to work with?

As you can see, the palette contains an impressive range of the shadows and can definitely be an all-in-one palette. It has a dark and medium brown, a matte brow bone highlighter and a lot of different shimmery shades! All of these shades are very balanced; not too cool or warm. All of these are quite enough to complete a look without any help. Overall I am really enjoying the shade assortment here. 

Here are the shades-

Penny Jar: Described as purple grey shimmer pearl; “Penny Jar” has grey purple-y base and beautiful multi-colored speckles across it. The glitters are very finely milled and I dont feel anything harsh on my eyes. The glitters are very prominent and quite reflective. The base kind of disappears on my skin tone but that gorgeous glitters look so incredibly beautiful and elegant. There will be a ton of fall out if you don’t use any primer, so I always apply glitter glue or normal eye primer. Once you are done with the application, there is no fall out though. It can be a messy shade to work with but I am absolutely enjoying it, and almost every day that I am wearing this palette, I am incorporating this shade somewhere in my look!

Double Denim: I am glad that blue eyeshadows are making a comeback and almost every palette this year has included a blue in them (eg Anastasia Beverly Shadow Couture World Traveler Palette, , UD Gwen Stefani Palette, Make Up For Ever 15 Artist Shadow Palette, Lorac Pro 2)! “Double Denim” is a deep and muted midnight blue; nothing extraordinary about it but can be used for a quick colorful smokey eye as an alternative to boring black or brown shade.

Camo: I don’t have any khaki olive shades so this fills up that void. I love wearing it all over my lid. These are not insanely pigmented and they blend out without any effort. Sometimes I don’t even need to apply any matte crease shade to finish the look.

Mulberry: This year, I have developed a great affinity towards this type of maroon shades. “Mulberry” is superb for wearing to work when I need to feel a little glammed up. This is pigmented, however it still needs 2-3 layers to pack a punch of color. I still absolutely adore this shade!

Pisces: It’s a cool tone simple light grey shade in pearl finish. I am quite sure that this will be my least used shade. This type of cool tone shades makes me feel more aged, or so I feel! But I am trying to move out of my comfort zone. I wore it today all over my lid and I am very satisfied  with the performance.

Rest of the shadows are matte in textures.

Butler: This name is so random! Anyway, it is a perfect cream brow bone shade. Very, very soft in texture, extremely easy and quick to blend! It would also be a perfect for blending the crease area if you have a paler skin tone. I love this shade!

Amaretto: I love that they included this matte aubergine-brown and placed it close to “Mulberry”; it is super quick to create a fast and easy fall cranberry eye look. It’s a bit pigmented than the rest of the palette, perfect crease or outer corner shade.

Blondie: When I was reviewing the “Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca Remix Palette” I was talking about the absence of mid-range brown like this! These are a must have shades for me and I am glad that it is here. It is a slightly cool toned mid-range brown, when applied it appears just a tiny hint darker than my skin tone. Performance wise all these matte shades are quite consistent.

London: I wished they would have included a light black or even darker grey instead of this. But same smooth formula; easy to use and blend. 

I am quite impressed with the staying power. May be because of the powdery formula, I favor Urban Decay Primer Potion then my MAC Paint Pot to use underneath these shadows. They stayed at least for 10 hrs. before starting to ever-slightly fade. However my feelings are very lukewarm about the formula of these. I like the satin, suede like finish and the easiness to work with them. It makes it perfect for someone who is just starting out with makeup or for someone who is always busy and running out of time like me :-)! However, the pigmentation is not strong or vivid enough to my liking. It is evident from my swatches here that these are just less intense! But at the same time they are quite even, not patchy at all and easy to work with. Some of the colors just don’t pack a punch as much as I would have liked.

I used a $15 off of $50 purchase while ordering this and Urban Decay Delirious pencil set (reviewed here)! Considering that and the gorgeous shades with impressive staying power and absolute easiness to work with, I am quite happy! If you are interested in this palette, go for it :-) But it is not something that excite me enough to vehemently advocate for it and ask you to run to your nearest Sephora (or to the website) to grab it! :-)

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank and appreciate all my readers and followers here :-) your comments and feedbacks are always very much appreciated! Hope you all are having a wonderful time with your loved ones! :-)

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Love,

~Arrru

Holiday 2015 ::: Urban Decay Delirious Travel-Size Set Of 5 Review & Swatches!!

The 24/7 glide-on eye pencils from Urban Decay (UD) are one of the cult favorite products in the beauty industry! These waterproof pencils claim to be creamy enough to blend out and strong enough to provide a budge proof long lasting finish. Like any other permanent product in UD’s repertoire, these pencils also come in a wide array of spectacular shades. I don’t know for how long I have been yearning for these pencils! Every year UD curates limited edition value sets with 3 or more new and permanent shades. This year’s “Delirious Travel-Size Set of 5” has such beautiful shades that I had to give in and bit the bullet.

And also, this is currently on Sale; check here. :-) :-) They dropped the price by $10; it almost makes me annoyed because I paid $29. But hey, it’s a great news for all of you :-) This set is limited edition and is exclusive to Sephora. But UD has another 5 piece set called “Cosmic” (check here, also found in Macy’s) that has some beautiful neutral everyday shades. If you love your neutrals, you should check it out.

A regular size of 24/7 glide-on pencil has 0.04 oz. of product and costs $20. In this set each of the pencil has 0.03 oz. The set originally cost $29 but with the new sale price of $19, you are basically getting products for 4 full size pencils at a price of less than one! That’s an awesome deal! 

Like I said, I love the color range! They are gorgeous vivid shades in jewel toned finish! Four of these are brand new, never-seen-before shades. They are extremely creamy in texture, quite easy to apply and can be blended out! Because of the formula, it is not quite easy to get a defined line! I mostly use them on the upper lash line for a quick defined yet blended liner. I wear contacts and I fear that the little speckles will hurt my contact. So I don’t wear them on my lower lash line as much but they look absolutely beautiful on lower lash line. My skin around the eye area can get dry from time to time, but these pencils glide on quite smoothly. There are a few eyeliner formulas that never stay on my eyelid no matter how great of a primer I use underneath it. E.g. NYX Jumbo Eye pencils last only for 5 minutes before horribly creasing on my eyes. These were so creamy and smooth that I was extremely afraid that they will also melt and disappear. But, so far, all of these have performed rather well. With primer underneath these stay on my eye lid for 5-6 hrs. and then start to fade. While it is not the best wear time, they also did not make a mess while disappearing, I really enjoyed that. But I would have really preferred a bit stronger staying power. Also, they are a little lightly pigmented; I will talk about it more a bit later.

My biggest complaint with these is that they are not automatic. You need to sharpen them and because the formula is so soft and creamy that it needs a bit more product per application when compared against a thicker formula like Marc Jacobs Highliners. This essentially means that I will have to sharpen them more frequently; I am not looking forward to that part. Also, among all the holiday madness of putting products out in the market, UD and Sephora team completely messed up the color of the liners on the packaging and in their descriptions, especially with the “Zodiac” shade.

Perversion: This is such an iconic shade! A lot of people adore this and I can see why. It is marketed as their blackest black and I really enjoy how black it is. Very smooth, buttery and very strongly pigmented. It lasted on my lids for 6-7 hrs. before starting to very gracefully fade. If you already have perversion in your collection, you may or may not get annoyed with its inclusion in this set. Personally for me, the blacker it gets, the better it gets.

Rest of the shades are all brand new! Like I already mentioned they are a bit light in pigmentation, not patchy or uneven but just a bit weaker; I need to use 2-3 layers to get a stronger, brighter application.  

Zodiac: This shade in the packaging and the website appear as a very vivid, bright emerald shade. They describe it as “smoky black with blue-green 3-D sparkle”. Unfortunately, I don’t find any resemblance with either of those. But it is still very gorgeous! It’s a gorgeous deep metallic but muted olive green with lots of shimmer. On the eyes, it appears even more muted. I love that because it makes it more work appropriate. :-)

Accuse: Yay for blue eyeliners!! I am a big advocate of wearing blue on the eyes :-) “Accuse” is such a vibrant, fun yet a mature blue. It’s a bright metallic jewel toned blue shade with shimmer. Don’t be afraid of this type of color especially if you have olive/tan skin tone like me. I absolutely LOVE it.

Delirious: Another favorite. Rich purple shade with shimmer. Playful yet elegant and I have been totally enjoying it for wearing to work.

Muse: I am either black liner or colored liner type of girl. Brown does not really appeal a lot to me, but this absolutely beautiful. It’s a deep rich brown with shimmer. There are no visible glitters and I have been wearing it on my lower lash line; it surprisingly stayed for a LONG time. I love how it makes my eyes look a bit brighter. 

I would have appreciated a little more strength to the pigmentation for the colored shades, but overall I like the set. I totally love the color range; they are right up my alley. With the new marked down price, I highly recommend you check out this set. I have seen plenty of this left in the stores and it is available online as well. If you are still looking for a last minute gift, or if you have someone who loves eyeliners, this is great little set to give as gift. Have you tried these 24/7 glide on pencils? What’s your favorite shade?

Just 3 more days to Christmas …Yay!!!!!

Love

~Arrru

Holiday 2015: Bite Beauty "Best Beauty Rewind" set Review & Swatches!!!

Yay, holiday season is here :-) ! At least cosmetics industry likes to think so; it is flooded with holiday special limited-edition value kits since few weeks! I have been exercising great restraint in not buying every single tempting product, but there are few deals that I just cannot pass on! “Best Bite Rewind” is one such irresistible set for me!!

Each holiday season, among other items, Bite Beauty brings out 4 deluxe size lip products in a very adorable gift-ready tin box. I have been thoroughly using “Quince”, “Rhubarb” and “Cranberry” High Pigment Pencils from last year’s “Best Bite” set; I have a full review here. This year’s set is called “Best Bite Rewind”; it is exclusively available in Sephora. It is retailed at a price of $25 and comes with 4 deluxe size (0.031 oz. each) matte crème lip crayons out of which 3 are limited-edition shades. Considering that the full-size costs $24 for 0.05 oz., you are getting products worth more than 2 regular crayons and you get to try 4 different shades! It’s a great value for your money. Given that I use Bite lippies quite often in my every day routine, it is a great buy for me personally.

Packaging is adorable. I have not yet put last year’s tin-box to use, but I will someday :-) This year’s tin is a bit longer comparatively and much more appealing because it is in “red”-my favorite color. It has nice mirror inside so it makes a perfect little makeup storage box for your purse; for mini items of course :-). I can definitely see these boxes as decorative item around my house. The shades on the paper cover of the tin box are not true to the actual shades though, so don’t pay a lot of attention to that. The crayons are in typical grey rubberized Bite Beauty packaging, they tend to capture the oil-greasiness from your hands and can get a little dirty but I am ok with that. The only complaint I have is that the crayons are not color coordinated with the shades; not quite user-friendly when you are in a hurry.

I love their Luminous Crème Lipstick and High Pigment Pencil formulas. They are moisturizing, has strong staying power and very comfortable on the lips. As the name suggests, these matte crème lip crayons are matte but they still have a nice satin-y appearance to the finish. If you hate “matte” mattes, these are for you! Overall, these are VERY pigmented, applies very smoothly and I can get an even opaque application in just one swipe. You can also layer it without any patchiness. I have found that the wear time is different for light and darker shades. I will share more in the following paragraphs.

Cafe (Peachy-Brown Nude, Limited-edition): This is the lightest shade in the bunch and still it is not as pale as last year’s. It looks much better with a darker lip-liner but if I want I can wear it on its own too. I am not a “nude lipstick” kinda girl but I do like this one :-) It fades on me after 5-6 hrs. but it still stays even while fading.

Torte (Brown-toned Rose, Limited-edition): I don’t see any brown in it but yes, this is your everyday natural rose shade. Love it. Formula-wise all 4 of these perform the same. But staying power is similar as “Café”. Among the other shades I have from Bite Beauty, “Meritage” is almost similar but with more of a glossy finish.

Coulis (Raspberry Red, Limited-edition): Coulis is a very preppy vibrant red and I love my reds. It appears very neutral in tone to me. It is extremely comfortable on the lips. I wore it to office the other day; my first time wearing red to office :-); it was a busy day and I did not even have the time to apply lip-balm the whole day. I was pleasantly surprised to see it slightly faded, but very good and even pigmentation on the lips after almost 11 hrs. of wear. I am VERY impressed.

Aubergine (Eggplant, Permanent): If you have checked last few of my blogposts you may notice that I have been enjoying my recent exploration into few unfamiliar lip-color schemes such as purple and dark vampy shades! From the cover, “Aubergine” appears so much purple-y, but it has A LOT OF berry in it. I am typically scared of dark lips but this flatters my skin tone. I love it! It has stayed for 9-10 hrs. on me.

I absolutely love the color range in this set. They are versatile and will suit a wide array of skin tones. And when it comes to formula and performance, Bite Beauty has never disappointed me. I have lot of lippies from them than I can ever finish but I cannot seem to stop buying them :-) If you are just starting out, this is a great set to test out. It also makes a perfect little gift! These sets do sell out pretty quickly so if you want to get them you should hurry :-) I highly recommend it!!

Hope this helps you. I have a few holiday-related posts planned for the coming weeks; stay tuned.

Lots of Love,

~Arrru