Top 5 Favorite: Fall Eye Shadow Palettes & Urban Decay Smoked Analogue

For the most part, I wear neutral shadows but there is something about fall that intrigues me to bring out the jewel tones. Along with those deep, dark and rich shades, I also love using taupe during fall and winter months.

 I have several favorites but these are the top five most reached for palettes for this time of the year. 

Urban Decay Pistol, YDK & Pistol

Urban Decay Naked 2: This is a cult favorite of the beauty community and I love using it during fall and winter because of the cool toned shadows. I associate Naked palette with summer and Naked 2 with fall/winter. Some of my favorite shades from this palette are: Pistol, YDK and Busted.

Lorac Pro Palette: This is an absolute favorite of mine throughout the year. Not only it is great because of half matte shadows but I feel that the two halves of the palette depict two different seasons. The left half has a summery feel to it while the right half is appropriate for the fall. 

Some of my favorite shades for the fall from this palette are: Pewter, Garnet and Deep Purple. 

Sleek Storm: This is one of the popular palettes from sleek makeup. Even though I do not own the Urban Decay Smoked palette, but to me, this sleek palette looks very similar to it. It may not have the exact arrangement but the basic idea is interchangeable due to the homogeneous color tones. Nonetheless, I would not call it a dupe but definitely a cheaper alternative for those on budget. 

The shadows are very soft and pigmented but there is a lot of fallout which is somewhat inevitable and visible because of the deepness of the colors. 

Smashbox Click You're It: This is an old holiday palette that came in a red box but I depot-ted it into a regular palette because the original box was quite bulky. Although, this was a limited edition palette but I am still including it in this post because I have seen it on a lot of websites recently. 

This palette has a nice combination of jewel tones and neutral shades. I really like it because the colors are dark but not too deep, thus reducing the chances of messing up for novices like me. 

Maybelline Eye Studio in Cozy Cashmere: It took me over a year to find this palette in Canada but it was totally worth it. Most of the eye studio palettes are all shimmery but this one has two completely matte shadows and one semi matte with shimmer. The rusty orange and the deep orangish brown reminds me of the fall leaves and sets into the whole mood of the season. 

What are your favorite fall shadows? Do you have any recommendations?

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great day!

NOTD: Halloween Special

I love nail polish but I suck at nail art, so whenever I feel like doing something different I opt for a simple accent nail. And since today it is Halloween so I chose orange and black as the theme. As usual  along with the colors I used the Revlon Color stay base and top coat. 

The colors that I used are OPI Call Me Gwen-ever and Hard Candy Masquerade. 

The OPI shade is really nice and pigmented and gives an opaque finish in just two coats. I also used it as a base for the pointer finger under the glitter polish.

The Hard Candy nail polish screams Halloween to me. It has chucks of orange glitter in black base but goes on somewhat gritty because the base is not smooth polish but actually an accumulation of tiny black particles.  Nonetheless, it has really nice pigmentation as for the above look, I used only one coat over the orange base. 

What color did you paint your nails for Halloween? 

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great day!

Top 5ish Favorite: Face Powders

Settings powders add up to the longevity of the foundation while blurring out minor imperfections. Today there are so many powders in the market that it could be very difficult to pick just one, so I have decided to share my top favorites, out of all that I own. For your reference, I am NC 25 in Mac and have dry, sensitive and acne prone skin. Also, all the powders mentioned are merely setting powders and there will be a different post for the powder foundations. 

I have picked up my favorites based on the finish, staying power and frequency of use. Also, I have bundled the Korres powders together because I like all of them equally.

 

Korres Multivitamin Lightweight Powder; Korres Wild Rose Brightening Powder; Korres Multivitamin Powder 

1. Korres Compact Powder: This is my absolute favorite brand for everyday powders as they are very finely milled and smooth in texture. They do not get cakey whatsoever and give a very natural finish to the skin. Also, they last for 5-6 hours and keep my makeup looking fresh. 

 

Same order as above

 

Multivitamin Light Weight/Matte Finish Compact Powder in MVP3: It has some peachy yellowish undertones and melts into the skin leaving a natural matte finish. 

Wild Rose Brightening/Flawless Finish Compact Powder in WRP2: It has pink undertones and definitely provides some brightening affect when applied. 

Multivitamin Compact Powder for Oily-Combination skin in 32N: It has very slight peachy tone to it and even though it is targeted towards oily-combination skin, it works very well for my dry skin. Also, I never had any issue with it clinging to the dry patches. 

Apart from the soft and smooth finish, I love Korres powders because of all the natural and beneficial ingredients. Also, these powders are formulated without mineral oils, silicone etc. 

 

2. Revlon Colorstay Stay Natural Powder in 02 Light: This is the only makeup item in my entire collection that I have hit pan on and that alone says a lot. It stays on well for 4-5 hours and is really good for oil control on the t-zone.
 

Also, this powder can provide a light-medium coverage on layering, but, since it is not as fine as others so it can get cakey after a point. 

3. Scott Barnes Pressed Powder in Beyond Beige: This is the softest and the creamiest powder that I own. It is a light weight powder but the creamy texture makes it somewhat moisturizing. Also, it has very strong yellow undertones so it is good to counteract the redness. 

This powder works really well when I get eczema or redness on my face because its not drying at all. Also, it has the potential to provide an added coverage but I simply use it for redness as too much of it can bring out the yellow. At first I felt it is similar to Revlon Nearly Naked powder in terms of softness, but it is actually way more creamier. 

 

4. Benefit Get Even Powder in 01: This is another yellow toned powder but is looking white in the pictures. It is not as yellow as the Scott Barnes powder but still good enough for covering minor redness peaking through the foundation to get a natural look. 

5. Calvin Klein Subliminal Purity Mineral Based Loose Powder in 204 Translucent:  This is an amazing setting powder for a picture perfect skin. It is so finely milled that it doesn't get cakey what so ever. It has slight shimmer particles in it to help blur any imperfections such as pores, fine lines etc. 

Even though it is looking really white in the picture, it is a translucent powder so blends into nothing while giving a very skin like natural finish. In spite of being such a great powder, unfortunately it is discontinued, but you can still find it on some websites that carry discontinued products. 

What are some of your favorite setting powders? 

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great day!

MUA Overview & Possible Urban Decay and MAC Dupes

MUA i.e. Make Up Academy is a very affordable UK based brand. But unless you live in UK, MUA products can only be bought from their online store. Few months ago, I bought 8 items and the shipping cost was £7.50 (fixed rate) to Canada. But recently, I have noticed that they often provide free shipping worldwide with some minimum purchase. 

I came to know about this brand because of numerous comparison posts of the UD Naked palette with their Undressed eye shadow palette. 

MUA Undressed: At the time I bought it, I had the UD Naked palette so I can say that they are definitely very similar but not the same because there has to be some difference in the quality since the naked palette is $60 and this one is just $6.45. 

 But still, with the exception of a few (e.g. gold shade in the picture), most of the shadows are soft and bendable. So, I feel it is a good option for the students, beginners and bargain hunters. 

Left: Shade 1; Right: Shade 3

MUA Blusher: These retail for $1.61 but I honestly do not like these because they are quite chalky. Also, they hardly stay on for an hour or two on my dry skin. So, I would not recommend these. 

Shade 1: Bright candy pink with noticeable golden shimmer.

Shade 3: Peachy melon shade with golden shimmer but looks more brownish in the pan. 

MUA Trio in Innocence

 MUA Eyeshadow Trio in Innocence: This is a beautiful trio of baked eye shadows that can be used wet or dry and retails for $4.03. I really like the color combination as there is a light creamy shade, an olive green and a duo chrome reddish brown with hints of bluish green tones making it somewhat similar to MAC Club. All three shades have some shimmer which simply adds up to their beauty. So, if you want to try one trio out of all then I would definitely recommend this one. 

MUA Trio in Pink Sorbet

MUA Eyeshadow Trio in Pink Sorbet: I do not like this trio because firstly the mid-toned pink is very chalky and frosty looking. Secondly, the light pink shade (which appears white in the picture) disappears into nothing on blending. So, at least for me, this trio isn't good enough to be used on its own because otherwise the end result is a frosty mess.  

Left: MUA Single Pearl Shadow in Shade 12; Middle: Darkesst shade from MUA Trio Innocence; Right: Bottom right corner shade from WnW Comfort Zone

MUA Single Pearl Shadow in Shade 12:  This shadow is absolutely amazing. It is super pigmented, smooth as butter and costs only $1.61. On top of that, it is probably a dupe or a more saturated version of MAC Club eye shadow. So, I highly recommend it to everyone. The only issue I have with MUA is they have numbers instead of names for their products.

MUA Lipstick in Shade 11

MUA Lipstick in Shade 11: This shade looks different under different lights. It is described as a brown on the website but it sometimes appears nude with reddish undertones and sometimes more of a peachy coral. But nonetheless, it is a great everyday color. The formula is very smooth and moisturizing so can be used on days when you forget to apply the balm or are in a hurry. Also, it retails for just $1.61. 

The bottom of the tube screws open to reveal extra product. And it was only after getting this lipstick that I realized NYX tubes also open in a similar way. 

MUA Eyebrow Pencil in Brunette

MUA Eyebrow Pencil in Brunette: This is a true dark chocolate brown shade which is very smooth and creamy. However, the downfall of extra creaminess is that it instantly starts smearing and does not even last for an hour. The picture above was taken immediately after swatching it and you can see how the product has already smudged. 

However, I do like the brush end of the pencil. Usually brow pencils come with a spooly or a plastic brush, but this one has a proper bristle brush. This product also retails for $1.61 but I would not recommend it. 

There are definitely some hits and misses with this brand just like with all others. But overall, I really like some of the products like the undressed palette, lipstick, single eye shadow and the innocence trio. 

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great day!

Have you tried this brand? What are some of your favorites?