Perfect Palette Tag

Hi ladies!!

So there's this tag that's been circulating on YouTube and I thought it would be a fun thing to do because you all know how much I love my palettes! It's the Perfect Palette Tag! There are 8 questions and obviously, each answer has to be a palette and not a single product. I've accumulated a lot of palettes over the years and I can't wait to share with you how I feel about them! I'll try to choose palettes that are still available for purchase. I know this is getting a bit old, but I wanted to wait for Christmas so I could put a few newer things on this list.

Also, I won't be including any build-your-own palettes because I'm pretty sure this tag is meant to be for already-made palettes, otherwise my MAC palettes would definitely be on this list!

I'm also tagging all my readers to reply to this post with your Perfect Palette list! I'm also adding a bonus question, #9 First Palette Ever. Just copy/paste the questions below to the comments with your answers!:

Perfect Palette Tag
1. Best Packaging
2. Best Color Payoff
3. Most Versatile
4. Best for Traveling
5. Biggest Regret
6. Best Color Names
7. Least Used
8. Most Used, Most Loved, Desert Island
9. First Palette Ever






My Perfect Palette Tag

1. Best Packaging

Too Faced A Few of My Favorite Things

Too Faced A Few Of My Favorite Things Palette

Too Faced A Few Of My Favorite Things Palette

Too Faced A Few Of My Favorite Things Palette

Too Faced always has amazing packaging but I thought their Christmas collection this year was to die for. All their palettes are super cute and colorful and packed with a ton of makeup! The A Few of my Favorite Things set comes with a lovely makeup bag that's roughly the same size as the palette and the same pattern as well with the criss-crossed stripes. Inside the bag you get the beautiful palette and a couple other things. The palette itself is like a book, it's thin and it opens up to shadows on one side and blushes and bronzers on the other along with a look book. The set also comes with a mini Better Than Sex Mascara and a Lip Injection Color Bomb. I know this is about palettes, but just wanted to mention the goodies that came with it. Since the palette is thin like a book, it makes it easy to pack into your luggage with all your stuff when you're travelling.


2. Best Color Payoff

Urban Decay Naked 3

Urban Decay Naked 3

Urban Decay Naked 3

I don't even know what to answer. I love all my Too Faced palettes. I love all my Naked palettes. I'm going to say Urban Decay's Naked 3. I just got it and I've been really impressed with the pigmentation as a whole. There is one particular glitter shade that's lacking in pigmentation, but all the rest are amazing! Honestly, there are so many wonderful palettes to choose from. The Naked 3 has some wonderful shades and they're all very flattering.


3. Most Versatile

Too Faced Loves Sephora 15th Anniversary Palette

Too Faced Loves Sephora Palette

Too Faced Loves Sephora Palette

I chose this palette as most versatile because it's got a whole bunch of different colour eyeshadows. You can do a neutral look using Piano Keys and Behind the Counter, you can do a purple smokey eye using Soho and Envy, and you can even do a green eye using David & Marg. There's also a glitter shade called TF <3's The Cast, and it's the most glitteriest shade I've ever seen. You've got so many options with this palette and it also comes with two bronzers and a blush, so you've got your whole look in this palette. You can really go from day look to party look with this palette.


4. Best for Traveling

Urban Decay Naked palettes
Too Faced No Makeup Makeup
NARS Adult Content Cheek palette
NARS X Guy Bourdin One Night Stand Cheek Palette

Urban Decay Naked Palette

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette

Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette

Too Faced The Secret To No Makeup Makeup Palette

NARS X Guy Bourdin One Night Stand Cheek Palette

NARS X Guy Bourdin One Night Stand Cheek Palette

NARS Adult Content Cheek Palette

NARS Adult Content Cheek Palette

If you're going away somewhere and you don't want to pack a ton of different face products, this palette is just for you. It has a concealer, brightener, luminizer, cream blush, powder blush, and bronzer. The only other thing you need to go along with this set is a foundation or BB cream and a setting powder. This little palette will save you so much space! It contains everything you need for a full face. I love this palette. I'm always using the brightener to highlight around my brows and to do the Kim Kardashian concealer under the eyes thing. The concealer itself is a little too dark for me, but it should be perfect for medium-toned girls. The brightener works better as a concealer for me. You could probably mix the two to get your custom shade. The pink blushes are beautiful and you have the option of cream or powder. I just really really love this palette and I love having all my face products in one place! If you don't like pink blushes, go for their Natural Face palette instead. It has peach blushes and is meant for medium skin tones whereas the No Makeup Makeup palette is meant for lighter skin tones.

For the eyes, bring your favourite Urban Decay Naked palette and you're all set! I'm going to include all three because I probably would bring them all on vacation. I like being able to choose what I want to wear in the moment and not planning my makeup a whole week in advance. Also some other great cheek palettes are the NARS Adult Content and the Guy Bourdin One Night Stand Cheek Palettes. So many different shades all in one, and it's not just blush, you have a bronzer and a luminizer in each palette! These are definitely the perfect cheek palettes to bring along on vacation.


5. Biggest Regret

Sephora Collection Smokey 2

Sephora Collection Smokey 2 Palette

Sephora Collection Smokey 2 Palette

Sephora Collection Smokey 2 Palette

If you know anything about me then you know I'm a huge sucker for smokey eyes. Which is why I really thought I would love this palette. I loved that it was exclusively a smokey eye palette and that it came in a range of different shades. But what I didn't like is the quality of the eyeshadows. I know that Sephora Collection isn't the best, but it could have been way better in my opinion. Some of the shades didn't show at all, especially the light brown trio. Some colors were just weird, like the green trio for example looked horrible on me. They could have gone with a more flattering olive green instead. The only thing I really use is the lipstick trios. I don't really use it much anymore so I regret buying. I bought into the hype because it was a smokey eye palette.


6. Best Color Names

Too Faced Boudoir Eyes
Too Faced Natural Eye
NARS

Too Faced Boudoir Eyes

Too Faced Boudoir Eyes

Too Faced Natural Eye

Too Faced Natural Eye

Too Faced always has the best color names, hands down. With names like Sexpresso, Erotica, Cocoa Puff, Fuzzy Handcuffs, Lap Dance, Garter Belt, Smokin Hot, and since it's Christmas: Whiskers on Kittens, Tinsel, Crisp Apple Strudel, Party Time, Pure Glam, and Woolen Mittens, it's hard not to smile when you read the shade names. NARS also has some great sexual shade names, like Orgasm, Deep Throat, Desire, Amour, Sin, and Sex Appeal. And once every year or two they come out with blush palettes, so it counts as a palette. It's a little awkward when your mom asks you what shade blush you're wearing, but I'm sure you'll never forget the name of it!

There aren't any palettes in particular, but I chose a couple to show the cute names.


7. Least Used

Sephora Collection Medium Shopping Bag

Sephora Collection Medium Shopping Bag

Sephora Collection Medium Shopping Bag

I wanted to choose something a little more recent, but the truth is that I really do use everything I have. I bought this a couple years ago so it's not available anymore. As I described earlier, Sephora Collection's eyeshadow quality isn't the greatest. When I bought it I loved the color diversity but for some reason I never ended up using it. I don't know why that is. I'm also weird and I like things to be perfect and new so that probably adds onto why I haven't used it. At the time, I had way less makeup than I do now so it was a cheap way to add a lot of colors to my collection.


8. Most Used, Most Loved, Desert Island

Too Faced Smokey Eye palette
Too Faced Love Sweet Love Xmas 2012 palette

Too Faced Love Sweet Love Palette

Too Faced Love Sweet Love Palette

Too Faced Smokey Eye Palette

Too Faced Smokey Eye Palette

You all know how much of a smokey eye freak I am. So I definitely have to say that my most used palette is Too Faced's Smokey Eye palette. I love it. The trio that is most used is the brown Day Look because brown is more school appropriate, I guess. The black Classic Look is just that... classic. It was the first type of smokey I ever did and probably the first type of eye makeup I ever did on myself as a teenager. Back then I loved dark black smokey eyes. The darker, the better. The purple Fashion Look is also beautiful, though I use it a bit less than the other two. This palette, as a whole, is my most used makeup palette by far. I really really love it and I use every single shade in this palette. I think they did a great job on it because to me, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. Another palette that's actually hit pan is Too Faced's Love Sweet Love Christmas 2012 palette. It came as a set with a makeup bag and a few other goodies. I love the Night Look in this palette so so so much. I've actually hit pan on two of the shadows. I love everything about that look, the 3 shadows, the blush and the lip gloss. I find it gives a perfect soft smokey eye and the blush and lipgloss are super flattering for my skintone. Nowadays I try not to use it too often because it is limited edition and I'm starting to not have much left :(  Even though I love the Night Look, I'm not that great a fan of the Day Look in that palette. It's alright, but it's not my favorite.


9. First Palette Ever

Sephora Collection 5-in-1 Color Play

Sephora Collection 5-in-1 Color Play

Sephora Collection 5-in-1 Color Play

So I decided to add this question to the tag because I thought it was interesting to see what everyone's first ever palettes were. I got mine quite a few years ago from Sephora. This was way before we ever had a Sephora in Montreal. This was back when I was an older teenager (I think) so I didn't have that much makeup just yet. I was browsing Sephora's website and I saw this palette that I just had to have. I thought it was so versatile; it had a huge range of colors and it had 5 mini sub-palettes that you could remove and put in your purse. I thought to myself, wow I need to get this! And that was the Sephora Collection 5-in-1 Color Play Palette. It has 5 sub palettes, blacks and greys, browns, purples and pinks, blue and greens, and rainbow pastels. It had all the colors you would ever need to pull off any kind of makeup look. It also came with 5 blushes (1 for each palette) and 10 lip glosses (2 for each palette). I knew the quality wasn't the best but I still really enjoyed this palette. I still have it today though I don't reach for it often.










Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this type of post. I had a lot of fun doing it, but it was so hard to narrow down my choices!! I really wanted to list all my palettes because I really do try to use them all and as often as I can. It's obvious I love my Too Faced palettes and I've been really getting into the Urban Decay Naked 1,2, and 3 palettes. I also love the NARS cheek palettes I got recently. They're so much fun to use! I also really wanted to include my MAC X Antonio Lopez Face Palette in Pink but I felt like the NARS cheek palettes were more versatile.

I'd really like to see what your perfect palettes are so I'd love for you to all respond to this post in the comments so I can see what your favourite palettes are! Just copy/paste the list above and fill in what your fav palettes are. It was definitely challenging for me to cut my list down, how hard will it be for you girls to narrow it down?

Hopefully this post gave you some ideas of some good palettes to try out in 2014! You can obviously see which brands I'm a fan of!

Steph xo.

PS. My next post should be my Favorite Makeup from 2013! And I've got a bunch of good posts coming up!

Another Cut-Crease Eye using Urban Decay Naked 2

Hello glamouritas!!

I finally got some photos from a few shoots I did. I'm so happy with how they turned out! It was my first time doing makeup for a photoshoot so looking back I realize that I could have done some things better. A big one for me is that in-person, makeup looks much darker than it appears in professional photos. All the light tends to wash out the color. So I realize now that I could have gone "drag queen" and it would have looked normal in the photos. But it is a learning process for me, since this is from my very first shoot. So I will eventually share some photos with you. I will make a new page, that you can find at the top bar next to home, contact info, etc. That's where I will put all my work and collabs and basically anything that isn't done on me.

I'm looking at my eyebrows in a bunch of old pics (when I got them done for the first time in my life) and oh my god did I ever fill in the crap out of them they look horrible. Just had to state the obvious and explain that obviously I did not know how to do eyebrows. It took a bit of practise but they're much better now. I mean come on girls, the first time you ever filled in your eyebrows can't have been perfect.

Oh and did I mentioned that Target finally opened and I got to buy my first NYX product ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!      =D

And please read down til the bottom, I have a few announcements!

The Actual Makeup

Now that I'm done rambling on, let's talk about the actual makeup. I've done a post in the past using Urban Decay's Naked 2 palette which was a cut-crease as well. There's just something about this palette that just screams cut-crease. Honestly it has the perfect colors to pull off a few different cut-crease looks. Today I'll be sharing another one with you! It's kinda the same idea as the first cut-crease I did with this palette. I went dramatic with the eyes but kept the rest of the face pretty natural and soft. It's a good rule of thumb that if you're going to go bold, go bold on just one area and keep the rest neutral and soft. You don't want to end up looking like a drag queen (unless that's the look you're going for ;)) The lid is silver and the cut-crease is a dark purple. I wish they had the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk, I've read so many great things about that pencil being good as a base for light colors and I think it would have been great for this look to make the silver pop out more. Oh well. For the face I used the usual stuff. I used MAC's Cremeblend Blush in So Sweet, So Easy. I find it's so easy to control the amount of creme blush I'm applying ever since I bought MAC's 130 Brush. It lets me go super light if I want to. For the lipgloss, I went with the classic NARS Turkish Delight.


More Cut-Crease using Urban Decay Naked 2

Start by priming your eyes with Urban Decay Primer Potion. Before anything else, I took Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Rockstar and I drew in my cut-crease line slightly above my actual crease. A good trick for doing this is to look straight into the mirror as you draw the line, so you can see the crease clearly. You want your line to start directly above the inner corner of your eye and to go all the way out and make a V shape and connect to your outer lid. Take a pencil brush (MAC 219) and gently smudge the liner by making windshield wiper motions. Then, using the same brush, pick up Tease from the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette and keep blending out the crease and outer V. Don't be scared to go a little high with this. At this point, I applied Verve onto my lid by using a medium shadow brush (MAC 239). I applied it below the line we made and all the way until the V. I applied a bit of Suspect on the middle, but you can't really see it now. Now take an angled liner brush (Sephora Pro Angled Liner Brush) and using Busted, apply it in a nice clear line on the crease and outer V. I blended it out into Tease. The two colors should have a gradient like effect. I went back in a few time with Tease and Busted until I was happy with it being blended. I took a clean blending brush (MAC 217) and blended out where Tease ends. Then, using a crease brush (Sephora Pro Crease Brush) I mixed Bootycall and Foxy together and I applied that under the browbone and in the inner corner of the eyes. For the liner, I applied the pencil liner in Rockstar on my top and bottom lash lines and I went over it with the shadow Busted using the same angled liner brush. I also tightlined both top and bottom lids using MAC Kohl Power Eye Pencil in Feline. I applied Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara on my top lashes. For the eyebrows, I used Benefit's Instant Brow Pencil in Medium and filled them in the way I normally do. So the eyes are done, let's do the rest of the face!

I started by applying Boscia's Tsubaki Beauty Oil all over my face. I still can't figure out if this stuff is doing anything for me or not, and I think it might have caused a massive breakout all over my forehead, but more on that some other time. Then I primed my face using Too Faced Primed and Poreless. I applied MAC Select-Cover Up Concealer in NW20 underneath my eyes using a concealer brush (Sephora Pro Concealer Brush). Then I used a stippling brush (Sephora Pro Stippling Brush) to apply MUFE HD Foundation in 110 all over my face. I applied MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NW20 onto any pimples and redness that was still showing through. Then I applied MUFE HD Powder all over my face using a kabuki brush (MUFE HD Kabuki Brush). I started by contouring my face using Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless and a contour brush (MAC 168). I sucked in my cheeks and followed that line, starting at the top of my ears towards my upper lip. I also contoured my temples, perimeter of the face, etc. I applied MAC Cremeblend Blush in So Sweet, So Easy using a short duo-fiber blush brush (MAC 130). I made sure to apply it to my cheeks and to blend it outward towards the sides of my face and down into the contour. I applied powder again to set the cream. Then I applied a light highlight, Too Faced Candlelight using a blush brush (Too Faced Powder Pouf Brush). The last step is to apply NARS Lipgloss in Turkish Delight. If you want your makeup to last all day and all night, then spray Urban Decay's All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray a few times on your face and you're ready to party!

Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer Potion
Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette

• Verve
• Suspect
• Tease
• Busted
• Bootycall
• Foxy

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Rockstar
MAC Kohl Power Eye Pencil in Feline
Too Faced Better Than False Lashes Mascara

Brows

Benefit Instant Brow Pencil in Medium

Face:

Boscia Tsubaki Beauty Oil
Too Faced Primed and Poreless
MAC Select Cover-Up Concealer in NW20
MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NW20
MUFE HD Foundation in 110
MUFE HD Powder
Too Faced Candlelight
MAC Cremeblend Blush in So Sweet, So Easy
Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless
Urban Decay All-Nighter Makeup Setting Spray

Lips:

NARS Lipgloss in Turkish Delight

Products Used:

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette - 62$CAD
Shades Used:
Foxy
Bootycall
Tease
Suspect
Verve
Busted

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Rockstar - 23$CAD for fullsize

MAC Kohl Power Eye Pencil in Feline - 19$CAD

Too Faced Better Than False Lashes Mascara - 30$CAD

Benefit Instant Brow Pencil - 25$CAD

Too Faced Candlelight

Too Faced Candlelight - 38$CAD

MAC Cremeblend Blush in So Sweet, So Easy

MAC Cremeblend Blush in So Sweet, So Easy - 25$CAD in compact, 21$CAD for just the pan

Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless - 38$CAD

Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless - 38$CAD

Urban Decay All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray - 15$CAD for mini, 35$CAD for fullsize

NARS Lipgloss in Turkish Delight - 29$CAD

Swatches:
Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette in:
Foxy
Bootycall
Tease
Suspect
Verve
Busted

Swatches:
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Rockstar
MAC Kohl Power Eye Pencil in Feline
Too Faced Candlelight
MAC Cremeblend Blush in So Sweet, So Easy
Too Faced Bronzed and Poreless
NARS Lipgloss in Turkish Delight

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed today's post! When I first bought the two palettes (at roughly the same time), I ended up using the original Naked palette a lot more than the second one. But now I find I'm picking up Naked 2 especially for cut-crease eyeshadow looks. They are both great palettes and I really do recommend both. If you can only pick one, I'd pick one based on your skintones. Like if you're warm-toned (yellow) go for the original Naked palette; and if you're cool-toned (pink) go for Naked 2. I'm cool-toned, so cool shades should look better on me. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't get the other one as well, I'm not saying it'll look horrible, but sticking to your tones would look better, that's all.

Here is the other Cut Crease using Urban Decay Naked 2 look that I did quite a little while ago.

So what did you like most about this look? And here's the age old question, do you prefer Naked or Naked2? And I'd love it if you showed me your cut-crease eye looks using either Naked palette! I thought that light pinks went great with the purples, I have to say that MAC's 130 Short Duo-Fibre Brush is incredible when it comes to putting on cream blushes. I really wanted to have a 'less is more' approach to the rest of the face and this brush allowed me to be very subtle with color on the cheeks. It applies blush in a way no finger can. I strongly recommend this brush if you like cream blush.



So here's a little update:

• I will be creating a page on the top bar (next to Home, Contact Me, etc) for work I've done for photoshoots, etc. Basically anything I've done on someone that isn't me will be featured there.
• I will also be adding a poll to the sidebar. The first question will be "What would you like to see more of on the blog?" with various answers. If none of them apply, you can leave me a comment either here, on facebook, or twitter.
• I will try to post more regularly. I have a ton of stuff to catch up on and write about. In the meantime, reply to the poll or comment what you'd like to see next!!

Steph xo.