Mac eyeshadow reviews - Flourishing + Graphology

So a while ago I blogged about a Blog Sale haul. I managed to get two mac eyeshadows at incredible prices.

L:Graphology • R: Flourishing 

Both are matte shades (the formula I wear most often) and are beautiful! I have never been disappointed by a Mac product before and I am happy to say that this has lived up to my Mac standards. They are creamy while still being powder shadows and they are incredibly easy to blend.

Please ignore my alien like fingers. I swear they are normal looking in real life.

Graphology is a dark purple that looks black. I could not capture the color no matter how hard I tried! I think it would be perfect for a more subtle smokey eye. Sometimes a very dark black can be quite harsh.

Flourishing is khaki green and I chose to buy it because I own nothing in this color. Its very pretty but I have no idea what to wear it with.

Any ideas?

A little blog appreciation

Last night, I told myself that I would probably not blog today because I knew I would be incredibly busy. Then, I received a tweet from the lovely Irina telling me I had won a giveaway on her blog!
I was so excited that I decided to do a little blog post on her.

She has an absolutely beautiful blog and she talks about beauty and fashion. She hosted her giveaway and I entered by chance and I won a Katy Perry perfume, a Body Shop blush, Body Shop eyeshadow and perfume samples (picture taken from her blog).

Please go and have a look at her blog (here) and follow her . She is incredibly kind and her posts are always interesting.

Brands I wish were sold in South Africa- Illamasqua

I have seen Illimasqua on several UK beauty blogs and the first thing that caught my eye was the packaging. Its very different and unconventional. After doing some research about the brand, I learned that they are all about being different and loving your imperfections. When I was on their website I came across a banner that advertises their lipsticks and the model had braces!

If you didn't know, I decided to get braces at the age of 20. I have no idea why I didn't do it when I was younger. I absolutely hate smiling in pictures since I got them and I am still adjusting (after have them for 10 months) to them.

As you can see, their packing is very different. The liquid metal eyeshadow looks beautiful and it is definitely something I would love to own. The pout perfection set is a really clever idea. They provide you with a lipstick, matching lip liner and a lip brush so that you can create a perfect pout!

Have you tried anything from Illamasqua?

Urban Decay Naked 2

After a little break from blogging, I am back! So I will get right into it. I mentioned in a previous blogpost that I received the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette as a gift. I decided to do a review on it today but very soon I will have a post up on the different between the real and the fake palette. The palette comes with 12 neutral eyeshadows which are a mixture of matte and shimmer, a double ended eyeshadow brush and quite a large mirror in the lid.

The eyeshadows are incredibly pigmented and I found that they lasted all day. Some of the colors seemed very similar to me but once you play around with them, you find out exactly what works better in the crease and what works best on your eyelid.

My favorite shades are definitely Half Baked and Chopper. They work so well together and Chopper reminds me a lot of rose gold. Snake Bite and Busted are also winners for me because they are very neutral and seem to work with a lot of my neutral makeup looks. Another color that deserves a mention is Foxy. I have never been a person that applies eyeshadow underneath their brow but Foxy works so well for me. 

I hope everyone had a good week and has an even better weekend.

Brands I wish were sold in South Africa- E.L.F

This week, I chose E.L.F as the brand I wish I could buy in South Africa. E.L.F is an acronym for Eyes Lips and Face. Their product range is huge and there is probably something in their range that you would want. Here are a few of my favorites.

Out of all these products, I think the Brush Shampoo excites me the most. It is about $3 which is about R30. I haven't found a brush cleaner in South Africa that is affordable. I have a slight obsession with concealer so the concealer palette is very appealing to me. I am also a fan of cream blush so the HD Blush looks like something I would use on a daily basis.

Have you tried anything from E.L.F? Do you want to try anything from them?

Brands I wish were sold in South Africa- Make Up Academy

If you haven't heard of Make Up Academy, I suggest you go to their website (here) right now and have a look at their very affordable makeup range! I have read on Charlene's blog (here) that she has ordered online from them but I really wish they were sold in our stores so I wouldn't have to worry about shipping or anything. I have compiled a list of the items I have been looking at lately.

1- Blush perfection cream blusher in Bittersweet. 
I have a slight obsession with cream blush and I am always trying new brands

2- Pro Brow brow kit
My eyebrows usually behave most of the time but sometimes I need to perfect them and this palette comes with three shades, a fixing gel and a mirror!

3- Pro Base Complexion Kit
This kit contains three products I use everyday in one palette. Foundation, concealer and a highlighter. Its such a convenient little kit.

4- Matte foundation
Any foundation that promises to cover up the shine on my face grabs my attention.

5-Undress your skin highlighter
Cream blush and highlighters fall into the category. Definitely obsessed.

6-Undress me too palette
These eyeshadows seem like the perfect mixture of nudes that could easily be worn everyday.

7-Stippling brush (sorry for the bad quality image, its all I could find on their website)
Ever since I used the Real Techniques Stippling brush, I haven't been able to use any other brush for foundation or cream blush. This brush would be perfect in my collection.

8- Lip Tint in Broken Hearted
These remind me so much of the Clinique Chubby Sticks but are definitely a lot more affordable.

Have you tried any of these products? What do you think of them?

Brands I wish were sold in South Africa- Urban Decay

I loved doing last weeks post on Nars so I thought I would make this a weekly post on my blog. If you follow any beauty blogs that are not South African, you will hear them rave about the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette. It seems to be the must have item in your makeup kit. I have some other items that I would love from the brand.

The Naked 2 palette is obviously the item I want the most from Urban Decay. It reminds me a lot of the Stila in the light palette (review here) but with a few more colors which I could wear during the day and night. It also comes with a brush and a mini lipgloss. Naked Flushed is also very appealing to me because I love contouring and highlighting. The bronzer in the set seems quite light for my skin tone though.
Have you tried anything from Urban Decay? Would you like to try?

Stila in the light review and eyes of the day

I was never an eyeshadow fan until I saw this Stila eyeshadow palette. This palette is called "In the light" and contains a mixture of matte and shimmery eyeshadows as well as an eyeliner in a dark brown shade called "Damsel". This palette also contains the very famous Stila eyeshadow, Kitten (which I have abused as you can see in the picture below).

Top row: Bare, Kitten, Bliss, Sunset, Sandstone.  Bottom Row: Bubbly, Glided Gold, Luster, Night Sky, Eboney

The palette contains 5 matte shadows (Bare, Bliss, Sandstone, Luster and Ebony) and 5 shimmer shadows ( Kitten, Sunset, Bubbly, Gilded Gold and Night Sky). The eyeliner I received in this palette works wonderfully but I found that once you push the eyeliner up, you cannot push it down again. I am not too sure if mine was faulty or if this eyeliner has a design flaw.

The shimmery shadows are more pigmented than the matte shadows which works in my advantage because I tend to wear matte shadows daily. Its easier to do an everyday look with matte shadows that are build able so that you do not end up with a dramatic look during the day time. They are also incredible soft and easy to blend. It is also long lasting and does not crease. I have worn this without an eyeshadow primer and it still looked good by the end of the day.
I decided to do a look with these shadows today and I only used the matte shadows and Kitten in the corner of my eye just to add a little bit of sparkle.

I placed Bliss all over the lid as a base, Sandstone over that to give it some color, Ebony in the crease and outer corner of my eye and Kitten in the inner corner of my eye.

I then added a coat of my favorite mascara, Mac's Opulash Optimum Black and I used the eyeliner that came with this palette on my lower lash line.

A very big thank you to everyone who read and commented on my blog this week. Your support is highly appreciated. I hope everyone has a good and fun filled weekend.