Winter Handbag Essentials 2014

All my fellow Aussie beauties will be able to back me up when I say that this winter has been extremely cold and windy. My skin is not loving it in any way, shape or form but I'm not going to lie, I sort of love winter. I don't deal very well with heat, plus winter is the perfect time for vampy lips and my deathly pale skin gets the chance to shine. There are some definite hand bag necessities to combat winter and I'm going to show you what mine are.

Lanolips Golden Ointment is described as a 'Super Moisturiser and Skin Protectant' which makes it perfect for the harsh winter air. My nose gets extremely dry so I use this stuff when it's especially bad and it tends to clear my dry patches right up.

Perfume Atomiser This little silver baby is lovely for carrying around whatever fragrance I'm wearing, which at the moment is the Katy Perry Killer Queen perfume. The reason I love this in winter is because when I'm wearing a scarf, I love to smell my perfume on it. Plus I feel as though sometimes fragrances can get lost in all the layers of clothing so it's nice to be able to touch up.

Maybelline One by One Volum' Express Mascara in Blackest Black On winter mornings I am incredibly unwilling to get out of bed which means I'm often rolling out at the last second and dashing to the bus stop without putting on any makeup. I like to have a mascara with me for when I get to work and look a bit dead, some nice lashes lift your whole face. This mascara is extremely natural and has a standard brush shape so it's easy for quick application on the go.

Neutrogena Naturals Lip Balm I go on and on and on about this lip balm all the time, you know I love it. It is the best, 'nuff said.

Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in Fair In a similar vein to the mascara, this is for when I rush out of the house without throwing anything on my face. Useful for covering up the dark circles that plague me after a few early mornings.

e.l.f Shine Eraser Oil Blotting Sheets I'm not a very oily person, my skin definitely tends towards the dry side of things but air conditioning and heaters tend to wreak havoc on skin so it's nice to have the option.

Hair Ties and Bobby Pins Some days you go out with your hair looking super fierce and fab and then the wind gets all up in it and messes up your hair really bad. In these situations I generally like to just chuck my hair up in a pony tail, I'm not very good at dealing with bad hair.

Revlon Colourburst Lacquer Balm in Demure This is a great natural lip colour for everyday wear so it's a really easy one to have in my bag to chuck on when I want a slightly more put together look.

Ulta3 Lipstick in Winter Plum The name of this colour says it all, I mean it's made for this season! I'm not super brave with dark lip colours, but I love this one. It sort of serves the same purpose as the last product but this one is for when I'm feeling a little more brave or if I'm going out after work.

L'Occitane En Provence Pivoire Flora Hand Cream My hands get hit the worst by the winter air, they get ridiculously dry and scaly. This hand cream smells lovely and does the job of keeping my hands from cracking right up.

Nivea Invisible Anti-Perspirant I've been layering up with lots of jumpers and coats, which work great outside, but as soon as I get into a building the heating makes it ridiculously warm. It's handy to keep deodorant in my bag to accommodate the ridiculous fluctuating temperatures.

Palmolive Hand Sanitiser in Raspberry There are tonnes of advertisements at the moment about influenza and how rife it is at this time of year. Working in retail I touch so many people's hands and money, so I've got to be really careful in terms of keeping my hands clean. It's also important for before putting makeup on, so that you're not rubbing bacteria onto your face!

I keep all of this stuff in this cute little makeup bag I got from Typo, there's a bunch of other designs as well. This one is a cute little size perfect for my handbag. I really enjoyed making this post, so I think I might do this sort of thing for the other seasons as well. Let me know what you think!

xx
talk soon

Palette Profile: Urban Decay's Naked 2 Palette

The Stats

Brand: Urban Decay

Name: Naked 2

Contents: 12 Shadows; 3 matte shades and 9 shimmery shades with varying amounts of glitter. Double ended brush with a flat side and a fluffy blending side.

Available From: BeautyBay

Price: AUD$80.60

The Breakdown

You guys all know the Urban Decay Naked palettes are gorgeous, it is a well-established fact. I'm not going to tell you any different; the quality of this palette is amazing, you can tell from the swatches below that the shadows are pigmented, buttery and beautifully coloured. But as with many Urban Decay shadows, there can be some issues with fallout although I will say that it doesn't seem to be as much of an problem as it is with the original Naked palette.

 I'm not going to go through each shade individually, as there is tonnes of reviews and blogposts about this palette but I'll talk a bit about a few of the shades. In the pan, the standout shadow for me is YDK, a gorgeous rose gold metallic shade. Even when swatched it is extremely eye catching but because of its slight foil finish it is a difficult one to pull off and finding a colour to match with it is a challenge.

In my opinion the main issue with this palette is that it lacks lighter shades that work as an all-over lid colour for a subtle look. Yes there is Foxy and Booty Call but they're more highlight shades rather than lid colours. The first half of the palette is very warm leaning with the second half being far cooler. Again, I think this maybe takes away from making the palette cohesive as a whole. 

As you can see, there are some definitely very similar shades between the first two naked palettes. I love Taupe from Naked 2 as a crease shade although it does go on much darker than it looks in the pan. I think that the Naked 2 palette is more capable of creating night time appropriate looks as it is definitely slightly cooler in tone than the first Naked palette.

The Look

Verve on the inner two thirds of the lid, Busted on the outer third and onto the lower lash line with Suspect blended through the crease and Foxy as a brow bone highlight. This combination was suggested to me by my lovely friend Jess who actually loaned me the palette to try it out, to see if I wanted to purchase it myself. This look is super pretty and the shadows blend gorgeously.

The Verdict

My experience with this palette is limited as I only got to test it out for a little while, but from this I can say that it is what you would expect - amazing quality shadows. I'd have to say that in general I prefer the original Naked palette but this could come down to the fact that I've had a lot more time to put together looks from the first palette. I would love to have more of a play with Naked 2. 

Wil I be buying this palette? Not right away but one day I'd love to own all three of the Naked palettes (I already own the first). This palette is really pretty and the colours are similar but also extremely different to the first palette which I think is important when a company is putting out a sequel. Urban Decay definitely improved on the issues with glittery fallout that the first Naked palette had, it can still be a problem but it's easily combatted with a little makeup remover or by powdering the under eye area prior to application. If you're looking for a palette that creates flawless night time looks this might just be the one for you.

xx

talk soon

Priceline Haul feat. Essence Dark Romance, Face of Australia Dark Side and more!

If you follow me on instagram you might have seen parts of this haul already, but I figured it was worth a little post to have a talk about the lot of it. I headed into Priceline to check out the new Essence collection as well as the Face of Australia nail polishes and then there was a few other good sales going on that I couldn't pass up. 

First up is the few random bits I picked up which includes this Puretopia Purify and Revive Deep Cleansing Clay Mask. I've never tried anything from Puretopia before but when Hannah of Youtube channel hannahyep mentioned that she really liked the brand in her latest empties video I figured it was worth a try (P.S. You should check her out, she's fab). Before I've even tried the product I can name three great things about the product and the brand; 1) It's sulfate and paraben free. 2) Australian made and owned. And 3) They're against animal testing. Plus the brand is on sale at Priceline at the moment! I chose this mask because it's not a product that I have a whole heap of, so it's something nice and new. The swatch on the left is this, it's quite like a moisturiser so it'll be interesting to see how it sets on the face. 

I also picked up the Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer in the shade 010 Ivory because I've heard a hell of a lot of people rave about this one, I'm a little undecided on how I feel about it. As you can see in the swatches (right is blended, left is straight on) it's quite orange toned despite the fact it's ivory, the lightest shade available. However, the yellow tones in this do work well on dark under eye circles which explains why it is such a peachy toned product - it's best to use it for this more than covering blemishes I find.

Every time I go into Priceline I eye off colours that are just like this Sally Hansen Lustre Shine Nail Polish in 007 Scarab, I'm naturally really drawn to duochrome blue colours so when I saw this one in the sale bin for $2 I made a beeline and snatched it up.

There has been a lot of discussion around the benefits of Rosehip oil recently so I decided to pick up this Essano Rosehip Treat Your Skin Pack so I could try out a few different products without spending a lot of money. I'm planning a blogpost discussing Rosehip so I won't talk too much about it now but this pack is a great chance to try out the brand. 

After seeing swatches of these beauties on the Face of Australia blog, I knew I had to head in store to check them out and what better time to pick them up than when FOA is 20% off! These Face of Australia Dark Side Nail Polishes are inspired by evil villains which is a theme I love and the names are so perfect! Top row from left to right is Maleficent, Wicked Witch of the West, and Mystique and the bottom row is Voldemort and Magneto. This week I wore Mystique with Voldemort over the top which looked badass but I was a little disappointed because the polishes chipped within a few days when I can usually get at least five days out of my nails with no chips. I did work a lot this week though, so that could have been part of the problem, I'll test some of the other colours and let you know.

L to R: Lipgloss effects in Black Shadow, Lipstick in Red Romance, Cream Highlighter in Light Up!, Velvet Mousse Blush in Painted Love, Glitter Eye Pencils in Black Shadow and Foggy Love.

Finally we have the Essence goodies! I think it's pretty funny that both Essence and Face of Australia have 'dark' themed collections at the moment, perhaps because it's winter? Speaking of, holy hell is this winter cold, 10 degrees is not okay! Back to the collection, I decided to pick up quite a bit from essence, because it's so cheap and I find it a great way to try out products that I usually wouldn't. To start off with the disappointing products we have the Glitter Eye Pencils in Black Shadow and Foggy Love. I was expecting a sort of creamy, metallic eye pencil but instead I got a dry formula with chunky bits of glitter that are hugely sparse and hardly show. In fairness, these cost $2.35 which is nothing but usually essence stuff is decent quality so these were a bit disappointing.

Another slightly weird product is the Velvet Mousse Blush which I have in the shade 01 Painted Love. Now to me, in the pot this looks like Play Doh but I haven't tried it on my face yet so I can't testify as to whether it is any good but I am bloody intrigued. That's the thing I love about Essence, you can try products that you might not otherwise, but even if they suck, it's okay because they're so cheap! I'll keep you updated on this one.

Now, you might know that I hate lipgloss but I bought the Lipgloss Effects in Black Shadow anyway, because it seemed really interesting to me, I mean, a black lipgloss? I believe Smashbox actually make a similar product. It's probably hella sticky but it smells like delicious watermelon so I think I can live with it, plus it's mostly to experiment with.

While on the topic of lip products, this Lipstick in Red Romance is such a perfect winter colour, a beautiful plummy, wine. It's not matte finish, more of a satin, slightly sheer colour, quite wearable. I'm looking forward to working this one into my routine. The Matt (their spelling not mine) Nailpolish in Red Romance is pretty much the same colour, in look as well as name, basically just the nail polish version of the lipstick. It's such a nice colour, I've yet to find out the wear time, but since it's a great colour for the cold weather I'm sure I'll try it soon.

This Cream Highlighter is so freaking pretty; it's iridescent/duochrome with a gorgeous pink-purple sheen. This is probably my favourite product from the line so far but I haven't tried a lot of it out yet. I seriously can't stop looking at it, even if you don't buy it, just go into Priceline to check it out.

That's the whole lot! And now I'm on a no-buy for a little while. I don't have a problem with spending money on make up, in fact I love it but I think it's time for me to show a little love to the products I already have because there's some serious gems in my collection. But if anything Limited Edition comes out, I'm so there!

I've been posting on my instagram heaps, you can find me @georgialeebeauty for little beauty updates throughout the week, there's so many fab people that are part of the instagram beauty community, it's definitely worth having a look.

That's all folks!

xx
talk soon

Empties #2

When I did my first empties post, I thought it would be ages until I did the next one, purely because it takes me forever to get through products, or so I thought. Admittedly, some of this stuff is actually not finished, it's either gone bad or I've had it so long that I don't remember where it came from - never a good thing for products you plan to use on your body, face or hair.

Bioderma Créaline H₂O Solution Micellaire Priceline sells this stuff for a hefty fee but my bottle was straight from a pharmacie in France, though, if we're being honest, I actually got ripped off there too - never buy from the Champs-Elysées what you can get elsewhere. You've heard every beauty blogger and their mother talk about this magical elixir, it removes make up, dirt and everything else from your face without leaving it greasy or gross.

Garnier Skin Naturals Micellar Cleansing Water All in 1 Though I love Bioderma, don't buy it unless you can get it for the right price. If you live in Australia, or anywhere besides France basically, buy this instead. It's the exact same thing, in fact this Garnier Micellar Water might just be better. Such a sneaky one making the packaging so similar, I'm onto you Garnier! This gets a big red cross though because Garnier allows testing on animals.

Covergirl Clump Crusher Mascara First I hated this, then I loved it - mascaras tend to grow on me once they dry out a little, I hate super wet formulas. This mascara is pretty great plus it's cheap. I tend to think that personal experience varies with mascara but personally I really like this one.

Colgate Mint Dental Floss I don't even know why I'm including this, but it sort of ended up in the photo without me even realising. I got it free from the dentist and it did its job well.

First Aid Beauty Daily Face Cream This smelled nasty but it worked wonderfully. It moisturised my skin without making it greasy plus it sunk in super quickly. I'll probably repurchase this one but it's pretty expensive and there are excellent cheaper alternatives that I'll be sticking with for now.

Lush Happy Hippy Shower Gel This smells like grapefruit and citrus and delicious. I love zesty scents so I quite enjoyed this one. A shower gel is a shower gel though and this one served its purpose. It wasn't especially moisturising or drying or anything like that, just a good solid product.

Agadir Argan Oil Hair Treatment My mum got two of these samples for free from a fundraiser she went to and I tossed them into one of my drawers without much thought. I found them a while later and decided to give the world of hair oils a go. This smells heavenly, and I love the effects it had on my hair. After washing my hair I would put some of this in the ends, let it dry a little and then plait my hair and go to sleep like that. When I woke up in the morning my hair had nice little waves that lasted for days without using any heat. I'm looking into purchasing this for sure.

Bodycology Cucumber Melon Body Cream I loved this stuff when I first got it, it smelled amazing and was pretty moisturising. However, I'm so lazy when it comes to moisturising my body and as such, this has sat in my cupboard for a few years only getting used every so often. I got through about three quarters of this, but last time I used it it just didn't smell quite right plus I have a billion other moisturisers to get through so I thought it was time for this one to go. This used to be for sale at Priceline but I'm unsure if they sell it anymore.

Philosophy Cinnamon Buns Shower Gel Such a yummy smelling product! Incredibly creamy and moisturising, I really enjoyed this product. My main complaint is that it came as part of a Christmas baking-themed set and I hated the smell of all the other body washes. Definitely more of a winter appropriate scent as well, it lingers and I find something more refreshing to be better for summer.

Sexy Hair Concepts Short Sexy Hair Shatter Finishing Spray As you may have noticed, I don't have short hair. Three years ago I got my hair cut really short which is when I got this styling product. At the time I liked it, although from memory it did make my hair a little crunchy, I think the nozzle would have been better if it dispersed a finer mist. I didn't actually finish this, the nozzle clogged up and then I noticed that it suggested a 12 month use by date, well past at this point.

Girlz Only Haircare Party Nights Dry Shampoo At only $2 a can, this stuff is fantastic, doing all the things a good dry shampoo should. It can leave a little white residue in your hair but this is easily remedied by some finger-combing. 

Sunsilk Summer Care Leave-in Sun Protection Spray I don't even know how old this stuff is, like we're talking 5+ years. It got handed to me when we renovated our bathroom. I can't really comment on whether it works or not, but it smells nice and the concept is interesting, if this product still exists I'd like to try it out!

Andrew Collinge Salon Solutions Weightless Volume Thickening Hairspray This is another one that I've had for years and has been used for countless dance concerts and musicals. I've never used hair spray for anything besides performance but in terms of keeping hairs in place, this is great although it does bring a definite crunch factor.

Lush Christmas Eve Bubble Bar I finally used this up! I legitimately must have gotten at least 4 baths out of this product, if not more and it wasn't even a huge bubble bar! It smelled lovely and made for a really relaxing bath, plus produced tonnes of bubbles. 

Funtime Aqua Splash Bubble Bath with Chamomile Extract Another cheap and cheerful product, this got bought while on holiday years ago because I didn't have any bubbles for my bath. Plenty of bubbles with that familiar childhood bath time smell.

Nivea Body Shimmering Body Lotion I don't know where this product came from, I have the feeling it was from childhood dance concerts, used to add some shimmer to my seriously pale body. Haven't used it for years but it's definitely an interesting idea.

Nivea Pearl and Beauty Anti-Perspirant This is my favourite deodorant, I love the smell and I've gone through quite a few cans of the stuff. It's inexpensive and does the trick to keep smelly pits away.

So there we go, a mammoth lot of empties! I managed to take a bunch of photos for my blog the other day, so hopefully I'll be posting a little bit more frequently. Have you guys used any of this stuff, and if so, what did you think?

xx
talk soon

Palette Profile: NYX Butt "Naked" Turn The Other Cheek Nude Makeup Palette

The Stats

Brand: NYX Cosmetics

Name: Butt "Naked" Turn the Other Cheek

Contents: 15 Powder Shadows: 7 Sparkle and 8 Satin Finish. 4 Blushes: 2 Matte, 2 Shimmer. 3 Illuminators.

Purchased from: Target

Price: AUD$39

I picked this sweet little palette up a few months ago when it was first released to Target in Australia. I tried to resist buying it for a while because I mean, how many nudes can a girl really need? A question that we may never know the answer to. I like the packaging of this palette; it's compact, sleek and economical with its space usage, plus I think the little slide out drawer and flip top is pretty neat. It manages to fit fifteen full size shadows, four blushes and three highlighters in a pretty small amount of space, which is always good AND makes this palette practical for travel. 

The Breakdown

These shadows vary in quality and feel, I'll go through each one individually below. One thing I will say is that I don't like it when colours don't have names because a) I'm a sucker for a funny/punny name and b) it makes it really difficult to talk about individual colours within the palette. For this reason I've numbered the shadows one through fifteen for the purpose of this post. All the below swatches are over NYX's Jumbo Shadow Stick in Milk (of course).

1 The palette starts on a low note of sorts with one of the few light shades within this palette. Many eyeshadows that are this light struggle with pigmentation and this palette is no exception, the light shades are barely visible both when swatched and on the eyelid. 

2 This colour and the one next to it look incredibly similar within the palette however in the swatch you can see that this colour is much warmer-toned despite its cool appearance in the pan. I'd say this is one of the better shades in the palette.

3 This colour is a reasonable dupe for Urban Decay's Naked from the first Naked Palette, a cool, grey-toned light brown. It is versatile, working both as an eye shadow and for brow filling.

4 Black and gold always go well together and this shade is no exception. A black satin eyeshadow with obvious gold glitters, this one is surprisingly buttery for a glitter shadow which I usually find to be quite chalky and coarse. A well executed shadow for sure.

5 This rose gold hue is gorgeous in the pan and though it does look quite orange in this full-sun swatch, in a slightly more shadowed environment the pink does shine through. This shadow is smooth and buttery, a definite standout within the palette however it is a colour that when worn on the lids can be almost too subtle. Perfect for a nude eye look with some sparkle.

  
6 This shade is the warmest within the palette, but it's coming off a lot more orange in this  swatch than it is in real life. I've also experimented using this one as a contour and I'm a pale, pink-toned skin colour so I wouldn't say it's orange at all.

7 This is your standard 'dark brown that is almost black' colour, a matte version of  colour 10. I want to have more of a play around with this shadow as I think it has great potential within a brown smoky eye.

8 This is another light shadow but this one swatches about ten thousand times better than the first. This is a creamy light pink, soft and smooth, excellent for a highlight or very subtle lid colour.

9 Gold shadows are all usually pretty similar but this one is more subtle than other golds I have loved before, it's almost a hybrid of a gold and a champagne colour. I like the way it would be warn quite neutral because of the nude undertones in the colour.

10 This warm chocolate brown colour is really gorgeous, especially with the shimmer in it, which is gold toned. I really love how it's a perfect balance between warm and cool tones and the way the shimmer spreads through the brown is so pretty. On the downside, like many glitter shadows the pigmentation of the base colour is not as good as it could be, but this lets the glitter shine through.

11 A matte black with very subtle shimmer, like almost invisible. Pretty much every palette has some variation of this colour, it's a staple. I have to say though, because I have so many palettes containing this colour, I wish that they wouldn't waste the space with it anymore. I'd much rather a more interesting or unique colour because I'm never going to struggle to find this sort of shade within my collection. That being said, the formula of this isn't bad.

12 This colour leans on the cream side, where #1 leant towards more of a white tone. I know this is a nude palette, but again this seems like wasted space, is it really necessary to have cream and white in the palette? If they were different finishes it would be more understandable, but they're both matte.

13 This one is more of a true champagne with warm undertones. It's a pretty colour however when blended you lose all sense of colour and are just left with a shimmery finish. It would make a good highlighter if you were looking for super glowy cheek bones.

14 This is a very orange-y, bronzed gold, super warm toned. It's pretty but I'm not sure how wearable a colour like this is, it's not bright enough to be a bold, obvious statement, so potentially you could just end up looking like you have pink eye, not a look likely to come into fashion any time soon.

15 This shadow reminds me of snow, it's perfectly white and shimmery, but as you can see (or rather not see) the swatch is pretty much invisible, this colour doesn't transfer well from pan to skin. With a good base and by patting the shadow on, you could perhaps achieve its full potential, but within a 'nudes' palette, you ideally want all the colours to be quick and easy to work with.

Moving on to the blushes and highlighters, there's a variety of finishes in the blush, both matte and shimmery and with the highlighters you essentially get 3 full-size products which is generous.

Blush 1 This is a perfect Barbie pink. From a matte finish blush I would expect the pigmentation to be a little better than it is, but because it's such a bright pink this works in its favour because it's buildable rather than being overwhelming upon first application.

Blush 2 Such a pretty coral colour! This is my favourite blush within the palette because colours like this tend to work well with my pale complexion. This one gives you a super pretty glow.

Blush 3 This colour is a lighter version of blush #1, like it's literally the same colour which makes me question why they felt the need to include it twice. It's a little more pigmented than its darker counterpart which is nice.

Blush 4 A shimmery version of Blush 3. The pigmentation is very good, so a light-hand is a must when applying this blush. It's very pretty in the pan, but again, it's so similar to the others.

From bottom to top:

Highlight 1 I would almost call this one a blush because the warm orange within the highlight is quite prominent. This is very shimmery, combined with its warmth it's perfect for a glowy look.

Highlight 2 This is a light pink highlight, the colour actually reminds me of Benefit's High Beam. This is a more subtle, and in my opinion, prettier version of highlight 1. 

Highlight 3 Colour-wise this is very similar to The Balm's Mary-Lou Manizer, a golden-yellow highlight. In my opinion this is the best highlight in the palette but I steer away from pink undertones in highlighter because my cheeks are very pink naturally, they don't need any help.

Looks Created Using This Palette

Daytime Look

This look is super subtle and shimmery. I used #13 all over my lid with #3 in the crease. I used NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk as a base to allow these shadows to show their full potential. I used Maybelline's One by One Mascara for  subtle lashes. 

As you can see, there isn't a lot of colour within this look, with the glittery shades in this palette, they're very glittery with little to no pigmentation which is disappointing. Layered with a matte shade in the crease you get a little more pigmentation which looks nice, but overall the look is overwhelmingly glittery.

Night Time Look

I used NYX's Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk as a base and then put #9 all over my lid and blended #4 into my outer 'v' and onto my lower lash line. Maybelline's The Falsies Flared Mascara gives my eyelashes lots of volume and length for a night-appropriate look. 

I love this eye look and I would happily wear it on a night out. I think the gold and black look really classy and flawless together. They also blend really well because of the gold glitter in the #4 shadow. I do with that #9 was a tiny bit more gold-pigmented though, just to balance out the glitter.

The Verdict

In theory I think this palette is great - a nude palette with shadows in a variety of finishes plus blush and highlighter for a full look. In practice though, I feel that there are little changes that could have been made that would vastly improve this palette. Firstly, a little more variety within the shadows would be great, rather than having four matte browns that look very similar, we could have seen a variety of finishes and more difference in tones, same goes for the light shades. Secondly, pigmentation is a slight issue with both the glittery shades and some of the matte ones, but for the most part this is easily remedied by using a good base. Also, the shimmer shades could be slightly less glitter bomb-y. This is super petty, but I feel that the colour order of the shadows isn't very cohesive, the palette doesn't have very good flow colour-wise. It could have benefitted from a different layout.

Onto the second part of the palette, the face section, this is where I think the most vast improvement could occur. Out of four blushes, three are really similar. They only needed one of the super pink shades and could have included perhaps a red-toned shade and a mauve-pink similar to their powder blush in Dusty Rose. Who needs three jumbo size highlighters in one palette?! One of these spaces could have easily been filled with a bronzer which would then make this palette a true all-rounder, and in my opinion, better value. Plus, you just don't need a highlight this large, it's unnecessary. It would have made more sense to put the blush in the big spots, or to make all the sections equal rather than having illuminators that are literally double the size of the blushes.

For the price (AUD$39) you do get a decent amount of product but I'd feel better about this frankly quite high price tag if there was a little more variety in the palette, I understand it's a nude palette, but nude doesn't need to mean boring, or exactly the same. On the plus side this palette is cruelty free which is something I'm becoming increasingly conscious of lately. Check out this website to view a list of companies that test on animals. All in all, I'd say this product is a good starting point for make up beginners, although the price makes it a little bit of a splurge for a beginner, despite the fact is comes with a lot of product. Definitely not a must-have but a nice little addition for travel because it is quite compact and sturdy.

Finally, apologies that this post was delayed, our internet has been very temperamental lately!

xx

talk soon