Amrezy Palette by Anastasia Beverly Hills - Swatches and First Impression Review

I don't know how they kept this a secret haha. This came out of nowhere and I'm so excited it's in my hands!!

In case you didn't know, this palette was made in collaboration with Amrezy on Instagram. She is a makeup artist and insanely popular on IG (over a 1 million followers). Also, she is insanely gorgeous and so so talented.

I purchased this palette at my local Ulta on July 15th (two days before Ulta officially would have it in stores - BOOYAH). 

This retails for an amazing $29. I'm still in shock over the price haha. So affordable for the quality of the eyeshadows you get.

So let's take a gander over to the packaging. 

The outside is gorgeous. I adore the cheetah print on the packaging plus the metallic golden background. It gives it a very exotic appeal. 

It is cardboard, not exactly the nicest but it does its job in holding in the eyeshadows. I do wish the packaging was nicer or more sturdier. I think that most consumers are getting use to the nice metal, tin, or whatever non-cardboard material palettes are made in these days. I honestly would pay an extra buck or two so I have piece of mind that if I travel or accidentally drop my palette that my eyeshadows will be okay. It cheapens it a little bit but it's not a deal breaker.

Now, the inside *ahhhh*.

You can see that is a very warm toned neutral palette with 2 brights in the bunch. This palette to me screams: exotic, sexy, goddess-like, and beautiful.

Without a doubt, this would be THE palette to reach for as we transition from Summer to Fall. But it's versatile enough that it can be used year round.

I believe that Amrezy took her most used shades and eyeshadows that many people can pull off and make it into one convenient palette. If you follow her in IG, you will see that she gravitates towards neutrals, especially warm toned, when she posts her looks.

Onto the review and first impressions of it.

In swatching the top row, I was blown away at the quality. Very smooth and incredibly pigmented. The bottom row, it was a little "meh" for me. I think you can see what I'm talking about in the swatches.

The bottom row, except for Vanilla, are all mattes. If you are a eyeshadow junkie like me or know a lot about makeup, we know that matte formula eyeshadows can be a little tricky. These are no exception. In finger swatching, Deep Plum and LBD were patchy and had to be layered a little more heavily than the other swatches (still didn't look too great :\).

But once you apply them to the lid, blending helps blur out the patchiness and they blend quite nicely.  That is a plus for sure.

The first time around, Caramel and Deep Plum were patchy upon application to my lids. I had to spend a lot of time blending; more than what I use to in comparison to other eyeshadows I own. Like I mentioned above, the shimmery shades were a breeze to work it and blend in seamlessly.

The second go around, it was MUCH better. I used a different fluffy blending brush to apply the shadows and it worked out perfectly. It was very easy to work with the blend to create a look. I used Iridescent Purple and Emerald in the second look and the colors were beautiful! They aren't obnoxiously bright, they were sultry but wearbale. Combined great with the Caramel and Deep Plum. :)

Check my IG if you are interested in how my looks came out :)

I hope you all found this helpful!

Have you purchased the palette? Are you going for something else and passing on this?

Let me know in the comments!

Talk to you all soon,
Bianca

MAC Tan Pigment vs MAC Melon Pigment vs L'Oreal Amber Rush Infallible

So I think I found a dupe for MAC's pigment in Tan...?

I do not usual come across dupes within my own collection but today was the exception. I was going to make this post comparing Tan and Melon pigment because they are so popular in the beauty community. While I was organizing my collection, I picked up this pressed pigment eyeshadow from L'Oreal and I knew I had to compare them! 

And as you can see they are very VERY close. The only real difference is the intensity of the pigment. Granted that the MAC Tan pigment was swatched dry but if you were to apply it from a damp brush, it would give you the same effect as the Infallible eyeshadow in Amber Rush. 

The pigments cost about $21 (approximately?) at MAC and roughly $8.99 at drugstores. Though, whichever one you go for, you will get a lot of bang for your buck.

MAC Tan Pigment on the left and L'Oreal Infallible shadow in Amber Rush

So now, comparing all three shades: MAC Melon, MAC Tan, and L'Oreal Infallible in Amber Rush.

MAC Melon, MAC Tan, L'Oreal Amber Rush - swatched DRY and NO primer

I knew right away that Melon would not really fit into this dupe/product alternative post, but I still wanted to swatch them all side by side so you all can see the differences with the products.

The Melon pigment is more of a gold with the slightest hint of peach running through it. It is definitely not as rose gold as Tan or Amber Rush.

Overall, I love these products. I would not return one just because they are dupes. It's fun to keep in your collection and compare for beauty research purposes ;).

Also, LOVE that MAC has been rolling out these mini/travel sizes of some of their products! I mean, does anyone ever go through a pigment from MAC? Not many people I'm guessing haha they are a perfect size for $10 :)

Alright, what you are thoughts about this? Do you agree with me?
And, did you accidentally find products that ended up dupes of each other? Let know what you have found in your collection!

Take care,
Bianca :)

TooFaced Chocolate Bar Palette - Swatches and Review

Well... I gave into the hype.

I held off from buying this palette for a few months but I had store credit to Sephora and thought I would give it a whirl. 

I won't lie to you... I didn't know what to expect with the quality of TooFaced shadows. I have heard good things but I have never ever own any TooFaced palettes. I don't know why haha but I think I preferred the Urban Decay Naked palettes over the TooFaced ones. 

I'm glad I waited though. This is a great palette to get introduced to TooFaced Cosmetics eyeshadows.

Just like everyone else, the packaging box and the palette itself is stickin' cute! TooFaced sure knows how to do cute packaging.

I was lucky to pick up the Chocolate Bar palette with the slimmer packaging. I think TooFaced heard about everyone's complaints about the thickness of the palette's casing. I never saw it so I can't say from experience how significant the reduction in thinness is but I'm glad I waited haha.

When I first saw the palette, I thought that the arrangement of the shadows was odd. I would assume that the larger highlight shades would be on top and the little pans of shadows would be under it. But that is me being nit-picky haha.

When I see this palette, the right side is warmer and the left side is slightly cooler. Just a smidge. I never noticed it during the months of blogs and videos I saw featuring the palette haha.

I wish the names were engraved into the palette like all the other palettes from TooFaced. I truly hate the flimsy little sheet with the names on it. But it is what it is, can' change it.

You can see how cute the names of each of the shadows are though. I definitely win points for creative and cute names for the eyeshadows.

I swatched the eyeshadows by row on my arm without any primer.

 Row 1

 Row 2

Row 3

Thoughts on eyeshadow quality:
- The matte shades are a little powdery and slightly less pigmented. You have to layer the heck out of the shadows to get this to show up but on the bright side, they layer nicely and evenly.
- The shimmery shades are WHOA. They are amazingly pigmented and so incredibly smooth. They can be powdery if you pick up product with a brush but if you tap off the excess, there is no fall out :).
- The microglitter shades are my favorites I think. The little glittery specks don't disappear when you apply them and they are really smooth as well. It adds that extra pop to your look without it being overboard or in your face glittery.

Overall, I think this is a great palette, especially for starters. This palette has some great mattes, shimmers, neutral every day shades. Or a nice palette to compliment other neutral eyeshadow palettes. {Because a makeup addict can never have too many neutral palettes;)}

Hope you enjoyed the review,
Bianca :)

Burberry Sheer Eyeshadow in No. 21 - Midnight Brown

This is my first Burberry eyeshadow and I'm in love. They are $29 a pop but in my opinion sooo worth it. You get a whopping 2.5 grams of eyeshadow! AKA it will last you a looong time.

I think this is a shadow that works for all skintones.

Pale/Fair: It can be a one shadow smokey eye or used as a liner.
Medium: a soft, daytime smokey eye or a great darker neutral to pair with lighter shades.
Dark: it will give you are very natural but stunning one shadow look.

This shadow works basically anywhere within your eye look and that is awesome.

The box it comes with is that classic Burberry beige with the silver/pewter wording. The box is made with a more sturdy material compared to other brands. Feels very luxurious in hand.

Inside the box, you will see the eyeshadow packaging with a velvet pouch. The pouch has an embossed/engraving/something that shows off the iconic Burberry pattern.

The packaging on these shades is very luxe and weight-y. It definitely has a weight to it when you hold it. All in all, it feels and looks like a designer makeup item.

When you open it, it comes with a sponge tip applicator and a protective sheet for the mirror.

The Burberry formula on these are so soft and so pigmented. Far from what the name of the eyeshadow suggests. It works so well with other shadows and an amazing one eyeshadow look product.

From what I have seen from this range, all the shadows vary from mattes, satins, and shimmery satins. You will not find any glitter or frost shades in the line. So if you are a huge fan of neutrals and non-frosty eye shadows, this eyeshadow line form Burberry is one to check out.

This eyeshadow is so stunning on its own. It's a warm brown with a sheen and reflects tiny gold particles. This shadow would make hazel and blue eyes just light up and bring them out in a beautiful way. But in general, this is a great "intro to Burberry" eyeshadow too if you are looking to pick up one.

I do plan on purchasing more of these, this is a fantastic range from Burberry and worth checking out. I have swatched almost all of them and every one across the board is smooth, pigmented, and very wearable. You can create some amazing, every day looks using the shadows from this line.

Have you tried any Burberry shadows? I'd love to know your favorites from the line and from the brand in general. 

Hope you enjoy this and hope you are all well.

Talk to you all soon,

Bianca