Zoeva En Taupe Palette

If there's one brand that I'm so happy to have discovered in 2015, it's Zoeva. I can't believe I didn't try it out earlier. I'd always seen the brushes and palettes on various blogs and I always thought it was super expensive, but when I saw the Cocoa Blend palette I thought, what the heck, and paid the website a visit only to find that the palettes are actually really reasonable. You can check out my thoughts on the Cocoa Blend palette here - it was perfect for creating a rose gold eye look.

Recently the brand released its En Taupe palette and it went straight on my Christmas list. Thankfully Santa was very kind and bought it for me and I'm already absolutely loving it. The palette contains a mix of warm and cool nudes and neutrals so there is really something to suit everyone and all skin tones. The darker taupe/brown shades are definitely very me - 'Outline' and 'Wrapped In Silk' are definitely my go to shades at the moment for greating a lovely shimmery brown look with a grey hue to highlight. I also like to pop on a bit of the 'Old Master' shade, which has a lovely golden shimmer to it with a slight purple undertone. On its own 'Old Master' is the perfect shade for wearing on a night out or special occasion if you fancy lots of sparkle.

En Taupe has a more futuristic feel to it, which may be down to the packaging, but I think the combination of shades is signifying a change in the way we do a smoky eye look. Traditionally we would go for blacks and greys but you can create something so much more everyday and subtle with browns/taupe shades, it looks fab!

Every shade is super pigmented, beautifully blendable and lasts all day long. I don't think it's going to be long before I have every single Zoeva palette as part of my collection. I also can't wait to see what the brand releases in 2016!

Have you tried the new Zoeva En Taupe palette? Let me know what you thought in the comments.

Seventeen Long Lash Mascara

I'm always looking for new mascaras and I'm usually pretty unsuccessful. Most mascaras are all about volume and 'pumping up' and those mascaras often have very big brushes, which aren't ideal for my short, camel lashes, which literally point outwards instead of upwards. In my search for mascaras I'm often looking for ones that make lashes longer instead of fuller and give them a bit of curvature. Long thin brushes are definitely the best for me so when I was introduced to Seventeen's new Long Lash mascara I knew it would be the perfect mascara for me!

The brush is a specially designed 'mini' brush, which makes it so much easier to coat the lower lashes and really get into the corners of the eye, which is something I usually struggle with. They definitely give my lashes a good amount of length, without being becoming too spidery or clumpy and it stays put all day long too.

From December 31 you'll be able to buy this beauty for £6.99 - will you be picking one up? Let me know in the comments.

*This post contains a PR sample

Makeup Revolution I Heart Chocolate Pink Fizz Eyeshadow Palette

Back at the beginning of the year I was absolutely raving about Makeup Revolution's Naked Chocolate palette. It was full of gorgeous shades and it had a slight chocolatey whiff about it as well. I was devastated when I accidently broke the hinge but carried on using it until I think I left it in a hotel room, argh! I did order another one to replace it and love it just as much! When the brand released a couple of new palettes recently, including the Pink Fizz palette, I knew it would be pretty fab!

I was very kindly sent the Pink Fizz palette and on first impressions it's not a palette I would usually go for shade wise. I usually go for neutrals/browns/nudes etc but Pink Fizz is full of super shimmering and matte pinks/golds as well as a couple of browns. I was immediately drawn to the brown shades of course but to change things up a bit I have been experimenting with the prosecco pink fizzy sort of shades and actually really like them.

They're super pigmented and blendable and perfect for the upcoming party season. I would have liked it to come with a better brush as I don't think anyone is keen on those horrible eyeshadow sponges but other than that I'm super impressed with this palette. The shades stay put all day and I think they'll suit anyone! You probably won't find any pink eyeshadows in my collection so this palette is staying firmly part of it now and I'll be whipping it out this New Year.

Have you tried the new Pink Fizz palette? Let me know what you thought in the comments.

*This post contains a PR sample.

Eye of Horus Sheba Mystical Goddess Eye Shadow Palette

Recently I mentioned I had a Beauty Bay voucher burning a hole in my virtual pocket. That's a lie, it was barely in my virtual pocket for five minutes before it was spent - I knew I wanted to buy a couple of bits from brands I hadn't used before so alongside the Zoeva Cocoa Blend Palette I also picked up the Eye of Horus Sheba Mystical Goddess Eye Shadow Palette. I must admit I was sold purely on the Egyptian-esque packaging alone. I loved the imagery as I've always been a big fan of Egypt and the Egyptians, it was one of my favourite subjects back in school!

I opted for the Mystical Goddess Palette because the baked, metallic shades and the pretty plum colour just called out to me. I loved the combination of the three shades and they not only work well together in the palette but they look fab once applied too. It was a tad on the more expensive side at £22.50 and when I received it I was quite surprised at how small it was - although I should have expected it due to there only being three shades.

I definitely don't regret buying it though. The lighter shades 'Artifact' and 'Enchantress' are gorgeously sun-kissed, metallics that work really well as bases or highlighters and the plum 'Royal Abyss' shade is absolutely perfect for this time of year, it would look fab with heavy black eyeliner, for a very Egyptian inspired look.

On application the plum shade was actually not as vibrant as I thought it might be, but it kind of worked out for the best because I was able to create a purple/plum eye look without looking like I've been punched in the eye - something very difficult to achieve! If you did want the purple shade to be more vibrant, it can be applied wet for something a bit more outstanding.

I swept the plum shade all over my lid and it's gorgeously pigmented with the perfect amount of shimmer. I also popped on the 'Enchantress' shade into my crease and blended it slightly to create such a gorgeous look, if I do say so myself!

This is definitely my new favourite palette and it is such a nice change to wear eyeshadows that aren't the usual brown/nude that I go for. I would totally recommend giving Eye of Horus a try!

Have you tried the Eye of Horus brand? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Benefit They're Real Tinted Primer

There seems to be a primer for everything these days, primers for things I didn't even know you needed a primer for! Such as lashes for example...I wasn't aware I needed to prime my lashes before applying my normal mascara but apparently you do. Lucky for me I'm subscribed to Elle magazine and the December issue came with a cute mini sample of the Benefit They're Real Tinted Primer, a whole nine weeks before the official launch of the full size version.

I've not tried the They're Real mascara before and I wasn't sure if the key to getting the primer to work well was to use it on top of its sister product but I used it under a couple of coats of the Roller Lash (one of my fave Benefit mascaras) and it seemed to work out ok.

The primer is designed to go on before your normal mascara (obviously!) and it will do all the separating, lenghtening and boosting work for you. The brush is a lovely thin one, which really grabs hold of the lashes and separates them really well. Once you pop your normal mascara on top it looks absolutely fab. The primer certainly helps it to 'pop' a lot more.

If you don't fancy big black fluttery eyelashes then the primer comes in a mink/brown shade so it can be worn on its own for a bit of a more natural look.

As someone who didn't even realise I needed to prime my eyelashes, I was quite impressed with the They're Real primer. My lashes don't have much curl to them and are very straight but the primer helps to grab the lashes really well and pull them up, giving them a bit of length as well as curl. I'll definitely be picking up the full size once it's released, will you?

Makeup Revolution New-trals vs Neutrals Palette

There's a really fine line between a berry/autumn eye look and looking like Gerard Way from the Three Cheers era. It's all about the autumnal eye make-up look at the moment so I thought I'd give Makeup Revolution's much hyped New-trals vs Neutrals Palette a go as everyone else seemed to be raving about it so much.

As much as I still love MCR to this day, I'm keen to not go down the red/pink eye look and I think the key to this is to use more plum/berry tones than red/pink ones. The New-trals vs Neutrals Palette does have a couple of red/pink shades but they can be toned down by using some of the darker plum/berry shades. For this finished look I went for a mix of the red and pink with the shimmery deep purple, a couple of the taupe shades for the base and the copper glitter all over. In my opinion I think it's a good berry look without leaning too much on the 'been punched in the eye' side.

Each shade in the palette is super pigmented and blendable. There's a good range as well from very basic bases right through to the super glittery copper. It's a nice change from my usual neutral palettes, which are all different shades of brown, the go-to neutral these days is a more plummy tone but I rather like it. I think it works especially well on brunettes but I could be bias.

For £6.99 the palette is a right little bargain! The shades have fab staying power as well so you really get your money's worth here.

Have you tried the Makeup Revolution New-trals vs Neutrals Palette? Are you ready to embrace the berry eye? Let me know in the comments.

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Seventeen Easy on the Eye Palette: The Big Smoke

I've lost count of how many eyeshadow palettes I have. I seriously need a big cull and to keep only the very necessary palettes! The Seventeen Easy on the Eye Palette is a new addition to my already growing collection, but is slightly different to what I usually use, as in it's not all neutrals/brown shades, but ones to create day time and night time smoky eye looks.

The palette, which retails for £7.99 contains eight matte, shimmer and pearl powders alongside three metallic creams, an eye primer and a dual ended brush as well as a handy little 'get the look' guide. I actually always find these guides really useful as it tells you which shades to put where so I feel as if I'm creating my eye look 'properly' instead of just bunging any old shade all over the lid.

Instead of your usual black and grey shades for a smoky eye, this palette has a mixture of blue/purple and green toned shades. I went for a mix of Smoky Marble and Wild Khaki, which are really nicely pigmented, with a hint of the shimmery Onyx Black. The handy guide was really easy to follow and the eyeshadows blend really nicely, although there is a bit of fall out on application, but nothing that can't be disguised.

The shadows have great staying power as well, lasting from day until night. You could always top up the look with a bit more shimmer for a night out or even try one of the metallic shades on their own, as they really pop. The Illuminated Bronze shade is actually really gorgeous and perfect for autumnal looks.

For £7.99 this is a pretty cheap and cheerful palette and one that I think I'm going to get a lot of use out of. Have you tried the Seventeen Easy on the Eye Palette? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

*This post contains a PR sample.

Yves Rocher Smokey Eye

I'm all for smokey eye make-up, but give me dark eyeshadow shades and heavy black liner and I'm no good. Blacks/greys and heavy liner just look strange on me, I'm not sure if it's just because I'm not used to it, but once applied I look very 'gothic'. I much prefer a brown/copper smokey eye, something much more subtle and less in your face.

I was recently asked if I'd like to try the Smokey Eye package from Yves Rocher and because I just do not have enough lovely brown eyeshadow palettes (yeh right!), I quickly agreed. I'm always interested in trying different neutral palettes to see how well they perform when it comes to every day looks and smokey eyes.

For this look I was treated to the Fixing Eyelid Primer*, Intense Kajal eyeliner*, Mascara Volume Vertige* and the Quad Eyeshadow palette in red-hot brown*.

I never usually use an eyeshadow primer but I'm loving this little mini one. It's got camellia oil within it so not only does it help keep your eyeshadow in place, it also does good, nourishing things to your lids.

The quad is really pretty and comes in beautiful gold packaging. It looks very high end and the shadows themselves are really well pigmented. The shades available are great for creating the more subtle smokey eye look that I'm a fan off. The lightest shade is great as a base and the two darker shades are great for blending all over the lid. Finally, the darkest shade is great as a liner or popping in the corner of the eye and blending out.

The shades can be used wet or dry. I've used them dry here and I'm really loving the finished look. The only teeny tiny annoyance I had was that there was quite a lot of fall out, but nothing that can't be swiped away with a cotton pad!

When I opened the eyeliner I must admit it looked a bit scary. It seems to be somewhere between a kohl pencil and a liquid pen eyeliner. It's very soft on application but I feel a strong black eyeliner on this look would be a bit much so I just dotted it on the lid and into the corner and blended it in to create a bit of a darker edge. I do really love the finished look but I definitely need to get practising and get used to a proper eyeliner look I think.

I finished the look off with the mascara, which I was pleasantly surprised with. The wand is a lot bigger than what I'm used to. I usually use a thin wand to get longer lashes but I found this one, which was quite bobbly, still produced some nice volume and didn't clump like hell like most mascaras do.

I think these products are the ultimate make-up bag staples. I think every make-up lover/make-up artist needs these sorts of things in their kit. They are definitely all going to be taking up a position in my everyday make-up bag and if I were browsing the website myself with the aim to buy some new bits, these are definitely the sort of things I'd be picking up as they're very me, the quad especially!

What do you think of the Yves Rocher smokey eye? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

*This post contains PR samples.