2023 Goals and Natasha Denona 28 Green-Brown palette look

This is hands down my most expensive eyeshadow palette. I purchased it a couple of years ago when ND had a 50% off sale for Black Friday, still making it a costly palette.

I already had a few of her palettes when I bought this one and was familiar with the formula. I was excited to have the palette but since then I haven’t used it much – not surprising given the amount of eyeshadow palettes I have!

In 2022 I really focused on not purchasing as many palettes as I previously did, in fact, I haven’t even purchased the latest ND palette, Retro Glam Palette.

For 2023 I want to refocus on panning my existing palettes so between now and the end of the year I’ll be choosing a few palettes to focus on and the ND Green Brown palette is the first one in the list.

I used it for a few days last week to start it going and I’ve really been enjoying the looks.

As you can see, I paired it with the new Colourpop Muppet Christmas palette to make a more colorful look.

I love the blue green shift of Cloudy Blue and I think it went perfect with th blue in the Colourpop palette

What do you think of this look and what are some of your beauty 2023 goals?

I will try to get this look posted today but here’s a sneak peak

I will try to get this look posted today but here’s a sneak peak

Purple shimmer look

Recently I’ve gotten more into single shadows and depotting my palettes.

I love being able to see so many options to chose from.

Sydney Grace, Coloured Raine, Makeup Geek and Colourpop

Buying singles also gives me the opportunity to try more brands, especially indie brands that only sell single shadows.

This is also a great way to utilize more than one palette and brand.

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Instagram Reel

For than look I used the following shadows:

• Colourpop – Zested, West Side
• Makeup Geek – Cocoa Bear, Steampunk
• Sydney Grace – Golden Wheat, Aim High

To bring out a little more of the lilac I used Colourpop Piggy Bank gel liner.

I’d love to know what others think of using singles!

Colourpop Lust for Dusk

I’ve been pretty good about not making too many makeup purchases this year but I could not resist the Lust for Dusk palette

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Colourpop Lust for Dusk
Available on CP site

The dusk colors really appealed to me and…I hadn’t purchased a new palette in a bit, haha.

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I love the subtle colors and the shimmer/metallics. I was most excited to see Miser (used on lid in this look) make a comeback in this palette (first available in LE Fortune palette).

In order to make the lid shade pop I use the NYX glitter primer.

The forumla does not disappoint, it’s easy to apply and blend. I’m excited to post more looks using this palette.

What do you think about this palette?

Colourpop Eye look V1

Not sure if the previous Colourpop palette posts count but I’m calling this V1 because I’m using shadows I’ve depotted and placed into one large palette.

This is the x-large palette I used to combine several of my small Colourpop palettes. It wasn’t an easy decision, especially since most of my Colourpop impulse buys are due to the packaging, but I love being able to see all my options.

I did have to label the shadows myself and at some point I stopped including what palette they were from but it is easy to Google the shadow name and see what palette it was in.

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Shadows used :

• Champs from Yes, Please
• Top Notch from All I See is Magic
• Hard from Double Entendre
• Elfish from Dream St
• Money Tree from Fortune
• Juicy Fruit

The highlighter is a recent Jaclyn Cosmetics loose highlighters and the bronzer is from the Tarte Ave Princess palette.

How do you feel about depotting palettes?

Love in London V2 look and life

Oy, it feels like it’s been a year since I last posted. I’ve been trying to stick to a Monday and Friday schedule but even that seems to be too much for me. I’m going to continue to keep that as a goal but more than anything I want to keep blogging because I want to, not because I feel obligated.

With that said, here is a look using BH Cosmetics Love in London palette in different lighting.

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I’m surprised at how much I’m loving this cool toned palette. It’s been so easy to combine shades and they’re so wearable.

Have you tried any BH Cosmetics products?

Love in London palette look

The BH Cosmetics Travel Series collection has several location eyeshadow and highlighter palettes and so far these are the only palettes I’ve tried. The destination theme is a little sentimental because they can be of places you’ve traveled to or want to travel to, which is exactly how they got me *face palm*. Once I tried the first palette I was hooked and purchased a couple more palettes.

Today’s look is using the Love in London palette. This palette has a more neutral, lighter color story than I typically gravitate towards.

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The palette is about half matte and half shimmer colors. The mattes build up nicely and blend out easily. They are a little powdery but that doesn’t affect the quality.

The shimmers are nice and buttery. They can be applied with a wet brush or over a sticky primer to show up more pigmented.

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I used the two mattes, Cheers and Picadilly, in the crease and to darken the crease and outer part of the crease/lid. I used NYX glitter primer all over the lid and went in with Duchess on the outer part of my lid, over Picadilly, to smoke out the look more. Then I applied Biscuit over the rest of the lid and finished the look with Palace in the inner corner.

I used Picadilly and Duchess on the lower lash line.

I loved how this look turned out and am excited up try out more looks.

Do you have any of these palettes?

LA Girl VIP Desert Dream look

These are the two latest palettes from LA Girl, VIP Desert Dream and Main Stage Desert Dream.

(what’s a PRE-PS? I’m not a color expert) The Main Stage palette has a nice colorful color story with some pastel and darker jewel tones. The VIP palette has warm, neutral tones which are more my style.

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Of the three mattes I used for this look, thr yellow and rust were pigmented and easy to blend. The dark brown that I used in the outer corner took more layers to build up to the darkness I wanted.

The metallic shade I used has an interesting texture. I think the best way to describe it is like soft chunky glitter. I found the best way to apply this is to go in with you finger, lightly rubbing the pan to get product on your finger, then applying it to the lid. I used NYX glitter primer on the area where I applied that shade to get it to stick on better and reduce fallout through the day.

Overall, I like these larger LA Girl palettes. They usually retail for $15.99US and are available at Ulta, Target, CVS and Walmart to name a few stores and they go on sale pretty often for 40-50% off.

The only think I would change, and this is a personal preference, is the front of the palette has a plastic, jelly like texture.

Have you tried any of the LA Girl 16 pan palettes? What do you think of these two palettes?

Both palettes were gifted but reviews and thoughts are my own honest opinions.

Subscription box look

This year I decided to cancel my boxycharm subscription so I can focus on the products I have, including all the products I’ve received via boxycharm and Ipsy; the only two subscriptions I’ve had for several years.

I am keeping my ipsy subscription because you can skip months and I like the sample subscription.

Using January’s products and a palette previously received in Boxycharm I came up with this look

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I know what you’re thinking and you’re right. I never do my hair.

The Ace Beauté Scarlet Dusk palette came in the January 2020 boxycharm box but I hadn’t used it at all so I pulled it out for this look. The a Kevyn Aucoin mascara came in the Boxycharm premium May 2020 box.

I like the formula of Ace Beauté’s shadows and I have a palette that I purchased on my own. The shadows apply pigmented and are easy to blend. Using a glitter primer I was able to apply a shimmer shade (Hibiscus) without having to wet my brush.

I think the Kevyn Aucoin mascara is ok. I like it but I wouldn’t pay full price for it. The brush is small with tight bristles that seperates lashes nicely and with a couple of layers it made my lashes look nice.

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From Ace Beauté’s website

The January ipsy bag came with a blush and highlighter and blush, along with some face masks, a color correcting cream and a hyradte and glow oil. I didn’t think to use the color corrector but I did use the highlighter and blush.

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I was surprised at how much I liked the Ciaté London Glow to Illuminating Blush in Matchmaker. Overall I have not been impressed with this brand so I didn’t have high hopes, plus I prefer matte blushes but this was a nice blush. The pigment is perfect for a blush and it isn’t glittery.

The highlighter is Catrice Luminous Highlighter in Lumi and it gives a beautiful wet highlight look.

I haven’t used the other products I received in the ipsy bag but I’m happy about the products I received.

I liked being able to use the products in my bag and enjoyed shopping my subscription box stash for this look.

Violet Voss Flamingo Palette

I’m not sure what it is about the brand but whenever Violet Voss comes out with a palette I need it.

I managed to hold off on the Flamingo Palette until a couple of months ago when it was on sale through Boxycharm (Violet Voss’s shipping is OUTRAGEOUS). Even then it took me this long to use the palette.

I’ve become a lot more comfortable with color over this last year so I was eager to use Beach Ball.

I started with Lemonade, added Beach Ball then tried to darken with Sandals because I wasn’t feeling confident enough to pull off the green.

I immediately regretted adding Sandals but I kept going and added Tidal Wave, over NYX glitter primer. Once Tidal Wave was down I darkened the outer third with Beach Ball again and loved the result.

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I have to remind myself to trust the process and I’m so glad I stuck with this look!

How do you feel about using color in your look, makeup or clothes?