Sunsets & Berries: Pacifica Power of Love Eye Shadow Palette* Review

Thanks to my Pan That Palette challenge this year, I have not worn or bought an eye palette other than my theBalm Nude' Tude for the past seven months and some change. A lot of you commented how you couldn't even imagine committing to about a dozen of the same shades for such a long time - and I feel you, because eyeshadow boredom has now become a thing for me, and it's painful. Which is why I was happy and excited to be shaken out of my ennui by this new arrival from Pacifica Beauty, the Power of Love Eye Shadow Palette* ($20 for 0.22 oz, available at pacificabeauty.com, ulta.com and Target).

Power of Love is a compact palette of ten coconut-infused mineral eyeshadows, which the brand describes as 'velvety rich, long lasting, creaseless' and having ' a soft, cream-like finish'. Like all of Pacifica products, they're 100% vegan and cruelty-free. The shadows are housed in a slim, streamlined carboard palette with a clear top so that you can see all the shades easily at a glance. One thing that slightly annoys me about the design is that even though the brand lists the shade names on the back of the outer box, the shadows are not actually named within the palette so I have no idea which name goes with which shade if that makes sense - it's like they wanted to name them but didn't commit to doing so all the way through. Huh.

Now, the shade selection is what got me really excited about playing with this palette. It's a predominantly neutral eyeshadow palette (my personal preference) that contains shadows ranging from light to dark in terms of depth, thus making it easy to create an entire look without having to look for complimentary eyeshadows elsewhere. However, it also features some fun pops of color: a khaki green with golden shimmer, a gorgeous wine shade, and a turquoise with a gold sheen. Those combined with the fun hippy packaging make for a lovely summer eyeshadow palette - just the thing I needed.

Unfortunately, as soon as I started swatching these eyeshadows on my arm, I noticed some issues with the formula. In short: the quality is not consistent. Like, at all. Let me break it down for you, starting from the top row, going left to right:

A light peach, shimmer/ pearl finish. Medium pigmentation but smooth and easy to apply.
A warm bronze, shimmer/ metallic finish. Slightly more pigmented than the peach, again very buttery and easy to pick up on the brush and blend out.
A matte beige brown, sheer to medium pigmentation, smooth and blendable.
A satin khaki green with golden sparkles, very sheer, hard pressed in the pan, difficult to pick up on the brush.
A satin berry with pink undertones, sheer, hard pressed in the pan, difficult to build up. Doesn't even come close to the deep wine shade I was expecting when I looked at it in the pan.

A matte navy with a slight purple lean, sheer to medium pigmentation, soft and smooth but not very buildable.
A pinky mauve with a high shimmer/ metallic finish, pigmented, soft, smooth, creamy, a dream to apply and blend out on the eyes. This is THE stand-out shade of the entire palette.
A satin ivory with pale yellow undertones, very sheer, difficult to pick up on the brush or build up on the eyes.
A satin turquoise with golden sparkles, again very sheer and difficult to work with.
A satin/ pearl cream leaning light pink, sheer but a bit more pigmented and easier to apply than the yellowy ivory.

Sooo... Let's see - how many shades from this palette did I actually count as reasonably pigmented? I believe it's 4 (maaaybeee 5) out of 10. That's not great, you guys. And the ones that I said were sheer - they really ARE sheer. What you see in my arm swatches (bare skin, swatched with a clean finger) is sometimes 7+ swipes of the shadow. Who has time to do this many layers on their eyes for the colors to even show up? On top of that, all the sheer shades are quite hard in the pan and all got hard pan on them just from rubbing my finger across the surface during one swatch session. When it came to applying them to my eyes, I got quite a bit of powder kick-up by digging in my brush so hard just to get something onto my lids. Yeah. Not cool.

That being said, I do think I got some really pretty eye looks out of this palette. My first take, which I intended to be a bit more colorful, turned out to be somewhat sunset-over-the-ocean themed. I used the yellow ivory on the inner corners, light peach on the lid and navy in the outer V, blending it all out with the matte beige brown, which by the way is a perfect transition shade for my fair skin. On the lower lashline, I applied the golden turquoise shade; it pulled a bit more green on me than I would have liked so I added a bright cobalt blue pencil liner to my waterline. It turned out quite pretty - but it did take me much longer to execute because I had to keep layering for intensity, and some shades looked a bit more muddy on my eyes than I would have liked (namely the matte navy and the turquoise).

For my second look, I decided to play with the ever so trendy pinky berry shades. I used the lightest pink in the inner corners, the stunning metallic mauve on the lids, and the satin berry in the outer corner and crease, again blending everything out with the matte beigy brown. I accented the lower lashline with the warm bronze and finished the look with a subtle aubergine wing (Pixi Endless Silky Eye Pen in Deep Purple). I really, really liked how it came together, and actually got a lovely compliment on my eye make-up while wearing it ('Excuse me, but your eye look is absolutely stunning! Are you self-taught or did you go to school for make-up? I would love to learn how to do that!). The longevity on both looks (on top of my usual eye primer) was very good and I didn't notice any fading or creasing throughout the day.

So overall, my feelings on the Pacifica Power of Love Palette are pretty ambiguous. On one hand, I wish the quality (pigmentation and texture) were even - or at least somewhat similar - across all the shades. On the other, the few eyeshadows that do have a good formula are absolutely beautiful and make for a gorgeous look on the eyes. But is it worth it to buy an entire eyeshadow palette for just that one stunning make-up look? I don't think so. I will probably be passing this palette on to a loved one who is still a beginner when it comes to eye make-up; at least with those sheerer shadows, it's more difficult to mess up.

What is the one eyeshadow palette you have been reaching for the most this summer? Have you already jumped on the berry eyeshadow trend? I'm seriously considering picking up MAC Cranberry eyeshadow in the near future.

Disclaimer: Product featured in this post is a press sample I received from the brand's PR for review consideration. All links are non-affiliate. All opinions are 100% honest and unbiased, no matter if the product featured was purchased with my own money or provided free of charge. Thank you for reading!

A Highlighter for Highlighter Haters: ILIA Beauty Illuminator in Polka Dots & Moonbeams*

Do you remember my rave review of ILIA's Multi-Stick in A Fine Romance (here)? It was one of the only two cheek products I took with me on our Icelandic getaway and I literally COULD NOT put it down for those two weeks - and beyond. So I was very excited to give another of Ilia's 'cheek sticks' a try - it's their cream Illuminator in Polka Dots & Moonbeams* ($34 for 0.15 oz/ 4.5g, available on iliabeauty.com), a shade aimed for fair and light skintones. What's even more exciting is that ILIA Beauty has now made their Sephora debut with their three Illuminators, available both in-store and online (click!), and I'm crossing my fingers to see the full line there in the near future - pretty please? :)

The packaging of Ilia's Illuminator is exactly the same as their Multi-Sticks: a simple burnished metal tube with a chubby bullet inside. One thing worth noting is that when you first get the product, it's important to remember to push the cap all the way down until it clicks securely, because it's very easy to leave the tube half-open and potentially have the product dry out if you're not careful.

All of ILIA Beauty's line features certified organic nourishing ingredients. The Illuminators contain sunflower, castor, sesame seed and avocado plant oils, as well as cocoa and shea butters. The product is fragrance-free but there is a very faint 'natural' scent to it when you put your nose to the tube - I can't smell it though once it's applied on my face.

I find taking color-accurate photos of highlighting products extremely hard, but I tried to do my best here. As you may be able to see, Polka Dots & Moonbeams (btw, first prize for a super adorable shade name) is a pale ivory pearl. While on its own and in the bullet, it looks like it may be leaning warm and slightly yellow, when you look at my comparison swatches you'll notice that this shade is in fact extremely neutral. It has neither pink, peach or white gold undertones but it's not a stark white pearl either - I'm making a terrible job of describing it, am I not? Let's just have the photos speak for themselves then.

In terms of formula and texture, again I find Ilia's Illuminator quite similar in feel and performance to the brand's Multi-Stick. It's a bit of a firm consistency in the tube but it becomes more emollient and easy to pick up with the warmth of your skin. It's definitely on the sheer side when it comes to pigmentation, which can be a good or a bad thing depending on your preferences. If you like the look of a strong, mirrorred, strobed cheek, I would steer you away from this product. However, if you dislike most highlighters because you find them too unnatural and obvious - well hello, meet the product of your dreams :) 99% of the time I firmly belong to the second camp so I absolutely love the natural luminosity Polka Dots & Moonbeams brings to my face. The texture is so soft and easy to blend that I virtually can't tell I have any product on my cheekbones, and thanks to all the lovely plant oils and butters, it leaves a bit of a moisturized sheen on the skin as well. On that note - mind you, the Illuminator doesn't set, so if your skin type is very oily, you may not like this creamy texture.

I have tested Polka Dots & Moonbeams on bare skin, on top of a liquid foundation, on top of a cream blush and under a powder blush and it blended in and sat well on the skin in all four instances. In fact, I find Ilia's stick highlighter easier to work with than Marc Jacobs Glow Stick in Spotlight (reviewed here); the Glow Stick is actually a bit thicker and more emollient and sometimes I find it looks a little funny when combined with powder products. I also like the shade of Polka Dots & Moonbeams better than Spotlight; in my heavy arm swatch, Spotlight looks a lot more yellow/ pale gold on my fair skin with cool undertones, while Ilia's product seems to be the perfect natural match for my coloring.

L-R: Ilia Beauty Illuminator in Polka Dots & Moonbeams, Marc Jacobs Glow Stick in Spotlight

L-R: Ilia Beauty Illuminator in Polka Dots & Moonbeams, Marc Jacobs Glow Stick in Spotlight, Surratt Eyeshadow in Scintillante, Anastasia Beverly Hills Illuminator in Starlight

In these swatches, you can also see that both Marc Jacobs Spotlight stick and Anastasia Beverly Hills (powder) Illuminator in Starlight (reviewed here) are more pigmented and reflective. Surratt Beauty Eyeshadow in Scintillante that I like to use as face highlight is sheerer just like the Polka Dots & Moonbeams, but has this somewhat strange subtle grey cast.

I'm sorry for the weird lighting in my face shot - the day I took this photo was really grey and overcast and I don't think it showcases Polka Dots & Moonbeams to its full potential. However, you can still see how natural this Illuminator looks on the skin - it's definitely not too much for everyday wear. Even if you normally hate how highlighters look on your face (or, as a fellow pale person, find most of them too dark for your coloring), I think you'd be surprised by how much you like the ethereal glow of Ilia's Illuminator - definitely give it a swatch next time you're in Sephora!

Have you incorporated highlighting into your regular make-up routine? What is your favorite texture for a highlighter - liquid, cream or powder? I'd love to know!

Disclaimer: Product featured in this post is a press sample I received from the brand's PR for review consideration. All links are non-affiliate. All opinions are 100% honest and unbiased, no matter if the product featured was purchased with my own money or provided free of charge. Thank you for reading!

Eyeshadow Dupes: Swatching Shimmery & Metallic Light Pinks, White Golds & Champagne

As you may remember, I have been trying to use up my theBalm Nude' Tude eyeshadow palette as part of a Project Pan That Palette since January of this year (see my latest update here). However, that doesn't mean that I have completely neglected the rest of my stash; while I don't really wear any other shadows than those in the Nude' Tude, the Project has really driven home why I shouldn't be buying any more eyeshadow palettes: I have way too many neutral shades in my stash already, as illustrated in my 'I'm Never Buying Another Eyeshadow Palette Again' ramble here. As an extension of that post, I've been busy playing around with my other shade families and trying to weed out dupes and inferior formulas, and the photos below are the result.

I KNOW. Before you judge me, go sift through your own stash ;)

I have pretty much decided to end my Pan That Palette at the end of August; my baby boy is due to arrive in early October and I'd like to have one month in between to experiment with the rest of my eyeshadow stash. Because of that decision, I have been thinking about what I want to do with the Nude' Tude once I finish the Project, and I've come to the conclusion that there are a few shades in it that I'd like to keep by depotting them into a magnetic palette. The rest will just be tossed in the trash unfortunately - I don't want to pass on half-used or unused but subpar shadows to any of my friends and family. As I was contemplating which shades to depot, I decided to have a quick look at the rest of my eyeshadow collection to see if I had any similar shades already in my Z-Palettes. And then it hit me. DO I EVER.

I was specifically looking for dupes/ comparable shades to theBalm Stand-offish, thus far my most used eyeshadow out of the entire palette, but for more variety, I've also included shimmery (or metallic/ frost/ pearl finish, whatever you want to call it) light pinks and white golds/ ivory shades. To be honest, this is not even the entirety of my stash - I have more shades I could include in both single pans/ depot form as well as other eyeshadow palettes. But anyway, here's what I found:

Sorry, the L-R order isn't the same as my arm swatches for this group: Inglot 397, Stila Academy, Inglot AMC Shine 142

Out of the light pinks, I don't think any of these are actually dupes. Stila Academy has more of a cool undertone than Inglot 397, which is somewhere between a warm light pink and a champagne/ peach. Inglot AMC Shine 142 isn't as soft or pigmented as the other two, but has both a subtle glowing pink duochrome (it wouldn't show up in the photos no matter the angle) and some sparse silver microglitters.

L-R: Fyrinnae Nijiro, RBR Unforgettable Oriole, Marc Jacobs The Ingenue Trio (leftmost shade)

In the white gold/ shimmery ivory color family, I own two shades that are incredibly close but still not complete dupes: Fyrinnae Nijiro has a blue & pink micro sparkle to it under artificial lights where Rouge Bunny Rouge Unforgettable Oriole is more of a typical pearl finish. The Marc Jacobs far left shade from The Ingenue trio (reviewed here) is the odd one out: both darker and more of a satin than metallic finish.

L-R: Too Faced Silk Teddy, theBalm Stand-offish (at the top), Stila Kitten, Wet n'Wild Browbone shade from The Gilded Age trio, MAC All That Glitters

However, I had the most luck (alas) finding dupes in the champagne/ light peach category. Maybe because those shades are the most universally flattering, but I feel like they feature in a lot of palettes, both drugstore and high-end. Let's consider the cult classic Stila Kitten - yes, it's an incredibly soft, smooth, buttery, pigmented shadow. However, as you can hopefully see in my photos, I have two other shades in my stash that are pretty much the same: theBalm Stand-offish and an Eyebrow shade from a LE Wet n'Wild trio called The Gilded Age. Out of these three, I'd say that Kitten still has the best formula; theBalm and Wet n'Wild can be just a tad too powdery/ flakey, but it's nit-picking here. If you have one, you don't need the other two.

Too Faced Silk Teddy (from the Natural Eyes palette) is lighter and more pink than theBalm Stand-offish, Stila Kitten and the Wet n'Wild shadows - I probably could have included it in my light pink grouping. MAC All That Glitters is significantly darker and less metallic than the other four shadows; on me, it's fine as an all over the lid shade, but too dark to be used as a highlight in the inner corners.

As you can see from my little experiment, I definitely do NOT need to depot that Stand-offish shade from my Nude' Tude palette. However, I'm thinking now that maybe I will hold on to it after all, and instead pass on the Wet n'Wild The Gilded Age shade - not because the formula is inferior (they really are the same, you guys), but because I'd rather pass on a lightly used dupe to a loved one and keep half-used Stand-offish, which is also a smaller pan and thus more efficient to store, as a back-up to my favorite Stila Kitten. Not that I really need a back-up... but it's hard to stop hoarding eyeshadows after all these years of collecting. Which one(s) would you give away?

I hope you enjoyed this installment of Shop/ Swatch My Stash. Please let me know if there's a particular group of products or shades you would like to see next: maybe my pinky/ mauve My Lips But Better lipsticks, or my vast collection of taupe eyeshadows, or my bright/ colorful shades. What dupes have you discovered in your stash recently?

Blueberry Stained Lips: Pacifica Devocean Natural Lipstick in Beach Goth*

Growing up, I always loved the summer season in my mom's kitchen, because it meant all kinds of delicious lunch pairings of pasta/ dumplings + fresh fruit: pierogi with blackberries, knedle with strawberries or plums (which I made a few weeks ago and bragged about on Instagram here), and then possibly my absolute favorite, łazanki (small pasta squares) toppped with wild (low bush) blueberry sauce and lots of whipped sweat cream. I would devour that dish in minutes and then lick the plate clean, giving myself a purple mouth that remained stained for the rest of the day. This is exactly what Pacifica's Devocean Natural Lipstick* ($10 for 0.07 oz/ 2g, available at pacificabeauty.com as well as Ulta and other green beauty retailers) in the shade Beach Goth reminds me of - those strange blueberry lips of summer.

(By the way, don't you find the name Beach Goth a little amusing? Just imagine that poor goth girl clad all in black being absolutely miserable and sweating her eyeliner off on a sandy ocean shore. Or maybe I just have a twisted sense of humor :)

Pacifica Beauty describes their Devocean lipstick range as 'highly pigmented color [that] glides on smoothly, will not feather and lasts for hours'. Devocean lipsticks contain coconut oil, shea butter, jojoba esters and vitamin E, and like all Pacifica products, are vegan, cruelty-free and gluten-free. The lipstick is packaged in a lightweight slim plastic tube with the color of the outer box loosely corresponding to the shade inside, and a label on the bottom of the tube specifying the shade name (thank goodness!). I quite enjoy Pacifica's design aesthetics: colorful, whimsical, somewhat bohemian - it definitely stands out from other brands. The lipstick has a beautiful sweet coconut scent when being applied to the lips, but it doesn't linger for very long afterwards.

Beach Goth is definitely not for the faint of heart - I mean, what did you expect with a name like this? It's PURPELH. I was admittedly a little intimidated when I first opened the tube but game to try it out anyway. As I expected, it swatches a lot different from what it looks like in the tube: what looks like an intense dark purple in the tube applies more like a wash of cool purple with a mauve undertone. The finish is a jelly/cream (crelly?), no shimmer whatsoever.

L-R: Pacifica Devocean Lipstick in Beach Goth, Lancome Color Design in Wine Party, Revlon Superlustrous in Black Cherry

The texture of the Devocean lipstick is very creamy but thin; in fact, despite Pacifica's product description, I would say the pigmentation and formula in between a lipstick and nicely tinted balm. In terms of feel, it's definitely not as thick and onctous as standard cream finish lipsticks (say, Revlon Superlustrous or YSL Rouge Purs) and instead reminds me of something like Guerlain Rouge Automatiques. It feels hydrating and comfortable on the lips but it's prone to wearing off easily on teacups and the like and would require frequent reapplication to retain the intensity of color. I can live with that though - can you see how full and luscious it looks on my lips? You can still see vertical lip lines but they're softened and there's no product gathering in there. The lips look smooth, even and natural, not like they're covered in a thick layer of product.

In general, I really enjoy somewhat sheerer lipstick textures, so it's no surprise that I really enjoy my new Devocean lipstick. However, the shade Beach Goth - like that blueberry stain of my childhood - is a combination of strange and wonderful on me. My fair cool-toned coloring makes it difficult for me to wear neutral/ cool purple blushes and lipsticks without looking bruised/ chilled to the bone but Beach Goth somehow walks the line without pushing me too much into the undead territory. I have nothing like it in my stash, and it takes some guts to wear it outside the house - but makes me feel cool and a bit different. I also really like Beach Goth in smaller doses, lightly patted on or layered with another warmer lipstick, lip liner and/ or gloss.

If you're looking for a moisturizing, lightweight lipstick, I think you'd love the Pacifica Devocean range - and if your skintone is warmer than mine (or you simply like unusual shades), you'd certainly look killer in that Beach Goth purple. For a more classically flattering color choice, I'm also eyeing the MLBB Tenderness or peachy pink XOX shades. What is your experience with natural lipstick lines? What is your favorite sheer lipstick/ tinted balm formula?

Disclaimer: Product featured in this post is a press sample I received from the brand's PR for review consideration. All links are non-affiliate. All opinions are 100% honest and unbiased, no matter if the product featured was purchased with my own money or provided free of charge. Thank you for reading!

Shop My Stash: All That Warm Brown, Coppery, Peachy, Orange Eyeshadow Goodness

Warm brown eyeshadows of varying depth and finish are all the rage this year - just look at the palettes that have come out in the past 6 months or so, be it from mainstream or more indie brands. In the past, I tended to shy away from very warm tones on my eyes, because I find them to be rather tricky on very fair, cool-toned complexions. While a metallic copper halo smokey eye looks smashing on someone with a medium/ tan skintone, on me it looks like I'm suffering through a stye or a case of rabid rabbit eyes - I'm sure you know what I mean if you're a fellow pale girl.

However, I've recently been feeling swept up by all the orange/ peach eyeshadow hype; I think it's partially the weather finally warming up, but mostly overdosing on ALL THE TAUPE in the past 2-3 years. I have nevertheless promised myself not to purchase another neutral eyeshadow palette, even if it features some new-to-me shades (as discussed in detail in this post) - and while I'm still allowing myself to pick up a single eyeshadow or two where I think it may benefit my collection, I decided first to shop my stash and see what I already own in the general category of warm neutral shades. I actually really enjoy pulling out all my freeform magnetic and premade palettes on a day off and getting busy swatching and rearranging them into new color combinations, so I thought I'd take you along for the ride; maybe you too will be inspired to browse through your collection and rediscover some forgotten eyeshadow gems.

I first started by selecting some of my favorite warm metallic shades that have remained in my stash after various declutters. I've mostly focused on single/ depotted pans from my Z-Palettes for this post, which means that I do in fact own more of this shade category but the eyeshadows are scattered throughout my premade palettes (you know, the ones I haven't subjected to fire + a sharp tool yet). I've also pulled some lighter warm shades I would use as an all over lid shade, and finally some dark warm browns for the outer corner/ lash line. All swatches were done with a finger on bare skin and photographed in indirect natural light - also, let me know if you prefer the shadow names as a caption under the photo or in the actual photo, like today. Let's start by the lightest warm shimmery shades, and medium matte transition/ crease/ blending shades:

Ah, MAC All That Glitters, that old chestnut. I was actually intending to declutter this shade as it tends to pull rather warm and peachy on me, but it's perfect in this subset, isn't it? Stila Spontaneous, from the In The Moment palette (reviewed here) is one of those shades that I tend to forget about easily, even though it's a beautiful color with a stellar formula, possibly the best one out of the whole palette. Too Faced Honey Pot from the Natural Eyes palette is the only true gold remaining in my stash - if you own the original Urban Decay Naked, Half Baked is nearly identical.

Inglot Matte 337 is one of two matte medium browns in my stash, and despite the appearance in the pan, it pulls almost peachy on the skin. TheBalm Sultry from the Nude'Tude palette is slightly deeper and more yellow. I threw in Catrice's blush in Rose Royce (reviewed here) to show that you really don't need the Limited Edition Too Faced Perfect Peach palette, if you're still lusting after one - I'm sure most of us have a matte or satin peach blush in our collection that can be easily worn as eyeshadow in the crease to warm up the look.

Now, those medium depth shimmery/ metallic shades are what I consider the eptiome of warm neutrals. I've roughly divided mine into two groups: the upper row in the photo above (and the first three in the arm swatch) are all more yellow/ orange toned, the bottom row all pull more red/ pinky peach. If you still own the LE Wet n'Wild The Gilded Age trio (shown here), all the shades in there are right on trend, especially the Eyelid and Crease Shades (the latter is shown in the next grouping). BareMinerals Truffle from LE The Finer Things palette (reviewed here) is another save from my declutter box; it's a gorgeous cognac/ chestnut shade that I'd like to incorporate into more looks. Lastly, the bronzy shade from LE Visee Bitter Brown quad (featured here) is the most neutral and sheerest of the bunch, so probably the most effortless to wear for my personal preferences.

Now, as for these pinky coppers, I actually find them easier to wear on myself than the previous three. The Eyelid shade from LE Wet n'Wild Dancing In the Clouds Trio (shown here) is a stunning penny copper with silver microglitters. Too Faced Push Up is my favorite shade out of the entire Natural Eyes palette; if you don't own that, I believe Urban Decay Toasted or MAC Sable are quite similar. Lastly, Fyrinnae Witchy Woodland Creatures may appear quite neutral compared to these other shades, but it does have a strong pink lean that warms up any eyeshadow look.

Dark warm browns - I only own satins and low shimmer finishes - is my smallest subset, and something I may potentially look into expanding in the future. I would mostly use these shades in the outer corner or very sparingly into the crease, or to smoke out a lashline. Look how gorgeous these are in a concentrated arm swatch!

BareMinerals Fate from the Truth quad (reviewed here) appears quite neutral or even cool-toned in the pan, but on my skin it definitely pulls very warm - yet another bM shade I forgot about, but it's going to be perfect for those warm neutral looks. Stila Whim from the In The Moment palette is a stunning chocolatey shades with almost burgundy shimmers, but the formula is a bit dry and not terribly pigmented. Now, another shade from that LE Wet n'Wild The Gilded Age trio; this one is the most shimmery of the bunch, again with those beautiful dark red shimmers. And lastly, the dark brown shade from Visee Bitter Browns - I'd say this one is more neutral than warm-toned, but I wanted to remind myself what it looked like when swatched.

And here's what my small Z-Palette looks like after this swatch session. I still use my theBalm Nude'Tude that I'm trying to pan this year every time I wear eye make-up, but I like to keep the small Z-Palette on hand to have more variety in my looks - I tend to rotate the shadows in it every couple of months or so. The only additional shades inside that haven't been discussed today are Too Faced Heaven, a matte ivory, as well as Velvet Revolver and Sexpresso from the Natural Eyes palette.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Shop My Stash - I need to do these posts more often, it's a lot of fun to go play with my collection! What eyeshadow shades have you been reaching for recently? Do you arrange them in your Z-Palettes or reach for singles and specific palettes?

I'm Never Buying Another Eyeshadow Palette Again.

How's that for a click-baity post title, my dear readers? But hear me out, I think I'm onto something here. I will freely admit that I'm a neutral eyeshadow palette lover. After getting my greedy little paws on the Urban Decay Naked palette all those years ago, I fell down the rabbit hole of finding THE PERFECT neutral eyeshadow palette. There's just something about palettes as a make-up item that ticks all the right boxes for me: the packaging and design is often beautiful and well thought-out, they're wearable and practical for every day, they have variety for creating different looks, they often contain Limited Edition 'unique' shades, and the value for money is hard to beat. What's not to love?

I did manage to contain my initial purchasing craze quite a bit in the past year and a half, but still. In this wishlist post back in 2014, I talked about lemming after the Naked Basics palette, which in the end I did manage to resist, but instead purchased a Physicians Formula matte quad in Canyon Classics (here) - all because I was convinced I needed more basic mattes to compliment my neutral eye looks. Last year, I bought bareMinerals READY 8.0 palette in The Posh Neutrals (here), because somehow bareMinerals' pressed eyeshadows became 'my thing'. And then I also got Makeup Revolution's Death By Chocolate large neutral palette (here), because I didn't own any of the original Too Faced Chocolate Bars and thought that this drugstore version suited my color preferences much better.

ANYWAY - right now, I own 4 premade eyeshadow palettes (the two mentioned above + discontinued Stila E! On The Red Carpet and the currently panned theBalm Nude'Tude), and 3 larger magnetic palettes (two Z-Palettes, one old MAC 15 Pan) filled with singles and depots from other premade eyeshadow palettes I used to own. I also have one small Z-Palette and just a couple quads and quints. It doesn't seem like an excessive amount for a palette junkie like me (especially when you compare it to my Eyeshadow Palette Collection post from 2014), and I can honestly say that one of my reasons for embarking on Pan That Palette 2016 challenge was to get as much use out of my Nude'Tude as possible within a year, and then promptly replace it with a shiny brand new palette. But now, I don't think that's gonna happen.

After using theBalm Nude'Tude almost daily for 4.5 months, I have a lot of thoughts and feels about eyeshadows in general and palettes in particular. Even though I've been blogging about beauty for 7 years now and have always loved wearing eyeshadow, I don't think I have ever had such a clear understanding of what works for me and what doesn't. You may remember me saying at the last Pan That Palette update (here) that I wasn't happy with how three of the darkest shades (marked with an 'X' in the photo above) - Sophisticated, Silly and Sleek - would all end up looking the same shade of muddy charcoal once blended out on my eyes. In a palette with 5 dark shades (which I wear as either outer corner or lash line definition colors), I'm down to just 2 that I enjoy working with: Sexy mostly in the outer corner, Serious to line the eyes.

Clockwise from top: Too Faced Sexpresso (from the old Natural Eye palette), Stila Captivate from the d/c In The Moment palette, theBalm Serious, theBalm Sleek, bareMinerals Apropos from The Truth quad, Inglot Matte 326.

That discovery was quite interesting to me, because to the naked eye, Sophisticated, Silly and Sleek are all very different in the pan. That in turn got me thinking how I'm rarely very excited about any of those dark browns (or greys, or khakis, or plums...) in any of my neutral palettes, and I was hard pressed to come up with a favorite outer corner shade from the top of my head. I sat down at my vanity and laid out all my larger palettes, and decided to swatch some - not all - of those dark matte (or semi matte) shades to compare.

L-R: theBalm Sleek, theBalm Serious, Inglot Matte 326, Too Faced Sexpresso, Stila Captivate, bareMinerals Apropos. Stila Captivate was the driest, least pigmented and most fall-out prone, and I've decided to declutter it.

And SURPRISE SURPRISE: they're almost all the same. Even if they appear quite dissimilar in the pan, or even in my heavy, packed on swatch, once blended out on the eyes, they're virtually identical. But you know, maybe I could just ignore all the dark defining shades in the different eyeshadow palettes on the market, and instead concentrate on those shadows that I use a lot more - let's say, matte highlighting shades. Everyone agrees they're an absolute staple and a must-have in a well-balanced palette, am I right? Back to swatchy swatching, then.

Counterclockwise from the top: bareMinerals Five Star (from d/c The Finer Things palette), Too Faced Heaven (from the old Natural Eye palette), matte ivory from Physicians' Formula Canyon Classics quad, bareMinerals Seredipitous from The Truth quad, Stila Cinema (from d/c E! On The Red Carpet), Stila Desire (from d/c In The Moment palette).

So yeah, okay, they're not all the same - with the exception of Too Faced Heaven and the lightest shade from Physicians' Formula Canyon Classics quad, which clearly are dupes. But again - once I blend them out on my eyes, the end result is pretty much the same. And before you guys say that matte off-white shades and matte dark browns don't make a palette, that often constitutes half of the shades provided. And I could easily continue this exercise with matte transition/ crease shades (except I'd have to split my comparison into cool, neutral and warm-toned; idea for another post, perhaps?) AS WELL AS any of the shimmery lid shades. Champagne, taupe, gold, bronze - you name it, I already have it (as evidenced in this and this swatch post, for example).

L-R: bareMinerals Five Star, Too Faced Heaven, Physicians' Formula Canyon Classics, bareMinerals Serendipitous, Stila Cinema, Stila Desire. All swatched better with a finger than a brush, the Stila shade from In The Moment palette was again the worst formula - but I'm keeping it for now.

I guess you could always decide to simply collect these neutral eyeshadow palettes as pretty toys to take out once in a while and admire, but that's not the reason why I personally love and use make-up. Or you could just treat every palette as a completely separate being, without worrying about overlap between them and having multiple dupes of basic shades. But I value variety - I don't want to feel like I just spent my hard-earned money on the same thing all over again. And AGAIN.

I don't think I'll ever go back to purchasing those premade palettes; as you can see, I usually end up ripping them apart anyway, giving away shadows I don't like or have plenty of dupes for and keeping the remaining depots in my freeform magnetic palettes. With the amount of eyeshadow I own, I hardly see how a just-released neutral palette can possibly bring anything new to my collection.

Let's consider two eyeshadow palettes I've been lemming for a while: the Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye palette and the Tarte Tartelette in Bloom. As demonstrated above, I don't need any more matte highlighting or defining shades - that's already about 50-70% (depending on their actual depth on my fair skintone) of those palettes proven superfluous. Now for the lid/ medium depth shadows in between, I was mostly excited about playing with a matte warm rusty peach transition shade, and a rich reddish chocolate brown for the outer corner. A quick search on Temptalia, and I could easily get those two new-to-me shades of eyeshadow via MAC's single pans in Soft Brown, and maybe Swiss Chocolate. Or something from Makeup Geek. Or Inglot. Or Anastasia Beverly Hills.

But in the meantime, armed with my newly flexed swatchy critical analysis skill, I'm actually going to sit down and fish out some shades from my existing palettes that may fill that lemming before blindly ordering two more shadows for my already brimming collection. Like with my three most recent palette purchases - I actually already owned similar shades in other palettes in my stash. I had had dupes for all the four shades in PF Canyon Classics, and dupes for about 70% of the bareMinerals Posh Neutrals and Makeup Revolution Death by Chocolate. And judging by how quickly I'm able to use an entire pan up, that's enough eyeshadow for another decade. It really is.

So that's what I've been recently pondering about. I'm not actually vowing to never purchase another eyeshadow palette - some shadows get old and may need to be replaced eventually, or I may find myself a neutrals-only girl no longer and lusting after some colorful blues and greens. But for the foreseeable future, I'm not going to buy another palette, or most likely even a trio, quad or a quint. What is your opinion on neutral eyeshadow palettes? Is it something you love and will always be drawn to, or do you find them boring and repetitive? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Liquid Matte: Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Lipstick in Nude-ist

I don't believe there's a beauty brand currently on the market that hasn't come out with a matte liquid lipstick product - even drugstore brands like Revlon and Maybelline have jumped on board (btw, I'm loving that the drugstore is following make-up trends more closely in the recent times!). However, the European drugstore has had their version of a liquid matte for a couple years now - it's the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet ($15.40 on Asos for 0.2 fl oz/ 7.7 ml). I would look longingly at the display every year when I'm in Poland, and this time I decided to pull the trigger and buy one of the most popular shades in the range, 07 Nude-ist.

I don't have a huge experience with matte liquid lipsticks because it's not a product I usually find comfortable to wear. I've tried a few stains in the past and I still own a tube of NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Monte Carlo (reviewed here), but I rarely reach for them - my dry lips don't really appreciate a matte finish. I have heard however that the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvets aren't very drying and last on the lips a very long time, so I was hopeful to find a gem.

The packaging is simple enough: I like that it's exactly the size of a regular lipstick, so it fits perfectly into my lipstick organizer, and I like the shape of the doe foot applicator, because it allows me to define the contours of my lips with a lot of precision, making my lips look bigger without needing a lip liner. One thing to note is that this liquid lipstick is not scent-free; I don't think there's any added fragrance, but it has quite a strong chemical scent as you're applying it. It does dissipate though after the lipstick dries down.

I find the texture of this to be more liquid than mousse-like, as in the NYX Matte Lip Creams - I'm sure there are still silicones in this formula but I'm guessing not as much as in some other matte lip products. Nudist is a nicely pigmented shade, although I do find that it doesn't apply perfectly evenly - it looks a lot more sheer towards the inside of my lips than it does around the edges (you can see a little bit of that in the close-up photo). When freshly applied, it makes my lips look quite smooth, but unfortunately, within an hour or so it definitely accentuates all of my vertical lip lines. Instead of a sensual pout, I'm left with a mouth looking like a shrivelled raisin. Not cool. As for longevity, I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed. Even after the product sets on my lips, I still get transfer on tea cups, and it wears off quite easily even through light snacking and drinking.

L-R: Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in Nude-ist, YSL Rose Stiletto, Bite Rhubarb, Revlon Lip Liner in Pink

Despite the name, Nude-ist definitely isn't a nude shade on me - but I wasn't really expecting it to be. What I was however expecting was a cooler mauve shade like it appears to be in the tube; it turns out though that Nude-ist is actually a lot closer to the color represented on the cap. It pulls a warm rose with hints of brown on me; very on trend, but not a shade that suits my coloring the best. I actually found Nudist to be very comparable to Bite High Pigment Lip Pencil in Rhubarb. Both YSL Rouge Pur Couture in Rose Stilleto* (reviewed here) and Revlon Color Stay Lip Liner in Pink are a bit more pink, but still quite similar.

I think you can tell by now that I'm not completely enamored with this purchase. While I really enjoy how Bourjois Nude-ist looks when I first apply it, it's neither very comfortable or texturally flattering as the day goes on. I don't know, you guys, maybe my lips are just not cut out for this matte liquid lipstick trend. Have you jumped on the bandwagon? What is your favorite matte lipstick formula?