NP Set Palettes galore! Glam Set & Red Carpet Set (Pic Heavy)

Ahhh Napoleon, to be honest i've not tried very many Napoleon makeup products, I bought a lipstick once on a whim and I actually really like it!

These palettes are from Napoleons more "budget friendly" range NP Set which is available in department stores (Pretty sure BIG W has a sale on these products this week...go go go). I honestly can't see the difference between these more pocket friendly products and the normal range, so for me it's pocket friendly each time.

I was sent these palettes to try out (eons ago... yep bit slow on the ol blogging front over here) and I thought they were the perfect option for someone just starting to get into makeup (younger girls, i'm looking at you!). At a very wallet friendly price of $29 each you get yourself 4 lovely eyeshadows which are nicely pigmented, easy to blend and with a kick ass eye primer hold out throughout the day. You also get 4 lipglosses (to be honest i'm not a fan of these, just because it's a bit impractical to take this palette for touch ups) and lastly, there are 2 blush colours!

Onto the sets, you have a choice of 2 sets which makes life easier... ask yourself the question are you a neutral girl or a little more daring?



The Glam Set is for your more neutral loving girl, the shadows in this are right up my alley and the 4 shades compliment each other really nicely and make for some nice easy eye looks.

The blushes are meant to be a contour and highlight blush I think, these did not work for me at all. The darker colour was just too dark for my fair skin, it may however work for you.

Here are some close ups of the palette and some swatches







Sorry I didn't bother doing the lip glosses, the swatches I tried were way to sheer and really didn't show anything at all.



The Red Carpet set is a little brighter and bolder, you can experiment a little more with the eyeshadow colours while still maintaining a quite neutral look if thats what you prefer.

When I first received this the thing I was most excited about was the blushes in this particular set... bright bold and exactly what I am into right now, the blushes on their own are fantastic and highly pigmented but I made a little discovery! Mixing these blushes together gives the most perfect pinky coral cheek....quite similar to one of my favourite blushes, the limited edition MAC Ripe Peach blush. I did a swatch of the colours blended together on their own so you can see for yourself.









Ahhh I just love them mixed together!!!

So overall these palettes are a nice addition to my makeup collection, personally if I could choose i'd have the neutral eyeshadows with the 2 bright blushes and no lip glosses in my ideal NP Set palette.

If your interested in purchasing this you can find NP Set at Target, Big W and now TVSN!

Products mentioned were provided for my consideration, please read my disclosure policy for further information.

 

Essence Hauling! Eyeshadows - Disco Diva, Party All Night & Taupe of the Pops

Essence is a fairly new brand the Australian market and luckily for us it's one of those brands that has come out here and not been overly marked up beyond the point of purchasing. It's still nice and cheap so when you need a quick beauty fix, it's a great place to start! They are stocked in Target locations in Australia (not 100% if all Targets stock them but the ones i've been to have all had it).

I picked up a few things to try out and so far i'm pretty impressed, so much so I want to go and try some more of their products.

Let's start with eyeshadows, I kind of stayed in my comfort zone with 2 neutrals and I picked one brighter colour since it's my aim to add more brighter eye looks to my makeup routine.



As for size, they are 2.5g and the pan is pretty much the size of a Stila pan which comes in at 2.6g.









As far as quality goes, these are pretty good! The colour payoff is great and they are super smooth, however I do think Disco Diva is a bit of a harder shadow to work with when I used it I needed to pack it onto my brush a bit more then the other colours.

The wear is also good, however I always use an eyeshadow primer (Urban Decay Primer Potion) but the colours didn't crease on me at all.

Best part? They cost $3.25each! That's cheaper then a Latte!

Okay are you ready for my pop of colour? Here is a look I did using Disco Diva!



Eye Breakdown -

Lid - Virgin (Urban Decay Naked Palette)

Crease & Blended out above crease - Essence Disco Diva

Lashline - Purple from Stila Creme Bouquet Palette

Lower Lashline - As above with Essence Disco Diva smudged on top

Outer Corner - Creep (Urban Decay Naked Palette)

Browbone - Virgin (Urban Decay Naked Palette)

Smokey Eye feat. SAX Cosmetics

I'm finally trying to get through a backlog of photos I took months and months ago with the intention of blogging them all then, but that didn't happen! So here we go... from the vault :)

SAX cosmetics is a brand i'd never really heard of before, I was sent a lovely package from Sweaty Betty PR containing a bunch of SAX goodies and I thought the best way to showcase some of the products was to do a complete eye look featuring 3 of the products I received.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="588" caption="The goods - SAX Creme Precision Eyeliner, SAX Wonderlash Dramatic Volume Mascara & SAX Eye Lux Eyeshadow Quintette"][/caption]

SAX Creme Precision Eyeliner - Platinum - RRP $12.95AUD

When I opened this eyeliner up I was so excited about the colour, it's a colour I don't have in my collection and grey/silver colours work really well with my blue eyes. Even swatched the colour is absolutely gorgeous.

Unfortunately, being an awesome colour just wasn't enough. I found the pencil to be quite hard and it dragged along my skin which is not something I enjoy when it comes to applying eyeliner because that area is so sensitive.





SAX Wonderlash Dramatic Volume Mascara - RRP $17.50AUD

Mascara... Oh how I love what thee does to my eyes! I'm a pretty simple girl when it comes to what I look for in a mascara. I like it to give me a bit of length, a bit of volume, be black and not flake during the day.

Being that this mascara is a Volumising mascara means I won't get the length I like but if the volume is there then thats enough. This mascara is nice, but not mindblowing. I will definitely continue to use it until it's finished but it won't replace my love of other mascaras...read Maybelline Colossal Volume & Covergirl Lashblast.

SAX Eye Lux Eyeshadow Quintette - Smokey Denim - RRP $14.95AUD

I love palettes! Yep i'm a lazy girl who likes her colours pretty much picked out for me so I don't have to think about what i'm going to pair with what. The Smokey Denim palette comes with all the colours you need to complete a smokey eye look, featuring a matte black, shimmery gray, shimmery blue and a couple of highlight colours it makes your smokey eye a total no brainer.

While these colours aren't right up there with the most pigmented eyeshadows i've used (MAC, Inglot, Urban Decay) what I did find is they were an absolute dream to blend and work with, so for the novice make up applyee (haha i love making up words) these are a good starting point. I do recommend getting some decent brushes though, sorry but the sponge tip applicator they put in these palettes are rubbish.





Now if we put all of these products together what do we get, the following smokey eye! I used all of the shadows in the palette, the eyeliner and the mascara, I also know i'm not the best at applying makeup but it's fun to try a few new looks sometimes :)





SAX Cosmetics can be purchased from various Pharmacies in Australia.

Please note these products were provided for my consideration, for more information please read my disclosure policy.

IT'S HERE!!!

Yes this totally deserves it's own post!

My Urban Decay Naked Palette has arrived!! I can't wait to start playing!

Gorgeous Stila palette for a bargain price...is she insane?

Nope I'm not! Quickly head over to Mecca Cosmetica and pick up this gorgeous Stila palette for $90... no actually that's what you'd expect to pay right? It's really only $38!!!.

I honestly didn't think I needed another palette in my life (except for you Urban Decay Naked Palette) but when I saw the insanely good price of this palette and the fact it was in my home country and not via some US online store I was sold, literally.

This is such a versatile palette with a range of colours which can make a combination of looks. I am obsessed with the burgandy colour it just makes my blue eyes pop. The quality is regular Stila quality which in my opinion is very good, pigmented easy to use shadows.

This is currently sold out online, but I have seen it in Mecca stores so check those out.

Apologies I didn't take photos when I first got the palette but I'm too impatient to wait until I get good lighting to take photos, I have to use things right away.