Friday, December 13, 2013

Urban Decay Vice 2 Palette

I've been a big fan of Urban Decay since I purchased my first product of the original Naked Palette a couple years back. So when I saw that the Vice 2 palette was on sale at Beauty Bay, I snapped it up before my credit card {or husband!} could understand what was happening.


And it arrived yesterday!
And it's gorgeous!
And it was love at first swatch!


I'm yet to actually play around with it, I haven't had time, but I've taken the initial photos and swatched the colours, so I thought I'd share those and then introduce some eye looks in the coming weeks.

with flash

natural light

Urban Decay describes this palette as ::

" 20 BRAND-NEW shades, plus a double-ended Good Karma brush. Experiment with insanely cool brights, not-your-average neutrals and sexy hits of smoke, all in our decadent, revamped formula. Even the presentation is luxe. With the touch of a button, the jewel-inlaid case opens slowly, seductively, to unveil all that gorgeous eye candy. Ah, sweet addiction. "

 
They're right about the palette presentation being so luxe; that might be my favourite part, pushing the button and seeing the beautiful colours so slowly revealed.

It contains twenty eyeshadows, and I cannot find one colour that I wouldn't actually wear. I'm sure they'll all get significant use from me, as opposed to the original Vice palette, which I don't own because the colours were a bit too loud & vibrant for me. The textures appear to be buttery soft and smooth with the high standard of pigmentation I've found from Urban Decay, minus a few misses {namely Habit, the centre colour in the bottom row} -- which is still okay, as they can be used as a highlight.

Let take a peek at those swatches, shall we?

Row #1 ::


Smokeout, Lovesick, Shellshock, Coax, X-Rated

Now can I just say how already IN. LOVE. I am with Shellshock, that silver colour in the centre? Oh my, it is like pure chrome. My photo does it no justice, it is amazing, and unlike anything else I own!

Row #2 ::

Prank, Madness, Strike, Stash, Poison

Row #3 ::

Radar, Damaged, Voodoo, Betrayal, Derailed

Row #4 ::

Dope, Toxic, Habit, Ambush, Rewind

You can see how the bottom row is not quite as up to par as it's fellow rows above, but that's not to say they're unworkable.

I'm so excited to start using this palette!

Do you own this palette? 
Or the original Vice palette? 
Which colour/s do you think would be your favourite/s?

Monday, December 9, 2013

Lovely Lips :: Classics #253

A while back, before things got all crazy with the move to Thailand, {and before I slacked off a little on this ol' blog of mine...} I introduced the "Lovely Lips" series to my blog, where basically I would aim every so often to showcase a lip product I own, in the hope of putting my products into a bit more of a rotation.

This is a new lippy to my collection, very generously gifted to me from the lovely Lilit of Makeup and Macaroons, which she purchased while on her recent travels in Armenia. The brand is Classics and while the lipstick has no name, it does have a number, 253.



In the tube, it looks like an incredibly bright colour -- which generally I do not shy away from. However, here in Thailand... if I'm honest, sometimes I feel like... "that crazy Westerner who wears a full face of makeup in sweltering heat". I did so the other day at my daughters school pick-up; I'd been on an outing with my baby son and so I had a full face and curled hair happening, and four separate mothers commented on my makeup that I felt so uncomfortable and haven't worn a bright lipstick there again! Not that their comments were nasty, but I felt very self-conscious being so dolled up around these women who were bare-faced with tied-back hair!

But, I digress.

This lipstick doesn't transfer the same way it looks in the bullet. It is still a beautiful, opaque colour that is perhaps slightly neon, but not in that scary fluorescent lighting-type way.


I find the coral colour to be very wearable, the texture is flawless, and wear time is around four hours before reapplication is required.

Do you embrace the bold lip, or shy away from it?

Friday, December 6, 2013

Sally Hansen Sugar Coat nail polish


When I was in Australia for a fly-through visit a few weeks ago, I had a list as long as my arm of all the things I wanted to stock up on in Priceline {seriously Thailand? Priceline. Get on it.}. I did not however, factor in that tiny little issue of luggage allowance. So half my stuff still resides at my parents place, waiting for me to pick it up at Christmas time!


What I did bring back with me, was one of the Sugar Coat nail polishes, by Sally Hansen. It's not the first of it's kind; there's OPI Liquid Sand, and China Glaze Texture, among others I'm sure, but I like them. I especially like that because of their roughness, they have the ability to stay put on the nails for quite some time longer than a regular polish does, similar to glitter.


So I jumped on the white nail polish wagon, and I picked up #200, Sugar Fix. 

And it is tres cool. Very wintery, very white, and very long-lasting.

This here is two coats, applied four days ago. Still going strong.


Have you tried any of these gritty textured nail polishes?
What do you think of the white nails trend?
Are you on board?!