In the search of the perfect eye shadow palette

I've had this feeling for a while that it might be time for me to purchase a new eye shadow palette.
It probably has to do with the fact that the beauty market has been exploding with various palettes this year.
I've been oohing and aahing but could not make up my mind for the longest time.

When it comes to make-up and especially eye shadows, I am quite minimalistic, I don't feel the need to use eye shadows everyday. For the past two years the only eyeshadows I have used was Charlotte Tilbury's eye shadow quad in Sophisticate. It had a nice brightening your-skin-but-better shade, a slightly darker beige one for the crease, warmer dark brown for smoky eye and a matte grey brown which was the perfect colour for my eyebrows!


Nearly two years later, I have used up the lightest colour and I still haven't reached the pan on all the other ones. Now that I'm writing this, I'm wondering why have I even decided that I need a new palette... I could have just purchased a singular pale cream colour and been done with it... Oh, but the heart wants what it wants. *shrugs*

I have decided to go for a high end brand rather than high street. I am sure that high street offers some amazing quality eye shadows but call me what you want, I enjoy a pretty design and packaging.

I've looked at most of the brands...

Charlotte Tibury: The Dolce Vita and The Golden Goddess looked nice and so did the face palettes, but I felt like it was time for a larger palette. And non Charlotte Tilbury for once.

Same goes to Chanel/ Dior/ Tom Ford. That said, I was lusting big time after Tom Ford's Honeymoon and Nude Dip palettes... But £64 for four colours. Yowza!

Violet Voss/ Morphe Brushes: The palettes are too big. I don't need that many colours.

Anastasia Beverly Hills: Modern Renaissance. This is probably great since everyone and their mother has one, but I wasn't attracted to the colours, especially the hot pink and red one.

Zoeva: Some great colour combinations and great value for money. Not surprisingly however the packaging is cheap and since I'm intending to use my palette for a couple of years, I doubt it would last or stay looking presentable for a long time.

Urban Decay: the heat palette seems a tad too warm for my liking and I'm kind of over the Naked palettes.

MAC: I heard the palettes are not of the best quality... They might have suited me OK since I am not a professional, but the packaging didn't look great either.

Stilla/Smashbox and Tarte came close to being picked but then I stumbled across the new-ish Nars Loaded Palette in Strike it Rich and I knew I've found THE ONE. It has both mattes and shimmers, plenty of light colours, warm browns, interesting gold, reddish bronze... For me, it seems to have it all and more. Quite an upgrade from the quad of mattes I've been using even though I still think CT quad in The Sophisticate is a great basic.
Nars palette is not cheap, it's £55 but it offers 12 colours and a nice sturdy packaging with huge mirror. I took my time to check all the retailers and decided to purchase from Space NK because they had free shipping, best samples and let me use two voucher codes to add two additional luxury sized samples (Lancer and Vita Liberata), score!

I've had this palette for a few days now and I'm really happy with it. There's so many looks to try! 

What's your favourite palette?

Retinoiding. The Ordinary Advanced Retinoid 2%. Review.

I think when most people hear the word retinol or retinoid, they either don't know what that is or they immediately think "major extreme harsh anti-ageing skin treatment". It's true with the prescription creams. However, there seems to be trend happening at the moment where major skincare brands are looking into making the vitamin A products as mild and non-irritating as possible while still delivering the results.

Human psychology is a funny thing though. I had a friend saying that she didn't like the Ordinary because she felt that it didn't do anything. I kind of felt the same thing about The Ordinary's The Buffet serum because there was no immediate effect. So how do we know that it works? With harsh retinoid products we see peeling and irritation and then the skin seems really great which is exciting and obviously we see the reaction which means it's working. With gentle retinoids there is no reaction, the skin looks alright all the time.

That's how I felt when I started using The Ordinary retinoid serum. I would use it every other night, avoiding using acids at the same time and would apply calming face oil afterwards. And it was alright, the serum was of pleasant milky consistency and my skin felt comfortable and slightly glowy right after the application. No irritation, redness or peeling at all.

I decided to use this serum every night for a week just to see if I notice any difference. And actually, I did. My skin is dryish-dehydrated but also prone to congestion, so I tend to use acids a lot to help with it. In the week of my retinoid use, I avoided using acids which usually help me with congestion. Still, I would always wake up with a smooth skin and by the end of the week I that my skin texture changed slightly and got smoother. I had zero spots the whole week. This is not atypical but I do get a spot from time to time.

Anti-ageing properties? Probably there are some. Try it for yourself with no fear and see. It's only £8.00. No cream will help deep wrinkles but continuous use may help to prevent some. Make sure to wear sunscreen!

All in all, I enjoyed using The Ordinary's Advanced 2% Retinoid and will continue using it. Seeing as this is the first retinoid product I have used, I will be interested to try some others and compare. But I will be sticking to the gentle ones.

June empties

Quite a lot of beauty empties this month and a little bit of everything.

BODY
The Body Shop Body Butter in Jolly Orange - like all of the Body Shop butters it has a nice texture, sinks in quickly, is nourishing and moisturising. Took me AGES to finish it and in that time I went through a love/hate relationship with the smell. It's citrusy and spicy but in a rather artificial way. I will repurchase but not in this smell. It was limited edition anyway.
Chanel Coco Mademoiselle Eau de Parfum - my signature scent. Will definitely repurchase, probably the 100ml because I just have to have it in my collection. I don't care how uncool it is to love something that everyone likes. Everyone likes it for a reason.

HAIR
Co Lab Dry Shampoo in Fresh - good basic dry shampoo. I prefer the smell of Active.
Josh Wood Radiant Shine Hair Treatment Oil - I liked using this as a pre-shampoo treatment. Gorgeous smell. Amazing.

FACE. SKINCARE
Pixi + Caroline Hirons Double Cleanse - nice as always. Full review here.
Dr Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Universal Daily Peel - this is one of the stronger acids I have tried. Proper tingling action. Visible results after one application, the skin felt much smoother but I broke out a bit too. I'm going to stick to gentler acids during summer, I think. Smells lovely.
Indie Lee CoQ 10 Toner - I miss it. Definitely worth repurchasing if one can afford it. I can't at the moment. I did some damage in the clothing sales. Full review here.
Clinique Moisture Surge Hydrating Supercharged Concentrate sample - Nice. Hydrating. Not sticky. Wouldn't mind a full size.
UltraSun Face SPF30 - oh it's alright. I don't miss it. Comparison with other sunscreens here.

FACE. MAKEUP
Charlotte Tilbury Full Fat Lashes - I grew to really like this but it's not repurchase worthy. Do get the sample size if you're ordering from CT website!


No favourites this month. I will probably do summer favourites in a month or so.
Next post if all goes well should be all about The Ordinary advanced 2% retinoid! This week I will be using it EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Wish me luck. I will report back.