Urban Decay Vice 2 Palette Review and Swatches

This is my first follow up post to my USA Trip hauls which I recently posted about - click here to visit.

I will be reviewing the Urban Decay Vice 2 Palette. When this first came out I immediately put it on my wish list for my trip coz it looks so pretty. I already have a couple of palettes from Urban Decay: the Original Naked Palette and the Fun Palette. And even though I already have tons of eyeshadows in many different colours I just had to get it. I actually purchased this before I even left Australia because UD had a 20% off Family & Friends sale so I took advantage of this and purchased the palette and sent it to my accommodation at my last stop in the States.

The RRP of this palette is $59 but with the 20% off it was $47.20. I thought this was a great price as it includes 20 eyeshadows and a double ended brush.

PACKAGING

Oh my gosh! I really love the packaging. It's a beautiful gorgeous marbled purple colour. The packaging is made from plastic I think but it feels sturdy. To open the palette there is a button you press and this gently opens the palette. 

The Urban Decay logo is a raised logo with diamond like stone..

There is a large mirror which is the same size as the palette so this is handy if you use this for travelling. 

EYESHADOWS

There are 20 eyeshadows in this palette and there is a variety of colours from blues, purples, pinks, greens and neutral.

The texture for most of the shadows were nice and smooth and the pigmentation for most of the colours were really good and they had good payoff. There were a couple that were less pigmented and were harder to swatch but I will mention it as I go through the swatches.

There were only 2 matte eyeshadows in the whole palette and they are Habit (nude/light beige) and Rewind (neutral brown).  The others were either metallic/frosted finish, satin finish or glittery/shimmers.

I liked most of the colours in the palette but it would've been nice if there were a couple or a few more matte shades or blending shades. 

BRUSH

The palette comes with a dual-sided synthetic brush, one to apply all over the lid and one for blending. With my original Naked Palette I really liked the eyeshadow brush that it came with because it was able to pick up and pack on the eyeshadows evenly. However with this one I did not really like the eyeshadow brush so much as I had to dip it into the colour several times. I liked the blending brush a bit  more though. It is different than other blending brush I have as it's quite narrow so it can apply colour more precisely on the crease. It does blend it nicely but I think if you want to blend it better you will need a fluffier brush.

SWATCHES

So here are the swatches. I took the photos row by row and I took photos of the swatches without and with flash. The top image is the swatches taken without flash and the bottom image is taken with flash.

Row 1: Smokeout, Lovesick, Shellshock, Coax and X-Rated

Out of the 5 eyeshadows in the first row, the last 3 (ShellShock, Coax and X-Rated) have the most pigmentation. I found Lovesick (the 2nd shade - matte black with micro-glitter) didn't have a great payoff and felt very dry. I had to swatch it several times to get the colour to turn up. Smokeout (dark chocolate brown with satin finish) was quite similar but not as bad. 

I wasn't sure about the pinks in this row but after trying it I actually quite like them. Coax was more shimmery and a slightly warmer pink than X-rated which is a satin finish.

Row 2: Prank, Madness, Strike, Stash and Poison

My favourites in this row are Madness and Strike.

I found that Poison was a little dry and you have to swatch it a few times to build up the colour. 

Row 3: Radar, Damaged, Voodoo, Betrayal and Derailed

I love the purples in this row. Betrayal is so gorgeous! It's a duo-chrome bright purple with lilac/blue shift. It's so gorgeous on its own or it works well with Voodoo (Purple with a metallic/frosty finish and glitter). I also love Radar, Damaged and Derailed, all of these colours had really great pigmentation and the texture is smooth and buttery. 

Row 4: Dope, Toxic, Habit, Ambush and Rewind

The last row contained neutral colours. This row has the 2 matte colours, Habit (a nude/light beige) and Rewind (neutral brown). Habit is great for highlighting the brow bone as it matches quite closely to my skin colour. These 2 matte colours has great pigmentation and the texture is so smooth and buttery.

Dope, Toxic and Ambush also had really great colour pigmentation. 

Overall I really like this palette and it's great value for what it costs. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a palette with many different colours or you love colourful eyeshadows. However if you are looking for a more wearable palette for work or everyday wear this might not be for you because there aren't too many neutral shades in this palette.  

Hope you enjoy this review and if you have any questions about this palette feel free to ask me in the comments. I will also try to post some looks and EOTDs using this palette.

Makeup Forever Aqua Cream #16 Pink Beige - Swatches & Review

I bought this Makeup Forever (MUFE) Aqua Cream in the colour #16 pink beige around 1 month ago from US and I forgot all about it until I received it in the mail.

I was so excited since I have tried my sister's MUFE Aqua Cream in #13 and the consistency and texture of the cream is so nice!

I really love MUFE Aqua cream and after trying this one in Pink Beige, I want to buy more!!!! I think I will hold off though on buying more until my trip to LA in October.

The MUFE Aqua cream is very pigmented and it lasts long. It doesn't budge once you applied it, stays put all day and it also doesn't crease. I love using it on its own as an eyeshadow or as an eyeshadow base. As a base it intensifies the eyeshadow you apply over it.  

So overall, I think I just can't say enough how I love this cream eyeshadow. I think that because it's a light colour you might be able to get away with using this as a highlighter. Also, one thing that I found when applying this cream eyeshadow, it's better to apply it using your fingers rather than a brush. I tried applying it with a brush and it doesn't apply evenly. I think it's better to use your fingers since it warms up the product and it just glides smoothly.

Have you tried the MUFE Aqua Creams before? If so what do you think of it?  Now I just have to decide what colour to get next.

December 2012 Bella Box and Savoir Faire Winter Kit Swatches

So I was really excited in getting the December Bella Box since I read on Beautyheaven forums that there was something in it that's worth $110. When I opened it I was happy with the contents.

There was only 1 full size product in the box and that was the Savoir Faire Limited Edition Kit in Winter. The other products that was in the box were samples. There was EmerginC moisturiser and cleanser, Allegra Rhodes Hand and Nail Cream (in Red Lychee), John Frieda Frizz-Ease Secret Weapon Finishing Creme and Compeed blister patch.

So far I have only tried the hand cream and the Savoir Faire Kit. The hand cream is nice and has a beautiful lychee scent.  I'm not sure if I will buy the full size though since I already have plenty of hand creams

Now, the Savoir Faire Winter Kit. The kit contains 6 eyeshadows, a blush, a sheer lip gloss, a black mini pencil eyeliner and a mini mascara.

This is the ingredients list:

The kit also came with 3 day to night face charts but I haven't tried them yet. I have however used the eyeshadows with other eyeshadows. The only item I haven't tried is the mascara.

I have swatched the eyeshadows and blushes and they are pigmented and the colours are beautiful. I think if you want to experiment and play around with colours, this is the palette to go too. The only neutral colour is Devout which is a creamy golden colour.

Eyeshadow swatches with flash: Devout, Spicy, Kinetic, Liberating, Immortal and Vivacious

Eyeshadow swatches without flash: Devout, Spicy, Kinetic, Liberating, Immortal and Vivacious

The blush was a really lovely soft pink colour and it's pigmented too but you can apply it sheerly and build it up as desired. It's got a slight shimmer to it (you can see it in the swatches with flash).

Blush swatch without flash

Blush swatch with flash

So that's December Bella Box. This is my second box I've received since I started subscribing in November. I'm not sure if I  will continue the subscription for long. I think I will cancel it after I receive the January box. Even though I've been happy with what I've received, I think I need to use up all the products that I have before piling up my shelf with more products.

Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill eyeshadow - Aqua collection

So sorry I have been on hiatus. I'm now back from holiday and started a new job so hopefully I will be able to start blogging regularly again.

Anyway while I was overseas I bought a Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill eyeshadows from the Aqua collection in number 27. I also wanted to buy the Eyes to Kill mascara but unfortunately it was all sold out, so I got a MAC Haute & Naughty mascara instead (I'll post a review to this in a separate post).

Swatches without flash

Swatches with flash

The Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill eyeshadows are supposed to be a hybrid of cream and powder shadows. They are supposed to last 24 hours and are waterproof and can be applied dry or wet.

The shadow comes in a heavy glass pot and it has got a stopper inside to press down on the pigments.

The eyeshadow are so intensely pigmented. You do not need much at all to apply all over your lid. The shade #27 is so beautiful. It's a bit hard to explain but in the pot you can see shades of muted pink/plum mixed with silvery taupe colour. And when applied on the lid it mixes beautifully. The shadow doesn't crease and last all day. I don't know if it does last for 24 hours but it lasts me more than 9 hours without creasing. 

Unfortunately these eyeshadows are not yet available in Australia. I bought it when I was in Singapore for SG$41 which is around AU$33. It was more expensive than some eyeshadows that I purchased but it was worth it. I kinda regretted only buying 1 shade but I do have tons of eyeshadows already. 

Next time I go overseas I will definitely purchase other shades.