I think neutral eyeshadows rock everyone’s boat. Whether you’re a hardcore makeup lover or someone who just likes to do the bare minimum, we all have at least one (if not more) neutral palette in our makeup stash. Here are 5 eyeshadow palettes picked ripe from my stash. All neutral, all packing a punch and all really affordable.
Budget beauty brands have really stepped up their eyeshadow palettes game of late and thankfully so many of them are doing a good job of it. If you don’t have the money or frankly just don’t want to fork out the money on Mac and the likes, you don’t have to. And you don’t have to feel like you’re missing out on anything either.
First up in one of my very favourites the Sleek Au Natural Palette. This palette will get you through any nude emergency matte or shimmery 🙂 I actually did a look with this not too long ago here, if you fancy seeing it in action on the eyes. Sleek iDivine palettes will set you back 10-11 euro depending on where you buy.
Next up is the Collection Eyes Uncovered Nude Palette. This is a great little find. The packaging is cardboard but surprisingly sturdy. It contains 6 neutral shades going from a light shimmery vanilla shade to a dark charcoal brown. It will set you back €5.49.
My third neutral eyeshadow palette pick is an oldie but a goodie. The Wet n Wild trio in ‘Walking On Eggshells’. This is a bit of a cult buy. It contains 3 perfect neutral shadow shades. It will cost you €4.49.
A Flormar nude choice is next, their eyeshadow palette in Nude Dudes specifically. All the shadows in this palette are matte, and it costs €9.95. SimplyFoxy sell Flormar online here
The last one I think is the most budget friendly of them all considering how many shadows you get for €4.99. My last nude choice from my stash is the Essence All About Nudes Eyeshadow Palette.I think the name of the palette really speaks for itself, right? 🙂
There you have it. Five budget friendly, but also practical and decent neutral eyeshadow palettes. These are all in my makeup stash and all of them get used day to day.
Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading 🙂
This little Zpalette contains my favourite and most used Makeup Geek neutral picks. It took a alot of planning and thinking to make this palette and I have to say I am quite proud of it 🙂
If you’ve followed me for a while, you know I am a huge Makeup Geek eyeshadow fan. I am huge fan full stop but my stash contains alot of Marlena’s eyeshadows. In fact as I am writing this it’s making me want to make another order, so I may have more before this post is through 🙂
So what Makeup Geek neutral eyeshadows does my favourite little Zpalette contain? I think there’s a good mix of light, dark,shimmer and matte in these choices. I would happily just bring this palette away with me and be able to create a multitude of looks.
There’s ‘Vanilla Bean’
It’s a cream coloured satin finish shadow, works great all over the lid as a base, or a subtle eyebrow highlight.
‘Peach Smoothie’
This is one of the best transition colours ever. Its great for a base in the crease, great for blending out colours,generally just great. I love it 🙂
‘Latte’
This is a cool toned matte brown. I would say I wear this shade nearly every time I wear makeup. I love it for defining the crease.
‘Brown Sugar’
Such a pretty darkish shimmery brown shade. This is gorgeous on it’s own just all over the lid, or I love using it under the lash line too.
‘Cocoa Bear’
This is a Makeup Geek Eyeshadow everyone needs in their lives. It is the ultimate warm brown shade. I love layering this on top of Latte in the crease when building up colour intensity. I am really fair skinned though, if you have warmer skin, this is the perfect crease colour. I love using it to smoke out under the lash line too.
‘Bada Bing’
Bada Bing is Latte and Cocoa Bear’s really good friend. Its a chocolatey brown with gold shimmer running through it. It’s great for darkening up the outer edge of the eyes to smoke things up, or across the top lash line or even all over the lid. The choice is yours 🙂
‘Spotlight’
This is a Makeup Geek Foiled Eyeshadow. It’s shiny, it’s shimmery and it’s peachy perfection in my opinion 🙂 I love wearing this all over the lid, as an inner corner highlight and even layering it on top of eyeshadows to add an extra something. The foiled shadows are even more shiny and pigmented if you use them with a wet brush…I need more!
‘Bling’
Bling reminds me of Shroom or Nylon by Mac. It has a high shine satin finish nearly but no shimmer particles. A great inner corner highlight or I’ve even used it as a face highlight!
The last of my 9 neutral Makeup Geek shadow faves is:
‘Cosmopolitan’
Everyone needs a shimmery copper eyeshadow in their lives I think. It’s the type of shade that looks gorgeous on every eye colour. A wash of this over the eyes and you’re good to go.
So there you have it my prized favourite Makeup Geek neutral shadows. Have you any? What’s your favourite Makeup Geek product? I need to be enabled 🙂 You can buy directly from the Makeup Geek website here (although customs are an issue so be careful with how much you spend). Beauty Bay also sell Makeup Geek here, they are a little more expensive though.
I am always on the lookout for brilliant budget beauty buys. (yes I love that all of the words begin with b, not gonna lie :)) Rather than do monthly faves, I think I might do posts like this so often for budget and non budget beauty. Let me know what you think?
First up in my budget beauty list is:
My very beloved Rimmel Lasting Finish Nude Foundation.
I won’t bore you with the details. I waffle about this foundation all the time and have a full review here. This stuff just does it for me. I love the finish, the longevity, it wears really well on my oily skin and the coverage. It will set you back €9.99 in Boots so at a smidgen under a tenner, not a bad price point at all.
Next up on budget friendly rambles are these Catrice Liquid Metal Eyeshadows.
I think Catrice have nine colours to choose from in the Liquid Metal range. I have three of them and they get alot of use from me.
090 Nougat it right
070 Gold leaf me
100 What do you see?
These little pots are really pigmented, go on without any fuss and when dampened pack even more punch. I love shadows like this because you can create a really cool eye look without any effort. Not sure of the exact price on the Liquid Metal Shadows but I know they cost less than 4 euro a piece.
Another Catrice fave in my budget beauty stash is their Liquid Camouflage concealer.
I go into more detail and demo this here. It’s such a fab purse friendly full coverage concealer that works well under the eyes and around the face. A must have in your makeup drawer in my opinion, and with it being €3.99, I don’t feel guilty saying that 🙂
These Penneys lashes need no introduction, they have taken on a life of their own in the beauty world it seems.
They are so handy to have around when you are looking to add a little something more to a look. They would be described as individual lashes, unlike other individual lashes they have three clusters on one band, which for me takes way less faffing about.
You can add just one of these to your outer lashes and be good to go. And the best part it? They cost €1.50! You wouldn’t even get a coffee for that nowadays (in Dublin at least) and you get glue included for that price too. Score!
The Maybelline Lash Sensational Waterproof mascara is a rediscovery for me.
I got it a while back and loved it, even gave it a full review here. Then, I started having a thing with the Catrice Glam & Doll mascara (full review here) and I forgot about it for a while. I pulled it out the other week more to see if it was time to bin it or not and gave it one last whirl. I swear it’s an even better mascara now after drying out in the drawer for a couple of months! Might buy another one and just leave it in the dark for a while 🙂 I picked this up in Boots for €11.99. Not the cheapest mascara in the world, but still a decent price I reckon, and they’re always doing offers on it.
I have been loving this Essence No Makeup Look Nail Polish in Powdery Nude so much of late.
If you just be couldn’t be bothered doing your nails, but want them to look decent, this is such a great little find. I put a base coat on, add two layers of this and I’m done.
It dries really quickly and has a cool powdery finish to it so adding a top coat would take away from that. And it lasts really well on the nails. I can get around four days out of it before it starts to move, that’s not bad at all. I picked this up in Penneys and it cost me less than €3.
I have an oldie but a goodie next. The Sleek Face Form Contouring And Blush Palette.
I brought this to Oslo with me and it’s made me fall in love with it all over again. This is the light version of the palette and you get a contour shade, a highlighter and a blush, all for €9.99.
Not a bad deal whatsoever. Sleek is such a great brand! The shades double up as eyeshadows as well which is great for travelling.
This Flormar Bronzing Powder is huge and this is one of the reasons what I love it. It will last you a life time.
It’s also a really nice soft bronzer though. It has a really faint glitter running through it, but it doesn’t translate too much when on the skin.
The fact it’s so big means you can use a huge brush to apply it so it’s quick, easy and great for bronzing up the body too. A firm budget beauty fave in my collection. You can actually buy Flormar online here from Simplyfoxy. It will set you back €9.99.
My last favourite of the minute is Botanics Soothing Eye Makeup Remover.
I am a waterproof mascara junkie, and this does a fab job of removing every scrap of it without irritating or dragging my eyes. It’s an oil in water solution, so you just have to give it a good shake before you use it to ensure the liquid is fully mixed. I apply it with a couple of cotton rounds, leave them on each eye for a couple of seconds and then wipe. It even remove Inglot Gel liner and doesn’t leave you with panda eyes the next morning. That’s impressive! At full price this will set you back €5.99 from Boots, it’s always on special though so just keep a look out. I am a huge fan of the Botanics range, they do some brilliant skincare and haircare products, that are really reasonably priced.
There you have it, a run through of some of my budget beauty favourites of the moment. What’s your favourite purse friendly product? I’d love to know 🙂
MS Ireland are running a campaign in the month of February called Kiss Goodbye To MS. It’s to help raise money for research and to support all the people living with MS in Ireland. What a fabulous cause!
A red lip (or anything red really) plays into the campaign and I was asked to share a red lip selfie with the #kissgoodbyetoms to raise awarness for it. As well as the important part, texting ‘Smooch’ to 50300 to donate €4 to the campaign. So, get your red lippie on and get involved. It’s for charity 🙂
Here’s the look I created for my selfie. I went with a subtle gold eye using the Sleek ‘A New Day’ palette (which I have a full break down of here). And, then a glossy red Rimmel lip.
First, I used two matte brown shades from the palette mixed together and used them to softly define the crease of my eyes with a fluffy brush after prepping my lids with primer and loose powder.
For my lid, I took the yellow gold from the Sleek palette.
To make the colour a little more opaque, I dampened my brush with some Serozinc.
I patted this colour all over my eyelid.
To deepen the crease and outer corner, I took the darkest matte brown in the palette and applied it to the outer corner of my eyes and swiped in slightly in to the crease with a tapered brush.I’ll always highlight the brow bone just to clean up any harsh lines and cover any imperfections up there too. I used the lightest shade in the Sleek palette, it has a bit of shimmer but nothing to intense.
To add a bit of definition, I took the Sleek brown Eau La La Liner and applied it to the lash line.
I applied some of the brown shadow I used in the outer corner of my eye on top of the pencil, just to set it in place.
Under the eye I took the two brown mattes I initially used to define my crease and buffed them under lightly with a soft brush.
Then, I curled my lashes and added plenty of mascara.
To finish the eyes off I lined my top and bottom waterline with my favourite brown Rimmel Exaggerate liner.
And used this light shimmery shade from the Sleek palette on the inner corners of my eyes.
And the eyes are dunzo!
For the lips (the most important part 🙂 )
I applied some loose powder over my lips after finishing the rest of my makeup, just to get rid of any excess foundation and lip balm.
I lined them using the red Rimmel Exaggerate lip liner.
I think if you’re going for a bold lip regardless of the colour lining the lips is important. It means you can even out your lip line, stops the lipstick feathering and it gives you a guide line to fill in.
I went with a glossy lipstick, Rimmel’s ‘The Only One’ Lipstick I have a review of these lippies here.
I went in straight from the bullet, but you can of course use a lip brush, I was just feeling brave 🙂
And that’s me done, ready to take my red lip selfie for MS Ireland 🙂
Easy peasy right? And cheap too, that wasn’t on purpose! Let me know what you think.
Sleek Makeup products have donned my makeup collection before we could even get our mitts on them easily here in Ireland. I am a big fan so it’s great to see the brand in so many pharmacies around the country now.
I am predicting their newest Sleek Makeup iDivine eyeshadow palette called ‘A New Day’ is going to be a resounding hit if I base it on all of you lovely people asking about in on social media 🙂
I have it in my possession less than a week and I committed a beauty blogging cardinal sin…I used it before taking pictures on my DSLR camera, the shame, oh the shame. I just couldn’t wait to dig in though, so will you forgive me? Ok now that confession is out of the way lets dig into the important bit, the swatching 🙂
As with all iDivine eyeshadow palettes from Sleek Makeup, there are 12 eyeshadows within.
There is a great mix of mattes, shimmers and satin finish shadows, which is really appreciated. It means you don’t have to go from palette to palette when you’re creating a look. Handy for travelling too. I always use an eyeshadow primer. I have oily lids so it’s a complete necessity for me. With a primer added though the Sleek Shadows tend to stay put on me really well.
I’ve swatched them left right:
‘Sun is Shining’.
‘Brightside’.
‘Daydreamer’.
‘Let It Go’.
‘Don’t Worry’. (my personal fave 🙂 )
‘Be Happy’.
‘Feelin’ Good’.
‘Silver Lining’.
‘Shine On’.
‘Carpe Diem’.
‘Believer’.
‘H-A-P-P-Y’.
How cute are the names by the way? All positive connotations. Love it 🙂
The Sleek Makeup ‘A New Day’ palette will be available nationwide in stores from the 8th next Monday onwards. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, if you’re that way inclined 🙂 And of course you can buy Sleek online too here from Boots and Cloud10Beauty here
The Sleek iDivine Palettes usually cost €9.99 not a bad price point at all!
https://i2.wp.com/beautynook.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Sleek-A-New-Day-iDivine-Palette-1.jpg?fit=1600%2C1067&ssl=110671600Gemhttps://beautynook.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Logo.pngGem2016-02-03 13:13:362018-02-19 21:16:58Sleek Makeup A New Day iDivine Palette
Urban Decay released the rest of their Gwen Stefani collaboration goodies last week! The lipsticks,lipliners and the brow kit look beautiful…that packaging though? I only caved slightly and bought the blush palette.
I got the eyeshadow palette when it was first released and I am so happy to have it in my Urban Decay collection. Have I ever told you, I kind of sort of collect Urban Decay palettes? 🙂 You can see the eyeshadow palette up close here if you are undecided about picking it up and want to see it in more detail.
I’m talking all things blush in this Urban Decay Gwen Stefani post though. Here she is in all her glory.
I am in love with the packaging, it’s sturdy, stylish and compliments the eyeshadow palette, which makes me very happy not going to lie, I love a good theme ha!
You get six shades of blush in the palette. They each contain 2.8 grams of product.
The colour range and finish is varied and as you would expect from Urban Decay they are pigmented and very smooth.
Here they are swatched on my arm for reference:
This is ‘Cherry’
This is ‘Easy’
This is ‘Angel’
This is ‘Lo-Fi’
This is ‘Hush’
This is ‘OC’
Overall, I personally really like the Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Palette. I think I would be more inclined to call it a face palette though. ‘Angel’ for example is more of a highlight shade than a blush. I would probably mix this in with other shades to change the colour or add shimmer to them. Also, ‘Lo-Fi’ to me is more of a warm bronzer shade. I think the other four colours ‘Cherry’,’Easy’ ‘Hush’ and ‘OC’ are really lovely blush shades and I will get plenty of use out of them day to day.
I don’t think this a definite go out and buy it release, but I think if you do pick it up you’ll be happy to have it in your collection. Also, they’ve made it limited edition which always makes us a bit more obsessed, right? Clever marketers 🙂
The Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Blush Palette will set you back €42 and you can buy it from Debenhams in store or online here and House of Fraser.
Next up is the Collection Eyes Uncovered Nude Palette. This is a great little find. The packaging is cardboard but surprisingly sturdy. It contains 6 neutral shades going from a light shimmery vanilla shade to a dark charcoal brown. It will set you back €5.49.
My third neutral eyeshadow palette pick is an oldie but a goodie. The Wet n Wild trio in ‘Walking On Eggshells’. This is a bit of a cult buy. It contains 3 perfect neutral shadow shades. It will cost you €4.49.
A Flormar nude choice is next, their eyeshadow palette in Nude Dudes specifically. All the shadows in this palette are matte, and it costs €9.95. SimplyFoxy sell Flormar online here
The last one I think is the most budget friendly of them all considering how many shadows you get for €4.99. My last nude choice from my stash is the Essence All About Nudes Eyeshadow Palette.I think the name of the palette really speaks for itself, right? 🙂
There you have it. Five budget friendly, but also practical and decent neutral eyeshadow palettes. These are all in my makeup stash and all of them get used day to day.
