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Mac Eyeshadow Collection

I have been slowly re-adding to my Mac eyeshadow collection ever since they brought the price of the single pans down to €7. For a long while I had just stopped buying them and even gave a host of them away. As other brands came onto the market like Makeup Geek or even now Penneys that do great single pans, buying exclusively Mac just wasn’t necessary.

As the price is a bit more affordable and Mac is a more readily available for us too with Brown Thomas, Arnotts and even ASOS selling it now. Although, ASOS don’t sell just the pans. I’ve been using it as an excuse to buy up some of the colours I’ve always wanted to try buy just never got around to over my makeup loving years. And some old favourites. I’m not really buying basics as in transition shades or anything, just shades that take my fancy, although that may change. Never say never 🙂

My Mac eyeshadow collection is way smaller than it used to be, but I thought this might be helpful, just in case, like me, there’s certain shades you want to try. I can update it as I pick up more, and be sure to leave me suggestions in the comments below of other cool single pans to pick up.

I feel like I’m starting again with my collection and it feels good, I won’t lie.

Nine pans are all that adorn my new pro palette at the minute, but they’re very nice pans, and I’m happy with them all 🙂

From left to right we have:

Naked Lunch, a frosted pale, nearly the same colour as my skin tone kinda shade.

All That Glitters is another pale frost with a bit more of a peach tone.

Satin Taupe is exactly what it say on the tin.

Woodwinked is a warm brown metallic shade.

Amber Lights is a warm copper with a frosty finish.

Coppering is a warm copper with a frost finish.

Vex is completely new to me, I’ve never owned it before. It’s a pale frost with like a pewter shift to it and I just thought it looked interesting.

Club is one of my favourite Mac eyeshadows. It has a duo chrome finish and looks different with how you apply it. It shifts brown and green.

Lastly we have Cranberry. It’s a warm frosted cranberry shade.

Here’s some of them in action on my eyeballs really simply.

And that’s it for now! I’ll be sure to update the list as I shop 🙂

xxx

July 29, 2018/by Gem

One Eyeshadow Makeup Look

As a bit of a makeup fiend, I know I can get a bit over zealous with the eyeshadow application. I buy ALOT of makeup and am lucky to receive PR samples doing what I’m doing. I’ve gained quite the collection over the years, so have a lot to choose from. I thought I would bring it back to basics a little for this post and show how you can achieve a really wearable, pretty (in my humble opinion) look, using just one eyeshadow. This is my really simple one eyeshadow makeup look.

Initially I was going to go for a matte brown eyeshadow, as it would be super wearable. But every time I rock a purple eye, I always get questions about what I used. I found this Nars Dual Intensity eyeshadow in Phoebe, not going to lie, at the back of one of my drawers. It’s a really nice flattering shade of purple, so I made this my weapon of choice for my one eyeshadow makeup look.

This video is more about placement and blending though rather than the eyeshadow itself. The techniques will generally work for most shadows. Darker ones might take a little more work blending though just to note. But, for any light or medium shadow, two brushes and a warmed up blending hand should work a treat 🙂

So click on the video for my tips and tricks for using one eyeshadow to create a whole eye look. I did use lashings of mascara (Catrice Lashes To Kill Pro and Mac Extended Play). As well as a flesh coloured eyeliner in the waterline too, just to pull everything together. The star of the show is definitely the shadow though and it’s super easy to achieve, I promise.

If you want to see the lip colour I went with to complete this look, it’s in my last post on how to get fuller lips here. Let me know what you think and as always thanks for clicking.

Gemma.

xxx

April 27, 2018/by Gem

Haul, Makeup

Kiko Cosmetics Makeup Haul

This is definitely a bit repetitive. My last blogpost here was a makeup haul from Brown Thomas. Forgive me. I had a voucher for BT. And we are just back from a couple of days away in Brussels where we had the best time. Belgium also have Kiko Cosmetics though, so I couldn’t resist picking up a few bits in store.

Kiko have a pretty decent sale on at the minute online and in store. A lot of their stock have 30% off. Also, they are selling off a lot of their limited edition collections aswell.

The first thing I got was the Smart Cult Eyeshadow Palette in Matte Revolution.

I would have picked up the Shocking Sparkle Shades one also, only they didn’t have it in stock in store. These are pretty new palettes, but they are currently 30% off here.

I had actually shared a pic of these on my social media a couple of weeks ago eyeing them up so I was delighted to get at least one and with the 30% off it only set me back €11.85, which I thought was pretty damn decent.

Like any brand, Kiko Cosmetics for me, can be great and not so great. I’ve picked up some things over the years and they’ve ended up in the bin. I think that happens with most brands though, not everything is going to suit. Not everything is going to be good. One thing they do very well though is cream eyeshadow sticks.

I already have a fair few of these. They come in an abundance of colours. I was restrained, mostly because I’m poor, and just picked up two shades 🙂

They are €6.95 a pop in store or online here.

I got 36 which is Golden Mauve.

And also 38 Golden Taupe.

Both of these are actually quite cool toned. That wasn’t on purpose but I am definitely venturing into the more cool toned shadow world again at the moment.

Another pencil buy was their Ever Lasting Colour Precision Lip Liner in 402.

I’ve never tried these before, they were on sale, (again 30% off here), and I thought 402 looked like a good everyday lip colour.

These are retractable and have a sharpener built in which is always super handy too.

My last two Kiko Cosmetics purchases were of the shimmery variety. I definitely do not need another highlighter but sure look, do I really NEED any of this?

I swatched their Glow Fusion Highlighters and decided on 02 rather than getting the lightest shade 01.

It’s a little more golden (it is called Heavenly Golden after all), and all three shades are currently 30% off in store and online here.

The packaging is also very swish, so I thought it was well worth €6.95 just for the magnetic closure 🙂

My very last buy was a Metal Eyeshadow from their Arctic Holiday Collection.

These are currently 50% off here.

I bought this completely based off swatching it just before I got to the till.

I liked the reflective shimmer in it and it was €5.45 and limited edition, so need I say more really? Looking at it now, it’s super similar to the highlighter it just has a bit more chunkier shimmer running through it, but sure look 🙂

And that is my Kiko Cosmetics haul done. Now I’m excited to get stuck in and play with these bad boys! Anything tickle your fancy?

xxx

January 29, 2018/1 Comment/by Gem

Bargain Buying, Makeup

Penneys PS Custom Eyes

I’ve known the Penneys PS Custom Eyes Eyeshadow and Palettes have been coming for a while. The press launch was a few weeks ago, but now they are officially in Penneys/Primark stores!

I picked up mine in Mary Street here in Dublin. There is two palette sizes to choose from. It’s €2 for the four pan palette or €3 for the nine pan.

There are 30 Penneys PS Custom Eyes eyeshadow shades in total.

Picture: Andres Poveda

They range from neutrals, full on colour to black. They are all magnetic and will set you back €1 each. Here are all the shade names: Ice, Bone, Stripped, Sun Kissed, Gold Digger, Baked, Firecracker, Brick, Hot Coco, Carbon, Naked, Stone, Peachy Keen, Peony, Tickle, Antique Bronze, Vermilion, Burnt, Crimson, Espresso, Truffle, Pistachio, Basil, Tidal, Earth, Opal, Cranberry, Slate and Royal.

I picked up one of the nine pan palettes and then nine eyeshadows to go in it. So altogether what I have here set me back 12 quid.

There was actually a really decent amount of shades available in Mary Street when I went in to have a look. A lot of the more warm, wearable shades were sold out though. But I am not surprised there really, and I’m sure Penneys will keep restocking them. So, don’t be discouraged if you want to get your hands on some, just keep an eye out.

My first impressions of the Penneys Custom Eyes eyeshadows are really good. These are the first Penneys eyeshadows that I would actually recommend to people. Other than their highlighting palette which I did a review of here a while back. I haven’t been majorly keen on Penneys powder products.

I did a whole look with the eyeshadows when I first picked them up.

All of the shadows are from the Penneys PS Custom Eyes range, except I used a bit of matte bronzer in the crease. I just didn’t have a shade to take on that job 🙂 The shimmery lid colour applied best with my finger. That’s something to be weary off. But the colours, overall are pigmented, soft, blend well and with primer lasted the day on me too.

Here are all nine shades I have finger swatched and named:

Bone, Stone, Gold Digger

Antique Bronze, Hot Coco, Sea Foam

Tidal, Basil, Pistachio

Some of the colours need a few layers to pack a punch and you will get fall down. But overall for the price point and the variation in colour and finishes, the shadows get a thumbs up from me.

Have you picked up any of the Penneys PS Custom Eyes shadows? Are you a fan?

xxx

October 16, 2017/1 Comment/by Gem

Haul, Makeup

Inglot Cosmetics Haul

My lovely best friend Sue gave me a voucher for Inglot Cosmetics for my birthday. She knows me well 🙂

So, I headed to the South Anne Street store and picked up some new eye goodies to add to my collection.

I ended up leaving with four eyeshadows and two AMC Gel Eyeliners. Honestly, their gel eyeliners are some of the best I have ever used, ever! There was no real rhyme or reason to the eyeshadow colours I picked if I am honest. I just tried to go with shades that I don’t already have in my collection. They don’t really go together at all. But they are super pretty none the less. They’ve set up home with the rest of my Inglot Cosmetics shadows in one of my very grubby Z Palettes.

All of their eyeshadows are linked here, if you want to see them on the Inglot website.

First up is number 366. It’s a matte raspberry shade.

My second new shade is 296. This is a matte red with a hint of pink to it.

407 is a orange toned shimmering golden shade. I am imagining this will look super pretty as a ‘pop’ shade in the middle of the lid. I’m excited to play with it.

419 is my last Inglot Cosmetics eyeshadow purchase. It’s a super pretty shimmery, nearly metallic olive green.

I picked up two of their gel eyeliners.

Number 70 is a matte baby blue shade. I got this up because I actually have a Maybelline kohl pencil in the same shade. You can see it swatched here. I use it all of the time in my water liner and love it. I thought I would treat myself to a more long wearing version.

The second one is number 96. A mid toned brown with flecks of golden shimmer running through it.

The AMC Gel Eyeliners cost €15 a piece and come in a multitude of colours. You can find them on the Inglot Cosmetics website here.

And, there you have my haul. Thanks Sue for the pressie 🙂

xxx

June 18, 2017/by Gem

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