Meet My Eyeshadow Palettes | MAC, Makeup Geek, Urban Decay.

Who doesn't love a good eyeshadow? And who doesn't love a good nosy into someone else's eyeshadow palettes? These are some of my favourite videos/posts to watch/read cause I love seeing what other people have in their palettes - equal parts makeup lover and nosy bitch. I know I find them very useful when building my eyeshadow collection and I hope this will help some of ye too. I keep most of my round single shadows in my MAC palettes (not all of them are MAC, I'm also swatching and chatting about my Makeup Geek and Urban Decay shadows too) but Z Palettes are also popular options! 

I thought it would be most helpful to show you the majority of my single shadows in case you were looking into some of these for your own collection, or wanting to compare them to other shades that I have here. I'm going to swatch all of them with no primer, let you know how they perform and which ones are my favourite. I will mention whenever a limited edition or discontinued shadow pops up with an * (not very often so fear not!) but I won't spend too much time talking about them. This is probably going to be a text and photo heavy post so make yourself some tea or pour ya fine self a glass of wine and let's get to itttttt. Oh, and we're going to ignore the 3 day old scauldy tan on my arms making me look like I have a skin condition. 

Brand Focus | Seventeen.

Remember Brand Focus posts? I did a couple of these on Wet n Wild and had the intention of doing them for lots of other different brands - particularly drugstore ones. However, I started this before I went to France and never brought my whole collection of any one brand with me so it was difficult to continue. I'm hoping to bring them back so if you have any brands you'd like an overview of some "the good, the bad and the worst" style products then let me know below or send me a tweet @GraceyOConnell! Today's post is going to focus on the very affordable Boots brand, 17.

I'll admit, up until about 2 years ago I thought this brand was very "tween" and I never really gave it a chance. I feel like it was just a brand I used bits and pieces of when I was 13 and then just assumed that the brand never grew or improved quality wise since I was that age. Wrong. I was so wrong. I'm here to show you today exactly why you should never judge a book (or a makeup brand) by its cover.

Empties April 2016 | Skincare, Haircare, Makeup.

I feel like I could easily do one of these once every two months - there's something so satisfying about finishing up a product and throwing it in the bin. Is that ridiculous? It probably definitely is. 

MAC x Ariana Grande | Viva Glam.

I've spoken about my love of MAC Viva Glam on my blog before, particularly with Viva Glam Miley (please read here for more information on why I LOVE the MAC AIDS fund). Unfortunately I didn't get to feature Miley II (a matte orange toned red) on my blog before they announced their new VG girl - Ariana Grande. Regardless of the VG spokesperson, I always get excited about a new lipstick release. I'm not too far gone on Ariana Grande, I could take her or leave her to be honest, but ya gal is not gonna deny I do love me a dark lipstick. In any case, I'm here today to bring you MAC's new lipstick offering for 2016 and hopefully it's something you guys are interested in checking out!

Springsheen Cheeks | Urban Decay, Tarte, Too Faced.

Is it spring yet? I am so ready to bust out the pretty blushes and fresh skin.

An Inglot Haul + New HD Matte Lip Tints.

Inglot are some of my very favourite eyeshadows ever ever ever. Whilst I don't feature them a tonne on my blog or Instagram (purely because the numbering system makes them a nightmare to remember/pull of out palettes/reference) they are absolutely top quality. I did a massive swatch fest over a year ago delving into my Inglot eyeshadow palettes (link here if you're interested in seeing swatches of 30 brights and neutrals) which I think some people found quite useful. The number system is a pain, and finding swatches online can be so difficult. I wanted to branch out and try some other products from Inglot, particularly their pigments which my friend Ray uses loads in her YouTube videos. She's stun, the pigments are stun, her videos are stun... I digress. 

 

UDxGwen | Urban Decay Spring 2016.

Confession time: when the Urban Decay/Gwen Stefani eyeshadow palette popped up online (and through my letterbox) late last year, I was left feeling a little deflated. Please don't throw your unicorn horns at me. Sure, the packaging was cool and as a No Doubt/Gwen fan I loved the idea but I just didn't think it was anything special. The eyeshadow quality was nice and had lots of mattes, I couldn't fault that, but after Naked Smoky and Vice 4 I was just left feeling a little "meh". And so, I chose not to show it on my blog - simply because I just couldn't bash it; it wasn't a bad palette (I know pretty much everyone else thought it was amazing and everyone who I know that has it LOVES it), but it just didn't excite me enough to blabber on about it. But what was released in November was only the start of things to come; better things, in my opinion. I'm so happy to say that the second half of the UD x Gwen collaboration has absolutely made up for the eyeshadow palette. If you're a Gwen fan, a cheek product junkie or a bright lipstick lover you need to have a nosy at your nearest Urban Decay counter, ehm, yesterday. 

 

Empties February 2016 | Sephora, Kiko, Lush + More.

Since I went on a bit of a blogging break towards the end of 2015, I actually binned a lot of things I had been meaning to save for an empties post. My room here in France is so small that any unnecessary clutter left hanging about drives me up the very horribly painted walls. I did finish up quite a few skincare and some other bits and bobs, though, and I thought I'd review those for ye in one (hopefully) quick post!

Review | Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette.

I think the very fact that I'm only getting around to buying this palette in 2016 is proof that Irish people are backwards. I know the internet is saturated with Chocolate Bar palette reviews, but I thought I'd throw my 2 cents in to the mix, since I don't seem to have the same feelings about this as most people. If you haven't heard of this palette before - where ya been, gurl?! While this hasn't blown up in popularity quite as much as the Naked palettes (for most makeup wearers I mean, die hard makeup fans not included!), this is Too Faced's offering at a neutral palette with a bit of a twist. I say twist very loosely, since I don't personally feel that any neutral eyeshadow palette is all that original anymore; although shout-out to Naked Smoky which didn't reinvent the wheel but is a great palette.

The Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette boasts 16 neutral-ish shades, infused with real cocoa powder. Yes, this smells amazing and I may or may not be able to confirm that it does actually taste like chocolate (don't try this at home, kids. I was always a curious one...) I think the metal tin packaging with the chocolate bar design on the front is super cute, but I have to say I'm really disappointed with the quality of the packaging. The magnet is just not sturdy enough and I've found myself picking it up and it opening very easily. I would have liked a stronger magnet or snap closure à la Naked 2. The layout of the palette is really nice, though, and I seriously appreciate them making the two highlight shades (one matte, one shimmer) the two bigger rectangle strips since you often go through those first in any palette. The palette contains 7 mattes and 9 more shimmery shades (some with frost, some with more shimmer and glitter). Since the quality varied so much depending on the shadow, it's impossible for me to say that the mattes/shimmers were better quality than the other so I thought it would be better to go through each individual shade and tell you the stars and duds.