As you may or may not know, the "holiday season" is upon us, and with that comes a plethora of gifts and gift sets in the beauty world that always excite me!

As far as Urban Decay goes, I always get their holiday palette, Vice 2 being this years holiday palette release (which I've shamelessy already bought despite not needing, see Instagram for a video!), however the product that caught my eye from this years Christmas releases by Urban Decay was the limited edition Shattered Palette.

shattered palette open - first layer

shattered palette open - second layer

The palette consists of two layers of product for the eyes, lips and face in a cute and compact little case.

The first layer holds 5 eyeshadows in new shades Nameless (grey-brown), Remix (purple with micro glitter), Shakedown (mousey brown), Minor Sin (champagne-pink) and Bleach (matte beige). It also holds a travel size 24/7 eye pencil in the popular shade Zero (black).

first layer - eyeshadows Shakedown, Remix, Nameless, Minor Sin, Bleach

eyeshadows swatched

The first layer folds and clips upwards, revealing a second layer which holds more brand new shades; 2 blushes - Overexposed (dusty rose) and Temper (soft pink) and a highlighter in Glint (champagne pink/gold). 
(There remains a hole where the Super Saturated Lip Pencil in Lovechild lays, so it can be used from both layers).

second layer - blushes in Overexposed and Temper and highlighter in Glint

blushes and highlighter swatched

all products from the palette swatched

Colour & Pigmentation: As always with Urban Decay products, the eyeshadows have great colour payoff and pigmentation, and the same is true with the blush and highlighter too which is great as you use less product. I love that my favourite shade of SSLC is included in this little kit as well as the popular and suit-all shade eye pencil in Zero.
Longevity: UD eyeshadows tend to last fairly long generally but I always always wear with the UDPP for super strength hold. The eye pencils are known for their 24/7 longevity and the SSLC is also a longwear product.
Scent: No particularly strong scent.
Price: At £30, you're getting 5 eyeshadows, a lip product an eye pencil and 2 blushes and a highlighter too.. which I find bargainous seeing as one eyeshadow or lip pencil or eye pencil is usually £14 each!

FrootiFactor: I'm pretty impressed with this nifty little palette from Urban Decay, I like that it holds pretty much the essentials you need to make your face up (barring foundation & mascara) and I like that it holds a mix of wearable colours as well as a matte shade in it too.. all for £30! 
I hope they release more multitasking palettes like this (a Naked version would be A-MAZING), but for now this is pretty great to take on holiday/trips or to carry in hand luggage if I wanted.
I give this product a 4.5 out of 5:

The Urban Decay Shattered Palette is available to buy at Debenhams, House Of Fraser, HQhair and Look Fantastic.

What do you think of the shattered palette? Will you be buying anything from the Urban Decay holiday collection?  

 

Sunday Swatches: Motives Cosmetics Eyeshadows

Following my last two makeup look posts using Motives cosmetics, I thought I'd post my first instalment of swatches so you guys can see for yourself the quality of the brand.

I received a 46 eyeshadow palette which is not available to buy (yet), but each shadow is available individually. 

eyeshadows with flash

eyeshadows without flash

Below are the swatches line by line starting with the golds (all without primer):

Packaging: The palette is fairly heavy and durable with a clear glass front; nice and handy for a makeup artist or professional who wants to see all the single eyeshadow colours in one go. The glass door snaps shut magnetically and each shadow is in a metal pan which slots into the hole slots in the palette. These hole slots have little magnets inside to hold them in so you don't need to worry about them slipping out, unless you need to replace (or check the eyeshadow name) in which case there is a hole to fit a finger through and simply push out the shadow.

Colour & Pigmentation: As you can see from the above swatches, the pigmentation is generally high in quality. The least pigmented shades were the more matte shades and some glittery shades, where I had to swatch twice to get the best colour. The most pigmented and creamy eyeshadow was Sweet Plum which glided on beautifully and is a gorgeous colour.

Texture: The shimmery shadows are generally creamy in texture; though the matte shades aren't as creamy, they are by no means chalky.
 
Longevity: The shadows hold fairly well without primer, but they don't stain like cheaper shadows do so you know they're good quality. A good primer would hold them for ages!
 
Price: At £12 each they're around the same price as a good quality brand like MAC and Urban Decay and in honesty I'm rarely impressed by eyeshadows these days as nothing compares to my Urban Decay shadows. However! I like that these shadows have good colour payoff and the fact that this palette is so easily accessible, so I think I will be using them a lot more either for me or for clients!

FrootiFactor: Overall I'd give the palette a 5/5 because it's perfect for a makeup artist; the eyeshadows themselves would get a 4-5 (5 for the shimmery shades, 4 for the matte ones), so I'll say 4.5 overall:

And there you have it! Motives cosmetics are available to buy at their online website which is slightly limited compared to the US site due to UK mineral cosmetics restrictions, but most of the products are available here too.
Do let me know if you have any other swatch requests from the brand and if I have the product I'd be more than happy to provide the swatch.

Have you heard of Motives or tried any of their products?
 
 

Pixi event product swatches and reviews

Two weeks ago I got to get up close and personal with Pixi products at their London store in Fouberts Place and talked about the new AW12 releases.
Pixi is a brand I've always been undecided on; I love their name and quirky vintage-feeling shop. I used to buy their lip blushes when they were available in Debenhams and a few of their brushes too which I quite liked; but I've never been able to try eyeshadows/blushes or other lip products so it was a great opportunity to do so.

The shop was filled with a lovely warm smell and I was offered some yummy pastries as I entered.

I browsed some of the new products out from the AW12 collection and found I quite liked the eyeshadow quads (Shade Quartettes), particularly "Shades Of Daylight" (£16):

I also thought the glittery nail polish trios (£16) looked so pretty and festive:

 

Early Bird Kit
I got to take away the Early Bird Kit which consists of 3 cheek colours, 2 bronzers and a highlighter, 4 eye base shades and 16 eyeshadows.

The kit is designed to make you look like you've got more sleep than you actually have with it's "daylight colours".

I've not yet come across base shades that are powders/eyeshadow-like like these but I've used them underneath some shadows to see the effect and it does seem to make the shadow more vibrant.

16 eyeshadows and 4 eye base shades

swatches of eye base shades

eyeshadow swatches; left - without eye base shades, right with eye base shades

2 bronzers and highlighter

3 blushes

left 3: highlighter and 2 bronzers; right 3: blushes

Overall I found the palette to be quite soft and pigmented; the blushes were lovely, not too over powering. The highlighter and bronzers I feel are more suited to fairer skintones so I'll have to find a way of using them all as highlighters.
The eyeshadows were hit and miss; some were soft and creamy in texture and others grainy. They're mainly lovely light colours with the odd darker colour and one matte shade too, so many looks could be created.

I'd give this palette a 3.5 out of 5 because it's improved my expectation of Pixi but this particular palette doesn't have face shades that would suit a range of skintones.

Lip & Line
Whilst in store I discovered the Lip & Line (£12) and thought it was innovative; I was lucky enough to get one to take home in "No 2 Fresh Pink"; 

It consists of a double ended lipliner and lipstick in the same shade which is so handy as a MUA but also as a lippie buyer! The lipliner is waterproof and anti-feathering, whilst the lipstick is moisturising with Vitamins E and C. I chose this shade as it's rare to get lighter shades like this in matching tones, however as my lips are fairly dark, this colour is too pale for me so I'll be using this in my kit for fairer clients.
I did notice that the lipliner coupled with the lipstick felt nice and moisturising but also lasted a long time too, so these are definitely plus points.
I'd give this product a 4.5 out of 5 as it's hydrating but also long lasting; I  like that you don't need to waste time faffing around looking for a lipliner or that it would take up much space, as it's a handy two in one!

All Pixi products can be bought from their boutique off Carnaby Street (22a Fouberts Place) in London, pixibeauty.co.uk, or ASOS. 

Have you tried any Pixi products before? Which would you recommend?

 

Avon Arctic Goddess event & quick review

I recently attended the Avon Arctic Goddess launch which introduced 9 new products to their already substantial cosmetics range; the Arctic Goddess collections includes two new palettes, three lipglosses & nail varnishes and a mascara.

I've haven't properly tried Avon products lately; I tried a few products here and there when I was a teen and reacted to a Color Trend eye pencil - not good!

Fast forward a couple years and here I was eager to see how things have changed. Luckily it wasn't just the Arctic Goddess products being shown at the event, so I got to peek at the other permanent ranges like the foundations and lipsticks.

One of the palettes that caught my eye - gorgeous colours!

I decided to get my nails done by Marian Newman and chose the Arctic Goddess colours Sea Breeze and Green Goddess on top as the greens went with my outfit.

Getting my nails done by celebrity manicurist Marian Newman

Sea Breeze underneath Green Goddess

Sam & Nic of Pixiwoo were there to give lovely makeup advice as well as just a general friendly chitchat. We talked about the new Avon collection and how best it can be used as well as YouTube and names like Pixiwoo and Frootibeauty!

I went with Numera, Tanzina and Asmaa and we managed to get a sneaky pic in before meeting Alesha Dixon, Avon's Beauty and Empowerment Ambassador:

Alesha was absolutely gorgeous and friendly, explaining why she became the ambassador and how she supports domestic violence initiatives. She modelled the new Arctic Goddess blue palette (which I got to take home) and gushed about how she loves the Ideal Flawless foundation and perfectly nude nail varnish too; personally I think her natural skin is flawless, as a makeup artist I know a good base helps a makeup look look amazing, so that's her real secret!

I didn't get to take a proper FOTD picture but I have one pic that you can sort of see what I wore:

excuse the funny face!

The new collection is all very Snow Queen and icy but also slightly Mermaid-like too with the green nail polishes and second eyeshadow quad.
I got to take a few goodies from the new collection home:

I found the blue quad's matte colours to be more pigmented than the shimmery ones:

The Ultra Colour Rich lipgloss in Pink Icicle was surprisingly unsticky which I loved. The pink shimmer is sheer but the multicoloured glitter was pretty enough for me anyway. I also liked the thin applicator for precise application:

Finally, one of my favourite nail polishes from the range, Arctic Waters:

I do think my opinions of the company have changed as the quality seems to be a lot better than what I knew of it; I'm also quite impressed with the Supershock Gel Liner that I got to try out at the event and take home so looking forward to see if it lives up to the hype!

The Arctic Goddess collection launches in November and can be bought from an Avon rep (if you have one near you!) or online at www.avonshop.co.uk.

Have you tried Avon products before? What are your thoughts/favourite products?