Quick Thoughts: Palettes Edition

Hello beauty world,

I've been wanting to blog about something lately but I just couldn't seem to find the time or energy to sit down and write it down. I've been having a stressful/busy life lately. Anyways, decided to give a quick thoughts on my 4 most recent palettes that i've acquired in the past 4 to 5 months. I am not going to do swatches because they have been overly reviewed on the internet, so pictures of swatches are everywhere for you to take a look at them (sorry, being lazy here lol) Let's get down to it...

Let's begin with the infamous Naked 3 from Urban Decay. When I first found out about this palette, I was over the moon with excitement. It seemed quite promising and loved the fact that it was rose hues. As soon as it was available at Sephora.com I was all over it and placed my order immediately. I could not wait to get it in the mail and play with it. All that excitement lasted about a week after I received it. Don't get me wrong, the colors are beautiful but when it comes to eyeshadows I am extremely picky on how pigmented they are. This palette has a few shades that are just not good enough for me to love the palette as a whole. In order for me to say: "yes, i recommend it, it's a must buy" the palette as a whole has to be very pigmented. I love Urban Decay and i don't have a problem with the other palettes that I own from them but this one is just not my favorite and I do not find myself reaching for it. The shades that I am not completely happy with and wish that could be better: Dust, Burnout, Nooner, Buzz, and Limit. That is almost half the palette! All in all, if you're not as picky with the performance of a palette as a whole and want to add rose hues to your collection, I say give it a try but it is NOT a must for me.

Now that I got the bad sheep out the way let's go into a palette that I am LOVING!!! You have no idea how many times I went back and forth fighting myself not to buy it because I already have enough neutral palettes. But all of a sudden ulta came out with their Rockin' Red something something set that was $39 and I knew I could not pass up on it. That set included the Pro Palette and a pen liner, which I also like a lot. The is a well put together and a greatly executed product. I've never tried anything Lorac until I purchased this. The pigmentation of the shadows is AMAZING!!! Usually a matte finish is very difficult to come by in terms of blending once it's on the eyes but the 8 matte shadows on this palette are so silky smooth and blend beautifully with one another. Of course shimmery shadows are much easier to blend and the smooth texture combined with the amount of shimmer that these shadows have make it so much easier to achieve a flawless look each time. This is definitely my go to palette for my signature semi  brown smokey eye look that I usually do as an everyday look and I've noticed that i've already made a significant dent on the first two colors on the top (White & Cream) and the first two colors from the bottom row (Nude & Champagne). Lorac needs to make those two colors in full size (or do they already have them?? don't know, i haven't looked into the brand in depth) Though, I love the quality of all shadows and the color selection, the only color I wish could be a little more gold is the shade "Gold" I feel like it's a bit too dark to be a gold. I gravitate towards golds a lot but I can't seem to like this one very much :/ Anyways, if you don't own any nude palettes or you just want neutral earthy tones to add to your collection...this is a must! Side note: these are warm tones so if you don't like warm tones on you, this is not the palette for you and I suggest you get the naked 2 instead.

After Loving the Pro Palette, my coworker suggested I look into the Pro to Go Palette that had your basic neutral shades plus bronzer and two blushes. At that time I was content with just owning the Pro Palette and didn't think this was a must to get as well. But then Sephora was on a cleansing from all Lorac products and saw that they were $8 dollars off from their original price and decided to buy it since I love the quality of the shadows already. I wasn't too sure about the Bronzer and Blush quality but I liked that they were matte. This is a great palette to have for traveling. You can definitely do day and night looks and have the other basic essentials for a complete face look. Though I don't have anything bad to say about it, I can't say that this is something that you need in your collection. If you have the Pro Palette, that should be enough. The blushes are very pretty and silky smooth and have a great lasting power but I cannot say the same about the bronzer. I absolutely love that they are matte finishes but the bronzer is a bit too light for me. This palette is a maybe, you should get it if you don't want to try the other Pro Palette. I don't find myself reaching for this one that much.

Lastly on the list is the Anarchy Face Case by Urban Decay. I initially did not care for it when it came out. I only bought it until Sephora had it on sale for $29 and I mostly bought it because I love the Highgloss Lip pencil that it comes with. The shadows are quite nice and as usual, Urban Decay does a great job with the color combinations and quality of their shadows except that rosy tone shadow. I have a hard time using that one because it's so sheer and extremely glittery. But I love the silver shade that this palette comes with. The blushes are kind of funky and I don't see myself wearing them that often, I'm not much of a blush person in the first place but the bright pink one is a bit too much for me. Aside from the funky colors of the blushes, I feel like they are not smooth enough to apply them evenly on my skin. I don't use them quite often. The highlighter is great though, I love that it gives you that accented shimmer on your cheekbones but it's not overpowering that you can see it right off the bat unless you are under a light. The perversion pencil, I could care less for it. I don't like UD eye pencils because they glide off me quite fast, so I am a MAC Smolder fan for life :D Overall, this palette is a good value at the price that I payed for. I wouldn't have paid full price for it. It's definitely fun and had everything you need for a complete look. Is it a must have? not at all, like i said I mostly purchased it because of the lip product, which is  full size :D

So there you have it, a quick glance on my most recent palettes that i've acquired. All in all, the Lorac Pro Palette is worth giving it a try if you haven't already done so. The rest are eh and could be passed on to better palettes but me being the eyeshadow junkie that I am I buy these things to try out and just have :D Thanks for reading...

Until Next Time,

Dannely