Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette

As you may or may not have known by now Urban Decay is releasing another 

eyeshadow palette tomorrow Nov. 29th

to Ulta and Sephora stores, select Macy's dept. store counters as well as on Urban Decay's website. 

The palette will be a continuation of their Naked line. 

I know, sounds exciting but is it really? Let's find out. 

The new palette will be half the size of the original Naked and Naked 2 palettes and will retail for 

 $27-$28, or somewhere in that ball park. 

There are several benefits to this palette.

  One of the main things about Urban Decay that most people seem to like is that they are really responsive to the feed back they receive from their customer base. We said "change the packaging for primer potion," and they did. We said "trade out the double sided liner for a brush," and they did. Now even though we all love the first and second Naked palettes there is the very obvious want for more matte shadows and again, they have delivered. 

It's versatile and plays well with others.

The benefit of having matte shades that comes in a separate palette is that it's optional and it is designed to compliment either one of the Naked palettes that you might already own, and will work well with single more colorful shadows, and even for those who are more appreciative of simplicity and the understated quality of matte neutrals. 

Featuring Naked Basics

The palette comes with 6 full shadows that would otherwise retail for around $18 a piece, as well as a decent sized mirror and none of the pomp and circumstance that is traditional of UD packaging to emphasize the neutrality of its content. 

The Inevitable Downside:

The palette claims to contain all matte colors, but on the contrary one, Venus, is actually satiny in nature.  Not necessarily a bad thing (would work beautifully as a highlight), it just annoys me when there is a discrepancy between what is being advertised and what is being sold. 

Another potential downside is the price point. When you compare this palette to the previous Naked palettes you're getting half the shadows, so in theory it should be half the money, but it's slightly more. Factor in the loss of any kind of applicator, or sample-sized primer potion/ lip product has me questionin.' 

There is a higher end drugstore palette with twelve %100 matte shades sold at Target for $19.99. 

Sonia Kashuk's Eye on Neutral palette is not only $7 less than  the newest Naked, but it  comes with twice the shadows and guidelines as to how to create three looks, and takes into consideration differences in skin tone (not only light to dark, but warm to cool as well).

All in all the thought of having an all matte UD palette is exciting, the the complaints I am holding it to are very minor in nature. however if  you are on a budget or perhaps want even more versatility with your matte shades Sonia Kashuk is one to consider at least.

Happy Shoppin' Ya'll!

  

Remember: Don't just wear makeup, Rock It.

I Love Drugstore Makeup TAG

 What is your favorite drugstore makeup brand?

I like more  products from Maybelline than for any other brand and I feel like it's just one of those things where you can make almost everything in their brand work. The possibility of being confined to a single brand puts things in perspective as far as prioritizing what kinds of products are of most importance to you. If nothing else I want my makeup to give me a flawless complexion: evening out skin tone and hiding blemishes while accentuating eyes and lips in a natural way. For me it's foundation, concealer, mascara and moisturizing lip products. I use the Dream Fresh BB Cream in medium/deep as a foundation (I already wrote about this product in a previous post but basically I'm like the only person in the world who likes it). The Maybelline concealer of choice would be from the Fit Me line in 35 (or something).The mascara would have to be the Colossal Mascara. I know that stuff is so passé but It's just one of those things that has been a constant, or a staple in my collection for a very long time. As far as lip products go miniaturization is more important to me than color and my favorite Maybelline lip product is the Baby Lips lip balm in Grapevine. It looks scary at first (because it's purple), but it comes off as a sheer berry. One of those things you can put on as often as you like without a mirror and not worry about how it looks. 

  

 

      What are your favorite face, cheek and lip products?

Face- Elf Flawless foundation in Almond and Caramel.  I really love the finish and how well it matches my skin tone. Rimmel Stay matte translucent setting powder, Wet 'n' Wild's Bronzer in Bikini Contest, Hard Candy's Blush Crush in bombshell, L'Oreal Colour Caresse Lipcolor in 180 Silky Java. I went in looking for Sheer Linen on the Recommendation of ItsJudyTime on youtube, but I find this one to be a better fit for me personally, (I think Sheer Linen was a bit too sheer), but this is pretty much my go to holy grail nude lip color. Not only is this my lips perfected, but one of those moisturizing lip colors. Similar to the Revlon lip butters except this one is even more moisturizing. I also really enjoy my Revlon Kissable balm stain in Crush. When I'm wearing a bold lip I apply it under whatever lip color I happen to be wearing that day. The logic is that when my bold lip color inevitable fades the balm stain will remain and I won't have to touch up the color (which I don't like doing because you have to whip out your mirror and your lipstick and look and feel super pretentious/bougie). Or I wear it in its own and just continue to top it off throughout the day with the dark baby lip in Grapevine, which makes me feel far less high maintenance.   

       Least favorite product(s)?

The product that really disappointed me was the Elf Studio blush in tickled pink and pretty much all of the Maybelline fit me blushes. It's a very light matte light pink shade. It's not pigmented,  it's powdery and when you apply it to the skin nothing happens. Another product was the Maybelline fit be blush, and honestly I do n't remember the shade but it was the darkest one in the line and it completely disappeared on my skin. No pigmentation at all.Maybe some if you happen to be transparent. 

                        What is the best makeup bargain?

Rimmel Clean Finish liquid foundation. I bought this product at Walmart for only $3.97 because I was looking for an awkward transition foundation from my summer color to my fall color. It provides medium coverage and is buildable. It also sets relatively fast so it's the kind of product that needs to be worked in quickly. The best part is that it looks and feels like skin! This is a great bargain, my only complaint is that the packaging is weird.  It comes with a spatula-like applicator that can be applied directly to the face, but for sanitary purposes should be applied to clean hands and then to the face with clean fingers/ brushes.

         What is your favorite underdog product? (Something you love that often gets overlooked?)
 

Two things: The Sonia Kashuk Eye on Neutral Palette and L'Oreal's line of nail polishes. I like the Eye on Neutral Palette because it comes with 12 100%  matte shades that compliment every skin tone and guidelines for three wearable looks. Sometimes you just get tired of shimmer and sparkle so this is  my go to for a very  natural looking smokey eye and would work well for older women who don't want to emphasize any wrinkling that might be going on with glitter and sparkle. But if that's something that you do want Sonia Kashuk's Fall/Winter palette, Eye on Dazzling Color, is nothing but shimmer and sparkle but still surprisingly wearable. I have just been loving some of the limited edition L'Oreal nail colors. My favorite is  Brit Invasion, warm gray with gold shimmer. I believe it's a limited edition color for the Fall. 

                          A drugstore product that is overpriced?

General Brands- Neutrogena and Physician's Formula are two of the more expensive drugstore brands, and for what? I only have one tinted lip balm from Neutrogena that cost me a whopping $9 which was comparable to Maybelline's Baby Lips that run for $3. I only had on item form physician's formula and it was a translucent setting powder and I justified the $12 price tag because it was an SPF 20 and I thought it was great because I always forget to incorporate a sunscreen into my skincare routine. A week later it cracked. That's the kind of thing I expect from a Wet 'n' Wild powder. Rimmel makes a similar Stay Matte translucent powder that's around $5 and Elf makes a slightly tinted loose setting powder with an SPS 45 for only $6 (different from the loose HD powder). 
 

                            Show your best drugstore dupe(s)!!

Hair One from Sally's Beauty Supply is a great dupe for Wen's cleansing conditioner. It really is an all in one bath product. It washes and conditions at the same time which makes it a good choice for people who obsessively wash their hair everyday. There are no sulfates or detergents in the product so it's good for sensitive and damage prone hair types, like mine. You can even use it as a leave in conditioner and a shaving cream! When you message this product into your hair it makes you scalp tingle. If that doesn't say clean, I don't know what does. 

The Elf Baked Eye Shadow Palettes in California and NYC are Dupes for the Sephora  brand Baked Moon Shadows. Tisk Tisk Elf. Tisk Tisk. And they knew they would get away with it because no one cares about Sephora brand cosmetic products!

NYC's Smooth Skin Bronzer in Sunny is very similar to Benefit's Hoola Bronzer. 

Wet 'n' Wild's Nutty, NYX's Iced Mocha, and L'Oreal's Bronzed Taupe are all dupes for MAC's Satin Taupe.

                Drugstore product that isn't worth the hype?

Nothing disappoints me more than a failed concealer. This is probably going to sound like sacrilege but I'm not fond of the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind concealers in neutralizer nor the brightening shade. I find that when I apply the neutralizer under my regular concealer or the brightener over my regular concealer it creases like crazy and there is no noticeable improvement when I wear it compared to when I don't wear it. Other people manage to make it work so it might have something to do with the fact that I have slightly more prominent fine lines than most other people my age, and my dark circles are like I've been punched twice in the face. Concealer works best in thin layers but the problem is I need a lot of help so my concealers need to be very pigmented, very full coverage so this doesn't work as well for me as it would on  most others.

October Favorites

Avalon Organics Facial Cleansing Milk

This is not your average foam, gel, or cleansing scrub with exfoliating beads. This is a cream that cleanses the skin on our face but it doesn't strip it of excess moisture so as not to leave it dry and tight feeling.

There's a moisture theme going on here.

L'Oreal Hydrafresh Toner

I use this after washing/ exfoliating and before moisturizer. The function of this is two fold: 1) It helps to remove any dirt or oil I might have missed during regular cleansing, 2)The refreshing formula protects against moisture loss because it's 9% alcohol free.  It's a nice refreshing pre moisturizing step.

Equate sunscreen SPF 50

I've been having problems with my skin getting really dry and flaky as the weather starts to get colder. Since sunscreens in general are very emollient, I use this as a moisturizer when I have trouble keeping the dry patches at bay. I use this at least once daily. It makes sense to use it during the day for sun protection, but I use it whenever I feel dry. 

Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream

There's a post that I've already done explaining why I like this. I like the light coverage, I like the moisture it gives. Since I have dry skin, it tends to just soak up all the moisture and the pigment just sits on the skin. It's really nice for that, but I understand why most people don't like it.
I don't usually use the BB Cream in conjunction with the sunscreen.

NYX Single Shadow in Iced Mocha 

This shadow is a shimmery brown, almost a taupe shade and I use it as a stand alone shade. 

Cover Girl Single Shadow in Mink


This is just the perfect pale gold color for me. I used this shade nearly every day for almost six years. That's how serious this is. I know that sounds really boring but sometimes simplicity is the way to go.
When I wear this shade by itself I use a big fluffy brush and slightly sweep the color all over the lid, from lash to brow bone. I then apply eye liner and mascara.










Rimmel Stay Matte Setting Powder

I use this to set everything. This is my go to. Ever since my Physician's Formula setting powder crumbled (why is that stuff priced so high if it's just going to break?) this has been the only powder I've been using to set my liquid foundation. The only area where it falls short of physician's formula is in the sun protection department. PF powder has an SPF 20 which is awesome. Rimmel has SPF 0. That's the only real improvement I'd appreciate seeing.

Revlon Kissable Balm Stain in Crush

This is teh perfect bold berry color for my skin tone and I tend to use it when I want a bold lip look without having to think about it. But when I do want to experiment with a bold lip color I make sure to use this underneath as a lip balm. When the color of the original lipstick ultimately fades, you'll have less of a need to reapply because you know crush has already stained your lips. So in that sense I use it as a backup.

Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray 

It's basically like hairspray for your face and it has pretty decent staying power. There are other similar makeup setting sprays that are cheaper, however. One of which is the Elf Studio Makeup mist and set spray. Only $3 on the Eyes Lips Face website and wherever Elf products are sold. The only thing I don't like about ht Elf spray is the actual spraying mechanism. When you spray All Nighter it comes out in a fine mist the settles onto your face and is soaked up almost instantly, but with Elf it feels like you just got spit on by an angry Camel!

 Silk Dark Chocolate Almond Milk 

I'm not a health nut or anything, but I have been experimenting with different kinds of milk (soy, almond and raw milk) but not only is this stuff antioxidant rich but it tastes like pudding! I kid you not. Yummers!

Go-To ( more like Fool Proof) Eye Makeup Routine

  

What you'll need: 

 Eyelid primer (or not, whatever)

A big fluffy brush. Doesn't even have to be an eyeshadow brush, just a big fluffy brush. Or your finger. 

Cover Girl Single Eyeshadow in Mink (or any pale gold color)

Your favorite eyeliner. 

Mascara

Instructions:

First take your fluffy eyeshadow brush, or your finger, and dip it gently into the shadow. 

Then sweep it gently across your lid from lash line to brow bone. 

Apply eyeliner. 

Apply mascara. 

And yer done.

Basically fool proof. 

In high school I used this as a base for the raccoon eye. (Don't judge I used to hang out with the Rocker/ Emo kids). I continued using this technique through out college, but replacing the raccoon with softer brown and plum liners. This is still something I come back to when I don't feel like experimenting and just want a sure thing. 

 The soft wash of gold on the lid coupled with the definition that the eyeliner gives can be a great go-to look or starting point for just about anyone because it provides just enough emphasis on the eye without being overbearing. And because it's just a light wash of color instead of heavily concentrated color it will not crease throughout the day which is why the eye primer is optional.