Sugarpill Heart Breaker palette review

Look, I'll understand if you think it's pointless to review a product that beauty bloggers allover the world own and love. But still, here's my 2 cents about this super-beautiful palette.

They win all possible packaging contest from here to eternity.
But packaging aside...

Colors are Acidberry (acid green with subtle shimmer), Velocity (electric matte blue with subtle shimmer), Mochi (ultra matte seafoam) and 2am, (matte purple with soft shimmer). In the swatches I've done they don't appear much pigmented but they're actually pretty great. Mochi ended up being a personal favorite, it's ridiculously good. With primer and a white base to help the colors stand out, these will last all day perfectly. They blend like a dream and are just ... super pretty.

My swatches don't do these pretties justice!
The Sugarpill website doesn't ship to Italy (huge surprise here) but you can get them through Cocktailscosmetics.
There are two other palettes like this, with different colors, if these aren't your cup of tea.
In my humble opinion everyone should try Sugarpill once in their lifetime.
(I also own the yellow eyeshadow, Buttercupcake, which is THE BEST.)

Dramatag: my top 5 showcase products

As soon as I saw the last Dramatag I wondered "Do I have any product with super awesome packaging?"

The answer was yes!
I love, love the Naked Basics packaging. It's simple, yes, but I love how it feels at the touch, it's almost soft and smooth, and you can feel the embossed name with your fingers.
An old Kiko blush from the Fierce Spirit LE (Last summer's), with already a small scratch. Still, the "oriental" mood of the packaging is quite pretty and it looks nice on my makeup shelf. It's not much travel-friendly and it's huge, but I'm not going to complain on the size since it's my favourite blush, I don't want to think that one day I'll hit the pan.. sigh.
The Neve Cosmetics blush in Starlet from the 20's inspired LE was one of the products that, well, let's just say the packaging had quite a part on the purchase- that, and the fact that I didn't have a matte blush yet. I ended up with a very lovely blush, that can be easily blended and so it looks nice even on my skin tone.
The Essence highlighting pearls from the Me & My Ice Cream LE aren't so practical in their daily use, but their box is so lovely you'd expect to find candy in it!
The Kiko Loud Night Bronzer from the Dark Heroine LE has one of the most awesome packagings ever. The image on the cover reflects the Blade Runner atmosphere of the whole LE in the best way possible, and somehow the name Loud Night really fits. The cover makes me think of city lights seen when driving a car or running, due to their flashiness, but they could be the lights of a night club as well. See, when a product makes me think of stories, it's a good one. Ah, and it's a pretty great bronzer too!

Christmas beauty-related gifts

Hello! Are you enjoying the holidays? I hope so!
I wanted to show you three beauty products I received this year, who are also my first UD products, not counting the nail polishes.
Do they really need an introduction?

The Naked Basics was on my wishlist for many reasons: it's small, travel friendly and contains beautiful nude matte shades. Small nude palettes are very popular now, but they aren't matte...
I've tried it on Christmas day, and it's just great. The colors are very pigmented (Faint is my new fave brown) and Walk of Shame is a "my lid but better".  I know Venus is a frost/subtle shimmery color, but It's perfect for highlighting needs, so I'm not gonna complain. I can't wait to learn many combinations and makeups with this.

The UD 24/7 Glide-on Eye Pencils are my  new favourite pencils ever. Unsurprising, I know.
Once, I was at Sephora and tried some of them. I fell in love with Uzi, a wonderful gunmetal (with a very appropriate name too). They're soft and allow me to do precise, smooth lines as eyeliner. Uzi might seem too glittery, but it's just metallic and it's a perfect day shade. It has cold undertones and it's just fantastic.
The other one is Invasion, a dark forest green, matte and with cold/blue undertones. It's hard to express how I feel finally owning it, not only because I've desired it for months, but because of the story behind it.
Once I was looking at some online swatches of the UD pencils (I think it was on Sparkage's blog) and was struck by certain color combinations and their names. The matte grey of Desperation, the blue-green of Invasion, the weapon-like grey of Uzi... I fell in love with the color scheme, and started writing a story based on it (inspired by the names too). I haven't finished it yet, but the placeholder title for it is Invasion...
(I plan on connecting that shade to one of my character's outfit).
I feel as if simply staring at it and owning it will help me writing my story.

I hope this doesn't sound too weird... for now, happy holidays! And don't forget to tell me f you received some beauty products for Christmas..

Perfect Palette Tag

It took me an insane amount of reflection time to write this, because, to my shocking discovery, I don't even own that many palettes. And videogames are a distraction too, but let's ignore this and focus on the palettes, shall we?

1) Best Packaging
This is genuinely a hard question. I don't have palettes with pretty but practical packaging, so I really don't know how to answer this. Probably the Sleek ones would win on this, since they have room for a brush and a mirror too, despite being small.


2) Best Color Payoff

Neve Cosmetics Duochrome palette. One of the best palettes I've ever tried, the pigmentation of these shades is insanely high.


3) Most Versatile

I was tempted to answer "the Duochrome again!", because, really, you can create dozens of looks with that. However I've chosen this old Kiko palette, Sensuous Burgundy. Ok, it's not that old. The colors are greatly pigmented, especially the brown, and choosing to use, say, the pink instead of the gold on the lid will change you eye look greatly.

4) Best for Traveling

Look at me shamelessly recycling an old pic

Ok, this should be called "best for travelling in summer and spring", due to the colors. Last summer I've been away for a week carrying only a limited amount of makeup, and this was the only palette I had with me. It's not only great because it has a sturdy packaging and offer lots of shades in a small space, but you can create many different looks with this (even some evening looks).

5) Biggest Regret

This little lovely Catrice palette from the Thrilling Me Softly LE was a total regret. Surely, the shades are nice and go very well together. That is, they would if they were pigmented. The matte brown isn't pigmented at all and a wet brush didn't help. The two shimmery shades cause lots of fallout. Catrice, you're disappointing me!


6) Best Color Names

Ehm, the Duochrome by Neve. Again. Anyone who creates a wonderful green/yellow eyeshadow and calls it Acid Rain wins.

7) Least Used

This greatly pigmented, long lasting eyeshadow palette by Pupa would be great, if it weren't for the typical, evening "social life" colors. I don't have a social life that involves partying, night clubs and such, so I can't use it as much as I would. I used it last year in Lucca Comics and it proved itself to be insanely long lasting, my eye makeup was still perfect even when I came back in the evening and gave me that "yeah I might be exhausted but I still look fabulous" feeling.


8) Most Used, Most Loved (aka the one to bring on a desert island)

This little gem is an E.L.F. mini palette called Luxe, paid less than 2 euros and it contains the only eyeshadow where I've actually hit the pan. The highlighter shade is a perfect My Lid But Better, and combined with the brown and the taupe it creates a gorgeous, shimmery-but-not-too-shimmery daily friendly nude-ish look. The dark taupe is an unique shade of which I've never found dupes, if you look at it very closely it has small warm and green hues. Hard to describe, wonderful to use, recommended if you place an E.L.F. order.

Sleek Battle: Candy vs Lagoon

My lack of posts was due to not having worn anything new on my nails, since I went to the beach I preferred to keep it simple (Shaka Burlesque is the perfect summer polish).

I am working on a new nail art, but today I want to show you something else:

I recently bought the lovely Sleek Candy palette. I found it in Sephora, I was there for something else and then I saw it...it was the last one, I tried the tester, fell in love with the colors..

The packaging is cute as well!

Isn't it delicious? but we're here for a palette battle, so, here's a comparison between Candy and my other Sleek palette, Lagoon. I was afraid there might be dupes or identical shades...luckly, that's not the case.

Candy colors: first row from top to bottom: Flump, Pear Drop, Apple Sour, Parma Violet, Bon Bon, Strawberry Sherbet. Second row: Cream Soda, Mint Cream, Bubblegum, Aniseed, Blue Fizzle, Liquorice.
Lagoon colors: first row: Pink Jewel, Sand Dollar, Underworld, Sea Shell, Night Sky, Ariel. Second row: Sassea, Deep Water, Reflection, Emerald, Oyster, Black Pearl.

Both the palettes have a white and a black, unsurprisingly. Yet, the Lagoon white (Oyster), it's a creamy, ivory white, while the Candy white (Cream Soda) is more of a clean, classical white. Both are shimmery.
Lagoon's black, Black Pearl, is shimmery, while Candy's black, Liquorice, is matte.
As for the other colors, I say there can't be many dupe doubts: Lagoon's two matte violets, Night Sky and Deep Water, are darker and colder than Parma Violet and Flump. Parma Violet, the darker violet, is surprisingly warm.

I haven't had many chances to wear the Candy colors, since it's too hot to wear make up here (it's too hot to do anything, I wish i could just switch hemispheres when it's summer).
Both palettes are nice, I can't say I have a favourite, both have colors I love (Pear Drop, Ariel), but Candy probably has more colors I can use, since Night Sky and Deep Water don't look really nice on me, I can only use them as eyeliners. I can't wait to use those little palettes more, they're perfect for travel! I will bring Candy with me soon.

It would be hard to recommend just one of the palettes, because it depends a lot on the kind of makeup one's used to wear, you have many different options in both. Lagoon probably offers more "subtle eye" options, with Sand Dollar and Sea Shell. But considering how cheap they are, you can have both. I think those Sleek palettes are both great in terms of price and quality and are good pigmented, and offer a wide range of colors in a limited space.

Make Up Moments: My latest...

Just when I wanted to do another post about make up, I found this lovely post and decided it would have been fun, so, here it is!

 But first... the rule says to open the post with the image of an owl. So here's your owl!

 01) Latest foundation (bought or received)?

Essence 2 in 1 make up powder.  I bought it months ago and it has become my summer essential: it's my color, it has a nice coverage and it's cheap!

02) Latest compact powder?

Essence Mineral Compact Powder. I found it in a OVS store just once, then I never found them again in other stores that keep Essence products. It's supposed to be a new product... 

03) Latest concealer?

My sister gave me this Kiko concealer. I'm not exactly enthusiastic, the packaging is a pain in the neck, usually a lot of product comes out, far more than I'd need it. I'm still faithful to my E.L.F. concealer.

04) Latest bronzer?

I don't use any, nor I intend to.

05) Latest blush?

Here things get complicated: I recently bought the single eyeshadow Watermelon by Neve Cosmetics that can be used also as blush, lipstick, everything. The latest blushes of the family were Lolita and Creamy, always by Neve. A bit too glittery but with some powder over it they're fine and long lasting. Did I already mentioned how much I love Neve products?

06) Latest highlighter?

Catrice multicolor highlighter "Vanilla Love" of the Candy Shock LE. It would probably look better on warmer, darker skintones. On me it's barely visible. The upside of this: it's a perfect everyday product, as promised on the website it gives a subtle glow. Probably I'm the only one who can see that glow, but I don't really care, hah.

07) Latest lipgloss?

 Essence marble mania lipgloss in Mix'n Mauve. There was an old LE called Marble Mania so I was afraid that the product I had found was just really old, but apparently it's not: Essence is launching those new lipglosses, and they can be found in the english Essence website. I love this lipgloss a lot: nicely pigmented, not sticky at all, and even when it fades a bit it leaves a nice stain covering the whole lips ( a regular stain, not like those products that leave those weird signs on lips). The final effect is that your lips look is if that shade was their natural color, and I really like it.

08) Latest lipstick?

Deborah lipstick in 13, months ago. I don't use lipsticks in the summer that much so I haven't used it in a while, but it's nice, a classic color. And it was on sale, how could I resist it?

09) Latest pencil?
Eye pencil: Sephora nano eye pencil in azur blue. Super pigmented and long lasting: it's so long lasting that if I wear it at 8 am, leave the house to have an exam at the uni and come back at 7 pm, it's still there. Surely, the primer helps, but it's a really good product.
Lip pencil: Neve Cosmetics lip pastels. The contouring lip pencil seems something you'd never use but trust me, when you have it you appreciate it. The other one is a nice salmon shade.

10) Latest eyeshadow?

The aforementioned Watermelon by Neve Cosmetics. I love using it as eyeliner mostly, it has a nice cyberpunk effect.
 
11) Latest eyeliner?

 Essence I love punk jumbo eyeliner pen. I usually go for pencils, but I decided to try this so maybe I could learn how to apply eyeliner nicely and not just use the pencils to intensify the eye make up. It would be a much greater product if it were more pigmented... I mean, you can apply it, wait until it dries and apply it once again to intensify the color, but since it's meant as an eyeliner for dummies, that way you kinda miss the point.

12) Latest mascara? 

Bought: NYC Sky Rise mascara. For being a cheap product, the quality is definitely good, it really has a beautiful effect on lashes.
Received: Deborah Mascara full color in 02 costa smeralda sea. The color is actually a bit greener irl.
What can I do, I love colored mascaras...

13) Latest eyebrow product?

 I actually don't used anything... I tried but I don't like the effect.

14) Latest primer?

 Essence I Love Stage eye primer. It's really good and effective, especially if you have oily eyelids.

15) Latest face care product?

 Garnier Crème Bienfaisante for normal/combinated skin.Works nicely and feels fresh on the skin, i like the formula. I also tried the "sorbet" cream for oily skins and found it... oily O_O I don't know, this kind of stuff depends a lot on your skin type I guess.

16) Latest body care product?

 Helan Rosa-Rosae silky moisturizing cream. Eeeh, I love this one. I was given a sample, tried it and fell in love with it. It really gives your skin a pleasant silky effect and the subtle rose smell lasts for a couple of days...

17) Latest hair care product?

I only use standard shampoos and such, no particular care products... I don't really need anything special, I have really short hair, no split ends, etc.

18) Latest accessory (brushes, false lashes...)?

 The Sephora empty eyeshadow palette, when it still costed 50 cents. I'm really glad I bought it.

19) Latest nail polish?

 Coming soon on this blog, Deborah 45 Green Fluo. Can't wait to try it!

20) Latest perfume?

I don't used perfume, I only have a old Lush solid perfume. It's supposed to be expired but it still smells deliciously. I am awfully tempted by Shaka solid perfumes, however.


 Whoa, I exceeded the blogspot tags limit. I tagged the products but not all brands.