Makeup Palettes

Following up from this post of my makeup stash, here are my makeup palettes. I am a huge fan of palettes. Why? Well because...

• they are so easy to take with you anywhere so no need to pack a million individual shadows when you are going on a trip
  
• they are fool proof! the colors in the palettes always coordinate so you just can't mess up.
• and for the same reason above, you can experiment with blending colors

I discovered these Coastal Scents palettes after reading a few beauty bloggers rave about them. I was intrigued that so many people liked them so I ordered a few for myself and I agree, they are fantastic! The pigment is fabulous, the color range is excellent and best of all they are totally affordable.

This is the 26 shadow and blush combo. The colors are on the dark side so it's an excellent palette for a variety of smokey eyes. The one downside is that there are no light colors so I have to use highlighter colors from my shadow stash. It looks like some could be used as highlighters but on my skin tone they still look too dark.

The blushes are great as they range from super dark to light so I can do a bit of contouring with them as well.

This one is the 28 piece Neutral Palette. I am a huge huge fan of this palette. I can not get over how fabulous every single color comes out on my lids. I do lots of blending and layering with these colors and I'm always happy with the results. Unlike the above palette this one does comes with quite a few highlighting shades to use underneath the brow bone so it really is a great palette to travel with and not have to bring extra colors with you. If you are a bride who is doing her own makeup and wants to do a natural look but play up your features, I highly recommend you play around with this palette and pack it with you on your wedding day.

And this, absolutely crazy colorful mess is the 66 color lip palette. I love glosses but I always carry a whole crap load of them in my bag. I do have smaller palettes that I bring with me like this one but I wanted something that I could travel with and not limit me to specific colors. This little palette is amazing. The colors are super vibrant, I would say that very few of them go on very sheer and those that do are supposed to (the clear-ish ones on the top left).

What I love about this is that I've been experimenting with different lip colors. I'm usually such a fan of nude lips that it's hard for me to stray but since I got this palette I've been going for a brighter pink, reds or even slightly orange lip. The weirder colors like the blues and purples are actually really good for blending with other colors. As long as you don't gob on a lot, the blue blends in really nicely.

My other palettes are from Paula Dorf and Stila and these ones are great because you can switch out the colors so when one runs out you can replace with a new one or a different color.


Now obviously, nobody needs this much makeup. It's been years of being obsessed with makeup is why I've amassed such a collection. I do regular clean ups to toss out the stuff that's too old or stuff I never use but I know that I still have way too much. (I haven't even started on my lip glosses/lipsticks!) The one thing that I can justify is that I do use almost everything on a regular basis. I have very few things that I've bought and barely used. I've been trying to cut back on buying and the Coastal Scents palettes are the last cosmetics that I have bought in awhile. I've actually been so happy with them that I really haven't had a desire to buy anything else. I think my husband is actually quite shocked now when we walk by the makeup counters at Nordstrom and I don't even take a peek! I'm gonna see if I can last the rest of the year without buying any more (unless it's to replace foundation/powder/my essentials), so I'm stating it here for all you to see and I think my husband will hold me to it. ;)

Oh and also, I got a question from reader, Kristachi, who asked me what brand lashes I used for this lookbook which are the Ardell Fashion Lashes #105. I highly recommend purchasing them from Madame Madeline which has the best prices, especially if you buy a lot! While you are there, order this glue which is the best glue I have used by far. It withstands everything, including crying when I got married! (but caution to the newbies as I think this glue dries a lot faster so is best for an expert user. For newbies, the DUO adhesive is your best bet.)