My MAC Palette

Top Row: Nylon, Orb, Naked Lunch, Gleam, All That Glitters.
Second Row: Mythology, Expensive Pink, Sable, Haux, Amber Lights.
Bottom Row: Charcoal Brown, Mulch, Antiqued, Cranberry, Sketch. 

Building a MAC palette is expensive but a lot of fun. It seems a lot of companies are adopting the technique of creating palettes that are completely personalised as each shadow is chosen by you. Yet, it is no surprise that MAC are the most popular suppliers of this. You don't need me to tell you about the massive range of eyeshadows MAC has to offer. The array of colours, formulas and finishes seem pretty limitless and there really is a shadow for everyone and everything. I've been building this palette for a little over a year now and finally have filled each pan with a determined selection of shades that I feel cater for every look I need. As you can probably tell by the pictures, I have a lot of love for shades like Naked Lunch and All That Glitters.  Neutral pink/gold, iridescent shades that can easily be swept over the lid everyday and you're done. I have received so many compliments when wearing these eyeshadows and pretty much wore these and only these everyday for the whole of S/S 2014. I've also included tertiary shades like browns (such as Mulch and Sable) or orangey tones (such as Amber Lights or Antiqued) for A/W that are unique but surprisingly easy to wear! Then to complete the palette, I went for a more purpley shades (such as Haux and Sketch) as I find these really accentuate my green eyes. 

Let me know what you think of my palette.

What are your favourite MAC eyeshadows?

The Perfect Palette Tag

First: Urban Decay Naked 2 & 3. Second: Too Faced Chocolate Bar & Natural Eyes. Third: MAC Pro Palette & Warm Neutrals. Fourth: Urban Decay Naked Basic & Charlotte Tilbury Dolce Vita. 

I've been tagged by a number of people to do the The Perfect Palette Tag and I apologise that the reply has been slightly delayed and I am probably the last person to jump on this beauty bandwagon. Even so, I didn't want to miss the opportunity to discuss my favourite palettes with you as they are easily my most favourite purchases and the one I get the most satisfaction from - as sad as that sounds! 

Perfect Palette Tag Questions:

1. Best Packaging 

Even though there are so many palettes out there, that are dressed in gorgeous packaging with rose gold accents (*ahem* Charlotte Tilbury), I actually decided to choose MAC for this answer. I like the ultras slim feel of their palettes and the clear tops, that allow for you to see every colour you own without having to open the actual palette. They are perfect for display purposes and are ultra-versatile due to their removable pans thus allowing you to mix and match your shades and build your perfect palette. 

2. Best Colour Payoff

This has taken me a lot of thought to decide as I usually dabble in the likes of MAC and Urban Decay and both, as you most probably know, have great pigmentation. Yet, I decided to choose the palettes from Charlotte Tilbury mainly due to the loose pigment shade that features in each of her quads. Although, they're glitter pigments the colour pay-off is insane and seriously completes any smokey-eye. Admittedly, I actually purchased both my Tilbury palettes because of this little pan of glitter. There is all review of this palette on my blog which you can check out here. 

3. Most Versatile

Urban Decay are probably one of the most talked about brands when it comes to their eyeshadows. I can guarantee that the majority of the beauty fanatics out there own at least one of their Naked palettes. For most versatile I opted for the Naked 2 as the range of shades allow for a beautiful but simple daytime look yet but also caters for an amped-up evening look due to it's deeper hues, ranging from matte to iridescent formulas. I seriously love this palette.

4. Best for Travelling

Again, from Urban Decay comes the Naked Basics 2. A teeny-tiny all matte palette, that although has only a few shades, can easily cater for pretty much all neutral looks. The cool-toned shadows are incredibly buttery, blend beautifully and last perfectly. If you're just getting in to makeup and want something that's easy to use and easy to wear, I highly recommend this one, or its just as beautiful twin - the original Naked Basics palette. 

5. Biggest Regret

I really struggled with this question as I don't really regret any of my purchases. I obviously have palettes that I don't reach for as much but I don't necessarily regret them. I'm sure there are palettes or shades that I'm not thinking of but for now I'm going to have say none for this question.

6. Best Colour Names

The answer to this question was easily going to be a product from Too Faced as although some of their names can be a little risqué, I love the creativeness behind them. If you own any of the Too Faced palettes, you will know what I mean. The Chocolate Bar palette in particular, I felt really in-cooperated the theme into all the shade names eg. Black Forest Truffle, Milk Chocolate, Amaretto, Salted Caramel etc. Plus the fact that it actually smells of chocolate due to cocoa powder being one of the ingredients, is a serious added bonus! 

7. Least Used

As much as I love my MAC Warm Neutrals palette, I really do not get enough use out of it! I think the range of shades and formulas, is just slightly overwhelming and I never know what shades to pair with what. Nevertheless, I am making a subconscious effort to reach for this palette more as it really is beautiful. 

8. Most Used

This question was easy and the appearance of this palette proves that. My MAC Pro Palette contains shades I picked myself and I have used at least one of these colours almost everyday since purchasing them. The shades featured are probably my all time favourite eyeshadows ever and the ones I find myself reaching for when I want something simple and easy but still pretty. The shades are Naked Lunch, Nylon, Charcoal Brown and Mythology. Review of some of the shades are on my blog here. 

9. Most Loved

Other than the MAC palette I previously mentioned, my other most loved palette has to be the Urban Decay Naked 3 (yes I know, another one from UD). This palette was an unexpected love of mine as admittedly I got this purely because of the hype surrounding it when it was first released. Yet, since then I have found this palette to be amazing when it comes to creating pretty, pink-gold makeup looks that always seem to be the ones I get the most compliments on! 

10. Desert Island

I always find these questions kind of strange as realistically if I was stuck on a Desert Island, makeup would be the last thing I need but I'm probably being really boring! Yet, if for some reason I felt compelled to take one, I would definitely take the Too Faced Natural Eyes palette as I feel the range of shades can be used to create unlimited makeup looks that are more-than-easy to apply. I also love the petite, tin packaging thats surprisingly quite slim. The only thing this palette lacks is a decent mirror!

I tag anyone who wants to answer these questions and let me know below so I can check out your answers!

Let me know what you think.

What are some of your favourite palettes?

Beauty| My MAC Pro Palette x 4

I was recently gifted a Mac Pro Palette x 4 for my Birthday and could not contain the excitement I had about filling it up with eyeshadow pans personally picked by myself. I find the empty Mac Pro Palettes an excellent idea as it allows you to both expand and personalise your eyeshadow collection making various palettes organised by look or hue with inserts designed to take from two pans to fifteen.  With Mac having one of the most talked about eyeshadow colours, I knew I would easily be able to fill a four and already I'm trying to hold back from buying and filling a lot more! 

I'm really happy with the selections I made and find this to be a really diverse colour selection suitable for all seasons, creates multiple looks and fills the gaps in my ever-growing collection. I find the palettes to be completely worth the money with the empty palette with the four spaced insert costing only £6.50 and each shadow pan costing £10, a price I'm willing to pay for such great quality, super pigmented and long lasting eyeshadows. 

Mythology (top left): A really pretty light Pinky/Orange with a gold shimmer that works beautifully washed over the lid or even applied lightly in the crease with a lighter hue over the base. I bought this on a whim, hearing of little reviews and barely any hype surrounding it which I find to be surprising. It's a really beautiful colour that's completely unique to anything else in my collection.

Naked Lunch (top right): One of Mac's most loved shadows and I knew right from when I saw the empty spaces in my palette, one would be filled by this. A really light, shimmery pearlescent Pink that appears beautiful applied to the lid for a natural daytime look or works lovely as a base when blending with multiple deep-toned colours to create something more suitable for the evening. A gorgeous colour that everyone needs in their collection! 

Charcoal Brown (bottom left): A great diverse colour that looks breath-taking in the crease but also doubles up to be one of the most loved Brow colours with the cool Brown tone and the completely  matte finish. The many uses this pan brings is one of the main reasons why I bought this colour making it completely worth the £10 price tag being multi-purpose. 

Cranberry (bottom right): A gorgeous, sexy deep Red colour with a slight Pink/Purple undertone that appears scary in the pan but can create some of the most bold but beautiful looks. Picture this  with Golds to create a beautiful Sunset Shadow lid or with Dark Browns to create a unique take of a Smokey Eye. So diverse and different, I knew this had to be mine. 

Here are some colour colour swatches of all four shadows in the same order then what they are in the descriptions above. I love the formula of these eyeshadows with their powdered consistency that blends easily, doesn't crease and last beautifully all day. Please let me know in the comments what your favourite Mac Shadows are as I'm already on the hunt for some more to lust over and to give me to excuse to buy another empty Pro Palette to fill.

Thank you for reading!