My Must Haves Palette by Essence

Disclaimer: I purchased these.

Hey, long time no see! I'm still playing with lots of makeup and skincare and today wanted to share my impressions of the Essence My Must Haves singles, which retail for a whopping $1.99 each at Ulta.  I picked up a bronzer, two blushes, and an eye shadow to go into the 4-pan palette ($3.49). I've been playing with these for over a month now, let's see if they are any good!

First of all, the palette arrived without any packaging and was scratched on top :-(  Not good, Ulta, especially considering the claims against you about reselling products that have been returned. Fortunately, each single comes securely packaged in it's own container and was in good condition, so no complaints there.  They are not magnetized but do fit nicely into the palette, which is a rather flimsy plastic.

The bronzer shade also works as an eyeshadow, and I've been using it as a crease shade as well.  It's best suited for fair complexions and I've reached for it quite a lot in the last month.  There are 3 blushes on Ulta's site and I purchased Rosy Glow and Coral Dream. 

Rosy Glow is the more pigmented of the two, but I like them both and find that they can be built up in color without getting cakey.  The single eye shadow I chose is Brownie Licious, which is a dark brown matte that applies smoothly and can also be built up in color. 

None of these are groundbreaking, but I do like them and would take them with me when traveling for a nice one and done natural look. I hate taking expensive makeup with me when traveling, as I've been known to lose items, plus things get broken. At this price point I wouldn't be heart broken and I do like them!

Yes, Please! Pressed Powder Shadow Palette by Colour Pop

Disclaimer: I purchased this.

I've been watching reviews on ColourPop's pressed shadows with interest, but it wasn't until they started releasing these 12 pan palettes that I felt compelled to purchase. Yes, Please! definitely appealed to me with it's color scheme, but . finding it in stock was an issue as they kept selling out. I finally snagged one and as of today it's still available.

I love the cheerful colors of the packaging, although it's obviously not the most practical and will get incredible dirty looking in a short amount of time. The cardboard palette does feel sturdy but does not contain a mirror, but that's fine by me as I rarely use mirrors in palettes.

The shadows do have names but they are on the back of the box and palette, and they read right to left as opposed to matching the position of the shadow, if that makes sense. I had to go on ColourPop's site to make sure I was matching the right shadow to the right name, as it was initially a bit confusing.

Yes, Please! was ColourPop's first palette release and the inspiration for the colors are the "golden hour" time of the day, which I associate with late afternoon when the sun is still intense but starting to set and everything is infused with that golden glow. Obviously, it's an extremely warm toned palette, which is uber on trend right now. There are 8 mattes and 4 metallic shades, which is a really nice ratio IMO.

Full Zip is a nice matte cream color that is good for an all over lid color and to set my primer.  Big Cocktails is a vibrant tangerine orange matte. Champs worked well for me as a transition shade. Bling is a rusty cranberry metallic/shimmer. The formula on all of these was really nice.

Louie is a metallic red with gold shift. Butter Cookie is a pale gold metallic shimmer. Spoiled is a gorgeous brick red matte that is buttery smooth.  GNO is an orange matte. Formula on all of these was lovely.

Mischief is a mustard yellow matte that is so nicely pigmented. Note to Self is a warm caramel matte that I reached for often. Chauffeur was probably the most unique to my collection color and is light orange with gold shift duochrome metallic. French Kiss is a deep warm brown and was the only shade in the palette that swatched a bit patchy.

All swatches were done with a brush over primer, but perhaps the primer did not extend that far down my arm and contributed to the patchiness. I don't remember French Kiss being particular problematic when applied to my eyes, and I've been using this palette for a month now.

Did I mention that the ColourPop palettes are only $16? Considering how nice the formula is, that is very impression indeed. There really is not a single dud in the Yes, Please! palette and it was a great introduction to Colourpop's pressed shadows for me. I've picked up two of their other palettes now - She and I Think I Love You, and I'll be posting reviews of them as well.

Today is my 54th birthday, so I guess I've officially hit my middle 50's. Crazy. My birthday plans have been preempted by Hurricane Nate, which hopefully will not be too bad of an event here on the Gulf Coast. We shall see, as I'm typing this a day before it's predicted to hit. I hope everyone else's day is full of sunshine and happy events :-)

Melissa Michelle Palette by Ulta Beauty

Disclaimer: I purchased this.

Today I have an inexpensive palette to show you that I've quite fallen in love with - the Melissa Michelle xoxo palette from Ulta Beauty ($20). Melissa Michelle is a YouTube Beauty vlogger, although I was not familiar with her prior to seeing some reviews for her palette. What drew me in were the colors, which just scream "fall" to me.  

The palette is a sturdy cardboard and you do get a nice sized mirror, which came in handy when I took the palette with me to New Orleans recently for a short work trip. I can get multiple looks from this palette and think the shade selection is fantastic for those who love warm/neutral colors.  My coloring is nothing like Melissa Michelle's but there is not a single color in the palette that does not work for me.

You get four shimmer eyeshadows and five matte shades, and all of them perform really well. The mattes are smooth and easy to blend, and the range of shades make this a complete palette for me - hence why I took it with me to New Orleans.

The first eyeshadow Teresita is a chunkier metallic shimmer, but I had no problems with shimmer migration when I used my finger to pat it on my lids. The rust colored Bing Bing has fantastic pigmentation, and I'm loving the clay colored Rosemary and the soft tan Tobo as a crease shades. All swatches are over primer, as that is how I wear them :-)

From top to bottom: Teresita, Kades, Alana, Lola

Bing Bing, Harley, Weezy, Rosemary, Tobo

The highlighter Hollerrr has three different sections and each of them can work as eyeshadows as well.  The sections are large enough that you could just use a single shade as a highlighter with a smaller brush, although I'm sure most will swirl the colors together. The blush swatched a bit patchy on my arm but it looks great on my face, and is a lovely everyday kind of color that works well with a variety of looks. I really like it!

I was assuming I would not like the formula of the matte liquid lipstick Scandy, as it has a tack to it and does not completely dry down. I was wrong, as I love the color and find it comfortable to wear, and my lips did not feel dry the next day.

Scandy

I have no idea how long Ulta will be carrying this palette, but if the colors speak to you I think it's well worth checking out. The quality is there (4.6 rating on Ulta's site) and the price is uber reasonable for everything you are getting. Plus, Ulta always has sales or GWP's that further sweeten the deal.

Teresita over Alana with Rosemary and Tobo in the crease

Wearing Mahal blush and Scandy matte liquid lipstick

I stayed at a really cool boutique hotel in New Orleans called the Q&C HotelBar New Orleans, Autograph Collection®.  Weird name, but I loved the look and feel of the place and thought my room was lovely.

My room was smaller than I'm used to with chain hotels and reminded me size wise of a hotel I stayed in in Paris, plus it was pet friendly! Or at least I saw a couple leaving with their dogs, so I assume it was. Having cement floors probably contributes to pet friendliness.

The check-in area is small, just two stations, and there is a bar and small eating area right there, hence the HotelBar name, I guess. Anyhow, I'd stay there again so thought I would give it a mini-review as well.  I'm always curious to see what toiletries are carried  by different hotels, and Moulton Brown was the choice here :-)

Estee Lauder Color Portfolio

Disclaimer: I purchased this.

I'm a fan of Estee Lauder's annual Color Portfolio's, as I find them an economical way to collect a variety of the Pure Color shadow, blush, and lip shades.  I did not purchase last year's version, but succumbed to temptation with this year's Color Portfolio ($39.50 with purchase), and thought I would put some swatches up in case you are considering it as well. These can sell out fast!

The sides of the palette pull out to reveal the blush shades, 3 on each side.  I love Estee Lauder's Pure Color blush formula, but I know they recently reformatted the formula so this gives me a chance to try them out.

The shadows are selections from the Pure Color quads, which are new to me as well. Names are on the back of the palette, and I like how the colors are divided into warm shades on the left and cooler shades on the right.

There are a mixture of shimmer, satin, and matte finishes.  I was surprised at how pigmented and creamy/dense the matte shades were and wish there were more of them in the palette, as they are lovely.  A few of the colors were disappointing in their lack of pigment and took some building up, namely Silver Edge  and Fierce Safari 3 (the numbers refer to the shadows position in the quads).

I'll be forming more opinions once I have the opportunity to play with these and will post some reviews, as the quads are quite pricey ($52) and there are not a lot of reviews that I've seen.

The disappointing shade in the cooler toned palette is Provocative Petal 1.  It barely registers at all, and I did swatch these over primer. Overall most do look promising.

The Pure Color lipsticks are lovely, although cream with shadows palettes are always problematic. I will probably depot these into a palette so that the there is no shadow transfer, and in fact have a Z palette on it's way from the recent Ulta 20% off sale.

The Pure Color Kajal pencils in Blackened Black and Blackened Cocoa are smaller than the usual sample sizes.  I love Blackened Cocoa and use the ones I've collected several times a week.

The gloss this year is Reckless Bloom, which provides more sparkle than color. It's pretty and I do like the formula of Estee Lauder's glosses.

The blushes are smaller than in the 2013 and 2014 Color Portfolio palettes that I have, but you do get two more.  They are just big enough to fit most blush brushes, but it is a bit awkward considering you don't want to kick up much powder with the lipsticks right in the vicinity.  I will probably depot this as well and create a large blush palette with all the Pure Color blushes from the portfolios.

 I'm curious to compare the formulas between the older shades I have and the new reformulated ones.  At first swatch, Sensuous Rose does not appear as pigmented, but I've yet to swatch them side by side.












These are buildable and what I love about the Pure Color Blush formula is that I find them skin enhancing and natural looking.  The two new shades to my collection are Brazen Bronze and Pink Ingenue.

I purchased my Color Portfolio from Nordstrom during a GWP event, as I like to stack a purchase with purchase special with a GWP if I can find one.  A great site to keep abreast of GWP's is GWP Addict, and you can also sign up for emails to alert you.