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 :-)