First Look: Anastasia Amrezy Palette (Limited Edition)

For those of us that are avid fans of Anastasia Beverly Hills, whether it be for their brow products or eyeshadows, there is an exciting newly released palette created by a very popular Instagram makeup artist named Amrezy. Since this collection was formulated through a collaboration between Anastasia's own daughter (who is responsible for the buttery texture and pigmentation of the company's eyeshadows) and a makeup artist who clearly has great taste, since her own Instagram photos are breathtaking, this palette is a huge win. You can purchase the palette on the Anastasia website or through ULTA.

I am in awe at the color selection. These colors are everything I have ever wanted in a palette... it has a good mix of neutrals for every day wear and some pops of gemstone colors (Iridescent Purple and Emerald) which are flattering for all eye colors. There are 10 shadows in total, with the top row containing shimmery satin finish and the bottom row being matte (a format popularized by the Lorac Pro palette).

The palette also features a double-sided brush with one side suited to deposit color onto the eyelid and the other side is a small crease brush, perfect for creating cut-crease looks or blending out your colors.

You might think that this palette looks familiar to the Lavish Palette but I think that the shades and formulations of the eyeshadows is superior in the Amrezy palette. The reason I say this is that although Sienna performs similarly to Morocco, Pink Sapphire, Ballet and Black Diamond were disappointing (they do not stay on the lid well and need to be packed on heavily). The pigmentation seems to be much more potent with the colors of the Amrezy palette (Iridescent Purple is far superior to Pink Sapphire) and I have not yet noticed any fall out.

All of the swatches below were created with a single swipe:

Anastasia Beverly Hills Amrezy Palette - Top Row Swatches (Shimmer)

Anastasia Beverly Hills Amrezy Palette - Bottom Row Swatches (Matte)

If you don't own any Anastasia palette, I think this is an amazing introductory palette for your collection, especially since it is VERY reasonably priced at $29. You will get a lot of wear from these colors and manage to achieve a wide variety of looks. The packaging is absolutely adorable and extremely feminine, this is a product that feels much more luxe than its price tag.

If you have other Anastasia palettes in your collection, you should still pick this one up since I'm 99.9% positive that this is the best eyeshadow formulation so far from the brand.

Confessions of a Palette Addict Tag & Palette Reviews

I wanted to do a post about my palette collection and I found a really informative way to do it through the "Confessions of a Palette Addict" tag. There are specific questions to answer and I'll list them below (providing as many photos as possible). I added a few questions of my own because there were some palettes I wanted to highlight, I've marked these questions with an asterisk (*). If you want to see any photos larger, click on them and they will expand to full size!

Questions:

1. How many makeup palettes do you have? I have 51 palettes in total (counting all palettes that have 4 or more wells of product).

2. How many of those are eyeshadow palettes? 50 are eyeshadow palettes, many of my palettes also include blushes (Be Bright & Be Merry, City Color Dreaming of Fantasy, Tokidoki palettes, Jasmine, Balm Voyage, and a custom mixed palette).

3. How many are non eyeshadow palettes? All except for my concealer palette, pictured below (so I own 50 eyeshadow palettes). I purchased this from eBay, it was very inexpensive, is good quality and great for contouring and having a wide range of colors.

4. What are you top 3 favorite palettes?

I have to give first place to my beloved Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland palette (unfortunately this was a very limited edition run). I absolutely love the color selection, you can create dozens of different looks with this and I don't even mind that there are no matte shades. I found my favorite shade with this palette, it is Curiouser in the palette but better known as Grifter eyeshadow single by Urban Decay.

I love Kat Von D's palette "Saint", which is very travel friendly, neutral oriented, but still contains a large range of colors, I can always create a nice muted look with this. The shades are very buttery and smooth and rival Urban Decay shadows in terms of pigmentation.

A nostalgic love of mine is the Disney and Sephora Cinderella collaboration. This palette brings me back to my childhood and combines beautiful and functional packaging with 20 eyeshadows that pack a punch. I am a huge fan of the greens and blues (specifically the light blues) for an ethereal princess look.

5. What are your palette regrets? I don't have too many palette regrets because I usually purchase them when they're on sale (unless they were limited edition) and I get a lot of use out of my palettes.

Although I picked this palette up at Nordstrom Rack for a measly $6 (it normally retails for $30 at Sephora), I wasn't very impressed with the pigmentation of these shades. Although they swatch well, they are not easily blended, buttery, and tend to have chunky glitter fall out. I also don't think the colors in this palette create nice looks together or are complementary. 

Another palette regret is the Tokidoki Arte Palette in Vegas, the pigmentation is just poor on these shades even though the color selection is pretty, so I don't reach for it.

6. How many limited edition or Holiday palettes do you own? So many. Here is a list: Tokidoki  Robbery Palette Trio, Too Faced Joy to the Girls and Be Merry & Be Bright and small holiday palette, the Tarte of Giving, Tarte's Bow n Go, Tarte for True Blood, Sephora Pantone Universe Elements Palette. Urban Decay: Glinda, Mariposa, Deluxe Shadow Box, NYC palette, Alice in Wonderland, Butterfly Book of Shadows IV, ELF Ursula & Evil Queen, Sephora + Disney: Cinderella, Ariel and Jasmine, City Color Dreaming of Fantasy, MAC Devoted Poppy, Estee Lauder Holiday Palette

7. How many of your palettes are custom? 6

I have 2 vintage custom MAC palettes with colors I chose and 1 new regular MAC eyeshadow palette full of Urban Decay singles and miscellaneous others.

 I have 2 Z palettes, one contains my domed shadows and blushes, the other is miscellaneous shadows. I also have a double-sided MAC palette filled with my Wet n Wild depotted shadows.

8. Of the palettes you own which 1 palette would you say wasn't worth the price?

My answer has to be the Dior 5-color shadow palette in 809 Petal Shine. Although the colors are beautifully pigmented and buttery smooth, the color payoff is good, but the price overall doesn't justify the purchase. I think you can find good dupes of these colors at the drugstore.

9. Of the palettes you own which 1 palette was worth every penny?

My custom Wet n Wild palette is extremely useful to me. It has 8 trios (Walking on Eggshells, Silent Era Film [LE], Sweet as Candy, I'm Getting Sunburned, Spoiled Brat, Cool as a Cucumber, I've Got Good Jeans, I'm Feeling Retro) and 3 of the 8-pan palettes (Comfort Zone, Petal Pusher, and Flirting at the After Party [LE]). These eyeshadows are among some of the best, rivaling high end companies. They are buttery, very pigmented, easily blendable, and beautiful all while being so inexpensive!

10. In the last 12 months how many palettes have you given away or returned? 7+ were given as gifts.

11. If for some reason one morning you woke up and all of you palettes vanished, which 3 palettes would you run out and get?
The Naked 1 palette (I feel it has the most variety of warm neutrals which I tend to reach for on a daily basis and for an easy beautiful look), my Wet 'n Wild custom palette for all the same reasons I mentioned before, and Balm Voyage for beautiful pops of unique colors, great quality and large pan sizes.

Naked 1 Palette

Balm Voyage

*12. What is your most loved/oldest palette?
The Estee Lauder Deluxe Shadow Palette (from the Holiday Gift set - I forget which year!), this was my very first palette and I received it as a birthday gift from friends of mine! I absolutely loved it and it's one of the things that got me so into makeup. The colors are so smooth, soft and easy to use, they blend well and go together perfectly for a variety of unique looks.

*13. What is the best palette for special occasion/wedding makeup?
From my collection, I absolutely love the Tarte for True Blood palette for special occasions. It has some wonderfully soft colors which can be pumped up with dark accents. It was absolutely stunning for my wedding makeup (which I did myself!) and it lasted all day. It actually far exceeds the current quality of Tarte eyeshadows, which I'm not too crazy about, partially because the color selection is so poor in their new palettes.

*14. What are some honorable mentions or palettes you'd like to share with exceptional quality?
I have to give a big shout out to my beloved Tokidoki Robbery Palette Trio, which has a wonderful color selection and nice blushes as well, and the City Color Dreaming of Fantasy palette which I snagged on eBay for an absolute steal! This palette is so cute and the colors are only slightly powdery but very soft and pigmented, so worth the purchase... Plus look at the packaging!

Product Review: Anastasia Beverly Hills Lavish Palette

Woohoo, I'm so excited that I finally got this palette after eyeing it for half a year! It went on sale, as I mentioned in a previous post about offers from cosmetic companies. I was so happy to be able to pick this up for just $24 (shipping was free). I've seen bloggers and vloggers rave about this palette so I needed to see what all the hype was about.

Here's a closer look at the shadows (picture taken in natural light):

I'm happy with the range of colors, this is definitely a gem-toned palette.... I love the inclusion of pink, green, various light shades and even a black (albeit sparkly), plus there's definitely a good range of transition shades.

Here are my swatches:

Cream: Light peach beige, matte finish (very close to my skintone so you can barely see it) but it had great color payoff

Antique: Grayish taupe, frosted finish, great pigmentation and color payoff

Rum Cake: Copper brown with orange undertone, frost finish, best color payoff in the palette

Moss: Olive green with golden flecks, frosted finish, decent color payoff

Truffle: Reddish brown, pearl finish, so-so color payoff but good pigmentation

Ballet:  Peachy pink with silver sparkles (on the larger side), sheerest of the palette with fairly poor color payoff because it is the second most powdery

Orange Soda: Light orange, matte finish, most powdery shade with the poorest color payoff even though it has good pigmentation - it tends to blend away 

Sienna: Coppery reddish brown, matte finish, decent color payoff

Pink Sapphire: Pinkish coppery  brown, frosted metallic finish, good pigmentation (disappointing, however, because it is a lot less pink than I had hoped)

Black Diamond: Medium to dark brown with copper and gold microglitter, texture is a little dry and it tends to skip so it's more difficult to blend out, but it has good color payoff

I'll have to do a look to let you guys know how I feel about the shadows overall, but from the looks of it you can get very nice brown, copper, or orange-based looks with this palette.... I definitely think it's a great little beginner palette since the colors are very smooth and buttery and none of the pigmentation is too intense (a la Urban Decay Electric Palette) so you won't mess up your look by accidentally applying too much.

I think the value was very good, it came to about $2.40 per eyeshadow (0.031 oz each) compared to a MAC eyeshadow which costs $10 per pan (at 0.05 oz each) - so you're getting shadows for about 2.6X cheaper per quantity. I do have to say that I was hoping the shade Pink Sapphire was going to be more of a saturated pink rather than copper leaning, but it's still very wearable and one of my favorite colors in the palette.

Great Steals on Eyeshadow Palettes

If you're more a neutral lover, you may want to consider the It Cosmetics Naturally Pretty palette. There's a Friends and Family Sale going on for 25% off their entire site with the code "CELEBRATE" (until 4/8/2104) but it can only be used on purchases over $30. The regular price of this palette is $42 but with the 25% discount you can get it for $31.50 and free shipping (over $25 on their website). This palette is special because you can use the "transforming pearl" shade to make the matte eyeshadows (which are all of the shadows in this palette) have a more shimmery finish - it really seems you can customize your look! The website also boasts that the eyeshadow formula is infused with "ultra-hydrating age reserve and preventative complex"... I would take those claims with a grain of salt - though having an age-reversing palette would be epic!

For a limited time only, you can purchase (and you bet that I did!) the Anastasia Lavish Palette without the holiday set (this came out in the fall of 2013 for $38 originally) and you get 10 amazing eyeshadows for $24. I think this is an absolute steal, especially since shipping in the US is free from the Anastasia website and there's no tax! The gem shades in this palette are super buttery and pigmented (according to swatches I've seen online) and have awesome color payoff. I absolutely can't wait to get mine in the mail to do some looks and swatches for you guys!

Thanks for the heads up to these sales due to one of my favorite blogs Nouveau Cheap

Product Review: Sephora Superstars Limited Edition Gift Set

Hi everybody,


I wanted to bring you all a review about my new favorite purchase and product available on the market right now. It retails for $75 but the value of the products in this set is exactly $296.11 (you can see the calculations below) if purchased separately.

This is a 13 product set, of which 9 products are full sized and the others are very generous deluxe samples. These products are the best sellers of 2013 at Sephora, so you know they've got to be great.

So I took pictures of what all the products look like out of the box and I'll go through the efficacy of each one of them.





The packaging is absolutely delightful, when you pull off the laser-cut top-sheet, the inside box is a beautiful rose gold. As you can tell the produts range from lipstick to nailpolish to hair and perfume, this is a kit that basically gives you everything you need for a daily makeup routine (and even has 2 skincare products included).

The nail polish included in this set is Deborah Lippmann Nail Lacquer-Cleopatra In New York which is an absolute onyx black with gold hexagonal sparkles in various sizes that remind me of New Year's Eve. It is absolutely fantastic and the nail polish looks in real life exactly the way it looks in the advertisement below. This product if bought on its own retails for $19!!

\

NARS actually has 2 of their products that made it into the favorites this year, and I was extremely excited because I've only ever owned 1 blush from NARS since they are so expensive I can never really justify purchasing their products! Both of these products are full sized. One is a Blush and Bronzer Duo in "Orgasm" and "Laguna" (their most popular shades) and the other is NARS Sheer Lipstick, Dolce Vita in the most wearable and universal shade "Dolce Vita" which looks great on all skin tones and anytime of day. The Blush duo retails for $41 and the lipstick goes for $26.

This set includes a rollerball of Viktor & Rolf's extremely popular floral scent Flowerbomb . I've always wanted to try this perfume and it was always too expensive, with even the rollerball selling for $29. I'm happy to report that I would purchase the full size, it's smells of oriental flowers (my absolute favorite), roses, freesia's and orchids! This is definitely a luxurious and delightful present to receive in this box.

Another product I was EXTREMELY excited to try out is the Too Faced lash system "Better Than False Lashes". This is actually two products, one is the "Nylon Lash Extension System" which applies nylon fibers to your eyelashes to add volume and length, and the other is the mascara itself which is used to wet your lashes before applying the nylon fiber and then for one final coat to color them black at the end. I'm happy to report that this is, in fact, a miraculous mascara. It makes my lashes look at least 3x fuller and longer than they really are. My lashes actually touch the backs of my eyelids when I wear this! Too Faced Better Than False Lashes Mascara retails for $35 if purchased outside of this set.





The Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray is probably the item I was least excited about so I'm not too upset that this is a travel size rather than a full sized product. 1.7 Fl. Oz are included of this product and this retails for $17.91. This is a good beach spray, if you want to style your hair in beachy waves. It's actually even useful to add volume and distress up your hair a little bit if you want to create a messy bun.

I definitely recommend trying this out in the Superstars collection, I personally would never pay full price for this item because I don't think it's necessarily better than other $8-$12 surf sprays. I was happy that I did get to try it out in the set and I probably never would have if it wasn't included. I also can't think of a different hair product I would be happier to see inside this set, either, so it's still a win-win.

I'm a huge fan of Urban Decay, I own most of their palettes and I can never get enough of their buttery, blendable eyeshadows. Eyeshadows are the one must-have product from Urban Decay, the rest is good too but their eyeshadows are exceptional. The colors "Sin" and "Mushroom" are included in this set, they are a two-in-one eyeshadow. This is limited edition and, as far as I know, only available in this limited edition set. Full sized UD eyeshadows retail for $18 (but these are just in one color). I think it's really great that they give you two universal colors that are for ideal for a perfect neutral look.

Another product I hadn't had the pleasure of trying is Smashbox's Camera Ready BB Cream and it was also included in the set! Now, the only caveat here is that this only comes in the shade "Light" in the set so it will not work for all skin types. However, it is super-blendable, I'm usually a beige or nude tone and it seems a little closer to those shades that a true porcelain or "light". This is the full sized product and retails for a whopping $39. I think it's safe to say that I never would have tried this product out if it wasn't in this set, it costs a pretty penny. However, I really do appreciate it, it's very full coverage and blendable, it really moisturizes your skin as well.

The next two products are both staples in my beauty routine. One is Anastasia Brow Gel, Clear (0.085 oz)  (travel size, $5 value) and the other is stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner ($20 value). If you've read this blog before, chances are that you know my absolute favorite daily eyeliner is the felt-tip pen one by Stila, this is a great way to test it out for a fraction of its cost. The brow gel is extremely useful for taming eyebrow hairs. 

Josie Maran Argan 100% Pure Argan Oil 0.5 oz has always been a beauty blogger favorite and is used for hydrating skin, cuticles, and dry hair. The retail value of the travel sized product is $15.20 and will last for months of usage, seeing as the applicator is an eye dropper so you can use this product in a very targeted way.

To finish off the set, last and maybe the best is the Origins GinZing Refreshing Eye Cream 0.5 oz to brighten and depuff (retail value $31). This is a small container that packs a big punch, it's packed to the brim, smooth and supple like whipped souffle batter, and smells of orchids and crushed pearls. I love this stuff, I've been using it nightly and I wake up with soft and rested eyes.