Deborah Milano hi-tech eyeshadow trio in 10 Green Rhapsody: Swatches, review and EOTD

This looks a lot like the Bourjois Smokey eye Trios but is in fact much different. I suppose these are baked too and it says you can use these wet as well. The Deborah Hi Tech eyeshadow trios come in many shades and you can create a whole eye look with each. The one I'm reviewing here Green Rhapsody is an olive green gold combo trio. These Deborah Milano hi tech eyeshadow trios retail at Rs. 495 and are available at Deborah Counters or most retail sites. I picked this up from Medplusbeauty at a discount.

The Deborah Milano Hi Tech trios are very soft despite being baked and have very good pigmentation. These are also slightly sparkly. They go on pretty smooth and blend easily but have some amount of fallout since they are so soft so you gotta be careful during application. The shade Green Rhapsody has a light yellow gold shade which can serve as a highlighter or even as an all over lid shade for a daytime look. The next shade is a medium pista green shade which again has slight shimmer and good payoff. The third and darkest shade is an olive green which is not too intense. You can create a nice daytime smokey green eye look with these as shown below or even combine with a bit of black shadow to create further depth for added intensity. You could even use these wet but I've not tried it so far coz I'm not sure how to do it..whether to just wet a brush and dig into these or scrape a bit of shadow out and then use it. Coz sometimes using a wet brush directly on the pan spoils the shadow.

Yay for:

• Can use dry or wet
• Good pigmentation
• Smooth application
• Easy to blend
• Can create a nice subtle green smokey look with this palette
• Can be used with the applicator provided or with a makeup brush

Boo for:

• Has fallout
• Needs primer underneath to prevent creasing
• Lasts 3 hours without primer
• Has slight shimmer so it may not be workplace appropriate
• The plastic casing is slightly hard to open

Overall, these are worth the price and the shades are easy to work with. However, I'm not quite impressed with the colours in this particular palette. Might look at some other colours.

My rating: ***

Bourjois Smokey eye trio in 10 Gold Smoking: swatches, review and EOTD

I have a thing for pallets... They're so cute and compact and usually contain enough stuff for a complete makeup look. Hey, everyone likes to arrange stuff in palettes. No other way to explain all the "de-potting" videos on YouTube right?
So this one from Bourjois is really cute and comes as a trio of 3 colours to create a smokey look. Bourjois is pretty well known for its baked blushes and eyeshadows and these pallets have 3 baked mineral eyeshadows in pretty colours. The Bourjois Smokey Eye Trios are prices at Rs.645 each for 4.5g and are available at Bourjois counters or a few online sites. I picked this up form Medplusbeauty.com at a discount.

The shade I have is Gold Smoking which has a dull orange-y gold shade that's not too sparkly or metallic but just right. The darker shade in this palette is Black (or is it dark dark brown?) with subtle bronze shimmer throughout. The lightest shade is a pale pale white gold shade. The shades are all average when it comes to pigmentation with the gold having the best pigmentation and the white gold having the least. The white gold isn't smooth at all and goes on patchy but makes a nice subtle highlighter! But I don't really use it so much and love the other 2 shades in this palette.
Now this is a baked shadow palette and the shades are slightly hard. You CANNOT use a brush to apply this. You won't get any product at all! You can only use the foam tip applicator that's been provided with this. This applicator is pretty good. It's not the usual sponge tipped one..this is more like foam. This doesn't get shredded like the usual sponge tipped ones in a couple of uses. I only use this applicator with this palette. You can even blend pretty well with this applicator. Surprising, I know!
The shades themselves have no fallout whatsoever and adhere really well to the skin without even a base or a primer. It's also pretty long lasting and doesn't crease even after 6 hours. I guess it's coz the shades are so hard. I'm not quite sure if I like the hardness. While it makes it adhere to the eyelid well and stay put, it also results in poor pigmentation and you really have to dig into the shadow and pile it on to get it to show. Mixed bag, really.
But the colours are gorgeous and you can create a lovely gold-black smokey look how I've shown here. I really like how the colours are so unique and have this nice sheen to them without being overly blingy or loud and bright.

Yay for:

• Beautiful, unique shades
• Nice sheen, not too blingy or bright. Just right.
• Can be worn in the daytime or at night
• Never goes on cakey
• No fallout
• Doesn't crease. Lasts 6 hours.
• Adheres well to lids even without a base or primer
• Applicator provided is pretty good. Foam tipped instead of sponge tipped.
• Easy to apply. Blends well. Beginner friendly.

Boo for:

• Very average pigmentation
• Baked shadows, so these are slightly hard. They might further harden with time.
• Applicator might be too small for comfort for some
• Cannot use makeup brushes to apply these

Overall, the Bourjois Smokey eye trios are a mixed bag really but this particular shade Gold Smoking is quite unique and definitely nice to have. You can easily create stunning smokey looks without looking OTT or too bright with this. Would definitely recommend this one to others.

My rating: ***

Current Obsession: duochrome eyeshadows

Ok I'm just going to come out n say it. I love duochromes. Whether its nail paints or my saree or the colour of my car. Oh and duochrome is not to be confused with two-toned ok. Two toned is like colour blocking...when you have two distinct colours separated by a distinct border. Duochrome, on the other hand is when one colour is "shot" through the other..meaning it reflects another colour at a different angle. Ok, class over. Now, onto the fun part..

I love duochromes in makeup. Well, duochrome has been around in nail paints for a long time... You have so many paints that reflect blue or hot pink at different angles (an inexpensive example is maybelline colorama Roxo Metallico). And blue- green combos are also quite popular. Like NYX Paradise. Another one is Chanel Peridot which is a gold-green duochrome. Very pretty. And of course plenty of Zoya polishes which just looks like magic in a bottle.

There are some duochrome lipsticks and glosses available too. I have one from maybelline called iced orchid which reflects violet and hot pink. Very attention grabbing but not OTT as well. Then there are these AMC glosses that Inglot makes that really shift colour..very pretty!

But, my latest obsession is duochrome eyeshadows. With these, eye makeup looks soo complex and interesting without putting in too much effort. All you need to do is sweep the duochrome shade all over your lid and it'll look like you spent hours layering and blending. Cool, right? Im gonna list my top picks for duochrome eyeshadows. Oh but before I gotta say somehow duochromes only comes as pigments mainly. But that's still better right? You can use it as an eyeshadow or mix it with clear nail paint to make your own. Yup. Ok so without further ado, presenting my top fave duochrome eyeshadow/pigments... *drumroll*

INGLOT pure pigment no.84 : a stunning reddish brown- olive green gold duochrome. Absolutely gorgeous. Can't stop drooling over it! Buy it. Now.

INGLOT pure pigment no. 85 : another pretty one, slightly similar to 84 but more of purple. This is an purple brown - green gold duochrome.

Bourjois shimmery loose eyeshadow in Parme Etincelant : A lilac- blue duochrome. So girly and beautiful.

NYX Dramatic Chromatic pigment in Apricot/ Princess: Both are v v similar. Pink- peach- gold duochrome. Can even be worn as a highlighter.

Inglot eyeshadow in no.415: a light aqua blue- green duochrome.

Inglot eyeshadow in no.439: A medium purple- blue duochrome.

I know there are tons of others in many brands but these are the ones that I like the most and have my heart set on. Gonna buy all of these very soon. :)

Oh and gotta mention- I found a seller on Etsy called "persephone minerals" who makes the most drool worthy mineral duochrome pigments ever! I just wanna buy her entire shop! Sooo pretty. I still haven't bought anything off Etsy so I'm not sure of shipping and logistics. Once I do, I will update on the blog.

So which ones did you like? Would you wear duochrome eyeshadows?

The perfect nude/smokey palette : Inglot

Ok, so it's no secret that I've been obsessing over nude palettes and the UD Naked2 actually comes pretty darn close but not quite. I'd like a matt dark brown too in it so I can use it to create soft brown smokey eyes for daytime office wear too.
So what's the solution? Create your own palette doll! I'm planning to get a 20 shade square palette from inglot and fill it up with all nude shades and complementary lip shades too. Maybe throw in a concealer and a brow powder and ta da! The best palette ever! All that you'll ever need. :)

So here's a list of shades that I personally think would make the perfect smokey eye palette and would also be very versatile in creating various daytime or more glam looks. I've put together some collages for quick reference. Again, the pics are from the www and if anyone objects, I can take them down.

Okay...so the basic shades that I think ought to be in a nude/smokey palette are:
matte black. : 391M
Matte beige. : 350M
Pearl white. : 453P
Gold. : 430P
Champagne highlighter. : 08S
Matte medium taupe brown. : 342M
Matte dark brown. : 378M
Medium copper. : 21S
Silver. : 454P
Matte grey. : 348M

Now onto some unusual, pretty shades to add a bit of colour and depth.
Matte beige with sparkles. : 463 DS
Gunmetal. : 434P
Olive blackened gold. : 419P
Lime-y gold. : 412P
Shimmery orange. : 15S
Shimmery dark plum purple. : 446P
Satin black with gold sparkles. : 64AMC
iridescent blue. : 428P
Iridescent green. : 418P
Iridescenct purple. : 439P
Sparkly teal. : 504 DS

I've also added some smokey eye looks that you can create with this palette.

Doesn't this seem great? Love inglot shadows! They're so buttery and super easy to blend, even the matte ones and great pigmentation too. You can buy these online at ShopAtMajorBrands.com

Inglot dupes for Urban Decay Naked 2 palette

I've been smitten with the Nude palette. Seriously..I see one, I start salivating. And there are soo many options out there. But easily one of the best is the Urban Decay Naked palette and now they've launched the Naked 2 which I think is a whole lot better than the first edition.
So, what if you can't get your hands on one and wanna make your own one? Fret not, fair maiden (s).. I'm your knight in shining armour. I'm gonna give you dupes from Inglot which match the UD palette in quality and colour, of course. Seriously, inglot shadows are grrrreat. You can buy these from shopatmajorbrands.com and now they have a flat 20% sale on.

Ok so here's the Dupe list with a handy (slightly shabby) collage I put together for quick reference. :) Pics have been borrowed from the interweb and if anyone says anything, I shall take them down. :)
Foxy : 328M (matte light peachy yellow beige)
Half baked : 404M (shimmery bronze-y gold)
Booty call : 395P (shimmery beige)
Chopper : 405P (shimmery copper gold)
Tease : 342M (matte taupe medium brown)
Snakebite : 409P (shimmery dark brownish bronze)
Suspect : 402P (shimmery light brownish gold)
Pistol : 420P (shimmery taupe greyish brown)
Verve : 393P (pale shimmery pinkish gold)
YDK : 42S (medium reddish copper)
Busted : 423P (shimmery dark burgundy brown)
Blackout : 391M (dark matte black)

Some shades might not be exact match but work well nevertheless. :)
You could even pick and choose and make your own Naked palette.

Currently Coveting: MAC Golden Gaze

Guys, I'm in lust with this Mineralize eyeshadow from the MAC semi-precious collection. It was love at first sight really. Today I got a text from the MAC store, Chennai saying the semi-precious collection is going to be launched this week and I looked up the swatches from this collection on Temptalia and a couple of other sites and they have such pretty mineralized eye shadows. But the one that truly stands out, which is the perfect shade of smokey-olivey-gold (is that a real colour?) is Golden Gaze. I was hooked the minute i laid eyes on it. Beeyoootiful. I want. I need. I crave. You can just wear this all over the lid and it'll give a nice smokey effect with depth. I know it looks plain in the pan but the swatches guys, the swatches. *swoon* The pics are from Temptalia.

Swatches-Dry and wet

This seems to have a smooth texture and awesome pigmentation. Looks great both when dry and wet. Last year I'd gotten the She Who Dares Mineralize EyeShadow Duo from the Venomous Villains collections and I loved it. This year's MAC buy shall be the GOLDEN GAZE. And I did what any cool-headed intelligent person would do- called up MAC and booked it.

Tring Tring
MAC MUA: Hi, this is MAC
Me: Hiineedtoknowifsemipreciouscollectionhasbeenlaunched *Pant* *pant* IwanttoorderforGoldenGaze
MAC MUA: Huh?
Me: Pant pant.. has it has it?
MAC MUA: I'm sorry you'll have to repeat that, I dont understand what you're saying
Me: Golden Gaze
MAC MUA: Are you talking about the semi-precious collection?
Me: *nods head frantically*
MAC MUA: Hello..
Me: yes yes the semi-precious collection
MAC MUA: Its being launched this Sunday, the box has just arrived and I need to open it and arrange it
Me: Ok can I pre-order the Golden Gaze MES?
MAC MUA: Sure, I'll hold a piece for you, just leave your name and ph no
Me: So you'll hold it right. You wont give it off if someone quotes a higher price right? I really really want this. You understand?
MAC MUA: Errrr.. yeah.. sure
Me: OK thanks so much, you're a sweetheart. bye
MAC MUA: errr.. yeah.. pleasure

See? Smooth! So very soon this shall me mine. All mine. Muhahahhahahahhaa.