Urban Decay Naked Heat Archives - Reviews and Other Stuff

Urban Decay Naked Heat

Ilia The Necessary Eyeshadow Palette Review + Swatches

February 10, 2020 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Ilia Beauty is a brand of makeup and skincare that I’ve been investigating lately. I really love their concept of delivering clean beauty with high-impact colors. Their products have been hitting Instagram and so far, I’ve only heard and seen really good things about their stuff.

I was particularly interested in their clean eyeshadow palettes because I really love the cohesiveness of the colors in each of the compacts even though so far, they’ve only released two eyeshadow palettes which cater to those with warm or cool skin undertones. Also, clean eyeshadows are very important especially for those who tend to react or are sensitive to non-clean ones. However, most of the clean eyeshadows I’ve tried in the past tend to lack good pigments and staying power.

These Ilia eyeshadows are talc-free, sulfate-free, SLS/SLES-free, paraben-free, formaldehyde-free, cruelty-free, etc. Also, they are vegan and their packaging is recyclable. The texture of each shade is quite velvety because it contains Jojoba Seed oil. Each compact contains six shades that are a mixture of nude and neutral tones together with deeply pigmented colors, while the finishes are a mix of mattes to mildly shimmery ones.

The Necessary Eyeshadow Palette (0.05 oz: 38 USD)

Cool Nude – This may be made for those with cool skin undertones, but anyone with neutral or warm undertone can pull this off as well.

Warm Nude – The shades of these remind me a lot of Urban Decay’s Naked Heat, but with cleaner ingredients.

I definitely think that these Ilia eyeshadows are not your typical basic neutral eyeshadows. They may be on the neutral side but their colors are definitely dramatic and highly-pigmented. Their lasting power is really good considering that they’re made of clean ingredients, and on top of that, there is no fallout. So far, I’m very impressed with these.

I happen to have a sample of Ilia’s Liquid Light Serum Highlighter in Nova (0.5 oz: 42 USD) which is a soft gold shimmer. There is a lot of buzz about this gel highlighter lately and that’s because this highlighter is really wonderful and totally versatile. The consistency of this is actually quite creamy, thus, making this very easy to blend on the skin. There are a lot of ways you can use this highlighter. First, you can use this as a basic all-around highlighter where you can highlight the high-points of your face. Second, you can mix this with your favorite foundation and customize your glow. Third, you can use this as a lid topper, and last but not the least, you can use this on the collarbone, shoulder, and everywhere on the upper body for maximum highlighting effect. What I also love about this highlighter is its lasting power and its good adherence to the skin which can pretty much last the whole day. On top of that, this highlighter is also made of clean ingredients.

The Ilia brand of beauty and skincare has very good high-quality products that don’t compromise color impact and saturation while being made of clean and natural ingredients. I find this brand to be very promising and I hope they will keep making more exciting clean beauty and skincare products soon.

Have you tried this brand already? What are your favorite clean beauty brands?

SHOP THIS POST

Urban Decay Naked Reloaded Eyeshadow Palette Review & Swatch

May 13, 2019 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Just when I thought Urban Decay would add another type of Naked Eyeshadow palette this season, it didn’t occur to me that they would completely redo and update their first Naked palette at all. For me, it kinda came as a surprise because I love the first Naked eyeshadow especially its color scheme. I was gonna skip on this one but seeing how beautiful the colors looked in-store, I decided to try it and see if it can keep up with the first ever popular Naked Palette.

The Urban Decay Naked Reloaded Eyeshadow Palette ($44) has 12 shades that are meant to be universally flattering for everyone, just like the first Naked Palette. The two outer pans on each side are slightly wider which are composed mostly of neutral mattes and soft shimmery shades. These are the shades a lot of us typically use the most as base colors on our lids. The rest of the colors are a mix of wearable mattes, earthy metallics, and micro-shimmers. There is one standout shade that looks like a salmon-matte color called Retro.

The packaging of this eyeshadow palette feels satiny to the touch but it could get stained easily because it’s pretty much made of cloth. It has a vintage look that I don’t like much because it’s not really eye-catching.

Application-wise, first of all, unlike most UD Naked Palettes, this doesn’t come with a brush, which would have been so useful right? And I do like most of the brushes that came with the Naked Palettes, so yeah. I find the mattes of this palette to be soft and pretty much easy to blend and apply, and also surprisingly very pigmented, even more so than the original Naked Palette. The metallic shades have mostly no fall-outs and are really pigmented as well. The shimmery ones as I expected, are not that pigmented but they can be worked on the lids easily, especially if you use your finger to apply it and pack the colors. There are also minimal fallouts from the shimmers as well, but they’re so fine that you probably won’t be bothered by it.

My favorite colors from this palette are Bucked (warm basic bronze matte), Burn (copper), Reputation (shimmery rose gold), Blur (creamy light neutral brown), Distilled (bronze), and Boundaries (terracotta). I was a bit worried about the Retro shade which is the most standout color of this palette that looks like a matte salmon-pink at first glance. I thought it may not look great on me, given my light-medium skin tone, but it actually turned out to have a pink terracotta-ish finish on me, which doesn’t look totally bad at all.

I did notice that after using this palette a couple of times, my skin started to react to it. I managed to catch it on time and had stopped using the palette since then, but it was enough to make my eyelids look puffy, red, and super itchy. I had to apply an antihistamine cream on my lids because it was starting to burn quite a lot. My lids normally don’t react like this to most powder eyeshadows, especially not with Urban Decay or with most UD Naked eyeshadow palettes at all, but this Naked Reloaded got to me, unfortunately. So, I won’t be using this from now on. It’s a pity because I really love the color scheme of this palette. I feel like this is such a fresh take of the original Naked eyeshadow that is so timely for this Spring and coming Summer.

Overall, at first, I thought this update to the first Naked Palette was not necessary but I must agree that the colors and pigments of this Naked Reloaded Eyeshadow will make you think otherwise. While I’m not quite sure if the color scheme of this palette is really universal since most of the shades may be too deep for lighter skintones, I do think that this is worth a try, but be wary that this may cause an allergic reaction for some.

Have you tried palette already? What do you think?

The Urban Decay Naked Reloaded Eyeshadow Palette is currently available at Sephora, Ulta, QVC, and Nordstrom

Pat McGrath Labs Mothership V Bronze Seduction Eyeshadow Review + Swatches

March 13, 2019 / FASHION & BEAUTY / 0 comments

Hello guys, Happy Almost Spring! I can’t believe Winter’s almost over, however, it’s still cold from where I’m at and I’m still rocking my dark outfits along with my smokey eyeshadows. Speaking of eyeshadows, there’s one I’ve been playing with lately and it’s the Pat McGrath Labs Mothership V Bronze Seduction Eyeshadow (10 shades: $125). For a long time, I’ve been wanting to have at least one PMG eyeshadow because the shades are just so unique and so stunning to look at, not to mention the glowing reviews. PMG Labs seem to be equated with high-quality makeup along with outstanding ingredients and superb pigments. Out of all the PMG eye palettes, I had my eyes set on the Bronze Seduction eyeshadow because, for me, the colors in this palette seem to be the most cohesive. However, I keep skipping it because it’s really pricey.

When this Bronze Seduction eyeshadow kept getting sold out for quite some time, I decided, it’s time to pull the trigger and find out how will this eye palette perform on me and does it really live up to the hype? or at least, are the Pat McGrath eyeshadows really worth it?

The PMG Mothership V Bronze Seduction Eyeshadow has 10 ultra-pigmented shades which are composed of 3 finishes: matte (3), shimmer (3), and glitter (4). At first glance, it gives you the impression that it’s mostly full of bronzey and coppery shades. Upon closer look and initial swatch test, it’s actually full of a pretty versatile group of colors because it can create a neutral daytime look and it can also take you to a date night ultra-glam occasion.

Skin Show Divine Glow – shimmery golden champagne

Entrapment – mid-terracotta matte

Blaze Bronze – glittery golden bronze

Rose Gold 005 – glittery rose gold

VR Fire Opal – glittery color shifting chartreuse

Xtreme Aubergine – darkened matte violet

Gilty Pleasure – shimmery bronze-taupe

Disobedient – matte mahogany

Blitz Flame – shimmery metallic crimson

Astral Luna Gold – glittery white gold

Let’s take a moment to admire the packaging of this eyeshadow palette. It is SO beautiful! and so well-thought-out. This probably has the most beautiful presentation for an eye makeup palette that I’ve ever seen. But we all know that PMG cosmetics, in general, puts emphasis on the aesthetics of their packaging.

I find the matte shades to be buttery soft and very easy to blend. They’re so pigmented that I have to be really light-handed when applying them and I have to use a very soft blending brush like the ones from Ulta (seen HERE) in order not to overdo my eye makeup game.

The shimmery ones are also quite pigmented but they do have a nice soft shimmery effect, but it’s not like they don’t go unnoticed. They’re softly dramatic and they complement the matte shades very well, especially if you don’t wanna go all shining, shimmering, splendid during the day. When it comes to the glittery colors, I find them to be very unique, especially the VR Fire Opal and the Astral Luna Gold. These two shades are kinda out of this world and they shine bright like a diamond, LOL. I love how they transform the lid into this all-out dramatic look-at-me type of eye makeup. These glittery shades are definitely commanding yet they feel soft and not scratchy on the lids. I did see a few subtle fallouts but it’s nothing serious. I love that I could layer the glitter from just a hint of it to a super blinding one if I want to.

Dupe-wise, I could think of Urban Decay Naked Heat (reviewed HERE), Natasha Denona Eyeshadow Palette 5 in #4 (swatched HERE), and some shades of the Huda Beauty Desert Dusk (HERE) and Rose Gold Palette. Although, I think quality-wise, this PMG Bronze Seduction eye palette feels a bit of a step up among all those palettes mentioned. As for the quality of its glittery shades, they definitely reminded me of the glittery ones from Tom Ford Cream + Powder Eye Color (seen HERE).

Overall, I highly recommend this Pat McGrath Mothership V Bronze Seduction Eyeshadow Palette. I think out of all the PMG eye palettes out there, this is probably the best one in terms of color coherence and each shade is truly beautiful and universally wearable, apart from looking very unique. My eye makeup looks stunning whenever I wear this and this lasts the whole day without smudging. However, I still recommend that you use a lid primer when using this palette so as to make sure that your eye makeup stays put no matter what the situation calls for. If you’re going to have just one Pat McGrath eyeshadow in your life, this has got to be the one since this will bring out the best in your eyes.

The Pat McGrath Labs Mothership V Bronze Seduction Eyeshadow is currently available at Sephora and Bergdorf Goodman

What’s your favorite PMG Eyeshadow palette?