Swatch and Review: Avon Eye Dimensions Eyeshadow Pt.2!

So, I loved the first two Eye Dimensions palettes that I picked up so much that over the last month I have picked up the other four! Here they are:

*side note: all swatches are dry, over bare skin

Sultry Smoke is a great neutral trio for doing a shimmering smokey eye. The top shade is a metallic silvery white with very fine silver glitters throughout. This shadow is pretty well pigmented and blends very easily. The middle shade is a shimmery taupe with tons of fine silver glitter throughout. The pigmentation of this shade is very good, and it blends really well. The bottom shadow is a matte black. It does seem like there is a tiny bit of shimmer to it, but that blends out on the skin leaving a matte finish. The pigmentation is decent, and it builds up and blends very easily.

Neutral Haze is also a gorgeous neutral palette for anyone that loves their brown shadows. The top shade is the same as the top shade from the Sultry Smoke trio, that shimmering, sparkly, silvery white. The middle shade is a beautiful metallic soft mauve. Excellent pigmentation and blendability! The bottom shade is a deep shimmering chocolate brown with fine bronze glitters throughout. Again, excellent pigmentation and blendability.

Bronze Star is such a fun palette! The top shade is a shimmery soft golden yellow with tons of fine golden glitters throughout. The pigmentation of this one is a little light but it almost suits it to not be heavily pigmented, it gives it a slightly ethereal feel:-) It builds and blends well. The middle shade is a metallic golden fern green. Excellent pigmentation and blends well. The bottom shade is metallic golden bronze. Again, excellent pigmentation and blends really well.

Diamante Purple is the only one of these palettes that I was not terribly impressed with. The top shade was impossible for me to pick up accurately with my camera. In the palette it looks like a shimmery white base shadow with a ton of fine silver and holographic glitters in it(only the silver glitter would pick up with my camera, so you will just have to imagine the swatch above having twice as much shimmer!). The texture of the shadow is drier than the rest of the shadows from this collection, and somehow it actually applies transparent? It's hard to see in the pic above but virtually none of the white from the base shadow shows up, so you just end up with a lot of sparkle and no actual color. I think this shadow will work great as one of those new sparkle overlay/topcoat type shadows that I've been seeing popping up all over the place, but if you are looking for that white base to translate to the eye it's not going to happen. The middle shade is this amazing shimmery medium violet with a slight pink shift in the pan. Unfortunately, this shadow is a little on the dry side too. It does show up true to color on the skin, but you really have to build it up to get the intensity you see in the pan. The bottom is a deeper shimmering violet with tons of fine purple sparkle throughout. Again, a little on the dry side so it has to be blended and built up a bit to get that same pan intensity. Even though this is my least favorite of the six, I did get an idea while swatching this for an easy sparkly purple smokey eye tutorial. So keep an eye out for that!:-)

All in all, I really love the colors in these Eye Dimensions palettes. The metallic shades are a dream to work with, buttery smooth and great pigmentation!

FOTD: Simple Blue Shadow Look

I really loved this blue shadow worn on the Marc Jacobs Spring '14 runway, and every time I see the new Marc by Marc Jacobs ads(with the same makeup) I get an overwhelming urge to put a bunch of blue shadow on :-)

I decided to do my own version today, a little toned down and not quite as bright as the catwalk version!

This is definitely one of the easier eye looks that I've ever done. I just used my Avon Extra Lasting eyeshadow pencil in Sapphire as a base all over the lid, topped it with the periwinkle blue shade from the True Color 8-in-1 palette in The Blues, and finished with one coat of the new Avon Aerovolume mascara.

The rest of the face was kept pretty bare with just a little Ideal Luminous blush in Coral Radiance and some Totally Kissable lipstick in Natural Glow patted on the lips.

I think that the mark. i-mark shadow in Electro would be a really good option for doing the brighter version of this look:-)

Swatches!: Ben Nye Sparklers in Silver Prism & Black Diamond

I got these two glitters in the mail yesterday and...wow! These are the Ben Nye Sparklers loose glitter, and they are only $6 on the Camera Ready Cosmetics website. These were actually a last minute add to my order just so I could bump the total up a little to get free shipping and I'm so glad I picked these up! I've been looking for a black glitter for a long time, but every one that I picked up looked dirty(literally,like black glitters and dust and sand mixed together). This Black Diamond glitter(the one on the right), however, looks exactly how I wanted it too. Jet black, slick, and sparkly. The glitters are medium in size. There are some smaller silver and holographic glitters mixed in to add to the shine, but just a little so that it maintains the integrity of a really black glitter and doesn't muddy the color. The Silver Prism glitter(on the left) is one of those glitters that I'm never going to be able to catch accurately with my camera. It is pretty in the picture, but SO much better in person. A combination of fine silver and holographic glitters, it's one of those that shifts color as the light hits it from different angles. I am going to try to do haul video of these and the other items I got from Camera Ready Cosmetics soon, and I will post that here when I do because I think the true brilliance of that silver glitter is going to be best caught on the video camera:-)

If you want to check out the Ben Nye Sparklers for yourself, head over to the Camera Ready Cosmetics website!

Here's my Camera Ready Cosmetics Haul. You can see the glitters around minute 6:

#ManiMonday: Retro Sparkly Spring Nails

I got the idea for these nails from Madelaine Poole's book 'Nails, Nails, Nails!". They didn't turn out how I imagined in my head, but it's not too shabby for a first try:-)

For this look I used:
Zoya polish in Jacqueline as the base on all of the nails
Zoya polishes in Cole and Dot for the design
Zoya glitter top coat in Monet
Sally Hansen I Heart Nail Art fine nail art pen in Black

To do:
1. Paint all nails with two coats of your base color
2. Using whatever colors you want for the design, starting half way down the nail

Swatch & Review: Avon Eye Dimensions Eyeshadow- Khaki Chic and Sweetheart Plum

First, let me start this off by saying that I'm in LOVE with these little palettes! They are chock full of shimmery, glittery goodness, and I really just can't get enough of them(I have two more on the way). That being said, if you are a matte shadow girl these are not going to be your cup of tea.

The pigmentation of both of these palettes is really good. The staying power is also really good. The fallout factor is pretty high, so I would recommend (1)using an eyeshadow primer, (2)patting the shadows on, as opposed to using sweeping motions, and (3) doing your eye makeup first so that you can wipe any fallout away before applying your foundation etc.

Here is the Khaki Chic palette:

Khaki Chic is a very sparkly neutral palette. The top shade is a metallic soft gold. The texture is very soft, almost creamy, and it blends really well. The middle shade is a shimmery golden taupe with with fine golden glitter throughout. This one has a slightly drier texture, but still blends really well. The bottom shade is shimmering deep khaki green with fine golden glitter throughout. It has the same texture as the middle shade, and blends really well. Again, excellent pigmentation for all three shades.

Here is the Sweetheart Plum:

Sweetheart Plum is more of a warm toned purple palette. The top shade is a super pale matte mauve base with micro-fine golden shimmers throughout. The texture is a little on the dry/powdery side, but it still blends well. Even though it's technically not matte, the shimmers are so small that they practically disappear on the skin making it a nearly matte shadow. The middle shade is really hard to explain, kind of a shimmery rose gold/soft plum duochrome with fine golden glitter throughout. It's very sparkly, and blends out well. The bottom shade is a metallic plum. Absolutely gorgeous! This is one of my favorite purple palettes that I have ever owned!

I haven't tried these shadows wet yet, but given the excellent pigmentation and high shimmer factor I feel like they would be amazing used wet!

Have you guys tried any of these Eye Dimensions shadows yet? What do you think?

Here are a couple of looks that I have done with these palettes:

Swatches: Avon Ultra Color Absolute Lipsticks

I only have a couple of these, but I did a get a few samples too. Another Avon rep did a really good swatch video on YouTube, so I will post that at the end of this post so you can see all of the colors:-)

Here are the swatches:

This one is Caramel Comfort. It is a light beige nude, with medium coverage. This one went on pretty evenly and has a nice balm-like texture to it.

Creamy Melon is a pretty, bright peach shade. I love the color of this lipstick, although, I did feel like it clung to dry patches on my lips and went on a tiny bit streaky.

Pink Renewal is a very pale creamy pink. This was honestly the least favorite for me because it just didn't look good with my skin tone and washed me out a little. This one also seemed to cling to dry patches.

The next two colors are so similar in person that I honestly had a hard time telling them apart until I put the pictures side by side. The one on the left is Tender Mauve, and on the right is Ripe Rose.

Tender Mauve is a nice, light, neutral beige-y pink. This will be a good nude pink for anyone with fair to light/medium skin tones.

Ripe Rose is really similar to Tender Mauve, just a couple shades darker. This one is my favorite. It's a great nude pink for me, and probably will be for anyone with light to medium skin tones.

Radiant Raisin is a really pretty dark berry shade. This is a great color for this time of the year!

Here is Lorena's video of all of the swatches if you want to check out the rest of the shades:

#ManiMonday: Daisies and Stripes

To get this look you'll need:(all from Avon)
Dual-ended nail brush & dotting tool
Speed Dry+ nail enamel in Reddy To Go
Nailwear Pro+ nail enamels in Sunshine, Licorice, and French Tip White

For the striped nails:
~Use two coats of French Tip white as your base
~Then paint half of the nail with Sunshine
~Using the brush end of the dual-ended tool, paint black stripes using Licorice starting in the middle

For the daisy nails:
~Use two coats of Reddy To Go as your base
~Using the dotter end of the dual-ended tool use French Tip White to place five dots in a start shaped pattern(leaving a small space in the middle of each pattern), these will be your petals. Repeat as many times on each nail as you like.
~Using the brush end take the Licorice polish and make small black lines on each petal, starting from the base of the petal moving outward.
~Using the dotter end again, take the Sunshine polish and put a dot in the center of each flower