Organic Skin Care Blog – Product Reviews & Healthy Skin

Recently, I've been seeing lots of "anti-haul" posts on Youtube and elsewhere. Basically, in a nutshell, an "anti-haul" is just a list of things you didn't/aren't planning to buy - as opposed to a "haul" which is list of things you bought. From the posts I've seen, it seems to have been partly borne out of a bit of a backlash against Youtubers and "influencers" shilling all sorts of dubious makeup trends and products, so this trend helps people to articulate how they are saving money by highlighting what they are not buying, and what trends they're not buying into.

I'm all for it. I mean, as a beauty junkie and beauty blogger of 7+ years, of course I've hauled many a haul (and have the haul posts to prove it too! But I do agree with the general anti-haul sentiment that not every trend is worth getting into, and not every makeup product is for everyone - after all, not every "must-have" palette is suitable for every type of skintone, undertone, and colour preferences. And while I'm not about to stop hauling (oh no, not at all!), I do agree that I do enjoy my makeup stash best when my makeup purchases are thoughtful and curated, and when I don't just jump on every hype bandwagon. And, I get to save money! So for me, anti-hauling isn't at all "OMG DON'T EVER WEAR MAKEUP!!!111!!!11!", but more of "hey, not every makeup product/colour/trend is going to work for you, and you'll enjoy makeup more if you buy what you're happy wearing, and what looks good on you".


So, with that said, let's get into one of the recent makeup trends that just haven't been doing it for me - warm, orange eyeshadow! There have been a ton of warm and/or orange-y eyeshadow palettes released this season, and the orange eyeshadow was pretty much the "it" item of the summer, and still going strong. But for me, since I have an olive, neutral-cool undertone, the orange eyeshadow trend really just became the "swollen eye" trend. I do love some of these brands (and do indeed have other products from some of these brands here), but here are some of the recently-popular orange/warm/rust-toned eyeshadow palettes that just didn't do it for me.Continue Reading . . .

Too Faced's Melted Chocolate collection, consisting of the Chocolate Bon Bons Eyeshadow Palette and 6 shades of Melted Lipstick, is coming to Singapore in March. In the run up to that, I've got swatches of both the eyeshadow palette as well as the Melted Lipstick, and I'm so excited!


The "Melted Chocolate" theme is pretty obvious with the products - the Melted Lipsticks are all varying shades of brown, in a very Kylie Jenner lips-esque sort of way, and the palette smells of chocolate, which is to say, it smells very yummy. In general, the quality of the collection also holds up very well for Too Faced - it's pretty similar quality-wise to their existing Melted Lipsticks and eyeshadow palettes, which is to say, it's pretty good.
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Urban Decay's Vice 4 Eyeshadow Palette is probably one of the Holiday 2015 makeup items. Urban Decay's Vice Palettes have always been popular, starting with the original Vice Palette launched in 2012, the following iterations on the Vice themed (named Vice 2 and Vice 3) were also really popular, and tend to sell out pretty fast. If you're an eyeshadow lover, you probably already have Vice 4 on your radar - if you haven't already gotten it!


The Vice 4 Palette has a whopping 20 eyeshadows, like the 3 other Vice Palettes before it. And according to Sephora, the palette "is formulated with Urban Decay’s own Pigment Infusion System™, a proprietary blend of ingredients that deliver rich, velvety, blendable color that lasts and sparkle that stays in place". Urban Decay's eyeshadows are famous for their pigmentation and good texture, so I'm happy to hear that!


Urban Decay Vice 4 Palette: A great complement to the existing Vice Palettes
Anyway, without further ado, let's move on to the swatches!
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Too Faced's Le Grande Palais is one of the key items in the brand's Holiday 2015 collection. It's basically a set, with a palette of 18 eyeshadows, two blushes, a bronzer, and a highlighter. It also has minis of the Melted Lipstick in Peony, the Better Than Sex Mascara, and the Shadow Insurance Eye Primer. I've gotten a lot of interest ever since I posted about this on my Instagram (and one person even bought it when it came out on account of the Instagram pic), so I figure I'd better get around to swatching this!


Le Grand Palais is a Sephora exclusive, so if you want it, you know where to get it! Also, this is limited time only since it's a Christmas item. So I wouldn't wait too long to get it if you're interested! Swatches of the other Too Faced Holiday 2015 makeup items will be up soon too - I've just been busy, and there are a ton of Christmas collections out now!

Too Faced Le Grand Palais: 18 eyesahdows and 4 face colours are the highlight of the set
Without further ado, let's move on to the swatches! Before we start the swatches proper, though, let me apologize for any lack in quality of the swatches. These were made over lunch indoors in a restaurant, so I had the ultimate first-world-beauty-blogger-cum-foodie problem of eating and swatching makeup at the same time! Obviously it was a good problem to have, so I'm not complaining! I've tried my best with these swatches, so I hope they help somebody!
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Urban Decay's Naked Smoky Palette is the latest eyeshadow palette addition to Urban Decay's Naked range of palettes, and the fourth in the range (after the original Naked, Naked 2, and Naked 3). Urban Decay traditionally has been known for its bright and bold eyeshadow shades, but the addition of the Naked Palettes has helped to really establish the brand as not just for neon lovers, and brought the brand to a whole new audience.


I'm a pretty big fan of Urban Decay's eyeshadows, I have some in the really old packaging with the old logo and in the tin packaging, and the quality of the eyeshadows now is just as good as it was then. Of course, the brand image has gotten a bit more glamorous and a bit less grungy over the years, but the quality is still pretty great.


Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette: The shade range consists of both smokey and everyday shades.
Anyway, without further ado, let's move on to the review and swatches!
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I've always been eyeing some of the lovely Too Faced products, and recently actually bought some of their lip products, as seen on my Instagram). In addition to those two lip products I bought, I also finally got one of their famed eyeshadow palettes - the Cat Eyes Eyeshadow Palette!


I got the Too Faced Cat Eyes Eyeshadow Palette from Beauty Bridge, an online retailer that is based in the US, but ships overseas. They have a ton of products, from niche brands to mainstream ones, and from skincare to makeup to fragrance. I'm glad to say my package arrived on time, and that nothing was broken, which is good (shipping eyeshadows overseas always makes me a little worried). So yay for well-packed international parcels!


Too Faced Cat Eyes Eyeshadow Palette: I received mine from BeautyBridge
Anyway, now that I've gotten my hands on the palette, I figured it's a good time for me to give you guys a review of the palette!
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