Instagram brand Ofra Cosmetics has teamed up with YouTube personality Nikkietutorials for an incredibly expensive collaboration of three liquid lipsticks and a highlighter.

And I won't be buying.

I've mentioned before that I am really not a fan of collaborations. And that is because usually what happens is that either the price is crazy high or the quality of the product is pretty bad, or a combination of both. The reason for this is that both parties need to be paid. So, unless the brand wants to take a slight hit for the added exposure of working with someone (and very rarely do brands decide to do this), the price has to go up or the products need to be cheaper to make while selling for the same price.

As a disclaimer, I have never tried Ofra Cosmetics. And I have never heard of them outside the YT world. The first time I heard of them is when they collaborated with KathleenLights on a liquid lipstick, and then I only heard about them through the avalanche of people wanting to get something Kathleen recommended.

Here's my thing: I don't like or trust brands like this that only exist because they have paid some person on YT to shill their products. I think it wholly compromises the integrity of what the YouTube platform was once supposed to be. I don't know how in the hell regular consumers are expected to trust most people on YT when the entire platform has become more of a home shopping network than women shooting the shit and talking about makeup.

If the only reason I am going to learn about your brand is because you paid KathleenLights or Jaclyn Hill or Nikkietutorials to talk about you, then I am sure as hell not going to buy anything from you. End of story. This is my personal preference.

I have recently delved into the world of indie makeup (specifically eyeshadows), and I have not heard one of these "major" YT personalities talk about the brands I have purchased from. I have tried Morphe, Colourpop, Violet Voss, BH Cosmetics, etc. and the shadows from Fyrinnae blow all those out of the water. They are even better that a lot of shadows I've tried from Makeup Geek. And yet, none of these "influencers" talk about Fyrinnae. And they are supposed to be makeup enthusiasts who have made a career out of trying makeup products and "informing" people of great new products.

Thing is, I didn't just recently learn about Fyrinnae or other indie brands. Not by a long shot. I have been aware of the indie community for years. But I never dipped my toes in because 1.) I didn't think I would like loose shadows. 2.) (And this is embarrassing to admit) I wasn't hearing about them all the time the way I was hearing about MAC and Urban Decay and Too Faced, and so I figured they weren't very good. But now I see some of my indie shadows as the best in my collection, and I feel they are the best kept secret in this community.

And the reason they are a "secret" is because the brands haven't been paying people gobs of money to shill their products. Many of the brands are a one-person shop, and turnaround time can be a couple weeks or more because of that. But when I see these people on YT claim that Morphe makes the greatest shadows of all time and that if you can't work with them, you're bad at makeup (looking at you, MannyMUA), I have to call major, major bullshit.

And so because of that, I just have zero interest in a brand like Orfa that seems to be riding the coattails of these people on YT.

Let's talk about this collection of products.

You've got three liquid lipsticks and a highlighter from a small, internet brand. Since this is all packaged together and you cannot buy these products separately, that usually means the products are discounted in some way. Personally, I think this collection of items should cost $35 at the most. I think that's a fair price, leaning on the generous side. 

You wanna know something hilarious? This collection has a (fake) retail price of $79!!!

Can we all take a moment and pick our jaws off the ground or massage our cheeks from laughing too hard? When I first heard that price, I laughed so hard and actually said, "You have to be f***ing kidding me." And I instantly felt bad for all the young people out there who were going to spend this money (or their parents' money) on this ridiculous overpriced stuff. 

I said it had a "fake" retail value of $79 and that's because, "conveniently," Nikkie has an affiliate coupon code! Yay! No one expected that at all! And not only that, the coupon code is for 30% off, bringing the price down to $55.30. 

Now, I probably don't need to tell you this, but this entire scheme is complete bullshit. If you have ever worked retail or know someone who owns a business, you know that most sales are utter crap. Retailers mark up the original cost of the item to whatever the sale price is. So, if something is typically $20 and they are running a 20% off sale, they will mark up the original cost of the item to $24 so that when you apply the discount, it comes to $20, which was the original price. People are much more likely to buy something if it is on sale, which is why this is something many retailers do. 

The cost of this collaboration was never supposed to be $79. And, as I said, Nikkie "conveniently" has an affiliate coupon code. So, people think that they are getting this huge discount, but they're not. It is setup that way so that Nikkie can get profits off of the people who use her code. Even still, $55 for this is, in my opinion, a ripoff. I think all this stuff is overpriced considering prices of midrange brands sold at Sephora. 

As I mentioned, you cannot buy any of these items individually, and, inevitably, there is at least one product in this bundle that will not work for most people who buy it. This is just not a value whatsoever. 

To give this collaboration some credit, I do think that effort was made to include as many skin tones as possible. Even if something is not done perfectly, and even if this effort means that all the products cannot physically work for everyone, I am happy to see that an effort was made to be inclusive. 

With that said, I can say that, personally, I would get use—maybe—out of the lightest lipstick shade. And I don't even like liquid lipstick, so that's a stretch. 

I wouldn't use the highlighter. I've mentioned before that a highlighter is a highlighter and I already have plenty. Added to that, I don't think the three colors swirled together would look good on my skin and I would not use at least one if not two of the individual colors as highlighter at all. I also would not use these colors as eyeshadow since I already have a metric ton of eyeshadow that I love. Why would I try hard to make a highlighter "work" as eyeshadow when I already have eyeshadow? I wouldn't. 

The bright pink lipstick would not flatter me, and I highly doubt it would be a color that most people would enjoy or would have purchased on their own. I also wouldn't use the metallic brown shade. I think it's a cool shade and am glad she thought to include a shade like that, but I personally would not wear it much if ever. 

So, this was an incredibly easy pass for me. It was so easy that it kind of slipped my mind to write a post on it. But I really wanted to talk about how products are marketed and how shady this kind of behavior can be. Especially in a platform like YouTube, which can be incredibly manipulative. When you are watching QVC, you know you are watching an advertisement. When a commercial comes on, you know exactly what it is. But when you have subscribed to a person on a platform like YouTube to learn how to apply makeup and to learn what people enjoy, you don't immediately think that you are watching an advertisement. Many people on YT are very deceptive about disclosing if they are being paid to talk about a product. And that is because they DON'T want people to know they are watching an advertisement. They want people to think they are watching a friend who is honest. And that is grotesque to me. 

This collaboration reminds me of everything I dislike about the beauty community and specifically the YT community. And I won't be buying. 

A couple of weeks ago I showed you my makeup essentials, those basic product I use in almost every single makeup look. I also have essential makeup brushes that I reach for everyday as well - and you may have noticed that: I always list all the brushes I use to achieve my makeup looks, and many of them are always the same - although I have a ton of brushes to choose from!
So I thought I could do another essential episode, focusing on brushes only this time - and that's exactly what I'm going to do today! I'm going to show you all of my favourite and most used brushes - face, eye, lip... Every kind of brush that it's irreplaceable for me!

All my favourite dinglehoppers in my favourite holder ;D My personal mermaid treasure ♥

Let's start with Spectrum Collections' ones, since my stash consist for the most part of their brushes! Which makes sense, since they create the most mermazing brushes ever ;D And you already know how much I am fond of their brushes, I'm sure! They're the softer brushes ever, work excellently, the quality is stellar - plus each set features an unique style/design that makes them absolutely irresistible.
(Click on each picture to enlarge!)

BombShell Set: comparisons ~ review
Siren Set: comparisons ~ review
Glam Clam Set: comparisons ~ review

Face Brushes

Almost all of my favourite face brushes are by Spectrum. A00* Luxe Powder and A01 Domed Powder (respectively from the BombShell Set* and the Glam Clam set) are my most used powder brushes: A01 is fluffier, less dense - perfect for lighter applications. On the other end, A00* is way denser, thus allows "stronger" applications - but I also love to use it as a big all over brush. (This brush is not sold individually as of now!). Long story short, I switch between them basing on my daily needs!

B01 Buffing Foundation (this one is from the Siren Set) is currently my favourite flat foundation brush, especially this one. It's so soft, of course, but most importantly is big and dense just to the right point. I always use it paired with my mineral foundations - so a powdery product, works just fine nevertheless. Gives a nice coverage, blends the powder evenly - the result is flawless.

Contouring is my Achille's heel, I don't do that very often - but when I try to contour my face, I always use C02 Flat Contour to apply the dark contour shade. It's specifically designed for this purpose - and I found it very useful and easy to use for beginners like me, too. 

C03* Tulip Powder (from the BombShell Set again): the only tulip-shaped brush I own, and I love it. I use it mostly to apply powders in small areas or to remove any fallout from my under eye/cheeks. Its barely-there point is perfect for these purposes. Sometimes I even use it to apply blushes!

B03 Precision Buffer is my go-to concealer brush: I've used flat concealer brushes in the past, but I'm way happier with this one. Basically because it applies and blends the product at the same time - life saver, especially when you're in a big hurry! 

B05 Luxe Blender (another unique, not sold individually brush from the BombShell Set) is my favourite highlighter brush ever. Its size, shape and packed bristles allows to achieve a glowing look - even with less pigmented powders. Irreplaceable to say the least! (Plus is the only one I own XD)

Eye/Lip Brushes

A06 Large Fluffy Shader is my brow bone shader brush. It's big and fluffy and I always - always - use it to apply my favourite brow bone colour (Antique White by NABLA Cosmetics). While I'm at it, I usually use it to blend some more the crease/transition shade. This one from the Siren Set is undoubtedly my favourite of all the A06 I own (and I own three of them!).

B06 Tall Tapered Blender - I have many blending brushes now but this particular one from the Siren Set holds a special place in my heart ♥ It blends wonderfully and easily too, it's one of the best blenders ever. 

A07* Colour Applicator (previously known as Stubby Shader), supposedly an application brush - but I don't like it for that purpose. It's too thick and dense, not my ideal eyeshadow brush. BUT, I like to use it for my lower lid shades, both to apply and blend eyeshadows. Being quite big, it allows really quick and easy applications/blendings - and it's shape makes it perfect for the lower lid area. 

A12* Fluffy Pencil - two of them, from the Marbleous Set and the BomShell Set respectively. I included them both because, even though they're basically the same type of brush, they're quite different to each other. Marbleous one is fluffy and pointy, while the BombShell one is denser and rounded-to-flat. They feel like two different brushes, actually. I use them really a lot and equally love them. The first is more precise - thanks to the point - while the latter allows to build up the shade better - being more packed. They both can be used as some kind of small sized blending brushes, too. 

A13* Short Smudge - two of them once again, from the Marbleous Set and the BomShell Set. This time they're quite alike - the only difference being that the Marbleous one is slightly firmer, while the BombShell one is softer and more flexible. Both of them are fundamental for lower lid/lower lashline applications. The size and shape it's perfect to work in that tiny area - they're, like, the little brother of the A07 XD

A17 Angled Brow aka one of my brow brush. I actually use two different brush to do my brows - I use this one for the first half of my brows, to fill them in and blend the gel at the very beginning. I'll show you later the brush I use to draw the shape.

A15* Lip Liner, my three lip brushes in charge (from the Glam Clam, Siren and BombShell* sets). They're all different - the Siren Set one is the smallest while the BombShell one is the bigger and wider - but they're all equally useful and efficient. Must have, them three. Most of the time, I also use them on my eyes as small detailing brushes. Their size and firmness makes them just perfect for the lips and the eyes as well. 

Moving to another brand, here are my MAC Cosmetics essential brushes. I have four in total, but only three of them are a must have for me (and I'll tell you why the fourth is not).

239 and 213 are my favourite eyeshadow brushes ever. Those are the kind of eyeshadow brush I prefer and find efficient the most. They're flat, thin, dense but not too packed. (239 is actually quite fluffy!) 
239 is pretty famous - while 213 is less known and probably even underrated... But it's amazing! My friend Misato recommended it and I'm glad I followed her advice. 
Overall, those two are holy-grail material. 

217 is a well-known blending brush - must say, it's really really good. Kind of drop shaped, it's super fluffy and light - and allows flawless, effortless blendings. It was game-changing to say the least. Most of the time I use it for my transition shade application/blending and/or to improve any pre-existing blending. This cutie never fails!
(The one I didn't include is 224. It's a good blender, mind you... But I can't stand the fact that, after more than 6 months, he keeps on loosing bristles - or pieces of bristles every. single. day -_-" I mean, seriously, it stresses me out. I cannot excuse that, especially with a brush with an high price point!)

I own just a handful of Real Techniques brushes - most of them are eye brushes from their Starter Set. I bought it years ago and, to be honest, I don't use it anymore... I haven't used it for at least two years now. But, one of those brushes "survived" and not only I still use it, but I reach for it everyday. It's the tiny Accent Brush and I always use it to apply a black shadow (usually Nocturne by NABLA) on the lashline. Being so small it reaches the smallest areas so easily - thus it's good for smaller details too. (In case you're wondering, nope, I don't recommend the Starter Set)

Another must have from this brush is the Blush Brush, one of their most famous brushes I'd say. It's shape it's really interesting: not tulip-like (no point), it's more like a big, rounded drop. And it's sooo soft *_* It picks up the right amount of powder and applies it evenly, effortlessly, newbie/clumsy-proof! This is the brush I rely the most (almost exclusively) on for blush application.

Lastly, two of my oldest brushes, discontinued a looong time ago (like, three or four years ago). 
The angled one is my other brow brush: being so thin and sharp it allows me to draw the brow shape with extreme precision. I use this one especially on the tail of the brows, both to outline it and to fill it in. It was supposed to be an eyeliner brush, but for that purpose I prefer another kind of brush - the other one showed in the picture. No angled bristles, just a teeny tiny fine point. The finer the better! It's perfect for both classical, winged liner and for more graphic, crazy liner style. I couldn't do elaborate lines with an angled brush! I need to find a new one (Spectrum luckly has one fine brush in the individual range), not to replace this one mind you - I simply could use another brush like this... Especially if I'm using two different liner colour and thus, having just one brush, I need to switch colours, cleaning the brush each time, and doing this back-and-forth until I'm done... The struggle XD

Hope you find this post useful :D

What are your most used, irreplaceable makeup brushes?

Mermaid kisses and starfish wishes ♥

*Disclaimer: Starred products are press samples, sent by respective brands for me to test and review.

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Intentionally, this was an indie-focused weekend. Unintentionally, it was a greenish weekend as well. Also unintentionally, I did one warm-toned look and one cool-toned look. And I really love how both turned out!

Here are my weekend looks. 

Look 1: Fyrinnae Aztec Gold, Bobbi Brown Camel, and Anastasia Beverly Hills Fudge 

Aztec Gold on the lid, Camel blended into the crease, and Fudge padded onto the outer corner. 

Look 2: Darling Girl Cosmetics Ladyhawke and Ugly Naked Guy

Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy as a base, Ladyhawke on the lid, and Ugly Naked Guy blended in the crease. 

Fyrinnae Aztec Gold

Status: Favorite 

Holy cow, folks. This is one beautiful eyeshadow. Weeks ago, when I placed my first Fyrinnae order, I really wanted to buy this shadow, which is one of the few that is only offered in a pressed form. Temptalia had raved about this shadow, and it looked different from anything else I had seen. Unfortunately, it was sold out, and it continued to be sold out for weeks after. I finally saw it was available, and I snatched it, especially since I have been having such a love affair with Fyrinnae shadows. I was surprised to find that it just came as a pan of eyeshadow and didn't have a case, but this wasn't a big deal as I just popped the pan into my custom palette (the pan is magnetized).

This is without doubt one of the most unique colors in my collection. With that I'll say that I can see how many skin tones might not find this color flattering. In the pictures it looks very olive, but in person, it's hard to tell if it leans more olive or gold. I think it is absolutely stunning and I could not be happier with it. I paired it with Bobbi Brown Camel (a shadow I've mentioned has become a fast favorite) as well as ABH Fudge, which I think gave the look some subtle depth. I really loved this look!

Darling Girl Cosmetics Ladyhawke

Status: Love

I've decided to start a project for April that revolves around indie shadows. My experiences with indie shadows so far (Fyrinnae) has been so overwhelmingly positive that I wanted to branch out to other indie brands and see what else is out there. I have a strong suspicion that my indie shadows might replace a lot of my mainstream palettes. And that would be fine with me! 

Darling Girl Cosmetics was another indie brand I heard a lot about, so I decided to sample some of their products. For the exception of Ladyhawke, I bought all mini or sample sizes since I didn't want to spend much money and didn't want to have a ton of product, especially if I didn't like the shadows. I have no idea why I bought a full-size of Ladyhawke. For the life of me, I cannot remember. And while I think I would have been happy with a mini size of this shadow, I really love it! I don't have anything like it and have a hard time even describing the color. It's a blueish green, but also silver maybe? It's surprisingly wearable and comes off quite natural on my slightly olive skin. I paired it with Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy, and I'm starting to think now that most loose pigments that are shimmery might require or at least strongly benefit from this kind of a base. 

Darling Gil Cosmetics Ugly Naked Guy

Status: Love

The name of this shadow will bring back nostalgic memories for people my age and older. This is part of the brand's Friends collection, and I had to laugh when I saw the name. I've always thought Friends was a part of "my generation," but I saw recently that the show premiered in 1994, and I was certainly way too young to be watching this show. I was old enough to catch the last couple seasons, which is why I guess I feel part of the show's history, but really, I wasn't. Nonetheless, I did not buy this mini shadow because of nostalgia; I bought it because it was a matte (and I haven't tried many indie mattes) that looked like a color I would enjoy. 

I actually thought this was going to be a warm peach color, and it looks a lot warmer (to me, at least) in the jar than it does when applied onto my skin. But this color actually leans like a cool almost grayish brown on me. When I first swatched it onto my hand, I was really disappointed in the color because I thought it was going to be warmer, but when I paired it with Ladyhawke, I thought it made a gorgeous and perfect pairing. This is actually quite a cool-toned look on me, so I paired it with Bite Beaty Thistle lipstick. In an effort to not make my face look totally dead, I also wore a peach blush (crazy, I know), and I actually love how this all turned out! 

Both looks I did this weekend remind me of how fun makeup can be in terms of trying new colors and finding flattering looks that you might not have thought to create. 

New episode of The Pokémon Series! Last week I showed you the water-type eeveelution, aka Vaporeon, inspired look: today I'm going to show you the fire-type eeveelution - Flareon!
You know, water and fire are my favourite elements ever, love them both equally, but this time fire came second! ;D I have many fire-type Pokémon that I deeply love - Vulpix, Ninetales, Charmander, just to mention a few - but Vaporeon is unbeatable u.u 

Flareon, the Flame Pokémon.

Type: Fire

"Flareon's fluffy fur has a functional purpose - it releases heat into the air so that its body does not get excessively hot. This Pokémon's body temperature can rise to a maximum of 1,650 degrees F (900 degrees Celsius)"

Flareon is such a cutie, isn't it? So fluffy and adorable *__* It has an orange/red fur with yellowish fluffy, bushy tail, collar and tuft on top of its head. It's the one that recalls the most, Eevee - the base, unevolved form. 
This look was quite challenging for me - not in terms of style, but in terms of colours. I'm not used to wear warm, reddish shades on my eyes - plus I wasn't sure about the eyeshadows to use. I had to do some tests beforehand, but I eventually found the perfect mix of shades to match Flareon's fur colour!

Overall it's a very easy look, it requires just a handful of shadows and very few steps! I'm very happy with the final outcome in every way - love the colours and the soft blending... Simply but very representative nevertheless! :D

After the eyeprimer step, I applied two eyeshadow by NABLA Cosmetics mixed together to achieve Flareon's fur shade. I used Petra and Fahrenheit - mixed first, then I applied a layer of Petra alone (as the first layer was still too red and not enough orange). I did that on both upper and lower lid. I used Narciso as transition shade all over the crease: I wanted a very soft blending, to properly represent Flareon's fluffiness.
Then I worked on the yellowish details, to represent bushy tuft and tail: I drew the main "design" with an ivory eyepencil on both inner and outer corner, trying to recreate the curls and the fluffiness. To fix the eyepencil and to enhance the colour, I applied on top of it a matte, creamy/pale yellow pigment.

Once I was happy with that, I moved on to the final touches: eyeliner, lashes and so on.
I used the usual mix (matte black pigment and Fix +) as eyeliner, tracing a thing winged line - which represent nicely Flareon's ears. I chose black for my lower waterline/lashline too: black eyepencil on the first and a black eyeshadow (Nocturne by NABLA) on the latter. I also applied Antique White on the brow bone, as always.
Lastly, I applied false lashes and mascara - and I was done!

Eyes

- Too Faced Shadow Insurance Eye Primer
- Neve Cosmetics Pastello Occhi in Avorio/Beige

- MWW4U Mineral Eyeshadow n° 043  (inner and outer corner)  *discontinued*
- NABLA Cosmetics Eyeshadow in "Fahrenheit" and "Petra"  (upper and lower lid)

- NABLA Cosmetics Eyeshadow in "Narciso" (transition colour)
- NABLA Cosmetics Eyeshadow in "Antique White" (brow bone)

- NABLA Cosmetics Eyeshadow in "Nocturne" (lower lashline)

- MAC Kohl Power Eye Pencil in "Feline" 

- NABLA Cosmetics "Le Film Noir" Mascara

- MAC Cosmetics False Eyelashes n° 34

Eyebrows

- MAC Cosmetics Eyebrow in "Strut"

Brushes

- 239 ~ MAC Cosmetics

- 217 ~ MAC Cosmetics
- 213 ~ MAC Cosmetics
- London Detail ~ Neve Cosmetics *discontinued*

- Short Smudge (A13)* ~ Spectrum Collections (Marbleous Set)
- 2x Fluffy Pencil (A12)* ~ Spectrum Collections (Marbleous Set, Bombshell Set)

- Large Fluffy Shader (A06) ~ Spectrum Collections (Siren Set)

- Glossy Liner ~ Neve Cosmetics *discontinued*

- 2x Lip Liner (A15)* ~ Spectrum Collections (Bombshell Set, Siren Set)

Hope you liked this makeup look!
And I hope you're enjoying this Pokémon/Eeveelutions series ;D

{Coming up: Jolteon}

Mermaid kisses and starfish wishes ♥

*Disclaimer: Starred products are press samples, sent by respective brands for me to test and review.

Palettes (sort of) came back this week. It's funny because I really thought I had a palette week, but looking at this picture, I see three quads and a "palette" that is made up of three Viseart palettes. So while I didn't use singles per se, I still think I'm in that mentality. 

Here are five looks I did this week. 

Look 1: Viseart custom palette 

Column 4 Row 2 on the lid, Column 3 Row 2 blended into the crease, and Column 2 Row 3 padded onto the outer corner. 

Look 2: Viseart and Kat Von D Shade and Light Plum quad

Column 6 Row 4 on the lid, KVD Base and Contour blended into the crease, and KVD Definer padded onto the outer corner. 

Look 3: Tom Ford Honeymoon

Kiko Stick Eyeshadow in 07 as a base, 3 on the lid, 2 blended into the crease, and 4 padded onto the outer corner. 

Look 4: Milani Earthly Elements

4 on inner half of lid, 6 on outer half of lid, and 2 and 3 blended into the crease. 

Look 5: Tom Ford Nude Dip and Kat Von D Shade and Light Plum quad

TF 3 on the lid, KVD Base and Contour blended into the crease, and KVD Definer padded onto the outer corner 

Viseart custom palette

Status: Love

I've talked about this palette before in my one week, one palette series, but this palette is definitely a love of mine. It is the Neutral Matte, Paris Nudes, and Sultry Muse palettes depotted into an Inglot flexi palette. I wasn't a huge fan of the look of Z-palettes at the time (and now Z-palette is a brand that I do not support), and I found I really liked the Inglot flexi palette. I depotted my Viseart shadows because the packaging on two of the three palettes had broken at the hinges, and I thought all three palettes might get more use if they were combined. I have three other Viseart palettes, and all are colorful, but I have chosen not to depot them as well. The experience of depotting those three palettes was terrible and not something I would ever want to do again. With that said, I'm glad I depotted them.

If I didn't have so much eyeshadow, I think this palette could be close to all I would ever want. I really, really love pink and mauve eyeshadows, and this palette lacks those, especially mattes, so I would want additional shadows, but in a lot of ways, this is all I could ever hope to have. I love leaving this out and reaching for it, especially for work. It makes me feel like an artist playing with my paints. But while I always really enjoy the looks I get out of this palette, they are never my favorite looks because the colors are just so simple. And there is absolutely a time and place where I want and love simple and pretty eyeshadow looks. But that's not all the time. 

Tom Ford Honeymoon

Status: Favorite

I know I just talked about this last week, but I really wanted to wear it again this week, and I absolutely loved the look that I did. One of the things that I've struggled with when using this quad is what color to put in the crease. I then remembered that when I did my one week, one palette series, I sometimes used a shimmer in the crease and didn't dislike the look at all. So I applied one of the other colors into my crease and loved the effect. I also paired this with my Kiko Stick Eyeshadow in 07, which is a shimmery champagne color. I tend to forget about this shadow stick and always love the look when I use it. This was one of my two favorite looks this week, and when paired with an "out there" lip color for me (Bite Thistle), it actually came off as quite smoky and vampy, which I loved. 

Milani Earthly Elements

Status: Favorite 

I know I've written about this palette before and that I wore it somewhat recently, but I just had to wear it again. I absolutely LOVE four colors in this palette. I hate that I don't love the entire thing, but the shades that I do love I really, really love. This was actually my other favorite look this week, which I find hilarious. One of my favorite looks came from an $80 quad and the other came from a $10 palette. This just goes to show that you don't need to spend excessive amounts of money to get beautiful, quality products. Earthly Elements is so good, actually, that I might consider it my favorite warm-toned eyeshadow palette. Now, of course there are negatives about this palette, such as that it has one shadow (1) that is a total dud; one shadow (5) that I don't really like; and two shadows (4 and 6) that look very similar when applied onto the skin. And frankly, that means only half the palette is unique/something that I like. But, I really, really like those three/four shades. 

Tom Ford Nude Dip

Status: Favorite

Again, I've written about this recently (I'm clearly seeing what products I really love if I'm coming back to them), but I so enjoy this quad. Like Honeymoon, I don't think this palette is a "must have" whatsoever. I think you can definitely find the same colors or similar for much cheaper. But I personally love this quad because of the formula and the amount of shine that it gives. I put that disclaimer out there because I do think these quads are overpriced and that unless you're looking for a very specific type of eyeshadow, this would be a waste of money. I don't personally feel as though my money was wasted in buying these quads, but I can absolutely see how other people would feel that way. I essentially wore a taupe eyeshadow from this quad and paired it with some plum colors, and I thought the look turned out quite pretty. 

Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye Plum Quad

Status: Love

I don't believe I have written about this quad before. It took me a while to buy this quad because I really didn't feel I "needed" any of the Shade and Light Eye quads. I was originally drawn to Rust, and part of me still wants it, but I know that I absolutely do not need that quad, end of story. I eventually purchased Plum when I first started discovering how much I love pink and mauve colors in the crease. And I'm so glad I did (and glad that I used it this week) because I really love this quad. At first I thought I could only pair it with purple shadows, but with more experience and experimentation, I've found that plum and mauve pair nicely with so many types of colors. I loved this quad with both looks this week, but I especially loved it with the taupe from Nude Dip.