This 2015 I've gone past just watching beauty Youtubers creating gorgeous eyeshadow looks and thinking "How pretty." then watching another makeup video or doing something else. I've had a few shadows in the past but I've never really been past the two (or one) colour look I wasn't also a big fan of practicing at home. I mean I just had to take it all off again. And knowing myself, I would have to take off several attempts before giving up for the day. I seriously tip my hats off to makeup artists.

But I can safely say that now I know a trick or two. I know how to blend, what works for my eye shape, eye colour, what colors works together and what I personally feel like doing at the time.

Adding to the Kate Tokyo palette that I love, are these new matte and shimmer palettes from well-known high street/drugstore brands.


Both Essence Cosmetics and Catrice Cosmetics are known for carrying affordable products that are good nay sometimes even amazing for their price.

I thought buying Essence's All About Nudes for my shimmer and Catrice's Absolute Matt would be better for storage and variety of both colours and textures. Alternatively I could've gotten any of Nyx's, L'Oreal or Maybelline's neutral palettes that also have both shimmer and matte. But this came out a tad cheaper and like I said it's easier on me for storage as well as giving me the option to just carry all matte or all shimmer which I've done before.


The plastic packaging is pretty solid and feels secure to the touch. The small size (about 3 inches) easily fits in the palm of my hand. The shadows aren't glittery. But they give off a little glisten —an understated shimmer that I really like. All are shimmery except the first cream colour in the swatch, which is more of a satin. Smooth and very pigmented even without a primer, they do kick-up a little powder (same as the Catrice one) but nothing a little tap of the brush won't fix.


As for longevity the darker colours last long past an 8-hour day without creasing while the two cream colours (one a more beige-y satin and one a little more shimmery and pink) have already faded a little. But that can be expected from not using primer and from the colours themselves (light creams). As for the colours, the only one I would classify as "warm toned" is the bronze-y colour. The rest are more neutral or cool-toned. All-in-all it's a solid little palette wherein you don't really have to have another matte palette or matte colour as a transition. All the darker ones work just as well and it won't look too shimmery and glittery in your crease/outer corners. Buying two palettes is just me being...me.


I've read every blog post and watched every video about this palette, even ones that are in German I think. The first time I swatched this, I was a little disappointed, because it was more powdery (because soft shadows tend to be powdery) than I anticipated. But it's not a total deal-breaker as the pigment, smoothness and softness are really good. My sister has the Maybelline The Nudes palette and I find those shadows to be a little hard in the pan. They're decently pigmented but they're hard to get to. Like you really have to dig in. I just didn't like the texture. These are way better in terms of texture, blendability and pay-off. The whole palette is cool toned and reminded me of the Naked Basics by Urban Decay actually, this might be a pretty good dupe for it based on pictures I've seen and reviews I've read.

I'm quite happy I picked these up. They're just right for me who only needs basic neutral colours. I find these to be excellent buys for the price whether you're a beginner or a full-fledged beauty expert.

Have you tried these? Or do you have anything else you can recommend from these brands? I picked-up the Essence XXXL lipglosses on sale for half-off. So I bought two to test out. I like the texture so far. :)


xx,
CJ

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Price - Catrice : around Php400; Essence : around Php 300 at department stores/Watson's
Online stores like instagram and ebay might have them a few bucks cheaper. I bought mine at @beautyshopph / www.beautyshopph.com