Kylie Cosmetics: The Burgundy Palette (+ comparison with the Bronze palette) 

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Hi everyone! As Kylie has been releasing tons of new products this time of year, I thought I’d share with you guys my thoughts on her new Burgundy palette, and compare it to her Bronze one.

Packaging: 

Firstly, the packaging. From my last post on the Bronze palette, you guys know I love how stylish and simple her design is. The drips on the front correspond to the shades inside. I still wish that there was a mirror but for cardboard packaging, mirrors are easy to break so I’ll let it slide.


Shades: 

Like her previous palette, the Burgundy palette has 9 shades ranging from light, medium to darker tones. Unlike her Bronze palette (see my full review on it here: Kyshadow Palette: Review, Swatches and Possible Dupes!) which had neutral browns and basic shades, the Burgundy palette harbours reddish hues and burgundy tones that are much in line with the trend and fall season in the US/UK right now.

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L to R: Naked, Beach, Penny, LA, Burgundy, Dubai, Brick, New York, Almond. 

The shades are beautiful and pigmented (this was with one swipe!) and they are buildable as well. Typical me, I would have loved a matte white highlight shade and a black but she did have those in her Bronze palette (see pics below) and the highlight shade is not overly shimmery and can be used as a brow bone shade if need be. The only shade I was slightly disappointed with was Dubai, which was the burgundy shimmer shade that wasn’t as pigmented as I’d like it to be upon first swatch. However, I find that using your fingers and layering it twice does the trick. Otherwise, the other shades are beautiful and they look absolutely stunning on the eyes 🙂

Comparison of quality and shades between the Bronze and Burgundy palette: 

L to R: Bronze palette, Burgundy palette.

Looking at the palettes side-by-side, you can see that the palettes are not similar at all. The colours are different enough to justify owning both, but it all depends on preference and what colours you gravitate towards. The only major difference I can tell is the quality in the shimmer shades. The Bronze palette has 2 shimmers, whereas the Burgundy palette has 3. And while the shimmers in the Bronze palette were more of a satin finish and were more natural-looking on the eyes, the shimmers in the Burgundy palette pack more of a punch. The mattes were always good from the beginning and there was no compromise on the quality of it in the second palette either.

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Overall thoughts?

I think this palette is perfect for fall and for anyone who wants a burgundy palette. The quality is incredible and much like the first palette, these eyeshadows last a good eight hours on me before creasing (bearing in mind that I do have oily eyelids). Definitely a must-have in your collection, but hey, that’s just what I think 🙂

If you have the palette, leave your thoughts on it in the comment below! Thanks for reading! 🙂

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Kyshadow Palette Dupes: Morphe, Too Faced, Makeup Geek

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Hey guys! If you haven’t seen my review on the Kyshadow palette, please feel free to click on the link below:

Kyshadow Palette: Review, Swatches and Possible Dupes!

Otherwise, if you’re here to see some Kyshadow dupes, keep reading below 🙂

So, if you’ve read my review of the palette, in short, I do think it’s a beautiful palette as I love browns and prefer matte shades over shimmers. However, if you’re an eyeshadow junkie like I am and have an extensive eyeshadow palette collection, you will most probably have duplicates of these shadows in your collection. Here’s what I found:

Morphe 35O palette

Starting off with the much-loved Morphe 35O palette, I found dupes for 5 shades in the Kyshadow palette. With the numbering of the 35O palette, Row 1 is the top row, and Shade 1 of the first row is top first shade on the left. So, for example, the first white shade in the first row will be labelled as “Row 1, Shade 1” and so on and so forth:

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From L to R: Jasper, R1S1, Goldstone, R4S2, Citrine, R2S7.

Jasper dupe – Row 1, Shade 1

Goldstone dupe – Row 4, Shade 2

Citrine dupe – Row 2, Shade 7

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From L to R: Tiger Eye, R2S6, Hematite, R4S7, Bronzite, R5S3

Tiger Eye dupe – Row 2, Shade 6

Hematite dupe – Row 4, Shade 7

Bronzite dupe – Row 5, Shade 3

Too Faced & Makeup Geek

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The remaining 3 shades: Quartz, Topaz and Obsidian, can be duped by the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette and Makeup Geek’s palette.

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Quartz dupe – Marzipan (Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette – although Marzipan is just a touch more pink, whereas Quartz is more pinky bronze)

Topaz dupe- Semi-Sweet (Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette – Topaz is just a smidge warmer)

Obsidian dupe – Corrupt (Makeup Geek – this one is better in pigmentation)

Overall thoughts?

Overall, if you have these eyeshadow palettes and Makeup Geek’s Corrupt, you most probably won’t need this palette, although I still think it’s nice to have it all in one palette. It’s really all down to preference at the end of the day 🙂

I hope this post was helpful in making your decision! Let me know if you have any of these palettes and what you think about them in the comments below.
Until then, much love,

Hawa. xo

 

 

 

 

Kyshadow Palette: Review, Swatches and Possible Dupes!

Published on by From Beauty Within2 Comments

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You could love her or you can hate her (personally, I’m neutral), but you can’t deny that Kylie Jenner and the Kardashians have a massive influence in today’s culture and within the makeup world. With her lip kits making a scene on YouTube and within the makeup community, it’s no surprise that her newly-released Kyshadow palettes sold out within 60 seconds the first time she released it, and 98 seconds the first time she restocked it (this is when I got mine). If you’re interested on my thoughts on this palette, and want to see swatches and possible dupes, just keep reading below 🙂

Packaging

The palette came with a cute note from Kylie Cosmetics and a box to store the palette in if you choose to do so. The palette itself had beautiful artwork on the outside. With Kylie’s eyes and the metallic drips that coordinated with the colours inside the palette, the style of it is simple and elegant without being boring. The only downside of the packaging is the lack of mirror, which would have made it perfect for travelling due to its small and compact size.

Shades & Swatches

IMG_4066So there are a total of 9 shades in this palette, with 7 mattes and 2 shimmers. The shades are listed on the back of the palette – I would have preferred it if it was on the palette itself but the colours are beautiful, so I’ll forgive the packaging oversight. As you can see, the palette is a brown neutral palette that leans toward the warm spectrum of colours, with a good selection of light, medium and darker colours to create a complete eye look.

 

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From L to R: Jasper, Quartx, Topaz

Jasper – Matte off-white bone shade

Quartz – Shimmer with a pinch of bronze and pink

Topaz – Medium-toned neutral brown, with slight warm undertones

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From L to R: Goldstone, Citrine, Tiger Eye

Goldstone – Shimmery golden bronze

Citrine – Medium-toned orange

Tiger Eye – Medium-toned brown, with warm undertones (my favourite shade!)

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From L to R: Hematite, Bronzite, Obsidian

Hematite – Deep brown shade with reddish undertones

Bronzite – Deep expresso brown

Obsidian – Black (this one didn’t have excellent pigmentation – had to swatch it thrice to get that pigmentation)

Overall thoughts?

The mattes do outperform the shimmers in this palette. The shimmers are more of a sheen upon the first swatch, but they can be built up to a shimmer with a bit of layering (as seen in the photos above). The colours are easy to blend and they do not muddle and mix with one another. Jasper is an excellent white shade that stays vibrant throughout the entire day, and with an eyeshadow primer (I use Mac’s Soft Ochre Paint Pot), these eyeshadows stayed on my lids for a good 9 hours before there was any noticeable fading/creasing. The only shade I was disappointed with was Obsidian as it wasn’t as pigmented as I’d like it to be. The packaging could have been better – with the addition of a mirror and the shade names written on the palette, but it is a beautiful palette nonetheless.

Overall, I do think this palette is a beautiful addition to my collection, as I do love and wear brown shades the most, and prefer matte shadows over shimmer nowadays. If you’re looking for a basic neutral palette and you love browns and prefer matte shades, or you’re a fan of Kylie Jenner, I’d say pick this up.

However, if you’re tiptoeing on whether you should get this palette due to the hefty $42 USD price tag, I have some dupes that I found in my eyeshadow collection that you can see in my next post:

Kyshadow Palette Dupes: Morphe, Too Faced, Makeup Geek

Do you have this eyeshadow palette? Are you thinking about getting it? Let me know in the comments below!

Until then, much love,

Hawa. xo

 

Makeup Geek: Swatches & Review

Published on by From Beauty Within6 Comments

Hi guys! I hope you’re all having a good International Women’s Day! We should all embrace our beauty, on the inside and on the outside 🙂 So, today I thought I’d balance out the expensive with the inexpensive and bring to you a makeup brand that I think is SO worth the hype; Makeup Geek!

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  • Normal Eyeshadows 

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Starting off with the normal eyeshadow pans that come in a wide range of colours, there is definitely something for you amongst the selection of shadows being offered by Makeup Geek. Of these eyeshadow pans, I have 12 of them, which I will swatch in the pictures below:

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Top row (from L to R): Cocoa Bear, Cosmopolitan, Mocha, Chickadee.
  • Cocoa Bear: A matte warm reddish-brown, very smooth to apply
  • Cosmopolitan: A shimmery pink with gold flecks – dupe for Mac’s Expensive Pink!
  • Mocha: A cool-toned matte dark brown, good for the outer corner
  • Chickadee: A warm matte orange, good for warming up the crease
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Second row (from L to R): Creme Brulee, Vanilla Bean, Glamorous, Burlesque.
  • Creme Brulee: A matte mid-tone brown, dupe for Too Faced’s ‘Salted Caramel’ from the original Chocolate Bar palette – perfect transition shade!
  • Vanilla Bean: Soft matte cream white, good for highlighting the browbone
  • Glamorous: Shimmery bronzey shade with slight reddish undertones when applied on the lid
  • Burlesque: Shimmery purple with minor silver flecks in it – very smooth to apply
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Bottom row (from L to R): Latte, Goddess, Peach Smoothie, Mango Tango.
  • Latte: Matte mid-tone brown that leans more towards being cool-toned
  • Goddess: Shimmery reddish-brown
  • Peach Smoothie: Matte light peach shade, a little light on my medium skin tone, but might be a good transition shade for people with fairer or darker skin tones than me
  • Mango Tango: Satin watermelon pink

Overall, these eyeshadows are pretty pigmented, the whole lot of them, and most of them are soft and easy to blend. The shimmer shades, such as ‘Cosmopolitan’ and ‘Glamorous’ are such beauties on the lid and the pigmentation and usability of these eyeshadows make it a dream to apply.

However, the matte eyeshadows can be somewhat hit or miss (but mostly hits!). The shade ‘Mocha’, for example, is a little stiff and can be a little patchy in application. On the flip side, ‘Creme Brulee’ is a beautiful shade. It can kick up a lot of powder upon putting in your brush, but tap off the excess and you have yourself a gorgeous transition shade. A definite must-have (plus it’s also like Salted Caramel from the original Too Faced chocolate bar palette – and wasn’t that the most beautiful transition shade ever!?). Asides from Creme Brulee though, Cocoa Bear is also quite unique, as it is a reddish brown that is gorgeous as a darker crease shade or a shade to use in the outer vee. Now onto the foiled eyeshadows…

  • Foiled Eyeshadows

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These eyeshadows are where it’s at for me 😉 I honestly cannot get enough of these foiled eyeshadows. These eyeshadows are so metallic, so beautiful, so pigmented.. it hurts. These swatch as beautifully on the arm as they do on the lids, and the pigmentation is stunning. Being foiled eyeshadows, you do have to work with them a little. Without a primer, these will crease as it does have oils infusing the pigments together. But by using Urban Decay’s Primer Potion or Mac’s Paint Pot, these eyeshadows can stay on the lids for a good 8 to 9 hours with no fading or creasing. You don’t need to build this up as much as one or two swipes can do the trick, however, be warned that these do apply better with the fingers or with a synthetic brush. There are 20 shades in the line so far and I’m very tempted to check out a few more of them as these are my favourite metallic shadows that I have tried by far. Of the 20, these are the 6 that I have in my collection:

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Swatches (from L to R): Magic Act, Grandstand, Untamed, Flamethrower, Center Stage, Mesmerized, Pegasus.
  • Magic Act: A warm champagne gold, that is perfect for highlighting the inner corner or as an all-over lid shade
  • Grandstand: A warm pink – one of my absolute favourites!
  • Untamed: Probably my favourite of the bunch, Untamed is a warm coppery gold that is temptation in a little pan
  • Flamethrower: A reddish-copper metallic shade
  • Center Stage: The only foiled eyeshadow I have that is slightly patchy and less pigmented than I expected, Center Stage is a deep blue – but used on top of a black base, this colour really pops out.
  • Mesmerized: A metallic purple-grey that is great for a smokey eye
  • Pegasus: A turquoise shade that reminds me of reflective oceans and chlorine waters
  • Duochrome Eyeshadows 

Of the duochrome eyeshadows that came out last year, I only have one of the 12, and it’s “Steampunk”. Steampunk has a black base with brown-copper flecks in it. This particular shadow is alright for me, it doesn’t impress me as much as the foiled ones, but I do want to try out more from this line – (Secret Garden and Karma look gorgeous!) so I’ll reserve my opinions on this line for now.

  • Blushes

On a positive note, the blushes are absolutely stunning. They are so good for the price. At AUD $14.40 on Beauty Bay, you get so much product (4.25g!). These blushes are pigmented, so you barely need to tap your brush into it to pick up the product. They’re not too powdery and they are also easy to blend. The blushes do come in natural colours, and there are some slightly deeper ones that can be good for darker skin tones but I do wish that the brand will expand their line in the future to provide more options for more skin tones. However, if you’re light to tan in skin tone, these blushes will look beautiful on you 🙂

  • Foundation Stippling Brush 

Finally, brushes. Or really, brush. So far, I only have the one foundation stippling brush. The first thing I thought of when I touched this brush was, “This brush is so soft!”And it’s dense enough that I can still use it to pick up powder products, such as my Bare Minerals original powder foundation, which I’ve used to buff the minerals onto my skin. But I’ve also used this brush for a tinted moisturiser and it works just as fine as a stippling brush (which really, is its intended purpose). This brush is dense enough that it helps to achieve maximum coverage, but soft enough that it makes it easy to blend powder and liquid face products. And as far as I’ve used it, the hairs on the brush don’t shed. Would I recommend this brush? Definitely. It’s on par with my beloved Expert Face brush from Realtechniques which I’ve been using for years now, so if that doesn’t tell you something about how good this brush is, I don’t know what will.

WHERE CAN I GET MAKEUP GEEK SHADOWS IN AUSTRALIA?

  • You can get Makeup Geek off the Beauty Bay website or the Makeup Geek website, and they both ship to Australia within 2 weeks.

And to finish off this post, I thought I’d insert a look I did using the foiled eyeshadow ‘Untamed’ all over the lid with ‘Flamethrower’ on the outer third part of the lid, ‘Creme Brulee’ as my transition shade, Cocoa Bear and Mocha in the crease, Vanilla Bean as my browbone highlight and finally, Magic Act on the inner corner. Also, I used a slight dusting of Makeup Geek’s ‘Infatuation’ blush on my cheeks.

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What products from Makeup Geek do you have and think I should try? Let me know in the comments below! 🙂

Tune in next Tuesday for more posts. Thanks for reading guys!

Much love,

Hawa. xo

Tartelette in Bloom: Review & Swatches

Published on by From Beauty Within12 Comments

Hi guys!

So to start off with recent products that have been launched in the makeup world in the last couple of months, the Tartelette in Bloom palette is the second eyeshadow palette in the Tartelette series. To be honest, I’ve never been attracted to the first all-matte Tartelette palette as it mostly had cooler-toned eyeshadows and purples that would not go well with my skin tone but when I saw that they were coming out with a warmer palette, I quickly jumped on the band wagon and ordered it!

Startingoff,

  • PACKAGING

The packaging is adorable! I can’t get enough of the pink and purple mix with the gold layout. The gold layout of the palette made it feel very luxe and the names of the shadows are written in the palette in purple writing, which is convenient as you don’t need to worry about a plastic sheet with names to keep.

The size of this palette is about the size of my hand, so it was smaller than I expected when it first arrived, but come to think of it, its size makes it travel-friendly with its “no-wasted-space” compact packaging. It also comes with a big mirror inside which makes it user-friendly for makeup application.

  • SMELL

One of the first things that hit me when I opened this palette was a whiff of the vanilla scent. The scent is faint (definitely not as strong as the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palettes) and is pleasant if you’re into sweet scents. If scents aren’t your thing, bear in mind that once you have applied the shadows onto your lids, you can’t smell it anymore so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

  • COLOUR SELECTION & SWATCHES (All swatches/pictures were taken in natural lighting)

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As you can see from the pictures and swatches, this palette is neutral, but it leans more towards warmer eyeshadows. Despite the first palette being all-matte, the Tartelette in Bloom has 9 matte eyeshadows and 3 shimmer shadows. The top horizontal row leans more towards the cooler tones, but the majority of the palette is warm-toned, with a good mix of light shades, medium-toned transition shades, crease shades, as well as darker shades that you can use to deepen the outer corners, or to use as liners.

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Swatches from L to R: charmer, jetsetter, rocker, smokeshow. 

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Swatches from L to R: flower child, smarty pants, firecracker, activist. 

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Swatches from L to R: funny girl, sweetheart, rebel, leader.

  • PIGMENTATION

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As you can see in the swatches, the shadows are really pigmented (and this is without a primer!!), on the arm and on the lids. The only shade that was a dud in the palette was “funny girl” in the third row, first shadow from the left. It came off very powdery, and it was really lacking in pigmentation. However, with some setting spray, you can apply this shadow wet, as shown in the picture below, and it does improve to an extent, but on its own, this eyeshadow was the only disappointment to the palette.

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  • FORMULA & BLENDABILITY

These shadows are as soft as they are buttery, much like the formula of Lorac eyeshadows. Pigmented, but upon putting your brush into the shadow, you will get some powdery excess, which means that you’d either have to tap excess off your brush to avoid any fallout upon application or use a lighter hand when dipping into these shadows.

With soft shadows like these, they blend easily without getting too muddled and without any need for major effort. Put it this way, a beginner could blend these eyeshadows.

  • LONGEVITY

With an eyeshadow primer (Urban Decay’s Primer Potion on some days, and Mac’s Paint Pot in Soft Ochre on other days), these eyeshadows lasted 8 to 9 hours on me without fading or creasing. However, at the end of the day (think 10-12 hours), there was no sign of creasing, but rather some fading in colour.

  • WHERE CAN YOU GET IT?

Currently this palette is only available in Ulta or on the Tarte Cosmetics website in the US, which makes it a little inconvenient for us makeup lovers in Australia. However, you can order this through shopandbox.com, which is a website which helps you find someone in the US who can help ship this to you. Alternatively, you can also get this off of eBay and Gumtree as I have seen a few sellers there. Secretly, I’m praying and hoping that the Sephora Australian website will stock these in soon as it is a gorgeous palette.

UPDATE ON 3/3/16: It’s now available on the Sephora AU website! 😀

  • OVERALL THOUGHTS?

This eyeshadow palette is perfect for those of you who prefer matte eyeshadows but still want a pop of shimmer. If you lean more towards warmer-toned eyeshadows but still want a number of cooler-toned eyeshadows to play with from time to time, then this palette might be the one for you. The quality and pigmentation of these eyeshadows is incredible and will definitely be a beautiful addition to my collection of eyeshadow palettes.

That’s all I have for my review today, and I hope it helped some of you that were curious about this palette. Leave in the comments your thoughts on the palette if you have it or want it, and let me know if there’s any requests for posts you’d like to see 🙂

Thanks for reading guys and remember that true beauty begins from within!

Much love,

Hawa. xo

 

Introducing “From Beauty Within”

Published on by From Beauty Within2 Comments

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To beauty lovers and explorers worldwide,

My name is Hawa and anyone who knows me knows that I’ve always been the biggest fan of beauty – and I’m not just talking about makeup, looks and style, I’m also talking about inner confidence and the beauty of believing that within yourself, therein lies the potential for you to embrace all that life has to offer.

Now, to start us off, I thought I’d say hi and tell you the four reasons that made me want to start the blog “From Beauty Within” —

  1. Life can be tough. At any age, whether you’re a teenager or in your 20s or (heck) even in your 50s, there comes a time where you will feel lost and unsure about what to do. Whether it’s what career path you should take or what course to take in university, I want this blog to be a platform of self-expression and positivity to be spread not only from me to you, but also from you to each other. A community where you can be yourself and be accepted for it too. From moving to a different country, to feeling different in society, I want this blog to be a form of my own self-expression, as well as your own.
  2. Makeup in Australia can be expensive. Not just Sephora or Mecca, David Jones or Myer. Even Priceline and Target sell you $30 foundations and $20 mascaras. So what differentiates the expensive from the affordable? What is worth spending your money on and what items can you save money on? Selections can be so overwhelming, but on this blog, I want to shed some light on products I have used and give you my honest opinion on what I think is worth spending your moolah on.
  3. Makeup can be difficult to get in Australia. People living in the UK or the US are blessed with brands that Australians couldn’t even dream of owning. Whether it’s Wet n’ Wild, Milani or Lorac, we don’t always get the cream of the crop when it comes to cosmetics. However, there are websites that you can go on to find some of these brands and I intend to share some of these websites with you, and let you know my thoughts on what I’ve tried, what I think is great, and what I think would work for you.Being actively researching and engaged within the beauty world of makeup, I hope, to the best of my ability, to help those who are in need of good makeup that is affordable, worth the money and will help you achieve the look that you desire.

    And lastly…

  4. I’m starting this blog for myself. Writing has always been a passion of mine and starting a blog was always one of the things that I’ve wanted to start and stick to, because sharing information on makeup and being able to make someone feel happy is something I love to do, whether it’s through helping them pick an eyeshadow palette or foundation, telling a funny story, recommending a good movie/book and basically helping someone else feel good about themselves.

I want this to be a wholesome blog that boasts not only good information on makeup and cosmetics, but also life-related posts that can help you get through today for the brightness of tomorrow. I hope you’ll stay on this journey with me, starting from my first makeup-related post coming up on Tuesday.

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading guys, and I hope you’ll be back next Tuesday!

Much love,

Hawa. xo