palettes

The BEST affordable eyeshadow palette brands!

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Hello my little buttons!

I’m always saying you don’t need to spend a fortune for good quality eyeshadow palettes, so I thought I’d write a quick post about a few brands I would recommend that are highly affordable and that I reach for over some of my highend palettes.

1. MUA Cosmetics

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These eyeshadows are the bomb, in moat palettes you get 12 colours and they only cost £4. They have some fall out but they are highly pigmented and easy to blend. I actually depotted all of mine and put them in a z palette! I love it as I can create hundreds of of looks and in the z palette they look gorgeous. The pans are fairly small but for the price I’m not moaning. There are loads of other eyeshadow palettes in the line still only costing between £5 and £8 and with new releases happening all the time there’s always something new. Here are some swatches from the Luxe metalic cream palette in Elemental.

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2. Makeup Revolution .

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This is no suprise as makeup revolution are ruling the affordable eyeshadow palette market. The really do have every shade imaginable from neutrals to shimmers to neons they have covered all bases. The prices range from £4 for 12 shades and  £8 for 32 shades, with a few £10 palettes. They are highly addictive and collectible! Most of the colours are fantastic, creamy and pigmented,  you do get the odd ‘dud’ colour but this is to be expected as again the price is so affordable. They have tons of dupes for higher end palettes so of you can’t afford that urban decay palette at least you can create a similar look!

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3. Freedom Makeup London

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I have singles from this brand as well as palettes and they are always a win. They have mini palettes at £2.50 which you can create a full look with as well as pop in your handbag. They have 12 shades for £4 but my favourites are the Decadence range, 20 shades for £6 the quality is unbeatable. I can also recommend their pro 32 shades for £8, the pans are small but as there are so many in each palette it would still be hard to get through them all. Here’s some random swatches, so soft and buttery really easy to use.

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4. Sleek

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Sleek are know for their crazy pigmented blushes, the eyeshadow palettes have followed in suit!! Priced between £7.99 and £9.99 they look similar to the MUA Cosmetics palettes. I would say the quality is a tad higher in these shadows as they’re less powdery. Even the matte neon shades are pigmented amd very blendable which is incredibly rare in more affordable palettes. Same as the MUA palettes i depotted the eyeshadows to put in a z palette so I could access all the colours at the same time. Huge choice on shades there is something for everyone. As I know your eyeing those brights up here’s some swatches!

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I hope this was an interesting read and has given you a few ideas on where to buy some bargin eyeshadow palettes! Have I missed any brands out? I’d love to hear in the comments below!

Becca xxx

If you like this blog you might like my Korean peel off lip tint review! Click HERE to read more!

Makeup Revolution ‘Fortune Favours the Brave’ eyeshadow palette by British Beauty Blogger!!

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Hello my little buttons!

Well well well hasn’t there been some huge online hype around this palette!!?? I have to say I’m not suprised, it was created by British Beauty Blogger for Makeup Revolution and as you can see it’s beautiful. There were lots of sneek peek preview photos of this palette from Makeup Revolutions birthday party  all over instagram which in my opinion really hyped this product up!! As I own way too many eyeshadow palettes I’m more selective with which ones I buy these days but after seeing the palette for myself at the party I knew it had to be mine.

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The packaging is really unique for Makeup Revolution, it’s matte gold with a shiny gold design, it feels and looks more luxury that most of the other palettes within their range. The palette is equipped with a hefty 30 eyeshadows as well as a big mirror and an eyeshadow brush. Not the best brush but by far not the worst, the flat side is perfect for packing colour onto the lids. I used it slightly damp for the swatches and as you can see it really gave the colours even bolder pigmentation.

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I think the colour selection is fantastic, there is a bit of everything!! Light to dark neutrals, pinks, mauves, blues, greens, metalics.. it has it all. You can create so many different looks with this palette it’s a great all rounder. There’s a fab selection of mattes and some really pretty shimmers, although the stunning baked marbleised finished eyeshadows in the palette are what really caught my eye, I think it’s what also makes this palette so appealing and different.

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To swatch most of the shadows were pigmented and smooth, there were a few stiffer colours that require more work to build up the pigmentation which was slightly disappointing but for less that £10 for 30 eyeshadows you can’t complain. Some of the colours that were more difficult to swatch with my finger applied much better with an eyeshadow brush and we’re lovely and blendable. Because of the fantastic colour selection it’s super easy to create a whole eye look without reaching for any other eyeshadow products. It drives me crazy when I buy a beautiful palette and to complete a look having to reach for other shadows to get either a matte or shimmery cream or even a crease colour. This palette has it all! You definatly need a good primer for these shadows to last but thats something I would use every day anyway. Overall a lovely little palette, again slight shame some colours require more work but this is the case with most affordable palettes. Using them slightly damp really helped with this issue. I will add some photos of the different looks I have achieved with this palette down below. Do you own this palette? What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts the comments below!

Becca xxx

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For this look I played around with the greens on the palette for a smudgy  olive toned smokey eye. To add some lilac I used Makeup revolution eyeliner in ‘depraved’ on the waterline.

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For this look I used the peachy colour with a shimmery white inner corner highlight and to line my eyes I used some of the gorgeous navy shades. To finish the look off I used Makeup revolutions blue eyeliner in the shade ‘baddest blue’.

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For the top look I used a damp brush and packed on a metallic pink (very similar to a colour in the urban decay naked 3 palette) with a bronzed gold on the outter corner, a light brown in the crease and a matte cream on my brow bone. I also used a Makeup Revolution lipliner in the shade ‘the one’ in my waterline. To add to this makeup for more of a night time smoked out look, I used the darkest marbleised eyeshadow which is black with metallic red running through it and pressed that into the gold shadow. I also added a shimmery white on my brow bone.

Freedom Makeup London and House Of Glam Dolls eyeshadow palette in ‘Vintage Doll’

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Hello my little buttons!

Freedom Makeup recently did a collabe with House of Glam Dolls to create four ‘all in one’ palettes. For those of you who don’t know, House of Glam Dolls is a makeup training academy in London. When Freedom first launched I was invited to a makeup course there using all the new Freedom products. It was run by David Horn it was absolutely fantastic I would highly recommend their courses,  there is a blog about it further down the page! (my blog is getting a revamp soon to make articles easier to find!!)

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The palettes are £8 each and avalible in four different colour choices. I chose Vintage Doll as I’m quite pale and thought the blushes would suit my skin tone. On reflection I wish I would of gone for Fairy Doll as I love bright coloured makeup but I did think I would get more day to day use of Vintage Doll.

Each palette contains 4 brow powders, 3 highlight shades, 4 lipglosses, 2 blush and 10 eyeshadows. I don’t normally buy all-in-one palettes as they remind me of kiddie makeup and I just don’t seem to reach for them but as I love the vast majority of Freedom Makeup I really wanted to give them a go, and for £8 it was a bargin.

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I really like the brow powders, there is a shade for nearly everyone. They apply smoothly and have great pigmentation. Another bonus is although I would only use one, maybe two shades on my brows these double up as eyeshadows. I liked using the lighter shades in the crease and the darker shades to add demention and smoke things out!

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Here are the swatches of the blushes, I feel these steal the show in this palette. They actually remind me of Sleek blushes, which is a big claim to make! They are so creamy and pigmented you only need the tiniest dab on your brush, they blend out beautifully and last really well throughout the day. They leave a slight stain which helps with the staying powder.

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One of the issues with having lipglosses next to shadows in a palette like this is that is you know within minutes you will get powder, dust and random bits stuck to the products. I think the only way it works is if there is a separate flap covering the lipglosses. The colours themselves show up lighter than they appear in the pan which is a shame, but it was expected. They’re nice for a light wash of colour and last for maybe an hour or so. I like that you can mix the colours to customise your own shade but I don’t think they are needed in the palette and could of been left out.

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The eyeshadow and highlight layout in the palette did confuse me slightly so I’m lumping them into the same category as both products are multi functional. It’s funny because when I saw the palette online I thought ooo pretty, but when it was in front of me it took me a while to think of what do with it! As you’ll see further down the page I managed to create quite a few different eye looks with this palette but it was rather confusing that I didn’t feel inspired straight away. I wasn’t sure how much I was going to like it. There’s a good selction of shimmers and mattes, most shades are pigmented and looked really pretty to me after I swatched them but a couple were quite stiff so required more time and effort. I have found this tends to be in case in most drug store palettes so it wasn’t a deal breaker for me. Infact I’ve even found it in a few high end palettes too!!!

Although this is not my favourite palette in the whole world, it is a decent product. I think it would be great for someone starting out in makeup as it has 5 products for only £8! You can really experiment and practice with different colours and looks while not worrying your money’s being washed down the sink as it’s so reasonably priced. Another thing I think this product would be fabulous for is travel, it’s a small sized palette so even if you bought all 4 you could slip them in your suitcase or carry on and have endless looks at your finger tips. I do think I would take this on holiday it just seems so convenient taking one product, apose to 5. I’ve enjoyed creating different looks and seeing how much I can get out of this palette.

Becca xxx

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Elf Beautifully Bare Total Face Palette

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Hello my little buttons!

After seeing Elf cosmetics were back to the UK once again after solving shipping issues I was very pleased. I really missed the brand, as they’re so affordable, have awesome deals and products as well as free gifts ordering is quite addictive!  I recently placed an order with lots of new goodies to play with, the Total Face Palette being one of them. It is part of their Beautifully Bare collection, the idea being that each of the products are light and natural creating a “no makeup makeup” look. Showing off your natural beauty….. with a tiny bit of help lol.

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Here is a photo of the order I placed from my Instagram, as you can see the palette is in the top left of the frame. The packaging is cute and simple, the palette itself is in a mirror effect compact, with a real mirror inside. It costs £8 which I think is good value as it contains two blushes, a pinky shade and a coral shade, a subtle highlight and a contor powder.

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The powers themselves are smooth, creamy and pigmented, which gives you the option to have a light sweep of colour across the cheeks or really build them up for a more night time full faced look. They all blended into the skin with ease for quick application. The blush colours are adorable I’ve found myself reaching for them most days, I mainly would use a pink or a coral so this covers all bases. The contour shade is really nice too, the shade would work on most light skin tones although it is a tad warm so I’ve been taking it easy with how much product I pick up with my brush. With a light hand it creates a natural looking shadow that brings warmth and definition to the face. It blends out beautifully and you don’t need very much product, again due to the pigmentation. If you wanted really sculpted and defined cheek bones you still have that option. The highlight is super subtle, it only has a slight shimmer that once applied to the face looks natural and radiant. I do love a good shimmery highlighter but it doesn’t always look right with light casual makeup so this is a great alternative.

A few negatives, they really could do with more deep skin tone options as both of the palette shades they offer seem pretty light to me. Unless there were deeper palettes but they sold out so they’re not avalible now?! If anyone knows please do comment below!!!!  I also think the packaging is a teeny bit flimsy but for the price and products inside you really can’t complain.

Overall I highly recommend this palette, the colours they have chosen and the powder consistencies are spot on and it’s a fabulous price. Here’s some photos of myself using the Beautifully Bare palette.

Becca xxxx

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Freedoms Makeup London ‘Pro Decadence Magic’ eyeshadow palette review!   

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Hello my little buttons!

I received this palette while I was attending a makeup course at House of Glam Dolls in London. There is a review of the course just below this post if you’d like to hear more do have a read, now back to the palette. 

I want to jump straight in my saying Freedome have stepped up their game with these shadows. If your not familiar with my blog or instagram page I am an eyeshadow junkie. I love everything about palettes and really enjoy collecting and experimenting with texture, colours and different looks. As well as highend I do have a lot of affordable brand palettes, some of which are really big competitors against the more pricey palettes. This is one of those special palettes! I’m going to generalise slightly here, in most £6 palettes that involves mattes as well as shimmers there is always at least one dud that is just so disappointing. In this palette there’s not one single shade that’s disappointing, when applying on the eyes they are super pigmented, they blend beautifully and have very little fall out. Even comparing these eyeshadows to the Freedom mini palettes and 32 pan palettes these are defiantly a better quality, in the way they feel to the way they apply and last. I really think the colour selection has been very carefully thought out, you have your matte and shimmery highlights  base colours, matte crease colours as well as some of my favourite shimmers of all time. There are several shimmery shades I have not got in any other palette I own, and that is a rarity I promise you!!!! 

  

This was the look I was taught on the makeup course, it’s called ‘rose goddess’ I used a stunning shimmery pink all over the lid, a deeper matte pink shade in the crease, and a matte cream colour on my brow bone. I’ve tested this palette with several primers, patting on the shimmery shades then using my blending brushes for the crease and brow bone. 

  
I had so many compliments on this simple yet pretty eye makeup look, it’s like a goldy pinky creamy… Ok I can’t describe it but you have eyes so I’m sure you can see the colour for yourself! It’s not at all chunky or stiff it was smooth and really stuck to the primer lasting all day.

   
 
The next day I went for a darker look to test out some of the deeper shades, I chose this reddy bronzey brown. As you can see again it’s not glittery and chunky its smooth and shimmery and still I was impressed with the longevity with a primer. 

  
The last look I went for was using more bronzey browns, with a slighter deeper brown on the outer V, again loved this look really neutral but eye catching.  I find it interesting how each brand has different quality products within the brand, I’ve been happy with the other shadows from freedom but to me these are by far the winner!!!

  
Disclaimer: I did receive this item for free but that doesn’t remotely effect the honest review I have given I have not been sponsored or paid to promote this product. I would not sell my soul for free makeup xx