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Lorac Unzipped Palette Review

 Eyeshadow  4 Responses »
May 192012
 

The Lorac Unzipped Palette ($40) has been getting a lot of play as a smoother alternative to the Urban Decay Naked Palettes (1 and 2) ($50). Lorac has packed ten (10) warm and cool powder neutrals, together with a mini-primer, into a lovely, coordinated package.

Inside is a cardboard palette, together with the mini primer. Lorac’s is wider and shorter than Urban Decay’s:

Inside, ten (10) neutral shades that range from warm to cool, shimmery and matte, with a mirror in the lid:

Closer (click to enlarge). You can see the names better in this picture:

This palette is a great palette for a wide variety of looks. There’s a little girl in me that gets so excited to see a palette with this much choice, almost like opening a new box of crayons:

The top row has:

  • Undercover: A gentle cream color highlighter (a near-matte)
  • Unbelievable: A metallic bronze
  • Unattainable: A shimmery metallic gold
  • Unconditional: a matte malt color that makes a good base shade
  • Unbridled: a cool brown with a subtle sheen
The bottom row has:
  •  Undiscovered: A warm metallic gold
  • Unreal:  A metalllic rose gold/peach
  • Uncensored: A metallic brown
  • Unspoken:  A soft matte brown
  • Untamed: A shimmery pearly brown

All shades in one:
Personally, I gravitate to the warm metallic shades. However, Megan’s first look with the palette used mostly the cool and the more matte shades (I’ve linked other blogger’s looks with the palette, below):
Closeup on closed lids:
Like some other bloggers who’ve reviewed the palette, we experienced a little fallout with some of the shades. I found the fallout far less than Urban Decay Naked 1. Megan and I both liked Lorac’s primer. The mini that comes in the package comes in a little squeeze tube. Although it comes out a skin toned shade, it dries clear after about a minute on the lids:
Overall, I would prefer Lorac’s Unizipped over the Urban Decay Naked Palettes, which I find a little too metallic and with more fallout that I’m willing to put up with. I find Lorac’s more wearable for my taste. Other reviews of the Lorac Unzipped are here:
Overall, a nice, versatile summer palette. Because it’s in cardboard, you would need to be careful about tossing this into a suitcase without protection. The eyeshadow quality was smooth, soft, and impressive. It’s a nice palette to gift, or to tuck into a drawer, at a comparatively low price point. Recommended, if you are in the market for some summer shimmer.
Lorac Unzipped Palette was sent to Cafe Makeup without charge for consideration for review.

Le Metier de Beaute: Shades of Short Hills

 Eyeshadow, Le Metier de Beaute  6 Responses »
May 192012
 

Le Metier de Beaute’s Shades of Short Hills Kaleidoscope Eyeshadow Palette ($95) is a boutique limited release, sold at the Saks Fifth Avenue Counter in Short Hills, New Jersey. I’ve never been to Short Hills (I ordered mine by calling a counter there), but if the town is anything like this palette, I could be very, very happy there.

Shades of Short Hills is in the typical travel-friendly, packable cylinder that holds four generous pans. The lid holds a flip-up mirror.

Shades of Short hills has three shimmery shades with diamond-type shimmers, and one cool matte neutral malt shade to balance the sparkling texture of the rest of the palette.

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Chanel Illusion D’Ombre Rivière

 Chanel, Eyeshadow  9 Responses »
May 022012
 

Every year, Chanel has been releasing an Asia-exclusive collection. For 2012, Chanel’s released a beautiful Le Blanc collection based on a brightening them previewed here at Rouge Deluxe. Last year, Nordstrom brought this collection to the U.S. during the July Anniversary sale, and I’m hoping that they do this year as well. I was able to obtain only two pieces (although I’d pick up more if I was able to find them from a U.S. department store or on Chanel.com.).

I was able to buy the Chanel Illusion D’Ombre in Rivière, from Chanel’s gel-like eyeshadow line (discussed here). Rivière is a soft silvery light mint, with the lightness and touch of sparkle emblematic of the Illusion D’Ombre line.

 As a person with blue-green eyes, I was concerned that this shadow would be “too green,” however I found that the color is quite silver, cool and light. Because of the texture of this shadow, the color does not apply like a block of mint at all–instead, it’s a touch of eye-brightening silver with a faint hint of mint. I like to pair this with Emerveille, although this formula plays very well with powder eyeshadows as well. Here are swatches of  Chanel Illusion D’Ombre in Rivière swatched lightly and heavily (I prefer to wear it lightly), and also a comparison with Chanel Illusion D’Ombre in Epatant (the other green in the Illusion D’Ombre line):

I agree with The Nonblonde that this is “gorgeous”–her thoughts about Rivière are here. Since she posted her review, Rivière has gone out of Strawberrynet.com (that was my source for this product as well).

Chanel Sable-Émouvant Eyeshadow Duo Review

 Chanel, Eyeshadow  15 Responses »
Apr 302012
 

Chanel Sable-Émouvant Eyeshadow Duo ($42) is quite possibly my favorite item from the easy, soft, feminine Chanel Summer 2012 collection. It’s a stunning, soft, pigmented shimmery confection of a shimmery sandy creamy ivory and a warm reddish shimmery brown.

The duo in soft light:

In sunlight, so you can see the shimmery sparkles:

Swatches:

Comparison with Chanel Misty Soft eyeshadow duo, which is far more mauve:

Sable-Émouvant Eyeshadow Duo is highly blend able, easy to work with, really this duo is perfection. It’s going to coordinate well with this season’s corals and pinks, however this classic combination is going to be an awesome duo for almost anything that you’d want to throw at it. Just layer the lighter color on the lid, and smoke the darker color in the crease. Or use the darker color as a lid-wash, then add a touch of the cream in the inner corner.  It couldn’t be easier or more foolproof. Gorgeous perfection.

….And this is why I love Chanel. They take a classic combination and simply do it more beautifully.

Nars Calabria Soft Touch Shadow Pencil Review

 Eyeshadow, NARS  4 Responses »
Apr 232012
 

Nars Calabria Soft Touch Eyeshadow Pencil ($24) is a beautiful soft and complex deep purple.

 

 

Although the pencil and swatch appear to be a deep saturated purple, the color applies a little bit like Chanel Taupe Grise on my lid.

The difference is that, as a creamy pencil, Nars Calabria has much more of “sheen” to it. As a deep violet-taupe, it’s very flattering on pale skin tones. In fact, I absolutely love this color.

Other bloggers have observed that Nars Soft Touch Shadow Pencils tend to crease. Temptalia’s review of Calabria found some creasing. I was hoping that would not be the case for me–my lids are not very oily.  I applied the pencil much more lightly than Christine at Temptalia, hoping that would do the trick. I tested the pencil for several days, both alone and over Nars Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Primer. Without the primer, I found that the color tended to fade after 8-10 hours of wear. With the Nars eyeshadow primer as a base, I found color migrating into my lid crease.  It is something that I was able to easily sweep away once I noticed, however I thought you should know that I did experience this.  Bottom line–amazing color, but not as long-wearing as I would have liked. If anyone has any suggestions for making these pencils last longer, I’m happy to try them out because I really do love this color.

Nars sent this eye pencil to Cafe Makeup without charge for consideration for review.

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