Norvina Eyeshadow Palette Review

     You probably already know that purple is my favourite colour. So naturally, I was very excited for this palette when I first heard about it. Being an owner of both Modern Renaissance and Subculture Palette, and having heard the reviews about it, I know people will be talking about this palette, too. But as usual, even though the palette's colour theme is targeted for purple lovers like me, I'll review this palette unbiased and share my honest opinions with you.

The palette consists of 14 cool toned shades: 7 mattes & 7 metallic shimmers

     Here are swatches of all the colours. But I won't stop at that. For this review, I am doing something I've never done before, which is swatching all colours on my eye one-by-one, removing it each time. This way, you'll be able to see how each shadow actually applies on the eye.

     This is how my eyelids look bare, without any product. I will be applying each shadow without any moisturizer, primer or base, and applying it just with my ring fingertip. I'm gonna start with the mattes first because it'll be easier to remove.

 Base - as the name itself, it's a perfect base to start of with. It completely cancelled out my dark lids. I removed it before applying the next shade.

 Soul - a periwinkle blue, a very unique colour.

Incense - a nice cool toned brown to use as a transition shade. 

 Love - a light pink. For me I'll probably using this mainly as transition, and not a main colour as I'm not a big fan of bright pinks.

Volatile - a cool toned dark brown to deepen the outer v. 

Eccentric - an orangey brown. I thought it'll be more orangey, which I'm happy it wasn't as it will be out of place in the palette if it were.

Passion - a dark burgundy. This one was the patchiest to apply. 

 Dreamer - the shimmer shades has a lot of fallout.

Summer 

Wild Child - it's more pink than this in person, and has a pearly shift

Rose Gold - my second favourite

Celestial - of course my favorite shade, but not just because of the colour. It applied the best. It was the smoothest out of all shimmers, has the least fall-out (compared to both shimmers and mattes), and as easy it is to apply, it's also the easiest to remove (compared to the other shimmers).

 Dazzling - my least favorite. It was chunky and rough to apply. It's also almost similar to Summer. I wished they've added another purple shimmer shade instead.

Drama - like Passion, this applied patchy. So I think Anastasia has a problem with dark shades.

Here's also a picture of how much kick-up the shadows have. Dazzling really is the worst offender.

For this review, I won't be doing an eye-look because my eyelid is burning! But let me know in the comments if you want me to do a tutorial. I hope you liked this review format, and I will continue to do it this way for all of my next ones!

Born to Run Review

   

     Urban Decay's Born to Run is their newest collection that includes an eye shadow palette, 3 Vice lipsticks, and 3 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencils. I purchased the palette and the lipstick in 66. The palette has color combinations that are perfect during the summer. The lipstick is a neutral mauve that is perfect to use all-year round.

Eyeshadow Swatches

Vice Lipstick in 66

     To test the eyeshadows, I decided to apply it without primer. I took Still Shot as the transition shade and applied it where my orbital bone is. I used Hell Ride to deepen the inner and outer corners of my eyes. I then applied Guilt Trip ion the middle of my eyes using my ring finger, and on the lower lash line. Lastly, I put Stranded near the tear ducts to brighten up the eyes.

     Even without primer, the shadows showed great colour pay-off and none of them creased after my day was done. If used with primer, and a wet brush, I think the shadows will perform even better!

    I really like the mauve-y look the shadows and lipstick produced! I can't wait to play with the other colours in this palette, especially the green ones!

Benefit #BeneFaves VoxBox Review

Disclaimer: All product are received complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

This month, I was one of the lucky people who received this generous VoxBox from Influenster and Benefit Cosmetics. It includes a deluxe sample Porefessional Face Primer, deluxe sample Hoola Bronzer, full-sized They're Real Mascara and full-sized Ka-Brow! These are all bestselling products from Benefit!

The Porefessional Face Primer minimizes the appearance of pores and fine lines. It can be applied under or over makeup.

The primer is very smooth and silky. It feels siliconey like other primers but not greasy. It almost feels powder-like. It also has this lovely mild floral scent. I've had this primer before as a sample from Sephora and I really like how it applies and how it mattifies my skin.

I decided to wear the primer by itself so you can see the full effect of it. On the left is before application, and right is after. Because of the mattifying effect, it smooths out the skin which reduces the look of pores, and in my case, my acne scars.

I'm very excited to try Hoola, as I hear so many good things about it. It is meant to use as a bronzer to have a sun-kissed look. But since it is matte, it is very good for contouring, too.

I really like that it comes with a brush. It is perfectly sized to swipe under the cheek bones to create a shadow. I didn't expect that the handle would be made of wood!

It's about a shade darker than my skintone and it's not too warm

 

On the before and after pictures, you can see how it creates enough depth. But not too much, so it still looks natural.

I have tried They're Real mascara before when I got a deluxe sample from Sephora. This was the first mid-range mascara I've tried then, and one that first amazed me.

On the right is just my bare lashes, and on the left is with the mascara. The consistency is smooth, not too thin or thick. Because of that, it lengthens and volumizes the lashes without clumping! The rush is also quite different from the ones I've seen before. The bristles help with separating the lashes so that they all get coated. I've also tried using it with the primer version, and it volumizes even more with it.

Ka-Brow! is the first brow product I've tried from Benefit. I think the packaging was done in a clever way so that you get a full-sized brush!

It was very easy to use. I was able to fill up my brows in under a minute! You only need a little bit of the product so be careful. Just dot the brush on the gel each time. It took me only 3 dots to fill one brow, so you're really saving on product!

So here is all the products I used, and nothing else. Hope this helped you decide if you're interested in buying these products from Benefit, but in my experience, I say go for it!

Revlon Mega Multiplier Review

I got this free from Influenster Canada for reviewing purposes, and I got about a month to try it out. But as a procrastinator such as myself, I've only tested it out 3 times within a week of Influenster's due date 😅. Although I think once should be enough to see how good the product is.

I like the consistency of the product. I'd say it's comparable to Benefit's They're Real Mascara. The brushes bristles are the right size to get the right amount of product on the lashes without it getting clumpy.
The packaging itself is lightweight and easy to hold. I like that they made it matte so it won't slip off your hands.
The only thing however is that it would have been better if it is waterproof. I have oily skin which causes my makeup to slip and slide. This caused the mascara to wear off easily and by around 4 hours, I can see tiny black specs on my under eye.

I hope I have explained the product well enough. I will edit this post soon to include pictures and with more details, so keep updated!

Subcuture Palette Review

Sooo... I guess here it is! Anastasia Beverly Hills' very controversial Subculture Palette! I got this about a month ago but this is the first time I'm opening the box and playing with the colours. I guess I was in a Schrodinger's cat situation and I was kind of scared of how it's going to be. (Not a smart idea because it would have turned out bad, I wouldn't be able to get a refund at Sephora). That being said, you can probably guess that I already have a good experience with this palette!

Firt off the colours are gorgeous. It's unique, edgy, perfect fall colours! The pigmentation is just amazing!

Top row swatches

Bottom row swatches

People are saying that it's too pigmented which makes it hard to blend. But for me if it's too pigmented, that means I'm paying more for the actual pigment than fillers!

But then there is also the argument of it not having enough binding agent so the shadows are too powdery and have a lot of kick-up, which wastes a lot of product.

Roxy and Axis are the shadows that have the most kick-up, but with a light hand, it will minimize the kick-up. With this, I can see why people were saying that Norvina should have advertised this as loose pigment shadow. But for me, the quality is still good and I just can't get enough of the colours!

Considering the powderiness, there's not much fall out. Axis had the most fall out when I played with the colours.

 I used Roxy as the transition, Adorn as a cut-crease liner, Axis on the lids, Rowdy and Cube on the lower lash line, and Cube on the inner corner. I used no primer and the shadows went on really well.

So there you go! Long story short, I'm really loving this palette!