Another neutral palette?! Smashbox Full Exposure Palette

I know I don't need any more neutral eyeshadow palettes, but they just seem to lure me in every time! My newest addition is the Full Exposure palette from Smashbox - a brand which I (surprisingly) have not ventured into until now.

I don't have too much to say about the packaging, it's nice and simple - the text on the front is holographic, and the packaging itself is cardboard, and slightly bulky. Regardless, it does feel quite sturdy; I often travel with larger palettes and have yet to break one! Touch wood...

I love how the colours are laid out in the palette, warm shades on the left, cooler tones on the right, and different finishes on each row. The top row of shadows all contain very small specks of glitter, except for the middle shade which is a frost finish. The bottom row are all matte shadows.

Top row (please excuse my blindingly fair skin!)

The shimmer shades aren't the most pigmented eyeshadows, but they all have a good texture, and have a consistent colour pay off. I've noticed that these shades apply best with fingers, as a brush seems to cause the glitter to fall out.

Bottom row

The matte shades definitely impress me, I love the shade selection, particularly the cooler shades. They aren't super creamy like some shadows (Urban Decay as an example) but they aren't chalky either.

Along with this palette, comes a double ended brush, and their Full Exposure mascara. The brush has a blending side, which is extremely similar to a MAC 217. The flat end of the brush has 2 different sides, synthetic and natural hairs, which can be useful for different shadow textures. The mascara reminds me of Benefit's Bad Gal Lash; the brush is quite large, but it doesn't seem to do too much for my lashes.

Overall, I really do like this palette, mostly because of the shade selection. I can definitely see myself using the matte shades very regularly.

If you have this palette, please tell me what you think!

Thanks for reading. x

Daily Face!

These are some of the products that I have been using daily for the last few weeks. I definitely tend to change my makeup look everyday, but here are my basics! I haven't included a lip product, because that is always changing.

1. Urban Decay's Naked Skin Foundation in 1.0. I have a review posted on this product, linked here. This has become my everyday foundation, and I love everything about it. It feels light, matches my skin, and covers everything it needs to!

2. MAC's Studio Fix in NC15. Another recent purchase. This is a powder foundation, but I just use a light layer with a Real Techinques brush, and it helps to keep the shine away. If you want more coverage, simply apply a bit more.

3. Illamasqua's Powder Blush in Create. I use this product as a Contour/Blush/Bronzer all in one. In the pan it looks like a very dark terracotta, almost orange shade, but on my skin it just works! Use these blushes with a very light hand, they're incredibly pigmented.

4. MAC's Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle. This has been my favourite highlighter for a long time now, I have a hard time using anything else. Looks quite peachy and dark in the pan, but it's a light shimmery champagne shade.

5. Beauty UK's High Brow - All in one brow definition kit, and BDellium Tools 735 brow brush. I recently ran out of my Ash Brown shade in my very well loved HD brows palette. I've heard ThePersianBabe raving about this kit on youtube, so I decided to give it a go instead. For £3.99 it's a great substitute, but I will always love HD Brows! I purchased the brush at IMATS, it is perfect for brows.

6. Maybelline's Eraser Eye Concealer. Love the product, hate the packaging. Covers dark circles and minor redness well, without being thick. The packaging is broken, but thankfully product still comes out.

7. Lorac's Pro Palette. Just posted a review on this product, linked here. The perfect netural palette with matte and shimmers.

8. Lorac's Behind the Scenes Eye Primer. Prevents eye makeup from creasing, due to oily lids!

9. Maybelline's Define a lash Volume Mascara, Waterproof. Not in love with this one, but I'm going to use it up. I always purchase waterproof mascaras, as I find they hold a curl best. If anyone has any recommendations please let me know!

10. Real Techniques Brushes. Super soft brushes, good price, created by one of my favourite youtubers. These 2 aren't the only brushes I use, but I love them all!

Lorac Pro Palette - Must Have!

Since I live in the UK, it's quite frustrating when I see youtubers, or bloggers raving about products that are unavailable to me. (Bring Sephora to the UK!) However, simply through searching google, I came across a site called Rose's Beauty Store and found exactly what I had been looking for!

I already own both Naked palettes, and probably have far more neutral eyeshadows than I should, but the reviews on this are quite amazing, I had to have it. The Lorac Pro palette contains 16 eyeshadows, and it also comes with their Behind the Scenes eye primer.

As you can see, the top row of shadows are all matte, and the bottom row are all shimmery. This palette is absolutely perfect for those of us who thought the Naked palettes were just too shimmery! The packaging is also far better, as it is very sleek, far less bulky than the Naked palettes, but with more shadows!

I find every shadow in the palette to be very pigmented, just as you'd expect for the price. Some of the lighter shades - white, cream, light pink - are slightly chalky, but nothing to worry about. In terms of lasting power, they're just as good as Urban Decay. I find this to be the same with the eye primer, which is very comparable to UD's Primer Potion, though Lorac's is slightly thinner in consistency.

I highly recommend heading over to Rose's Beauty Store if you're interested in this palette. They also stock brand such as Tarte, and Kat Von D!