But First, Lemme Take a Selfie: Julep's Photogenic Palette

Frequent readers of this blog know I'm a huge fan of Julep products. I've been a Maven (their monthly nail polish subscription box) for over a year and it's the only box I haven't cancelled yet. They have great colours, great deals, and their customer service is amazing. 

But while Julep is best known for their nail polish, their other beauty products are pretty badass too - I've been happy with their lipglosses especially. But in the eyeshadow department, I felt they were lacking. Their first palette was a mini sort of Naked Basics knock-off deal, with boring boring browns and taupes and it was boring and nothing special. Then they had gel/liquid eyeshadows for a while that didn't really go over well either. 

But when I saw this baby, I knew I had to have it. Enter Sweep - The Photogenic Palette

First off, the colours are beautiful. It's not your average Naked knock-off palette. There are bright, holiday-ready colours in here. The colour payoff is really great too - each tone has got just the right amount of shimmer and the pigment is bold while still being really wearable. The formula blends really well, and you can use this one palette for a whole variety of looks, from something more natural to a bolder, brighter vibe. 

From bottom: Flash (which you can barely see since it's almost the exact same colour as my arm), Gala, Focus, Pose, Filter, Sepia, Icon, Selfie, Debut, Star, Fame.

The brush it comes with is really nice too - dual ended with soft bristles. I've been having so much fun creating looks with this palette. It's unexpected, and a really great holiday offering from Julep.

The Photogenic Palette  makes for a great gift for makeup lovers in your life, or for yourself! It's on special discount right now and its TOTALLY WORTH IT. Julep winning it yet again. 

MAC x Osbournes: Bloody Brilliant Eyeshadow Quad

I haven't really been this excited about a makeup collaboration in a while, actually. When it was first announced that MAC was gonna be working with Sharon and Kelly Osbourne, I was immediately scouring the internet for swatches and hints of what the products might be. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.

Kelly has really stepped up her style game in recent years and is sporting some dope ass lavender hair of which I am thoroughly jealous. She's always been punky and fearless with her style, and her MAC collection is just that - full of bright purples, pinks, and oranges that are made for standing out from the crowd. And when I buy makeup, that's what I want. Fuck yo' neutrals, ya know? Purples kinda are my neutrals now.

I actually only ended up getting the Bloody Brilliant Eyeshadow Quad from her collection cuz the rest was sold out, but I'm really loving it.  Four shades are really all you need to create both daytime and nighttime looks.

From bottom: Spoonful of Sugar, Tickety Boo, Fizzy Rose, Shadowy Lady

Spoonful of Sugar is a really lovely shimmery champagne color thats perfect for highlighting under your brows or in the corners of your eyes. Tickety Boo is a great neutral base, and Fizzy Rose is a beautiful lavender that works well as an unexpected all over color or a base. Shadowy Lady might me my favorite of the pack - it's a dark purple that makes for a great smokey eye. I'm loving it for nighttime going out looks, and it's a great alternative to your blacks or greys.

Overall, I'm really pleased with this quad. The color payoff is amazing even without a primer, and it's extremely versatile if you're willing to step away from your Naked 3 palette for a while and get into some color.

Great job, Kelly. I am jealous of everything you chose to be.

The Body Electric: Urban Decay's Electric Palette

Okay so, I know I talked about in my last post about my style being more black-white-grey-red than anything else, and that's totally true. But I do love me some neons, especially for the summer. When UD first started sending marketing emails about this palette, they were geared towards the festival crowd, and as my ass can't afford to go to Coachella, I didn't even bother to look. But soon I started seeing swatches popping up on the blogs, and I knew I had to have it.

Welcome to the Urban Decay Electric Pressed Pigment Palette.

Essentially this palette is the complete opposite of the Naked palettes, and gets back to what UD was when I first started buying the brand - bright, highly pigmented colours that you don't really find anywhere else. This isn't your average palette. This is a palette for the bold, the brave, and the wild.

I was so gleeful when I opened the palette for the first time that I actually kept the swatches on my arm for a while, because I kept looking at them and going "look how BRIGHT they are!!" They really are bright, and the color lasts a long time even without a primer. But obviously a primer enhances them even more, and UD also has a great page for the palette complete with blogger looks to help those who may be at a loss as to what to do with anything that isn't a nude.

The other great thing about this palette is that I'm seeing the colours used in new ways - for eyebrows, as hair chalk, even on lips. So seriously, go nuts. I've used it in my brows (the blues and purples are better for darker brows, but go over them with concealer and primer first and then do whatever), used it as coloured liner - the palette is so versatile for what it is. I totally encourage finding new and weird ways to use bright colour. Be unexpected, be experimental. This palette makes me want to look like Effie Trinket from the Hunger Games with crazy brows and lips and whatever.

So, basically, if you're not afraid to have people staring at your face a little, this palette is highly recommended. It's totally badass, and totally worth it.

Must Have: Tarte's CC Matte beMATTEnificent Amazonian Clay palette

I remember saying after I got the Naked 3 palette that I'd never need another palette again.

I was wrong.

I've actually had Tarte's CC Matte beMATTEnificent Amazonian clay palette for a while but I haven't blogged about it yet because I'm so in love with it I don't know what to say. It's definitely on my must-have list. I take it with me when I travel, I recommend it to everyone, I use it more often than anything else (alright, about 50/50 with the Naked 3 - I still love that thing too). I love it. I love love love it.

First off, the packaging is epic. The cut-away gemstone pattern is an enchanting intro to the colours inside, and the case is nice and heavy, but slim enough that I can carry it easily in my purse. It also comes with a sheet of paper with two looks - one for day and one for night - mapped out and with instructions so it can be easily re-created.

The pallette itself is 8 matte eye colours and a blusher in gorgeous purple, pink & taupe tones. It's extremely versatile, and the brush that comes with has both defining and blending ends for a multitude of looks. I've swatched them below for you:

From top left: Sand Out From the Crowd, Peach for the Stars, Two Plums Up, Don't Stand Black, Pink Outside the Box, Rose to the Occasion, View from the Taupe, Dream in Chocolate

The lightest colour is a bit hard to see on my skin tone but the matte texture makes for a really lovely natural look. I am not a person who likes a lot of shimmer so it really is great to have an all-matte palette. Plus, purples and pinks look great with brown eyes (or any eyes, really, I love me some purple) and the blusher is a really subtle, rosey pink. Actually, a lot of these colours work well with the Naked 3 palette if you're looking to combine mattes and shimmers. The black and brown colours (Dream in Chocolate & Don't Stand Black) are great for both lining and creating a more smokey look, but I personally like the darkest purple (Two Plums Up) for a bit of a twist on a smokey eye.

Overall, I've found it to be really versatile and easy to apply and blend. Pair it with Tarte's Lights, Camera, Flashes mascara for a high-def look!

Evil Queen Beauty's Favourites of 2013 Part 3: ELF palettes, Serge Normant, Bumble&bumble, Not Your Mother's, and Fragrance picks

So I posted a little bit about the major E.L.F. hauls that I had this year, but I want to talk more about the palettes. ELF has a lot of great palette options that are so inexpensive it's insane not to stock up. There are a ton of their geometric palettes in all sizes and colours - mine is the 32 piece - which are coordinated for every kind of use - lots of great neutrals for everyday in varying shades, plus great bright colours for something special. They're just the right amount of shimmer, and the great thing about all of these palettes is that they can fit in your purse. The Prism Eyeshadow Palette are perfect jewel-tones which are great for going out looks and are completely my colours, and is my favourite palette out of the ones I have. The 22 piece Mini On-The-Go Pallette is smaller than your cellphone and is great for travelling. It comes with 12 eyeshadows, 4 lip colours, 3 blushers, and a mascara with a wide range of colours. If you're looking to get some colours into your makeup kit without buying individual eyeshadows, these are a great option.

I'm pretty weird when it comes to fragrances. I think of scents as colours and the colours have to match/coordinate with what I'm wearing. My standard is Pink Sugar which is obviously a pink scent, then I also use Wild by Ralph Lauren (red) and Fame by Lady Gaga (black). I got a sample of a Tokyomilk Dark scent in with a Sephora order and immediately fell in love - they're dark, mysterious, sexy scents and I've loved all the ones I've picked up so far. Right now I have both Destiny #79 which is a very musty, woody, midnight floral scent (Jasmine, Fresh-Cut Ginger, Honeysuckle, Rose, Davana notes - a black or purple scent) and Tainted Love #62 which is lighter, more fruity (a pink or lime green scent). I carry both in my purse. I love them, I want to have their babies, I want to smell like Tokyomilk Dark forever. 

BCBG's Bon Genre is definitely a pink scent, it's floral and spicy, and very light. It came in one of my Glossyboxes, which is great because I love having the little rollerballs or spritzers to travel with. I forget to put perfume on sometimes so I carry them in my bag and spritz on the train (probably much to the annoyance of my fellow travelers, but whatever).

This year has definitely been a huge development in the haircare department. I have huge, frizzy, poofball hair that has always been hard to manage. I was just flat ironing the hell out of it and hoping for the best or curling and ending up looking like Shirley Temple, without much thought to finding the right products.  I'm glad I made a real effort this year to help my poor poofball head.

The Serge Normant products are amazing, especially the Meta Silk Shampoo and Meta Velour Conditioner. I also really love the Meta Luxe Hair Spray and the Meta Sheer Dry Oil which is great for calming frizzies and flyaways without being too oily. I can't WAIT to try the Meta Revive Dry Conditioner, cuz I think it's going to be a haircare gamechanger. Definitely worth the investment.

At some point I'm going to do a full post about Not Your Mother's, but I cannot rave enough about Kinky Moves Curl Defining Hair Cream. It has been quite a search for a curl cream that appeals to my laziness - I want something that I can just put in, scrunch a little, and let air dry and it'll come out with great curls/waves. This is it. I've tried a few other curl creams and the Not Your Mother's is by far the best, plus it smells amazing.

The Lock Luster Oil Treatment also smells amazing and is great for pre-styling heat protection. It gives my hair a nice and sleek look without being too heavy or oily, and I only need a very little bit to get the effect I want.

I posted before about my temporary pink hair which I totally loved, and it was all thanks to Bumble&bumble's Spraychalk. So easy to use, great colour payoff even on my dark hair, and it completed an absolutely perfect look.  I want to try all the other colours. No. I want to dye my fucking hair pink. I will do it one of these days!


And that concludes my 3 part 2013 favourites! Back to your regularly scheduled EQB posts soon!

Bang for your buck: ELF cosmetics

I decided to check out ELF's site because twitter was all abuzz with how great their sales are. And they really are great. I probably spent about $25-30 on both of these hauls, and the second one came with a free complete brush set. ELF has a lot of different palette options for eyeshadows, as well as some great beauty products.

The nail polish cube was maybe one of the best buys out of all this. It was $10, and came with 14 nail polishes. They're mini-sized but great colours and have lasted well on my nails. The one I have is the "party" set, which comes with great pinks, greys/silvers, and greens, but the other sets are really beautiful too and I have a feeling I might go back and collect them all.

My other favourite is the Studio Prisim Eyeshadow Palette, which I have in "smoke", but also  comes in a great set of pinks, and everyday neutrals. The eyeshadows are really beautiful glimmers, and blend pretty easily. They're not so highly pigmented so you'll have to build up the colour if you want it really dark, but I really love the shades and the palette is a great deal, also at $10.

I was a bit hesitant to buy concealer over the internet without trying swatches first, but I took a bit of a gamble and went with their Studio Under Eye Concealer & Highlighter. The coverage is surprisingly good, the colour worked out well, and the highlighter is great for the corners of my eyes. The 2-in-1 thing makes my morning routine so much easier.

The Studio Lip Primer & Plumper is also a great 2-in-1 deal. The plumper doesn't work as well as I'd hoped but has a nice cinnamon-y tingle, and did fill in the lines of my lips. The primer is great, and my lipstick stayed in place all day, also with the help of the Lip Lock Pencil. I really like the Lip Lock Pencil because it goes on clear, which means you don't have to worry about finding matching or coordinating lipliners.

The Eye Refresh worked just okay - I didn't see a huge difference in my dark circles but it does leave a nice refreshing cooling feeling in the morning, which helps me feel more awake. The concealer does a better job at covering up my under eye area.

Stay tuned for part 2!
-Christina