Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Milani Everyday Eyes Eyeshadow Palette 05 Earthy Elements Review


After seeing this palette appear on Tati's Youtube Channel I was secretly praying that they would appear in Canada. As us Canadians beauty lovers know, not everything the US has in terms of drugstore makeup makes it across the border.

I found my palette at my local Lawtons (Rexall, I believe for other provinces) and waited a couple weeks to finally find it on sale. Score!

I bought the 05 Earthy Elements palette to review which contains 6 shades.

Palette in the shade.

And because I was working with sun that day, palette in the sun.

The shadows are of surprising quality. They are quite buttery without being powdery and blend extremely easily on the lid. The only "meh" shade is the first shade of the palette which is quite hard in texture and difficult to pick up with a brush (and with fingers). However, all the other shades are quite amazing. The shadows lasted on my oily eyelids (with primer) all day, no problem.

Left to right in the palette, in the shade.

Left to right in the palette, in direct sunlight. You can see here that the first shade is a glittery chunky mess.

The second shade from the left in this palette is the perfect crease color. It's so easy to blend, and it's the perfect warm, but not too warm, buttery crease color. It reminds me a lot of MAC's Wedge. The orange shade (third from the left) is so pigmented and bright! It's a bit too bright for my tastes, but it blends wonderfully. These two matte shades are of excellent quality - and we know drugstore matte shades tend to be duds. The last shade of the palette is an excellent dupe of MAC's Sable and is super easy to work with. My favorite is definitely the fourth shade - it's a perfect one and done shadow.

Even if these colors are dupeable, this palette would be very useful to travel with as the packaging is quite sturdy. For a palette that's less than C$15, you definitely get your money's worth out of the 5 shades that are of excellent quality. Plus, the warm tones are gorgeous for anyone with blue/green eyes! B+

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade in Ash Brown + Sephora Collection Pro Brow Brush #20


The Anastasia Dip Brow Pomade seems to be one of those items that divides beauty bloggers - they either love it, or absolutely hate it. While it does seem to have excellent reviews on Sephora, I personally sit somewhere in the middle.

I bought this product about 3 months ago in the shade Ash Brown. The pomade is smudge-free and waterproof and is meant to be applied with a brush. I bought a Sephora Collection Pro Brow Brush #20 to use with it. I solely chose it because it had decent reviews, and it had a spoolie on the end.


First off, do not buy this brush. I love a firm angle brush, and while I thought it would be fine for eyebrows, it does not apply the product as precisely as I would like. This is definitely a pass for me.


As for the pomade itself. It's only ok. I like to use it when I have a bit more time for makeup because it's a lot easier to create a full eyebrow look with this product as opposed to a brow pencil. Plus, it really does stay all day on my skin. However, the faff of the pomade itself is not always worth it to me since I'm all about practicality in makeup.


The color itself is pretty perfect for my brows. However, it's quite pigmented (as you can see in the swatch) and doesn't allow too many mistakes. In fact, in the swatch above, you can see how the product gradually wears off the brush. The last stroke from the brush would be my ideal texture and pigmentation. Instead, I have to work with that first swatch which can be a bit difficult.

I have read other reviews that indicate that this pomade does dry down a bit and the texture gets better. But you know, who wants to wait for that?

If you're used to pencils for your brows, I'd say don't bother with this. Pencils, in my opinion, work much better. If you're a beauty fanatic, and don't mind a bit of extra time on your makeup, then this might be for you. And at C$23 for a product that you use only a tiny little bit at a time, it's a decent bang for your buck.