NYX For Your Eyes Only Smokey Eyes Palette in 01 Jazz Night Review

I was really looking forward to using this palette. After all of the rave reviews I had seen online, I thought, how could I go wrong?

Most of the colors in this neutral palette looked very useful for every day. This palette features neutrals, with a bit of interest. There are two shades with glitter - the silver gray, and the navy. The dark gray has a bit of glitter, too, but the finish if rather sparkly so it's harder to discern. Unfortunately, I neglected to check the finish on these shadows. Eight of the ten have a very frosty finish. This makes them easy to blend and very smooth. However, it also makes them rather unsophisticated when worn. This palette would be good for a younger woman that is newer to make up or would rather go for an easy to apply finish. I am at the point where I forgo the frosty finish, even if it is the easiest to work with. I feel it cheapens my look at my age - I'm in my thirties! For a woman in the office in her twenties, I think that this would work rather nicely. Pigmentation is good, and staying power with a primer is good as well.

Petaluma Cosmetics Company Outlet Store

Must more of a note to myself than anything - there were some great deals to be had at the Petaluma CCO! They had an assortment of last year's Lancome Holiday palettes for only $15. I had to snatch one up. They also had the Lancome limited edition holiday shimmer powder, the one with the embossed cupid, for something like $20. And last year's holiday blockbuster for about $32. And last year's Juicy Tubes gift set.

At these prices, I may just have to give up Revlon Colorstay and wait it out for the CCO. I just need to test drive those Lancome shadows!

Sephora Favorites Glitz & Glam $38

I'm loving this fabulous little kit as I unfortunately have not managed to outgrown my love of glitter and sparkle!

Laura Geller Blush: Sunswept; I was actually contemplating purchasing a blush from LG. This shade is very pigmented but still wearable. It wears a dark pink with a golden sheen overlay that catches the light. It's very pretty. It was GREAT lasting power, and is still fresh at the end of the day! For this reason, I think I will purchase a full size, lighter colored blush from LG, even thought I promised myself that I would wait until I used up a blush before buying another one. It's also gorgeous to look at, with it's multicolor swirls. It is a bit loose, and there will be powder on the black case inside, but I am so impressed with the staying power that I don't mind

Guerlain Meteorites: Beige Chic 03; This was my reason for purchasing the kit. I wanted to try Meteorites. The little box is adorable, but the balls are a little annoying. It does give me a lit from within, candle light glow when I put it on. The pearls will sometimes fall out when I am trying to apply. This is not something I want to worry about when I'm working on my morning make up. It also does have a scent to it. I don't particularly care for it, but it's not too overpowering. You will smell it each time you open the box. I need to work with this a little more before deciding if I will purchase the full size.

Smashbox Eyeshadow: 24K; I was surprised to find that this gold is very... orange. I am a cool skinned girl, and so I don't think this goes with my personal coloring very well. I look better in silvery golds. But, this shadow is super smooth and very easy to work with; the texture is divine. I may purchase Smashbox shadow in the future - but I don't think this shade is for me. I'll play with it a few more times before deciding.

ELF Eye Transformer Review

Same as Complexion Perfection... good: no parabens. Bad: first ingredient is talc.

But it is so fun to play with! It goes on great as a highlighter shade, or under the eye to brighten with just a touch of color. I also sometimes use it on the inside corner to highlight.

ELF All Over Color Stick: Pink Lemonade

This is a nice color, slightly pink. I chose it to possibly use for travel, as a cheek/lip/eyeshadow in a pinch. However, I don't like it. I have sensitive skin and it sometimes makes me react. It just causes skin irritation, but who wants that? So it's in my beauty graveyard. I would recommend it if you do not have sensitive skin.

Urban Decay Wallpaper Shadow Box

These eye shadows are gorgeous. They are milled beautifully and pigmented well. There is a great selection of both neutral and fun colors to choose from. And the size of them, while they look small, are really plenty for you to play with. The box is super cute, with beautiful design inside and out.

I am giving mine away... partially. This is because of the 9 shadows in this set, 5 are glittery. With the glittery shadows there is definietly fallout. But, I feel like at my age it is time to get rid of shadow that is outright "glittery". Some really subtle glitter may be ok, but no more large chunks of visible glitter for me. Hence, bye-bye to this set. I do love how easy the colors are to blend. I do highly recommend this set if you are not against glitter.

Physician's Fromula Shimmer Strips Custome Eye Enhancing Shadow & Liner

Super smooth, almost creamy. Blends easily, great pigmentation. Unfortunately, also super frosty and I don't like that look anymore. I got the green eyes palette as the colors were more appealing to me than with the brown eyes The applicator that comes with it is pretty decent. I will give this to someone what will use it. The staying power is not good enough for me to keep as a travel shadow, which was what I was considering.

Milani Glimmer Stripes: Berry Glimmer

I got this at CVS because I am LOVING my Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips, and wanted a version in whites/pinks for blush/eye use. They dont' make one, so I went with Milani.

Ugh. Online reviews said this is a decent product, but I say no. This comes off as frosty. The white color is chalky. And the texture does vary with each shade. It's more frosty than pigmented, so I won't even keep this to use as a blush as I don't like frosty cheeks.

ELF Brightening Eye Color: Drama & Luxe 0/-

Drama got great reviews. For a good reason. Great pigmentation. But - it caused my eyes slight burning sometimes. It also has a different texture for each color. It migrated quite a bunch as well, and the white was too chalky for use. A lot of powder comes off when you swipe a brush over these quads. I put Drama in my travel kit for now - but I think I'll replace it with something higher quality.

Luxe has the ame issue of different texture per color. Pigmentation is decent. However, there is a strange metallic red shade that I didn't know what to do with here, and the highlight color, again, was too chalky. Not worth the $1. I cleaned out this palette for pigment pressing.