Wednesday 31 August 2016

Smashbox Lighting Theory palette

Swatches & Review

I'm back with another palette review & some gorgeous swatches to satisfy your beauty needs. - Smashbox Master Class Lighting Theory Palette
I couldn't wait to review this palette & show you guys the colours, I love Smashbox Master Class palettes, I also have the Master Class 2 palette & Master Class Colour & Contour palette & the variety you get in one palette make these, in my opinion, some of the best "Value for Money" palettes out there!
This new Lighting Theory palette has everything you need! -
16 Powder Eyeshadows
3 Powder Blushes
3 Cream Shimmer Highlighters
3 Contour Creams - Bronzer, Contour & Highlight
4 Colour Correcting Creams - Lavender, Green, Peach & Orange
"A face palette to create an even complexion, add depth & dimension, cast a high-voltage glow, & achieve eye looks for any occasion" All in one super secure, holographic case for $65USD at Sephora 
The packaging though?! When I said super secure, I meant super secure! This baby is definitely going to keep everything inside of it safe & protected, making it perfect for travel. And it's holographic! The only problem is it's quite bulky, but with the amount of product in there, you wouldn't need to carry much more makeup anyway! And as you can see below, both palettes inside clip in & out of the case itself so you can change them around, or if you have any of the other palettes with the same design eg. MC3, you can swap the inserts around & take the two you would use most.
 As always, Smashbox threw in a few instruction cards to help guide you through colour correcting & how/where to use each one

♥SWATCHES

Cream Colour Correctors:

Lavender - Corrects any yellowness/dullness areas of the face
Green - Corrects any redness (acne blemishes/scarring, rosacea etc)
Peach - Corrects dark spots for fair to Medium skin tones (under eyes etc)
Orange - Correct dark spots for darker skin tones



Cream Contour & Highlighters:

Contour - Add shape & definition
Bronzer - Add sunkissed warmth
Highlight - Brighten areas of the face
Luminous Pink, Gold & Peach - Shimmery highlights create a dewy glow

The first four are the colour correctors, all very pigmented & super creamy. If you remember the colour wheel from art class at school, you'll always remember how to use these on your face. The lavender brightens up any dull, tired looking areas of the face, purple is opposite to yellow meaning purple will neutralise any yellowness on your face. The green will help to counteract any redness on your face, this shade is also very creamy but could be a little too smooth because it moves around blemishes easily when blending over it, it may be better used for redness on the cheeks/face as appose to blemishes that tend to have more redness.. The peach is great for dark under eyes on fairer skin, I like to mix it with a little bit of the orange shade if they're a deeper purple & are harder to cover, the peach is slightly too light I think.. And the orange is great for darker skin tones to correct blue/deeper purple under eyes or mix with the peach shade to get your preferred coverage. Both are super creamy & blendable. The next three are the defining shades. The contour shade is so creamy & blends smooth & evenly for a perfectly cut contour using a sponge or brush! It's a good shade, not warm but not too cool either, but could be too light for anyone with deep skin tones..The bronzer I haven't tried on it's own, I mixed a little with the contour shade & it looked great adding just enough warmth. It's quite a golden brown & would give the face a nice sunkissed glowy tan. I must try it alone this summer! The highlight is actually more of a light banana cream & works great for highlighting areas of the face like under the eyes, centre of the forehead, nose & chin. This was the only cream that was a little harder to blend, not much! Just not as smooth as all the others.. And finally, the luminous highlighting creams. These are very soft & natural looking, they give a glow from within, but pop some powder highlight on top & BAM! Glowing for gods baby!

 Eyehadows

Sand - Pastel Beige Matte
Totally Nude - Pinky Beige Matte
Nectar - Peach Matte
Almond - Warm Nude Matte
Truffle - Taupe Matte
Light Wave - Midtone Brown Metallic
Sunrise - Warm Gold Metallic
Sunlight - Rose Gold Metallic


Optics - Deep Grey Metallic
Metallic Violet - Deep Purple Metallic
Metallic Bronze - Bronze Metallic
Metallic Brick - Red Brown Metallic
Nocturnal - Navy Metallic
Blackout - Black Matte
Sumatra - Dark Brown Matte
Backlit - Black with Red Pearl Metallic



Blushes 

Candlelight - Midtone Pink Matte
Carnation - Light Pink with Gold Pearl
Spectrum - Midtone Brown Pink





As you can see, the eyeshadows are insanely pigmented! They're so smooth & swatched like butter on my arm. The colours are to die for & there's probably every shade you need to create endless looks for daytime to evening. Mattes & Metallics, light transition shades & deep smokey shades. There is a bit of fallout with these shadows because they're so soft. The blushes are the same, so smooth & pigmented. Compared to the Smashbox Masterclass 3 palette, there are only 5 double ups - Nectar, Nocturnal, Blackout, Sumatra & Carnation blush. I like to swap around the inserts between both palettes, say the neutral shadow palette from MC3 & the cream contour side from the Lighting Theory. Clip them both in one case & away you go!

(Top is Masterclass Lighting Theory, Bottom is Masterclass 3)


I highly recommend getting a Masterclass palette for yourself one day, the pigmentation & variety for the price is unreal! This entire palette was only $65USD & totally worth it because it's valued at $399!

"Every formula in this palette - from colour-correcting & contouring creams to high-voltage highlighters & velvety shadows - was designed to demystify contouring & simplify strobing for everyday looks that stand out under office or evening lights" - Smashbox




LucyLoves! xx

Thursday 11 August 2016

Becca X Jaclyn Hill Champagne Collection - Face Palette

Palette Review & Swatches

This is another palette that I wasn't sure about reviewing, because it is limited edition & i'm unsure if it's still available to purchase :/ but it's such a beautiful palette & Becca have added more to the Jaclyn Hill champagne collection since, with duo compacts including the blushes & highlighters from this palette, so I thought i'd post a quick review for those interested in the new compacts or if this palette ever comes back!
The face palette includes Jaclyns original baby "Champagne Pop", along with a new highlighter "Prosecco Pop" better for deeper skintones & 3 new blushes "Rose Spritz", "Amaretto" & "Pamplemousse" all for $52 USD (or $102 NZD from Sephora NZ)
If you have ever watched Jaclyn Hill on YouTube, you would know the woman is extremely talented & has a mind full of makeup knowledge! She knows what she wants from her makeup, she is an absolute perfectionist when it comes to her passion, so I knew these products were going to be amazing quality & to the best of Beccas abilities they made that happen.
Now I know this collection had a bit of controversy revolved around it due to the eyeshadow palette that was part of the collection, including one shade Jaclyn created, had to be made in a different factory in china, so some palettes were perfect but most were not up to par, resulting in Becca completely dropping the palette from the collection. Which I think is cool because it shows if they can't make something perfect for us, they won't make it at all. Jaclyn Hill was very honest about the whole situation over snapchat & expressed her disappointment, but people are always looking for something shady or sinister behind everything & started attacking Jaclyn over the internet about the whole collection being a sham & that everything was made in china, the face palettes Champagne Pop is different to the original BLA BLA BLA! Yet nothing was said about the other products before the info about the eyeshadow palette was known.. Some people are far to quick to judge & desperate to see others fail. It's makeup everybody, it's not that serious!

Just had to get that out of the way, I know about the eyeshadow palette but that is definitely not the case with the face palette. I'm literally in love with this palette! Champagne Pop was the first product I ever bought from Becca, because Hi gotta support JH! So this was the first time trying their blushes & wow! I was in shock at how smooth, buttery, pigmented, delicious these were! Wait till you see the swatches below, one touch of every shade & one swipe on my arm, the texture is amazing & so smoothly swatched down my arm like actual butter! I compared my original Champagne Pop with the new one in the palette & at first glance I thought the original was slightly more peachy but my friend pointed out the gold palette would throw your eyes off a bit, swatched next to each other they're exactly the same! The texture is the same, the shade is the same & end result on the face is the same!

A quick little mention about the packaging, IT'S THE PRETTIEST THING I OWN!
It's super high quality, quite solid & heavy gold case with a white champagne spritz top, amazing mirror inside that doesn't bend or blur, like Jeffree Star said "it's an expensive mirror!"

♥SWATCHES



Champagne Pop -
Jaclyns original, Soft white gold with pinky peach undertones 
Prosecco Pop -
Medium warm gold
Rose Spritz -
Soft peachy pink with pale gold shimmer
Amaretto -
Matte toasted almond  
Pamplemousse -
Matte warm coral pink

I wish you could see how smoothly these swatched on arm, the pigment dragged all the way & didn't go patchy or powdery. These are the best blushes I've ever used (not that I'm a big blush fan, but I'm starting to use them more) and of course the highlights are so creamy and reflective yet melt in to the skin making them appear very natural
If they ever bring this palette back I totally recommend getting it, once you see the quality you'll be using them all the time! But if not, don't forget Becca & Jaclyn have also added compact duos to the collection including combos like Prosecco Pop + Amaretto, the perfect pair for tanned/olive skin or there's Champagne Pop + Flowerchild Blush (not in this palette but a more wearable combo versus Champagne Pop & say Rose Spritz) or Prosecco + Pamplemousse, another good combo for deeper skin. Check them out at Sephora US & AUS/NZ




LucyLoves! xx