If you're like me and can't neccessarily afford Urban Decay or Mac or Nars, or just can't justify splurging $40 on an eyeshadow palette, then keep reading. I get so excited when it comes to new makeup, especially eyeshadows and lipsticks! Everyday I wish I could go into Sephora and just spend 100's of dollars, but I just can't. So for you girls like me, our next best option is the drug store, which by the way, is not at all that bad when you find hidden treasures like The Blushed Nudes palette by Maybelline. For $12, it is an amazing, compact, universal palette. I currently own The Nudes palette which is full of matte and shimmery browns, golds and nudes, which I absolutely fell in love with. Although the colour pay-off may not be as good as those higher end brands, they are buildable, and lets face it - no matter what palette you buy you'll always have your favourites that you use all the time.
As soon as I saw The Blushed Nudes sitting on my local drugstore shelves I instantly grabbed it and put it in my basket. There are 12 shades all up, that are split into quads, trios or couples, each containing a matte and shimmer shadow. I have brown eyes, and find that adding a little colour (besides the typical browns I tend to reach for) that the pinks and purples in this compact little palette would be right up my alley. I'm not the type to go all out with her makeup, but a little pop of colour on the lids are just what I needed to add to my collection. I find that there are colours in this palette that aren't very opaque, and therefore don't really do much justice to your eyeshadow looks. But I already have my favourites, and by the swatches you'll see below (which I will do in the suggested quads), you'll see what I'm talking about with the colour payoff's.
The first quad is beautiful. This I would wear during the day if I had somewhere to be and could be bothered doing this much makeup (usually I stick to one or two colours), because the colours aren't very intense and they're very wearable. The first colour you would sweep all over your lid, and up to your brow bone. It's a gorgeous light colour, not quite a white since the colour payoff is very minimal, but it leave a shimmer to your lids, which makes it a perfect base to this colour combination. The second colour is like a very baby/dusty pinky-peach colour. The colour is a little more opaque than the first, but isn't full on. I'd shade this all over my lid. The third colour is more of a rose-gold colour, which would go in the outer-corner of the lid and crease to add defintion to the eye. Again it's a very shimmery colour, and the colour payoff is absolutely amazing! The fourth and final colour of this quad is a dark matte brown, which I personally would use instead of an eyeliner. I would use a small angled brush to pop this on my eyelash line, and blend it a little bit to make it more smokey.
The second quad is honestly my least favourite. I love the colours by themselves but I would not use them together. To me, they just don't really complement each other. The first colour is a very light grey shimmer colour, which they say to use over your lid area. The second colour is a very pretty matte light pink, which they say to dust all over your eyelid area. I personally do not think these two colours go together. On their own with the last two colours, yes. The last two are very pretty browns, not much shimmer to them, but they are pretty to use in the crease and to line the eyes.
Last but not least, is the third quad, which I am so in love with! The first colour I sweep all over my eye area, not up to my brow bone though, just to wear you'd want the colour to swap - think of it as the base and blending shade you'd use. The second colour I use in the crease, as its a very pretty shimmery rosey-brown. And to complement that colour, the third colour I use as the lid colour. It's such a beautiful dusty-purple/pink colour, and it's probably my favourite colour in this whole palette! The last one is not so much a black, but it's a very dark purple shade, with a little shimmer to blend into the eyelash line. The colour payoff in this quad is amazing. I'm so in love!! Perfect for night time, with all the shimmery goodness!!
What colours do you tend to reach for in your makeup bag, and what are your favourite brands for eyeshadows?
Lots of love,
Courtney x
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