My First | MAC Palette

I'm not entirely sure how I've done it, but I've somehow managed to get through life to date without owning a MAC palette. Yes I own a few single pots, but not even that many to be honest. While rooting through the MAC website recently, this dawned on me. So of course, with me being me, I needed to sort that out promptly. So the very next day I went to the BT2 MAC store on Henry street to rectify this injustice! Firstly I did a little research online to decide which shades I wanted specifically, using the MAC site and some of my favourite bloggers for reference.

I was very excited to get home and put it all together. I went for a quad to start with, I though a full pro palette (which holds 15 shades) would look a little depressing with 11 empty pots. I think I am going to attempt to de-pot the four single pots I already have also. That would go a long way to filling up the pro palette. Ok so to get onto the shades I decided to go for...

So the four shades I chose are Espresso, Cranberry, All That Glitters and Woodwinked. I decided to start out practical and pick shades I know I would regularly use. My thought process being that Espresso could work in the crease of my eye as well as an eyebrow shade, Cranberry and Woodwinked could both work as crease colours or in the outter corners, depending on the look I was creating and All That Glitters would be perfect for all over the lid. So this one quad could provide all the basic colours I need to create a couple of different neutral eye looks. I know Cranberry wouldn't be everyone's pick for a neutral look, but I quite like using Toasted and Hustle from the NAKED 1 palette, so this type of shade does not scare me.

So there you have it, my very first MAC palette. Do you own a MAC palette and have any shade recommendations? I do intend to grow my collection over the coming years. Ultimately my intention will be to own the 15 shades pro palette and keep the quad for travelling, but I know I'm while off that just yet.

This first purchase was quite an investment and it certainly wasn't cheap, it came to €58.50 in total, but I knew the initial cost would be high and then I'll slowly build them up over time. It's €8.50 for the quad palette and then €12.50 for each shadow. However if you do intend to buy a few, it's cheaper than buying individual pots and also much neater for transporting and storing.

I hope you liked this post and definitely get commenting on what your favourite shades are, I love getting recommendations! That's it from me, hope you're having a great Sunday afternoon whatever you're up to!

Blogtober #12 | Autumnal/Wintery Eye MakeUp

Welcome one and all to day 12 of Blogtober. This is a very simple little post on what colours I'm currently enjoying wearing on my eyes for this time of year. It's probably not very surprising, but I am of course utilising my NAKED 1 palette from Urban Decay. It's nothing ground breaking, but since there are so many shades in this palette, I try make the most of it using it as a shadow, liner and brow filler.

I have listed the specific shades used below:

Brows: Naked
Lids: Sidecar
Crease/Under Eye: Darkhorse
Inner Corner: Virgin
Mascara: Maybelline The Rocket Volume (Waterproof)


What are some of your favourites shades and products for Autumn/Winter?

Review: Benefit peek-a-bright eyes

I am a really big fan of using different shades on my eyes to accentuate them. I like it when eyes are made to be the main feature of your face! As far as I'm concerned, they're built for it, who doesn't want all the focus on them?

So while I know this product isn't brand new, it's relatively new to my collection, so I thought I would review it. I thought it would be a perfect addition, as it has all the shadows I need to create a full look for my eyes!

As you can see I have made quite the dent and have used it quite a number of times, to really get a feel for the product. The set contains:

- eye bright (for the corner of your eyes)
- base shadow
- contour shadow (for the crease of your eyes and to use as a liner)
- highlight shadow (for the main colour of the eye)
- concealer brush (for the eye bright)
- contour brush/liner brush

In theory, this set is great, gives you all the basics you need and to be honest, while I prefer a gold/brown colour combo for this type of look, I was really drawn to the convenience of having everything (including brushes) in one place! Unfortunately however that is where my fascination ended. It goes on okay and is very easy to use and the brushes are fine for what you are doing. However the big problem is, it does not last. I am not even talking for the day, it does not last past a few hours.

The colours are very neutral and for a day time subtle look, that is perfect. You do not however want something that becomes too subtle, in that it fades over (such a short) time. I also found that the pigmentation of the shadows was not great. Overall I was very underwhelmed with this product from Benefit.

Pros: Convenient set, attractive packaging
Cons: It does not last, pigmentation is poor

In summary, would I re-purchase this product? Definitely not. It is not worth the money at all. I know plenty of lower end brands that last significantly longer than this and will revert to them in future.

Have you tried the peek-a-bright eyes set? Let me know know what you thought.

Have you any suggestions for an all-in-one eye set?