Urban Decay Smoked 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil Set Swatches + review

Last week I purchased the Urban Decay Smoked 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil Set. The set is from their latest collection and matches the Smoked Palette, which I don't own. 

It started a few weeks earlier, when I went to an Urban Decay Night where the make-up artists showed all kinds of tricks to apply make-up and displayed their new products. It's there where I tried out the Naked foundation and was so amazed by it (blogpost about foundations is coming up). I also got to try the pencils and was pretty stunned by their pigmentation, staying power and colours. But I didn't want to buy them, because I had already bought the foundation and I didn't want to spend too much (failed at that).

Then for my birthday I got a discount card of 15pounds from friends, and decided to buy the pencils anyway since I just had to pay 11pounds with the discount card. The set costs 26pounds or 38dollars. Here are the swatches: first unsmudged, then smudged to create a smokey eyelook.

 

From left to right: Zero (black), Mainline (blue), Demolition (dark brown), Empire (purple), Uzi (grey) and Smog (golden brown).

The pencils is really creamy and feel more like a gel liner maybe than as a pencil liner to me. They are very pigmented and their staying power is amazing, even on the water line. I remember going out one night, coming back home hours later, taking my make-up off thoroughly, and the morning after, the colour was still on my waterline. Also, after applying the swatches, I had a really hard time getting them back off my arm. It's that good. 

You do pay the price for it. Even though they come in a nice colour range, I wouldn't have bought it if I didn't have the gift card. The pencils are also pretty small, way smaller than a MAC eyeliner or than the usual Urban Decay Glide-On pencils. They're almost half the size of a MAC eyeliner pencil, and a bit bigger than my handpalm (I have pretty small handpalms though). 

If you're ready to make a make-up investment, this is definately a recommendation. But if you're not used to spending that much money on higher-end products, I would go for a drugstore eyeliner. Overall a nice product!

Hope you enjoyed reading this review, 

Hugs & Kisses,

Anine

Teenager smokey eye look

I did my cousin's makeup the night she was going out on her first party - she's fourteen years old - and I wanted to give her a nice natural but smokey look! Check it out here:

Hope you enjoyed!!
xX

ELF unboxing + first impressions

 I got so excited when this package arrived! This is the first time I’ve ordered make-up online and it is so much more fun than buying it in the store. It’s like I get gifts from the mailman! An addictive but dangerous thing, beauty on the internet. This is also the first time I’ve ever tried ELF products (EyesLipsFace) and I’m curious to know what the quality is like, since ELF products are really cheap. I ordered the brush belt (because my brush holder had become too small), the brush cleaner, two blushes and the contouring palette as the NARS dupe. Now let’s get this show on the road!

 

The brush belt

 I read reviews on this online, where everybody said it would be better to invest in a MAC brush belt. But the MAC one is 40 pounds, while this one was 15 pounds. Also, I don’t need such an expensive one, because let’s face it, I’m not a make-up artist. A simple one will do. And it does its job perfectly. It holds all of my brushes and there is still a lot of room for more of them. The material is faux leather and a bit plasticy, but I knew that in advance and it doesn’t bother me. It fits me well and it closes nicely aswell.

The brush cleaner

I’m used to spot cleaning my brushes with the MAC brush cleanser and deep clean them with Johnson’s baby shampoo. But since the MAC one is way more expensive than the ELF when, and I kind of want to save it up, I wanted to try the ELF one. The pump is a nice system, but I have to use more product to have the same results as the MAC brush cleanser. It goes a long way though, I’ve been using it for a week now every night and it doesn’t look as if there’s anything out of the bottle yet, even though it feels as if I use a lot of product. I do feel that at the end of the cleaning, the brushes are not as perfectly new as they are when I clean them with the MAC cleanser, but what can you expect otherwise for that price. I don’t know yet if I would repurchase it.

ELF blush in Pink Passion

I was kinda scared when I saw the colour in the pan, because it’s really bright – almost neon. But when I put it on it’s a dark pink colour. It looks almost more like a dark soft pink on my cheeks. But I like it, even though I really wanted a cute pink blush shade. I haven’t really been able to test the staying power of it, but I don’t think it will be comparable to my daily used MAC Desert Rose since it’s way cheaper than MAC’s blushes are.

ELF blush in Candid Coral

This coral colour has a harder time showing up on my skintone, but that makes it perfect for a nice bronzy look with a heavier eyelook. I can’t wait to get experimenting with this!

ELF contouring blush & bronzing powder in D25

I’ve been wanting this for so long, and love the bronzing powder. It’s darker than my bronzing powder that I use daily, which is nice for a heavy contoured face look. I might try to use less product and maybe I can make it work to use with a heavy eye or lip as well. The blush is a very similar color to the Candid Coral blush, which I only realized as I unpacked it. It’s a shame, but I like the color, so I don’t mind!

These were my short first impressions of my first ELF products ever, hopefully you enjoyed it!

Kisses!