Eye shadows Assemble: Putting together my own palettes

And how did I manage it without them taking up too much space? I had them in palette! 

Greek / Ελληνικά

Ever since I started using Japanese cosmetics I got hooked on de-potting them and making my own eye shadow and blusher palettes. You see all Japanese cosmetics have a tiny pinhole at the back (sometimes under the ingredients list sticker) that makes de-potting and placing them in palettes super easy. Keeping them all together like that I get to use all of them more often without forgetting I have any of them. Plus I also get to have a personalised palette that suits my needs and preferences.

my blusher palette (Shu Uemura &RMK)

A while ago I reviewed the Elixir - All in One Face-book palette and as I didn’t like the packaging, I decided to de-pot it. I ordered a couple of non-magnetised empty palettes from ebay. I have been using a palette like this for years for my blushers so I know they are actually pretty sturdy.

This is how the palettes arrived, each in an individual plastic pack. They come with a few empty pans in a spongy case. The pans are easy to remove since they are not glued on. These particular ones are the size of MAC blushers, but they do have them in eyeshadow size as well. The spongy separator was glued to the palette. I soaked it really well with some rubbing alcohol, set it aside for a while, and after a couple of hours it came off with minimal effort. In the picture you can see the marks left from the alcohol, but they are not permanent. As soon as I washed it it was fine.

As for the Allin One Face-book palette, it was easy to separate the two cardboard parts, but then the eye shadow pans had to be removed carefully cause they were glued on. The only one I cracked a little was my favourite teal, just my luck! I used some more rubbing alcohol to remove any traces of glue from the back of the pans and then I started placing them in the palette to see how I would fit them all in. 

As you can see, I could fit in all of the eye shadows, the eye brow creams and powders and then some more. In the end though I decided to put the blues separately in a different palette since I don’t really like wearing blue and instead I put some Japanese eye shadows and a few from a Wet and Wild palette I had gotten, but never really liked enough to review. When I finished the placement, I took them all out again, put some double sided sticky tape in the palette, placed them in the order I had chosen and now they are much easier to store and take with me.

Assembling an eye shadow palette may seem a bit consuming, but I find it much more practical for everyday purposes.

XxX

Elixir - All in One Face-book palette (picture heavy)

Ελληνικά/ Greek

This palette was given to me this summer as a gift by a friend who knows my love for cosmetics. It’s called All in One Face-book palette because it has most of the things you will need for a full face of makeup. It’s a sturdy carton palette with thick carton separating the wells of product. The two sides are separated by two thick transparent sheets stuck to each side(you can remove and re-stick the sheets). None of the products have identifying names or numbers. I tried to use as many of the products in it as possible to form an opinion, but I’m sure I’ve failed in that cause there’s just so much of it! It contains:

  v  56 eye shadows - 28 high pearl(top 4 rows) and 28 mattes&satins(bottom 4 rows)

  v  2 eyebrow creams

  v  2eyebrow powders

  v  4 compact powders

  v  6 powder blushers

  v  28 lip glosses

 

Before I go into a list of pros and cons, I need to write a separate paragraph about the eye shadows. What surprised me was that while they are powdery, they are not too dry and crumbly. Eye shadows of that price point are usually very crumbly (e.g. Sleek) which is why I avoid them, but these are better with the metallics being the best of the lot. You definitely need a good base for them to stay on if you plan on wearing them all day, but I don’t think that comes as a surprise these days. Pigment-wise it’s a mixed lot. Colourful eye shadow palettes tend to have colours that are too pigmented, but sheerer colours are needed in order to create a nicer look especially if you’re not a make-up expert. I see too many bloggers bashing eye shadows for being too sheer or for having a poorer colour pay-off, but we have to keep in mind that these products are for the mass market. The vast majority of people either lack the ability or the time to devote to blending and that is perfectly fine. The people at Elixir seem to know their audience, hence this palette has eye shadows for all levels of expertise.

the eye shadows and eyebrow products

So, here is a list of pros and cons about this palette:

Pros

• You really get a lot of products for your money and a very decent selection of colours. The colours would suit most people.
• The eyebrow creams. People might overlook them when faced with so many colours, but for me they are the star product of the palette! I love them and wish there were more of them. They are nice and waxy and can also be used as an eye shadow base. They are fantastic for all kinds of weather, even the 40C Greek summer that makes all my other cream eye shadows melt. They may seem a bit dark, but both can be sheered into almost nothing. So much love I tell you!
• The blushers have really nice textures. I may not have found a colour to suit me (check the cons), but the textures are smooth, no shimmerbombs or glitter in sight! The peach has a satin texture and the rest are mattes. One of them could definitely be used as a bronzer.
• Nice powders. Very finely milled powder, suitable for lighter and darker skin colours, both pink-based and yellow-based. Really happy with these.
• The lip creams. On the back they are called ‘lip glosses’, but they feel more like lip creams. A huge variety of colours, suitable for all seasons and all current fashion trends. From nudes, to pinks, to browns, to burgundies you will find one to suit your style. And that is coming from someone who doesn't like lip products in pans!
• I got to try colours I wouldn't have bought otherwise (I am a neutral browns&pinks girl mostly). The matte dark forest green and hunter’s green are a pure treat and the metallic periwinkle is a sheer spring delight(pun intended)!
• No glitter. I find glitter can make things look cheap. The lack of it is a good thing.
• All the non-eye shadow powder products (eyebrow, compact and blushers) can nicely double as eye shadows, supplementing the lack of neutral shades. The same goes for some of the eye shadows that can be used as a highlighter.
• No applicators! I hate it when palettes devote space for applicators that I’m not going to use. 

Cons:

• There’s a few colours that are too similar to each other. It would have been better to have a few neutral brown shades instead. There’s so many colours in the palette that you need a few neutral shades to blend them out.
• The selection of blues could have been better. With 8 blue shades included, I was expecting at least one dark matte navy or ink blue, but sadly there is none. The selection of greens was better as it had light, medium and dark shades.
• The blushers are too dark for me (MAC NW20, Georgio Armani 3, Shu Uemura 365). Given how much I liked their texture, that just made me sad.
• The packaging isn’t very easy to operate. A way for it to stay securely closed would be more practical.

the blushers

Conclusion

All in all, this is a very decent product that you can use in so many ways. I've enjoyed using it and the whole time I was trying colours I kept thinking that this is made for somebody who is a beginner and less set in their makeup ways than I am. I will use a few of the colours, but too many will probably be left untouched, which is a pitty. If you know someone who has yet to experiment with colours and textures and for whom playing around with makeup that isn’t too expensive would be a good start, this is definitely for them! A teenager would be over the moon with it, as would anyone who enjoys colourful eye-make up. With such a huge number of eye shadows and lipsticks the possibilities are endless. 

the lip products

ingredients lists

Beauty tips: How to Find Which Colours Suit Your Eye Colour

Για οδηγίες στα ελληνικά πατήστε εδώ.

One of the most commonly asked questions you hear women ask with regards to eye make up is "what colours suit me". Personally I subscribe to the 'all of the colours could suit you depending on how you use them' school, but some people need to know what the complementary colour to their eyes is. 

According to colour theory the complementary colours are:

• green and red
• blue and orange
• purple and yellow.

The usual response to this information is this: 0_0. Here is a very easy way to figure out the exact complementary colours to your eye colour. Take a picture of your eye, as close as as you can -please, be sensible and don't use flash for this- and invert the colours in the picture. If you're using a photo-processing program then you probably know how to do this, but even if you don't and are using Windows, there's still an easy way to do this.

 1.Right-click on the image and select 'open with Paint'

 2.When the 'Paint' program opens your image select 'Image' on the top bar

 3.Select 'Invert Colours' and you're done!!

Here's an example of my picture

Original

Inverted colour

I have light brown eyes and in my inverted colours image I can see that my complimentary colours are turquoise to dark blue. The easiest way to emphasize the darker shades of brown in my eyes then would be to wear turquoise colours around my eyes and if I want to emphasize the lighter brown shades I should wear dark blue, whether that is eye shadow, eyeliner or even mascara. 

Are the colours you find using this method the only colours that have that effect on your eyes? Most certainly not; lip colour, other colours around the eyes and blusher can be equally effective, but this is only a beginner's method so that you can start understanding colour and the effect it can have.

I hope it helped a little bit! Good luck trying it!

Dear Shu Uemura why?

When I saw the latest Color Atelier version of the Shu Uemura eyeshadows and blushers which has been out roughly since November in the UK I couldn't help noticing that they were smaller than the older ones. Yesterday I found one of the cases form the pre-2005 eyeshadows and noticed that those were even larger. Up till 2005[pre-L'Oreal era] we were getting 2.8gr (0.9oz.), from 2005-2011 we were getting 2.1gr(0.7oz) [3/4 of the previous version]and now we are getting 1.4gr(0.49oz); we are getting exactly half the product we used to get till 2005. Moreover, now you have to get a 'single' palette even for one eyeshadow. I really don't like being pushed to buy something when it used to be included in the price.

And of course there is the issue I mentioned in a previous post, about the cosmetics being made in Korea now instead of Japan.

The blushers'quantity hasn't changed as dramatically. I don't have any of the pre-2005 era ones so I don't really know how much blusher was in the pan but between 2005 and 2011 we were getting 5gr and now we are getting 4gr. My issues with the new Color Atelier Glow On Blushers is that they have changed the codes! They all used to have a three digit number which was informative as to what the colour characteristics were. Well, that's gone now! They've replaced it with a different two-digit number which means that either I'll have to visit the store with the list that they have made available (highly unlikely) or just get whatever I like when I see it. Having learned from experience, I am attracted to the same sort of colours and buying the same colour from the same brand just because they changed the code will annoy me to no ends. I guess I won't be buying any more of them until I need to, which won't be any time soon since they last forever!