My MAC palette!

If you've been following this blog for a while now you may know that I am addicted to YouTube and have been watching the beauty community for a long time now. One thing I really wanted to do when first getting into make up was start a MAC eye shadow palette, I would watch people such as FleurDeForce and my favourite Tanya Burr AKA Pixi2woo use their MAC eyeshadows in videos and give them such good reviews, my most-searched videos on YouTube are 'My MAC Palette' videos and now finally after all this time I have completed one!

I get a lot of people asking me what colours I have and which ones I like and would recommend so I'm writing this post to show what colours I have and why I love them! All of these colours are good for brown eyes and the look I go for which is usually quite a full, smoky look, with more neutral colours for the day and darker ones for night.

Sorry in advance for the bad photo's it was difficult to get a picture to reflect the true colours of the shadows!

Here is a picture of the palette itself filled with my eye shadows, at MAC you buy the empty palette case which is £14 and you can either buy a 15 eye shadow or 6 blush insert to go inside which are both £6.50. The eyeshadows in pan form are £10 or if you didn't want to buy a palette you can buy them in pots but they are more pricey at £12 each.

It's taken me a long time to build and set out my palette but I'm finally happy with the way it is, I have 3 rows of 5, the top is my pinks and golds that I use on my lid, the middle is my purples and taupes which are for my crease and the bottom is my multi-use browns and highlight.

I've numbered each one so when I show you the colour swatches you can match them up to see how they look in pan form.

Ok so here are the first 5 colours, this is the pink and gold row along the top.

1 is the much talked about Naked Lunch which is my most used and probably favourite colour in the whole palette, it's a beautiful shimmery soft pink/nude colour perfect to go all over the lid and can be matched with pretty much all my crease colours hence why I've hit pan on it, whatever eye shadow mood I'm in it almost always fits the bill. It's also good for all eye colours which is one of the reasons it's so popular.

2 is All That Glitters another YouTube famous one, it's a bit darker and more pink than Naked Lunch but otherwise very similar. It also has flecks of gold running through it. I love it!

3 is Honey Lust, I saw it in one of the MAC stores and had to have it. It's the perfect mix between gold and pink and is VERY glittery, perfect for those days when you just can't choose a colour!

4 is one of the first ones I bought and it's expensive pink. This is such a complimentary colour to brown eyes. I'm upset it's looking more gold in the picture but it's true to it's name it just looks so expensive! It's a dark pink colour with gold glitter, I don't wear this a lot because I like to keep it for special occasions because I love it so much.

5 is the last along the top row and it's Pink Venus, I couldn't have an eye shadow palette without a sparkly barbie pink now could I? It's just a soft shimmery pink that can look quite nice with a matte crease colour, I don't wear it often but fell in love with it and couldn't not buy it!

Next up is my favourite row it's the purples and taupes, my favourite colours to wear and those that I think compliment my eye/hair colour and skin tone the best. Apologies for the number ordering I don't know why I decided to put the number 9 on my arm before the number 8!

6 is a VERY popular colour that is also one of my first bought and most worn, it goes the best with Naked Lunch so I wear this combination A LOT. It's Satin Taupe and if you are just starting a MAC palette or are looking to buy new colours I highly recommend this one. It's a gorgeous dark taupe that can be blended for a soft smoky day time look or built to create a stunning dark evening look.

7 is shale and is a deep purple with a slight bit of shimmer to it, only really a night time colour but can be a gorgeous purple smoky eye, one of my favourite looks. A staple in my collection. I personally think this type of colour would only suit people with brown eyes.

9 is Quarry which is another of my favourites and most used in the palette I wear this with Naked Lunch when I want a bit more of a neutral look compared to the satin taupe combo. It's a really pretty Matte purple, I originally saw this online and had to hunt it down in the shop because I needed it so much, will definitely repurchase when I run out, it's already got a huge dip in the middle!

8 is Haux and is very similar to Quarry but it's more pink toned. Still matte but I wear this when I'm in more of a pink mood! Becuase a lot of my lid colours are pink and gold this one goes with more of them compared to Quarry and is good as a daytime crease colour so it's great to have if you like a shimmery lid but with a matte crease. Pink is also a more versatile colour so people with different eye colours can wear it.

10 is sable, this was the second MAC eyeshadow I ever bought because I saw Tanya Burr review it and just had to have it, again it's one of my favourites and most worn, it has the same effect as satin taupe but this is more of a cranberry colour, it's shimmery too but not glittery. I believe it's a 'Veluxe Pearl' finish which is my favourite one. Sable is to Satin Taupe like Haux is to Quarry but 2 are matte and 2 are shimmer. 

Finally is my bottom row and it's my browns and highlight colours. In the future I would like to fill up a whole palette just with browns but for now I have to settle for just one row!

11 is Mulch and I accidentally have 2 of these because I apparently love it so much! The other is in a duo palette which I use quite often. This is a very versatile colour, if you haven't guessed by now I LOVE SHIMMER. And this is the nicest brown with shimmer colour I've found yet. Use a little bit and it's a soft day time look and build it up (paired with no.12) to create my ultimate favourite night time look. It's gorgeous. It's a very warm colour so cool-tone lovers I wouldn't recommend this for you!

12 is Woodwinked. I usually buy the colours in 2's and this was one of the last 2 I bought and I do not regret it, it's a beautiful colour, a perfect blend between brown and gold, can be used in the crease for a really warm smoky eye or packed onto the lid for an intense brown smoky eye, I prefer to do the latter however I can't do this during the day without looking a bit crazy and this upsets me! Highly recommend this colour for brown eyed people it compliments them beautifully. Can't rave about this enough seriously just go swatch it in the shop and you will understand!

13 is a pretty boring colour but an essential in any neutral palette. It's Charcoal Brown and is just a medium/dark matte brown, good for eyebrows if you have dark hair (bit too dark for me) or perfect for a daytime crease colour paired with a nice shimmery lid colour! 

14 is yet another boring but essential, it's Omega and the colour I use for my brows. I don't have blonde brows obviously but they're not super dark either so I find this looks so natural just brushed through to make them look less sparse. I also use this in my crease for minimal colour but a bit of definition, on those days where I don't feel like wearing much but still want to put it on (beauty girl problems!) this is a good colour for anyone with fair hair or fair skin and with any eye colour.

Finally 15 is Shroom and it's the only highlight colour I managed to squeeze in and was the very last eye shadow I chose for the palette. I have other more natural highlights from different brands so wanted quite a bright shimmery one, I mainly wear this on a night out or with a matte crease during the day, otherwise it's just too much shimmer! It's a frost finish so the colour/shimmer payoff is amazing. I love this colour it's so pretty and really does it's job well!

I hope my mini-review of my MAC palette colours has been interesting or helpful to you, I personally am so nosy when it comes to seeing other peoples palettes! If you'd like to know any more about each of the colours then just ask either in the comments or on twitter or instagram both @bethanvickery and if you have a video or post about your MAC palette please send me the link!

I just want to say thank you for reading as my blog is almost at 10,000 page views and that just seems crazy to me so THANK YOU!!

Bethan :)

5 cult beauty products - worth the hype?

On YouTube there are a few certain products that everyone really raves about and as time has passed they've become 'cult' products that seem to be staples in a lot of peoples make up bags. I like to try many different products and if these were as good as I was hearing them to be then it was definitely something I didn't want to miss out on. I chose 5 products to review that I think are the most talked about make up items under £10 at the moment. So, are they worth the hype?

First up is the Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation. I bought this foundation a while ago after people on youtube such as Pixi2woo and Fleurdeforce were raving about it, I'd never used a Rimmel foundation before but I ended up really liking it! I have used better foundations before but this is definitely worth the £8.99 you pay for it! 

It has a really nice scent which is unusual for foundations and has good staying power. One thing I dislike about this foundation is that it doesn't blend very well into the skin. I use the Real Techniques expert face brush to buff this into my skin and it does take a while working it in to really make it look natural, especially when the colour is a little off your skin tone, which this one is for me. When you've buffed it in though it does give a really nice coverage and it's not one of those foundations that you rub in and it's too light like there's nothing there or worse, it's not too thick and heavy on the skin. Most people I know have tried this foundation due to the amazing reviews it's had online but if you haven't I highly recommend it, especially for younger girls. 

So worth the hype!

The next product is another face product and again it's by Rimmel. This is the Rimmel Clear Complexion Clarifying Powder, I originally wanted to buy the cult Stay Matte powder but at the time I had bad skin and this looked promising, I'm convinced it's a part of the Stay Matte range but it's translucent and obviously made to improve your complexion. 

For the past year I have used a MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural every day without fail and it was because of this blog post that I bought the Rimmel powder, pricewise the Rimmel one is much better at £3.99 than the MAC one at a whopping £22! As results go I am sad to say, as a loyal MAC customer, that I much prefer the Rimmel powder! Good for my bank balance but not good for my love of MAC products. 

The Rimmel powder is a true tanslucent powder, I love the way it doesn't leave a dry film over your foundation. I only use this where I need it as I have real combination skin, very dry in places and very shiny in others. When swiping a brush across the powder you don't pick up much product and with most things this would be a bad trait but it works with this one because it makes it buildable and there's no way you can overdo it! I highly recommend this product and will definitely be repurchasing when I run out. 

So worth the hype!

Next up is yet another Rimmel product. Hats off to Rimmel for creating so many talked about products in such a short amount of time. Unfortunately I do not agree with the good reviews this particular product has got. 

It's the Apocolips, half lipstick, half lip gloss. I have this in two shades as I didn't know whether it was the colour I didn't like but it's not, I just hate the formula. I bought these because I saw Zoella on youtube wearing one in a video and thought it looked really pretty however I now wish I'd seen them on someone in person before purchasing because I majorly regret it. 

I am very picky with lip products because I like my lips to look natural and I hate products that just sit on them instead of sinking in. 

I have reluctantly added a photo for you to see what I mean, and this will be the last time I ever wear one on my lips, they smell and taste really nasty and the product just sits on top of your lips, which is so annoying! I haven't tried but I'm pretty sure it would be impossible to eat or drink anything without having to redo your lips straight afterwards. There are a lot of products out there that are way better and way more worth the money, I will stick to wearing either a lipstick or a lip gloss or a combo of the both, none of this in between business!

Sorry Rimmel the Apocolips are so NOT worth the hype!

 The next product has probably had the most people rave about it, it's the Collection (formerly known as Collection 2000) Lasting Perfection Concealer. I'm a big under-eye concealer fan and have luckily never really had problems with blemishes or acne so the concealers I buy are all liquid, brightening ones. 

This concealer really reminds me of the Clinique Line Smoothing Concealer which is £16 (but worth it) compared to this which is £4.19. They're similar in that they're thick in consistency, really great for brightening the under-eye areas and have really good coverage. 

The only problem I had with the Collection one was that it takes time to blend in, being so thick it tends to go a bit streaky, which is fine if you have time to blend it in but not so good if you're looking for a quick fix. I also find trying to blend this in with a brush is near impossible, it's like it needs the heat from your fingers to help it melt into the skin. I do really like this concealer it has a lot of great qualities and at the price you pay it's easy to look over the minor disadvantages of choosing this over a more high end concealer. 

Worth the hype!

Last but most definitely not least is the Maybelline The Falsies Mascara, I left this one till last so that I could end the blog post on a high with me gushing about how much I adore this mascara. I have, for a very long time, been loyal to the L'Oreal False Lash Telescopic and I still am but my make up bag will never be found without The Falsies in it again. This mascara is £7.99 compared to the Telescopic which is £10.99.

I put off buying this mascara for so long after hearing Tanya Burr (pixi2woo on YouTube) rave about it in the majority of her videos because I have previously tried Maybelline mascaras and not rated them but I finally bit the bullet and bought it and I can safely say I am never looking back. This is the most perfect every day mascara. 

I bought the colour blackest black because I have quite fair eyelashes and they need the colour, I apply it after curling my lashes and it thickens, elongates and defines each lash all at once. It does the job of 3 mascaras rolled into one. 

I have also tried doubling up this mascara with my L'Oreal Telescopic by using this as a base then the Telescopic to give them extra definition, the two mascaras combined really do look like you're wearing falsies they're incredible.

SO worth the hype, thank you Maybelline!

The worth the hype products I've mentioned here are really good for people just getting into make up and trying to build up a collection, they're essentials in my make up bag, the make up bags of make up artists and the make up bags of beginners, so perfect for everyone!