NEW IN: ZOEVA PLAISIR COLLECTION AND HALO STROBE GEL REVIEW WITH SWATCHES

Live life with pleasure.

I have missed quite a few Zoeva launches since the Cocoa Blend (POST) superb introduction to my world. I wasn't very much into the larger palettes, yes I thought them to be pretty but duplicating shades over and over in my collection isn't something I do lightly anymore. I'm still obsessed with new launches but seem to control it slightly better and only buy ones I know I'd be unhappy to miss. There were so many superb launches in 2016, with ABH Modern Renaissance (POST), Jeffree Star Beauty Killer (POST) or UD Naked Ultimate Basics (POST) to name the few that have totally rocked my makeup world. I had high expectations regarding new Zoeva palettes and they haven't disappointed. I've loved Cocoa Blend so much and it's still one of the palettes I reach for this whole year later, so I knew I have to top up my Plaisir collection as soon as it launches. I haven't bought Plaisir boxed collection as I didn't want to duplicate the Cocoa Blend, so I've just ordered the two new chocolate palettes individually. Palettes weren't the only new and exciting launch as Zoeva has launched their highly anticipated Strobe Gels on the same day. I haven't had much luck with highlight shades from Zoeva as the one included in their Rose Golden Blush Palette (POST) hasn't really suited my skin tone, but seeing the Strobe Gels promo video has convinced me to give it a good college try. So without a further ado as it's plainly the longest intro I have ever written let's see what I think of the new Zoeva launches, shall we lovelies?

Plaisir is French for pleasure and what a pleasure it is to just sit here and stare at this eyeshadow collection. The two new palettes compliment Cocoa Blend in every way and it's a neutral heaven. My order was accompanied with a cute little box of pralines, that are now sitting just next to me. Well two of them left, that is. I thought the design and idea to be super cute but they also taste like heaven!

ZOEVA BLANC FUSION (RPR £17.50 from Zoeva & £18.00 from Beauty Bay)

10 shadows weighted at 1.5g each made without parabens, mineral oils, fragrances & phthalates. Shell life: 36 months. White chocolate with golden geometric design hardened cardboard. Zoeva logo and palette name on front and ingredients and other information on the back.

Blanc Fusion is a daytime palette to the core. I like the design with top row being shimmers and bottom mattes, it given enough shades to always come up with new looks for your day at school or the office. The biggest shocker is the Visions of Gold, being a pure yellow gold, which some may find scary. I found a way to include it in my daytime makeup and even got compliments on it. The morale is, don't ever be afraid of using a shade, as the originality is what makes us apart and even the most improbable combinations can in fact add to our charm. 

Noble - pearlescent white with super light golden shimmer

Single Origin - light yellow gold

Visions of Gold - true yellow gold, almost neon

Late Bloomer - copper shimmer 

Sweetness Lingers - bronze shimmer with purple tones

Travel Inspired - light pinky beige matte

Joy in a Box - medium beige with pink tones transition matte

Conched - medium brown with neutral tones matte

Question of Taste - medium brown with warm camel tones matte

Last Bite - dark brown with cool tones matte

All the shades above are truly greatly pigmented with some taking it to the extreme. The shadows are soft but also not so soft they become dusty in the palette. I didn't experience any real fallout with any of the shades. It's not as warm toned palette as the Cocoa Blend of upcoming Caramel Melange. Instead you have more neutral tones to play with. I think it's a great idea to keep one palette in the series slightly cooler. Yes, warm tones are so in right now and I personally adore them, but it's good to have an option. I think Blanc Fusion will be my firm favourite, as I love the formula of shadows, pigmentation and how well they stay on the lid. Blending is a pleasure just like with other Zoeva shadows and it makes a great addition to my Zoeva Family.

ZOEVA CARAMEL MELANGE (RPR £17.50 from Zoeva & £18.00 from Beauty Bay currently out of stock)

10 shadows weighted at 1.5g each made without parabens, mineral oils, fragrances & phthalates. Shell life: 36 months. Warm chocolate with golden metallic geometric design hardened cardboard. Logo and brand name on top and ingredients on the back.

Caramel Melange is warm, it's neutral with reds, oranges and purples leading the way for it to become THE MUST HAVE palette of the season. With seven mattes and three three shimmers it makes for a perfect daytime to evening palette. Aftertaste and Alchemy are true winners in this palette and Liquid Centre formula is truly something else. I can't get enough of this!

Wax Paper - pure white matte

Universal Delight - light beige with purple tones matte

Aftertaste - muted medium red matte

182C - medium brown copper satin

Liquid Centre -  pure copper bronze shimmer

Alchemy - dirty reddish medium brown matte

Start Soft - warm medium dark camel brown matte

Finish Sensual - neutral to cool medium brown with ashy tones matte

Almost Burnt - vintage gold shimmer

Edible Gem - dark purple matte with gold micro-glitter

Yet again pigmentation is insane in Caramel Melange. All the shade transition well in swatches and to the lid, but also blend easily. Formula of shadows is buttery and just stunning to work with. There's virtually zero to minimal fallout. The mattes are of superb quality, if even slightly better than the original Cocoa Blend palette. Straight await a favourite of mine. I'm glad that some shades are slightly more of neutral tone as these three palette compliment each other oh so well.

ZOEVA COCOA BLEND (RPR £17.50 from Zoeva & £18.00 from Beauty Bay) - POST

Please refer to my earlier post from last year for swatches of Cocoa Blend to see how these three palette really go together as one happy family. I am so glad I picked up the remaining two in Zoeva's Plaisir Collection as all three palettes are simply stunning!

ZOEVA STROBE GEL IN HALO (RPR £10.50 from Zoeva & £11.00 from Beauty Bay)

Clear heavy glass jar with black plastic top and Zoeva logo on it. 15 ml of product made without parabens, mineral oils, fragrances & phthalates. 

Now if you know me a little and I hope you do by now, you know my undying love of highlighters. Anything that promises me to be visible from outer space and I'm already taking my credit card out. This new launch from Zoeva has for sure raised few eyebrows with its innovative formula. We are used to liquid, cream, stick and powder highlighters, sure but I haven't tried gel formulas yet. What's so amazing about it then? There are few bits I need to explain first formula wise. Strobe Gel is a quite unique memory shape gel. It's identical to a Body Shop Drops of Youth Mask I absolutely love. What it means is that the gel is firm, almost jelly like and once you touch it with your finger or a brush it sort of bounces back to its original shape. It's quite cool. 

The main reason I rarely use cream or liquid highlighters is because it's harder to use over powder formulas without the cake effect. The main rule of makeup is to use liquids and creams and then powder formulas. I love Becca Shimmering Light Perfector Liquid but I can only use it on days where I don't really set my makeup, yes it's still visible after powder but it looses on intensity. I was really looking forward to trying the new Zoeva formula to see if it would be possible to apply over powdered down face. Is it? Yes it is! I think if there's one selling point to this product, except it's stunning shade, it's that!

Strobe Gel in Halo has a gorgeous pearlescent silver and pink tone to it. I can't quite explain it. It is definitely meant for fair to light skin tones, but I think you could also use when you're medium by layering it on top of your usual highlighter, just on the very tops of your features. When it comes to the shade, it's not really pink nor silver nor white but it just creates that super light gorgeous shine. I love it for daytime. I use the tiny amount on the finger and just tap it on the high points of my face. I literally touch the gel and use only that teensy tiny bit for my daytime highlight. For more wow effect I just use a little more or layer it on top of it. You can go crazy with this highlight and that's what highlighters are made for. So whatever your style, I think Zoeva Strobe Gels are definitely something you should try.

Please check out other reviews by my talented blogger family:

Leanne's LPage Beauty

"Two New Launches From Zoeva | Caramel Melange and Blanc Fusion Palettes"

Dagmara's Mummy's Beauty Corner

"Zoeva Blanc Fusion and Caramel Melange palettes, review, swatches and comparison with Cocoa Blend and Naturally Yours palettes"

Check out Beauty Bay now for all your beauty needs

ON SUNDAY I AM STARTING THE FIRST OUT OF A FEW GIVEAWAYS I HAVE PLANNED FOR YOU UNTIL THE END OF THE YEAR. THERE WILL BE ONE GIVEAWAY ON EACH PLATFORM: HERE, INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK AND TWITTER. PLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH NOT TO MISS OUT !

Thank You For Reading,

Love

JEFFREE STAR BEAUTY KILLER - THE SUMMER PALETTE OF MY DREAMS

Jeffrey Star is a controversial figure in the makeup world. I'm not here to review his character, nor the recent dramas surrounding him. I personally enjoy his uncensored videos and snaps, but most importantly, I am super impressed by his first eyeshadow palette. If you follow me on Snapchat (i.dorottka), you're already hear me raving about it. I gave the testing a full week and a half and today, I came to you with my review of the Beauty Killer.

BUY HERE FOR £40.00.

Beauty Killer is everything and more,  I imagined it would be. It's Jeffree's true first baby: loud and potentially scary to some. You may wanted to skip it based on the shades, as they don't seem too wearable do they? I think it's what compelled me to try it. The matte pink especially!

Packaging is a large hardened cardboard with glossy finish. It's super pink with  gold JS logo and the name written in cute black, large font. It's so much bigger than any other palette I own and it holds 10 large pans of shades. It's larger than your Zoeva palettes and the each shade weights 2.52 grams so there's a huge amount of product here. The Beauty Killer holds small, in comparison with the size of the packaging, mirror, which I'd judge as medium to good quality. It's not Charlotte Tilbury crystal clear, because it's not about packaging with Jeffree Star. Packaging is great, but what matters most is the quality of his shadows. 

The formula of the shades is something else entirely. Mattes are supper buttery soft and pigmented as hell. Frosts are buttery again, perhaps not as soft, but the pigmentation is insane. Then you find yourself with glitter shades and they may feel a little more powdery but it does not take away from the pigmentation which is shockingly good. There's one shade that seem to be swatching less pigmented, but on the eyes is as popping as all the rest. This is the palette, where you can't go all crazy and pick up a lot of product on the brush. After only first use, I learnt that touching the shadow is all it takes to grab enough product on the brush. I experienced no fallout on the eyes and barely any dustiness in the palette. Formula transfers extremely well on swatches and just as well, if not better, on the eyes. As with all JS makeup, formula is vegan and cruelty free.  I'm seriously impressed guys!

Swatches in natural light

Swatches in natural light with flash

Star Power - matte bright true pink, incredible pigmentation

Princess - pale lilac with silvery tones, frost finish, swatches less pigmented than others, but transfers on eyes with the same intensity as other shades.

Violence - medium plum with bluish tones, frost finish, super pigmented

Rich Bitch - metallic glittery gold, great pigmentation and transfers well

Courtney - light-medium warm camel peach brown with some soft orange tones, super pigmented

Expensive - intense glittery teal with light blue micro glitter, great pigmentation

Confession - metallic burgundy with red tones and blue-purple shimmer running throughm great pigmentation

Vanity - dark charcoal matte, great pigmentation

China White - off white pale beige matte, great pigmentation

Black Rainbow - black matte with multicoloured micro glitter, great pigmentation

Shades are what make this palette special. The colours are truly jaw dropping and here's where most of complaints, I assume, comes in. They don't seem wearable. You may also say there's only 10 shades here. I've been using it non stop for 9 days and not once did my makeup look the same. It's not a warm palette, it's also not cool toned. It's a mixture of shades that, after a long thought, works surprisingly well together. Thanks to China White, Courtney and Vanity you have a perfect set for your daytime looks. These mattes are super intense, yet the colours blend so beautifully you can easily create the lightest and softest daytime eye. If you need a bit of a shimmery add on, you'll probably add Princess, as a highlight or Violence, or Confession, as a bit of a colour pop. I'm personally not a huge glitter fan, so Black Rainbow isn't the shade I personally would put in the palette, but it does work if you'd like to deepen the smokey eye created with charcoal Vanity.

Beauty Killer may not be a palette everyone wants, but I think it's the palette every makeup addict needs. Formula and quality of shadows are something else, I've ever seen and work with before. There's just so much possibilities and I plan to show you few of my 'designs' soon. I already have my birthday makeup planned and can't wait to share it with you. In my mind this is a perfect summer palette and the timing of the launch was planned well. I can see myself using it way past the sunny days. 

Buy Beauty Killer here for £40.00

Click here to check out the summer glamour look I created using JS Beauty Killer.

Thank You For Reading,

Love

iDorottka loves palettes: ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS SELF MADE UNDER THE RADAR, WITH SWATCHES.

I'm so excited about today's post, it's almost too much. I have dreamed to get my hands on Anastasia Beverly Hills for so long, but I've been waiting for the perfect product. I contemplated trying different things, but I finally made up my mind, when ABH announced the release of Self Made Palette. It hit all the boxes with me and I got it on the release date back in November. I apologise for such delay in getting this review to you, but I had to get Blogmas out of the way  first:) Here we go ladies and gents - Anastasia Beverly Hills under the radar, was it worth the wait? Stay with me to find out :)

" This limited edition, fashion forward eyeshadow kit is the ultimate makeup artist's palette. Fourteen shades - ranging from a neutral beige to galaxy black - deliver intense colour, so you can create an endless array of custom looks." 

Where to buy? 

I got mine at Cult Beauty, but it was also available at Beauty Bay. Unfortunately it is now sold out. Priced at £27.00. This was a limited edition palette, now unavailable. There are still few available here and there on both Ebay and Amazon but I would be very careful, as once they are overpriced plus you are running the possibility of getting a fake. 

Packaging/What's in the box.

Made of reinforced cardboard, coated with textured steel gray plastic like material, with silver plaque at the front with ABH logo. I really enjoy it, it looks professional and still quite light, making it perfect choice for travel. It comes with decent sized mirror of a medium quality. There's a double sided brush included, but it feels really cheap and bristles aren't too great either. It's not either soft or usable in my opinion. Palette closes with magnetic clasp. 14 shadows of different finishes ranging from matte, through satin, metallic and titanium (super glossy metallic), weight 0.65g per shade.

Formula:

Most shadows are super soft to touch, buttery in texture. It makes them prone to little fallout in the palette itself, after watching and with the use of fluffy brush. It's a little disappointing given the brand, but it happens with any soft buttery shades in my opinion. Pigmentation is great with all shades. Swatches to follow. ABH shadows are cruelty free, which is a huge bonus.

Shades:

Pink Champagne - rose gold, titanium finish - super pigmented.

Metallic Plum - medium to dark plum, metallic finish, great pigmentation.

Self-Made - bronze, satin finish, , great pigmentation, more powdery formula.

Witchy - grey with a hint of khaki, metallic finish, great pigmentation.

Blush - yellow beige, duo chrome pink finish, great pigmentation.

Blossom - pink, lilac metallic finish, great pigmentation.

Buttery - beige, matte finish, great pigmentation.

Deep Purple - purple, titanium finish, great pigmentation.

Treasure - light Champagne, metallic finish, great pigmentation.

Hot & Cold - brown, metallic finish, great pigmentation.

Sherbet - peach, satin finish, great pigmentation.

Isla - sea green, duo chrome gold finish, great pigmentation.

Spirit Rock - matte black, purple micro glitter running through, great pigmentation, glitter not visible on the lid.

Hot Chocolate - dark brown, matte finish, great pigmentation.

Pros:

All shadows are super pigmented and only little fallout is experienced. I adore the individual shades with Pink Champagne, Buttery, Deep Purple, Treasure, Sherbet, Isla, Spirit Rock and Hot Chocolate being my definite winners of this palette. Packaged very well, great for travel. Great to creat both daytime and night looks. Pigmentation can be enhanced if white cream base used.  Wearable shadows with some superb colours in the mixture.

Cons:

I find the brush to be of very poor quality and useless for professional makeup. Shadows are quite small and if used frequently, I can't see them lasting  very long. Only two matte shades are the biggest con in my opinion, but what I like about them is the possibility of mixing shades to create crease shade from Buttely and Hot Chocolate. Missing proper crease shade though.

Overview:

I give this palette 4* out of 5, as in my opinion it's super wearable and by introducing some colour also very versatile. When looked at first time, you may think it's very strangely built, with the placement of the shadows being a little all over the place. I am being told it was a conscious decision. All shadows are to be treated as quads. And if looked at from that perspective you can see how perfect the shadow placement actually is. I really love how pigmented all shades are and the formula being super soft as well. Very well done to ABH team for creating this special palette.

Thank you for reading,

Love

Dorota x

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