Sonia Kashuk Eye on Neutral Palette Swatches and Review

Have you been looking for a cheaper alternative to the oh-so popular Naked (1&2) palettes from Urban Decay? Or you have the latter palettes but you wished they had more matte shades?! If so, Sonia Kashuk heard your neutral palette prayers and created this little gem full of awesome MATTE eyeshadows. Yes, rejoice they are all matte, no more glitterbombs, no more shimmer overload, it's matte velvet-ness galore:)

As you are probably aware Sonia Kashuk's line is only available at Target. This is my first official MU purchase from the line as her line is more famous for the good and affordable (wouldn't call them inexpensive) brushes- I have two-brow and eyeliner and a beauty blender dupe.  I've been on a neutral kick lately, greatly enjoying taupes and my several neutrals from Inglot. It is the perfect MU for work and it's hard to overdo which I usually do when I have time on my hand:)

On the review:

Size and Packaging: For the great price of $19.99 you receive a compact palette with a total of 12 shades. This palette is not new but I've never seen it in stores, I guess the demand is high:) I didn't know exactly what to expect in terms of size but I thought it would be bigger. I don't mind that it isn't, it's a good size, perfect for traveling as it's got all the shades (and more) that you might need to create almost any look. As the back of the palette says: 12 shades, endless possibilities!:)

I have compared it here to a WnW 6pan palette and an Urban Decay Ammo palette. As you can see, it's slightly bigger than the WnW Palette and almost the same size as the Ammo, with the SK shadow pans being bigger than the UD ones. As for the packaging goes, it's a black plastic with a clear lid that is very basic and not particularly stylish:) The palette has a good weight to it but I'd be careful when traveling or even handling this baby as the packaging does not seem very sturdy. 

One thing I forgot to take a picture of is the little pull-out drawer that comes from underneath the palette and contains tutorials on several looks- this is after-all an instructional palette:) I don't think I'd be using those, but it's a good idea for newbies.  

Swatches and shades: This palette offers a balanced mix of warm and cool neutrals, as well as light and dark shades, so you should be able to find shades that work for you as a lid wash, crease shade and blending shadow no matter your skintone. Also there is plenty of warm and cool browns that you can use to fill in your brows. 

1st row contains your highlighting, flesh shades. You have an off-white or a very light beige shade that completely disappears in my skin, then a nice neutral beige  with a definite soft brown undertone and finally a very light peachy pink soft highlighting shade. This row is the most unimpressive of all 12 shades. The shadows, while soft and w/ good pigmentation are a little powdery and just seem to disappear on the skin.  I guess they would be good for blending out harsher looks and darker colours. 

2nd row is probably my favourite as it's got the PEACHES! I love peachy and corally matte shadows. All 3 shadows are very pigmented and velvetty but somewhat powdery. The 1st shade is a true peach, the second is a light salmony colour and it has my heart right now:) The third shadow is a very light cool toned taupey shade that should work great for a transitional shade or as a brow color for a dark blonde, light brunette.

3rd row's got your countouring/crease colours. There is one warm and two cool medium brown shades, all with great pigmentation.  The first shade is a warm medium brown with red undertones. Second shade is a darker version of the taupey shadow from the 2nd row and is perfect crease colour. The 2nd and 3rd shade from the 3rd row are somewhat similar with the 3rd shade being slightly darker and more proudly brown:)

The 4th and final row contains your odd neutral colours that every palette has. It's got my second favourite shadow in the palette- a chocolatey cool toned brown with purple undertones, a very cool toned medium gray and a super pigmented black shadow which is super black (yay!).  All three shadows are pigmented and apply nicely but you have to be careful for fall-out as they are powdery and that black...did I mention it's mega pigmented?!:)

Final Verdict: This palette is awesome! Perfect mix between cool and warm. All matte! Very pigmented! Good for traveling and affordable! What else might your heart desire when it comes to a neutral palette?! I don't have many MAC neutralx but I am sure every shade from this palette is a dupe for a MAC eyeshadow and is probably of a better quality:). I will update as to wear time!

Sephora + Pantone Universe Eyeliner Set Swatches

I had to get this...you have got to see the Tango Twist liner from this set- it is absolutely gorgeous. I fell in love with it from the first swatch I saw. And I can always use another brown liner (my favourite) and a good black one besides my gazillion UD 24/7 Zero liners ( well 3 but that's gazillion for me in terms of black liners). 

I had to find a little bit more about the collection since I ordered in such a hurry and on a whim. So I am pretty sure everyone is familiar with the Pantone company and their colour system ( if not check out their wiki here), what I didn't know is that Pantone as the colour masters, is the company that determines the colour of the year. 2012 colour is Tangerine Tango Pantone 17-1463 which they have used as an inspiration and main theme to create this LE line with Sephora. Now this colour is more red than tangerine in my opinion and some of the items of the collection do not exactly match the shade but they are all very vibrant and mood-lifting:)  On to the liners:

Packaging: Same awesome big, heavy box packaging as with the blush but slightly taller and slimmer. Of course the box is totally over the top but I cannot get enough of it, it is so beautiful with all the variations of the tangerine shade. You slide the box open and here they are- three tall handsome liners with the Tango twist proudly in the middle:) They do look beautiful right?!

Review & Swatches: As I said I ordered this for the orange liner and it is rightfully the star of the set. I do not own anything like it so I have nothing to compare it to- it is a vibrant, orange red shade that has some really awesome gold shimmer to it. It will definitely make for a gorgeous lipliner but I can't wait to try it on the eyes! I bet it would be gorgeous and I intend to use it very very very soon:). The pencils are rather tall, definitely more product than UD 24/7s. I've included a comp picture with a MAC Kohl liner which are huge.

The black shade(Meteorite) is a true black - definitely blacker than UD Zero which is the only other decent  black liner I have. 

The brown liner (Chestnut) is a beautiful deep dark brown which is exactly the shade I prefer to use in lieu of black on my waterline.  I've compared it here to an Essence liner which is slightly lighter, UD whiskey more cognacy colour, Milani liquif'eye brown liner- very similar.

All three shades are very very creamy and apply beautifully. They are a tad creamier than UD 24/7 producing more intense colors. I noticed I had trouble cleaning the swatches of my hands so I guess that is a good sign when it comes to liners! I like all three and will give you an update as to how they wear on the eyes! 

I love this set! GET IT- Sephora $22 ( FYI UD 24/7 retail for $18 each and are smaller in size so the set is a bargain)

Sephora + Pantone Universe Blush Duo Review (Coral/Desert Flower)

As someone on MUA said RUN do not walk to Sephora to get this item (of course I found out about it on MUA). Saw some swatches that looked very very pretty and lust took over. I've been trying my luck with orangey and peachy blushes for a while but I haven't found anything that quite works for me. I've so far bought and swapped away Nars Gilda and Illamasqua Excite which are both beautiful colours but they pull a shade of  orange that does not really suit me. I've been lusting after Illa Lover for months now but am too afraid to get it since it's another beautiful peachy colour that probably will not work for me.

Onto the Pantone collection- well there are two blushes included in the palette- a matte blush and a shimmery one.  On Sephora's website image  the matte (Desert Flower) looks very peachy and the shimmery (Coral)looks well coral. I searched for swatches online and from what I could tell Coral was a very pigmented blush in the NARS Orgasm family (peachy pink with gold shimmer) and that's my kind of blush- <3 everything peachy pink:) I figured, this gives me the opportunity to try a shade that's similar to Illa Lover and then I'll have another shade that I was sure I'll love and so I clicked Complete purchase on Sunday night! 

Guess what was waiting for me this morning- a Huge Sephora Box ( really, it was humongous, and full of paper as a filler, what a waste!

PACKAGING: The outer packaging/box is a little excessive/gimmicky but soooo beautiful! I will definitely keep the box :) The blush is huge! Like probably twice the size I'd had in mind (should start checking dimensions and weight when I buy stuff). Of course I am not complaining about it! Each blush is as big as a regular size blush so for the price of 1 Nars blush (-$1), you get two blushes that are amazeballs! I've included an image of the Pantone duo next to other relatively big blushes so you can see how huge it is. 


As you can see the blushes are housed in a lightweight plastic palette that has a very clean look. The palette is magnetized and it closes just like the Inglot freedom palettes with the only difference being that the lid is a lot lighter than Inglot's cover. I love the look of Inglot palettes and I also like the Pantone one but I have a big problem with closing and opening magnetized palettes. I am clumsy- I drop stuff, I break stuff, I spill stuff all the time (you already know about my laptop troubles). Those magnetized lids require you to be extra careful when lifting and dropping the lid, since you are not careful you will end up digging into the product which does not look pretty afterwards and it's a waste of product. You have to kind of slide the lid open and then drop it closed. You can see the damage I've done to some of my Inglots e/s:((( .

COLOUR & PIGMENTATION: Excellent shades and great pigmentation on both blushes with Desert Flower (shimmery) being extremely pigmented. These swatches are not layered- those babies are all that jazz and some more!

I think Coral will work really well on  most skin tones and because it is so richly pigmented and the colour is deep, it will probably be really awesome on deeper-skinned ladies.  I have plenty of other peachy-pink blushes but nothing really compares to this one. It is a very deep colour with strong shimmer so light-hand aplication is definitely recommended. I've swatched Desert flower next to Nars Orgasm, MAC Mighty Aphrodite, Tarte Glisten, Milani Luminoso which are all in the same family- you can see how much the Pantone offering stands out!!!  It looks almost raspberry in pictures but I can assure you it is a very deep corally pink shade. 

I don't have any other matte peachy shades to compare the Desert Flower blush to since as I mentioned earlier, I swapped them away. I swatched it against Illamasqua Tweak which is another amazingly pigmented matte blush and you can see that even though the shades are different, the intensity of colour and pigment is comparable.

As I said I got those today. I haven't worn them yet and I don't know how long they last. What I do know is that I cannot wait to test them! I am sure that there are plenty of other MU lovers interested in the Sephora plus Pantone collection. I hope this post and pictures were helpful to someone . 

I wholeheartedly approve of the Pantone blush duo- beautiful shades and great value!