What's In My Eyeshadow Z-Palettes?

Currently I have three z-palettes in my collection of different sizes. For a while I used my Coastal Scents 12-pan palette as my "weekly" palette, with the other two with no other specific purpose. I decided to change things up a bit, for my own ease of use. 

Let me show you what I ended up with!

My large z-palette ended up being my favorite, visually. It contains my neutral shimmer singles, as well as non-neutral mattes. 

From left to right (top to bottom), we have:

Stila Kitten, CR Crown, ABH Soft Gold, CP 20-Something

BH Cosmetics shimmers (x3), CR Your Majesty, CR Your Highness

ABH Amber, ABH Topaz

Looxi Pumpkin Spice Life, CR Ladyship, DoC Blueberry Swirl, CP Howlin'

Vanessa's Vanity Tangy Dijon, Mac Chrome Yellow, BH Cosmetics Neon Yellow Green, Looxi Green Apple, CP Team Captain

CS Tangelo Tint, CR Empress, CP Lay Low, CP Making Moves, CS Baked Clay

CS Oatmeal Tan, CR Royal Prerogative, CR Duchess, ABH Fudge, DoC Hot Fudge

Next, we have the Coastal Scents palette, which I decided to put my more "special" shadows, which are duochromes. From top to bottom and left to right, we have:

CP Prowlin', Looxi Charmed, Fyrinnae Serendipity

Ardency Inn Rose Gold, CP Glass Bull, Looxi Bohemian

Fyrinnae Rapunzel Had Extensions, Looxi Bouhee, CP Chauffeur

Looxi Dollface, Looxi Tesla, Looxi Mirage

Last is my palette of "essential" neutral/crease/transition shades, aka "my boring palette." These are shades that I would pair with the ones in my other palettes.  A good chunk of this palette is comprised of the mattes from the Zodiac palette from BH Cosmetics. The mattes are excellent, but I was not a fan of the packaging- it really was cumbersome to use, especially in the morning.

So, anyway, let's go ahead with me doing my best to break down the shades in this palette:

The large gray pan is Nabla Wild Child, a great way to shadow the eyes. As I mentioned before, the longer, thinner rectangular pans are the BH mattes. The pink square pan is an Inglot matte. 

Then, we have CS Pumpkin Pie, CR Princess, DoC Cone

CP Hear Me Out, Looxi Durty, CR Heir

Wet 'n Wild Brulee, DoC Berries 'n Cream, and CR Angel Face

Thoughts:

I do like the choices I have given myself here, and that I feel like there is greater thought to the placement of all the pressed single shadows (63) I have. 

How does this compare to your own organization style? Let me know!

Thanks for reading!

This Week's Z-Palette: The Pink Amber Palette

Hello hello! I decided to take inspiration from Angelica Nyqvist, who does weekly quads. To get more use out of my singles, I want to do weekly z-palettes, and then post my results. 

Of course, as I constructed this palette I already had some shades in mind, and then I really just worked around those. I ended up really liking how the names and colors went together, so I am going to call this the Pink Amber Palette.

From left to right, we have:

1.) Angel Face, Coloured Raine (CR). This is a very pale matte peach, excellent as a transition/lid setting shade. I have a considerable dip in this shade already, so my goal is to hit pan.

2.) Lay Low, Colourpop (CP). The quality of this shadow is so good, but I barely got any use out of it this summer. It is a warm leaning pink, so I think it is going to play nice with some of the oranges in this palette.

3.) Tangelo Tint Coastal Scents (CS). I very much enjoy this shade. It works really well on the skin, and provides a nice bit of brightness. I used this a lot a while ago, and am hoping to use more of it this week.

4.) Tangy Dijon, Vanessa's Vanity (VV). All the excitement I had getting this shade came out of the Subculture palette debacle. And then I didn't use it. I actually have been using more and more of it lately, but want to  be more consistent.

5.) Your Majesty, CR. This is such an intense and reflective gold shadow. Again, I don't use it enough even though it is so brassy.

6.) Doll Face, Looxi. This is a recent purchase that I have only swatched. I knew I wanted this to be in the z-palette, so I brought it Lay Low to give myself more options. This shade is a pressed pigment, with a pink base and strong gold shift, so I knew it would work well with the colors in this palette.

7.) Pumpkin Spice Life, Looxi. Another shade from Looxi that is somewhat recent but unused. It is really nice quality, too. This is a bright medium orange, brighter and a little darker than Tangelo Tint.

8.) Durty, Looxi. This one is actually a total surprise for me, in terms of quality. It is a light-medium matte brown that leans quite red-toned on the skin, and works well with a host of colors.

9.) Empress, CR. This is a very interesting and somewhat frustrating orange, because on my skin it looks very pink. I am hoping that pairing it with the other oranges in this palette will keep the look orange.

10.) Royal Prerogative, CR. A matte medium brown that blends so well.

11.) Chauffeur, CP. A shimmery orange-gold slight duochrome. Again, I made a fuss about buying this, and have yet to actually use it.

12.) Boujee, Looxi. This shade I have gotten some use out of. It's a rather insane shadow. In the pan, it looks like a regular gold shimmer, but it has a shift from red to blue/green. It definitely can make a typical neutral look more complex and interesting, and I think it fits well in the palette.

I am so excited to use this palette this week, and I will be sure to update the blog with some lewks!

Thanks for reading :)

Z-Palette Update

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I talked about my z-palette collection. As of now, I am alternating between two palettes- a 12 pan Livancy Palette, and an XL Z-palette. I really enjoy the Livancy palette and hope to purchase at least one more as a way to store and use the rest of my singles.

I've decluttered two eyeshadows, which were quite hard for me:
1.) Dose of Colours Mint Chip (from the Eyes Cream palette)
2.) Coastal Scents 18 K Gold (a gold that was getting no use from me).

The mint one is of such good quality that I technically did not declutter it, but rather set it aside.

Anyway, this is what the XL z-palette looks like now:

Notable additions include most of the mattes from the BH Cosmetics Zodiac palette. I do like the shimmers and wanted to declutter them as well, but the pans are so flimsy I'd end up tearing them.

Also, we have Stila Kitten, which was very easy to de-pot. I figure I will use it up more if it complements a palette.

Moving on to my other palette:

This is the left side, with the mattes.

Notable additions include the second shadow in the second row, Looxi Durty, as well as the first two shadows in the third row- Green Apple and Pumpkin Spice Life.

My precious shimmers!!

 Okay for the above picture, the middle shade in the left column is a depotted Rose Gold from Ardency Inn. I was shocked at how easy it was to de-pot. The shadow next to it is also new- Looxi Dollface!

So that's it! I really like my collection. If you see any shade in particular you want more info about, please let me know!

What's In my Small Z-Palette?

Greetings! I've been a little MIA since work started up again, but I do have some makeup related things to share in some upcoming posts. One post in particular is dedicated to a rather concerning trend I am seeing with recent releases- packaging fails. Such fun! Today's post, however, is another look into my small z-palette.

The z-palette is a Coastal Scents 12-pan palette, and usually I fill it with the single shades curated from my larger z-palette. I find that I rotate through the shades quite consistently.

This is the palette as of today:

I really like how the columns ended up being quite monochromatic.

Shiro: Fleeced Lined Pillow Fort	Dose of Colours: Berries 'n Cream	Colourpop: Lay Low	Colourpop: Howlin'
Coloured Raine: Angel Face	Coastal Scents: Oatmeal Tan	Colourpop: Making Moves	Dose of Colours: Blueberry Swirl
Looxi: Bohemian	Looxi: Boujee	Looxi: Mirage	Looxi: Charmed

The first row is primarily matte/satin. I want to make more progress on Berries 'n Cream, the slightly pink-toned cream. I find I have been using pink more often, so this shade would work well. I also want to get more use out of Lay Low. It reminds me of a lighter, more tightly pressed Love from Norvina, and the two do work well together. And I have been using Howlin' lately, so I decided to put it in this palette just to make it easier to reach for. 

In the second row, Angel Face has a significant dip to it, but I have not used it for a couple of months while it was in the larger z-palette. But I have been in the mood to use it, so I thought it would make sense to place it in here. I also wanted a semi-neutral brown in the palette, and I know I have not been using Oatmeal Tan, though this is a repurchase after inadvertently giving it away the first time.  Making Moves is such a bright and pigmented color, but easy to blend, and I am curious to see how it will behave with Lay Low, which is why they are placed next to each other in the palette. 

The final matte in this row is Blueberry Swirl, such a smart shadow from Dose of Colors. It is the perfect transition between pink/purple and brown. It works well with both warm and cool tones. It's pigmentation is not too intense so I feel I can control the depth of this color with ease.

The final row is of my relatively new Looxi shadows. I have one more, Tesla, in the larger z-palette. I use Mirage the most, which is ironic to me because that is the shade I had the worst first impressions of. What I like about it is that, like w/ Blueberry Swirl mentioned above, it plays with warm and cool. It also has dimensions of different colors, which makes this an easy to use stand alone color.

Bohemian looks like a standard rose gold copper shade a la Amber Rush, but actually has a spark of silver, as well as small purple glitters. It is very striking and I want to use more of it this month. I also want, nay need, to use Boujee, a shadow that appears gold, but actually has a rainbow like shift. It is magical and I hereby resolve to use more of it. Last is Charmed, a duochrome, that I am still figuring out how to use in a way that is flattering. 

So that's it! Do you have any of these colors? Let me know in the comments below!!

A Z-Palette Update!

Hi hi hi!

I wanted to give an update about the shadows and organization of my z-palette. It is a 12-pan palette from Coastal Scents. The reason I chose a 12-pan is because I have a separate extra large z-palette, but this one forces me to curate the specific ones I use daily, as well as rotate through my singles collection.

As of today, and after some decluttering, this is what the palette looks like:

So, I tried to organize by color family. Sort of.

First row: Angel Face, Soft Gold, Making Moves, Glass Bull
Second row: Pumpkin Pie, Tangy Dijon, Team Captain, Fudge
Third Row: Berries 'n Cream, Cone, Blueberry Swirl, Rosette

All in all, I think this palette definitely is "me." There's a nice balance of warm and cool, and I love all of these shadows. Except Rosette. That one is in there to force me to use it for something, but that is it.

Thanks for reading!

Z-Palettes: Update!

Howdy! I thought I would take the time to talk about my recent changes to my z-palettes. During Black Friday, I bought an empty 12-pan palette from Coastal Scents. I have been trying to do something creative with it. Last week, I was trying to dupe my own "Yes, Please" palette, but found I just did not have to colors for it to even slightly resemble that palette. 

Instead, I made this my own personal palette of colors that I constantly reach for/am panning. 

The keys to the shadows is as follows:            

Soft Gold ABH	Angel Face Coloured Raine	Pumpkin Pie Coastal Scents	Tangy Dijon Vanessa’s Vanity
Cone EyesCream Palette	Peach Coastal Scents	Amber ABH	Dark Goldenrod Coastal Scents
Fudge ABH	Dark Salmon Coastal Scents	Topaz ABH	BH Cosmetics Foil Palette

In terms of reviews, there's only two I want to talk about:

1. Dark Salmon:
Even though this shadow is technically a shimmer, it is loaded with a dark reddish peach pigment that can be really blended into the crease. This is an impressive shadow, and I put it into this palette when I was trying and failing to dupe the Yes, Please palette. I kept it in because I want to use more of it.

2. Topaz:
I haven't had a chance to use this on my eye yet. I just wanted to talk about how we had a little accident with it. I did drop my palette (not a huge drop at all), and when I went to pick it up, this one had cracked. This is a testament to the formula, I think, and how soft it is.

I also went ahead and re-arranged my z-palette, this time according to color, to get a more aesthetically pleasing look that will encourage me use more of the palette.

My Highlighter Z-Palette!

Today I thought I would share an update regarding my highlighter z-palette. I think I might have posted one of these before, but there are some developments that I want to discuss.

So, this is what it looks like.

Let's start from the beginning, left to right.

Wet n Wild Precious Petals highlighter. This is a really nice highlighter that I do have to be a bit careful with, because overdoing it is very easy. I would say that since I purchased this, I am getting a lot of use out of it.

Wet 'n Wild highlighter in Royal Calyx. I love the name of this highlighter. It does have a different formula than Precious Petals- it is drier and less pigmented, which actually is fine with me. I have only used it 2-3 times sine I've purchased, and plan on really using it on Halloween. 

Urban Decay eyeshadow sample in Fireball. This did nothing for me when used as an eyeshadow. As a highlighter, however, the effect is obvious and pretty.

Vanessa's Vanity, 6 pm sparkler. This truly is a blush topper. On it's own, its a white-grey powder that shifts pinky peach, with flecks of sparkle. When placed on top of blush, it really shines. I love using this on days when I want my look to have extra sparkle and sheen.

Mary Lou-Manizer, The Balm. I am trying very hard to pan this. It is not obvious, but there is a bit of a dip in the pan. It's a pretty highlighter, and I do enjoy using this.

That little square pan is a sample highlighter from The Balm, which I have no need for at the present, but I am still keeping this around.

We then have Hustle and Glow, my current highlighter fave, from ittse. I really think this was a good purchase, and do not regret buying this. 

The oblong shaped shadow is from the Tarina Tarantino Floriculture palette, which I actually decluttered long ago. I decided to save my three favorite shades and depot them. Deep Dahlia, a dark burgundy/plum that is so on trend right now, went into my eyeshadow palette, while Taurella, a white gold frost is here pictured. I have only used it as a highlighter once, but I intend to give this a try on the weekend.

We then have the Sin highlighter by Urban Decay, which I also like a lot.

The bottom is two contour color powders. One is a light grey contour from Lunatick Cosmetic labs, which I do not get much use out of. The other is Hollyhock, from the Floriculture palette, which I think can perform well as a contour. I've only tried it once, and am not sure of the results. 

Thanks for reading! 

Organization of My Blush and Highlighter Pans + Swatches of Ittse highlighter

Welcome!

Today I received in the mail an order I placed with Ipsy last week. It is an ittse palette, with two highlighter pans, all for $15.

I decided, however, to use the ittse palette for my blushes, and I am very happy with the result. All the blushes fit perfectly, and I know I will get much use out if it. The palette itself it sturdy and substantial, and has a plastic sheet to protect the mirror from the powder. I didn't think I would appreciate this, but I definitely do.

This is what the palette looks like on the outside:

It is a cool-toned gold faux leather casing.

In the palette, the first four shadows are my depotted Tarina Tarantino dollskin palette blushes. I do not regret depotting those, because the packaging was awful. The bottom two blushes from left to right are Makeup Geek Puppy Love and Pixi in Beach Rose. The Pixi blush was super easy to depot, and I am so pleased with the result. Not to give myself too much praise, but this looks like the scheme to one of those Nars holiday blush palettes. It makes me excited to use more of this.

In addition to this palette, I've got four other blushes, and one of them I am about to finish up. They are also all drugstore/budget-friendly. Overall, I feel as though my blush collection is pretty manageable.

Now, in order to place all the pans in this ittse palette, I had to take them from my medium z-palette, which originally contained blushes and highlights. As the ittse palette became my blush palette, the z-palette is now my highlighter palette. This includes the two ittse highlighters I got in the mail today.

This is what it looks like:

I'm not going to review every single one, but what I've been doing this week is mixing the two largest pans: Wet 'n Wild Precious Petals, and Mary Lou-Manizer. By itself, Precious Petals is a little too orange. 

To fill up space in this palette, I also moved my eyeshadow sample of UD Fireball to this palette, because I want to see what it would look like. I also depotted my sample of The Balm's Kuwakaribisha to place in there, because it is a highlighter but I was keeping it with my eyeshadows. 

Let's take a closer look at the ittse highlighters. I've never used an ittse face powder or eyeshadow before. 

The two on the left, from top to bottom are Run the World and Hustle and Glow. Also, the pan on the bottom right that looks white is from Vanessa's Vanity, a sparkler called 6 pm. (I'll provide a separate review for 6 pm, all I will say is that I believe this is a TRUE blush topper).

Run the World and Hustle and Glow (H & G)  are from a collaboration with a YouTuber. The full collab included four highlighters, and I personally think the ones Ipsy was selling were not the prettiest ones in the collab.

They still are pretty, though. Run the World is on the left, and  H & G is on the right:

It's not clear from the picture, but Run the World is very sparkly. I don't know if I can see myself using this. H & G, however, is gorgeous. It reminds me a little of Laura Gellar's Gilded Honey or even Champagne Pop- very metallic. I am much more partial to this one. I will provide a formal review of this stuff after I have more time to test it out.

In addition to the z-palette, I also own three highlighters, all drugstore. I do think my highlighter collection is a bit crazier than my blush collection, but I can say with certainty that I've got no repeats or dupes.

Thanks for reading!

Z-Palette Updates and Progress!

Yay, another z-palette post! I haven't done one of them in a very long time, and I am so excited. I added a few things, took away a few things, resurrected some eyeshadows from makeup purgatory, you know, the usual! Today I thought I would talk about notable additions to my z-palette.

I don't particularly think this is the palette to end all palettes. But for what I have, I know I could just take this with me and I'd be set. In addition to this palette, I have 9 palettes total. All my eyeshadow is mostly drugstore/affordable/discounted, with some full price high-end thrown in.

Let's get to it! Let's first talk about brand new additions:

1. Angel Face by Coloured Raine. This is in the "fifth" column of my palette, the second one down. It is a reported dupe for MuG's "Peach Smoothie," and I think Orange Soda by ABH. I can see why shades such as this are excellent for helping to create blended-out, warm looks. I've really been enjoying this eyeshadow. 

2. Mac Chrome Yellow: This is the brightest yellow, farthest down in the "third" column. I've used this in my crease, but it is tricky to work with and I haven't yet used in a way that I especially like.

3. Tangy Dijon, Vanessa's Vanity. Just arrived in the mail today by total surprise. It swatches beautifully, and I am excited to use it, and perhaps even pair it with Chrome Yellow. 

And now, resurrections!

4. Urban Decay sample shadows in Lounge and Fireball. When I first got these, I didn't know what to do with them aside from swatch the,. But I've grown to really appreciate duochrome shadows, and have decided to give them a second chance.

5. The brown matte shade from the Nude Tude palette, depotted. I have it here to the left of Fudge from ABH. This shade has a really large dip in it from constant use from a while ago, and I want to pan it. It is my mission. And it still works really nicely. 

For reference, this is what my palette looked like five months ago:

Before we get to decluttered shades, let's talk about panning progress!

6. The Kat Von D large pan of a cream shadow: I definitely made progress on it. I don't know when I am actually going to use it all up, but I am getting there.

7. ABH in Amber. This one is not panned yet, but it is getting close. This is probably one of my favorite lid shades of all time, and I know it is very close to hitting pan. Amber is in the sixth row from the left, and the third one down. 

As for decluttered stuff that is moved to makeup purgatory:

8. One half of a Nars duo. This was when I was getting really into yellow-toned mustard shades. But this was not flattering on me. It just came off really muddy and I did not enjoy using this.

9. Japonesque pixellating shimmer powder thing: This came from an ipsy deal, and I was actually keeping this in my face products z-palette. I needed to make room in there for a powder from Vanessa's Vanity, and I chose this to go. Why? It's an okay powder and I would use it under my eyes, but I have not used it in a while. I don't think there was anything special about it, and I don't see myself using it in the future. 

Goals?
Aside from panning, I really want to push myself to use the KvD mattes, as I have not used them in a while. They are perfectly good, I've just been enjoying other things. I also want to try more of the colorful shimmers I have, in order to use my z-palette in a more balanced way.

Thanks for reading!

My Z-Palettes

This has been one of the most stressful weeks. It is characteristic of this time of year, I know that. But it does not make it any easier. The good thing, though, is that the school year will end soon enough and life will begin again in the fall.

Okay, enough rambling. You know what else is difficult but rewarding? Depotting.

Now, I know a lot of people are not fans of depotting. And certainly I think it is a personal thing. For example, I would never de-pot my Modern Renaissance palette or my Eyes-cream palette. To me, they are cohesive palettes and exist in its totality. However, I have done plenty of depotting over the last couple of months, and have come to some important conclusions.

Let's take a look at my two magnetic palettes:

My face powder palette

 I. The blushes: the one in the left-corner is a MUG blush in "Puppy Love." It is very pigmented and a rose-brown shade. It was easy enough to pop out of its compact- I should have just ordered the refill without the compact.

The rest of the blushes come from Tarina Tarantino's Dollskin blush palette- all are really nice though my favorite is the one to the right of "Puppy Love," called Feather. I depotted all four of these because the packaging was becoming too bulky for my container.

II. Highlighters: The largest highlighter is Mary Lou-manizer. This was incredibly easy to pry out with no damage. I found myself with so many compacts that I wanted an easier place to store all my face powders.

The square pan is Urban Decay's Sin, came as an Ipsy sample. Very generous sample size. I prefer it to the Mary Lou ,because it is pinker and paler.

The small circle highlighter is a sample of Candlelight by Kevyn Aucoin. Not really too impressed yet with it.

The rectangle is Japonesque pixellating (?) powder. I don't know what this does.

III. Contour: The light grey is from Lunatick Cosmetic labs. I ordered it as a single. It is best mixed with my taupe contour powders for even more of a shadowy look.

The actual taupe powder, though, came from a Bliss contour palette. This was the only one I kept, because it is cool toned and perfect for me. I was really impressed with the silkiness of the powder, and I wonder if Bliss sells single contour pans.It was really cheap from TJ Maxx and I hope to find a powder like it once I run out. I currently also own Nyx's blush in taupe, but I do find it has red-undertones that are not as flattering as the Bliss poweder.

As you can see with the Taupe color, depotting did some damage to it. It had to be repressed but it still is crumbly.

The eyeshadow. For clarity's sake, I won't break down each eyeshadow. Most of these singles are depotted from the BH Cosmetic's foil eyeshadow palette. It was extremely easy to depot these, but they did require a magnet. I also have four ABH singles, one Lunatick Cosmetic Lab's single, one Stila single (the larger circular pan, have only swatched it a couple of times), as well as a repressed shadow from a Sleek palette.)

The rectangular pans are Kat Von D, because I think that the palettes I had from her were inconsistent in color choice. I really like her matte formula. For me, when I depot her palette's damage is guaranteed.

I use both of these z-palettes constantly. The eyeshadow palette especially demonstrates my color preferences- I enjoy both warm and cool toned browns, purples, and golds- and a whole lot of shimmer.