Review - Lorac Vintage Vixen Palette

This palette was apart of the Ulta Black Friday sale this past year. I had a bit of trouble with getting this, as Ulta did not have enough stock for the amount of orders that were placed. However, they re-listed the palette for sale again at the beginning of January, and I was lucky enough to snag it!

Lorac Vintage Vixen palette

Lorac Vintage Vixen Palette

Vintage Vixen Palette swatches over bare skin

I must say, I love the packaging for the palette. It's cardboard, but it is compact, light, and the pattern is very cute. I like longer pans, since it allows you to easily just swipe your brush on it. I also like the inclusion of the mirror on even such a small palette, as this is a very good palette to just toss in your bag for touching up. 

The palette contains five unnamed matte eyeshadows:

• creamy beige
• pale taupe
• warm light brown
• warm burgundy
• deep brown

The shadows themselves weren't as smooth as what I've come to expect from Lorac, they were a little on the powdery side. I'm guessing they were powdery due to the matte formula. As you can see from the swatches they are a little patchy. They did wear better over a primer. The Lorac formula, though a little powdery, was still very blendable.

I am a little disappointed that the burgundy shade looks great in the pan, but swatches and wears to be more brown. The burgundy was pretty much the main reason I picked up the palette (that, and the price!) so it's a little bit of a letdown. Since it comes out as more of a brown shade, it can easily be muddied with the darker brown shade of the palette if you are not careful with your blending. 

Overall, for $12, the palette certainly isn't a bad deal. I could definitely see it being a nice travel palette, or something to keep in your bag for an emergency look (don't laugh, you know there are days where you don't do an eye look and suddenly you need to look good.)

Pros:

• Great price point
• Shadows blend nicely
• Compact packaging

Cons:

• Burgundy shade not true to pan
• Shadow formula is somewhat powdery
• Limited edition! (but they have brought it back once! It could happen again!)

Lorac Vintage Vixen Matte Eyeshadow Palette (Limited Edition) - $12.00 for 0.058 oz x 5

Review - 3/5

Review - Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar palette

Since I'm a big fan of the first Chocolate Bar palette, I knew I had to get my hands on the new Semi-Sweet palette! I received it for Christmas, and was so excited to open it up! I used it in my face of the day that I posted earlier this week.

Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar palette - closed

Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar palette - open

The very first thing I want to mention about the palette is that Too Faced seems to have listened to everyone's complaint regarding the first Chocolate Bar palette and printed the names of each shadow onto the palette itself. The palette is also much slimmer than the original release of the Chocolate Bar, but matches the slimmer size of when the original was re-released. This palette is touted as being the "deeper, warmer version" of the original, which was pretty warm to begin with. There is a black shadow and a few more darker browns than the original, however, lending the "deeper" claim some credibility. All of the shadows do lean pretty warm, as well. The palette also has the signature chocolate scent that fades upon application.

Review - Lorac Mega Pro Palette

I was one of the lucky few to snag a Lorac Mega Pro when their site hiccuped on October 1st, showing the palettes as in stock and for sale a week early. It arrived right after I finished doing my makeup the day I left for NY Comic-Con, so I didn't get a chance to use it til I returned. Now that I'm back, I've gone ahead and tried it out, swatched it out, and taken some pictures!

The following photos were taken with no sort of eyeshadow base, everything is over bare skin. I made these swatches with a Hakuhodo G5523 BkSL brush, and all swatches were done dry.