Review: Chanel Fall 2015 Entrelacs Palette

Fall is my favourite season out of the four, but I'm not all that ready to let go of summer yet. That is, until I saw how gorgeous the palette Chanel released for this fall season is! I've always wanted to own a Chanel palette, but didn't see one where I love all of the shades. The Entrelacs palette is very much me in a palette (if that's even a thing).

The Entrelacs palette includes a combination of matte and satin neutral eyeshadows that are embossed with the design that inspired the double-C Chanel logo. It's so beautiful that I don't want to use the eyeshadows just to keep the embossing intact. 

There have been so many neutral brown eyeshadow palettes that have been released, but this is the first palette that I've seen where I truly know what to do with each shade. The palette contains a good range of light to dark shades, so it's easy to create both day and night looks. The shadows are soft and buttery and blend out easily. Some of the shades do have very subtle micro-shimmers to give a pearly finish.

The palette features 5 neutral shades that have been thoughtfully put together:

-Light shimmery white gold, perfect for the inner corner highlight and on the browbone 

-Light medium brown with warm undertones and matte finish, best for the crease and as a base shade

-Medium-dark brown with warm undertones and subtle golden shimmer, can be used as an all-over shade or to add depth to the outer-v

-Dark taupe brown with cool undertones, sparse gold shimmer and satin-to-matte finish, best for the outer corner 

-Light shimmery golden peach with a sheer finish, great for patting over the other shades as a finishing touch

These shadows aren't the most pigmented ones out there and I don't think that was the intention. They give more of a subtle look, but they are buildable to a certain extent. 

The Entrelacs palette is an extremely beautiful palette that will work for anyone. It's definitely not a must-have if you already own some brown neutral palettes, but for the collector and those obsessed with makeup, you need this!

Review: Bobbi Brown Holiday 2014 Warm Eye Palette

You're probably thinking, "Another neutral eyeshadow palette?!" after I posted about my neutral eyeshadow palette collection here. And after getting the Tom Ford Cognac Sable palette (review here), I promised to never buy another eyeshadow palette again. Well, that promise was quickly broken and I was still searching for the perfect neutral eyeshadow palette. Such is the life of a beauty blogger and all the beautiful holiday collections released every year.

Enough of the rambling and onto the focus of this post - the Bobbi Brown Warm Eye Palette. It comes with a double-ended brush and six shades:

• Bone - a light ivory
• Champagne Quartz - a shimmery pink champagne
• Malted - a matte grey brown
• Gold Sparkle - a shimmery gold
• Sable - a matte medium brown
• Espresso - a matte dark chocolate brown

The first four colours in the palette are not as pigmented as Sable and Espresso, whereas the latter two can be built up to be quite intense. All six colours can be used to create different looks - from more subdued looks to more intense smoky looks. I actually don't mind that the lighter colours aren't too pigmented as that'll help with blending out other colours.

I like that this is a palette that you can use everyday, but also for special occasions. It's quite versatile and includes all the necessary shades to create all kinds of looks. I think I may have found the perfect neutral eyeshadow palette for me!

Bobbi Brown Holiday 2014 Releases

This year, I started becoming more interested in Bobbi Brown products. I always liked the limited edition palettes that were released, but never bought one. I adore their brushes and like the values the brand promotes. So, it wouldn't be long before I would actually get my hands on one of their eyeshadow palettes and one of their famous shimmer bricks.

When pictures of this year's holiday releases started surfacing, I knew I had to have at least one of the products. With the tortoise shell packaging combined with what seemed like the perfect mix of warm eyeshadows in the Warm Eye Palette, I had to have it! And why not pick up the shimmer brick included in this collection as well?

I actually bought these two products before the Sephora VIB sale came around, but I knew I had to get them quickly before either one sold out. When I got my hands on the palette and shimmer brick, even the boxes they came in were extremely nice and fitting for the holidays. The few days after ordering and receiving my package, the shimmer brick had sold out on the Sephora site. But, I'm pretty sure you can still find it at other retailers and on the Bobbi Brown site.

Reviews on each of these products will be up on the blog within the next few days!

My Neutral Eyeshadow Palette Collection

Clockwise from left: Urban Decay Naked Palette, NARS And God Created the Woman, Lise Watier Eyeshadow Quartet in Les Cognacs, Covergirl Eye Enhancer Palette in Shimmery Sands, Revlon Colourstay Palette in 01 Copper Spice, Tom Ford Quad in Cognac Sable, Too Faced Eye Love Sample Palette, Laura Mercier 3 Pan Palette with Sandstone, Cafe Au Lait and Spiced Cider (blush)

I think it's safe to say that I have a bit of a problem when it comes to neutral eyeshadow palettes. Over the past few years, I have accumulated several palettes, a few which I don't even really use today! For some reason, I'm always trying to find the perfect neutral palette that has a balance of matte and shimmery shadows, and the right balance of highlighting, all-over lid and crease shades. For some, this sounds like an easy palette to find, but I've yet to find it!

The first ever neutral palette I bought was a Maybelline quad (might've been called Chai Latte) which had the perfect taupe shade, but then a depotting session went wrong and it was ruined. I also didn't care much for the lack of pigmentation for the rest of the shades. So, I tried out a few other palettes from the drugstore - Revlon, Covergirl and Lise Watier. I quite enjoy the Revlon quad, but the two lightest shades are too yellow for my liking. The Covergirl trio is too sparkly and not pigmented enough and same with the Lise Watier quad.

My foray into higher-end palettes started with the Too Faced sampler palette that I got as one of the point perks at Sephora. I wasn't too satisfied with the shades in the palette. Then, Urban Decay announced the release of the first Naked palette. I fell absolutely in love with this palette. It's warm-toned and has a variety of gorgeous neutral shades both light and dark. BUT! It was still missing the option of a few matte shades.

I wanted to try my hand at customizing my own palette, so I bought Sandstone and Cafe Au Lait. I do really like both shades, but it still felt like something was missing. When NARS came out with their And God Created the Woman palette, I have to say I mostly bought it because I love NARS, I wanted to try out their eye shadows and it seemed like a great value - 6 shadows, a brush and a mini eye primer. Unfortunately, I think the quality seems sub-par compared to their regular sized shadows.

And finally, my most recent acquisition, the Tom Ford quad in Cognac Sable (reviewed here). It's a gorgeous, extremely pigmented palette that's perfect for everyday use and for those special occasions. Though it does lack transition colours and could be too shimmery for my liking depending on the mood I'm in.

While all of these palettes have a place in my collection, I do still want a palette that can do everything I'm looking for. Maybe once I do, I'll stop buying and hoarding all these eyeshadows I will never finish!

Review: Tom Ford Quad in Cognac Sable

How do I put into words how gorgeous and luxurious this palette or any Tom Ford products are? From the velvet pouch to the sleek and smooth feel of the palette to the magnetic closure, I've spent a long time deciding on which quad to get. I eventually decided on Cognac Sable, but with enough hemming and hawing to my boyfriend (now fiance!), he surprised me with this palette as my early birthday present back in June. And, I also said I wouldn't buy another eyeshadow palette again (who knows if that's a promise I'll be keeping...).

This palette includes a slightly glittery vanilla shade, a shimmery medium warm brown, a shimmery sable colour and a copper pressed glitter shade. The shimmery shades have amazing pigmentation and are buttery smooth. You don't need to use a primer for these! As for the pressed glitter shade, I prefer to use this over some kind of base so it has something to adhere to. I like using my fingers to apply this. The best part about these shadows? There's absolutely no fall out.

At first, I was so happy to have this in my hands, but then I had some difficulty trying to figure out how to use all four shades. Since getting this palette, I've figured out the following ways to use it:

1. Sweep the vanilla shade all over the lid on those lazy days
2. Sweep the vanilla shade all over the lid, with the medium brown shade in the crease
3. The vanilla shade all over the lid, with the sable colour concentrated in the outer-v
4. The vanilla shade all over the lid, medium brown shade in the crease and the sable colour in the outer-v
5. Again, vanilla shade all over the lid, the medium brown shade in the crease, the sable colour in the outer-v, and the copper glitter patted on the middle of the lid 

Now that it's fall, my preferred look is #3, or #1 when I'm lazy or am pressed for time. As I continue playing around with this palette, I'm slowly falling in love with all the colours.

You can find this at Holt Renfrew in Toronto, however, my boyfriend (now fiance) bought this at Saks Fifth Avenue while we were in New York.