Review: BA STAR Smoky Eye Shadow Palettes

Disclaimer - This product was sent to me for review purposes from BA STAR through the website BrandBacker. I am not being compensated for this post. Opinions on this product are 100% honest and my own.

BA STAR offers four different smoky glitter palettes on their website in the colours: Natural, Smoky, Pretty N Pink, and True Blue. I received the Natural palette which is the one I was hoping for. You can see the other three by clicking HERE.

This palette comes with three mineral eye shadows in the colours Bronze, Cocoa, and Nude, as well as, two gel glitters in Gold and Crystal. It also includes a dual ended brush.

The brush is pretty cheap and I will never use it. One side has a sponge applicator and the other has a little brush with plastic bristles. Overall, the quality of this brush is lacking. I don't know why companies even include these.

The glitters are nice, but not practical for everyday wear because of the gel base. But I didn't have high expectations for everyday wear. Because BA STAR creates and markets their makeup for use by cheerleaders and dance teams, these glitters need to stand up to sweat, but are not likely to be worn on the eyes. In my life I would probably only use these on Halloween.

The gold glitter needs a few layers before it is semi opaque. I didn't find that the gold was as pretty out of the pan as it is in the pan. For me, the gel base didn't completely dry and on my eyes would crease fairly quickly. I also really had to scrub to get the glitter off which irritated my skin.

The crystal glitter was super pretty swatched on my hand. This glitter flashes a rainbow of colours, in the right light, and I tried my best to capture that. This would be perfect to use if I was doing a Fairy or Mermaid Halloween look. The downside of these glitters for me is that they irritated my skin. After removing the swatches from my hand I was left with a lovely red rash for the rest of the day. I'm not saying this will happen to everyone. Obviously one of the ingredients does not mesh with my skin.

The eye shadows in this palette far exceeded my expectations! I would not hesitate to purchase all four palettes just for the eye shadows and depot them into a freestyle palette. They were super smooth, and buttery and went on like a dream. The only one I had a problem with was Nude. It was a bit chalky and had a bit of fallout. Bronze and Cocoa were both opaque with one swipe. The colour payoff was amazing! I really think Bronze would look good over Maybelline's Bad to the Bronze cream shadow. I really love the tiny gold barely there glitter in Cocoa, it really adds a nice depth to the shadow. Nude would be great over Maybelline's Barely Branded cream shadow and perfect for an everyday makeup look.

I really love these shadows already and could see myself using them daily. If you would like to try BA STAR's Smoky palettes, or any of their other products, readers of my beauty full adventure will receive 50% off by using code BBSMOKY at the checkout.

Swatched: NYX - The Crimson Amulet Collection

I first saw this NYX collection on GoldieStarling's YouTube Channel when she was part of the NYX Face Awards. I fell in love with this palette and thought that the colours just looked gorgeous. A few months later after I had cancelled Glossybox for the first time, I saw that us Canadian girls were getting this makeup collection as part of the September Box. I quickly re-signed up because I thought $15 for this palette plus 4 other samples was a great deal. I was so excited to receive this palette, but since September it has sat with my other palettes unswatched and unused.

I finally broke this palette out last week and have been using it everyday since. Now I haven't used the glosses so I can't give a review on those, but the powder products and eyeshadow base I love love love.

The mini HD High Definition Eyeshadow Base reminds me of the Urban Decay Primer Potion in look, feel, and how it makes my eyeshadows last. I will definitely be buying a full size of this primer once I use up what I have.

The highlighter is beautiful. It is perfect for my skin tone and gives my skin a wonderful glow. I use it on my cheekbones, down my nose, and on my cupids bow and it just brings a very nautral looking light to my skin.

The blushes in this palette are highly pigmented. I like using the shimmer ones on light makeup days because it eliminates me having to put on a highlighter. I haven't used the red shade yet, cause in all honesty, it scares the crap out of me. It is so pigmented and bold and I just don't think that it is a colour I can pull off. I like that they included both matte and shimmer blushes in this palette.










There are 24 eyeshadows included in this palette that range from matte neutral shades to shimmery bronze, dark green, navy blue, and yellow gold. You could create endless looks with the colours you are given. I find that the shimmer shades are very pigmented and have great colour payoff. Some of the neutral shades I find are a bit chalky and don't show up that good when swatched or on the eye. One of the shades you can barely see when I swatched it because it is pretty much my skin tone.

Compared to the NYX trio palettes and individual eyeshadows I feel like these are lacking a bit in quality. And I am sure there individual blushes are of better quality, but for what I paid for this palette I am getting great value for my money.

All swatches were done over Hard Candy Eyeshadow Primer. The eyeshadows were swatched from left to right, top to bottom, row by row. Please be warned, this post is very picture heavy!

1) Dark grey/brown almost black
2) Very light pink shimmer. Reminds me of MAC Kitchmas.
3) Eggplant purple with purple and gold glitter.
4) Orange based bronze shimmer.

5) Lilac shimmer
6) Taupe shimmer
7) Gold peach shimmer. Swatch looks more gold but in the pan there is a noticeable hint of peach.
8) Navy blue/black with blue glitter.

9) Navy Blue
10) Forest green with gold shimmer
11) Medium brown with gold shimmer
12) Dark purple with brown undertones

13) Matte cream. Pretty much my skin tone.
14) Matte taupe
15) Matte light brown
16) White shimmer

17) Champagne

18) Matte dark brown

19) Pale pink with shimmer. Looks closer to white.

20) Matte dark grey

21) Pink shimmer
22) Shimmery taupe
23) Brown toned bronze shimmer
24) Yellow gold



1) Matte red. Looks kinda orange in this swatch.
2) Matte light pink.

3) Shimmery pink

4) Shimmery peach

5) Slightly darker peach shimmer.

 

 

 

Have you tried this palette before? If so what do you like or not like about it? What are some other NYX products you think I should check out?

 

 

 

#RevlonSelects Eyeshadow & Lipstick Review

Here is the second part of my Revlon Selects Review. I was finally able to play around with the Eyeshadow Palette and Suede Lipstick over the holidays. I received these products from Revlon Canada in exchange for a review. You can find my review of the nail products here.

First I'll talk about the Revlon Photoready Primer + Shadow Palette in 501 Metropolitan. The palette is set up like an eye, showing you which colour to use on the lid, in the crease, and on the brow bone. Below the eye you get a rectangle of "primer" and a gold glittery topcoat.

Now I put primer in quotations because this doesn't have the consistency of a normal eyeshadow primer and I found that it doesn't really work like one either. I used this as my only primer one day and the colours were fading by lunch time. I now just use this light pink shimmery primer as an all over wash of colour on days when I am wearing minimal makeup. I find that it really brings a nice light to the eyes.

The gold glitter topcoat is really nice and when used wet looks gorgeous on the lid. However, unless you are using this shadow wet then be prepared for tons of fallout. My face looked like a disco ball all day because they glitter continued to fall off my eye throughout the whole day.

The other three eyeshadows are really nice but, I don't like the order that Revlon put them in. When used in the intended order you get a smokey eye look every time. The sliver crease shade just doesn't work for me as a crease shade and the brow bone highlight is too dark of a pink to be a proper highlight shade. Even though the order of the shades don't work for me the pigmentation and colour payoff of the shadows are great and I will continue to use them.

I really like the packaging of this palette. I like that there is a window so you can see the eyeshadows that are inside but, I don't like the shape of the shadows. The narrow size of the crease and brow bone pans make it hard to get the brush in there to get the shadow out. I would have liked to see a simple shape to the pans, like in the Almay 3 shadow palettes.

Overall this is very good palette and I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

The next makeup product we received in our sample box was the Revlon Colorstay Ultimate Suede Lipstick in 035 Backstage. I was so excited to get this colour as it looks like the perfect wine/berry toned red. To me this is such a perfect Fall/Winter colour.

Packaging wise I really like this lipstick. It has a clear lid so you can see what the colour is and the plastic case colouring is a perfect match to the lipstick. I also like how the lipstick twists down below the rim of the packaging so that there is no chance of you nicking the product when taking the lid off or putting it back on.

The formula of this lipstick is different from the other ones in my collection. It goes on really glossy and patchy. You have to put many coats to get an even application that fully covers yours lips. And because it is so glossy I always need to put this on in a mirror and clean up the edges of my lips cause it just slips and slides everywhere.

It stays glossy for a few minutes and then once it starts drying it becomes really sticky, something I dislike. Once it is dry on your lips it feels tight and dry and it can also make your lips look really dry as well. I would not recommend using this lipstick on days when your lips are already dry and/or cracked cause it will only emphasize that.

Once this lipstick is dry I find that it stays on for a very long time. Eventually, it starts to flake off and at that point I try and rub it all off because it does not look pretty when half of your dark, noticeable lipstick has worn off. This lipstick does leave a light noticeable stain to your lips and when it gets to this point I like to put a lip balm or gloss over top.

I definitely prefer this lipstick when it looks glossy as apposed to when it has dried to its suede finish. I probably wouldn't purchase anymore of these lipsticks, as I do not like the finish. I would give this 2.5 stars out of 5.

1 layer

2 layers

3 layers

Natural light

Artificial light

 

 

If you received a Revlon Selects package what did you like/dislike about these two products? Would you be willing to purchase more with your own money?

 

 

 

Swatched: Quo All About Eyes Palette

As I have been going through my collection over the last couple of weeks, and getting reacquainted with everything that I own, I thought it was about time that I started swatching and reviewing what I have.

The first palette I have to show is the Quo All About Eyes Palette. I picked this up from Shoppers Drug Mart on Boxing Day for 50% off. It's original price was $22, so I got it for $11. I have been wanting this palette for awhile now, ever since I saw it when I bought the Quo Back to Basics Palette. The colours are so me and the purples just look gorgeous in the pan.

Since swatching this palette I am a little disappointed with the colour payoff of some of the purples and I find that some of the shades are a little chalky. The chalkiness and fallout are minimal though and colour payoff is very good on most of the shadows. I may not like Quo's brushes, but all of the eyeshadows I have used so far have been of really good quality.


The eyeshadows are about the size of a loonie, so they will last a very long time. The packaging of this palette is so pretty and is definitely the most glamorous looking palette that I own. The lid is covered in gold sequins and looks very chic. Inside the palette there is a large mirror on one side which makes it perfect for travel and doing your makeup on the go. It also came with double sided sponge applicators, but I threw those out after using them to make the swatches.

Some of the colours were hard to photograph because they are so light, so hopefully you can see them. If you have a chance to pick up this palette some Shoppers may still have stock. I believe that they are still 50% off. This palette is definitely a winner!

 Swatches are done over Hard Candy's Eyeshadow Primer. There are no names for the colours, so I broke them up into groups of four and two.

 

Have you tried this palette before? What are some of your favourite Quo products?