Review/Swatch: Tarte Spring 2015 Collection - Tartelette eyeshadow palette

Hi everyone! :)

It's been a while.

I have been so busy over the past few weeks because someone very special to me came to visit me in the land of kangaroos! LOL
And he also bought a whole bunch of makeup goodies! I'm so excited to use and try them out.

Oh and for you Australian peeps who don't know yet, Urban Decay will finally be here in Australia! Yay!
The brand will launch in March and will be available to purchase in Mecca stores.
I'm not sure how the pricing will be for the products, but the prices of Mecca products aren't too bad so hopefully the products won't be too expensive,

Anyway, today I have a review and swatch for you guys on the new Tarte Cosmetics Tartelette eye shadow palette. This palette is a part of their Spring 2015 Collection and contains 12 all-matte shades. To my knowledge, this palette is also limited edition (please correct me if it's not limited edition).

Pricing: Retails for $44 (can be found at Sephora (US), Ulta, QVC? and on the official Tarte website)

Packaging: The packaging of this palette is in a shiny gold case and is almost the size of a cd case - just thicker in width. Though I do find it a little hard to open sometimes, it's very secure and very travel friendly.
It contains a full-sized mirror that is able to stand on it's own which I think is very convenient and again, this makes it very travel appropriate.
Personally, I wish the packaging of the palette was different to the box. Although it's cute, the palette itself feels quite cheap for what you pay. Also, if you're one of those people who get annoyed with finger prints getting all over their palettes, then it might be a little bothersome for you. But if you're not that easily fussed, then it shouldn't be a problem at all.
I also love that the names of the shades are printed on the actual case rather than the little plastic cover.

My thoughts: This palette contains a variety of cool, neutral and warm toned matte shades. I think it's the perfect palette for basics if you're just starting out, don't have many palettes or just love mattes. The shades are very basic - you'd find most of them or something similar in other palettes if you already own quite a few neutral palettes.
With that being said, I still really like the shades in the palette. I especially love the purple shades.
It gives you the ability to create very wearable looks and because they're matte shades, they make very good, basic transition colours for other eye looks.
The pigmentation of the shades are beautiful when swatched, however, these shades definitely work better with a primer. The colours are more intense and pigmented when a primer is used, so I would recommend using a primer if you want your shades to be more pigmented. When used without a primer, the shades are softer and require more layering to get to the intensity that you want, but they do last a long time without a primer as well. So if you want to create a softer look, you won't need a primer.
There was some minor fallout when you tap onto the shadows (mainly the darker ones), but nothing too messy.
The shades are easy to blend but they weren't buttery smooth. Just smooth. Does that even make sense? LOL!
Some shades are more pigmented than others (fashionista - very intense black) and because the shades are matte, a couple of the lighter shades (free spirit, super mom) are a little powdery/chalky, but they're not bad.

Swatches are done without a primer

Swatches are done without a primer

Overall: I do really like this palette as it gives a variety of different matte shades. You can create very wearable daytime and nighttime looks with the shade range. I do recommend that a primer is used for more better pigmentation.
Personally, I love shades that are metallic and shimmery so I do find this palette a little boring if I was to only own this one palette. But I love using these shades in combination with shades from other palettes as transition and depth colours. But again, if you want more of a simple, everyday and wearable look, this palette can create just that.
From what I know, this palette is limited edition, so is it worth getting? Yes and no. If you're someone who loves matte shades, then I would highly recommend this palette. I love the variety of tones and if you love your purples, I think this palettes provides some great purple tones. If you're someone who already owns quite a few palettes or aren't a huge fan of matte shades, then this palette is not really necessary. I love the shades so I don't regret buying this palette at all :)

Have you tried out this palette yet? What do you guys think about an all-matte palette? Let me know!

Until next time, loves!

Stay safe <3

(All products mentioned above was bought with my own money. All opinions are 100% honest and mine)

Review/Swatches: Lorac Pro 2 Palette

Hey everyone! How have you all been?

I've been back from America for just over a month now and I bought so much while I was over there. I do plan on doing individual swatches of everything soon so they'll be coming up sometime.

The first product review that I want to do is on the Lorac Pro 2 eyeshadow palette. I also bought the original Lorac Pro Palette over there so I'll have a swatch post of that soon as well.

On the Website: (From the ULTA website) Go PRO with LORAC PRO Palette 2! The sequel to their original, best-selling PRO Palette and created by celebrity makeup artist Carol Shaw, this PRO artistry palette is packed with 8 Shimmer and 8 Matte Eye Shadows in all the cool shades you need to create the hottest looks straight from the Red Carpet. LORAC's velvety-smooth shadows are infused with soothing botanicals and are ultra-pigmented to perform wet or dry so you can shade, shadow, line and define your eyes, just like a PRO.

Pricing: Retails for $42usd at ULTA

Packaging: The packaging is very sleek and very much the same to the original Pro palette but instead is grey. It has a magnetic closure with a good sized mirror and I haven't experienced it opening in my bag while travelling yet, but since the palette itself is very thin, light and it easily fits and packs away into bags without problems. So it is very travel friendly. However, the packaging can get quite dirty very easily due to some fallout. You also get a mini eyeshadow primer with the palette as well.

My Thoughs: The palette itself comes with 16 shades, which I think it great value - considering that you get 12 in the UD Naked palettes and they retail for about $52 I believe. I love that this palette gives you a wide variety of both matte and shimmery shades. It's a very versatile palette and although there is the pop of navy and plum shade in the palette, the other shades can still create very wearable day-to-day looks. This palette also gives the ability to create really dark and smokey night looks with the grey/silver and black shade which I love. 

The pigmentation of the shades are amazing - if you own the original Lorac Pro palette, you'd know that the quality of these shadows are really, really nice. You don't have to work very hard to blend the shadows as they so smooth and buttery. I find that so weird to describe eyeshadows haha - buttery... But they do go on very easily and beautifully. I do find that there is a bit of fallout so do be careful when using the darker shades.

There are more cooler tones in this palette than the original so if you prefer more warmer shades such as bronze and gold toned shadows, I would highly recommend the original Lorac Pro palette.

All of the following swatches were done without a primer

Buff - I love this shade for highlighting my brow-bone! It's the perfect shade to highlight as it's not too white (has some yellow undertones to it). However, this shade might not show up as well if you do have a more tan complexion as it only JUST shows up on mine and I tend to use the lightest foundation shades for any foundation
I love using Lt. Brown and Nectar as contour and transition/blending colours
When I used Cool Gray all over the lids with MAC's Satin Taupe and Chrome, it created a very beautiful and hazy smokey eye - love it for the cooler seasons!

Plum is such a beautiful colour for the colder seasons as well! I like to use Buff all over my lids, then just place Plum in the outer V of my eye for some definition and that's it! Instant autumn smokey eye :3

Snow - like it's name, is a very frosty white shade. I only like to use this shade to highlight my inner corners
Beige, Rose and Mocha are great for more wearable and everyday eye looks

I love Silver for a more festive or dramatic smokey eye look - how pigmented is it? Such amazing pigmentation!
I also love how Jade isn't as green which definitely makes it more wearable

Overall: I love this palette! I think it's very versatile and gives a break from all the other neutral palettes that I own. I love the extra pop of colours in this palette that are still very wearable and again, the pigmentation is amazing. If you're wanting to choose a palette that's very versatile, I would highly recommend this palette. However, if you prefer more neutral/warmer tones, I would recommend the original Lorac Pro, Urban Decay Naked 1 and the Too Faced Chocolate Palette. Those palettes have very basic and neutral shades that also can be used for any occasion. But yeah, I would definitely recommend this if you want to add some other colours to your eye looks.

Have you tried this palette yet? Would you get it now that you've seen the swatches?
What are your thoughts on this in comparison to the original Lorac Pro Palette?

That's all for this post, I hope you all have a wonderful day. Stay safe and I'll see you  guys in my next post.

xx Pochu

(All products mentioned above was purchased with my own money. Opinions are 100% my own)

What's in my in-flight travel bag?

Hi everyone!

I am travelling to the U.S of A this Thursday and I am so excited! I should actually be studying for my exam that I have this coming Wednesday but I am too excited. So I'm taking a little break from studying and write up this post.
I originally wanted to actually film and make this into a video but yeah... I didn't have a big enough memory card so that didn't work out. I will be vlogging while I'm in America so I'll make sure to be putting those up since they have super fast internet there.

Onto the post.

I am taking my Michael Kors Jet Set Travel Tote that I got for my birthday this year. Thanks girlies! I love it! I have it in the large size and it also has a padded section in the middle where you can keep you laptop :)

• Pens - You never know when you're gonna need a pen to fill out forms and stuff! Always handy to have around
• Toothbrush - for use on the plane
• TSA bag (from Priceline) - For all liquids (must be under 100mL each). I will also have a separate post showing all the individual products that I have in my TSA bag soon
• Pocket Tissues - always handy to have!
• Lip balm - I am someone that always need lip balm on me
• Make up bag (from Estee Lauder) - inside has blotting sheets, feminine wipes, band-aids, brow pencil, mirror, pain killers and sleeping tablets

• Glasses case - I won't be wearing my contacts so I need a safe place for my glasses to go into when I sleep
• Face cloth
• Hydralyte - to keep me hydrated. I will be trying to drink as much water as possible but I don't want to be drinking like 2L of water while I'm on the plane since it'll be annoying for others and myself if I'm having to keep getting up and going to the toilet all the time :P
• Anti-Bacterial wipes - to use before I eat and stuff
• Empty water bottle - I'm going to fill this up with water after I pass through security since you're not allowed to carry water with you
• Notebook (from Typo) - has all my numbers that I need if I ever lose anything, lists of what people want and just random dates to remember
• Tampons - pretty sure I'm going to get my period this week so gotta have these ready for when I do LOL

• Travel wallet (from Typo) - has my e-ticket/itinerary, passport, cash and cards
• Pouch (from Mimco) - to keep my passport, cash and cards in with me at all times when I get to America
• Tablet (ASUS) - entertainment, work and yeah

• Chargers - for my phone, camera, tablet and ipod
• Headphones
• I'm also going to be bringing a neck pillow which I forgot to take a photo of

So yeah, these are all the things that I have in my in-flight travel bag! I am soooo excited! I can't wait to finally meet my boyfriend and yeahhhhhhh. I'm going to be spending a whole month there and omg I can't wait for all the shopping! Serphoraaaaaaaa here I come! I'm going to go so crazy on my makeup purchases there xD

The next time that I post something it'll most likely be in America so until then, stay safe! 

xx Pochu