I have to admit to being a tad slow with my reviews as of late, I’m hoping now that since the year is gradually coming to an end it’ll give me a great opportunity to sort myself out. Estee Lauder kindly gifted me with this palette quite a few months ago, but I only just recently got around to using it and hence reviewing it.

Estee Lauder’s Five Color Eyeshadow Palettes comes in a range of colours, from what I can see they range from neutrals to some more earthy colours such as blues and purples, don’t however expect any neon yellows, this is Estee Lauder after all

I loved that the colours in this palette really did complement each other, I was able to use all five when doing my eyes, but honestly I probably could get away with using 2-3 if I was going for a simply smokey eye. I am glad that the black portion of the palette is the smallest as that is always the shade I use the least of. A little goes a long way!

Quality wise, this palette is impressive. You can see in the swatches below that they all swatch pretty well, if I was being nit picky I’d say that the gray shades were probably the most stubborn, but that’s me searching for a reasons.

This palette retails for $90AU at Myer or David Jones, most certainly not a cheap palette by any means. The colours are lovely, but certainly not unique if you’re someone on a very tight budget who wants this same look, I’m sure you can achieve it with more budget eye shadows.

But this palette would be perfect if you have the cash, luxury palettes in general to me are great splurges

Sorry for the blurry images X_x; I’m testing out a new lighting set up, a rather crappy one I have to admit. Hopefully I can work on it a bit more this long weekend!

This is a very interesting product, I still can’t decide if it’s a bronzer or highlighter. On the one hand, the actual colour is too dark to highlight my skin tone; on the other hand it’s far too shimmery to be a bronzer. So I’m left feeling curious. I like the product design, it’s unusual. I actually didn’t want to use it so I could preserve the design, but then what so of blogger would I be? Especially since the lovely ladies at Estee Lauder provided this for me, the least I could do was use it!

Based on my experience I think this would actually really suit people with a darker skin with warm undertones. Which means I really ought to test this theory out on Sefie! But in my mind I can see this giving her a really sun kissed glow.

As for myself and my NC15 / NC20 skin tone, I’ve actually been using this as an eye shadow for all over the lid which is my favourite way to use it. I have also tried it on my cheek bones as you’ll see below and the result was better than I expected! It blended well into my skin tone. I probably wouldn’t turn to it as my primary highlighter though because I think it tends to make me look a little tanned.

I haven’t been able to find this on the Estee Lauder website, so I’d recommend going to one in store to see if they are still available. These go for $75AU a pop so I recommend testing this in person first anyways before handing over that much moola.

Pros:

• Hygienic packaging
• Little goes a long way
• Can be used alone
• Leaves skin feeling moisturised
• Smooths skin over time

Cons:

• Strong smell
• No major changes to skin

Price: $105AU 30ml / $150AU 50ml

Rating:

Where: Estee Lauder, Myer and David Jones

To me, serums have never been an essential part of my skin care routine, but I continue to use them hoping that their continued use will prove beneficial.

This particular serum is one of Estée Lauder’s most popular products, so I was super excited when I discovered that Estée lauder had provided it for the MBBE girls to use, hence it was in my goody bag

I’ve been using this for several months now, and am about 50% of the way through this bottle, I was given the 50ml bottle and so far I plan to finish it up So good enough to finish~

Generally speaking, this is a lovely product. I use it after toner and before moisturiser at night, and have noticed some slight improvements in my skin. For example, foundations appear to apply smoother, but the difference is ever so slight as I’m fortunate enough to have relatively good skin.

I have no idea if this would be far more beneficial for someone with more problematic skin, but I can vouch that it at least hasn’t caused mine any harm. All in all, it’s an expensive, luxurious product and if you can spare the cash, give it a go~ I find when in a rush, this works great as a light moisturiser that I can substitute my traditional moisturiser with and I feel more relaxed after using it

Pros:

• Very moisturising and lightweight
• No scent
• Cream is on the rich side, better for drier skins

Cons:

• Tub packaging
• Slightly greasy
• No visible changes

Price: $85AU ~ $120AU

Rating:

Where: Estee Lauder, Myer or David Jones.

I’m hoping you can see a bit of a skin care trend with me, I don’t really review stuff like eye creams or moisturisers (or any long term products) until I’ve at least finished one container of it or have used it for more than 30 days, because I don’t think you can really assess the results unless you do give it that amount of time.

I received this as a deluxe sample from a promotion Estée Lauder was running earlier in the year and have only just recently finished the entire container (lasted me just over a month). I used it primarily as a night time moisturiser, despite it containing SPF15 (I did this because I personally prefer to use SPF20+ products during the day), the product states it is for Normal / Combination Skin.

I found it to be very moisturising, after applying it it did feel slightly greasy, but by the time I woke up the next morning it was gone and my skin felt nice and hydrated But that’s pretty much where it stopped for me.

Despite the packaging clearly stating it is suppose to help reduce lines and wrinkles, I didn’t notice any changes on my skin. Admittedly I don’t have wrinkles nor real fine lines (apparently the ones I complain about under my eyes are contour lines that everyone has, I dunno…. *glares at Sefie*), but I would have at least expected some softening of my “contour” lines if this product had any beneficial effects on lines.

All in all, it’s a great little moisturier for keeping your skin hydrated, the SPF15 is certainly an added bonus which I’m sure many will love. It’s great, but not great enough for me to want to stick with it permanent, especially when there is a wealth of other fun products to try out~

Pros:

• Moisturising
• Glides on
• Delicious fruity smell
• Very good pigmentation
• Appears glossy

Cons:

• Slightly sticky

Price: $42AU

Rating:

Where: David Jones, Myer or online.

I don’t have a whole lot to say about this lipstick that hasn’t already been said on my previous review regarding the same lipstick, only in Nude Almond. So feel free to click through and read it there.

The only differing thing I can comment on is the colour, which is a gorgeous purple magenta shade, very pigmented and hence will last quite a bit longer than it’s Nude Almond counter part. I was provided this particular shade during the MBBE event last year, as I think most of the other girls were. How amazing is this shade?

It seems to appear in some photos almost reddish, but I’ll go ahead and blame my white balance for that

I’ve seen a couple of other beauty bloggers doing this series where they talk about the products they have finished for the month, along with a couple of their thoughts on the product~ I thought it was a fun idea and wanted to give it a shot too, I’m considering doing a monthly favourites post too… or video, huh, maybe when I get over my anxiety over talking to a camera hehe.

• OPI Original Nail Envy
• Estee lauder Advanced Night Repair Sample
• Estee Lauder Sumptous Bold Volume Lifting Mascara – Black

OPI Original Nail Envy
Used this as a base coat for almost 2 years, don’t really see what all the hype is about, this didn’t make my nails stronger. My nails tend to chip easily on their own, and using this made no difference.

Estee lauder Advanced Night Repair Sample
Don’t have much to say at the moment, I was actually provided a full sized version at MBBE last year and am only now starting to work through it, no visible results, but it does feel nice?

Estee Lauder Sumptous Bold Volume Lifting Mascara – Black
Lovely mascara! Makes my lashes look nice and plump without smudging, but doesn’t give great length and dries out pretty fast.

And that’s it for the month of April~ You can be sure most of my “empties” posts are going to be more focused on skin care products just because I go through them much faster, but I hope you’ve found my mini reviews helpful

Sefie is my makeup partner in crime~ We’ve been obsessing over makeup for many years now and could sadly spend hours talking about it (even ran the Manifest Cosplay Makeup Panel together with Annie!) Sefie is kind enough to often forward any special makeup promotions going around at counters, and last week she informed me that Estée Lauder counters at David Jones were handing out free lipstick samples!

We ended up going to the counter together and each getting a sample, to which I exclaimed that I have more blogging material, thank you Sefie-chan!

How cute right? I’m not sure if the counters are still running this offer, but seeing as it’s pretty new and I only got mine last Thursday, I’d think your chances are good and go have a look! It even comes with a free mini lip brush

Enjoy the swatches, now rather tempted to get the full sized versions