Moon Child Glow Kit Review

ABH Moon Child Glow Kit Review + Swatches

I have never bought a high end highlight palette (or even a single high end highlight for that matter) until I heard about this palette. Anastasia Beverly Hills is a brand I'm not all that familiar with, but as soon as I saw the packaging and what was inside...

...I fell in love. Intense highlights are my thing, and so is anything duochrome. I know I read somewhere that only three shades are technically duochromes, but I've been trying to find which ones they are and can't seem to find an answer. All of them seem duochrome to me, and either way they're all gorgeous! From what I can tell, this palette will be permanent, but I heard it was limited edition a bit after it came out, so I can't confirm that. Most places I look seem to be saying it's permanent, which I hope is true, because if it's not I need to buy a backup! The palette is $40, and you can buy it here.

Swatches

These are the three shades on the top row. Top to bottom: Blue Ice, Star, and Purple Horseshoe. Unfortunately, my camera and lighting setup doesn't do them justice at all. If you want super intense highlight, it won't be hard to achieve with this palette!

These shades are, from top to bottom: Pink Heart, Lucky Clover, and Blue Moon. This is the bottom row of the palette. Lucky Clover is hands down my favorite shade from this palette. All the shades are unique, but this one is unlike anything I've ever seen - a green highlight that's still wearable for me day-to-day.

Blue Ice is described on the ABH website as "diamond white with an icy blue reflect". I've never used a blue highlight before getting this palette, and I'd never really thought of it as something I would like. I was wrong, though - it's freaking AMAZING.

Star looks like a lovely mint shade in the pan, and that translates onto the cheekbones as well, but in the best possible way. The ABH website describes it as "a moonstone fusion of mint, platinum and silver reflect". This is one of the more 'wearable' highlights in the palette, assuming you aren't as into super bright highlight as me.

Purple Horseshoe has the most small glitters and sparkles of the six, but I really like it that way. You can tell they're there up close, but it works. The ABH website describes it as "a glittering lavender with an arctic blue reflect".

Pink Heart is a lovely highlight, but I also love it as a blush topper. If you use a light hand you can add a pretty pink sheen on top of your blush, which can really pull a whole look together. The ABH website describes this as "pearl white with a pink opal reflect".

Lucky Clover is described on the ABH website as "a shamrock-infused gold with canary yellow diamond reflect". This is my favorite shade in the palette so far - I've never even thought of the idea of a green highlight. I'm glad somebody did, since this is amazing! This shade is the one that convinced me to buy this palette when I still wasn't sure.

Blue Moon is described on the ABH website as "frozen blue with a silver reflect". I go for this one if I want a frosty highlight. I think this is perfect for winter!

My Opinion

I love this palette and I think it's the best highlight palette I've ever seen. If you have very fair skin like me and want an intense highlight, this is for you. I'm not sure if people with darker skin would like it as much, since the highlights themselves are pretty light, but I have seen some pictures on Instagram of these highlights on dark skin and I think they're gorgeous. The formula is amazing, super soft and buttery and pigmented. They have good lasting power, and they look good the whole time rather than fading unevenly or leaving a bunch of sparkles and glitter behind once the color's gone. If you want to make them even more intense than they already are, you can use them wet. I recently tried Purple Horseshoe with some Mac Fix+, and it looked beautiful. One thing to note is that although you can use a light hand, it's still not going to be subtle. I knew that before buying the palette, and that's why I like it. But this probably won't work well for somebody who prefers natural makeup. If you like this palette or want to talk about it, please feel free to leave a comment!

Chocolate Bar Palette Tutorial

Eye Tutorial Using The Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette

I've been loving the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette again, but I've been struggling with one shade in particular - Candied Violet. I don't know if it's this way in everybody's palette, but in mine, it's super dry and unpigmented. It's never bugged me before because I never used the shade but as I've used the palette more, I've been wanting to get use out of every shade, and it's been really difficult to work with Candied Violet. That is, until I tried using it wet. I do find that I have to re-wet it several times because of how quickly it dries out again, but it looks super pretty all over the lid so it's worth it.

I used an e.l.f. Blending Brush to put the shade Milk Chocolate in and above the crease lightly as a transition shade.

Next I used an e.l.f. Crease Brush and put the shade Semi-Sweet into my crease, blending it out with a fluffy blending brush from a Sephora gift set.

After that I used a Kleancolor Eyeshadow Brush to pack the shade Candied Violet, used wet, all over the lid. I also blended it up into the crease using the same blending brush.

Next I used an angled shadow brush from a Sephora gift set to place the shade Cherry Cordial in my outer v, blending it with the same fluffy blending brush.

Using the same angled brush, I used Cherry Cordial on my lower lashline, also blending it out with the same fluffy blending brush.

Add the shade Champagne Truffle (used wet) to the inner corner (I used a brush from a Hautelook and Morphe exclusive set) and the shadow is done!

I added some really dramatic liner and voluminous mascara to finish off the look, but you can do whatever you like. This look would look great with some super dramatic false lashes.

I paired this eye look with MAC's Twig, which has a satin finish. A matte finish would also look good with this eye look. A glossy finish would work as well, but I personally prefer a matte or satin finish with this particular look. A red might distract from the eye look, but if that's what you want then go for it! I personally prefer a nude or more neutral color for this, though.

Palette Collection

My Palette Collection

This will be similar to my lippies collection, but it's about palettes instead of lip products. I only have four eyeshadow palettes, so I'm also including my contour palette. I am in no way trying to brag - I just enjoy these types of posts and thought that maybe others would too.

This is the Makeup Revolution Iconic 3 palette - my current favorite! I really like all the shimmery shades and the mattes are nice too. I mainly like the shimmers, though. The sixth shade from the left is my absolute favorite in the entire palette.

Next is the Makeup Revolution Redemption palette, which I have yet to really play around with. I originally got it because I needed more matte eyeshadows, but I don't know how much I'll end up using the lighter shades, so maybe I should have gone for a palette with more dark shades. Still, it's a nice quality palette, and I'm glad to have a matte black in my collection as well.

This is the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette. This used to be my favorite palette, but I like the Iconic 3 a bit more. It has a really nice highlight shade, though, which I use on my cheekbones. It's called Champagne Truffle.

Next is the Urban Decay Electric palette. I love bright colors, so this is a great palette for me. I've gone through phases of using it every single day, although I'm more into neutrals at the moment. If you like bright and pigmented colors, then this palette is for you!

Lastly is the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour palette in Light to Medium. I use this whenever I contour, and it's great for that, as well as for eyeshadows. It's pigmented, but not so pigmented that you can easily overdo it.

Iconic 3 Review

Makeup Revolution Iconic 3 Palette Review

I recently purchased the Iconic 3 palette from Ulta, and I've been really loving it, so I wanted to give it a review. It costs seven dollars USD and you can purchase it off of Ulta.

Here is the palette itself. The shadows are great quality for the price, super smooth and pretty pigmented. There is very little fallout, as well.

Here are all twelve shades and the applicator it comes with. I've used every single shade and I love them all.

Here they are swatched on my arm. All of them went on this pigmented with just one swatch except for the lightest shades, but that's normal. I also have very fair skin, so I imagine they'd show up better on a darker skin color. My favorite is the sixth one up, which is a very nice shimmery golden shade that I use on the lid. I pair it with the seventh shade up in my crease and sometimes I'll use one of the lighter shimmery shades in the inner corner. When you do that and add winged liner, it looks great! This palette is totally worth the money and I would highly recommend it to a friend.

Matte Palette First Impression

Makeup Revolution Redemption Eyeshadow Palette Essential Mattes First Impression

In my recent Ulta haul, you may have seen a couple of palettes. I've decided to do a first impression on this one, as well as some swatches. You can buy the palette here for $7.00 USD.

Here is the palette. It comes with 12 pretty shades, all matte. The texture is smooth and a bit buttery, although there are some "crumbs" that come off when you rub your finger in the shadows. For seven bucks, the quality is better than I expected, but we'll have to wait and see about their lasting power.

Here are six of the shades...

...and here are the other six. Most of them show up this pigmented with one swatch, but I went over some of the lighter shades twice so they'd show up better on camera. They have medium to high pigmentation, depending on the shade. The darker shades show up more pigmented, which I find to be pretty normal. I'm excited about trying out the blue-grey shade, as I don't own anything like it at the moment. I'm not sure how much use I'll get out of the lighter shades, but even if I only use half of the colors, this palette will still be worth the money to me.

Makeup Tutorial

Neutral Eye Makeup With Sparkle Tutorial

Welcome to my first-ever eye makeup tutorial! I decided I wanted to do a nice neutral eye with some sparkle and a red lip, so I created this using only shadows from the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette.

Step One

Apply the shade "Salted Caramel" to the crease. Make sure to get it all across the crease and blend it well.

Step Two

Pack the shade "Marzipan" onto the lid. It gives a very nice shimmer.

Step Three

Apply "Champagne Truffle" to the inner corner and brow bone.

Step Four

Apply "Creme Brulee" to the outer corner of the lid. This adds both dimension and more shimmer.

Step Five

Blend, blend, blend! This softens the look and gets rid of any harsh lines.

Step Six

Add winged liner using NYC's liquid eyeliner in black. Mine isn't perfect, but I figured that the more I tried to fix it, the worse it would end up.

Step Seven

Curl your lashes and apply Covergirl's Super Sizer mascara to both top and bottom lashes. Curling is optional, but I prefer how it looks

Optional: A Red Lip

If you want to, you can apply e.l.f.'s lip stain in Hot Tamale to complete the look.

If you want to, you can apply an eye shadow primer at the beginning as well. This will help the look last longer and not crease as quickly.

Contour Kit First Impression

Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit First Impression

I wanted to start contouring, and I had some extra money, so I thought, why not get this contour palette I've wanted for a while now? It's $40.00 USD on Sephora, which is pricey compared to a drugstore palette such as the one from NYX, but I was in the mood to splurge a bit. I've only used it three or four times, so it's too early to give a review, but I was excited to share it.

The packaging seems to be made out of a very dense, sturdy cardboard-type material. It feels very smooth and all fancy and stuff.

It comes with six colors, three to highlight and three to contour.I got the light to medium palette. I find the highlighting shades don't work as highlights on my skin tone, but they work great as setting powders. I use the bottom right shade to bronze and the bottom middle shade to contour. I haven't found a use for the bottom left shade yet, but I'm sure I will by the time I do a full review on this palette. Overall, my first impression is that this palette is absolutely fantastic, but we'll see if that changes over time.

Chocolate Bar Palette Review

Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette Review

I received the Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette as a Christmas gift and immediately fell in love with it. It literally SMELLS LIKE CHOCOLATE, guys! It was my very first high end palette, and one of my first high end products.

The packaging is fantastic. It looks like a giant chocolate bar! It's made from a hard, sturdy-feeling plastic. It also comes with a little booklet thingy of eye shadow look ideas!

Inside the palette is a plastic insert with the names of the shadows that I have somehow managed to not lose. I wish that it had the names printed on the packaging, like the Semi-Sweet palette does, but it's not a huge inconvenience once you get used to it.

Now we get to the good stuff - the shadows! There's 16 in total, two big highlight shades (I even use the shimmery one as a cheekbone highlight) and 14 slightly smaller than average ones. First is Gilded Ganache, a dark brown shimmer with a slight greenish tinge. Next is white chocolate, a matte cream color. After that is Milk Chocolate, a matte light brown. Next up is Black Forest Truffle, a shimmery dark brown. After that we have Triple Fudge, a dark brown matte. Next we have my favorite crease shade, Salted Caramel, a light reddish-brown. After that is Marzipan, a shimmery rose gold. Then is Semi-Sweet, a matte medium brown. Next is Strawberry Bon-Bon, a matte light pink which is not very pigmented, especially compared to the other shades, which are all highly pigmented. After that is Candied Violet, a dark purple shimmer. Then is Amaretto, a shimmery medium brown. Next is Hazelnut, a shimmery medium brown. After that is my personal favorite, Creme Brulee, a shimmery gold. Next up is Haute Chocolate, a shimmery medium brown. Then we have Cherry Cordial, a dark matte red-brown. Lastly is Champagne Truffle, a shimmery light purple-pink.

All of the shadows except for Strawberry Bon-Bon are quite pigmented, at least on my skin tone - I expect that it would show up better if I had darker skin. Otherwise, even White Chocolate shows up pretty well, although not *quite* as well as the darker colors, since it's honestly pretty close to my skin tone. There is little to no fallout, depending on what brush you use. I plan to do a few tutorials with this palette soon, so look out for those! You can purchase the palette here for $49.00 USD, which I think is a good price for the quality you get.