A Month In Photos, January

one. I made a post all about the gorgeous En Taupe palette from Zoeva

two. my most recent post which is all about my January favourites features these products

three. some of the items that were featured in my yearly favourites

four. a few more of the products from my 2015 favourites post

five. I was feeling a seriously bronzed look and shared some of the products I used for this six. a few pieces from a face of the day, using another beautiful palette from Zoeva seven. I found my old camera and decided to post a photo of myself which is very unlike me! eight. my absolute favourite palette at the moment, I need to buy some more shadows for this soon

Zoeva En Taupe Palette

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a sucker for the Zoeva palettes, but every time a new one is released I know that I'll eventually buy it. And the latest addition to the family is the En Taupe palette which is built up of ten shades based around the autumnal browns and taupes, leaving us with a very versatile palette.
Like all of there other palettes, each shadow has a lot of product and I honestly think that these palettes can't be beaten especially when it comes to the price point. It also has a mixture of shimmers and mattes, and so I find that I can create natural day time looks with this as well as more dramatic night time looks because this palette has some beautiful glittery and shimmery shades in it! I do find that because this is a more taupe based palette, I don't use it as often as I would like purely because I'm not used to seeing some of the colour with my complexion. 

On the top row of the palette there is a shade perfect for highlighting which is called Stitch by Stitch, and this is just an off white matte shade and I always prefer to have a matte highlight as I'm someone who will go for shimmery shades on the lid and this always helps to balance it all out. There is also two amazing crease shades on the top row, the first being Hour by Hour which is has a peach tone to it and I love this because it reminds me of Makeup Geek's Peach Smoothie  shadow which I use as a transition shade for so many different looks and so whenever I use this palette, that is always my transitional colour. There is also the shade Gallery which is a lot more brown toned and so I find that this works well in the crease and it's a brown that will go with all the other shades in this palette! One of my favourite shades from this palette has to be Old Master and up until recently I was someone who would stay away from glittery eyeshadows but since trying some out, I feel like they look really flattering for special occasions and this is a shade that has a lot of purple to it and then it has fine gold shimmer running through it, and so it looks beautiful with any purple or taupe based looks. 

Then we have the bottom row, which holds more of the shimmery shades, and I think that the shade Outline is my favourite from all the shimmers because it is a lot more brown based and I just tend to find that browns suit more a lot better due to having blue eyes but all the shimmery shades in this palette are so buttery and soft as well as being so easy to work with and the bonus is that there is minimal fallout! But the best shade on this row, I would have to say is the only matte shade called Exquisite which is a straight up taupe purple shade which looks amazing in the crease and outer corner of the eye when using this palette to do an eye look, although I do have to admit that this shade is a lot harder to work with and I feel like you really have to build up colour especially if you're someone who doesn't use a primer for their eyeshadow.

Overall, I would have to say that this a lovely palette and for taupe lovers it is a must have but I do tend to find myself reaching for other Zoeva palettes over this one, plus the pigmentation is a few of these shadows could have been better. However I definitely do have my eye on the new palettes from the spectrum collection that recently launched!
Have any of you tried this palette, if so what are your thoughts? Are there any other Zoeva palettes that you would recommend?

A Neutral Love

To celebrate the new year, I made a new beauty purchase because whilst many were out spending the last night of the year surrounded by music and alcohol, I spent mine surrounded with fast food aka at work! So why not make an online purchase? I decided that after weeks of having the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette sat in my basket, I would finally take the plunge and buy it, and along with this I also decided to try out a palette by Zoeva, and decided on the Naturally Yours palette which is another neutral palette.. Can you see a trend?

Too Faced is a brand that I have become a lot more aware about during 2014 and I think that this is because it is a brand that blew up in the bloggersphere for whatever reasons but I am so glad I finally took the plunge and made a purchase because I will definitely be buying more from this brand! After reading a lot of reviews about the Chocolate Bar palette, and having it sat in an online basket for ages, I thought the ‘why not?’ This is such a beautiful palette and for those of you who don't know already, yes it smells like chocolate so what more could want?! What I like about this palette is that much like the Naked palettes there's a mix of shimmer and matte shades but due to this palette housing three more shades there is two larger shades for highlighting and also a pop of colour in the palette in terms of the pink, blue and cranberry shades! 

Zoeva is a brand that also made a grand appearance last year in terms of their brushes and I must admit, for the eyes, their brushes are all I seem to use now! But I really wanted to branch into the makeup side of this brand and thought I would do so with a palette.. No surprises over here! But on serious note, if you haven't tried anything from the brand, do so right now because you're missing out! The first thing to note about this palette is that there is a matte white and a matte black which in my opinion is great because I'm someone who prefers matte shades but a white and black always come in handy! And then there are eight neutral shades, some shimmer and some matte and the size of these eyeshadows is larger than the average and so for £15 you really are getting your money's worth with this!

The one major difference with these palettes is their packaging and this is because the Zoeva palette is housed by cardboard with a beautiful pattern on and it and although it is cardboard there is a magnetic closing with this so its not the worst packaging in the world but you can tell that the Too Faced have spent more on theirs! The Chocolate Bar palette is a metal case also with a magnetic closing but this palette is in the shape of a chocolate bar and just feels more expensive and more sturdy in comparison to the Zoeva one.

Both of these palettes have great qualities about them and I would recommend both however the Zoeva palette is a lot more affordable than the Too Faced one so it just depends on what kind of palette you are looking for! I feel that both of these hold a high pigmentation, with Too Faced perhaps being slightly better and more buttery in texture so these are easily blended but the Zoeva eyeshadows are far from difficult to blend and I have been using both of these palettes since they first arrived!

Have any of you tried anything from either of these brands, or wanting to try products from them?

Zoeva Rose Golden Luxury Set

After seeing so many reviews on the Zoeva brushes, I decided it was time to just order a set and see what all the raving was about! Admittedly, I'm a little late jumping on this bandwagon but I had been placing these brushes in my basket and then never ordering them - living the life of indecision. 

But I have them and now I can see what all the fuss was about, these brushes are the softest, I can't even express how soft they are. And I think we all fell for the packaging, I mean who can resist the lovely rose gold handles. The answer is no one can. 

I haven't had the chance to use all of the brushes yet but I can see them all being very good to use and with a couple of dupes in there, this set is one to buy if you haven't already! The best dupe in the set is probably the 227 brush which unsurprisingly is pretty much the same as the MAC 127 - if not softer! 

Anyone looking for reasonably priced brush sets (or just single brushes) should look into getting Zoeva brushes because not only is the price cheap enough for people on budget, but the quality of the brushes doesn't drop because of the price! And I would like to try some of their make up products after hearing some good things about them!

Have any of you tried any of the Zoeva products? Or been lusting over this set just like I had been?