Natasha Denona Mini Retro Eyeshadow Palette Review

By Glow Up Beauty Blog - March 07, 2021

I'm so excited to share with you this eyeshadow palette from Natasha Denona! This is my first item from her and I have to say I'm not disappointed, the only disappointment that happened to me was that I ordered this from LookFantastic.com last November and it only arrived now in March! I contacted them multiple times and it was quite a big hassle in the end.

Anyway, let's dive in!

Natasha Denona Mini Retro Palette £22 / 24,95 €

What it promises:

Five dreamy colors for romantic retro looks
Inspired by the color theme of the 60s
Perfect for a soft pastel look & everyday wear.
Provides maximum color payoff with minimal effort
Blending seamlessly to achieve vibrant, ultra-pigmented, long-lasting looks.
Its’ compact size is perfect for traveling

THE FORMULA

This eyeshadow formula is an absolute dream, when I say it - I mean it. It is the best eyeshadow formula I have ever tried. The mattes are so buttery, pigmented but perfectly blendable. You can easily pack more colour or just use it as a wash of pigment.

The Natasha Denona Mini Retro Eyeshadow Palette contains a few different eyeshadow types - we have two mattes, one satin shimmer, and two gorgeous shimmer shades that are really special! This would be a great first eyeshadow palette for anyone as it is so easy to use.

Natasha Denona Mini Retro Eyeshadow Palette Swatches

COLOURS

SHADE DESCRIPTION:

- Galaxia- light nude with green and blue sparks

- Industrial- green taupe with silver reflects

- '60s- greenish grey

- Vintage Taupe- antique rose

- Pixie- pink with champagne shift

The colours are beautiful and don't let the description of green taupe or greenish grey fool you - these shades show on your eyelid beautifully, the undertone suits well even me -who has very pale skin and cool undertones and sometimes colours like this make me look ill - this absolutely doesn't.

PACKAGING

The packaging is simple - high-quality small plastic compact with a strong magnet. Overall it feels sturdy and luxurious so you won't be worried about breaking the palette even if you use it for years. The pans are smaller than usual in palettes, but to be honest I really like that as I rarely hit the pan anyway.

OVERALL 5/5

I would purchase more palettes from Natasha Denona, the quality is amazing and these mini palettes really don't cost an arm and a leg so I would recommend these to people too. Would I buy her big expensive palettes? Most likely not, I do not like big palettes and the price is just way too up there. Have you tried Natasha Denona before?

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Jouer Blush Bouquet Rose Gold Review

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My favourite Zoeva makeup brushes

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Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Review

By Glow Up Beauty Blog - January 07, 2021

AMBIENT™ LIGHTING EDIT – SCULPTURE - £75 / €84

Hourglass is one of the brands I have wanted to try for a long time.

I picked up Ambient Lighting Edit - Sculpture from the Cult Beauty sale. It contains six baked powders from setting powders to bronzers and blushers. It is said that the hourglass powder formula capture, diffuse, and soften the surrounding light, filtering out harsh beams to blur the visibility of imperfections, pores, and wrinkles, leaving skin looking softer, more youthful, and beautifully lit-from-within.

I was super excited to try this as I love using more glowy based face powder formulas.

What you get in the Ambient Lighting Edit palette:

1. Ambient face powders x 2

2. Highlighter

3. Bronzer

4. Blushers x 2

AMBIENT LIGHT POWDERS

In the palette, you get two finishing powders - Dim Light and Diffused Light. Overall Ambient Lighting powders come in 6 shades that are said to give different lighting effect on the skin. ‘Dim Light’, a neutral peach beige that blurs imperfections with the ideal balance of warm and cool tones ‘Diffused Light’, which conceals redness and offers the clarity of the morning’s first rays.

I'm not really sure if the powders are really that magical that they will offer the clarity of morning's first rays, but on the skin, they apply smoothly and give a soft healthy look to the skin. They don't offer coverage but they blur and give the skin more perfected look.

The Dim Light is a peach beige and a bit too dark for me for everyday use when I'm pale, but when mixing with the diffused light the overall colour becomes softer.

The Diffused Light is my favourite. The powder has a neutral undertone and the lightness of the powder goes well with my winter pale skin.

STROBE POWDER

You get one highlighter in this palette called Glistening Strobe Light that is a very warm-toned, light gold with a luminous finish. It is unfortunately too dark for my pale winter skin, so I mix this with diffused light to create overall light face powder.

The Ambient Strobe Lighting Powders promise a sheer base with concentrated ultra-fine micro pearl particles in varying sizes that give off a naturally luminescent highlight to the skin without a heavy metallic finish. I'm a big fan of more natural-looking highlighters, but when using this I wasn't too sure that I could see enough glow on my skin. This could be also because the colour was too dark for me that the shine effect didn't really show through.

Let me know in the comments how this colour translates on your skin!

BRONZER

You get one bronzer in this palette and it is called natural bronze light. Natural Bronze Light is described as a light-medium brown with moderate, warm undertones and a satiny sheen. On my cool skin tone, the bronzer looked definitely warm-toned and very pigmented on me even if the powder is described as semi-opaque with buildable pigmentation and a soft sheen.

Overall the formula is beautiful, applies soft and it has a blurring effect on the skin, but as the colour is a bit too dark for me I can't really give a full review on this yet. At summer time I will definitely revisit this bronzer!

BLUSHERS

Vibrant Flush is a bright, medium coral with a subtle pink undertone and luminous finish. It is opaque with a soft, silky texture. This is a gorgeous blush but it needs a soft hand when applied, on my skin tone I easily apply too much. I really love the vibrant colour and I think this would go nicely with spring and summer makeup looks.

The other blush is called - Mood Exposure and it is a light, rosy mauve with moderate, warm undertones and a satin sheen finish. It has buildable coverage and can be layered on top of other blushers. The texture was silky-smooth, finely-milled and blurs imperfections when applied on the skin. This blush was my favourite powder from this palette. It had gorgeous neutral undertone and it can be layered on top of your other makeup. If I would buy one full-size item from this palette it would be this.

OVERALL

I hope I had purchased this palette year before when it was more catered towards pale skin tones, but otherwise, the formula is beautiful and applies gorgeously even to dry skin. I think this powder palette would be amazing especially for more mature skin as it doesn't seem to dry out the skin or mattify it too much,

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Zoeva Cocoa Blend Eyeshadow Palette and Highlighter Duo

By Glow Up Beauty Blog - December 30, 2020

As tempting as a box of pralinés, the indulgent ZOEVA Cocoa Blend Eyeshadow Palette offers a choice of warm truffle tones with notes of delicate nougat hues and shimmery marzipan shades, bathed in rich and full of depth chocolate. Resulting out of a world of sweet sins, the silky textures unravel on the lids like lush, melted ganache and deliver an unparalleled delight for the senses – for ultra-seductive glamour makeups. - Zoeva website

This chocolate-inspired eyeshadow palette is an elevated version of your normal kich-like seasonal palettes that smell of chocolate. Maybe that is why this has really become one of my favourites from Zoeva. The hues are versatile, but the core of the palette is the matte brown basics that so many of us wear every day.

Cocoa Blend Eyeshadow Formula:

The formula is classic Zoeva formula, non-crumbly, a bit stiffer but super blendable and very premium quality mattes and sheen eyeshadows. You can create amazing diffused eyeshadow looks with this palette that is effortless and looks professional. There are few not-so-great shades such as Bitter Start that is creamy light beige, that unfortunately doesn't really show up. Also, the delicate acidity to me seems a bit muddy. The palette also has two dark black shades one with a hint of shimmer and one matte - I don't really see how you would really use both as they look almost identical.

The rest of the palette is so gorgeous that I totally forget the few mishaps and use the brown mattes all the time. The eyeshadow palette is made in Italy.

Cocoa Blend Highlighter Formula:

The Cocoa Blend highlighter formula is something I would call premium classical formula - meaning it gives the skin lovely glow that is smooth and doesn't emphasize texture, but it won't give you that super pop highlighted cheek and I like that. I prefer highlighters that are more subtle.

The Cocoa Blend highlighter has two colours - The Dessert a creamy champagne highlighter and The Mastery of Chocolate a neutral-toned pink highlighted. This is my go-to highlighter palette at the moment, the champagne highlighter colour is so beautiful and sometimes I use the other colour as a blush.

The highlighter palette is made in Germany.

Overall Cocoa Blend eyeshadow palette is one of my favourites 2020, while it has downsides you can never go wrong with good brown mattes with some gorgeous sheen shimmers.

What is your favourite palette of 2020?

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Zoeva Screen Queen Eyeshadow palette

By Glow Up Beauty Blog - December 28, 2020

Zoeva was founded by Zoe Boikou. Born in Greece, Zoe Boikou moved to Germany with her family at a young age to seek a better life. Having little means but great resourcefulness, she soon evolved from selling a handful of brushes on eBay to 300-plus signature makeup formulas, palettes and tools sold around the world.

I recently purchased a few eyeshadow palettes from Zoeva and after a bit of a play with the eyeshadows, I have totally fallen in love with the formula. Zoeva has a unique formula and you really need to use the shadows to see if you like it.

Zoeva Screen Queen eyeshadow £21

The Screen Queen eyeshadow palette was inspired by the glitz of Tinseltown. ZOEVA Screen Queen Eyeshadow Palette takes center stage with an entourage of highly pigmented, ultra-rich shadows. Dive into ten starlet-worthy shades, including a shimmery rose gold, matte soft pink, mesmerizing peach, lustrous icy blue, shiny dark purple, and a glittery taupe - explains the Zoeva website.

My favorite shade from the palette is the icy blue called eye a painter, even if I'm not usually a fan of pastel shades or anything blue, but this shade really blends out so gorgeously that it looks amazing on my lid. Other shades such as the matte Hollywood influencer and the relentless perfectionism are gorgeous as well.

Overall I wished a few more mattes and some of the shadows such as mirror motif seem to be a bit hard to apply and get to show on the lid.

Packaging: The palette is made from high-quality cardboard and it has a magnetic closure. Overall it feels very sturdy and good quality. The look of the palette is gorgeous and has a 'great gatsby' feel to it.

Texture/Formula: The formula is classic Zoeva, nonflaky super smooth blendable shadows that even the darker shades can be diffused out to a lovely natural looking washes of color. The shimmers and metallics are soft and natural. Overall the formula is super soft and you can create amazing 'diffused' looks with this. If you are looking for more 'in your' face shimmers or metallics, this is not your palette.

Colours: You get in total of 10 shadows. One matte shade and 9 shimmer and metallic shades from rusty browns and reds to icy blue and deep khaki shades.

Made in: The palette is made in Italy.

I really love this palette but it is not my favourite from Zoeva, few shades do not apply well and I do struggle to create looks only with this palette, I always use matte shades from other palettes.

What is your favourite Zoeva palette?

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Chanel Rouge 64 Pink Explosion Blush Review

By Glow Up Beauty Blog - December 27, 2020

Indispensable, it enhances the complexion, structures the face and creates a healthy glow effect. Uniting colour and radiance, it accentuates cheekbones and lights up the entire face. Its fine and silky powder texture glides on easily. A convenient on-the-go case that goes wherever you do for easy touch-ups during the day. - Chanel website

The Chanel Blushers promise extremely soft, fine and silky powder texture and that is what you will receive. My Chanel JOUES CONTRASTE Blush has been so loved in my collection that I think I am able to pan this beauty in 2021 and buy more Chanel blushers after that!

The Formula:

The Chanel JOUES CONTRASTE is a baked powder blush formula that is super fine and silky to the touch. It is almost untraceable when trying to swatch this with my finger, but when used with a brush it gives the perfect amount of colour to my cheeks. This might be also that the blush has been used and well-loved (as you can see from the images) for so many years that the formula has become stiffer. I have also found out that this blush is one of my longest-lasting on my cheeks during the day, it works with all of my foundations and looks great every day.

The price is pretty high for a blush, but overall it lasts so long that it is a great investment if you are someone who loves Chanel and uses only one blush at a time.

The Packaging:

The packaging is the classic black plastic compact with a large mirror and brush that no one really uses, it is great on the go, but usually, I don't reach for it. Overall the packaging feels sturdy but as I have had mine for so many years, the mirror did fall down and become loose. I just need to reglue it, but haven't done that yet.

The colour I have is 64 PINK EXPLOSION and while on the pan it seems quite a bright pink, when applied with a brush you can sheer this out to be the most flattering youthful natural pink on your cheeks. In 2020 this was my favourite blush, even if I purchased so many blushers this year, I always reached for this.

I plan on purchasing more Chanel blushes in 2021. Please comment below which shade I should get!

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Charlotte Tilbury Exagger-Eyes Eyeshadow Palette Review

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Benefit

Perfect Stocking Filler? - Benefit Minis Review

By Glow Up Beauty Blog - November 30, 2020

While Benefit's brand image has never been the most appealing to me, their affordable minis, raved brow products and powder formulas have been catching my eye time to time. I picked up recently a Dandelion blush with a gift card to a department store to try out the blush formula and with that I started using again my old Hoola Bronzer sample that I'm trying to pan. Panning this hasn't been easy and I feel that I don't have even a dip yet on the middle of the pan.

Anyway here is a bit of a review on Hoola and Dandelion.

Benefit Dandelion mini £14.50

Travel size
Hint of shimmer
Buildable color
Soft, natural-bristle brush included

This mini size blush is not cheap, but it all comes with a mirror and 3.5g of product that will take you a while to go through. I wished they had left the mirror out and sold the item a bit cheaper as I don't think that many people really use the tiny mirror in the compact.

The formula is lovely and the colour is very light neutral toned pink that is quite perfect for my fair skin when I don't self-tan. While I really love the colour, I feel sometimes the shade itself comes off a bit too baby-doll pink on my skin-tone and unless I go with that look it can look a bit young for me.

Even if I don't mind the mirror, I think the packaging is cute and very different to anything else in the market.

Benefit Hoola super mini (sample only sold with kits)

Sun-kissed glow
Great for contouring
Soft, natural-bristle brush included
Mini format ideal for travels or first time users

I really like this bronzer! It is one of my go-to bronzers and I think it works well with my fair skin tone. The formula is super blendable, smooth and soft. It also leave soft matte look to the skin that is super important to me - I usually prefer my bronzers soft matte and not shimmery.

The packaging is simple plastic compact, feels secure and super mini size that is easy to take with you everwhere.

I don't have anything bad to say about this bronzer. This size is 3g and I have used it for ages and you can't even see the pan yet. Would definitely recommend the mini size - it will last long time!

Overall I would pick these up in a set. Benefit does a lot of sets with bronzers, highlighters and blushers. Here is one: https://www.boots.com/benefit/benefit-gifts/benefit-cheek-party-mini-blushes-and-bronzer-10286531

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Zoeva Naturally Yours Palette Review

By Glow Up Beauty Blog - November 21, 2020

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Luxury

Sensitive Skin Experts - Pai Skincare Is it Worth it?

By Glow Up Beauty Blog - November 17, 2020

Certified Organic Skincare For Sensitive Skin - this is Pai skincare. I remember Pai Skincare launching with only few products a few years ago, now fast forward to 2020, Pai has a large product offering all catered to sensitive skin.

What really makes Pai unique is that every one of their product is formulated and manufactured in their London HQ. The products are natural, organic and independently certified by Cosmos (Soil Association), Cruelty-Free International and The Vegan Society. Their ethos is to create skin care products for sensitive skin that are formulated with conditions such as rosacea, eczema, adult acne, dermatitis, and psoriasis in mind.

I was super excited to try these samples that I got as part of their sampling process on Instagram. They even came with a little natural makeup bag.

INSTANT KALMER - Ceramide Serum RRP £49

Calm angry and reactive skin with Instant Kalmer, our lightweight face serum. Enriched with Sea Aster to help bring zen to unsettled skin and Ceramides to help strengthen the skin barrier. Free from ingredients that irritate rosacea and eczema, this gentle formula works to instantly calm and prevent redness over time. - Pai Website

Benefits:

Soothing
Hydrating
Protecting

Key Ingredients: Oat Kernel extract, Sea Aster and Magnolia Berry Extract

My Review:

I loved this serum. I have semi sensitive skin that is thin and fairly clear. I suffer from redness on my cheeks and around my nose. I don't use skincare products that are specifically for sensitive skin, but I do stay clear from most chemical exfoliants and retinols most of the time.

These samples are very small so I can't really come up with a full review, but what I can say is that overall these really helped with redness on my cheeks only with few days' of use. The formula of the serum is a soothing gel that goes on nicely, it feels hydrating and nourishing and in the morning I felt like I woke up to better skin than I had had in the evening.

If the full price product wouldn't be so expensive I would definitely pick this one up.

LIGHT WORK - Rosehip Fruit Extract Cleansing Oil RRP £33

Gentle yet ultra-efficient! Formulated for sensitive skin and eyes but loved across all skin types, our cleansing oil shifts SPF, makeup, daily grime at speed leaving you with clean, soft skin. - Pai Website

Benefits:

No rubbing
No stinging
No problem Removing Make-Up
Cleansing, Balancing & Softening

Key Ingredients: Rosehip Fruit Extract, Olive oil, Sunflower Oil and Castor Oil.

My Review: I think this was my favourite product from all of these samples. The sample size was great - you get at least a weeks use out of this tube. The overall formula is a thick oil that smells like herbal florals and applies to the skin smoothly. It feels like an experience when cleansing the skin, when you apply water it foams ever so slightly. It washes makeup off quite fine, but it can't be used on the eyes which is a bit of a bummer. Highly recommend to try it.

THE ANTHEMIS - Soothing Moisturizer RRP39

This little bottle of calm helps to soothe and moisturise sensitive, eczema and rosacea-prone skin. Our calming and hydrating formula minimises the risk of irritation while reducing the appearance of redness. - Pai website.

Benefits:

Hydrating
Soothing
Protecting

Key Ingredients: Organic Chamomile and Rosehip

My review: This again was super nice lightweight cream that feels like a premium formula, very smooth, soft application to the face and it absorbs quickly and leaves skin feeling fairly hydrated. This with the serum together felt very calming and it seemed to calm down my redness on my cheeks.