A Review: Clinique LE Plum Purple Colour Surge Eyeshadow Quad

So I have had the Clinique LE Colour Surge Eyeshadow Quad for quite some time now and have therefore had a lot of time to play around with it. And boy have I experimented with it - I have used them alone, on top of a colour base, wet, wet on top of a colour base. Name an application technique and I probably tried it. Why? Sadly, because they are simply not as pigmeneted as I would like them to be. They are quite soft and transfer easily to makeup brushes but applied on the eyes they don't look as pretty and intense as they do in the pans. They are all very multidimensional colours if you swatch them but somehow this isn't the case on the eyes - they often look very plain on the eyes. But I still like them very much - you can find a way to make the best of them - I strongly suggest using a matching cream eyeshadow underneatch them - pink, mauve or purple. I love the fact that they are warm plums and purples - I feel they complement more skintones than cool purple shades would. I also love how they compliment each other so much that you don't really have to blend them together they just blend into each other without any line of demarcation between the shades. Unless, you apply them wet that is - then they are difficult to blend out so I don't recommend applying them wet at all.
Now for the colours themselves. The lightest colour in the quad (light shade from a clinique duo called Plum Potion from the regular collection) looks like a very shimmer cool beige in the pan but when you swatch it you realize that it is actually a shimmery silver purple grey colour - very pretty but way to shimmery to be used a highlighter per se on the browbone if you are not going for a Haloween flashback of the '80s makeup look - think Joan Collins in "Dynasty". It does however look stunning if you use as a lid colour and pair it with the darkest shade - the almost matte deep purple shade (contour shade from a Clinique trio called come Heather from the regular collection). The deep purple eyeshadow actually has some beautiful deep rose shimmer running through which is only visible when you apply wet - say, as an eyeliner to avoid the bending issue. It has pretty good pigmentation as well. The shimmering rose shade (precious pink shade from a LE Clinique quad from a few years ago called Pink Chocolate which is often available for a reasonable price on ebay) seems to have decent pigmentation but doesn't really cover the lid very well without a colour base - it is more of a wash of pink shimmer when applied to bare skin. It is very shimmery but works well with the dark purple contour shades which are much less shimmery. The golden purple shade -half of a Clinique duo called Beach Plum which is available in the regualr collection and is possibly one of the best duos Clinique make - is a gorgeous shade and looks stunning on EVERYONE. Yeah, absolutely everyone. I do plan to make a tutorial using the Beach Plum duo to show you how beautiful it is. However, it is not very pigmented so to get decent coverage you really need to keep packing it and packing it on until you hand literallly hurts - a major bummer. And since the lightest shade is so shimmery there is no soft shimmer or matte highlighter in the palette which means you can't do a complete look with it. Nevertheless, this is a still a really nice to palette to get - it gives you a lot of options for colour combinations and I can't seem to put it down ever since I got. It grows on you. And, if you have green, hazel or brown eyes it is a fall must have since it really brings out the colour these eyecolours.

PROS:

- pretty colours which suit many skintones

- four complimenting colours make for many different looks

- the colours are very pretty but quite sheer so the palette can be worn lightly during the day or worn over a matching cream eyeshadow to build up the colours for a sultry evening look

- beautiful, elegant silver packaging

CONS:

- pigmentation of all the shades but lightest silvery purple grey highlighter shade could be much better

- the highlighter shade is too shimmery to be used for day with the rest of the colours if you don’t want to look like a disco ball

- there is no soft shimmer or matte highlighter so you can't do a complete look with just this palette

Rating: * * * * (worth buying if you have a matching cream shadow to use as a colour base)

Hooray for X-mas Money !

I took advantage of the post-X-mas sale at Sephora (30% on all makeup items, 20% on all X-mas sets). I caved in and bought the Urban Decay Urban Essentials Kit - it comes with a supersized (16.3ml!!!!) Urban Decay Primer Potion (UDPP) and two of their best-selling eyeshadows (Goddess & Midnight Cowboy). It was the supersized version of UDPP that convinced me to give this set a shot. And boy am I glad I did!
Let me start with the UDPP. I already had two different eyeshadow bases that I was quite happy with - Lumene Eyeshadow Base and ArtDeco Eyeshadow Base. Both of these are extremely popular in Poland and always receive raving raving reviews on makeup review boards. The latter is also very popular in other European countries. They are both really good, and I should know since I have very oily eyelids. Still, after about 8 hours of wearing eyeshadow on top of them I did experience some minimal creasing. Enough a reason to try the cult favourite UDPP. And despite not having very high expectations I have to say I love it. Although I have yet to try it with a cream shadow as a base for powder shadow. If it prevents creasing of cream shadow it will win all the awards in my book.
On to the eyeshadows. Midnight Cowboy is a pretty champagne pink with serious glitter. To me it's a great shadow to wear with bright winged liner for an easy-breezy party look. I used it on my sister-in-law on New Years Eve along with electric teal winged liner and it turned out fabulous. However, the glitter fall out you get with this shadow is unfreakin'believable. Even if you very carefully press it onto a sticky eyeshadow base with a brush designed for packing on eyeshadow you will always have LOTS of glitter under your eyes, on your nose and your cheeks. It's crazy. So, this is one eyeshadow with which I will allways do my eyes first.The glitter in this is also so chunky that, at least to me, it's definetely a shadow to use for party or night-time looks.
Goddess is a dark navy blue with electric blue shimmer - great to use as a contour shade with a beige shimmer or taupe eyeshadow, it's also fabulous on it's own for a smoky blue party look(although you would need some sort of a cream base for it to really show up since the colour pay off is so-so), or even as a liner for a pop of colour when paired with a neutral lid colour. I really like this one. Of course, it goes great with the Midnight Cowboy for what Urban Decay describes "a dangerously sexy look".
All in all, this is a great set. Great value for the money. Totally recommended!

Hooray for Christmas presents!

What better excuse for a makeup junkie to buy new makeup than Christmas. I mean, you just have to buy something new so you have something to put under that Christmas tree, right? In my case, it's also the only time of year when family memebrs, who generally frown upon my buying makeup ("But you already have so much of it, honey! Why don't you use it all up first and then buy something new. Or better yet, buy a nice bag or dress. You don't have enough dresses."), are actally willing to enable me in my addiction. If given the chance, I'll tell them exactly what I want and where they can get it. Most of the time, though, I end up buying it myself and giving it to them already gift-wrapped thereby saving them the hassle of shopping altogether. And they can be sure I'll scream with excitement when I unwrap it on Christmas Eve. So basically, in December I get to splurge and buy more makeup than usually (or just more expensive makeup) without actually spending much money myself. And, best of all, my loved ones are happy for me for doing so. Aah, the guiltless makeup high. It's the best kind.

My DH got me the Glow Pretty makeup set by Clinique which includes Fresh Bloom AllOver Colour in Camellia (LE) and Full Potential Lips Plump & Shine in Glamour-full. This was a Nordstrom Exclusive limited edition set in 2008 but DH bought it on an online auction.The Fresh Bloom AllOver Colour is a wonderful multitasking product- you can swirl your blush brush all over the flower and the background to get a pretty shimmery blush shade or just over the background to use the most shimmery part as a cheekbone highlighter. You can even use it as an eyeshadow palette. I have three of these - Posy, Peony and now Camellia - and plan to review them later in the week as I am very satisfied with all of them. For now I'll just say that Camellia is a gorgeous bronzey salmon colour with pretty copper shimmer particles - the lovechild of bronzer and a coppery blush. The color payoff is great. The shimmer particles give skin a nice sheen without making you like a discoball (Hello, REVLON Skinlights Illuminating Powder, circa 2001). And it's just so beautiful in itself, packaged in a sleek silver compact with a sizeable mirror. Very elegant and well worth the money. Needless to say, I loooove it. My DH sure has great taste in makeup. He did good.