Recently Chloe Morello announced her collaboration with Ciate London - the Pretty, Fun & Fearless Beauty Haul Makeup Set (which retails for AUD$70). I had never tried anything from Ciate, I understood them to be a nail polish company and had not even tried their polish, but I am a big fan of Chloe Morello and knew I had to have her collaboration, especially after having watched her swatch video. 

Basically, this beauty haul is a selection of hand-picked (by Chloe) products by Ciate. Chloe selected a number of existing shades that she adores and are obviously best-sellers for Ciate, together with a number of shadows that she had the pleasure of curating. It also includes a best-selling mascara and liquid lipstick that really compliment the shades of the palette itself. 

image courtesy of www.sephora.com

The palette is gorgeous, deep purple, shiny, thin & travel friendly and has 15 shades enclosed with a magnetic-close function. It comes with a mini liquid lipstick, a mini womderwand mascara and is housed in a beautiful rose gold, deep purple/navy makeup bag! 

The mascara is the Wonderwand Mascara in Black Magic, it is not too wet and not too dry and coats your lashes evenly, leaving them blackest black and full of volume. I usually apply two different mascaras to my lashes to get a really full effect, but this mascara is perfect for every day as I only need to use two coats to really volumize my lashes. 

The liquid lipstick is the "Liquid Velvet Moisturising Matte Liquid Lipstick" in Pin Up which is a soft, nude pink. This does not dry matte, and does not last as long as your typical liquid lipstick. It does however last longer than your typical lipstick. It is very moisturising and does feel velvety which is where the name comes from. If you can push past the 'matte' part, this is a lip product I think compliments the palette very well. 

image courtesy of sephora.com

There are fifteen shades in the palette, and this is absolutely a warm-lovers' palette dream! The colours are extremely warm with soft browns, deep browns, light purples and deep purples with beautiful shimmer shades. The colours all compliment each other and if you watch Chloe Morello as much as I do, you'll know this palette absolutely screams her! I will list the colours below with some swatches of them as well.

Skinny Dip - light brown matte
Unconditional - soft terracotta matte
On Fire - burnt brown matte
Queen Bee - deep chocolate brown matte
Shine Bright - bronze/brown shimmer
Vaycay - golden shimmer
My Tribe - linen matte
Be Sassy - soft pink matte
Jet Setter - light rose/mauve matte
Happy - deep taupe shimmer
Dainty - pale peachy shimmer
Fierce - cranberry shimmer
Flirt - cranberry matte
Day Dream - deep wine matte
Own It - deep purple shimmer

The shadows themselves are very pigmented, quite comparable to the Too Faced Original Chocolate Bar Palette (which is my all time favourite palette) and are very buttery. They blend into each other extremely well and have a great staying power, even with my oily eyelids. You can make a tonne of different looks using this palette and it is perfect for travel as it is so slim and well packaged.

Have you used this palette? What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!


Where to Buy?

Australia
Mecca Cosmetica $70.00

USA
Sephora $49.00

Sometimes it just so happens that you are in need of a serious exfoliation, particularly your feet and hands in the change of season. This is my little trick for soft, silky skin!

For a quick hand exfoliation:

1 TBSP Raw Sugar
1 TBSP Coconut Oil

1. Scoop raw sugar into the palm of your hand, add melted coconut oil (if oil is hardened, scoop some out and rub between your palms to melt). Once ingredients are combined in the palm of your hand, rub hands together, swapping palms over tops of the opposite hand to fully exfoliate the entire hand. If you like, you can go up the wrist slightly to remove dead skin cells from this area as well. Once you're happy with the exfoliation, run hands under warm water to remove sugar. Once hands are rinsed and dried, add a super moisturising hand-cream and let it sink into the skin. Voila! Super soft, silky hands!

You can do the same thing for a foot or full body exfoliation as well, just add extra sugar and oil and mix in a bowl before applying to parts of the body and/or feet and exfoliating.

Always make sure you moisturise afterwards with a nourishing moisturiser. I LOVE the Mecca Cosmetica Hand Cream - it has a super gentle scent, and is very nourishing, I highly recommend.


Where to purchase?

Mecca Cosmetica - AUD$40.00

The Shaaanxo palette by BHcosmetics was one of those products that every person who follows/ed Shannon Harris, just had to have. Shannon is one of the top youtube beauty bloggers currently out there, she is warm, funny, genuine and down to earth with content to boot. When the palette was first shown on her youtube channel, the excitement from her followers was obvious, myself included. 

BHcosmetics is known for its affordability and decent product; this collaboration was for everyone - not just those who had money spare to purchase one of these sought-after products. The best thing? Australians and Americans could purchase the product at the same time at the same price (bar the exchange rate) and the shipping was so, so prompt considering they were probably inundated with orders! 

I've split this review into two parts - eyeshadows and lipsticks. 

The eyeshadows are highly pigmented, blend so easily and are creamy, considering this product is 'drugstore' and affordable, the product within is definitely up there. The best thing about this palette is that the colours are so wearable, but also a little out-there too depending on your general look. Shannon and BH definitely combined the best colours within this palette, and it just screams for use. There are a few 'highlight' shades, beautiful transition colours, and some darker colours to really amp up a look for the night-time (or day, you do you!). 

At first glance, I was a little worried about a couple of the colours, I am very neutral and don't tend to really deviate from neutral, warm colours, but once swatched I realised these colours were not scary at all and could really make a look. I often go straight for the reddish / teracotta colour and wear it alone which really makes for a different look, but totally wearable. 

The best thing?

You have the best travel palette, as it comes with beautiful eyeshadow shades, AND lipsticks for every occasion! 

There are a variety of lipstick shades to choose from, from neutral nudes to dark plums and cherry red/pink. I have not yet dared to try the brilliant pink or orange shades, but am very fond of the nudes, light pinks and berry tones. The best part of this palette, is depending on your mood and overall makeup look, you can choose from 9 different lip colours to really finish your look, and is (as I said above) perfect for travelling for this very reason - I never carry 9 lipsticks with me when travelling and only pack my 3 favourite nudes and pinks, until now! 

 

Shannon and BHcosmetics have absolutely out-done themselves with this palette. The eyeshadows are pigmented, the lipsticks are pigmented, each shade compliments another and really complete a look for the most affordable price. This is my new travel companion and an absolute go-to for me. Anything that has Shannon's name against it, is well worth the money and hype. Outstanding.

Where to buy?

Online
BHcosmetics Shaaanxo Palette $22.00 shop here 

The much hyped about Jaclyn Hill x Becca Cosmetics face palette finally reached Australian shores and I knew I just had to have it. I already had the original Champagne Pop highlighter compact and use it on the regular, it leaves a beautiful highlight wherever it is placed, and after having seen so many US customers rave about the face palette, I was always going to get it. Unfortunately this collaboration was marred with negativity due to the eyeshadow palette of which I cannot weigh in due to not having had the chance to purchase or try it - Australia never got this palette at all. 

The one (and only) negative to this whole collaboration is the fact that America gets all releases first, despite this company starting in Australia - it often feels as though the company's Australian roots are long forgotten in the overall success of their business. Especially when it comes to the price, it is almost 70% more expensive in Australia compared to America. Needless to say, I can be a proud Australian knowing that this hugely successful company came about from another Australian, not to mention that it means anybodies dream can be a reality just as long as the effort and desire is there.   

The moment you pick up the product, it feels high-end and luxurious. The packaging is heavy and a beautiful golden colour - of course a reflection of the product inside! Once you open the packaging and slip the well packed palette out into your hands, the luxuriousness absolutely increases. The palette itself is heavy, it's got a beautiful clasp, and it is clean and crisp. When you open it, the mirror is huge and the palette itself is golden and reflective. It truly is a well-made, well-thought out product, just screaming for you to swatch it. 

The palette has three blushes and two highlighters - although the first blush has a beautiful shimmer to it as well and would be called a luminous blush. The colours in the swatches above are listed from Top-Bottom, Left-Right: Rose-Spritz, Amaretto, Pamplemousse. Champagne Pop, Prosecco Pop. The colours all scream summer, and are just absolutely beautiful. They are highly pigmented, glide onto the skin and look so gorgeous when layered on your skin. Each product compliments each other and works so well with one another.

Amaretto is definitely one of my favourites, it is so earthy and neutral and is all that I want in a blush. Whilst in some cases I love a pinky bright blush, lately I have been all about the bronze, neutral and earthy colours. It is winter at the moment, and I think I am just craving the warmth of a bronze, earthy blush. When applying, definitely tap your brush and only apply the smallest amount (unless you are after a strong blush, then you do you) - as I said above, these are highly pigmented which is absolutely what you want in a high-end product. There is nothing worse than a product that lacks any pigmentation and is a pain to blend. 

This palette is limited edition, so if you want to add it to your collection, you best be quick before it sells out! 

Where to buy?

Australia
Sephora Becca x Jaclyn Hill Face Palette AU$89.00

America
Sephora Becca x Jaclyn Hill Face Palette US$52.00  (sold out :( sorry)


If you have this product or can weigh in on the eyeshadow palette, I'd love to hear from you - leave a comment below xo