MakeUp Revolution Redemption Palette Romantic Smoked

Hi there! Today’s post is about this MakeUp Revolution Redemption Palette Romantic Smoked. I’ve had this palette for a little while, and I only used 2 of the eyeshadows so far. But I’m going through my stash to see what’s worth keeping, and which products need to go. So I’ve now swatched the entire palette now. Let’s take a look!

The first 4 eyeshadows are beautiful shimmers – an off-white, a light brown, a pale peach and an olive shade. All of them are buttery and highly pigmented. And I’ve used all of them in different looks so far, and I like them all.

The 5th shade is a shimmery rosey pink. I like it a lot. The next 3 shades are mattes – a dark rose, a pale rose and a medium brown. All of them are highly pigmented, and they’re easy to blend. I like all of these 4 shades!

Onto the last 4 eyeshadows which are all mattes – a pale pink, a charcoal, a purple and a sandy shade. Thr first 2 mattes are easy to blend, but the last 2 are a bit chalky.

All in all, MakeUp Revolution Redemption Palette Romantic Smoked is a really good quality eye palette. 10 of the 12 shades are bursting with pigment and are easy to work with. This palette was £4, so I have no reason to complain!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde 💙💛

W7 The Naughty Nine Arabian Nights

Hi there! Today’s post is about an eyeshadow palette – W7 The Naughty Nine Arabian Nights. W7 is a drugstore cosmetics brand from the UK. According to W7, their products are cruelty-free (and they don’t sell in China).

OK, let’s look at the palette now! It has 9 eyeshadows, all of them nude shades. Since 6 of the eyeshadows are lighter shades, I would say the palette is more suited to lighter skin tones.

Let’s start with the first 3 eyeshadows – below. The first shade is a matte, poorly pigmented, chalky pink. It hardly shows up on me. It also doesn’t blend well, but you wouldn’t know it because it’s barely there. The second shade is a pale, shimmery peach. Another barely there shade with respect to its (lack of) pigment. Shade 3 is a matte light coral shade. Just like shade 1, it’s poorly pigmented, it’s barely there and it’s also rather chalky. I’m not a fan of these 3 shades.

Onto the second row below! Eyeshadow number 4 is a pale gold. It’s also far from bursting with pigment, but this one looks nice when I use it as an accent in the inner corners of my eyes. Shade 5 is a light-brown-meets-orange kind of shade. Apologies for the pinkish hue on the left. This is a scar which I thought I’d covered. Oops! However, this eyeshadow is also not great. Unfortunately, it’s a bit too dark and too orangey for the inner corners of my eyes. I also don’t like the colour on my eyelids. Shade number 6 is a light toffee colour. Also matte, and also chalky.

And right below is row 3. No, this photo was not taken in a different setting or with different lighting. It’s just that my arm had a bit of a pink colour after I had removed the eyeshadow from the previous swatches. Alrighty, shade 7 is my favourite of the bunch. It’s a classic shimmery rosey light brown. I like it! Shades 8 and 9 are matte browns. Yes, also chalky and poorly pigmented. Not easy to apply.

This eye palette looked promising but once I started to use it, I found that only 2 eyeshadows are worth my time. I’ll make sure to get some use out of shades 4 and 7 over the next few weeks, but I won’t keep this palette for much longer.

W7 The Naughty Nine Arabian Nights eyeshadow palette is available for about £3. I bought it at a local bargain store (I want to say B&M but it may have been somwehere else).

Mrs Strawberry Blonde 💙💛

Manhattan Perfect Eyes Eyeshadow Falling For Purple, Manhattan Perfect Eyes Eyeshadow Brown Effects

Hi there! Today’s post is about 2 eyeshadow compacts which I believe I found at Poundland – Manhattan Perfect Eyes Eyeshadow Falling For Purple and Manhattan Perfect Eyes Eyeshadow Brown Effects.

Let’s start with Manhattan Perfect Eyes Eyeshadow Falling For Purple!

Falling For Purple is a small compact which contains 3 shades – white, lilac and purple.

The first 2 eyeshadows are chalky and poorly pigmented. The third one is just about alright.

I’m not impressed with this eyeshadow compact.

Let’s take a look at Manhattan Perfect Eyes Eyeshadow Brown Effects now!

Another small compact with 3 shades – a very light beige, a pale orange and a sandy type of shade.

These eyeshadows follow the same pattern – the first 2 are just bad. There’s hardly any pigment in them and they’re dry AF. The third shade is OK though.

Guess what? This little compact didn’t impress me either. I really hate to throw out stuff but I have no use for these eyeshadows.

In the unlikely event that you’re interested, Manhattan Perfect Eyes Eyeshadow Falling For Purple and Manhattan Perfect Eyes Eyeshadow Brown Effects are available for £1 each.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Essence XXXL Longlasting Lipgloss 1 Baby Doll’s Favourite, Collection Bedazzled Special Glitter Edition Eye Palette

Hi there! Today’s post is about 2 products – Essence XXXL Longlasting Lipgloss 1 Baby Doll’s Favourite and Collection Bedazzled Special Glitter Edition Eye Palette.

Let’s start with this Essence XXXL Longlasting Lipgloss 1 Baby Doll’s Favourite which I picked up when it was on sale for £1 at Wilko’s.

Whilst the pale peachy shade is nothing special, I do like the hydrating formula of this lipgloss. I’m also a fan of the subtle vanilla flavour. I’m happy to continue to use this lipgloss, and I have no doubt that I’ll finish it over the next few months.

Onto this Collection Bedazzled Special Glitter Edition Eye Palette which was £1.99 at Fragrance Direct. I’m not really a fan of the brand Collection, but the palette was cheap, so I wanted to give it a try.

This eye palette contains 9 glittery eyeshadows – a few colours, a few neutral shades, black and white. I did the swatches on a well-moisturised forearm!

The shades in the top row are purple, grey and a light beige. The purple is terribly chalky and not easy to blend. The grey and the light beige are poorly pigmented. It took more than 10 swipes to get the colours to show!

Row 2 has a chalky minty green, an incredibly poorly pigmented black (What were they thinking?) and a surprisingly half-decent gold. It took 10+ swipes for the green and black to show, but just about 2 or 3 swipes for the gold.

And in the bottom row there’s a terribly ugly metallic blue, a poorly pigmented white, and a very nice metallic brown. They did keep the best for last! The blue and white are, again, 10+ swipes, but the brown is just a single swipe!

I’ve made the decision to use the nice brown shade for all my eye looks until the end of the month. But after that I’ll bin the palette as I won’t keep it for just 1 eyeshadow.

Thanks for stopping by today, lovelies! 🥰

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Haul! New Eye Palettes, Lipsticks, Fragrances, Nail Stuff…

Hi there! Today’s post is about some of the beauty stuff I bought over the past few weeks. To be more specific… all of these products were bought before the lockdown… OK, let’s have a look!

Essence Crystal Power Eyeshadow Palette£3. This palette and all the other Essence stuff is from Wilko!

Essence Ola Rio Eyeshadow Palette£3.50.

3 Essence This Is Me Lipsticks (03 Bold, 05 Legendary, 06 Real) – £2.30 each.
2 Essence Plumping Nudes Lipglosses (05 Bold Love, 07 So Heavy) – £1.15 each.
2 Essence Shine Last & Go Nail Polishes (27 What Is This Feeling, 47 Forget The Rules) – 80p each.
Essence Ultra Quick Dry Top Coat£1.70.

Marks & Spencer Vanilla & Woods Eau de Toilette£10.
Marks & Spencer Rhubarb & Peony Eau de Toilette£10.

Some of the Essence stuff was on clearance, so I can’t say whether your local store would have it. The M&S fragrances are usually £12.50, but they were on special, so I bought 2 of them.

Have you tried any of these products or would you like to try any of them? What have you bought (or been able to buy) recently? Feel free to get in touch via the comments. And thanks for stopping by! 😘

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

MakeUp Revolution London Unicorns Unite Eyeshadow Palette

Hi there! Today’s post is about MakeUp Revolution London‘s Unicorns Unite Eyeshadow Palette. MakeUp Revolution launches new products all the time, so some of their products disappear from their (and Superdrug’s) online shop quickly. However, thanks to end-of-line specialist online retailers, those products can still be found for a looong time… and this palette is one of those products. 😋

The Unicorns Unite palette contains 18 eyeshadows – 12 shimmers and six mattes. Here are the swatches!

Top row: The shades are “Legend”, “Grace”, “Medieval”, “Unicorn”, “Believe”, “Symbol”. All of them are super gorgeous and well pigmented. “Believe” is one of the purple shades I’ve known from a number of MUR palettes. I will use this one to make stamping polish.

2nd row: These shades are called “Spiral”, “Fortune”, “Fantasy”, “Beauty”, “Spiritual”, “Creature”. The first 5 shades are lovely, and they burst with pigment, but the 6th shade is a bit of a stinker. I know the first 4 shades from other MUR palettes, and these will be turned into stamping polish as well! 😊

Bottom row: “Pure”, “Buttercup”, “Unite”, “Horn”, “Special”, “History” are the names of the matte shades. The first shade is pretty much invisible in the swatch because it’s a perfect match for my skin tone, the second swatch isn’t much better because this shade’s just a bit darker and a bit more peachy than my skin tone. I think the first 5 shades are well pigmented, but again, the 6th shade is of poor quality.

I’ve worn all of the eyeshadows at least once now, and the shimmers (minus “Creature”) wear very well. The mattes (minus “History”) are good but not great.

All in all, this is a really good palette, and I would recommend it. I paid £4 for this one, so I have no reason to complain. 😎

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

MakeUp Revolution Re-Loaded Marvellous Mattes

Hi there! Today I’m reviewing MakeUp Revolution‘s Re-Loaded Marvellous Mattes Eyeshadow Palette. This palette contains 15 matte shades – the standard black and white plus 13 (more or less) bright and colourful colours.

When I bought this palette, I had no intention of using any of these eyeshadows on my eyes. I bought this palette because I wanted to crush up the eyeshadows and use them to make stamping polish. 🤩

However, I thought I could do swatches nonetheless! I’ve done the swatches on a well moisturised forearm to ensure the eyeshadows stay put. And here’s what I think of them!

First of all, the eyeshadows are extremely chalky. I think they’re the chalkiest eyeshadows I’ve ever came across. I remember that MUA’s matte palette had horrible reviews in its day – if you think that MUA’s matte palette was bad, well, this is the exact same thing!

The 5 shades in the top row are well pigmented, but the chalky texture made it impossible to apply them evenly or blend them out properly. I’ve seen plenty of positive reviews and I’ve watched a few videos on youtube as well. Based on this, it appears that you can make these eyeshadows work if you use other products as little helpers. One reviewer mentioned that she applied the eyeshadows after 4 bases and primers (I assume she means 4 in total and not 4 each). It seems to work for her and for others, so more power to them!

Onto the 2nd row! The 2nd shade was well pigmented, but the other shades weren’t. Shades 4 and 5 (violet and light blue/turquoise) were particularly disappointing. However, many reviewers have achieved great results by using plenty of primer or by mixing these eyeshadows with creamy products. Personally, I have no doubt that these eyeshadows work if you make them into a paste. This is pretty much what I hope to achieve when I use them to make stamping polish. 😎

The bottom row was a mixed bag. The first 3 shades are nicely pigmented. But the white and the black eyeshadows are not. But again, I have no doubt there are plenty of people who made these eyeshadows work. I just wish that at least some of the reviewers had commented on what their faces looked like half a day later. I would have been genuinely interested in how these eyeshadows perform over at least 8 (but preferably 12+) hours.

All in all, I think MakeUp Revolution‘s Re-Loaded Marvellous Mattes Eyeshadow Palette is exactly what you’d expect for £4. Nowadays it’s pretty much expected that every woman owns and uses all sorts of different primers for everything from eyeshadows to face masks. So it’s obvious the brands focus more on the primers than the on the products those primers are meant to prime the face for. Anyway, I’m not spending any more time on this palette – unless it’s for the purpose of making stamping polish! 😊

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

MUA Luxe Utopia 10 Shade Eye Palette

Hi there! Today’s post is about MUA‘s Luxe Utopia 10 Shade Eyeshadow Palette. This limited edition palette is available for £8 through MUA’s own web store (where it’s out of stock at the moment), but you can also buy it through a number of online stores.

The Utopia palette features “10 luxuriously smooth and silky eyeshadows in soft golds, nudes and browns”. I think this palette looks super pretty! Well done, MUA!

Onto the swatches! I think these eyeshadows swatched very well. But it’s not surprising because they wear well too. 🙂 I haven’t had any issues with these eyeshadows. I think they’re super silky, they burst with pigment, they’re easy to blend, and they look awesome!

I’m not the biggest fan of the 2 lightest shades (1 and 9), but that’s not MUA’s fault. I do love the other 8 shades, and I’ve been enjoying them very much for a few weeks now!

Have you tried this palette? Or would you like to try it? Have you (re)discovered any beauty products lately? Feel free to get in touch. And thanks for reading!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Reducing My Oldies Stash – Astor Pure Colour Eyeshadow 530 Sweet Daisy, Essence Metal Glam Eyeshadow 03 Frosted Apple & 05 Chocolate Jewellery, Miss Sporty Studio Colour Smoky Eyeshadows 407 Luxury Smoky

Hi there! Today’s episode of Reducing My Oldies Stash is about a few single eyeshadows and eyeshadow compacts that I’ve had for quite some time. The 2 compacts are Astor Pure Colour Eyeshadow 530 Sweet Daisy and Miss Sporty Studio Colour Smoky Eyeshadows 407 Luxury Smoky.

The 2 single eyeshadows are Essence Metal Glam Eyeshadow 03 Frosted Apple & 05 Chocolate Jewellery. Now let me tell you if these products are any good. And let’s start with the Astor compact!

Astor Pure Colour Eyeshadow 530 Sweet Daisy

Astor Pure Colour Eyeshadow 530 Sweet Daisy is a duo eyeshadow compact that comes with a small applicator. The eyeshadows are a bit chalky and they’re not very well pigmented. And the colours turned out much cooler in real life. In the compact the colours look like a pale beige-rose and a brownish purple, but in real life they’re more like lilac and lavender.

I’m OK with lilac and lavender eyeshadows, but I’m not OK with them being chalky and rather poorly pigmented. I will continue to use these eyeshadows, but I don’t know if I can commit to finishing this Astor eyeshadow compact.

Essence Metal Glam Eyeshadow 03 Frosted Apple & 05 Chocolate Jewellery

Essence Metal Glam Eyeshadow 03 Frosted Apple & 05 Chocolate Jewellery are limited edition eyeshadows. I’m not sure if you would still be able to get your hands on them, but I’m sure that, at some point, Essence will ‘recycle’ these two shades – well, that’s if they haven’t already. 🙂

Frosted Apple is a rosey shade, and Chocolate Jewellery is a medium brown. Both eyeshadows have a metallic finish. I think these eyeshadows are really nice. The shades aren’t too out there – they’re actually fairly neutral, and the velvety texture makes these eyeshadows easy to blend. I enjoy using these eyeshadows, so, of course, I will continue to use them! 🙂

Miss Sporty Studio Colour Smoky Eyeshadows 407 Luxury Smoky

Miss Sporty Studio Colour Smoky Eyeshadows 407 Luxury Smoky is a small eyeshadow compact that comes with a tiny applicator. This compact is really small – it’s about 2cm x 2cm. Anyhoo… this compact contains four eyeshadows – a barely-there pale beige, a golden yellow, a medium grey and an almost black / charcoal shade.

The almost black / charcoal eyeshadow is the only well pigmented one. The other 3 eyeshadows aren’t great. They’re lacklustre. They lack… life! I can make these 4 eyeshadows work for me, but I don’t really enjoy using them. I will continue to use them, and I will try to finish them. Well, this compact is really small, so I think finishing it isn’t impossible. 🙂

Have you tried any of these eyeshadows or eyeshadow compacts? If so, feel free to let me know what you think. And thanks for stopping by!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

NYC Metro Quartet Eye Shadow 796B Queens Boulevard

Hi there! Today’s post is about a little eyeshadow palette which I bought a while ago. It’s NYC Metro Quartet Eye Shadow 796B Queens Boulevard. I picked it up from a local bargain store (can’t remember which one) for either 99p or £1. In other words – it was super cheap, and I couldn’t resist. 🙂
NYC Metro Quartet Eyeshadow 796B Queens Boulevard 3
As you can see, this eye palette is a small compact that comes with a tiny double-ended sponge applicator. And there are four eyeshadows in this palette. Shade 1 is a shimmery taupe. Shade 2 is a mix of blue and violet. Shade 3 is a shimmery champagne colour (highlighter). And shade 4 is a violet-tinted fuchsia.
nyc-metro-quartet-eyeshadow-796b-queens-boulevard-7
The eyeshadows blend nicely, but they’re not very well pigmented. However, I really like the shades, so I don’t mind putting a little more effort into my eye make-up. And since this eye palette was £1 only, I can’t really complain. 🙂

Oh, and here’s a photo of what the eye palette looked like before I opened it!
nyc-metro-quartet-eyeshadow-796b-queens-boulevard-1
Any comments? Feel free to get in touch! And thanks for reading! 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde