There are just some things that I lust for and makeup palettes are one of those things. Palettes are an easy way to care your favorite essentials in a neat (pretty) little case. Shu Uemura has two gorgeous eye and cheek palettes for the Fall, Florescent makeup by Uchiide. The first of these two floral set is the Graceful Bloom Palette which includes four pressed eyeshadows, two cream eyeshadow/eye liners, a cream blush and two applicators. This palette features a beautiful gradation of purple shades and an accent of green and yellow, just like a flower!

Graceful Bloom Palette

The second palette for the Fall is the Dreamy Petal palette which is much warmer with shades of red, pinks and gold. This palette also includes four pressed eyeshadows, two cream eyeshadow/eye liners, a cream blush and two applicators

Dreamy Petal Palette

To top off this fantasy floral inspired look, Shu Uemura brings out Partial Floral Feather eyelashes. These lashes combine purple and red “feathers” to give the illusion of fluttering petals with each blink. These lashes will give you that wow factor when you really want your eyes to “pop”.

With purple being HUGE this Fall, the Graceful Bloom palette should be a big hit. I love how the outside of the palette is beautifully decorated with floral designs bringing the theme of the palette full circle. I am looking forward to Fall especially for the beautiful makeup and fashion that I love so much. Which of these two palettes is your favorite?

Partial Feather Floral Eyelashes

Each limited edition palette retails for $65 and the eyelashes retail for $25. All products are available on the Shu Uemura website.

Ever since the Urban Decay Naked Palette was released, I wanted it. But before I could get to a Sephora store the palette was sold out. Well today, on a whim I stopped by my local Sephora and looked for the palette but it wasn’t on the shelf so I left. Later that afternoon, something told me to stop by Sephora again and I did. I asked the salesperson about the Naked Palette and she informed me that there were just a few in stock in the back. Success!

There have been great reviews about this palette and I can see why. The colors are neutral but NOT at all bland or boring. In fact these are some of the prettiest neutrals that I have seen in a long time. Let’s take a closer look:

(l to r) Virgin, Sin, Naked, Sidecar, Buck, Half Baked

(l to r) Smog, Darkhorse, Toasted, Hustle, Creep, Gunmetal

In addition to the 12 shades in the palette, the set comes with a double ended eyeliner (Zero which is black and Whiskey which is brown) and Urban Decay Primer Potion. The 12 shadows, eyeliner and primer are housed in a purple velvet box with gold writing.  This palette gives a very luxurious feel and appearance. The kit seamlessly goes from light to dark and from shimmery to matte all while each color complements the other. This palette offers colors that will suit just about everyone and they can definitely go from mild to wild. So far this palette is my favorite purchase because of the packaging, the color selection and the great quality of the product. I would say that this is a must have purchase for Fall…if you can get your hands on it!

The Urban Decay Naked Palette retails for $44 and can be purchased at Sephora or www.urbandecay.com

Rosie Jane Eye Defines offer a unique approach to applying eyeliner, the Eye Defines liner is flat so that you can use it to apply a thin line or you can use it vertically for a thicker line (great for a smoky eye) and you don’t need to sharpen the pencil – genius! I love how defined the color applies and does not “drag” across my eye – making the application easy.

The pencils come in for pigmented and shimmery shades:

Fern – Moss Green

Beech Tree – Brown

Grapevine – Deep Purple

Night – Gray/Black

Rosie Jane Swatch in "Night"

The Rosie Jane Eye Defines eyeliner is available on the company website for $15

I stopped by the MAC store to check out their latest line of limited edition cosmetics called Art Supplies. MAC has incorporated the look and feel of artists tools and translated it into makeup, and being that I was a Fine Arts major in college this really appealed to me. One of the first items that I looked at was the Pro Longwear Lipstain Marker, this lipstain has a felt tip just like a marker would. I liked that it’s long wearing as I can’t always refresh my lipstick after eating a quick bite. The formula dries to a matte finish so I also purchased a Lipglass Lip Gloss to add some shine to it. The color that I chose was Modern Mocha, which is a light brown shade, there are a total of 9 shades available in this collection. The Lipstain Marker retails for $16.00 and the Lipglass Lip Gloss retails for $14.00.

MAC Pro Longwear Lipstain Marker

Modern Mocha Swatch

MAC Lipglass Lip Gloss

Another limited edition product from the Art Supplies Collection was the Greasepaint Stick. The pencil is thick and the colors are edgy, this collection of eyeliners can also be used as eye shadow. I couldn’t decide on just one color so I got two! The colors were so fun that I opted for something other than a basic black or brown liner. I picked up Zinc Zone, a dark metallic shade and Charred Mauve, a funky metallic purple shade. There are a total of eight shades available and each Greasepaint Stick retails for $17.50.

MAC Greasepaint Sticks

MAC Greasepaint Swatches - Charred Mauve (l), Zinc Zone (r)

The only item that I did not get was the Pearlglide Intense Eyeliner. The colors were pretty and had shimmer to them but I felt that I would be able to use the Greasepaint stick for eyeliner. There are six shades in this collection and each one retails for $14.50 and is also available for a limited time.

Of course while I was there I thought that I should pick up some foundation and powder, hey you can never have too much of a good thing right? Here’s a pic of my total purches:

MAC Cosmetics purchases

Visit your favorite MAC Cosmetics store to purchase these beauties or order here online.

Editors Note: The product in this review was sent to me for editorial consideration.

Avon brings us high definition makeup that will certainly upgrade your makeup routine. Avon has been a familiar brand to me since a very young age. My mother would often bring home Avon catalogs and I would always take a peak at all of the pretty products inside that colorful little booklet. Well it’s been quite some time since I’ve taken  look at Avon so I was not sure what to expect when I learned about their new High-Definition line. When I got a look at some of the products I was quite surprised, this isn’t the Avon that my mother used to buy! One of the products that I immediately fell in love with was the Glimmersticks Diamonds Eye Liner. What woman wouldn’t love a liner infused with diamond dust???

The eyeliner comes in a retractable tube so there is no need to sharpen – that’s a big plus. I also loved that the liner was creamy enough to apply smoothly without skipping or tugging on my eye like other liners that I’ve tried. It’s also long wearing so it’s perfect for a busy woman on the go that may not have enough hours in the day to touch up her liner, bravo! The product comes in 6 sparkling shades: Black Ice, Brown Sugar, Emerald Glow, Smoky Diamond, Sugar Plum and Twilight Sparkle. I sampled Sugar Plum which is a gorgeous sparkly purple shade that I loved, take a look below. Sexy right?

Glimmerstick in Sugar Plum

The liner is available March 2010 for $6.00 through an Avon representative or online, visit http://avon.com
for more information or to order.

Tarte was sweet enough to introduce us to their limited edition flower child natural eyeshadow palette. This is one of the prettiest palettes that i have come across in a long time. The shadows are showcased in a shiny purple refillable case with a magnetic closure. The outside of the case is beautifully adorned with purple and gold flowers.

This palette also comes complete with “Lifted” which is a natural eye primer (said to decrease the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles by 51% in just 10 minutes), a double sided eye shadow brush and a double sided eyeliner in a Matte Brown on one side and Shimmering Jade on the other. The mirrored palette is filled with 10 shades of saturated pigments and the mirror is signed by the palette designer and celebrity makeup artist Tina Turnbrow. The shades are of course floral inspired: (top row left to right) soft daffodil, ecru hibiscus, pink peony, gray periwinkle, peach tulip, (bottom row left to right) firewheel, buttercup, african violet, delphinium blue and vibrant forest grass.

What makes this palette unique? Well for starters this product is cruelty free so it’s not tested on animals. In addition to that wonderful fact the product consists of many beneficial ingredients such as grape seed extract, Vitamin A and Vitamin E, the shadows are made from mineral pigments and the colors apply very smoothly. I love that an inspiration card is enclosed to give you an idea of how to play up the colors for day or evening. The cost of this eco friendly refillable palette is $44 including the brushes and the shadow primer so it’s really worth the cost.

This palette is one of my favorite Spring purchases because not only is the case gorgeous (and refillable) but the color spectrum gives you a lot of flexibility to create a natural look or a smoky eye.