My Mac Palettes Overview

I mentioned in my top products of 2011 post that Mac palettes were one of my favourites. It was last January that I decided I wanted to use palettes instead of pots and so I depotted my collection at the time which consisted of 6 eyeshadows. I then bought my first 15 pan palette along with a few new eyeshadows. Currently I have 2 full palettes and one extra pan eyeshadow which I got for Christmas, which I'm housing in a quad until I get another 15 pan palette and continue my collection!

Honesty eyeshadow

The two 15 pan palettes. I keep a layer of protective sheeting on top of the eyeshadows to protect them when I'm travelling. The sheet is cut from the protective packaging that comes with digital cameras etc. 

I have placed a sheet with all the names on the inside lid of the palettes.

I don't tend to move my shadows around the palettes, only when I get a new palette, so it is not that difficult to keep the names on the sheet up-to-date.

Neutral Palette

1st Row: L-R Brulé, Vanilla, Phloof!, Paradisco, Yoghurt.

2nd Row: L-R All That Glitters, Wedge, Mythology, Expensive Pink, Quarry.

3rd Row: L-R Satin Taupe, Woodwinked, Amber Lights, Antiqued, Smut.

Colourful Palette

1st Row: L-R Shimmermoss, Juxt, Swell Baby, Silver Ring, Beautiful Iris. 

2nd Row: L-R Steamy, Green Smoke, Humid, Atlantic Blue, Satellite Dreams.

3rd Row: L-R Surf USA, Sumptuous Olive, Club, Prussian, Fig.1.

Ideally, further down the line I'd love to have a palette dedicated to each colour, e.g. greens. purples, blues etc. Someday!:)

Any recommendations of your must-have colours that I don't have here?

My Top Products of 2011

Happy New Year's Eve everyone! Does anybody have any exciting plans for tonight? I have to admit, I really don't like New Year's Eve. I feel it's always so hyped up and then always turns out to be such a letdown of a night. Town is always wedged and ugh I just don't like it. This year one of my friends is having a couple of us over to her house for dinner and cocktails - much better than battling it out in town I think! I'm writing this part of the post just before I head out to her, and after working all day I don't have time to read other people's top products of 2011 posts, but I can't wait to read them tomorrow and get some ideas for what to try in 2012!

I know every blog is going to have one of these top products of 2011 posts, but sometimes it's inevitable that you end up on the bandwagon! Besides, I enjoyed thinking back on my standout products of the year. This is actually my second time writing this post....blogger ate my other one!

I suppose by right I should have individual 'top' posts for eyeshadow, lipstick etc. and maybe I will next year. For this year, however,  I decided to compile it into one post. I did a top 5 nail polish post though, which you can see here.

Unlike the nail polish post, this post doesn't necessarily include products that were released this year, more so it is a collection of products that I have discovered this year. As I have mentioned before, this year was the first year that I was truly intune with beauty and make-up collections and product launches and product types and tools and all sorts, so I had a lot of catching up to do!
This is why I didn't want to restrict my top products to new releases - there is just way too much good stuff out there!

MAC Pro Palettes

To kick us off I will start with Mac Pro Palettes. I bought my first 6 Mac eyeshadows in pot form in July 2010. (Vanilla,Wedge, Woodwinked, Yoghurt, Quarry and Club. All from the Mac counter in Harrods in London, just in case you were wondering!:p)

When I discovered YouTube, that November, I discovered the wonder of the palettes. They seemed such a convenient way to store and use the eyeshadows, especially the more your collection grew. January 2011,  I nervously attempted to depott my 6 precious eyeshadows. Club had a little accident, which thankfully was repaired and all the rest had a successful move!

Happily I then went and bought my pro palette (and some brand spanking new pro pan eyeshadows) and I was also able to complete my first Back to Mac with the empty eyeshadow pots:)

This was a really long, and probably unnecessary story about my first mac pro palette. In short, it is brilliant, so much easier to keep all your eyeshadows together. I am also very glad that I had the wisdom to decide to depott my pots when I had only 6 as opposed to when the collection grew considerably!

I now have 2 full Mac palettes and need to start a third. An overview of the palettes will appear soon!

Urban Decay Naked Palette

This product was a highly anticipated new release of 2011.  For me it was definitely worth the hype. A palette full of neutrals that could still create many different looks. The palette was as compact as could be, without forgoing eyeshadow size. This was the only palette and eyeshadow that I brought with me when I moved away for the summer, and I never got sick of it!

Catrice Nail Polish

A cheap brand with incredible quality.The nail varnish has great formulation and an extensive colour range. A brand that's readily available in Ireland? That we're not overcharged for? Sold! At averaging around €2.79 a bottle, it would be rude not to!

Revlon ColourBurst Lipgloss

I discovered these in about April. A smooth gloss with no sticky tendencies, it fast became my favourite lipgloss. It is now the brand that I have the most lipgloss from and I have nearly all the shades available to me in Ireland. I hope we get some more of the extensive shade range that is available over the other side of the pond! (Ignore the Carmex in the picture - although I love that as well!)

Dior Poison Perfume

Image Source

This certainly isn't a new release, it appeared in 1998 I believe. The one I'm loving is Hypnotic Posion. I got a bottle recently for Christmas but it's a perfume that I've been sniffing for a few months.  Intriguing, hypnotic and seductively sexy. Love it.

Mac 187 Face Brush

Image Source

Before purchasing this I used a  traditional foundation 'paintbrush' style brush. The 187 is a duo-fibred stippling brush and gives a flawless finish. 

Dove Supreme Body Silk

I've prattled on about this a lot. It is amazing. 

There has been lots of other items that I could have put here, but I needed to limit it somehow!

What have been your top products of 2011?

February Favourites

I can't believe that I'm doing my February Favourites post already! This month has gone unbelievably quick - probably because it's missing 2 days lol!

Now down to the good stuff!

Mac Pro Pan Palette 

I mulled over the idea of getting a pro pan palette for quite a while. I loved my eyeshadows in their cute little pots but sometimes opening up all the little pots in the morning took time, not to mention they take up quite a lot of room. At the time I only had 6 eyeshadows, so I can't realllly accuse them of taking up too much space but I knew over time my eyeshadow collection would grow and to be honest the thoughts of having a drawer full of little eyeshadow pots that I had to root through every morning was not my idea of fun.

The other thing I was wary about was having to depot my 6 current eyeshadows. I knew I was better to be attempting it when I only had 6 and not 60 but still I was kind of nervous about it.
I finally decided that a palette was the way to go and took the the plunge and bought a 15-pan palette. Thankfully my depotting went without a hitch (kind of - I completely shattered club but managed to put it back together thanks to YouTube!).
I am thrilled with my palette, it really is so much more efficient in the morning and it looks so pretty! Thanks to my most recent haul I now have it completed, with two extra shadows in a 4-pan quad, which I bought for travelling. I'll have to pick up another 15-pan one the next time I'm at a Mac but for the moment I'm delighted with one complete one! Someday I'll have a palette for each colour!Woot!





Sanctuary Salt Scrub
I'm not going to say too much about this as I have a review coming up on it during the week(which I meant to have up before this one - d'oh) but it is amazing stuff! Being addicted to it since I bought it near the beginning of the month!

Twitter
Ok so I only started using it over a week ago but it is so much fun that it deserves to be in my favourites!

Herbal Tea of the Month: Pu-reh Blackcurrant Tea


Yummy. And it's a cool shade of purple! Smells slightly weird but I think that happens all blackcurrant based drinks when they're heated. I don't think it'll pass out last months favourite of Lemon and Ginger, but it has definitely been one of my main go-to herbal teas this month:)

That's my favourites for this month, not too many beauty/make-up related probably because I was just in love with my mac palette for the month!