Best Eyeshadow Palettes for Fall 2017

Best Eyeshadow Palettes for Fall 2017

Wycon Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, October 17, 2017

My favourite eye makeup for this time of the year involves orange, and ruddy hues. And, we've seen a plethora of palettes with those shades recently. To the extent where you might as well label burnt orange the eyeshadow colour of the year.
I've picked my favourite cruelty-free eyeshadow palettes in terms of pigmentation, performance, and shade choices, and have swatches and eye makeup looks for each palette - do watch this video, give me a thumbs-up, and subscribe to my channel. 


There are older releases in here, such as Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance, and newer launches such as TheBalm's Nude Beach, reviewed here. All palettes mentioned in this video are cruelty-free.

I prefer the burnt-orange/ruddy palette to the beige and brown based neutrals that were in vogue not so long ago. The former adds a bit of interest to my skintone, while remaining subtle enough for day-wear.

Which is your favourite palette for Fall 2017? Tell me in the comment box below.

SHOP THE BEST FALL 2017 EYESHADOW PALETTES:

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Mid-2017 Makeup Haul, Including 10 Lipsticks!

Mid-2017 Makeup Haul, Including 10 Lipsticks!

YSL Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, August 15, 2017

I usually go on two makeup shopping-sprees in a year - the first one is around June-July, and the second one is around Christmas/Boxing Day, to take advantage of the sales.
This year, my haul was mostly from Harvey Nichols (I missed a gorgeous GWP by one day; can you believe it?), Selfridges, and Debenhams. The haul included 10 lipsticks, but just the two eye palettes. But why am I talking about it? You can see my haul for yourself further below.

Scroll down to see my mid-2017 makeup haul from Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, and Debenhams.

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2016 Makeup Favourites: Best 10 Lipsticks Of The Year

2016 Makeup Favourites: Best 10 Lipsticks Of The Year

YSL Cosmetopia Digest   Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Did you have a good Christmas? I had the time of my life, and came away with better loot than I have had in a while. Swag included a Coloured Raine eyeshadow palette, a 40x jeweller's loupe, new trainers, books, a new jacket, and more. But all that is for another time; I'm too lazy to take photographs today.
Now that the year is almost done, I thought I would talk about my favourites - this year has clearly been all about liquid lipsticks, with brands coming out with new, non-drying formulations. I hope the trend continues well into 2017!

Scroll down for deets on 10 of my favourite lipsticks from 2016. 

iPhone Skins For Beauty Lovers

iPhone Skins For Beauty Lovers

Urban Decay Cosmetopia Digest   Sunday, April 10, 2016

My Dad gave me an iPhone 6S in rose gold for Christmas, thereby marking the end of a decade's association with Sony [Ericsson], which had started with the T610 and gone on through a couple of Xperias. In fairness, my Xperia was on its last legs after all the abuse it suffered at my rough hands.
It took me a while to warm to the iPhone. The Xperias, I felt, looked way cooler. "Get a skin," suggested Dad, showing me his Charles Bronson - in The Evil That Men Do - skin. I picked these up in the local mobile accessories mart.

2015 Favourites: 10 Best Eyeshadow Palettes

2015 Favourites: 10 Best Eyeshadow Palettes

Urban Decay Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, December 31, 2015

Happy New Year's Eve! I am staying indoors for the first time in years because the breakout I thought was acne is actually an infection I caught after travelling to flood-infested areas three weeks ago. My GP did a swab and culture - I'm running a temperature and have withdrawn from public life for the next three weeks.
This was one of the most difficult posts of 2015 for me - narrowing down my favourite eyeshadow palettes of the year to just 10. I had to leave out some favourite staples such as Cargo Cosmetics Summer in the City and MUA Spring Break.

Scroll down for the list of my 10 favourite eyeshadow palettes for 2015.

Disclaimer: Favourites lists are entirely subjective. What may be an awesome product to one person may not work at all for another.

Urban Decay N*ked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette review, swatches

Urban Decay N*ked Smoky Eyeshadow Palette review, swatches

Urban Decay Cosmetopia Digest   Friday, August 14, 2015

In Thailand, there are vendors selling "Urban Decay N@ked 4", "N@ked 5" and so on. They have the branding, brush, spellings and text down to the last full-stop. The fakers were generous enough to offer a whopping 24 shades in the fake N@ked 4, while wisdom kicked in later and they stuck to 12 shades for the fifth edition. The quality of the fake palettes and their contents is a subject best left alone. A friend of mine visited Thailand recently and she tells me the shadows "smell of crayons". Both fake palettes cost a paltry $7.
The counterfeiters might just have got away with it - if there had actually been a N@ked 4, with 24 shadows.
The fourth original N@ked palette from Urban Decay is the N@ked Smoky, with 12 eyeshadows.

I suppose the counterfeiters must be bemoaning their lack of patience. If they had waited, they could have copied the original design.

Here is the N*ked Smoky eyeshadow palette from Urban Decay, with swatches and my review.

Urban Decay Perversion Mascara review, photos

Urban Decay Perversion Mascara review, photos

Urban Decay Cosmetopia Digest   Thursday, October 09, 2014

I know that mascaras work differently on different people. In my case, most mascaras do make a difference to my non-existent eyelashes, but very few give me extraordinary, "wow" results, combining length, separation, volume and curl. So far, only Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes mascara, reviewed here, had made the fuzz on my eyelids look like well-defined eyelashes, giving length, volume, separation and a bit of curl without using a primer or torture device curler.
But I have a habit of looking for backups. What if they discontinued the product suddenly, or availability stopped for some reason? I tried a dozen mascaras from drugstore to high-end, but nothing gave me the oomph that Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes did. Nonetheless, I have persisted. And, the latest to come under the scanner is Urban Decay Perversion, which created quite a bit of hype when it launched a few months ago. I haven't tried any of the other products from the Perversion range so I did not have many expectations.

Read on for my review of Urban Decay Perversion mascara.

Twelve favourite beauty products from early 2014

Twelve favourite beauty products from early 2014

Urban Decay Cosmetopia Digest   Monday, July 14, 2014

This year, I have not come across any new foundations or primers that wowed me so far. Boo... hiss! My all-time favourite foundation continues to remain the Shiseido Sheer Mattifying Compact and my favourite mascara continues to be Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes.Nor did I come across an applicator that bettered my beloved Beautyblender either.
A number of my recent favourites are lipsticks, as I tried to move on from the discontinued Rose Garnet in Chanel Rouge Double Intensite.  And, I did discover my Holy Grail face serum. And a couple of lovely palettes and a brilliant eye primer, as you will see below.
These are pictured in no particular order, but the listing below is grouped into skin and hair care, eye palettes/makeup and lipsticks.

Here are 12 of my favourite beauty products from January to June 2014.

Rose and taupe EOTD with Urban Decay N@ked 3

Rose and taupe EOTD with Urban Decay N@ked 3

Urban Decay Cosmetopia Digest   Friday, May 02, 2014

I am having a spate of breakouts along the jawline as a result of my skin care routine suffering from last weekend's events. This time, I have painful, deep-seated bumps rather than pus-filled ones on the surface. Those, combined with the reappearance of dark circles - the result of all the medication - are making me feel and look dull, so I have picked out a not-so-bright rather dull eye look I did some days ago to show you.
This was actually an experiment with the Urban Decay N@ked 3 eyeshadow palette, swatched and reviewed here. Compared to my preferred bright eyeshadows, I have always felt that taupe would look dull on Indian skin. The photographs are all indoors in artificial light and the results are somewhat uninspiring, just as I am feeling.

EOTD: Soft rose gold eye makeup with Urban Decay N@ked3 eyeshadows

EOTD: Soft rose gold eye makeup with Urban Decay N@ked3 eyeshadows

Urban Decay Cosmetopia Digest   Friday, March 14, 2014

This is for those who worry that the rose gold eyeshadows of the Urban Decay N@ked3 palette - reviewed here - will not suit their skintone. Don't! You're missing out on one of the best palettes ever, so at least give it a swatch before you conclude. I actually preferred theBalm's Nvde'Tude over UD1 and 2, but 3 knocks it out of the ballpark. The rose gold shades are not in-your-face pinks, but subtle with a touch of beautiful peach, rose and taupe so as to remove the "meh" from neutral eyeshadows.

Here is a soft rose gold eye makeup look I did with the Urban Decay N@ked3 eyeshadow palette.

EOTD: Brown shimmery smoky eye makeup look with Urban Decay N@ked3

EOTD: Brown shimmery smoky eye makeup look with Urban Decay N@ked3

Urban Decay Cosmetopia Digest   Friday, February 21, 2014

Hello, everyone! It is great to be back. I have been sleeping most of the time as the pills they gave me are knocking me out, but they take care of the pain and dark circles and I don't fancy anyone seeing my swollen jaw. Extraction went well, though I have four stitches to be removed next week and can't open my mouth much.
I didn't wear any makeup for the last three days. This is an eye look I had done a few days ago. I developed dull skin and the left side of my face was swollen after two weeks of jaw infection and pain, so I'm showing you only the right eye. I went for the Urban Decay N@ked 3 eyeshadow palette for this look, as the packaging itself is a cheer-me-up!

Here is my smoky eye makeup look with the Urban Decay Naked3 eyeshadow palette.

Urban Decay Revolution lipsticks swatches, review and photos of all muted shades

Urban Decay Revolution lipsticks swatches, review and photos of all muted shades

Urban Decay Cosmetopia Digest   Sunday, January 19, 2014

From the time the Urban Decay Revolution lipsticks launched last Fall, I've been wanting to try them out. I finally got my chance in December. There are 22 shades in this range, from the deepest berries and brightest reds to neutral beiges. I have swatched them in two lots - come on, I have petite forearms. First up, 10 shades - mostly pinks, mutes and neutrals, with one or two brights that sneaked in by accident. The second lot, viz. brights and deeps will follow sometime later, once I get some more haul and review posts out of the way.

Here are the swatches of the all muted shades in the Urban Decay Revolution lipsticks, and my review.

EOTD: Subtle smoky eye makeup look with Urban Decay N@ked 3 palette

EOTD: Subtle smoky eye makeup look with Urban Decay N@ked 3 palette

Urban Decay Cosmetopia Digest   Saturday, January 18, 2014

I am so obsessed with the Urban Decay N@ked 3 eyeshadow palette reviewed and swatched here that I am going to do all the possible smoky eye makeup combinations in due course, beginning with the lightest shades to the deepest. That's a lot of permutations and combinations, with plenty of room for experimenting.
The beauty of the shades in the N@ked 3 palette is that they aren't the regular brown or yellow-based neutrals that I'm pretty much sick of. I mean, how many looks can you do with those, and how many of those looks will look distinct? These are subtle enough for daily wear, at the same time, not similar to the usual suspects. I've begun at the left end of the palette and will be working my way towards the right.

Here's how I achieved this subtle, everyday smoky eye makeup look with the Urban Decay N@ked 3 palette.

Makeup and skin care haul from Sephora Middle East: Part I

Makeup and skin care haul from Sephora Middle East: Part I

Urban Decay Cosmetopia Digest   Sunday, January 05, 2014

You're thinking, "That is all she bought, after all her claims?" This is the first of the makeup and skin care hauls made over the Holiday season from Sephora Middle East. I've got separate haul posts for lipsticks, nail polishes, Soap & Glory, Benefit and Boots No7. Detailed reviews and swatches will be posted later. And yes, I did buy 25 nail polishes and quite a few lipsticks, but this post will become longer than The Iliad unless I split up my haul!
There are eight countries in the Persian Gulf with Sephora stores, with eight Sephora outlets in the UAE alone. You can sign up for the Sephora White Card, which is the Middle East's equivalent of the Beauty Insider loyalty card programme and earn points and get gifts. And once you have 2,000 points like I do now, you can trade it in for a black card. I'm now going to show you the palettes, eye creams, blush and brushes I hauled across brands from Sephora.

Urban Decay N@ked 3 eyeshadow palette review, swatches and photos on medium skin

Urban Decay N@ked 3 eyeshadow palette review, swatches and photos on medium skin

Urban Decay Cosmetopia Digest   Monday, December 30, 2013

I received the Urban Decay N@ked3 eyeshadow palette as a Christmas prezzie and nearly flung it into the air in delight (this actually happened to my mobile phone once) - incidentally I didn't feel like doing this when I had received the first two palettes earlier! Urban Decay N@ked3 launched in the Middle East two weeks after the US launch, though there is very limited stock in the three Sephora outlets I've seen - every customer I've seen in the tills seems to have one, and every customer around has been asking for it! Anyway, you've probably read everything there is to read about, but I've got to show my palette off and wax eloquent about it. And you can also see what the rosy-toned neutral shades look like on medium, NC37 skintone.

Here's my review, including swatches, of the Urban Decay N@ked3 eyeshadow palette.

EOTD: Basic smoky eye makeup with Urban Decay Smog and Darkhorse shadows

EOTD: Basic smoky eye makeup with Urban Decay Smog and Darkhorse shadows

Urban Decay Cosmetopia Digest   Saturday, November 16, 2013

At long last, my first smoky eye look! While I firmly maintain that theBalm's N*de'Tude (see here) is the more versatile neutral eye palette (I find that the Urban Decay N@ked palettes - both one and two - have either too many darker crease shades or too many lighter lid shades and not enough medium shades), here is a very basic smoky eye look I've done with Urban Decay's N@ked palette 1, using the eyeshadow shades Smog and Darkhorse. Smog and Darkhorse are my favourite combination from this palette and can be worn in the daytime, even to work, without your eye makeup looking over the top.

Stain, scrub and salve: My top lip products

Stain, scrub and salve: My top lip products

Yes To Carrots Cosmetopia Digest   Monday, August 05, 2013

Five is too small a number, but this tag has been going around for a while and Shikha of Sorelle Grapevine, who tagged me, insists that I need to stick to five. So I'm sort of cheating with an also-rans section!
Here are my Holy Grail lip products:
1. Chanel Rouge Double Intensite in Rose Garnet
2. Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub
3. Smith's Rosebud Salve
4. Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Lip Pencil in N@ked
5. Lancome La Laque Fever in Chromed Pink