Sydney Grace: Christmas in July 2022 – California Coast and Mountain Trail Palettes

It’s the most wonderful time of the year – Christmas in July! Sydney Grace’s annual Christmas in July sale has everything you need to put you in the holiday spirit, except for the spiked egg nog (no pun intended). Sales, makeup, good times with fellow beauty lovers, and more sales. What a joyous occasion!

Nomad Cosmetics: Haunted Europe

One of the most interesting features of Haunted Europe is

Sydney Grace – Temptalia Collection

I’ve never been more excited about an eyeshadow collaboration! It is finally time for Sydney Grace and Christine of Temptalia to bless us with their new highly-anticipated collection! I may be a bit biased as I look up to Christine immensely as a long-time creator in the beauty world, but this is such a thoughtful … Read more

Glaminatrix Cosmetics: You Beauty!

Hey friends! Remember me? It’s been a crazy year and I just hope that I can get back to creating and sharing content regularly with y’all. Please don’t cancel me for these unintended hiatuses. Cancel my job…and student loan debt while you’re at it. *Hint, hint, Biden.*

Kaleidos Makeup: Club Nebula

Happy Hump Day! Today, I’m bringing y’all swatches of the Club Nebula palette from Kaleidos Makeup. Kaleidos created the palette in collaboration with Angelica Nyqvist. This is the earliest I’ve ever reviewed a Kaleidos collection, but there’s a reason. The palette restocks today, February 17, 2021, at 11 pm PST. This is supposedly the last restock and the palette will only be available in limited quantities.

If you can’t get your hands on this palette, please don’t be too disappointed. I know Kaleidos typically means business when they discontinue a product, so the chances that this palette will come back are low. But you can always dupe out colors with other brands. If you feel pressure to support the creator, remember financial support is just one way to do so. If it’s not in your budget this month, you and everyone else will be fine without it. Supporting yourself is more important that supporting your favorite creators.

Bonus points if you catch the easter egg in the swatch photos. This post was supposed to go up a bit earlier so those were intended to be a helpful reminder of the restock date. And, also, I’m particularly drawn to the date because it’s my birthday. 🙂 

About Club Nebula
Swatches
Thoughts

I think Kaleidos and Angelica did a fantastic job creating this palette. The color story immediately spoke to me, which makes perfect sense given how much I love greens, blues, and purples.

I love the depth of this palette. Naaru is the only light matte, and one light matte in a palette is definitely a welcome change for me. While it looked decent swatched, it did have a light, almost white cast when applied to my eye. I don’t think it is too light to use, but it is a shadow I would use primarily to blend out other shadows. 

Gravity stood out to me the most out of all of the mattes. It swatched as I would expect a neon matte to swatch, with slight separation of pigment/patchiness and trouble consistently adhering to skin after a certain amount of powder is used. It blends out well, although there can be a small yellow halo around the primary bright green pigment.

The other mattes are beautiful and rich. I noticed Queen of Blades looks best over primer. Without primer, it can easily venture into patchy territory. With primer, it is perfectly pigmented.

You’re My Only Hope is a beautiful lavender in the pan, but it reads as a silver or pale blue on my skin. I would have loved to get more of that purple to show up on my skin.

I was surprised that the two multichromes, Astro and Celestial, were labeled as such. They aren’t quite as shifty as some of the shadows labeled as duochromes, Nova in particular. All of the shifty shadows in Club Nebula are soft and light, which is interesting when you consider how deep the mattes go.

I’m not sure if the formulas in the palette are unique compared to other brands. Everything performs well, for the most part, but nothing stands out to me as exceptional. I know this statement stands in stark contrast with some of the earlier praises of Kaleidos (circa 2019), but a formula being good does not elevate a palette to must-have status for me. If you’re interested in the palette, consider whether the combination of the formulas and the colors intrigues you, as well as your motivations for buying it.

I don’t quite understand the theme of this palette, but I do appreciate the packaging and the beautiful deck of cards. As soon as this pandemic is over, I’m busting those out for some spades or King’s Cup. I love a good card game, don’t judge me.

BH Cosmetics: Sweet Shoppe Collection

A few months ago, a friend’s swatches of the Sweet Shoppe collection convinced me to give BH Cosmetics a try. The last time I tried BH Cosmetics, I was just beginning my love affair with eyeshadow and I had been seduced by 88 tiny pans of mattes (though many had some sheen). In the decade since, BH Cosmetics has grown a lot. And I’m not just talking about the size of their pans. Word on the street is their eyeshadow formulas are superb–not just, but especially, for a drugstore/affordable brand.

So I had to see for myself if the rumors were true. If popularity is any indication, they certainly are. These palettes sold out pretty quickly and, although BH Cosmetics initially said they would not return, are back for another round. 

This post covers all of the palettes in the collection and has some handy features (like the Table of Contents below) to help you all navigate through this content-heavy post. I’ve been holding onto these photos for months (what else is new), but I am so excited to share them with y’all. This collection has definitely been a highlight of the year for me. 

Sweet Shoppe Collection: Overview
About the Sweet Shoppe Collection

The Sweet Shoppe collection consists of six ice-cream-themed monochromatic palettes of reds, oranges, greens, blues, purples and pinks, and browns. The shadows are all embossed with a waffle cone imprint and surrounded by sprinkles. Okay, maybe the imprint is of a sugar cone–but we *all* know waffle cones are superior. When stacked, the palettes combine to form a delicious, colorful ice cream cone–a design feature that I love. It’s clear a lot of thought went into the packaging, the names, and the color stories. 

We’ve seen a lot of monochromatic palettes in the past few years–first with Huda Beauty and then with Colourpop (who took the spotlight away from Huda in this colorful arena, in my opinion). Just when I was getting bored with the inherently limiting ways of monochromatic color schemes, BH Cosmetics swooped in with these treats. The shadows in each palette vary in undertone and depth, making them (again, in my opinion) a bit less limiting than your run-of-the-mill monochromatic palette in terms of the number of looks you can create. 

Cherry on Top
Cherry on Top
About Cherry on Top
Cherry on Top Swatches
Orange Sorbet
About Orange Sorbet
Orange Sorbet Swatches
Cotton Candy
About Cotton Candy
Cotton Candy Swatches
Bubble Gum
About Bubble Gum
Bubble Gum Swatches
Pistachio
About Pistachio
Pistachio Swatches
Sugar Cone
About Sugar Cone
Sugar Cone Swatches
Overall Thoughts
Thoughts

Consider me impressed. The Sweet Shoppe collection was a fun way to be reintroduced to BH Cosmetics. The palettes perform well and, surprisingly, offer sufficient versatility when it comes to possible eye looks. I was surprised at how rich and pigmented some of the mattes were.

The standouts for me are Cotton Candy and Bubble Gum. I find the color stories some of the best that I’ve seen in monochromatic palettes. I’ve never seen bubble gum as deep as some of the mattes in BH’s palette, but I won’t complain because those shadows are amazing. Pistachio is also one of my favorites, mostly because of the beautiful, emerald color of Crunch

While I find it amusing that BH made sure to acknowledge one of the best parts of any ice cream treat, the Sugar Cone palette is my least favorite. I love a good neutral palette, but the Sugar Cone palette left much to be desired with such small differences existing between many of the shadows.

Have you all been able to grab one of these palettes? Which is your favorite?

10 Favorite Palettes for Fall

It’s FALL! My favorite season! And to celebrate, I’m going to do something I’ve been meaning to do literally since I started posting makeup seriously — rank some fall products! Now, I would not consider myself someone who strictly follows seasonal trends. I wear whatever colors I want year-round, although I do also enjoy doing … Read more

Viseart: Paris Edit

Paris Edit from Viseart is one of my favorite romantic palettes. The color scheme is classic — perfect for creating soft, date-night-ready looks. I can’t pronounce a single eyeshadow name (okay, maybe I can say “Opera,” but not in a fancy French way), but I can say that this palette is beautiful.

Kaleidos Makeup: Make Your Escape Collection

About the Make Your Escape Collection

I was kindly gifted the Make Your Escape Collection by Kaleidos after DM’ing them about the problematic representation of dark skinned (presumably) women on their blush duos — more on this later. 

The collection consists of one eyeshadow palette, two makeup sponges, a lip gloss, two blush duos, four highlighters, and an eyeshadow primer. It’s clearly a huge collection, so let’s jump right in!

But first…I have not included swatches of the Lucid Lip Gloss in Hypnotize — a cool and creamy magenta frosted with fuschia and violet sparkles. I also did not swatch the Tone Activator Eye Primer, which Kaleidos claims is smudge-proof, crease-proof, and water resistant. It has a beige tint to it.

Alright, now let’s really jump in!

About The Escape Pod
The Escape Pod Swatches
About the Highlighters
Highlighter Swatches
About the Lo-Fi Duo Blushers
Lo-Fi Duo Blushers Swatches
Thoughts

I appreciate that Kaleidos sent me this collection after I was so vocal about my displeasure with the blush duos. I am also happy that Kaleidos has removed those blushes from their line. Hopefully similar colors come back in more appropriate packaging. But I believe Kaleidos actions speak volumes about the brand and I feel good about supporting them in the future.

Blushes aside, these products are beautiful on dark skin. This is definitely  a collection for color lovers, but there are also plenty of more neutral and safe options within the collection. 

As stated above, I didn’t include swatches of the lip gloss or eye primer. The lip gloss is a pretty fuschia and I may swatch it later. The eye primer is little liquid and a lot comes out at once (nobody make any jokes). It’s not going to dethrone my favorite primers because of its consistency, as well as its color. 

Whew. That was a lot.