I Won Temptalia's Urban Decay Giveaway! Theodora Palette, Naked Flushed, Eyeshadow Swatches and Mini-Reviews

     I can proudly say that the week leading up to and including prom weekend will probably be remembered as one of the happiest times of my life. Everything was going right- school, friends, and prom preparations were going smoothly, and I couldn't decide if I was more excited for prom itself or the weekend I was ready to spend in a rented house with my friends in the Poconos!

     Happy turned into pure, panicked joy when I checked my email in my sixth period investing class and found one from Temptalia's Christine, stating that I won her Urban Decay giveaway from  January! I couldn't believe it at first, and it still makes my head spin- out of over 15,000 people, I was randomly picked to receive a ton of goodies from one of my favorite brands (and beauty blogger, eee!), and I couldn't have been more thrilled.

I kid you not, guys... I lost my shit when I saw this.

This is what I got:

• Naked Flushed Palette
• Snare Eyeshadow
• Uncut Eyeshadow
• Heartless Eyeshadow
• Omen Eyeshadow
• Moonflower Customizable Palette
• Oz The Great & Powerful Palette- Theodora

     EEK, so many AMAZING products! I knew when the Oz palettes came out that I preferred Theodora's right away, because the eyeshadows and bright red lipstick that are modeled after her match my hazel eyes and pale as hell NC15 complexion.

Everything all in one place- the broke student in me is still cheering about the fact that I didn't have to pay for all of this wonderful stuff!

     It was SO nice of Christine to add in the empty palette with the four eyeshadows, because now I have a safe place to store them all! But the box itself comes with its own exclusive eyeshadow that I am currently loving to bits, named Moonflower. (I am crazy about my bronze shadows, and the buttery texture of this one fits the bill perfectly.)

 

Here's a photo of me gazing lovingly into the mirror of my few favorite six-color palette.

UD Theodora Palette.

From left to right, top to bottom: Broken, Beware, Bewitch, West, Spell, Jealous.

The eyeliner is a 24/4 Glide-On pencil in Zero.

     The three shadows on top are great for neutral, everyday looks, and they have a satin sheen, which means that they have only a small amount of shimmer. The bottom three shades can be worked into any look to make the eyes pop for a more dramatic look. I love the way these eyeshadows pair with each other, and I seriously CANNOT WAIT to use this baby regularly (I held off for a while so I could get clean pictures of it, but now there's no holding back!)

PERFECT PALETTE IS PERFECT.

 It comes with a bold red Super-Saturated Lip Color in "Theodora", too- I LOVE my reds so this is just amazing to have.

UD eyeshadow singles.

Clockwise, from top left: Heartless, Uncut, Snare, Omen

These are shades I never would have picked out for myself, but I'm glad Christine did because they are incredible colors! Heartless is a perfect neutral highlight for me, Snare is a beautiful olive I can imagine in the crease or smudged on the lashline, Uncut is a gorgeous deep shimmery plum, and Omen is a stunning duotone violet that flashes a frosty blue in the light. I'm going to get some serious use out of these babies!

From top to bottom: Snare, Uncut, Omen, Heartless

Naked Flushed, Moonflower

I'm surprised that Naked Flush actually suits my skintone! I was certain that the bronzer was going to be way too dark/orange for me, but it works great as a contour for me. You just need a tiniest amount of the blush and highlight to have enough color on the face- that's why their designated areas are so much smaller.

Moonflower Eyeshadow

Gorgeous, buttery bronze. This is perfect. Need I say more?

need to clean the lens, oops! i still like this picture, though.

Before I end this post, I sincerely want to thank Christine from Temptalia for being so kind and generous towards her fans! She's an amazing and thorough blogger for those of us that really enjoy in-depth reviews of products before purchasing them. She is a huge inspiration for my own blog, and I hope she'll always be doing her thing, because a lot of us appreciate it!

I hope you're all having an amazing summer!

Love,

Izzy

Wordless Wednesday #2.

Love,

Izzy

Grand Cayman's Discount Makeup: NARS Haul, Review, & Swatches (Isolde and Deep Throat)

I apologize in advance for the crappy iPhone pictures- it was the only decent camera I had while I spend the week away!

Today I came home from the wonderful Cayman Islands, and I'm more than depressed about it. I was actually able to fully relax during my time there and the scenery and beaches were beautiful beyond belief. (Maybe I'll do a little lifestyle post about it when I get the chance!) Check out my spring break travel essentials here :)

I got to HOLD A BABY TURTLE, GUYS!!!

(it took all of my willpower to not kiss it and take it home with me)

     Grand Cayman didn't have a lot of shopping options that weren't extremely high-end and expensive, but while my mom and I were scouring the streets of Georgetown for good a good deal I stumbled upon a duty-free tax exempt high end beauty shop.

     To my mother's dismay ("You have too much makeup, Isabel!!") I ran immediately to the NARS counter (in hindsight, how in the world did I ignore the YSL stand?!?) and oogled the price cuts. Everything was $3-5 cheaper than in the states, and there was no tax on any of the items either. This might not sound like a huge discount to you guys, but I've been eyeing these two products for a very long, and to get them at any kind of discount was pretty awesome, so I just jumped at the chance to get them!

      I probably should have probably gotten more because of the lower price, but you know what? I have what I really wanted and that's fulfilling enough for me :)

Like I said, I picked up two things:

• Blush- Deep Throat
• Eyeshadow Duo- Isolde

     I've been using a dupe for Deep Throat for quite a while (blog post about that later! ohohoho) but it seems that it was finally time to branch out and get the real thing. This color is just gorgeous, long-wearing, and flattering on my monburnt NC15 complexion.

     Ah, Isolde. A favorite blogger/YouTuber Zoella wrote a blog post praising this duo, and I've had my eye on it ever since. The colors are bronze-y and gorgeous, and even though these colors are more for blue eyes I couldn't care less- I love my golds and bronzes, and it still looks okay on my hazel eyes!

     I literally only had to tap my finger in the pan to get these colors... NARS' pigmentation makes me go weak at the knees, you definitely get what you pay for!! :) 

     This concludes my (makeup) shopping adventures at Grand Cayman! I miss that little island so much already D: but these products will always being me back to those sunny days filled with tanning, the occasional sunburn, and holding baby turtles!

     Did you do any shopping around easter time? Let me know in the comments!

Love,

Izzy