Sparkled Beauty

The sun blessed us for the whole long weekend, it was awesome, but hot :) And then a lightning/ thunder show 4am, followed by fog this morning. Funny weather.

Looks like summer has just started around here but I can't help looking onward to Fall makeup for the rich tones and colours.

Today's spotlight is Annabelle Smokey Nudes eyeshadow palette in Dark Lights I received for review. I am happy to see a drugstore palette with a good range of shades.

The first row has more cool toned shades while the second row are warmer. Among the 10 shades, 3 appears to be semi matte (one with random fine glitters) and the rest are shimmery.

The sheen is more visible under flash (left pic below) but is noticeable in natural lighting (right pic).

Here are the 5 shades in the first row in different lighting. The first two shades do not show up much on my skin tone so I normally use the middle shade for all over lids. The grey shade can be a little more pigmented. No complain about the black.

The second row fares a lot better on my skin tone, for colour and for pigmentation. The white shade is the IT colour for brow bone and lids, and the light gold for cheek highlight.

The rose toned brown is neutral enough to warm up a look. The glitters on the dark brown shade are not very visible on the lids so it works well as a crease colour.

The star of the palette for me is the semi-matte brown with a strong grey sheen and equally strong pigmentation. I have worn (daytime) smoky eyes every day, even to work, thanks to this shade.

I enjoy the Smokey Nudes palette - 10 shades, 0.32oz/ 9.3g, $12.95, available this month. If the colours in the first row (except the black) work better for me, it would be a total winner in my book.

For comparison:
- Maybelline the Nudes palette: 12 shades, almost the same amount of product and price - 0.34oz/ 9.6g, $12.96 at Walmart
- L'Oreal La Palette Nude has 10 shades, 0.62oz/ 17.5g, $23.96 at Walmart ($29.99 anywhere else).