Urban Decay Naked Illuminated: Aura

I hope you are all appreciating the Urban Decay love this month, I now have realised this is my 3rd Urban Decay related post lately, apologies if you are anti-Urban Decay (why anyone would be I don’t know!). Now if you have read my blog a lot you may know that I love anything sparkly and shimmery so when I seen this highlighter I knew it would be right up my street.

I finally got my hands on it in the Christmas sales after Feel Unique had an impressive deal on it making it just under £14 when it usually retails for £22, how good is that! So of course I had to buy it! I picked up the shade Aura which is a gold champagne toned shade although initially I always wanted the whiter shade however it was out of stock but looking at how gorgeous this is I don’t really mind. It comes in beautiful packaging in a small box featuring a mirror and a lower compartment with a small brush.

I don’t even need to tell you how incredibly pigmented this is, the swatch does the talking. I have been looking for a good pigmented highlighter and this beats what I could have ever imagined. I’m sure you can also see how shimmery this is so if you are not a fan of glitter this is sadly not for you. Being as shimmery as it is, its more suited to being worn for going out rather than daily wear. It creates such a beautiful glow on the cheekbones and is definitely one of the best highlighters I’ve ever tried. Urban Decay: You’ve done it again!

Have you tried the Urban Decay illuminated powder?

Christmas Wish List

Can you believe its less than three weeks until Christmas! Christmas is by far my favourite time of the year, I just love the atmosphere and all the events in the run up to the big day. Anyway of course there is always a little gift giving across Christmas and I have put together just a few things I would quite like to own. Some of these items you may recall me mentioning them before in other posts but sadly they just haven’t came my way yet!

Benefit They’re Real Mascara – Its one of the most raved about mascaras in the beauty world and I want to try it out for myself. I love the Benefit Bad Gal lash mascara and would love to give this one a try.

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette – Well obvious one here, I picked up the original naked palette and the third one this year and with one left to get its no surprise this is on my list!

Versace Crystal Noir – I have been failing quite recently in the perfume department, I am really in need of a good strong bottle of scented stuff. This scent is quite different for me but its strong and dark.

Real Techniques Eye Starter Kit – If you seen my Fave brushes post not too long ago you will know I am a huge fan of the Real Techniques brushes and one thing I don’t own is any of their eye brushes. I would love to add these to my collection and hopefully they are as good as their other brushes.

What is on your wish list this Christmas?

Urban Decay Naked Palette: Review/Swatches

Okay don’t judge me cause I am a bit late here on the whole Naked Palette ‘thing’ since I just bought this recently but I wanted to share my thoughts on the totally buzzed about eyeshadow palette in case any of you out there are in the same situation I was in: to buy or not to buy. I had wanted the naked palettes for such a long time and never really got round to buying one and then Feelunique.com had an amazing sale on with 10% off and then a further 10% off for a limited time only so I got my hands on this beauty at £29.97 (with free delivery!) rather than its usual £37 price tag which I thought was quite the bargain 🙂

You probably have all seen the pictures of this pride and joy in all its glory from its soft packaging and cute handy mirror and its double sided eye shadow brush which I really like (oh and its free eye primer samples!). Having the choice of 3 palettes was quite difficult for me cause they all look so pretty (I will own them all sometime anyway!) but I had been really into bronze-y shades recently and the original naked palette is based off of bronze and brown hues which is right up my street. Before I bought this I was mostly using the Maybelline colour tattoo eyeshadows which I love, in particular the On and On Bronze shade so I couldn’t help but compare them to this palette. While I totally love this palette for its amazing shades, being easy to blend and its great quality I did question whether it was worth the money if I can get just as good on the high street. However despite being quite apprehensive at first I have grown to love this palette and for 12 great shades that you can easily work with, its definitely worth it!

There is a nice variety of shades that can be easily blended to create many nice neutral looks that can take you from day to night and the shades are highly pigmented. The palette includes matte shades, glitter and shimmer shades – which I am particularly a big fan. As I say this palette is very versatile so you can create so many different looks that suit you and choose from different types of bases and shades for your skin tone. My favourite shades are probably Half baked, Toasted and Sidecar.. I wonder why 🙂