I bought way too many things this time last year. Mistakes were made. Expensive mistakes.
This time last year I went on a bit of a spree. I'm already know that mistakes were made because I had to destash items that were unused and still in their packaging a few months ago. Fortunately, I was able to fully recover my money on those items that I sold on.
Looking back at July through to September 2019, I bought the Westman Atelier Contour Stick in Biscuit, three Tom Ford eyeshadow quads, the Estee Lauder Double Wear Nude foundation, three Lisa Eldridge lipsticks, four NARS single eyeshadows, a Nudestix Lip Kit, two Australis Metallix eyeshadows, a MAC Fix+, the Viseart Libertine Palette, the Charlotte Tilbury lipstick in The Duchess and two Australis Liquid eyeshadows.
I've since destashed one Tom Ford eyeshadow quad, the Australis liquid eyeshadows and the Charlotte Tilbury lipstick.
The eyeshadows
I think it's fair to say that I've used all of the remaining eyeshadows in my collection — some more than others though. Pictured here I have the Tom Ford quads in Nude Dip featuring the wet and dry formula and the now discontinued Cocoa Mirage. Cocoa Mirage is a repurchase for me. I first bought it in 2013 and I completely finished it. It's a boring neutral palette but the formula is soft and so easily blendable. You can't screw it up and I like brown so it might take me another five years to use it up but I most likely will. Tom Ford quads are stupidly expensive now. I'm sure that the 2020 price of one palette is up 25% more than it was when I first purchased it since they retail for AUD$125 whereas I paid under $100 the first time.
The Viseart Libertine palette was a cheap purchase buying it second-hand. I picked it up for $10 and even though I don't like bright colours, I like to pull it out for nights where I want a dark, sultry look. The reds and plums are really nice and the formula is really easy to work with while being very pigmented.
The two Australis Metallix Eyeshadows are potted putty-like shimmery metallic formulas. They're very soft in texture and richly pigmented so they're going to take me ages to finish. I have them in Gold Gaga and Guns and Rose Petals. Obviously, I enjoy the gold topper more because there's barely a dent in the lighter shade. They were an okay purchase for just under AUD$10 each.
The four NARS single eyeshadows were a slight mistake. I like all of them and I really like the pinkish nude matte shade Kari which has some pretty decent usage but I rarely reach for single shadows when I know I typically like to use at least two shadows. If I'm using just one shadow, I tend to use a cream eyeshadow stick. The NARS single shadows are impossible to depot because these shadows are a baked formula which aren't in a removable pan. I got purchased four for $84 which makes them an expensive buy.
The base products
I use a combination of at least two out of these three products nearly every time I put makeup on. I'm really getting my money's worth out of these three products because I still have two-thirds of the Estee Lauder foundation left, a third of the MAC Fix+ and I've barely made a dent in the Westman Atelier Contour Stick.
I've moved to a sheer coverage, light base makeup look now. I still enjoy a medium coverage look but my skin has become mostly too dry to handle it. I have a review of the Estee Lauder Double Wear Nude Water Fresh Makeup Foundation on my blog already. It can be built to a medium coverage but these days I'm mostly leaving it at a light coverage and so one pump or even less can cover my whole face. The MAC Fix+ is a nice finishing spray that makes me look dewier than i am in reality so I'll continue to repurchase it.
The Westman Atelier contour stick is a great purchase. It is stupidly expensive at AUD$73 but you don't need a lot of product. It blends out really easily and is a neutral to cool leaning shade so it does create a shadow. It's extremely natural looking so it's foolproof in that you can never end up with that contoured stripe on the side of your face but it's also limited because it's not very buildable on top of itself without lifting the bottom layer below. Unfortunately, there's only one shade in the range and I'd say if you're any darker than a MAC NC25, then it won't show up on your skintone. The formula is so lightweight you genuinely don't feel like there's anything on your face. I plan on buying the Westman Atelier blushes in the stick formula range.
The lipsticks
They were all a mistake. All of them. World renowned makeup artist Lisa Eldridge came out with her first launch of makeup products and I jumped right onto the hype train. The Lisa Eldridge Summer Pink lipsticks were so goddamn expensive for being crap. They cost £26 each and I paid AUD$148 for three. They're almost unwearable in my opinion. The Luxuriously Lucent formula is trash. I reviewed the Lisa Eldridge Summer Pink lipsticks here on the blog and I don't recommend them. If you have any hint of a dry spot or a crack in your lip they'll find a way to cling to it. They feel lovely on the lips and they swatch very smoothly but something strange happens when it goes onto the lips. Go Lightly performs far worse than Love of My Life but both formulas tend to perform slightly patchily and will lift if you try to go over it with the bullet. The shade Rainbow Spill in the Insanely Saturated formula is the best out of the three lipsticks but it's not without its flaws. I wrote about it on my original review but the Summer Pinks line will look garish on warm toned people because of the white pastel in the mixture. If you're neutral to cool leaning, you won't encounter that problem. Lisa Eldridge makes better lipsticks in the True Velvet formula which I also reviewed so if you're wanting to get something from her range, buy a True Velvet lipstick.
As for the Nudestix lip pencils, they're nice but they basically all look the same. This kit could have been cut down to three pencils. I paid AUD$41 for all six and I think I've worn them once each.
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