One of my cheapest but best hauls yet! - Makeup Revolution

This has got to be the cheapest yet one of the best hauls I've ever done! I had been seeing so many bloggers raving about the quality of the new Makeup Revolution brand for the crazily low price and I finally gave in last week and ordered some of their products. Those that I were really interested in were the eyeshadow palettes as I had heard of them being compared to Urban Decay and other great brands, so I got 4 of their palettes and then 4 of their single eyeshadow compacts. All this for just £20! True bargain!! And because my order was for over £10, delivery was free.

Firstly, the eyeshadow singles. From left to right - In The Deep (a navy shimmer), Acid! (a bright, matte yellow), Temptress (a dark green shimmer), Pink is It! (a bright matte pink).

As you can see from the swatches the blue, green and pink shadows have great pigmentation and show up beautifully on the skin. Sadly the yellow wasn't as pigmented (although it does appear less visible in the picture than it does in person) but could be good for if you are aiming for very subtle colour. I find mattes are often hit and miss when it comes to pigmentation though, they just don't show up as brilliantly as shimmer. For just £1 each though I don't think you could go wrong. I chose these colours more to experiment with coloured eyeliner on the top lid (especially those brights, I think they'll look fantastic!) so I shall do a post in the near future of this look done with them.

The first of the palettes is this amazing brights palette - Redemption Palette Matte Brights. This just instantly caught my eye and I new I had to have it. Again, this one was more for experimenting with coloured eyeliner looks as I don't think I'm confident enough to wear these brights over the entire lid. The orange, both pinks, peach, both greens and dark blue are pigmented and look great on the skin. Sadly the others were not so much. Each palette is only £4 though so I don't see it as a great loss for those 7 shades that are brilliant, over half the palette.

This palette is my absolute favourite and is often stated to be a dupe for one of the Urban Decay palettes - Redemption Palette Iconic 3. The shades are a beautiful array of nudes and can be used together to create really nice smokey eye looks, which I have already used this for twice since it arrived. The shimmers are brilliant pigment and of really great quality, the 3 matte's not as much but are still pretty good for matte shadows (some of the best mattes I've seen).

Redemption Palette Essential Day to Night - I loved the shades in this palette and the fact that the colours are all so versatile. They are all shimmer shadows (ranging in level of shimmer) and are all gorgeously pigmented. I will definitely be using this a lot for nights out as the shades compliment each other perfectly.

Redemption palette hot smoked - Again, I just loved the colours in this palette. It is made up of 5 matte shadows and the rest are shimmer. The shimmers are well pigmented and so are the darker mattes, the lighter ones are just about pigmented enough to be visible on the skin as well.

And that's all of my haul! It was a bit hit and miss in places but I think for the price I paid it is really good, definitely worth getting, especially if you are on a budget. I'd probably steer clear of the matte singles (mainly the lighter shades) as the colour pay off isn't brilliant but I would seriously recommend the palettes, especially the Redemption Palette Iconic 3 as it is by far my favourite. I will be heading back to order some of their lipsticks and blushers soon!

Have you tried anything from Makeup Revolution? What are your favourites, any recommendations? All comments are very welcome :)

Urban Decay Dupe - Next

I have been keeping my eye out for dupes again this weekend, and it seems that Next has come up a winner again! I found this eye shadow palette in Next and it is a perfect dupe for the Urban Decay Naked Palette (the first one) - and is only £7!!!. It is from the brand W7 and is called In the Buff Natural Nudes.

This palette, like the Urban Decay palette, is comprised of both matte and shimmer shades but mainly shimmer. It also includes a double-ended applicator, in much the same way as the Urban Decay version.

The pigmentation is actually really brilliant, I wasn't expecting great things from such a small price tag but I was very impressed. The shimmers show up much better than the mattes on the skin, the first colour on the left of the palette does not show at all on my skin but apart from that all the others are great. I'm also not majorly impressed by the applicator brush but I prefer to use my own brushes anyway.

The eyeshadows themselves are easy to apply, blend and build up to create whatever style you're after. The texture is nice and soft mainly, one of the matte's feels slightly on the chalky side but I find a lot of matte shadows are similar. There is slight fall out but nothing too extreme, nothing a face wipe couldn't fix!

All-in-all, I am very glad I found this palette as I have been lusting after the Urban Decay Naked Palette for a while. Now I have one that's incredibly similar for a mere fraction of the price. It seems like Next are the place to go for dupes at the moment, I also bought myself a big bottle of Sparkle!!

Have you tried any of the make-up from Next? Are there any dupes from there that you like to use? All comments are more than welcome!