Maximalist Mermaid- Anam Cosmetics and Half Magic Beauty

This post contains affiliate links, if you buy something based on my recommendation using the links below, I will receive a small commission but it won't cost you anything extra.

*PR Samples

If you regularly see my content, you'll know I'm a huge fan of the brand Half Magic. I wrote a review of the products I bought from the brand when it first launched two years ago which you can read here. A few months ago they launched their Sparkle 911 Collection which included new shades of their Glitterpill Eye Paint + Liner, Magic Drip Glitter Lip Gloss and Sculptitude 2-in-1 Lip Liner. I always love seeing the campaign images for their collections and as soon as I saw the image below, I saved it so I could recreate it. I'm not able to buy any new releases at the moment as I'm not working (I'm currently a stay at home parent), so I used the products I already had to recreate this look instead of buying the products that were used. 

At the end of last year I was sent some products from a new Irish beauty brand called Anam Cosmetics. At the moment they have one product, their Biodegradable Glitter Eyeshadow which is available in three shades, Gold, Taupe and Teal. I filmed a video for Instagram swatching the shades which you can see here.  Their brand slogan is "áilleacht le hanam" which means "Beauty with Soul" in Gaeilge (the Irish language). "Anam" is the Irish word for soul (it's pronounced like the name Anna with an M at the end). Sustainability is at the heart of the brand. The packaging is fully recyclable and the glitter is biodegradable and made from plant-derived, renewable materials, completely plastic-free and vegan.  They are also cruelty-free and Leaping Bunny approved. On their website they have a Sustainability section with a breakdown of each ingredient and its purpose. I love seeing this from brands as I'm very interested in the ingredients that are used in cosmetics and skincare. When I'm writing a review I like to research the ingredients to see if the claims a brand makes about a product are legitimate. In the past few years there's been a surge in brands using greenwashing terms when marketing products. There's a balance between explaining why and how you are choosing to try to do things that make a difference to the environment and brands that scare monger and allude to other brands as being harmful. I appreciate that Anam has chosen to explain everything on their website and the brand has been founded on these principles rather than using them as a marketing ploy. I love seeing an Irish brand doing something different from all of the other Irish beauty brands, it's so refreshing. I've been loving using these eyeshadows. I included the application video of this look below so you can see me using the Teal shade. 

Anam Cosmetics Biodegradable Glitter Eyeshadow- Gold, Taupe and Teal

I had the Half Magic Face Gems that were used in the look and different shades of the Sculptitude Lip Liner and Magic Drip Lip Gloss, so I used those instead. I wanted an ethereal glow on my cheeks so I used the new Lancôme Idôle Tint in the shade 07 Earth Red mixed with Auric Glow Lust in Morganite and then added some extra glow using the KJH.Brand Hyper Shine High Lite in the shade Lite Pink. I knew I wanted glitter and glow on my eyes, lips and cheeks so I kept my base a soft matte using the Shiseido Synchro Skin Self-Refreshing Foundation which is one of my favourite foundations. I intensified the freckles across my nose and cheeks using the NYX Micro Brow Pencil to give my skin more of a fresh appearance as the foundation has a bit more coverage. I loved how this look turned out and I think the Teal eyeshadow is perfect. This would be ideal festival/ gig makeup or even just for a night out (or to wear to do your grocery shopping if you're me!) You could use any shade on the eyes and change the gem placement depending on your eye shape. I'd love to know what you think!

*Clarins Beauty Flash Balm

Shiseido Synchro Skin Self-Refreshing Foundation (Porcelain 140)

Smashbox Under Eye Brightening Corrector (Light/Medium)

Hourglass Vanish Airbrush Concealer (Crème)

Fenty Beauty Match Stix (Amber)

Makeup By Mario Softsculpt Transforming Skin Enhancer (Light)

NYX Professional Makeup Lift & Snatch Brow Tint Pen (Ash Brown)

West Barn Co. Soap Brows Extra Strong Hold

*Anam Cosmetics Biodegradable Glitter Eyeshadow (Teal) 

*Sweed Cloud Mascara

*Sweed Satin Kohl Eyeliner (Bright) 

Half Magic Beauty Face Gems (Iridescent Sparkle)

Half Magic Beauty Face Pearls (Bold Metallic)

Half Magic Beauty Sculptitude 2-in-1 Lip Liner (I’ll Pray For You)

Half Magic Beauty Magic Drip Glitter Lip Gloss (Frosty B*tch) 

Kosas Revealer Concealer (01N)

Kosas Cloud Set Powder (Airy) 

*Lancôme Idôle Tint Liquid Eye-Blusher (07 Earth Red) 

Auric Cosmetics Glow Lust Radiant Luminizer (Morganite) 

KJH.Brand Hyper Shine High Lite Kit (Lite Pink)

NYX Professional Makeup Micro Brow Pencil (Ash Brown)

MAC Fix + Stay Over

*IT Cosmetics CC+ Skin-Perfecting Brush (discontinued, similar here)

Spectrum Collections X KJH 05 (blush), 21 (lips)

Rebeluna R14 Mini Domed Kabuki Brush (sculpting)

*bareMinerals Maximum Coverage Concealer Brush 

KJH.Brand No. 1 Brush 

Real Techniques Setting Brush 

MYKITCO Pro 1.11 My Tiny Liner 

*Lancôme X Louvre (limited edition, similar here)

West Barn Co. The Brow Brush 

Half Magic Beauty Adornment Tweezers 

Surratt Relevée Eyelash Curler

Thank you for taking the time to read this post, I'd love to know what you think of this look, would you wear it or are there any elements of it you'd wear? If there are any specific product reviews you would like to see from me please let me know. If you'd like to support my work as a Content Creator, you can do so through Buy Me A Coffee. 

Emma x

Fair Neutral Skin- Concealer and Foundation Swatches

This post contains affiliate links, if you buy something based on my recommendation using the links below, I will receive a small commission but it won't cost you anything extra.

*PR Samples 

This is a blog post I've been wanting to write for a while now. I know it will only be helpful to people with skin tones very similar to mine but I wanted to post it anyway. One of the things I do when I'm researching a potential base product is look for images of swatch comparisons. Over the past few years in particular I've gotten quite adept at shade matching myself online. I find the swatches on brand websites can often be unreliable so I try to find swatches from online reviews. Particularly those that compare different brands as that's the best way for me to see if a shade might match me. Keep in mind that these are more saturated swatches than the amount of foundation you would apply to your face and they are dried down for the most part. It's not so much about the depth of the shades compared to the skin on my arm as it is about the tones and undertones compared to one another. Hopefully, this is helpful if you're looking for your shade match in the Kosas concealer for example and you know your shade in the Lisa Eldridge foundation, you can easily see if they are comparable. I know everyone wants different things from their foundation or concealer whether it's having the perfect match, one shade deeper, a concealer that perfectly matches their foundation or one that's a tiny bit brighter for under the eyes. As you can see the range of shades is quite wide as are the undertones. All of these shades work for me, some better than others. It completely depends on the coverage level too as a sheer skin tint is more forgiving if it's not an exact shade match because there's less pigment. There are a wide variety of brands here, drugstore, mid-range, high end and luxury. If you would like to see a full, in-depth review of any of these products with before and after photos, application techniques etc. please do let me know. I have dedicated reviews of the IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC+ Cream and Lisa Eldridge The Foundation. I've featured many of these products multiple times on this blog and on Instagram so if you want to see more you can use the search bar to find specific posts. I've posted two different swatch photos so you can see the differences in lighting. I have fair neutral skin and I like to match my neck more than my face because I have a mixture of undertones on my face as well as pigmentation and freckles which is why I can get away with such a variety of shades. If you have a similar skin tone to mine, you might find this helpful in some way. 

1. Givenchy Prisme Libre Skin-Caring Concealer (N95)

2. Kosas Revealer Concealer (01N)

3. NYX Professional Makeup Bare With Me Serum Concealer (Light)

4. Sculpted Satin Silk Longwear Concealer (Vanilla)

5. *Note Cosmetics BB Concealer 

6. *YSL Beauty Touche Éclat Illuminating Pen (1 Rose Lumière)

7. *Maybelline Instant Anti-Age Eraser Multi-Use Concealer (06 Neutralizer)

8. *Rimmel Kind & Free Hydrating Concealer (10 Fair)

9. *IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better Nude CC+ Glow (Fair Porcelain)

10. *IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC+ Color Correcting Full Coverage Cream (Fair)

11. *Lancôme Teint Idôle Ultra Wear Foundation (120N)

12. *YSL Beauty Nu Bare Look Tint (Nu 2)

13. *L'Oréal Paris True Match Nude Plumping Tinted Serum (0.5-2 Very Light)

14. *Lisa Eldridge The Foundation (No. 5)

15. *Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer Oil Free Natural Skin Perfector (0N1 Petal)

16. *bareMinerals BAREPRO Performance Wear Liquid Foundation (01 Fair)

17. *bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Foundation Stick (Opal)

18. Shiseido Synchro Skin Self-Refreshing Foundation (140 Porcelain)

19. No7 HydraLuminous Moisturising Foundation (Porcelain)

20. LYS Beauty Triple Fix Serum Foundation (LN3)

21. Nabla Skin Realist Beautifying Tinted Balm (Fair)

22. *Lancôme Teint Idôle Ultra Wear Foundation Stick (Beige Albâtre)

23. Typology Tinted Serum (Type 1 Fair)

24. *Rimmel Kind & Free Moisturising Skin Tint Foundation (10 Rose Ivory)

25. Bodyography Oil Free Natural Finish Foundation (100)

26. Glossier Stretch Concealer (G11)

Thanks for taking the time to read this post and if you have any questions you can always send me a DM on Instagram. 

Emma x

If you want to support what I do you can Buy Me A Coffee here. 

Urban Decay Naked Ultraviolet Palette

I received a PR sample of the Urban Decay Naked Ultraviolet Palette back in the middle of July and I've been playing with it a lot since. I wanted to put together a comprehensive review of the palette as makeup testers are not available at the moment so I think reviews on social media are more important than ever before. If you're going to spend €50 on a palette that you can't try out first then I think it's important to be able to have as many photos as possible of looks and swatches of the palette. 

I'm fully aware the blogging isn't what it once was and people now use Instagram a lot more than blogs but when it comes to spending my hard earned money I will always look up blog posts reviewing products in depth as you can't get that kind of detail on Instagram. I wanted to take as many photos and try out lots of different looks so that anyone thinking of spending money on this palette can get a good idea of what it can do. 

There are a LOT of photos in this post so I want to try and keep the text to a minimum, but I do want to share a few thoughts on the palette for anyone who might be interested in buying it. When I first saw this palette I was a bit confused as it felt very different to the other Naked palettes in the Urban Decay repertoire. It seems like half neutral, half colourful and I was trying to imagine the type of makeup lover who would want to buy this. Then I went back through my blog and my Instagram and I realised how many purple eye looks I have posted myself over the past couple of years and it was more than any other "colourful" shade. 

I'm a huge lover of purple eye makeup as I've always found it quite complimentary to green eyes. I've done looks with purple glitter, purple liner, lilac and smoky purple looks. I liked how it was half neutral and more "wearable" shades and then half different shades of purple for anyone who wants to experiment but doesn't want an all colourful palette. 

I loved the look of the palette as I could see straight away so many different looks that I could create with it which isn't always the case with palettes. However admittedly I probably wouldn't have bought it straight away as I already have so many palettes in my collection and my brother just bought me the Huda Beauty Amethyst Obsessions Palette for Christmas which I need to play around with some more. When I received the PR drop though I was obviously delighted as I knew I would definitely get lots of use out of it. I know it's probably quite polarising and you'll either love the purples or you'll know it's not for you and you'd never wear them. 

I love the packaging and the shade selection. I was really drawn to the shade VR, Lucid and Optimized at first. When I really examined the shades I realised they were mostly quite unique in my collection. I swatched it as soon as I had taken photos and I was admittedly a little disappointed with the pay-off from some of the metallic shades. However I would never judge a palette on swatches alone and I'm glad I didn't with this one as once you're willing to play around a bit you can get the shadows to look amazing. I always wear eye primer as I find it just works really well on my eyelids. I know not everyone uses it but I definitely think this is a palette that benefits from using a primer first. I was running out of my Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion and since I've actually never tried any other eye primer I decided to buy the Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r Amplifying Eye Primer as I had heard great things about it. I find that it makes the mattes blend so easily and makes the colours look much more pigmented. I also used the Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray and a flat brush to apply most of the metallic shades and the difference was amazing. It really made the metallics stand out and I even used it to make a liquid liner in the last look you'll see here. I made a paste on the back of my hand and used a thin artist paint brush to create a thin purple liner and because I mixed it with All Nighter it didn't budge. 

Like I said this post is quite photo heavy so I'll let them do the talking. But I think you'll agree that the palette is much more versatile than you might think at first glance and although the shadows are not as easy to work with as the Naked Honey palette, once you put in a bit of effort they really do look incredible. I loved the looks I created so far and I'm so excited to use this palette more especially now that we're all wearing masks, I've been really enjoying playing up my eyes. 

Without Primer

With Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r Amplifying Eye Primer

Good Molecules Silicone Free Priming Moisturizer
*Glossier Futuredew
*Urban Decay Stay Naked Foundation (10NN)
*Urban Decay Stay Naked Concealer (10NN)
Fenty Beauty Match Stix Matte Skinstick (Amber)
Milk Makeup Matte Bronzer (Baked)
Kevyn Aucoin Eyelash Curler
Glossier Brow Flick (Brown)
Soapbrows
Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r Amplifying Eye Primer
*Urban Decay Naked Ultraviolet Palette (Lucid, Optimized, Warning, Cyber Punk, Euphoric, Purple Dust)
*Glossier Pro Tip
*Clarins Wonder Perfect 4D Waterproof Mascara
Glossier Cloud Paint (*Beam, Dusk and Puff)
Kevyn Aucoin Glass Glow Face (Prism Rose)
Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Finish Powder (1 Fair)
Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray
Pixi Glow Mist
Charlotte Tilbury K.I.S.S.I.N.G. Lipstick (Bitch Perfect)

Good Molecules Silicone Free Priming Moisturizer
*Glossier Futuredew
Estée Lauder Futurist Hydra Rescue Moisturizing Makeup (1N0 Porcelain)
Uoma Beauty Stay Woke Concealer (White Pearl T1)
YSL Beauty Touche Éclat Illuminating Pen (1 Rose Lumiere)
Fenty Beauty Match Stix Matte Skinstick (Amber)
Milk Makeup Matte Bronzer (Baked)
Kevyn Aucoin Eyelash Curler
*Urban Decay Brow Beater (Dark Drapes)
Glossier Boy Brow (Brown)
Fenty Beauty Prop Filt'r Amplifying Eye Primer
*Urban Decay Naked Ultraviolet Palette (Trippin, Mind Slip, Dazed)
*Clarins Wonder Perfect 4D Waterproof Mascara
Glossier Cloud Paint (*Beam and Dusk)
Kevyn Aucoin Glass Glow Face (Prism Rose)
Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Finish Powder (1 Fair)
Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray
Pixi Glow Mist
*Urban Decay Vice Lip Chemistry (Low Key)

Good Molecules Silicone Free Priming Moisturizer
Glossier Mango Balm Dotcom
*Glossier Futuredew
Estée Lauder Futurist Hydra Rescue Moisturizing Makeup (1N0 Porcelain)
Uoma Beauty Stay Woke Concealer (White Pearl T1)
YSL Beauty Touche Éclat Illuminating Pen (1 Rose Lumiere)
Fenty Beauty Match Stix Matte Skinstick (Amber)
Milk Makeup Matte Bronzer (Baked)
Kevyn Aucoin Eyelash Curler
*Urban Decay Brow Beater (Dark Drapes)
Glossier Boy Brow (Brown)
Fenty Beauty Prop Filt'r Amplifying Eye Primer
*Urban Decay Naked Ultraviolet Palette (Trippin, Hacked, VR, Lucid)
*Glossier Pro Tip
Glossier Colorslide Eye Pencil (Pretty Penny)
*Urban Decay Lash Freak Mascara
Glossier Cloud Paint (*Beam and Dusk)
Kevyn Aucoin Glass Glow Face (Prism Rose)
Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Finish Powder (1 Fair)
Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray
Pixi Glow Mist
Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat (Pillow Talk)
Beauty Bakerie Lip Whip Gloss (Drive Me Glazy)

Farsáli Unicorn Essence
Beauty Bakerie Wake and Bake Baking Oil
Shiseido Synchro Skin Self-Refreshing Foundation (160 Shell)
Uoma Beauty Stay Woke Concealer (White Pearl T1)
Fenty Beauty Match Stix Matte Skinstick (Amber)
Milk Makeup Matte Bronzer (Baked)
Kevyn Aucoin Eyelash Curler
Glossier Brow Flick (Brown)
Soapbrows
Fenty Beauty Prop Filt'r Amplifying Eye Primer
*Urban Decay Naked Ultraviolet Palette (Cyber Punk, Euphoric, Purple Dust)
Glossier Glitter Gelée (Phantasm) Discontinued
Lemonhead LA Spacepaste (Houdini)
*Urban Decay Lash Freak Mascara
Glossier Cloud Paint (*Beam, Dusk and Puff)
Kevyn Aucoin Glass Glow Face (Prism Rose)
Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Finish Powder (1 Fair)
Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray
Pixi Glow Mist
Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat (Pillow Talk)
Lisa Eldridge True Velvet Lip Colour (Velvet Fawn)
Nude By Nature Moisture Infusion Lipgloss (7 Dusk)

What do you think of Naked Ultraviolet? Would you wear these shades? What's your favourite eyeshadow palette, Urban Decay or otherwise?

Emma x


*PR Samples

**Glossier products are affiliate links, if you choose to shop via those links I will receive a small percentage of the sale but it won't cost you anything extra.