Perfect Multi-Use Palettes

When I first started getting into makeup as a teenager, I was always very reluctant to purchase palettes.  Back then, makeup palettes usually consisted of one or two products that you actually wanted to use, with the rest being a bunch of awful products that you would never use, even if you were given them for free!  On the rare occasion that I would buy a palette, it would usually be because a brand released a limited-edition product which you could only purchase in a palette (I HATE that!).  So, I would end up using one product from the palette and the rest of it would just go to waste.

Well what a difference a day makes………. these days, palettes have come so far! ……In fact, they are fast becoming my favourite kind of makeup purchases.   There are so many good palettes on the market these days.  By good, I mean palettes that contain not just one product I want to use, but several, or ALL!

I especially love multi-use / multi-product palettes, which contain most of what I need for a basic makeup look.  As I live away from home, and enjoy the odd holiday here and there, I absolutely love how convenient these are for travelling.  If you find the right one, it can really cut down the amount of makeup you need to carry with you (if you are like me, then this will always be an excessive amount)!  However, I don’t just use palettes for travelling, they are great for a quick and easy makeup routine any day.  Therefore, I thought it would be useful to show you the multi-use palettes I have been switching between on a daily basis, and which are perfect for travelling.

Tarte Showstopper Clay Palette

The Tarte Showstopper Clay Palette is one of Tarte’s Amazonian clay-infused cheek and eye pallets.  It includes the following:

• Six Amazonian clay eyeshadows in:
  • Showstopper Copper (bronze copper)
  • Go for the Gold (gold)
  • You’re a Natural (nude)
  • Steel the Scene (steel taupe)
  • Rose to the Top (rose gold)
  • Dim the Lights (black brown)
• Amazonian clay blush in Fame (warm peach) – full size
• Amazonian clay matte waterproof bronzer in Park Ave Princess
• Amazonian clay highlighter in Champagne Pink

I absolutely love Tarte products in general – I think the quality, selection and packaging of their products is amazing.  I especially love their clay blushers and shadows.  I got one of their Christmas blush palettes last year and it is absolutely stunning!

Knowing how much I love their clay blushes, I really wanted to try their clay matte waterproof bronzer.  I had never heard of a waterproof bronzer until this one, and given that I live in a hot climate where we spend a lot of time at the beach and pool, I thought this could be a good investment.  When I saw that Tarte had come out with a clay palette including the bronzer, one of their clay blushes and six new clay shadows, I thought this would be a great palette to pick up……. and it was!

The eyeshadows are an absolutely beautiful formulation,  they are extremely soft and blendable.  The colours are exactly what I want from an eye shadow palette.  They are quite neutral and great everyday colours but there are enough shades to create a lot of different looks.

The blusher is a really gorgeous peachy coral colour.  It is highly pigmented but blends soooo nicely on the skin and is a very flattering colour.  It gives a nice healthy glow to my cheeks, and feels really velvety.

The bronzer is a really nice matte bronzer.  It is highly pigmented and also works well as a contour colour.  It is incredibly soft and blendable.  I can’t really say that this bronzer is 100% waterproof (are any of them really?!) but it did last quite well on my face.

Whilst I don’t hate it, the highlighter is my least favourite product in this palette.  That’s mainly because of the colour.  I usually prefer a more golden toned highlight but this one is more of a silvery white colour, which I feel is less flattering on me.  However, the formula of this highlighter is GORGEOUS! It is so so soft and creamy and works really well to highlight the inner corners of my eyes.

Overall, this is a really high quality pallet which I feel is good value for money.  The product selection and quality is very impressive.  This is a perfect all round palette and is absolutely ideal for travelling light. The packaging is very high quality and has a good-sized mirror. I honestly like every product in this palette.

Becca & Jaclyn Hill Champagne Pop Face Palette

This next palette needs no introduction.  The Becca & Jaclyn Hill Champagne Pop face palette (link) was one of the most sought after products on the planet last year! This palette received soooo much hype, but for VERY good reason! This was, annoyingly, a limited-edition palette but still very worthy of a mention in this post.  I could not believe my luck when I found one in Sephora at Dubai Mall! They also seem to be currently available online at Sephora Australia, so there are still a few floating around.

The palette contains:

• Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Champagne
• Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Prosecco Pop.
• Mineral Blush in Amaretto
• Mineral Blush in Pamplemousse.
• Luminous Blush in Rosé Spritz.

P.s. In the UAE, where I live, some of the names in the palette are different; Prosecco Pop is called ‘Gold Pop’, Amaretto is called ‘Almond’ Rose Spritz is just called ‘Rose’ and Champagne pop is just ‘C Pop’.

I purchased Champagne Pop when it was first released in a single pan.  It was a stunning, highly pigmented highlighter which was extremely smooth and blendable.  As soon as I heard that Jaclynn Hill and Becca were releasing an entire Champagne Pop face palette, I just had to get my hands on it!  This palette is worth all of the hype, and more. It is absolutely beautiful.

Of course, the palette contains the famous Champagne pop, which I already knew I loved, but Prosecco Pop is equally as stunning.  Whilst Champagne Pop is a very warm, peachy highlight, Prosecco Pop is more of a yellow, golden highlight.  The formulation of these highlighters is absolutely beautiful.  They are intensely pigmented and a little goes a long way! They give a beautiful iridescent glow which is not glittery or shimmery.  Sometimes I even like to just swirl my brush over both of the highlighters to mix the colours.  They look equally as beautiful together.

The palette contains two mineral blushes and a luminous blush.  The first mineral blush (Amaretto) is a really warm dusky rose colour with brown undertones.  The second mineral blush (Pamplemousse) is a deep pink with warm undertones.  The formulation of these blushes is incredibly smooth and velvety.  Like the highlighters, they are extremely pigmented so you really don’t need to use a lot of this.

The third blusher in the palette is Rose Spritz, which is a luminous blush.  Rose Spritz is a beautiful warm peachy pink blush with strong golden undertones.  This blusher has a much more metallic finish than the Amaretto and Pamplemousse, but it has the same rich, highly pigmented and blendable consistency.

Overall, I absolutely love this palette.  The products are of a very high quality and both look and feel great on the skin.  This is definitely a palette for the girl who loves the ‘glow’ (ME!).  As much as I do love a good highlight, it is important to choose carefully, especially on older skin as highlighter can cling on to textured skin making it blatantly obvious that you have applied it.  I always look for a highlighter that is pearly and iridescent and blends well, and I avoid anything that is glittery or shimmery.  This palette ticks all of my highlight boxes, but as they are so richly pigmented, I make sure to use a light hand when applying them! The packaging of this product is, hands down, the nicest packaging I have EVER seen! It is a heavy gold and white palette with a HUGE mirror and a very definite click when you close it.  It feels and looks extremely luxurious.  I am a bit of a neat freak and like to put everything in its place, but this is one palette that I am happy to leave on my dressing table for as long as I want.  It is stunning!

  Tanya Burr Cheek Palettes

The Tanya Burr cheek palettes are, in my opinion, the best affordable cheek palettes on the market.  I first purchased her Peachy Glow Cheek Palette and because I was so impressed with it, I went out and bought the Rosy Flush version too!  Each Palette contains:

• Bronzer
• Blusher
• Highlighter

Both palettes contain the same bronzer which is called Beach Bronze.  This is a really nice deep matte bronzer, which is great for an overall bronze, but also works well for contouring.  This bronzer actually reminds me a lot of a much more affordable version of Nars Laguna, which is one of my all-time favourites.

The blushers – Apricot Flush (from the Peachy Glow palette) and Pretty Peony (from the Rosy Flush Palette) – are beautiful.  They are both gorgeous colours and blend very well.  Pretty Peony is a stunning rosy pink with golden undertones, and Apricot Flush is a very pretty peach colour.  The formulation of these blushers is like that of a high-end blush. In fact, Pretty Peony is very similar to Nars’ cult blusher Orgasm.  The colours look really natural on the skin and are very buildable.  They provide a really nice mixture of colour and a subtle glow.

The palettes contain two different highlighters, Oyster Shell (from the Rosy Flush palette) and Champagne Shimmer (from the Peachy Glow Palette).  Oyster Shell is a pearly, silvery highlight, while Champagne Shimmer is more of a peachy golden colour.  Both highlighters are very subtle but buildable and they look extremely natural on the skin.

Overall, these palettes are very very impressive for the price.  The packaging is very pretty and girly, and there is a mirror included inside.  As it is cardboard packaging it perhaps feels a little bit cheap, but because they are so lightweight they are absolutely perfect for travelling.  A bronzer, blusher and highlighter in one makes for the perfect travel palette too.  You get a decent amount of product in thee palettes and at £8 a pop, I think they are incredibly good value for money.

Nars – One Shocking Moment Cheek Palette

The Nars One Shocking Moment Cheek Palette was from their limited-edition Steven Klein Collection. However, I wanted to include it because Nars always do these kinds of Palettes and most of the products in this one are from the Nars permanent range, so they can still be purchased.  The palette contains:

• Laguna Bronzing Powder
• Paloma Highlighter
• Paloma Contour
• Robotic Blush
• Blasphemy Blush
• Luster Blush
• Dolce Vita Blush

As I mentioned earlier, Laguna is one of my all-time favourite bronzers.  I was introduced to it my oldest sister many years ago, and I have been using it on and off ever since.  When I saw that it was included in this palette, I was attracted immediately.  It means I don’t need to carry Laguna with me when I travel, as I will already have it with me if I take this palette.  Everyone knows by now that Nars Laguna is a cult product.  It is an amazing matte bronzer that gives a gorgeous colour to the skin, and it is also a really good contour shade as it has no shimmer in it.

Paloma is an extremely subtle highlight with a matte finish.  This has a very velvety feel to it, but applies like a powder to the skin.  I don’t actually use this as a highlight but sometimes use it to set concealer under my eyes as it is very brightening.

The Paloma contour is a warm matte brown with rosy undertones.  It is quite a universal contour shade and applies well to the skin.

Robotic is a soft pink semi-matte blush with cool undertones.  It applies nicely to the skin and is subtle, but buildable.

Blasphemy is a rosy pink blush with a smooth satin finish.  It blends well and gives a nice subtle glow.

Luster is a very pretty orange bronzy blush with golden undertones.  It has a very buildable and velvety texture, and is definitely the most shimmery blush in the palette.

Dolce Vita is a deep mauve, rosy coloured blush with very warm undertones.  It has a very smooth and velvety texture with a satin finish.  It is the most highly pigmented blush in the palette and is very flattering on the skin.

This is a really versatile palette with a lot of easy to wear colours, a highlight, contour and cult classic bronzer.  Again, this is a great palette for travelling, as it contains so many different (but usable) products in one palette.  I am not the biggest fan of the image on the packaging but the overall packaging feels very high quality and includes a large mirror too.

Similar palettes which Nars have done include the NARSissist Cheek Studio Palette (link) and the NARsissist Unfiltered II Cheek Palette (link)

Tarte – Tartiest Contour Palette

Tarte describe their Tartiest Contour Palette (link) as a universal face slenderizing palette.  It is a contour palette which claims to provide contour shades for a universal audience.  As much as I love this palette for my skin tone, I am not convinced that it will suit ALL skin tones.  The palette includes six numbered products which can be used to highlight, correct, contour, and accentuate your best features.  The palette contains:

• Two highlighters (1 matte, 1 shimmer)
• Correcting powder
• Two contour powders (1 soft, 1 deep)
• One blush

The first highlight is a pale beige matte highlight with a very smooth finish. I would be more inclined to call this a brightening powder as opposed to a highlight, as I get absolutely no sheen or glow from this.  I use it more like a setting powder for under my eyes and my T-Zone, but I stick to my champagne pop palette for a proper highlight.  The same goes for the second highlighter in this palette.  It is a very white pearly colour with a very subtle shimmer. It has a very sheer coverage which is difficult to build up, so I don’t tend to use it that often.

The correcting powder is a really nice pale, yellow colour with a matte finish.  The formulation is really smooth and velvety, but I find it quite powdery once I apply it to my skin.  I like to apply this over my concealer to brighten my undereye.

The soft contour is a light brown matte with warm undertones.  For me, this shade actually works better for an overall bronze, but I find it a little light to use as a contour shade, and it also builds to more of a sheen finish which is not what I want for a contour.

The deep contour shade is a dark taupe brown colour with greyish undertones.  I find this to be the prefect contour colour and it blends out to a really nice matte finish.  This shade is quite highly pigmented so a little goes a long way.

The blush in this palette is a really beautiful light dusky pink with warm undertones.  It looks really natural on the skin and has a soft matte finish.  I think this one would complement all skin tones.

Even though this palette is marketed as a ‘contour palette’ I find it to be a great multiuse palette.  It can pretty much cover your powder, bronze, highlight, blush and sheer highlight needs in one.  Sometimes I even use this palette to create a basic eye look.  This makes for a really useful travel palette. It also comes with a little step by step visual guide on how to use all of the shades to create your perfect contour, so this is especially great for anyone who is just getting into contouring.

The entire palette smells kind of chocolatey………  I wasn’t sure how I felt about this to begin with, but I kind of like it now lol.

Final note on this palette – its packaging is STUNNING!………. Gold: tick! heavy: tick! mirror: tick!.

I hope this has helped any of you who are in the market for a new palette.  Let me know if you have any questions on any of the palettes which I mentioned or if you have tried them yourself.  I’d also love to hear if you have any palette favourites or recommendations for me 🙂

 

 

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