Review: LORAC Unzipped Palette

About a month ago, I got this picture texted to me from my husband saying "you got a Nordstrom package today."  Well I hadn't ordered anything.  But then I saw "Gilly" on there, so I immediately texted Steph (Gil) and asked her if she sent me something. She said no...but then I looked down and saw who it was ordered by.  My crazy amazing friend Amy!! I couldn't wait to get home and see what the heck it was!

I was speechless and so excited when I realized what it was.

I had just been talking to Amy about makeup and she was telling me she had a bunch of Nordy's gift cards she hadn't used over the years.  I told her she should buy makeup of course!
She asked me to email her some of my recommendations, so I pretended I was shopping with unlimited fervor/cash and sent her links to my favorite high-end picks plus some stuff I'd always wanted to try.  The Lorac Unzipped Palette was one of those picks.  I still now cannot believe she sent me this palette.  She is one of the most thoughtful people I know. xoxo Amy!

The packaging is great as all Lorac products have.  It has a big mirror and the shadows are pretty large.  Much bigger than the size of the Lorac Pro Palette shadows.  Great quality, blendable, good texture, and pigmentation.
These are all rosy-toned neutral shadows.  There are 4 matte shades and 6 shimmer shades.  They are GORGEOUS!  They kind of remind me of the Naked 3 palette tones.

I think my favorites are Unreal and Unattainable.  

Here are the swatches.

Here's a look I did with this palette:

Undercover: all over the lid
Unconditional: In the crease.
Uncensored: In the outer V of my eye
Unreal: Inner 3rd of my lid and tapped in the center.
Undercover: Browbone highlight.

I used a light shimmery shade from another palette for my inner corner of my eye.

Here's a link to the palette at Nordstrom ($40): Lorac Unzipped

Smokey Eye with the Lorac Mego Pro

I've always loved the smokey eye look on other people, but never on myself.  For one, I never go out anywhere fancy enough for a smokey eye.  For two, I feel like with my dark features, it looks a little over-dramatic.  BUT I figured I had nothing else to do on a Friday night when my hubster was working late.  So I tried it out just for fun.  :) 

Lorac Mego pro-for reference to the shades I used

I started out with just a little primer on my eyes.  I used the Lorac eye primer that came in my original Lorac Pro palette. It does a great job of helping your shadow applying smoothly, keeping your eye makeup in place and prevents creasing. I also filled my  brows in with Anastasia Dip Brow Pomade in shade medium brown.

I started out with the shade Fawn all over my lid up and into my crease.

I blended a mixture of Camel and Sepia and blended that into my crease.

I added Espresso into the outer V of my eye and then deepened it with Caviar.

I took a blending brush with no product on it and blended for what seemed like eternity.  You can never blend enough...the last thing you want I harsh lines and look like you were socked in the eye.

Now, I rarely use eye liner so I'm not the best at it...but I tried my best to add some winged liner.  I used an angeled eye liner brush with black Elf cream liner (seriously good stuff for only $3!) and then sharpened it up with my Stila Stay All Day Liquid Liner.  Not pictured because I'm a makeup tutorial ameatur: I added a combo of Sepia and a tiny bit of Espresso onto my lower lash line. 

I added Cream under my brow bone with a little Opal added on the outer brow bone and a touch of Opal in the inner corner of my eye for a highlight.  Then added some mascara (a combo of Makeup Forever and Loreal Butterfly) to both my top and bottom lashes. I then tapped a tiny bit of the shade Champagne onto the center of my lids with my finger.

I finished off my face with foundation, concealer, some cream contouring, blush and setting powder and setting spray.

AND the end result with some awkward posing.

All ready for a night out somewhere fancy.  But I instead washed it all off and went to bed. :)

The smokey look is definitely not something I will use often, if ever, but it was fun to try out! 

Lorac Pro MEGA Pro Palette Review

I love my original Lorac Pro palette.  It's my go-to for shadow and I use it almost everyday. So when I heard that Lorac was releasing the Mega Pro Palette I decided I had to have it! The Lorac shadows are such great quality.  They are smooth, buttery and blend so nicely.  The palette includes 16 matte shades and 16 shimmer shades.  It's a huge palette. I love the variety of neutral shades and a few bold colors too.  You can use these either wet (spray your brush with a setting spray for a more bold, vibrant finish) or dry which is great. This is a limited edition palette so it's only available this holiday season on Loraccosmetics.com or amazon.com.  It retails for $59 which is an awesome deal as it is the equivalent of two Lorac Pro palettes which retail at $42 a piece.  I have been using this palette every day since I got it and have been really impressed with it so far.



It has a nice big mirror which will be great for traveling.

Top row: of matte shades

2nd row: matte shades

 

 



3rd row: shimmer shades

 

4th row: shimmer shades

 

 

 

Today I did a neutral eye look (please ignore the wrinkes and the bad eyebrow day). :)

 

 

 

Sepia and Camel in the crease, Smokey Topaz all over the lid, Cream under the brow bone, Vanilla in the inner corners and I patted a touch of Cashmere just over the center of my eye lid for a little more dimension/pop.  And of course finished off by curling my lashes and applying mascara-Loreal Miss Manga.