LORAC Private Affair Palette - $38 at sephora.com

LORAC is well known for their awesome and luxe palettes (Multi-Platinum is my personal fave), and they've introduced a brand-new one for Fall 2010; Private Affair. This palette consists of 6 large shadows ranging from seashell pink to amethyst-studded black and includes a small bottle of their new eyeshadow primer and a mini brush.

The shadows are typical LORAC; smooth and buttery and crazy pigmented. The only issue I ever have with their shadows is that they tend to not be very densely packed and kick up a lot of dust while you load up your brush, but this has never stopped me from using them. I'll review each shade individually after the jump.

The new primer, Behind the Scenes, is wonderful. Besides the fact that it's in a squeeze tube (makeup goddesses be praised), it's a light and creamy formula that applies easily and seamlessly while allowing for the best blending over a primer that I've ever seen. The staying-power of shadows is great over this primer, I'm psyched to say.

The palette itself is a little bulky, though gorgeous. The burgundy faux-croc (or at least I think it's croc) covering is very luxe, and the black satin and chrome-like badges on the palette are beautiful. There is a drawer on the side of the box that slides out to reveal the primer and the brush, and it's very thick which makes it a bit cumbersome, but you can also put a couple extra potted eyeshadows or something in there for traveling to make it seem a little less useless.

Click for swatches and shade reviews...

L'Oreal Metallic Eye Duo in Electrified - $8 at Ulta.com

Recently, I saw a piece on Nouveau Cheap about this particular eyeshadow duo, and I was intrigued. I don't remember the first release of this shadow, and I'm not sure why. I'm usually sort of down on drugstore shadow, but I do own one of these duos in Platinum and I love it, so I snapped this one up. Apparently it's a re-release of a big hit from last year. Either way, I like it a lot. One side is a antiqued platinum sort of shade, which really sort of looks like a silvery taupe that glints a tarnished sort of light from some angles. The other is a deep wine with a charcoal edge to it. The lighter shade is incredibly metallic, and the darker side a bit less so. I really like using the light shade all over the lid and slightly up above my crease, then I darken the outer corner with the plum-wine shade. It's a gorgeous combo, but honestly the lighter shade is worth the price all on it's own, in my opinion. Both shades are so smooth and apply so evenly without skipping at all. They blend well, and stay on through an entire 12 hour day without creasing when used over a good primer like Too Faced Shadow Insurance.

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Korres Natural Collection Eye Palette - $35 at sephora.com

Sephora has the exclusive on these new eye palettes from Korres and they're purty. There are four different palettes to choose from, and I received the Natural one to review for you guys. Overall, I like the palette... There are things that I like about it and things that I don't, but the positives outweigh the negatives.

If you want to try some Korres products, right now until May 20 you can get 20% off your $35 purchase at korresusa.com! Code - BEAUTOPIA

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Sephora PURE Natural Believer palette in Island Sunset - $15 at sephora.com

During the 15% off sale at Sephora I picked up two of these palettes from the Sephora Collection. These were originally $36 or something and then they were marked down to $15 and had remained there for quite a while. I don't know how long they'll stick around, especially at this price, because they're really nice. Each palette contains 6 shadows and a blush and are packaged in sustainable bamboo and recyclable metal. The Sephora PURE line is all made of ingredients that are at least 95% natural and at least 10% organic. If you're into natural beauty, then you might love these. I found that the quality matched, and in some cases exceeded, the quality of some of my other favorite eye shadow brands. Both palettes that I got contain at least a couple dupes for either Urban Decay or MAC shadows that I love, so that was also a plus.

The Island Sunset palette is filled with warm tones and gorgeous textures. The shadows range in finish from matte to satin, lustre to frost, and are highly pigmented, blendable, and have decent staying power. The packaging is sleek, compact, eco-friendly, and attractive and contains a decently sized mirror. The shade names are listed on the back as well which is nice for a pre-made palette.

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Urban Decay Stardust in Diamond Dog - $20 at sephora.com and Ulta

I tried to ignore these shadows. I promise I did. After all, I'm no longer really a glitter girl. I pull out my MAC Reflects glitters once or twice a year to lightly pat over my eye makeup for the ultra-rare "Mommy & Daddy Night Out." Try though I might, I couldn't avoid these for long. I was drawn in by the shimmery taupe awesomeness in the pan, and the futuristic-looking packaging that requires just the convenient squeeze of a couple fingers to pop open. The straw that broke the blogger's back was that Ulta was offering 2 free mini 24/7 eyeliner pencils with a $20 Urban Decay purchase. I am a hopeless fan of 24/7 pencils and have or have had nearly all of them, so I couldn't resist, especially because the cashier let me choose which ones. But I digress... the eyeshadow.

Yes it's gorgeous in the pan, and it can be beautiful on the eye as well, you just have to figure out how to apply it. The draw of these shadows is that they are a sheer wash of color with loads of teeeeeensy glitter that will give a wet look to the lids. Keep in mind; they're not kidding, they're super sheer. If you attempt to brush these on, it will look like glittery smudges of dirt. Urban Decay recommends applying these with your finger, but this precision-lacking method will make the dirt-smudge look even more of a reality. I feel like the most success I had in applying this was with a spone-tip applicator. By packing a bit of shadow on the sponge, tapping or blowing off the excess glitter and then patting it on to the lid will give the best result. I also recommend applying a base shade similar to the shade you're using underneath to intensify the effect. The fallout while applying wasn't very bad using this method, but throughout the day I did get some random glitter landing in my lashes and hovering distractingly just inside my field of vision. The wet-look did stick around for a bit, but the base color sort of started to fade a bit. Overall, this is a cool idea for special occasions, and indeed I think they're really meant for that. Consider getting a neutral shade like Space Cowboy that you can tap lightly over any shadow at all for a little extra oomph.

Click for more pics and to see the 24/7 eye pencils I picked!

Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden - $18 at sephora.com

A few years ago, after battling creasy, smudgy, fading shadow on my oily lids for a decade, I discovered the cult classic Urban Decay Primer Potion. The original formula, which was all that was available at that time, saved my eye-shadow-loving life. Though it was a bit drying over a long period of time, it was the only thing that worked for me. I also really like Too Faced Shadow Insurance, for the record; it's a bit creamier in consistency. But I digress... The newest addition to the Primer Potion family is Eden. Urban Decay calls it "tawny", which says to me a burnished orange or sienna color, but in reality this is a yellowed light beige. Sounds gross but it's awesome. Fans of MAC Soft Ochre Paint Pot will go nuts over it because it's similar in color but lighter and creamier than the MAC option.

Click to read the rest of the review and see comparisons!

Revlon's Luxurious Color Eye Shadows are a newer addition to their line of shadows. First came the Mattes, and then those were followed with Perle and Satin. The Perle's are obviously the most shimmery of the three choices and they seem to have just the right amount of shimmer for me. I'm a fan of the Matte shadows as well, but it's nice to see a drugstore brand coming out with some decent shimmers. Nude Slip was talked about on one of my favorite blogs; Nouveau Cheap; she was pretty positive on these and then she mentioned recently that one of her readers spotted them at Walgreen's for $3 of the retail price, making them $1.99!

The packaging is pretty simple and utilitarian, but not chintzy, which is a plus. Even at full price you're getting a lot in the package, and if you can get them on sale, it's even more of a steal. The texture is fine and not chalky at all, though it also doesn't crumble like the buttery shadows we all seem to love, like Stila and LORAC. They are pigmented, but not overwhelmingly so, making them easy to blend, and the shimmer is not over-the-top, but are quite glimmery.

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Wet n Wild Color Icon Eye Shadow in Nutty - $2 at most drugstores

Wet n Wild is a drugstore brand that is synonymous with your high school years, no doubt. The inexpensive drugstore makeup range including a vast array of orange foundations, eye glitters, and don't leave out the blue and black lipstick! For the last few years Wet n Wild has been evolving within the bounds of the inexpensive drugstore niche it has always filled, but has been offering increasingly surprising products that are absolute steals. Their nail polish is wonderful and their blushes and bronzers, not to mention illuminators, lipsticks, and their cult 666 lipliner are secret weapons in the stashes of even the snobbiest of high-end connoisseurs. Recently their eyeshadow revamp has taken me by surprise. I was already a fan of their single shadows and palettes, but the new packaging is welcome. The old screw-top lids were somewhat annoying, though due to the price, I could deal with them. Now I don't have to because the shadows are now coming in a flip-top square which is small and streamlined, and about on par looks-wise with most other drugstore brands.

I picked up Nutty, because in the drugstore lighting it looked like a pretty taupe. While some warmer toned people might find this to be that pretty taupe, on my skin this turns a bit bronzey. In fact it reminds me a lot of MAC Woodwinked in color and texture. It's buttery soft and pigmented and gives off a beautiful sheen on the eye. I was surprised at the wear on this shadow, it does amazing over Too Faced Shadow Insurance with no creasing, barely any fading and no migrating. It makes a great lid color to blend up a bit above the crease and since this isn't quite as orangey on my as Woodwinked, I think this will be amazing this summer when I start to feel the need for bronzey eyes.

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CONGRATS TO LILLGODDESS, she won this giveaway! I'll be contacting you shortly:) Thank you EVERYONE for entering and be sure to enter our Perricone giveaway as well. There are a ton more contests and giveaways in the chute, so make sure to subscribe or follow me on twitter so you can watch for them:)

Recently I was lucky enough to win a CARGO giveaway on their Facebook page, and I won the Essential Eye Shadow Palette in Warm Neutral which I've been eyeing up for some time, but have never gotten around to buying it. Mainly because I am ashamed of how much eye shadow I have already. I would have gotten around to it eventually, I'm sure, but I lucked into winning it anyway. I won a "year's supply," which when it arrived it looked more like a lifetime supply. This palette is HUGE, so I want to pass some love on to you guys, so I'm going to give one away to one of you peeps. Here's how to enter:

1) Be a member of Beautopia through Google Friend Connect (which you will find in the column to the right) and leave a comment on this post with your Google Friend Connect name.

3) If you have a blog you can post about this giveaway, and link to it on your blog. Just leave a comment here with your link. You can use any photos in this post you like.

Ends Sunday, March 7th at midnight, and a winner will be chosen the next day and notified.

Click to read the review and see more photos!

Maybelline EyeStudio Color Plush Eye Shadow Quad in Taupe Temptress - about $10 at Rite Aid, Walgreens, CVS, Ulta

Check out that .gif up top that shows how sparkle-tastic this quad is! This is some shiny, happy eye shadow, Beautopians. The new EyeStudio line from Maybelline is full of enticing eye products including 12 of these new quads. Taupe Temptress consists of four super sparkly shadows in an ivory, plum-rose, taupe (huh, imagineer that), and a black based crease/liner shade with plum/rose shimmer in. The "liner" shade reminds me of MAC Raven Kohl Power Pencil.

Click for more photos, swatches, and the review!