The Summer Palette That Will Only Set You Back A Fiver

 

Hey Pandas!

Before I get into this review, I want to thank you all for the birthday wishes and support while I was in NYC recently! I am thankful for all of the positivity that Pretty Panda brings into my life and am glad to still be writing on this blog!

Now, enough of the mushy stuff. I know a lot of brands are releasing their summer palettes and shades right now and trust me...I want them all! But until you can afford one of those high-end ones, if you are on a budget like myself, tide yourself over with this little gem from Essence Cosmetics.

Essence has a line of palettes called 'All About...' and they retail for $4.99.  The one I have is called 'All About Paradise' and I found it in a summery Essence display at Ulta. There was also one called 'All About Sunrise', which had some neutrals and a pretty yellow, but of course I had to go with this one for all of the colors!

There are 6 pans in each palette. The top row contains a shimmery cream color, an orange/peach, and a hot pink. The bottom row contains a slightly greenish yellow, a teal, and a shimmery navy.

These are swatches over a thin layer of primer. Realistically, I never go without eye primer, so this is the intensity that will show up on my lids. I think for the price the quality is there. I love all the shades and they are easy to work with except for the navy, which pulls patchy and is a bit dry. It takes a bit of work to get right, but it won't stop me from using it.

Above are light swatches of the navy, cream, and teal without primer. Pigmentation without primer is only okay, as you can see, but there is potential to create a wash/watercolor effect if you choose not to wear primer. But pandas, you should be wearing primer! (I have my eye on the new UD Enigma for my next one!).

Here is a quick look I created with the peach shade in my inner corner, yellow in the middle of the eye, and the hot pink in the crease and slight outer corner. I blended everything with the cream shade. Wear time was 9 hours no creasing with primer and they were easy to blend. I do recommend a sticky or white base or at least a primer and a dense brush to really get vibrant results. I got tons of compliments!

For five bucks, you can't go wrong with Essence. They aren't the best eyeshadow formula ever, but they blow the water out of the NYX square shadows and Revlon, for sure! If you don't want to make a spendy commitment to bright colors, this is for you!

Art History & Nails: Malevich

Hey everyone! 

I have something a little bit different for you today. Once upon a time long ago I started a nail blog called Impressionist Nails to coincide with PrettyPanda. I used to do my nails a lot more, but with grad school, I made PrettyPanda the priority when I could update. I've decided to do posts here on nail looks with the premise that I had planned for my nail blog: blog about nail looks and art history together. Having the seven million blogs I do is getting a bit much (exaggeration, but seriously though).

Art is something I am very passionate about. I just finished my Master's in Art Business and I look at my nails as mini-canvases when I have the time to paint them/wrap them/etc. So these posts will be a little mini art history lesson mixed with a nail look!

 My look this week is using nail wraps from SCRATCH. They started as a Kickstarter that turned into a cool nail biz and my brother introduced me to them because he is always on Kickstarter, so they are special to me.

This pattern is currently unavailable (okay, so I may hoard nail wraps until they are discontinued. It is an issue, I know), but easy to recreate with some striping tape and nail polish. Or you can pick up one of their other cool wraps! They often have sales and I like these wraps a lot! Instead of filing off the edges you can literally just pinch the excess off and it looks like the above. I think I did a decent job considering nail wraps are usually unbearable to apply. These took me all of ten minutes. Slap on a top coat and mine lasted for five days with no imperfections. 

 

After wearing these for a day, they began to remind me of cubist/abstract art, so I set about finding a bit of inspiration for this post. It didn't take long for Kazimir Malevich to pop into my mind. I saw an exhibit of his in London and the geometric shapes and minimalism stuck with me.

Suprematism with Blue Triangle and Black Square. Kazimir Malevich. 1915. Oil on canvas. 66.5 x 57 cm. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. 

Above is a typical Suprematist work for Malevich. Simple shapes, lots of blue, black, and white. Although there is a bit of Mondrian in the design of the nail wraps, I am focusing on the blue/black motif. 

Suprematism is an art movement founded by Malevich that focuses on geometric shapes and a limited color palette that is supposed to represent the purity of how it feels to create art instead of the actual drawing of natural or man-made objects.

Bring that up in conversation and see how fancy you look.

And that, Pandas, is your very mini art history tid-bit and a peep at my nail look this week. Cheerio!

Easter Eyes with Stila!

 

Happy Easter if you celebrate! And just happy Spring in general! Today I did a fun eye look for brunch with my family that I wanted to share. I recently picked up two Stila Smudge Sticks at the Ulta 21 Days of Beauty event but they retail for $20 a piece regularly. I have one already in Mint Julep and I just love the formula. They are smooth and creamy but still last all day on my lids.

The shades I picked up are Gilded (a gold/bronze shimmer) and Violet, which is a true pink-toned purple. 

Violet is matte and it is creamy enough that any patchiness is easily fixed with a second layer. To me though, it glides on with full color in one swipe and wore all day (8 hours) on primed lids.

Gilded is a metallic liner and is really beautiful on. I can see myself reaching for this all the time come summer and this also wore well for 8 hours.

I am wearing Violet as a double line on my lid and Gilded on my lower lash line. I have not tested these on my waterline because I choose not to wear eyeliner there except on rare occasions, but these are waterproof, so I assume that means they should last at least a few hours on the waterline. 

I am also wearing NYX liquid black liner, Benefit Roller Lash mascara, and Colourpop eyeshadow in Tea Party. 

I hope you guys have had a good weekend! What is your favorite Easter candy? Mine is robin's eggs (the malt kind).