It's Friday and time for another weekly round up and chat. It's my son's birthday party is tomorrow, and I can't believe he turns 5 on Monday. We're fully decorated for Christmas and my inlaws are visiting, they should be arriving tonight. It's going to be a busy weekend. I did take Monday off to spend the day with my little man for his birthday. This week I focused on the BH Cosmetics Desert Oasis palette, and I did dip back into the Morphe 12S palette. I will review the BH palette next week. I tried a variety of shades but I really want to dip into the blues. For my eyeshadow rotation, I want to try using more of my high end palettes. I need to make a point of pulling one out a week.

As you grow and learn to apply makeup, precision makeup brushes are very useful. At times I need to even out my eyeshadow or apply color but want to be specific about where I apply it. Do you have one eye that blends beautifully but the other always seems to be a struggle? Yes, I have that problem too. If you don't have that issue, I could only hope. I don't think you need all of these brushes, but I do think learning to use smaller brushes can help your technique. I have smaller eyes that are slightly hooded and I need precision brushes for a variety of reasons. I really do feel that these brushes are used constantly in my makeup routine.

The Beauty Creations Tease Me Palette has been on my wishlist for awhile, and I picked it up online a few weeks ago. I couldn't wait to wear the shades "Please Me" and "Tempting." I've been really enjoying cranberry shades and I thought this palette would be a great addition to my collection. I've seen this palette compared to the Huda Beauty Rose Gold palette but I honestly just wanted an affordable palette with those shades. It has 18 shades with a mix of matte and shimmer/metallics.

As a Canadian, we celebrated Thanksgiving in October but I want to wish my US readers a great holiday. I'm starting to get really excited for Christmas and can't wait to decorate. My son turns 5 on Dec 3rd so his party preparations are underway as well. I really hope 5 is the year he starts to sleep better, and not wake up at 4 am. Yes, 4 and he's up for the morning. He still wakes up every single night, and comes to our room. He started Jiu Jitsu in September and he's doing great. I'm so proud of him because he was so reluctant to participate in team sports this summer. He absolutely thinks he's training to be a ninja. I'm going to be starting a new series where I talk about what makeup I've been using and also chatting about life and other makeup related topics. I'm not sure if I will be able to do it every week, but I'm going to try.

Can we talk about my eyeshadow addiction? It's a problem...I'm going to need to scale it back in 2019 because I'm running out of space. Lately, I've been really enjoying affordable palettes. I tend to wear my affordable palettes more than my higher end shadows. I'm not sure why that is, but it's true. I'm also trying to step out of my comfort zone and challenge myself with eyeshadow. This is a goal of mine for next year, I want to work on wearing more colorful eyeshadows and pairing colors that I wouldn't normally. I tend to stick to neutrals, and feel intimidated by more colorful looks.

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This week I've been enjoying a neutral quick eye, and I've been using the Morphe 9B Bronzed Babe. I did review this palette and you can find it here. I didn't realize that I would enjoy the simplicity of this 9 pan palette. I usually keep large palettes on my vanity. I can create complete looks with the Bronzed Babe, it has enough shades to allow me to build my color and give the look dimension. The bronzed shades in this palette are just gorgeous, and I'm really happy with this palette. It doesn't have a shade light enough for a brow bone highlight, but I've been using a single shade from Kiss called Unicorn. It's bright and shimmery but not too shimmery. I think it's great for every day. 

Reversa is a brand that I was introduced to this year. The first product I tried was the 3 in 1 Mild Gel Cleanser (review.) I'm still using it, and enjoying it. I added in the Micellar Solution and Skin Smoothing Cream into my routine recently. Now that I use the Micellar Solution, I use the Gel Cleanser more as a cleanser and not a makeup remover.

Confession: I don't use alot of Micellar Solutions to remove my makeup. I go through a bottle in no time, because I spill it when putting it onto cotton rounds. I prefer a more solid makeup remover because I feel like I get more use out of it. I was a little reluctant to try this, but it was sent for review purposes and I was curious. When I noticed that it had a pump, I was much more encouraged to give it a try. The second issue, I normally have with these products is that they cause my eyes to burn. If my eyes burn, it's out. I won't go through that hassle. I'm very happy to report this does not burn my eyes at all. As for removing my makeup, it does a great job. It breaks down my eye makeup and mascara very quickly and easily. I don't have to run at my eyes. It is very gently and doesn't dry out my skin either. I really like that it doesn't leave any residue and I'm left feeling fresh and clean. I really enjoyed this and the pump really made the difference.

Today, I wanted to share the blending brushes that I use constantly when doing my eyeshadow. I have alot of brushes but I keep coming back to these brushes because they work the best for me.


Sigma E40: The Sigma E40 is a great blending brush. It's a great size to lay down my transition shade and start the eye shadow look. I like to also use this brush to continue blending throughout the eye look. This is a very soft brush synthetic brush. (Purchase)

BH Cosmetics V5: This is a single synthetic brush in the B H Cosmetics Vegan line. It's so soft and a great affordable option. I use this brush for my transition area and general blending of my looks. (Purchase)

Morphe M441- The M441 is a fluffy blending brush with natural bristles. It's a very popular Morphe brush that many use for the crease. (Purchase)

Have you ever felt intimidated by an eyeshadow palette? I will fully admit that the Dark Magic palette intimidated me and it took me awhile to get around to trying it. These colors are not in my every day collection. This is why it's the 4th palette review of the Vault collection on my blog. I really like stepping outside of my comfort zone when it comes to eyeshadow but sometimes it takes me a while to warm up to it. Especially, when a palette is as dark as this one. I decided to look at tutorials on Youtube and give this palette a try. I watched Angela Bright and followed this tutorial. I thought it looked wearable and decided to give it a try. I was so happy with my look and ecstatic that I finally tried this palette. 

The Berry/Raspberry eyeshadow trend has really come about this fall/winter season and I've been really tempted by the Naked Cherry palette. I picked up the Rimmel London Crimson palette and that really made me want to wear more of these colors. I decided to look through my collection and see if I could find more palettes that have a similar color theory. I found some...

The Rimmel London Magnif'eyes Crimson palette caught my eye at the drugstore and I decided it was time to give their shadows a try. This palette reminded me of the recent Urban Decay Cherry palette. I don't buy alot of eyeshadow at the drugstore but this palette really surprised me. The color scheme has been really fun to wear this fall season.