LORAC Solid Gold Eyeshadow Palette

Swatches & Review

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been a while, I have been loaded with school work, taking care of my family members as well as moving so I have not had much time to blog in a while. Anyway, LORAC has released two new 5-pan eyeshadow palettes that are limited edition and exclusive to Ulta. Since last year's black Friday, LORAC has released a total of five 5-pan eyeshadow palettes, which I like to call the $12 palettes because they were all priced at $12 whether it has been sold at Ulta or Nordstrom Rack. Solid Gold is one of the ones for the Holiday at Ulta and it has a semi-matte bronze packaging and neutral shades inside.

The colors seem like they would complement the other 5-pan palettes in Uptown Allure & Sweet Luxuries because it has neutral shades.

Like I have said in my previous posts about these palettes, I wish they were named.
1) Frosty white: This was smooth and pigmented.
2) Frosty beige: Although this leans a bit more yellow, it still looks very similar to the first shade. This was not as smooth and pigmented as the frosty white.
3) Metallic gold: It was stiff and hard to apply. I had high hopes for this because I feel like this palette was based off of this shade because it's a gold and normally, gold shadows apply super well for me, but this was not. It was hard to swatch with finger and it was hard for me to pick up any color with a brush.
4) Brown with slight sheen: This was also a bit hard to apply, but it was better than the metallic gold.
5) Matte black with gold glitter: This applied like the fourth shade, but the glitter does fall-out and does not stick to the lids so I would definitely recommend tapping your brush to get some glitter out.

Overall, I feel like this was pretty disappointing. I own many LORAC palettes I feel like this was also not up to LORAC's normal eyeshadow quality, like how Downtown Drama was. I was really hoping that it would be like Sweet Luxuries and Uptown Allure because I loved those. I also did not like that LORAC put two similar shades in this palette like they did with Uptown Allure because the Frosty White and Frosty Beige looks very similar to each other. I have heard from some people that theirs applied better than mine did so maybe there are some good ones, but there were inconsistent batches maybe? But this is definitely a skip for me.

This palette retails for $12 and each eyeshadow is about 0.06 oz in size (which pretty much a full-sized Urban Decay eyeshadow). This is limited edition and exclusive to Ulta in-stores and online.

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Lorac Downtown Drama Eyeshadow Palette

Swatches & Review

Lorac Cosmetics Downtown Drama is the second palette that is also exclusive to Nordstrom Rack locations. Unlike Uptown Allure, the shades in Downtown Drama are supposed to be cool, while Uptown Allure has warm eyeshadow shades.

Downtown Drama's palette is in a silver packaging.

There are five shades in this palette and each shade contains 0.06 oz of product.

The eyeshadows in this palette does not have names so I will go from left to right.
1) Frosty White: This was smooth, but it was powdery when being applied, so there is a bit of fallout with this.
2) Frosty Silver: This was smooth and pigmented.
3) Shimmery Cool Grey: This is a cool grey and was the most pigmented shade in the whole palette.
4) Lavender: This shade has a matte finish, but it was very dry and chalky, so it does not apply as vibrant as the shade in the pan.
5) Dark Grey: This also has a matte finish & was also dry. I feel like this applies kind of patchy, which is disappointing.

I purchased this palette mainly for the two matte shades because I do not have much of matte lavender shades, or grey so I was hoping that they would be better, but they were disappointing because they were the only shades that were dry and chalky. Although mattes are known to be dry and chalky, I have tried many matte shades that are smooth, such as the ones in their Pro Palette so these were definitely disappointing. I feel like the two best shades in this palette are numbers two and three because they are pigmented and easy to apply. Although this is priced at $12, I feel like if I were to choose between this and Uptown Allure, I would choose that because the quality for Downtown Drama is not really there like it was for Uptown Allure. Skip!

Have you seen the two Nordstrom Rack exclusive palettes from Lorac yet? Have you picked one up?

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Lorac Uptown Allure Eyeshadow Palette

Swatches & Review

Lorac Cosmetics Uptown Allure palette is exclusive to Nordstrom Rack. On the box, Lorac notes this as the warm eyeshadow palette because there are two palettes they had exclusive to Nordstrom Rack, which the other notes that it is the cool eyeshadow palette for cooler shades.

The palette is packaged in red all over, which is just like the Sweet Luxuries palette, but in a different color.

When you open the palette, there are five warm neutral shades. Four of the shades are shimmery, and one has a matte finish.

These eyeshadows do not have names on them so I will go from left to right.
1) Frosty Beige: This was very smooth and easy to apply, but it is very very shimmery.
2) Frosty Champagne: This was also very smooth, but it was very shimmery.
3) Warm Brown: This had a golden shimmer to it. When I looked at it in the pan, it looked a lot more shimmery, but after being swatched, the shimmer is not very overwhelming. It was very smooth and pigmented.
4) Purple/Mauve: In the pan, this looked more purple, but when swatched, it's a gorgeous mauve shade. It had a shimmery finish, but it was also not too overwhelming, I really liked this more than I thought I would.
5) Dark Brown: This had a matte finish. Even though it was matte, it was not chalky and applied easily.

From this palette, shades one and two look very similar, and although there are slight differences between them because one is more yellow and the second leans more pink, I would have liked to see another shade in the pan instead of two similar colors. Since used cosmetics cannot be returned to Nordstrom Rack, I was a bit on the fence about these because some shades from Sweet Luxuries (Ulta Black Friday exclusive) were chalky, but after swatching these, I fell in love with them! They were all very smooth and not very powdery either, which is definitely good. The shade I did not think I would like was the fourth shade because I am not too big on purple eyeshadows, but it ended up being my favorite because it was more of a purple-brown, which makes it very wearable. I did not like that packaging that much because it feels very cheap, but for the price, I guess I can't really complain too much about it. If you missed out on the Sweet Luxuries from Ulta, I recommend getting this because the colors are a bit similar, and it is definitely a good deal.

This palette retails for $12 and each eyeshadow is about 0.06 oz in size, which pretty much a full-sized Urban Decay eyeshadow. When I went to Nordstrom Rack, they had a shelf full of these on the display (a bit more than fifty) so if you are interested, definitely call your Nordstrom Rack and see if they have it in stock.

What do you think about Lorac eyeshadows? Have you tried Lorac Cosmetics? What is your favorite neutral eyeshadow palette?

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Lorac GLOgetter Palette

Swatches & Review



Lorac's GLOgetter palette is part of their summer collection and is an Ulta exclusive. It has been online at Ulta for a while now, but it just recently started showing up in stores. I was able to pick this one up this past week & it was the last one at that location, but when I went to another location, they had about three more.

The GLOgetter palette is packaged in a plastic brown packaging with a gold colored frame around their brand name.
It comes with eight eyeshadows and two neutrals that can be used as a base, or highlighter.


These were swatched in order from left to right because the shades do not come with names.
The first shade is a matte medium brown.
The second shade is a shimmery bronze.
The third shade is a shimmery peach-orange.
The fourth shade is a shimmery turquoise.
The fifth shade is a periwinkle shimmer.
The sixth shade is a shimmery mauve-ish color.
The seventh shade is a iridescent golden mint shimmer.
The eighth shade is a purple with a blue sheen, it reminds me of Urban Decay's Asphyxia eyeliner.

The base/highter I swatched first was the one on the left side, which is a satin beige shade & the one on the right is a shimmery light beige shade.

All of these were swatched over Lorac's Behind The Scene primer. I found that all of these eyeshadows were smooth and pigmented. The golden mint shade is a very unique shade because I feel like it would look gorgeous when it is used over a darker shade since it has a duo-chrome effect to it. Lorac Cosmetics describes this as "colorful palette features a combination of 8 vibrant matte and shimmer shadows plus 2 over-sized neutral shadows for the perfect base color or highlighter." I was hoping there would be more matte shades, but there was only ONE, which is the first shade. However, the colors in this palette are definitely perfect for summer -- the peachy shade, the periwinkle & the golden mint. For $20, this is definitely a good deal because it definitely holds a lot of product in it as well. This is an Ulta exclusive so it can only be purchased online at Ulta.com & at Ulta locations.

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Nordstrom Rack Finds

Lorac, Smashbox & Urban Decay

The last few times I went to Nordstrom Rack, they had the same items as when I went at the end of January. Today, I decided to stop by to see if there is anything new & to my surprise, there was!



The items I saw at my local Nordstrom Rack were:
Smashbox Blush Rush Blush in Gingersnap & Bare: $12.97 (retail $24)
Smashbox Cover Shot Spring 2012 collection: $34.97 (retail $60)
Smashbox Studio Pop Eye Palette: $24.97 (retail $49)
Lorac Visual Effects Mascara: $9.97 (retail $20)
Urban Decay Stardust Eyeshadow: $8.97 (retail $20)
Lorac Couture Shine Lip Gloss: $13.97 (retail $28)
Lorac Eye Candy Eye Pencil set: $11.97 (retail $28)
Lorac Sweet Temptations Eyeshadow Collection: $17.97 (retail $36)
Lorac Eye Candy Full Face Collection: $27.97 (retail $59)

I thought the Lorac Sets are an amazing deal. They were recently on Hautelook as well (I'm not surprised it's at Nordstrom Rack since Hautelook is owned by Nordstrom), but I would much rather get it from Nordstrom Rack so I wouldn't have to pay shipping & use my Nordstrom card for it.

What do you think about these sets? :)

(this is the full post, the click more button still remains even when there is nothing else)

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Lorac Pro Palette

Swatches & Review

Hi everyone! I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas & spent it with your loved ones! I have not been posting because I actually went on vacation with my family this past week for Christmas. Anyway, I have been tempted to get the Lorac Pro Palette for a while now. Since it has been sold out at many locations, I decided to just get it when it was back in stock last week when it was in stock. Since I went shopping with my boyfriend, he purchased this for me.

The Lorac Pro palette is a neutral palette. I already own a lot of neutral palettes (All of Urban Decay's NAKED palettes, theBalm Nude'tude, etc..), but I had to get this because it has a good combination of mattes and shimmers.

This palette consists of 16 shades. Half of the shades are matte, and half are shimmery.

The top row is all matte shades.
White: Matte white. To me, this was not really matte, but it kind of has a semi-satin finish. This was kind of powdery & does not show up well on my skin.
Cream: Matte cream. Similar to White, but it shows up on my skin better than White. It is powdery, but more pigmented than White.
Taupe: Matte taupe. This was very smooth and pigmented.
Light Pink: Matte light pink. Doesn't show up on my skin much, but it was very smooth.
Mauve: Matte light brown. This does not look very "mauve" to me, but this was very smooth and pigmented.
Sable: Matte medium brown. This was very smooth and pigmented.
Espresso: Matte dark brown. This was very smooth and pigmented.
Black: Matte black. This was smooth, but it was not very pigmented. It took about three swipes to show up in my swatches.

The bottom row all has a shimmery finish.
Nude: Shimmery cream. This was very smooth and pigmented.
Champagne: Shimmery champagne. This was very smooth and pigmented. Has slight fallout.
Gold: Shimmery gold. This was very smooth and pigmented.
Light Bronze: Shimmery light bronze. This was similar to champagne, and did not show much bronze in the swatch. Applied smoothly.
Pewter: Shimmery medium brown. This was very smooth and pigmented.
Garnet: Shimmery red-brown. This was very smooth and pigmented.
Deep Purple: Shimmery dark eggplant purple. This looks more of a dark brown with slight hints of purple to me. This was very smooth and pigmented, though it has some fallout.
Slate: Shimmery grey. This has slight fallout, but was smooth and pigmented.

Overall, I like how this palette has an even amount of mattes to shimmers. The shimmery finish eyeshadows are very pigmented and gave me no problems at all, however, I have mixed feelings with the matte finished shades. Some of the shades are not as pigmented, but they are definitely buildable. Some of the matte shades are also a bit powdery, but tapping the brush before applying may help with the fallout from the powdery shadows. Although some did not swatch that well on my arms, such as White, it applied better on the eyes. If you already have a lot of neutrals, this is definitely not needed, but if you like to hoard neutral palettes like I do, this will be a good choice!

What do you think about Lorac's Pro Palette? Do you have it? What is your favorite Lorac product?

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Lorac Sweet Luxuries Palette

Swatches & Review

Lorac's Sweet Luxuries palette was part of Ulta's Black Friday promotion. Although it was listed on the AD as a "2-day" sale, it was also a doorbuster, which totally contradicts each other. I waited outside Ulta for about an hour and purchased this and Tarte's Balanced and Beautiful set. I do not think they should have listed Lorac as a 2-day sale since the store only had 10 in stock. I wanted Urban Decay's $9 deal with the All-Nighter and Primer, but the store did not even have it in stock, which was upsetting since I called in on Wednesday and they told me they had everything in stock. Anyway, the Sweet Luxuries palette has five neutral eyeshadows. Three of them has a matte finish and two has a metallic finish.

Each of these eyeshadow are 0.05oz, which is a full-sized Urban Decay eyeshadow.

These eyeshadows do not have names on them so I will go from left to right.
1) Matte Beige: this was chalky and required a few swipes to show up on my skin. It is very sheer so you should pat this on.
2) Metallic Light Bronze: This was pigmented and soft. Has a bit of fallout.
3) Matte Light Brown w/ Shimmer: This was softer and a bit more pigmented than the Matte Beige, but was still a bit chalky and it has fall out. It has a bit of shimmer in it, but is is not noticeable once swatched.
4) Metallic Bronze: This is warmer than the Light Bronze, and is pigmented like the Light Bronze.
5) Matte Dark Brown: This, like the other two matte shades are a bit chalky and has fallout, but it is the most pigmented matte shade of the other two.
All of these were swatched over Lorac's Behind the Scenes Primer

This is a nice small little palette to carry around, which is convenient, but if you have a bunch of neutrals, this probably is not a "must-have." I purchased this on impulse since I was second in line and there was only 10 and the person in front of me grabbed about 3. For the price of $12, this is not a bad palette. I wish the mattes were a bit more pigmented, but they are build-able in color, but overall, it was good for the price. I like how none of these are glittery because I do not like glittery shades. Now, I have even more neutrals in my collection since I just ordered the Nude'Tude and I have both of Urban Decay's NAKED palettes.

What do you think about neutrals? Do you have a lot of them? Did you get anything from Ulta for Black Friday? :)

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