Clinique 16 Shades of Beige Collection - Limited Edition All About Shadow 8-Pan Palette in Neutral Territory 2

Clinique Limited Edition All About Shadow 8-Pan Palette in Neutral Territory 2* - £32 at clinique.co.uk

As you may not know, I recently left my job at Estee Lauder to become a member of their sister brand, Clinique! I'm really happy with my decision to change job and it was in no way a result of any problems with Lauder as a brand, I simply wanted to progress and wanted full-time hours which weren't available at the time at Estee Lauder. Enough about that, I'm really excited to share with you a new limited edition product from Clinique which will be launching in February as part of the 16 Shades of Beige Collection. 

Everyone loves a neutral palette, and this new offering from Clinique is gorgeous. I am such a massive fan of their eyeshadows anyway, they have the most soft, buttery texture and are so rich and pigmented.  

The Limited Edition All About Shadow 8-Pan Palette in Neutral Territory 2 is no different and contains a mixture of seven shimmer and one matte shade. The matte shade is the fourth shade in, which is labelled as 'light shade of day into date duo', a colour that is part of one of the permanent eyeshadow duo palettes. The palette, despite being branded as a limited edition product, contains all permanent shades that can be purchased either as a single or in their duo, trio or quad, depending how they come. The palette as a limited edition piece is fab, but if one or a few of the colours really float your boat then you can also re-purchase them afterwards when you've used them up - perfect! The most annoying thing in the world is falling in love with a limited edition product that once you've used up, you can never repurchase, right?

Neutral Territory 2 features colours that are really diverse and there are shades in the palette for everyone from light to deep skintones. The first four shades are lighter shade offerings, perfect for under the brow and for inner corner highlight, as well as all over the lid. The last four shades are perfect for a subtle smoke and are really wearable for every day.

L-R: Sugar Cane, light shade of Diamonds and Pearls Duo,
light shade of Neutral Territory Duo, light shade of Day Into Date Duo.

L-R: Brown shade of Polar Blue Quad, Hazy, Black Honey,
dark brown shade of Morning Java Quad.

I love Clinique's matte eyeshadow formulas as they aren't flat or chalky, they have an ever so subtle sheen to them which makes them so much more wearable in my opinion, shown by the above swatch of 'light shade of day into date duo'.

As well as the 8-pan eyeshadow palette, the collection will also consist of 8 Limited Edition 'A Different Nail Enamel' shades, all in beautiful beige hues. 

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Overall, this is a gorgeous, gorgeous palette and one that I can't wait to wear on counter. I highly recommend all Clinique eyeshadows and if you've never tried them before, then this palette is a great place to start. 

Clinique's Limited Edition All About Shadow 8-Pan Palette in Neutral Territory 2 will retail for £32 and is on counters in Feburary, however it is already available to purchase online at clinique.co.uk along with the nail colours aswell.

What do you think of the Neutral Territory 2 palette?

*I was gifted this palette as an employee and did not purchase it myself.

The Smokey Eye

Who doesn't love a smokey eye? I felt like glamming it up a bit the other night and decided to do a graphite/charcoal themed smokey eye. I paired it with a nude gloss to keep the focus on the eyes and used a bronzing blush to sculpt my cheeks and not introduce too much colour. I love this look and will definitely be re-creating it at the weekend when I go out for a Christmas meal! 

I am so obsessed with eyeshadows and my collection is ever-growing. I wanted to delve into some more smokey/dark colours so I added the ones I used here to my collection recently. I usually wear browns, neutrals and bronzes but I am really getting into my red toned browns, greens and greys lately.

Here I used:

Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation in Cashew

MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in NW25

Estee Lauder Automatic Brow Pencil in Soft Brown

Benefit Speed Brow

Lime Crime Eyeshadow Helper

Clinique All About Shadow Eye Shadow in Graphite

Estee Lauder Pure Color Eyeshadow in Black Crystals

Estee Lauder Double Wear Eye Pencil in Graphite

Estee Lauder Lash Primer Plus

Estee Lauder Sumptuous Mascara in Black

Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Powder

Benefit Dallas Box 'O Powder

Estee Lauder Pure Color Gloss in Tempting Tearose

Are you a fan of the smokey eye look?

My new best friend! Clarins Instant Eye Make-Up Remover

Clarins Instant Eye Make-Up Remover - £17 here.

 I posted this pic on Instagram (username: cocomykel - follow me!) the other day of my new favourite thing - the Clarins Instant Eye Make-Up Remover for waterproof and heavy make-up. I nabbed this the other day as I was getting a bit fed up of melting my eye make-up off with my cleansing balm at night (I use the Clinique Take The Day Off one to take my make-up off). The balm is effective in taking it off, but it always takes a little extra rubbing of my eyes than I'd prefer, and as the eye area is quite sensitive and I'm conscious of losing lashes, I thought I'd give the Clarins a go!

It's one of those dual-phase make-up removers which requires you to shake it (which is secretly quite fun!), the girl on Clarins told me when I bought it that you have to "shake it to wake it!" and she seemed rather amused!

After shaking well so both blue and clear liquids are mixed, I pop some on a cotton pad and hold over my eye before carefully wiping it around my eye area and removing all eyeshadow and mascara, before I go into my proper cleanse at the sink. This stuff feels great on the eyes and is not irritating to me whatsoever. It feels a tad oily compared to say Bioderma, but I think that's why it's so effective. It leaves my eye area feeling smooth and I cleanse afterwards anyway so the remainder of it is always being removed.

I haven't tried this bad boy with waterproof mascara as I don't tend to wear it, but it's designed to do so and I'm sure it works a treat. I highly recommend this eye make-up remover if you wear a lot of eye shadow, eyeliner and mascara like I tend to and want something that whips it off easily and effectively.

What's your favourite way to remove your eye make-up?

Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr Gel-Cream Eyeshadow in On and On Bronze

Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr Gel-Cream Eyeshadow in On and On Bronze - £4.99 here.

On a recent trip to Westfield Stratford, probably my favourite place to shop, I decided to pop into Boots and pick up one of the Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr eyeshadows after hearing quite a lot about them and how good they were. I went for the shade On and On Bronze as I love bronze-toned eyeshadows anyway and thought it would be an easy everyday colour as it's neutral.

I'm thinking I may have to purchase Timeless Black soon, as I think it would be perfect for a night time smokey eye. The formula of this eyeshadow is just as I had hoped - very creamy and easy to apply, it really blends like a dream and goes on perfectly with a brush or fingers. It also sets nicely and doesn't budge all day with very minimal creasing on my very oily eyelids, and that's without an eyeshadow primer!

I've found that I've been turning to this little bronze pot of shadow when I just want a quick bit of colour on my lids if I'm just running around doing errands or on days off where I want to look polished without faffing around with various eyeshadows, brushes and blending. I literally just dip my finger in (if my nails are short!) and blend this quickly over the eye lid all the way up to my crease and make sure the edges are well diffused and blended. This formula layers really well too and I've often done one application, let it set, then applied another for more intense colour pay-off. You can also just apply a nice sheer layer of this and get a more muted down effect. The formula is very, very versatile in my opinion and really is a doddle to work with!

Speaking of the colour, you can see from my swatches above that this shadow has a slight hint of taupe in it as well as bronze, in my opinion (see bottom photo). If anyone else has this shade and agrees then please let me know! The colour itself is really flattering and I think would suit all skin tones from light to dark. 

Me before popping to London, using Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr
Gel-Cream Eyeshadow in On and On Bronze for the first time on it's own with just mascara.

Wearing Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr Gel-Cream Eyeshadow in On and On Bronze, again on it's own with Bare Minerals Lash Domination Mascara - review soon!

The shadow looks particularly bronze in the above photo and I really love the metallic sheen it gives to my eyes.

All in all, a really fantastic product, and for the price it really is worth checking out! Will definitely be picking up more shades soon and I highly recommend these little bad boys as they are so easy to use, last really well and look great.

You can pick up the Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr Gel-Cream eyeshadows from Boots for £4.99 here and in-store.

Have you tried these eyeshadows?

No7 Make-Up

For my birthday from my lovely Nan and Grandad-in-law I got some gorgeous make-up from No7. I was so chuffed and surprised that they would get me such a lovely gift and I know they will be reading this at some point as they are big fans of my blog - so hello Nan and Pops if you are reading!!! Love ya both xx

(From L-R) No7 Stay Perfect™ lipstick in Classic Rose and No7 Moisture Drench lipstick in Mulberry

The products I am most looking forward to using are the lipsticks as the shades are gorgeous and I have never tried any No7 lipsticks before! I got two different formulas - Stay Perfect™ lipstick in Classic Rose and Moisture Drench lipstick in Mulberry with SPF 15. 

Mulberry looks like such a lovely every day colour so I can't wait to try that one, and Classic Rose looks like a shade that could be worn either day or night as it has more of a red/pink hue.

I also got a Stay Perfect™Eye Shadow in a taupe shade (can't find the actual shade name on the packaging!) It looks like a satin finish and would look great on the eyelid with a deeper colour in the crease.

I am a complete mascara junkie so I was really pleased to get this No7 Extreme Length Mascara in Black. The brush looks like my kind of brush - very lengthening. I'll be sure to do a review on it soon once I've used up my Lancôme Hypnôse and my Clinique High Impact.

Last but not least I got a Stay Perfect™ Metallic Eyes Pencil in a gorgeous silver-metallic shade. It looks like the Avon SuperShock Gel Eyeliner Pencil which is really easy to use and has a nice formula, so this one looks promising too!

I'm sure you'll be seeing these products again soon in reviews or favourites posts so keep your eyes peeled!!

Have you tried any No7 make-up?