Catching Up and Some New Shiny. (Pic heavy!)

Hola lovelies!!

It has definitely been far too long since we’ve hung out. I’ve been pretty busy, with Dane and I gettin’ hitched and all, but I don’t want you to think I’ve forgotten about you! Let’s catch up, shall we?

*****

Dane and I were married at the end of April. Naturally, we’re pretty stoked about it. We went to the North Carolina coast for our honeymoon, which was perfect. We were able to chill out and relax, and basically just enjoy getting to be together.

Standing on the pier, braving the wind.

*****

Tomorrow is my last day at the university I’ve been working at. We’re moving on to better things, which I’ll divulge a bit later, once more details are solidified. I’m not sad, but I do wish it could have worked out. Sometimes, though, there’s something better waiting for us, ya know?

*****

Planning out some blog posts and videos with a cup of decaf.

*****

I’ve had the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette for a while now. As soon as it arrived in the mail and I first tried the shadows, I wanted the first one. I am happy to report that I have acquired said palette.

I can’t imagine that you all haven’t seen at least a few pictures of this by now, if you’re not already in possession of one of these babies, so I’ll keep my photos brief. (If you really want to see some swatches, I’ll be more than happy to do that. Just let me know in the comments below.)

I also had a moment of CRAZYYYYY and bought the new Urban Decay customizable palette and two new eye shadows. I’ve internally complained about how expensive these shadows are, but ya know what? The new formula is KILLER. And from the ones I’ve swatched, which were just about all that Ulta had available, it’s consistent, too. This is something MAC fails at miserably. So I’ll pay almost $4 more for shadows that I’ll never be disappointed with, no matter how cool the color may be.

The front.

The back.

Pretty cute, non?

The palette costs $18 and comes with a matte pale nude color called Walk of Shame, so at least there’s a bargain tucked in there. I picked up two other shadows called Fishnet and Stray Dog.

Walk of Shame (pale nude) on the left, Fishnet (blue-ish purple) at the bottom, and Stray Dog (bronze-brown) at the top.

Fishnet- orchid purple with a blue duochrome.

Stray Dog- golden bronze.

Fishnet (L) and Stray Dog (R)

You can really see the duochrome of Fishnet in this one!

I love both of these colors so much! The shadows are smooth and buttery and blend out like a dream. The colors are rich and actually go from pan-to-swatch-to-eye looking the same. Meaning the color you see in the pan is the same as the color you see in a swatch and what you see applied on your lids. Very impressed.

I didn’t swatch Walk of Shame because you can barely see it in person, much less in a photo, but it’s a perfect blending shade to blur any harsh lines.

The best thing about these new shadows is that you can pop the pan out of the individual pots and put them in the palette, or you can leave them in the pots. Definitely a one-up on other brands!

Fishnet in its pot.

An empty pot.

An empty closed pot.

So what do you think? Will you or have you tried any of these shadows? Let me know in the comments!

*****

As always, I hope you all are doing really well! Keep me posted on all the goings on in the comments on the blog, and don’t forget to come yak with me on Twitter @newshineblog. Good stuff.

Much love,

Lo