Grand Entrance Mascara Review

About 2 months ago, I bought the Elizabeth Arden 8 hour skin protectant (full review here) and the sales lady was nice enough to give me a sample of the Elizabeth Arden Grand Entrance mascara. Those that know me, definitely know that I am a total mascara junkie. It is my absolute makeup necessity when I go out. I have tried SO many mascaras and some of my all-time favourite mascaras can be found here. I was super excited to try the EA mascara, however, I have never heard any beauty guru rave about it, so I didn't have high expectations that it'll perform so well. When I tried it, I was absolutely shocked at home amazing it is! 

Description:

The Elizabeth Arden Grand Entrance mascara comes in 2 shades, the Stunning black and Stunning Brown. This mascara claims to be long-wearing and that it does not clump, smudge or flake.
It comes in an edgy red and black packaging, and has a silicone curved wand with tiny bristles all around it. 

What I like about this mascara:

I'll keep it simple, this mascara is absolutely amazing! Reasons?

•  Doesn't flake or smudge (lives up to its claim)!
• Gives your lashes massive length and Curl
• Long-wearing 
• The stunning black shade is super dark so gives a dramatic lash effect
• It is buildable

What I don’t like about this mascara:

It can possible clump if you apply more than 2 layers (but it really doesn't need >2 layers to give amazing results).

Availability:

 It can be found on elizabetharden.com (US), Ulta.com (US), lookfantastic.com (UK) etc. In Kuwait it is available in Faces (Avenues).

Price:

UK: £22 (but currently for £14 on lookfantastic.com)
US: $24

Final thoughts:

I absolutely love this mascara. It gives me lots of length, curl and volume. I personally would highly recommend it for those that want big dramatic lashes (and that don't mind the price tag).

Thank you so much for reading, and as always, leave any comments or questions down below. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to my blog to be updated with the latest posts! 

Until next time,

xoxo

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Carli Bybel Deluxe Palette

Carli Bybel Palette Review

The new BH cosmeticsxCarli Bybel Deluxe Edition palette has been taking over the beauty world and today I will be testing whether it really is worth the hype! For those that don't already know, Carli is  a very popular beauty and fashion guru on YouTube with over 5 million subscribers. Last year, she collaborated with BH cosmetics and created the Limited edition Carli Bybel 14 Color Eyeshadow & Highlighter Palette which was a huge hit. This year, they decided to keep the palette for longer by introducing a Deluxe edition, which included 11 repeated shades from her original palette while adding 10 new shades. I did not own the original palette so I can't really compare the deluxe edition with the original formula, however, I have been playing around with it for a couple of days and below is a thorough review on this palette. 

   


The Carli Bybel Deluxe Edition palette
Note: 2 highlighters and 2 eyeshadows arrived broken, so I have put
them back together hence why some shades don't look too neat!

Description:

Let me first start by talking about the packaging! This honestly has got to be the most beautiful palette I have ever seen! The interior of the palette has a marble print which is so gorgeous.The Carli Bybel Deluxe Edition palette includes 15 eyeshadows (7 shimmery and 8 matte shades) and 6 highlighters.Two of the highlighter pans are rectangular in shape and slightly bigger than the remaining 4. The bottom row of highlighters cater ALL skin tones, from icy white to metallic dark-brown highlighters. The palette includes a big mirror and the packaging is made of cardboard. It is important to mention that the packaging doesn't seem cheap at all, in the contrary it felt really well made and luxurious when I held it. The total net weight of the palette is 1.28 oz/36 grams which is a great amount of product that you get. The palette mostly includes warm toned shades with some cool toned mauves. The palette is also Vegan and Cruelty-free.

15 eye shadows and 6 highlighters

Swatches:

Below are swatches of the eyeshadows and the highlighters.

Eyeshadows:

All 15 eye shadows swatched

Highlighters:

Highlighters swatches (no flash)
From left to right: Rose-gold highlighter, Golden-champagne highlighter, Icy-white highlighter, Metallic-purple highlighter, Gold highlighter, Metallic-brown highlighter

Highlighters swatches (with flash)
From left to right: Rose-gold highlighter, Golden-champagne highlighter, Icy-white highlighter, Metallic-purple highlighter, Gold highlighter, Metallic-brown highlighter

 

What I like about the Carli Bybel palette:

Eyeshadows: 

The eyeshadows in this palette are very smooth and easy to blend.The matte shades  pick up nicely using a brush and the pigment is also great. The matte eyeshadows have minimal fallout, whereas the shimmery shades do have slightly more fallout, so I would suggest doing your base after applying your eyeshadow. The shimmery shades also pick up nicely with a brush but they do need more building up, whereas if you use your fingers to apply them they will definitely pop more. I also like how there are base matte shades and good transition shades so you have a well rounded  palette that you can take with you without the need to include colours from other palettes. 

Highlighters:

The highlighters are insanely pigmented. They have a foiled-like finish and show up so well using a brush. As I mentioned earlier, there is a highlight shade for all skin tones, so I really like how well thought-of the shades in this palette are. They are so smooth and buttery and blend very easily. They can also be used on your eyes, so rest assured, you can make use of all the highlighters in this palette!

What I don't like about the Carli Bybel palette:

The highlighters and the shimmery shades do have some glitter chunks in them.They  also have some fallout, so you can end up getting glitter particles on your face. So to avoid doing that, make sure to tap the excess off (especially with the highlighters). If you tap the excess, you won't have a problem with the glitter.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, the packaging is made of cardboard, so it is not very travel friendly as the product can be easily broken. 

Availability:

Kuwait: It is not available in Kuwait, so I had to order it from the bhcosmetics.com (delivers to many countries worldwide) and had it shipped all the way to Kuwait. They deliver using standard post which means that it took more than a month to arrive to Kuwait (and several shades arrived broken, as you can tell from the images).

USA: available in ulta.com, bhcosmetics.com and pranavabeauty.com

UK: you can order the palette from bhcosmetics.com and get it shipped to the UK. 

Price:

US: $22.50 (on bhcosmetics.com)

Final thoughts:

I love the pigmentation, formula and blendability of the Carli Bybel deluxe palette. There are however some downsides such as the fallout for the shimmery  and highlighter shades,and the glitter particles that can be found in them. However, for the price, you really cannot go wrong. Overall, it is a stunning palette with beautiful everyday warm and neutral shades. So if you are into neutral shades, you will absolutely love this palette! 

That is it for today, thank you so much for reading, and as always, leave any questions below. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to my blog to be updated with the latest posts!

Until next time

xoxo

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