Oscar and Matt

Do you guys look forward to the Academy Awards? It's my favourite awards show to watch. I love the elegance of it all and I find the speeches and such are always so well done. Unfortunately, I haven't seen many of the nominated films this year but I plan to!  I did see Midnight in Paris and while I loved it (it makes you want to go back in time in Paris, for sure!) I think the win will go to The Help or The Artist.  I think/hope Michelle Williams gets best actress.  I have my guesses for the others but we'll see!

I have two manis for you today using polishes from Julep's Oscar collection which I am so so happy I bought.

First up is "Elizabeth" which is a very dark navy blue. It is gorgeous! I love how dark it is but yet it is still definitely blue not black. Then I sponged "Oscar" onto the tips! I really love this mani but I am a sucker for glitter tips/gradients.

Next is "Rachel" which is this sort of rust color (brown/orange) that is a shimmer polish. I wasn't sure how much I'd like this one but oooh, I love it! It is very rich looking. Both "Rachel" and "Elizabeth" really remind me of an Oscar gown so I think they are appropriate for the collection. This colour is prettier in person, I think. It sort of looks like it is glowing!  "Oscar" is an opaque fine gold glitter. It is just what I had been hoping for. What you see is just two coats.

 Sorry about my cuticles here!

Next I have some swatches. I wanted some more matte eyeshadows and had $40 to spend at bloom.com (which I only paid $5 for!) so I decided to get theBalm Meet Matt(e) eyeshadow palette. 

My Bloom order! Samples, Zoya "Yara", OPI "Dutch Ya Just Love OPI" and Meet Matt(e).

It's small! It has a sleeve which I have held onto because I figure it'll keep the actual palette case clean. The palette stays shut well but for traveling I may want the sleeve, just to be sure.

The back. I will admit, I didn't know many of the names but they are all characters named Matt. I believe one is from Doctor Who...which I still haven't seen!

Mirror on top and it comes with a duel ended brush. The brush is decent for applying wet shadow as a liner but I don't like it for this palette. It is too stiff.

Shade

Sun 

Shade. Swatched on their own, dry, no primer or base.

 Sun

 These apply very soft, like chalk. They blend very well but I definitely recommend a primer to help them stick to the eye. If you apply them slightly damp, they do have more pigment. I found them a bit tricky to work with at first, like the colour just did not want to build up. But then I used a damp brush and that fixed that. So these are great if you want a more natural, subtle look but you can still go for something more dramatic as well.  Matte eyeshadows photograph very nicely (on the eyes, I mean) and I think they are a great option to have.  I think this palette has a nice range of colours from pale pink to browns to purples and blues.

Overall, I like this palette. It is what I was hoping it would be; a nice range of soft matte eyeshadows. I have only worn it once so I look forward to coming up with more matte looks but as far as quality, I am happy. This is my first theBalm product but probably not my last!  And yes, they are vegan! They sound like a pretty great company to me.