Saturday's Swatches: Australis Pretty Pastels Palette

Saturday's Swatches have been off for a few weeks now.. Unfortunately, I've ran out of palettes and eyeshadows to swatch! I'll have to dig through my stash again, but meanwhile, please give a round of applause for our guest today -- Australis' Pretty Pastels Palette!

I've won this from Sandy's YouTube/Blog giveaway some time ago (thanks Sandy! ^_^!), but I believe you can still find the palette at Priceline for $9.95 (currently on sale for $7.96 at Priceline).

As expected, the lighweight palette is packaged in Australis' killer colours -- black and hot pink! I like that the palette itself is pretty thin and isn't too big, but still feels quite sturdy. The palette itself comes with 3 eyeshadow shades, a blusher shade, a bronzer shade, a fixed shade of pressed powder and a VERY clear and big "HD-quality" mirror.

As you can tell, all three shades are wearable neutral shades! I've decided to compare some of these shades to a selective fewer from Urban Decay's NAKED Palette:

• #1 -- This one swatches to be a bit chalky, but makes SUCH a pretty sheen over the lids. It reminds me of Urban Decay's Virgin the most, but this one by Australis has a shimmery finish rather than that pearly finish in comparison to Virgin.
• #2 -- This shade is like.. a grey-toned taupe colour. It swatches to be sheer on my arm, and also applies to be almost the same... I can't find a similar shade from UD's Naked for this particular shade.
• #3 -- Reminds me of Dark Horse, except that this Australis' shade is more neutral toned than Dark Horse. This particular shade is very pigmented, and also has alot of fall outs so please be careful!

Ok! Onto the blusher, bronzer and face powder...

• Blusher: Such a pretty dusty pink colour! It swatched to be a tad sheer, but actually applies to be quite pigmented! It also has a matte finish. I actually don't have anything similar to this colour in my stash, so this is a nice addition! 
• Bronzer: This bronzer shade has a shimmery finish, but when applied, it passes off as almost a luminous finish. It's much more ideal to use this to 'bronze' rather than to 'contour', not only because of the finish, but the colour is also a bit off. I can use this [and get away with it] at a lighter hand, but with a heavy hand, it tends to look a tad orange and pink-toned.. X_X
• Face Powder: I think this MAY be the same face powder from their Fresh and Flawless compacts... which I really like! It's smooth to apply, and also gives a flawless heavy-duty look! 

Overall, I like the soft-toned palette! It's a handy palette for those who prefer minimal make-up looks, or for those who are starting out with make-up even! It'd be better if they had these palettes available with different shades of pressed powders though.. Or perhaps replace the pressed powder with another universal face/eye product. A powder highlighter would be PERFECT for me!

That's all for today's Saturday's Swatches post! I'm trying to get back into a consistent blogging schedule, so sorry for the random updates! ^_^

On a brighter note, it's not rainy today, so I will be able to go to Sunday markets tomorrow! I haven't been there in 3 weeks or so! Eeep!

Catch you guys in 2 days~

Colour Me In: 3 Affordable Australian Bronzers

'Colour Me In' is a series of posts in collaboration with Alice of ArsyParsy, Tezza of Myteeefine and Amanda of Thai-Tales!

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We talkin' STRAYA bronzers today!

I just wanted to quickly show you 3 Australian branded products in my collection that I do switch around from time to time, to use as bronzers.

With the upcoming warming Spring and Summer, bronzers are a must-have in your make-up collection to fake that beautiful bronzed and sunkissed look (and cheekbones too for many of us Asians), what do you say?


Australis Paparazzi Perfect HD Blush in Poser

Sure, it's not a bronzing product.. but it certainly can be used for bronzing! :P

Left to right: 1,2,3,4

Poser is blusher product but no way will I ever use such shades as blushers! There's 4 shades of brown in this product and from what I see, there's a shade suited for every's tone complexion -- cool, warm and neutral. I really love the idea of that. All shades are very decent in pigmentation and do have shimmers to them, but it's really barely visible once applied onto the hollow of the cheeks!


Australis Paparazzi Perfect HD Blusher in Flash It

As you can tell.. Flash It is one handy trio for applying blusher, highlighting and bronzing or contouring. However, in comparison with Poser, the browner shade of this trio is more 'orangey' which I really don't dig. It's also contains less shimmers, but I do prefer the warmer-toned brown from Poser. :P


Face Of Australia Mineral Therapy Bronzing Pearls

A real bronzing product!

From its name, you can tell what it is... bronzing pears in a bottle! I've only started using this product recently and I love it! There's a sheen of luminousity to it which I do like as it's perfect for that bronzed/sunkissed look! The product itself is silky and blends very well! However, it does go on to be a bit more pink on me, so it'd be great if they had more shades.


So those are three wonderful and easy-to-access Aussie-branded bronzing products that you definitely can't miss next time you're around at Priceline, Big W or any other Australis & Face Of Australia stockists!

Have you ever tried any of the products mentioned in this post?

Are you a bronzing babe, or nay?

I've only started bronzing recently, and I love it! My favourite from the products mentioned is the Face Of Australia Mineral Therapy Bronzing Pearls! LOVE the luminous finish so much!


This week's chosen colour is 'brown' -- usually not a very appealing colour, but it's different when it comes to make-up I can tell ya! :P

If you're bronzer babe, check out Amanda's post on bronzers too! If you're a circle lenses wearer, perhaps click to Tezza's post of brown circle lenses? And of course, neutral eyeshadows are everyone's favourites, so a must-click is to Alice's everyday barely there eyeshadow routine!


Disclaimer: Face Of Australia Mineral Therapy Pearls were provided for review consideration. However, all opinions within this post are of my own and remains uninfluenced.