Primark PS Master Eye Palette - Mac Dupe?

Price:£6.00 each Available at Primark

If you know me, then you would know that I adore a good eye shadow palette. On a recent trip to Primark, I found these two palettes which from a glance reminded me of some Mac palettes. If these shadows are good enough, a eye shadow palette with 12 shadows for £6.00 is a absolute bargain in my eyes. I also thought they had some really lovely shades that would be great for autumnal looks and some party looks. I have had a play with these palettes and wanted to share my thoughts with you on them.

Palette One

Neither of the palettes have a name, so I am calling this one palette one and the other palette two. The first palette has 3 mattes and 9 shimmers, the shades are more warm, neutral and golden shades. I also love this palette has a matte black shadow, so if you need to darken a look it can be done with the black. The shadows themselves feel quite soft on first touch.

Swatches of the shadows

From the image above you can see that from the swatches they have great pigment especially the shimmer shades. They feel pretty nice as well and not chalky. The real test though is how well do they apply to the eyes and how they look on the eyes.

Above is a look I created with the shadows. I used 6 shades as I tried to use as many shadows as I could and for the look above, so that I can give a fair review on the shadows. The mattes blended quite easily and I didn't used a damp brush when applying the shimmer shades, which I am pretty happy with. Overall I really like palette and how the shadows worked.

Palette two

This is the second palette as you can see it has more warmer colours, with pinks, purple and reds. In this palette you get 7 mattes and 5 shimmers, which I actually prefer to the other palette. I like palettes with more matte shades than shimmer shades as I feel you can create more different looks for different occasions. 

Swatches of the shadows

The image above shows my swatches of the palette and as you can see they swatch pretty much the same as the first palette. So hopefully they should work just as well on the eye as the first palette.

Above is the look I created with this second palette and I used 4 - 5 shades for this look. These shadows worked just as well as the first palette and seem to have the same formula, which I expected. I actually like this palette more than the first one as I like the colours more and I feel I will be using it more this Autumn time. 

Final Thoughts

Overall for £6.00 I actually really think this palettes are great. I've bought high end palettes in the past that don't work as well as these. If I am honest I wasn't expecting these palettes to be as good as they were, but I think it just goes to show that the PS beauty range at Primark is improving. I am looking forward to what the Primark brings out in the future in there beauty range and if they bring out more versions of these palettes. 

Will you be buying any of these palettes? If so which one? Let me know in the comments.

Urban Decay Naked Palette £4 Dupe!?!?!

Hi everyone, recently I discovered a few news articles on a palette that is a dupe for the Urban Decay Naked Palette and only cost £4 from Primark. If you follow me on Instagram you will know that I recently bought the Naked Palette. So I wanted to see if what the news articles are saying are true and find a good dupe for the Naked Palette for those of you, who maybe can't afford the Urban Decay palette or just looking for a good bargain.

Urban Decay Naked Palette

Price:£39.50 Available at: Urban Decay, Debenhams, Feel Unique, John Lewis & House Of Fraser

This palette has revolutionised neutrals. I feel if you are a true makeup fan or collector you either have or had this palette. It has a velvet case and comes with a mirror and a duo end brush. There are 12 shades that are a mixture of matte, satin, shimmer and sparkle textures. 

Primark PS Bronze Shadow and Shade Palette

Price:£4 Available at: Primark

This is the palette the news has been talking about. I won't say much about the palette here but more when I am comparing it the the Naked Palette. This palette only has 10 shades in a mixture of matte and shimmer. It comes in matte and metallic cardboard packaging with no mirror or brush. 

Packaging and Layout

As you can see from the image above, they have very similar layout and packaging. The shadows in the Bronze Palette are longer than the Naked Palette, but there are less of them (Naked has 12 shadows and Bronze has 10 shadows) and the Naked Palette is thicker than the Bronze Palette. The Bronze Palette doesn't have a mirror nor brush. They both have the name of the palette inside that is pretty large font. The Naked Palette has the names of the shadows underneath the actual shadow which I actually like unlike the Bronze Palette which comes on a plastic sheet protecting the shadows that you can throw away. 
The outside packaging of the Naked Palette has a velvet coat which I don't mind but I know some people won't like. The Bronze Palette has just a sort of matte/metallic coat, which I again I don't mind, especially for the price. 

Swatches and Textures

The image above shows the swatches of both palettes and as you can see both palettes swatched really well. The Naked Palette I think was a tiny bit more pigmented but the Bronze Palette has actually impressed me with the swatches especially for £4. 

The Naked Palette as many of you may know, the shadows feel so smooth and creamy when you swatch them. But what of the Bronze Palette? The Bronze Palette is pretty smooth and a bit creamy but not quite like the Naked Palette I must admit. I would say the shimmer shades are a bit more smoother than the mattes in the Bronze Palette. 

The shades from both palettes I can see several looks that can be created. The only thing I'm not sure about is the blue in the Bronze Palette, it just seems a bit odd for that shade of blue in a palette that is called Bronze to me.

Application 

The image above shows two similar I looks I created using both palettes. 

For the Naked Palette look I used the shades:

• Buck
• Naked
• Half Baked
• Creep
• Sin

For the Bronze Palette look I used the shades:

• Day Trip
• Desert Dream
• Sunseeker
• Charcoal
• White Sands

I tried to use the shades that looked very similar in both palettes to give them a fair test and as you can see they both applied very similar. The Bronze Palette has a more of a bronze/orange tone whereas the Naked Palette has more of a golden tone. They both give a great look and have good pigmentation. The Bronze Palette needed a little bit more work when blending. But for this look I actually like the colour of the Bronze Palette more as I think they go better with my eye colour.

The only issue I had with this was the fallout from the Bronze Palette, there was so much of it, so just be careful if you get this palette when you use it.

Other Information

Both palettes use similar ingredients and both have a 24 month expiration date. The Bronze Palette shadows weigh 2g and the Naked Palette shadows weigh 1.3g so you are getting more of each shade in the Bronze Palette but you do get two extra shades in the Naked Palette. 

Final Thoughts

Well I have to say the Bronze Palette is a pretty good dupe for the Naked Palette. I would say the News articles are true. If you are saving money or can't afford the Naked Palette I highly recommend you get the Bronze Palette. The only main issue I had with the Bronze Palette was how much fallout you get. For £4 it is a absolute bargain, and you save yourself £35.50! It's not 100% exactly like the Naked palette but it comes pretty close.  

I also have to say Primark are really stepping up with there makeup range this year, I can't wait to see what I will get my hands on next to share with you all.

Primark PS Silicone Sponge Review

Price:£2 Available at Primark

The other day I was just having a browse through Primark and decided to go and look at the beauty/makeup section. While looking at the sponges I found this pack of silicone sponges. I remember a little while ago everyone was talking about the SiliSponge. Some people loved it, some people hated it, some people even started making there own from chicken fillets/bra inserts.

On the packet it says "The perfect tool to blend makeup without soaking up any product!".

I like the idea that the sponge doesn't soak up product like a beauty blender so in theory you use less product and that they are easy to clean. But I never felt I needed one of these like I do with some products. So when I found these in Primark for only £2 and you get two in a pack, I thought I would give them a try.

From the appearance they looks exactly like the SiliSponge I can't really see any difference. I wasn't sure what side of it to use as they don't come with any instructions. So I tried both sides just to see if there is any difference and there wasn't really. I started with my normal routine of moisturising and priming my skin. I used the Kat Von D Lock it foundation for this test, I normally use about three pumps of this foundation with a beauty blender. I just started with one pump as this silicone sponge doesn't soak up product and I managed to cover half my face with one pump. Which I am amazed and I agree you do use less product and it is great for saving product. So in a way, it saves you money as you won't run out of your favourite foundation as quick.

The actual application was a bit weird for me. When trying to get the foundation to blend, it doesn't feel as soft as a beauty blender and has a...interesting sound when patting the foundation into the skin. Honestly, I felt like I was just slapping my face with a chicken fillet/bra insert. It wasn't bad for blending but then it wasn't as good at the beauty blender. I felt like I had to pat the product more into my skin than I would with a beauty blender. I found the silicone sponge a bit messy too because as it doesn't absorb the product it just covers the sponge and can end up over your fingers and hands. Though the sponge itself is easier to clean than a beauty blender as you just need to wipe the product off.

My Final Verdict  

I honestly prefer the beauty blender as it is softer for blending, not as messy and blends product much better than the silicone sponge. I did like that I used less product and the price and how simple it is to clean. I'm not sure why you get two in this pack, maybe one for a backup or perhaps you could give one to a friend. I actually think the PS Pro Oval brushes I reviewed earlier this year from Primark are a lot better than the silicone sponge. So for now I will stick with my trusty beauty blender. 

Have you tried any silicone sponges? If so what are your thoughts?

Primark PS Pro Oval Brushes Review

For the longest time now I wanted to try some oval brushes as I've heard great things about them, especially the Artis ones. The thing is, I've been using a beauty blender for so long, I don't know how I would cope going from a sponge to a brush. I also didn't really want to pay out for something that I'm not even sure I will like. So I had a look around and I saw Make Up Revolution did some at a decent price but, when I went to buy some they had sold out. I took this as a sign from the make up gods to just forget about it. But on a recent trip to Primark, I found some oval brushes in there PS Pro range, and I couldn't argue with the price so I grab one of each size they had in store. 

I believe the PS Pro range is the better quality of Primarks beauty range. I will be honest I don't really have high expectations for these brushes as I've bought some in the past from Primark and they have never really worked for me or wowed me. These brushes are smaller than some of the oval brushes I've seen which I like cause I'm not really sure how the big ones cover the whole face especially around areas like the nose. Also I don't know if Primark do any other sizes, these are the ones my local Primark had in stock. 

All these brushes have dense bristles and black plastic handles. It says high definition result  suitable for liquid and powder on the package so I assume that is what they claim from these brushes. So I will talk through each brush individually and give my views on each one. 

Small

Price: £2.50 - £3.00 

So this is the smallest of the 3, I tested this out on concealer, mainly under my eyes. It didn't do a bad job, but I felt it just moved the concealer around and not set it in the skin like a beauty blender does and I need full coverage on my dark circles. I won't use this again for concealer but I think it could be good possibly for a contour especially if you have a small face. Personally for me, it is not narrow enough for a nose contour. 

Medium 

£3.50

The medium brush I tested out on contouring. I'll be honest I am no contouring expert and having the same skin shade as a ghost, it's not the easiest for me. It applied the product evenly and blended the product well, without making it look patchy and horrible. I was pleasantly surprised on how well it worked, especially on carving out my cheekbones. 

Large 

£4.00

Out of the 3 brushes I used, this is my favourite. I used it for applying my foundation and I have to say I was so impressed. It applied my foundation evenly and made it look flawless like a beauty blender would. I used the same amount of product I would when using a beauty blender and the foundation covered my whole face. This is going to be my go to foundation brush when I'm in a rush (really didn't mean for that to rhyme) or if I am too lazy to dampen my beauty blender. The only flaw with this is the neck is a bit flimsy so you need to place your finger on the back of the brush to make it more stable. 

Overview

All these brushes are all easy to use and you can't argue with the prices. I said I didn't have high expectations of these brushes but they have really impressed me and showed me that just cause it's not a label with a big price tag, doesn't mean that it is going to be a terrible product. The only flaw with these is I just think the neck on these brushes need to be stronger and maybe different sizes and shapes of these brushes if there aren't any. If anyone knows if they do more sizes and shapes please let me know. 

Would you recommend these products?

Hell yes I would! For the price they do an amazing job, especially the large brush. They are perfect if you are just like me and just want to try out oval brushes or you want to save some pennies. If these are the quality of products Primark are bringing out these days, I am going to have to test out some of there other products.