A Week of Swatches - Day 1: H&M Beauty and MAC

I have a major problem when it comes to palettes.  Seriously, I could be considered a palette-junkie.  I can't seem to buy enough or have enough palettes.  I especially love Christmas because almost every beauty product line comes out with a special holiday blockbuster.  I am literally drooling over all the palette goodness.

The past few months I've been looking for cheap palettes because I'm on mat leave and trying to keep my extra spending down.  I've found some really great bargains and some NOT so great ones.

First on my list of swatches is Measurable Difference Desert Nights Palette and Hard Candy High Intensity Eye Shadow Duo in Lost & Found.

From left to right, we have the Purple and Pink from the Hard Candy duo.  The purple is stunning but the pink is definitely not a color I would ever wear.  The Measurable Difference palette starts with a grey metallic shimmer, a nude beige (WHICH you can't even see), a silver metallic, a matte burgundy and a metallic burgundy.  I was given the Hard Candy from a friend but picked up the Measurable Difference palette for a whopping $5.99.  I will say that I created a stunning burgundy smoky eye from this palette the other day which I will show you at the end.

I was so excited to get my hands on these two items especially since H&M just re-branded and reformulated their makeup line.  I read about both of these in a magazine so literally squealed in delight when I found them.  However, that's where the excitement ended.

The palette is broken into sections - This is a swatch of the upper row which are the metallic shades.  They almost all look exactly the same.

These are the shimmer shades which is the middle row.

Last but not least, the 6 shades in the middle are the matte row (last) of the palette and then the top and bottom colors are the two blushes.  The matte shades are the only ones that have a shade difference and even then, it's very subtle.  This palette is, unfortunately, going in the garbage.

The blush and highlighter quad is okay.  I will say that the colors are fairly nice but definitely not pigmented enough for me.  Sigh.

So, I've been having dreams about this MAC palette for about 2 months.  Honestly, I am beyond obsessed with burgundy shades and knew this palette was MADE for me.  It's called Burgundy Times Nine and MAC was sold of it for a long time....I did however grab one this past weekend.

There are about 4 shimmer shades and the rest are matte but the greatest thing about this palette are the shades.  They can all be mixed and matched to create your favorite burgundy eye look.  I am over the moon that this palette belongs to me!!

I am LOVING the Measurable Differences palette.  Check out my awesome burgundy smoky eye!!