Tuesday, May 31, 2011

By Lauren Luke My Luscious Greens Palette

For those of you that don't have any background with Lauren Luke, I will give you a quick lesson about her and her makeup line.  She works by herself and is the creative force behind her new makeup line.  she started with the beauty industry via You Tube.  During the mid 2000s, she began to upload videos of hereself onto the video website, beginning with her doing her own makeup and quickly becoming her teaching others recreate her makeup looks.  Over the years, she became a sensation on You Tube and was then picked up by insiders in the beauty industry and then she began to make her own makeup line.

Her first release was named The Launch Collection and it includes five palettes that contain every single product you need to pull off a full makeup look.  "Handpicked by me, each of my five makeup kits include three eye shadows, primer, two lipsticks, one blush, and the perfect deep black eye liner.  Check out my sheer lip gloss too, great with any look.  And whether you're looking for a day to night look, something classic or funky, or something a bit more sexy and sweet, I've created exclusive video tutorials for each kit to help you get the most out of your makeup.  I'll keep adding more based on your feedback, so make sure you check back often." 

In this collection of five palettes, we have a violet edition, a green one, and a blue one.  We also have a palette for smoky eyes and one that will help create a vintage glam look.  I am most excited for the green collection since it the most unique of all the palettes so that is the only that we are going to start with today.

"My Luscious Greens, for looks from down to earth to down right deadly.  This full face palette also comes with My Glossy Lips in fresh melon flavor."  It starts with the Nude Slip Eye Primer in either the pale or the dark shade.  Both of the colors are provided in the palette.  The first eye shadow is named Golden Morning, the champagne shade that most will use as a highlighter.  Goldern Fern is a medium gold olive eye shadow, one that some people will use in the crease or will use on the lid for a more natural look.  The last eye shadow is Evergreen, a deep olive green that can be used as a liner or on the lid.  The eye liner shade is Raven Black, which I believe would be best used on the upper lid only (I have never mastered cream eye liner on the lower waterline).  The blush is named Sunkissed and a more neutral peach shade that could be used by anyone with fair to medium skin of either undertones.  The lighter of the two lip colors is Petal Dew, a medium nude.  The darker shade is Tiger Lily, a deeper red coral. 

I watched the video tutorial that came with this palette and it really didn't teach my anything that I didn't know before.  These would be best used by someone who has never used more than two eye shadows at once or is very unsure with makeup application, it isn't going to teach a thing someone who is even moderately good with gtheir own application already.  And why are her nails chipped and nicked in the video?  I would put fresh nail polish on if I was shooting a video to promote my own company.  Back to the palette...

I first saw this palette and this line at Sephora and I just tried to search it and now I can't find this line at all on their website.  I played with the tester when I was there and the lipsticks seemed more on the sheer side but the eye shadows had great pigment.  now that this line is even harder to find, I do recommend ordering it from their website or finding a dupe of some of these pretty green shades.  When I was watching the application video, I noted some of the green shades look very close to ones that I already own from Kat Von D.  If you are after this palette just for the eye shadows (as I was), I actually would recommend the Kat Von D True Romance Eye Palette in Ludwig; Orbi, Dimebag, and Clay are almost dead on replicas of the three shades in this palette.  In addition, if you really are only chasing down the eye shadows, you might just want to head right to Sephora and buy the Kat Von D since it also contains five other very lovely shades.

When I first saw this palette, I thought that it was a great concept and I still do like it but I don't think it would be the best thing for myself.  These palettes would make lovely gifts or a great purchase if you don't own much makeup already.  All of the shades are dupeable, most ladies that I know already own an eye primer, and own many lip shades already.  When I watched the video and analyzed the application technique, I saw that the shades aren't as unique as I once thought.

photo courtesy of By Lauren Luke

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