L'oreal H.I.P review and swatches Part 1; vacation

Whew~

Back from a much needed vacation with some friends on Marco Island, and it was absolutely AMAZING~!!

Crystal blue ocean, white  powdery sand, gorgeous hotel, pool deck on the beach, etc. We felt like we were in heaven!!

While we were there, we celebrated one of my friends' birthday, and I had the honor of doing everyone's makeup, most of which consisted of the L'oreal H.I.P eye shadow duos. That's what inspired me to do a post on my collection of them.

Granted, I don't have every single color... yet...

But I do have about half of them, give or take. Hence why I've also labeled this post as a part 1. I intend on getting the rest little by little to do swatches and reviews on.

As I'm sure I have mentioned before, L'oreal is one of my most favorite drugstore brands, if not the best. The H.I.P eye shadow duos are no exception. These are fantastic.

Some of the finishes are better than others, but I'll get more in depth with that later.

First, let's go through the colors I have so far.

Top row: Devious, Adventurous, Mischief, Shocked, Platinum, Gilded, Electrified

Middle row: Sassy, Roaring, Forgiving, Energized, Gunmetal, Charming, Romantic

Bottom row: Charisma, Flashy, Poppy, Charged, Perky, Sculpted, Cheeky

I'll go through each of the colors by row. I've swatched the duos together, each duo separated by a stroke of eyeliner to make it easy to follow. The descriptions will follow as

*(Name): [formula] Left/Right

TOP ROW

*Devious: [Concentrated] Army green with gold shimmer/golden brown

*Adventurous: [Bright] Satin beige/Satin bright pink

*Mischief: [Concentrated] Frosty champange nude/matte blackish-navy with a teal undertone

*Shocked: [Metallic] Butter-yellow gold/sage green

*Platinum: [Metallic] True metal silver/black with silver glitter

*Gilded: [Metallic] Rich true gold/Very deep green-undertoned brown with gold glitter 

*Electrified: [Metallic] Silvery taupe/Deep plum

Swatch: Devious, Adventurous, Mischief, Shocked, Platinum, Gilded, Electrified

(Natural Light)

(with flash)

As you can see, these are all very pigmented. Especially the metallics. The metallics in particular are extremely buttery and smooth. The silver in the Platinum duo is perhaps one of my most favorite silvers of all time, probably on par with my Too Faced one, 'In a Flash' (in the Smokey Eye palette). I also use the Electrified duo rather often, and I have to say it's one of my favorites out of the entire H.I.P line. That aside, all of the others from this row are gorgeous, and can work for many different looks whether you mix or match :D

MIDDLE ROW

*Sassy: [Concentrated] Frosty milk-chocolate brown/blackened teal

*Roaring: [Bright] matte brown/matte cobalt blue

*Forgiving: [Concentrated] Dark brown shimmer/turquoise shimmer

*Energized: [Metallic] Soft pale gold/bronzey brown

*Gunmetal: [Metallic] Khaki green/Deep forest green with green glitter

*Charming: [Crystal] Silvery lilac/Blue-toned purple

*Romantic: [Crystal] Silvery grey/pale pink

Swatch: Sassy, Roaring, Forgiving, Energized, Gunmetal, Charming, Romantic

(Natural light)

(with flash)

The first 3 in this row (Sassy, Roaring, and Forgiving) are slightly similar as far as the color family goes, but as you can see they are quite different. They each have different finishes and tones. Energized, while being metallic, has gorgeous neutral shades that are perfect for everyday wear.

Gunmetal can be a tad bit misleading. Don't get me wrong, the duo is beautiful. However, when I see the name 'Gunmetal', I picture... well... gunmetal colors. LOL Such as pewter silver or something of the like. This duo instead is more of an Army Camo sort of thing.

Now, for the crystals... yeesh...

In the packaging, they look a hell of a lot prettier than they do when you put them on. It took me quite a few swipes for it to show up on my skin. Not only that, but the shadow crumbles and clumps and does all sorts of weird crap when you try to apply it. And the fallout is CRAZY. They are pretty colors once you build them up correctly, but it's a hassle trying to get it there. Charming is certainly more pigmented than Romantic. The Crystal formula is without a doubt my least favorite. However, I know I'm probably going to get the rest of them despite the fact that I'm sure they'll be equally as difficult.

BOTTOM ROW

*Charisma: [Concentrated] Dusty rose-lavender/Reddish plum

*Flashy: [Bright] Bone cream-beige/Greenish teal

*Poppy: [Matte] Deep yellow/deep chocolate

*Charged: [Metallic] Bronzey orange-gold/reddish copper

*Perky: [Matte] Neon 'acid' green/almost-black navy 

*Sculpted: [Metallic] Dark rosey pink/dark plum with pink glitter

*Cheeky: [Concentrated] dark red-magenta/deep burgandy purple

Swatch: Charisma, Flashy, Poppy, Charged, Perky, Sculpted, Cheeky

(Natural light)

(with flash)

Out of this bunch, Sculpted and Cheeky look the most similar in the packaging, but once again you can see how different they really are. Perky is perhaps another one of my favorites. It's so bright and obnoxious. I love it xD

Actually, the Perky duo was used in one of my most recent looks inspired by the Hulk from the Avengers!! So, my first tutorial theme has just been revealed :D I'll be doing looks based on the characters. I'm working on editting the videos and photos so I can have them up asap. I just couldn't help it after seeing the movie during my trip.

That aside, as you can see, all of the other duos are very pigmented. The bone-beige side of Flashy may not look like it is, but I just think it's because I'm so insanely pale x__x Trust me when I say it has good pigmentation on other skintones.

-----------------------------------

My verdict: While it's not like these H.I.P duos are new or anything, they are still proof as to why I love L'oreal so much. These are fantastic, with the unfortunate exception of the Crystal ones (at least in my opinion). I'll be sure to post more reviews on them when I get some more of the duos.

Now that that's over with, I figured I'd share a couple of photos from my vacation :D

Simply cuz I can >u>

Marco Island was beautiful. Probably more-so cuz it was on the Gulf coast vs the Atlantic. I mean, the beach and ocean difference is like night and day. It was a little bit cloudy when we first got there, but the rest of the time, it was clear blue skies.

Close to sunset

I couldn't help but take in how pretty it all was.

One of my bffl's chillin' in the sand. Oh "Feesh" <3 lol

Sasha checking the water. We couldn't get over how WARM it was :D

Sasha and Gaby

The boyz (a little inside joke xD)

The hotel we stayed in was absolutely gorgeous. We stayed on the 8th floor, which gave us a perfect view of the ocean from our balcony, where we enjoyed breakfast and stuff. We also ate at this restaurant called Di Vinci's for Gaby's birthday. It was interesting cuz although it was an italian restaurant, they also had Japanese food. LOL So we pigged out on pasta, salmon, salads, and edamame~

As I mentioned, we also went to see The Avengers while we were there, it was the first time for Sasha and I, 4th for Gaby LOL. The theater was interesting cuz... well, I was hungry when we got there, so I figured I'd get a hotdog or somthing. Then I realized they didn't have any food displayed. When I asked, they handed us a full menu; IT WAS A DINE-IN THEATER!! We were so stoked! I had what must have been the BEST chicken fingers ever to exist with curly fries. SO AMAZING~!

On the way home, we stopped in Sarasota and went to the Aquarium they had, which was super fun. We went nuts over the adorable seahorses and this badass octopus that responded to us. We also did a bit of shopping in the area before driving home.

I have to admit, I'm still in that state of mind that can't believe the trip is already over. I had never been away with friends before, and I hope to do it again soon.

Well, that's all for now.

So 'til next time,

Stay beautiful, both inside and out~ <3

x~PhantomRose~x