Clinique Neutral Territory Palette

I first saw this palette on Suzie from Hello October and as soon as I read her post I knew for a fact that I wanted this palette. I didn't want to order it online since I wanted to see it in person before committing to buying it. So like any other sane normal person, as soon as I got an email to let me know it was in sale in stores I went out with the intent of buying it. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted it, I took literally no convincing.
My palette collection is now slowly growing (In August I had no palettes what so ever), its still a small collection but its growing, and this is a happy addition to the collection. Recent palette launches have left me feeling a bit left out, the Naked 3 palette really didn't catch my eye and neither did the Smashbox Full Exposure. So I was really happy that this was so pretty and so perfect. Its a beautiful set of neutrals, the colours as well are quite different from the other palettes I own, so its not like I've wasted money.

The packaging is beautiful - the mirrored packaging is so stunning. It will need a good wipe every so often though to get the grub and finger marks off it. Its small and compact - so would be perfect for travelling.

Colours from L-R:Sugar Cane, Light shade of Diamonds and Pearls, Light shade of neutral territory, light shade of Day into Date, Brown shade of Polar Blue Quad, Hazy, Black Honey and Dark brown shade of Morning Java Quad

The mirror inside the palette is huge, I think its possibly the biggest palette mirror I have? Inside you get 8 lovely neutrals, a white that could be used for highlighting, a couple of light beige colours that could be used as a base, a pink toned, a couple of light browns, a gorgeous redish colour and a dark brown with hints of purple. Black Honey is possibly my favourite colour from the palette, its the type of colour I've been wanting to buy for ages and for now that urge to own a red coloured shadow is filled.
The little brush in the palette could have been a billion times better, its a double ended brush with one side being a little sponge applicator and the other side being a little brush. The palette comes in at £32, and I personally would liked to have seen a better brush, or even the same brush with out the cheap sponge applicator.
I'm not going to tell you to run out and buy this - although I do think your palette and eye shadow collection would be better with it - since £32 is a fair bit of money. If you're looking to treat yourself to something nice or have a little extra money left at the end of the month, you really should seriously consider buying this baby. You really won't regret buying it.

★

Starting Off: Eyeshadow

I love eyeshadows. Always have always will, but sometimes I find that it can be quite difficult to recreate - or even make your own - eye look. I've only very recently managed to recreate eye shadow looks properly - and by properly I mean, it looks pretty semi decent once I'm finished. Nothing great or overly fancy. 

Eye shadow can come in quite a few forms, the post popular probably being pressed powder. But you can also get it in loose powder, cream, gel and pencil form - there is probably another way you can get it but to be honest with you I can't quite put my finger on what it could be. 

I personally love the pencil form shadows, I find them so easy to use and you can get them for really cheap. My favourites are the Collection shadow pencils, they are so creamy and don't crease! I think Bourjois have recently brought out their own shadow pencils, but I've not tried them - yet. 

Pencils, gels and creams are probably the easiest to work with, since all you really need is your fingers - I find it so much easier to use my fingers to blend it out rather than using a brush. 

Powders are - I would say - the harder of the shadow types to use. With loose powders being the most difficult, I don't own any loose powders - due to the fact that I always manage to spill it everywhere! I don't really think loose shadows are worth it. 

Pressed shadows on the other hand. These give you so much choice when it comes to eye looks. How you want to apply it is really up to you! Play around with it and see what you like best. Myself, well I'm defiantly more of a natural kind of gal, I tend to shy away from bold looks. 

For beginners I would definitely recommend pencil shadows - especially if your only wanting a wash of colour to last you all day. If you as wanting to go for making some looks then I would recommend buying a palette. It may be the more expensive option, but it's better than having lots of little single or other small eyeshadow things. You don't even have to spend a fortune on a good palette, MUA do crazy good ones and so do Sleek for less than £10. If you're wanting to spend a little more then I can't recommend the Stila 'In The Light' palette enough, I think it is around £25 comes with 10 amazing shadows, a eye liner and most importantly, for me at least, a little book of looks. I think having a look book with a palette is really helpful and in not sure how many others give one out with their palettes. 

Brush wise, you don't need to spend a fortune to get really good ones. Real techniques have an insanely good kit and eBay have some pretty good sets as well!  I think that eyeshadow is maybe one of the harder things to do when your just starting out with makeup, I mean look at me I'm 18 and have probably been wearing makeup for about 4/5 years and that's me only just figuring out how to do eye looks. Once you get the hang of it though it is so worth it, and if your anything like me you'll probably want to buy quite a few more palettes. 

Who makes your favourite type of eyeshadow?

★