Greetings, dear readers! It has been an intense week of solo parenting my little men, and to be honest, I'm not entirely sure how I'm managing to get this post up! I'm running on fumes at the moment while I went for the caffeine to kick in and I have to jump start my day. I'm going to keep the chit chat short and just jump in so I can hopefully get this blog post finished and up before the kids are up for the day. Ready? Let's do this!
I was already very well acquainted with Ardell Lashes prior to attending Cosmoprof North America this summer, but what I did not know until the show was that the line was rapidly expanding into Ardell Beauty and would include makeup items as well! My closest and most convenient Sally's rarely is stocked with the items I want, so I had not visited to see the new line going up. I got to see many of the new and upcoming items being offered by the brand while at the show; needless to say, my interest was piqued! Sally's Beauty currently has a buy 2 get 1 free promotion of Ardell Beauty products through the month, and I naturally had to buy a few items to try out and review for my blog. Today's blog post features the Pro Eyeshadow Matte Palette, a Matte Whipped liquid lipstick, and a Hydra Lipstick. Let's check them out!
Pro Eyeshadow Palette
(Matte)
The Pro Eyeshadow Palette consists of 15 eyeshadows with a matte finish. The final weight of the product is 0.53oz. You definitely get a good amount of product for only $14.99 at full price before adding any discounts! The eyeshadow pans are contained within a satin black finish cardboard-type package with magnetic closure. This palette does not include a mirror, and "So Mattely in love with you! XOXO Ardell" is embossed in red on the inside cover opposite the eyeshadows.
Before I get to the swatches, there is a key feature, or lack thereof, to note. On the Pro Eyeshadow Palette outer sleeve packaging and the on the palette itself, there are absolutely no names of the colours. However, if you visit the product link on the Ardell Beauty website, there is a list of potential names. These "names" are also single-word descriptors of colours as well, so while they not be the actual names of the shades, I'm going to include them in this post so you know what colours I have used. I have also
For all these swatches, I have added an asterisk above each shade as some of the colours really blend in with my skin tone.
Ivory - Smoke - Golden - Blush - Spice
Ivy - Taupe - Nude - Hazelnut - Cream
Rose - Beige - Fawn - Pearl - Latte
As a whole, I really liked the feel of these eyeshadows. In the pans, they felt very soft and buttery to the touch, and they swatched pretty nicely on my arm using my fingertip. That being said, the colour payout was much more limited when I used an eye brush, and I found myself having to go back into the pans numerous times to pick up more eyeshadow to build up colour. Even then, the fallout was pretty minimal and the colours blended easily enough on my eyes. I'll have a few of my looks using these eyeshadows up after a brief intro to the lipsticks next.
I wanted to try out more than one formula of the Ardell Beauty lipsticks, so I opted to pick up a Hydra bullet-type lipstick and a Matte Whipped liquid lipstick.
Matte Whipped Lipstick (Nude Photo)
Hydra Lipstick (New Positions)
Both these lipsticks were nicely pigmented, and I really enjoyed them immediately. The Matte Whipped lipstick dried quickly to a beautiful matte finish. It had good overall lasting power on my lips and after numerous trials, needed to be touched up about every five to six hours. While matte lipsticks are notorious for being drying, and I did notice this with this lipstick, I actually found Nude Photo to be very comfortable on my lips in general! The colour coverage was nice and even although, in true matte lipstick fashion, it did emphasize the lines in my lips.
The Matte Whipped lipsticks retail for $9.99 each before any addition discounts, and I definitely have my eye on a few other shades!
The Hydra lipstick, on the other hand, is your traditional bullet-type lipstick that needs to be applied much more often. This is far from a deal-breaker for me as I LOVED the ultra-soft application on my lips. New Positions is also a stunning soft red shade, not to mention a fun name *wink wink*. I adore this colour and plan to pick up other shades in the Hydra lipstick line in the future.
The Hydra lipsticks retail for $9.99 each as well.
Now let's get into a few of the looks I created using these products!
The Matte Whipped lipsticks retail for $9.99 each before any addition discounts, and I definitely have my eye on a few other shades!
The Hydra lipstick, on the other hand, is your traditional bullet-type lipstick that needs to be applied much more often. This is far from a deal-breaker for me as I LOVED the ultra-soft application on my lips. New Positions is also a stunning soft red shade, not to mention a fun name *wink wink*. I adore this colour and plan to pick up other shades in the Hydra lipstick line in the future.
The Hydra lipsticks retail for $9.99 each as well.
Now let's get into a few of the looks I created using these products!
Pro Eyeshadow shades used:
Ivory
Ivy
Rose
Blush
Pearl
I also paired these shadows with Ardell Lashes in my beloved Demi Wispies Black.
I used Matte Whipped Lipstick in Nude Photo for the look.
Pro Eyeshadow shades used:
Golden
Nude
Fawn
I paired this more natural eye look with Ardell Lashes in another favorite style, Cluster Wispies 600.
For this face of the day, I really wanted my lips to stand out! I used the gorgeous Hydra Lipstick in New Positions here.
Pro Eyeshadow shades used:
Ivory
Taupe
Blush
Smoke
Hazelnut
Even though I kept my other eye looks strictly matte, I could help but add a little highlighter (non-Ardell Beauty brands) on my browbone and inner corners of my eye. I also paired the eyeshadows with Ardell Lashes in 105 Black.
While these are admittedly not my favorite matte eyeshadows I have used, I do like having a selection of matte eyeshadows contained in a single palette and at a great price point. Some of the shades required more building up than I would have preferred, but it is far easier to add up colour than have to deal with too much colour on my eye brushes. I will definitely continue to use this palette and consider it to be a fair palette for the price. Even though I shared a few matte-only eye looks on this post, I tend to like my matte looks with a hint of shimmer and will have to check out the Pro Eyeshadow Palette in the shimmer option at some point as well!
Both the Hydra and Matte Whipped lipsticks were nice, and they each have their own setbacks and redeeming qualities. I particular enjoy the formula of the Hydra lipsticks, but I know not everyone wants to have to touch up their lipstick every hour or two. The Matte Whipped liquid lipstick was only the slightest bit drying and felt very comfortable on my lips, but then you have the very obvious lip lines. I can't really say that one is better than the other as it really comes down to person preference as to what you like in a lipstick. I enjoyed both the shades I tested and hope to pick up more colours in the future.
If you are interested in these or other Ardell Beauty products, be sure to take advantage of the buy 2 get 1 deal from Sally Beauty Supply already underway! The promo ends at your local store's closing and online at 11:59pm EST on Saturday, September 30th. If you want to try these out, you'll have to jump on it before it is too late!
Have you tried any products from Ardell Beauty? If so, what were your favorites? Is there anything in particular you want to try? I'd love to hear from you!
Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!
XO!
Have you tried any products from Ardell Beauty? If so, what were your favorites? Is there anything in particular you want to try? I'd love to hear from you!
Until next time, dear readers, have a wonderful day!
XO!
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