I took a trip to Walgreens for the soul purpose of seeking out the elusive WnW holiday palettes.  Unfortunately that particular store was a dead end, but since there was a buy one, get one 50% off promotion on all WnW products, I decided to try the Greed and Vanity palettes that have been creating such a buzz online.  I also picked up two nail polishes.

Vanity Palette Swatches

The Vanity Palette is my favorite of the two, and in my opinion has the most usable shades.

The mattes:  The lightest shade, which is repeated in the Greed Palette, is almost identical to my skintone.  It’s quite similar to MAC’s Blanc Type, but the formulation of this and the other mattes in the palettes seems superior.  There is no chalkiness and fallout that I’ve come to expect from matte eyeshadows.  The colors apply smooth and creamy, without skipping.  The second shade is similar, but slightly cooler than, MAC’s Soft Brown.  It will be an ideal blending/transition color.  The third shade is a red brown – the closest dupe I could find is MAC’s Handwritten – and the WnW shade has FAR better pigmentation.  The mattes are definitely the standouts.

The shimmers:  I LOVE the 1st color.  To me it looks like if MAC’s Shroom and Ricepaper had a baby, this would be it – a perfect highlight shade.  The second gold shade is reminiscent of MAC’s Goldmine, but the color payoff is poor.  The third shade is a shimmery brown bronze.  Truthfully I don’t think I’ll get much use of the last two shimmer shades.

Greed Palette Swatches

The mattes: The first shade is identical to the lightest shade from the previous palette.  The second shade is a peach-y one.  I’ve heard that it is similar to MAC’s Texture, which I don’t own.  It will be a great transition shade.  The third is a standard matte black – I’d like to test this against MAC’s Carbon and see if it has less fallout.

The shimmers: The first shade is a sort of Periwinkle with multi-colored shimmer.  As you can probably tell, I got crap color payoff from this shade.  The second shade is a peachy color with shimmer – nothing special.  The third shade is a black silver shimmer.  In my experience these type of shades usually don’t translate to the skin the same way they look in the pan, so I was surprised that there was still shimmer in the swatch.  It would be interesting to see if it will retain the shimmer on the eye after blending.

I also bought two nail polishes – at 1.99 a piece and 50% off the second, who could resist?!

Inferno, Shield, 2 coats

Inferno is a flaming orange that flashes yellowish gold shimmer.  Very fall appropriate.  Shield is a bronzey taupe with bronze and red shimmer.

My first polish post!  I love nail polishes, but I simply don’t have the money to devote as much of myself to them as I do my other two passions – makeup and skincare.  I bought two of Milani’s Holographic polishes today at CVS, and I was so in love with the color of Hi-Tech that I just had to do a post about it!  Hi-Tech is an acid green with a density of holographic glitter.  The holo is very noticeable under my indoor lighting, so I can’t wait to see what it looks like in the sun!  I’m psyched that these only cost me $4.99 a piece!  Here are a few pics.

Warning – I do not have the prettiest hands or nails, and this is my first go at nail swatching pictures (and of course I chose a difficult to photograph polish) – so you have been forewarned!

A good close up shot of the holo effect