NYX Smokey Eyes Palette

Saturday, November 27, 2010

NYX Smokey Eyes Palette

For those of you out there who just can't justify paying the prices of high end cosmetics, do not fret. These days, it does not always mean you will sacrifice quality. You just have to find the right affordable brands. One such brand is the much-loved NYX cosmetics. Their eyeshadows, blushes, glosses, jumbo eyeshadow cream pencils, and lipsticks are lauded by many a YouTube guru out there on the internet -- and it's not without merit. For a fraction of the price of MAC, NARS, Urban Decay, and many other high end brands, you can get pretty close to the same quality. In fact, with many of their products, you may not even be able to tell the difference. Their eyeshadows are soft, blendable, and highly pigmented. Individual shadows are only $4.99 (at least at my ULTA) and this palette I'm about to rave about (The Smokey Eyes palette from the Runway Collection) is a measly $9.99 (that's less than one, yes one high end shadow) and you get 10 beautifully pigmented, satiny smooth shimmery and matte shadows in all the colors you could possibly need to create gorgeous, wow-them, sultry smokey eyes -- at least of the black, grey, and silvery variety. That's just under $1 per shadow. And NYX makes a grand total of 16 palettes for the Runway Collection. I believe I saw four of them at ULTA, but you can see the rest of them on the NYX website (and I'm lusting after at least six of them and I could get them all without breaking the bank -- I could get all six of those for maybe a bit more than my typical visit to the MAC counter, where I end up with quite a bit less product).

So let's recap:

You get 10 shadows for just under $10
Those shadows are smooth, highly pigmented, and easily blendable
You can create a number of beautiful smokey and not-so-smokey looks
They are readily accessible at your local ULTA or online

What's not to like? In fact, why are you still here reading and not trying to get one of your own? This palette gets two enthusiastic thumbs up, and I'm sure the other palettes from the Runway Collection are just as satisfying.

Plus, some of the colors in these palettes come pretty close to colors available at MAC, Urban Decay, etc. Below, I'm including a makeup tutorial using the NYX Smokey Eyes palette, plus some pictures of the completed look.