3 Looks 1 Palette: Huda Beauty Amethyst Obsessions

So if you're following my brand new blog Instagram (and if you're not, give it a gander: @everythingeleanorblog), you'll know that a couple of products *accidentally* fell into my shopping basket at Selfridges. You know the drill - you go in there for one teensy-weensy browse and the next thing you know, you have a drained bank account but a full yellow carrier bag. One of these products was the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duo in Ash Brown - which I reviewed on my Insta stories, now in my highlights - while the other was the Huda Beauty Amethyst Obsessions Palette. The latter definitely wasn't a spontaneous purchase - I'd been eyeing up this palette for months. I've really wanted to start playing around with more purple eye shadows, and until recently they've been fairly hard to come by. That's why when I spotted a whole palette of luscious sparkles, bold mattes and chunky glitters all centred around purple, I knew it had to be mine. 

Before I show you these shadows in action, let's have a little chat about the palette itself, shall we? I thought now would be the ideal time to splash my cash, as it would make both a fab palette to try out over Freshers' Week to create some bold, club-proof eye looks, but would also be a beautiful autumnal addition to my ever-growing eye shadow collection. At £25, you get 9 shadows - a mix of shimmers, glitter pigments and mattes. The middle glitter is what really sold it to me; it's unlike any shade I've seen before, and is just so beyond gorgeous I could stare at it for hours - and if you do want to stare it for hours, you'll be pleased to know that these shadows last a very long time. That being said, they definitely work best with an eye shadow base, primer or concealer underneath, as the shimmers especially can be a bit patchy, so this gives them something to stick to. The shadows blend brilliantly together, although it would have been nice to see an even lighter purple matte as a transition shade or to help blend darker shades out; I know it's a purple-based palette, but I think some of the shades are too similar. But all in all, there are some shadows in here you're not going to find anywhere else, which, together with good pigmentation and excellent longevity, means you can't go far wrong with this palette. Onto the looks... 

Completing look 1: Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Cool Fair, Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duo in Ash Brown, Fenty Beauty Diamond Bomb, Sleek Highlighting Palette in Precious Metals (Renaissance Gold), Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips 2 Lipstick in JK Magic

 Look 1 is a pretty everyday eye shadow ensemble, made with the pinkiest tones in the palette. To start with I popped a little bit of MAC's Bare Study Paint Pot* on the lids to prime, before blending the matte shade on the bottom row into the crease. I tried to buff this out as much as possible to make it look lovely and seamless, adding just enough to give a subtle splash of definition. I also took this shade along the lower lashline - I find doing this on any eye shadow look really pulls the whole thing together. On the lids, I added the lightest shimmery shade in the palette. I've discovered the best way to apply this is by wetting the brush with setting spray, dabbing the brush into the shadow and then packing onto the lid - this helps the shadow stick to the brush, building that pigmentation from the get-go and making the colour pop. This colour is one of the more subdued shimmers in the palette, but is also one of the more interesting - it has a stunning silvery reflect to it when it hits the light, giving any ol' boring eye look that extra bit of dimension. To complete the eye shadow, I put a hint of the Fenty Beauty Diamond Bomb highlighter in the inner corner - this is the most boujee highlighter ever, but I will cover myself in it whenever I can. I thought a black liner would be too harsh for this look, but a little bit of MAC's Tecknakohl Liner in Photogravure* worked a treat. My mascara of the moment is MAC's In Extreme Dimension*, but coat your lashes in whatever you fancy and you're good to go. 

Completing look 2: Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Cool Fair, Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duo in Ash Brown, Fenty Beauty Diamond Bomb Highlighter, Sleek Matte Me Liquid Lipstick in Shabby Chic

This is by far my favourite look from the three I've tried out, probably because it utilises that to-die-for middle glitter shade. I adore the wet look it gives the eyes. And this is probably the most simple look out of the three, so there's no excuses for your eyes not to look like purple glitter balls this Autumn/Winter. For starters, a good tip for creating a defined shape for eye shadow is to put micropore tape from the outer corner of your eye to the end of your brow - this way, you can ensure a sharp winged-out look, and have the perfect template for liner too. So after applying some tape and priming the lids with Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, I grabbed a flat packer brush and went all over the lids with the deep matte purple. Pack on as much of this colour as you can - this'll be our base coat, and as the glitter is more of a 'topper' shade, we want some pigment there to shine through. Bring this shadow quite high, and blend out at the crease. I found blending out the darker shadow with the lavender/mauve-y shade (furthest right on the top row) helped diffuse the harsh colour. When you've blended this out to your desired colour, use your finger to tap on the middle purple glitter all over the lid. Using your finger instead of a brush adds to the density of the colour and makes sure more of it goes on the lid. I didn't hold back with this shadow - because it is quite sheer, you do want to keep going back in and building it up to get the most out of the colour. After packing that glitter on, I used the elf Cream Eyeliner to line the lashes and create a small-ish wing, using the tape as my guide. After removing the tape and blending the edges slightly, I took the deep purple underneath the eyes, and the Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Black eyeliner pencil* to the waterline. I couldn't miss out my Fenty Beauty Diamond Bomb inner-corner highlight here either, and after putting on a shed-load of mascara, I was feeling. it. 

Completing look 3: Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Cool Fair, Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duo in Ash Brown, The Balm Alternative Rock Vol 1 Palette (Basalt and Pepper Highlighter), elf Matte Lip Colour in Praline

This is the look that uses the most colours from the palette, and I absolutely love the gradient effect of the shimmers - I wish it showed up better on camera. But for this final look, I popped some more micropore tape at the outer corners of my eyes and primed with concealer. After that, I took the furthest shade right on the top row as my transition shade, blending that all through the crease. Having got that to the right pigmentation, I took the deepest purple shade and packed that onto the outer corners of the lid while blending it through the outer crease. The base lid shade was shade furthest on the left on the top row, and I packed this all over, but mostly focusing on the outer eye. On the centre of the eye, I popped the middle shade on the top row on with my finger - like the middle glitter, this is more of a 'topper', so you want to be quite liberal here. And on the inner corners I took the lightest shimmer shade as a highlight, ever-so-slightly blending all the shades together with a fluffy brush. Having drawn a bigger wing with my elf Cream Eyeliner, I removed the tape and blended the shimmery shadows I applied to the lids under the eyes, with the lightest at the inner corner and darkest at the edge. There was no need for Diamond Bomb this time, as the gorgeous light shimmer was doing a grand job of highlighting the inner corners. And with a sizeable helping of mascara, the third purple eye look is complete! 

This palette may look quite scary from the off, but I think it has some truly amazing colours in there that can allow you to create both wearable everyday looks, and big, dramatic statements. I'm really excited to continue playing with this palette and seeing what else I can create - while I am no means an expert, I think the easy-to-apply formula of these shadows, along with the drop-dead-gorgeous glitters, can make anyone an eye shadow whizz. Let me know if you've tried this palette out and how you got on with it! 

* - these are not cruelty free. While I only purchase cruelty free products now, these items were either gifted to me or purchased before I made the decision to only buy from cruelty free brands. I don't like wasting the products I already have, which is why I continue to use them.