Review: Beautilicious Alyssa makeup palette

I was in Watsons Gurney Plaza Penang on Saturday and noticed how clean and bright the Beautilicious counter looks now. It also reminded me I’d yet to write about one of my favourite items from the brand – Alyssa! Despite what some thought, no I was still on a work trip – boo! 🙁 Working on the holiday thing though 🙂

Other than Majolica Majorca, we in Malaysia don’t get many prettily packaged drugstore/pharmacy makeup. Sometimes, we want the look of Stila but at a wallet-friendly price. Even more so now that Stila’s taken a one way flight back to the USA. I am very happy to note that the Beautilicious palettes fit right into this niche – functional yet prettily packaged makeup palettes at a wallet-friendly price.

The Beautilicious makeup palettes come in 3 colour combinations for now – Alyssa, Victoria and a pop color palette – Dessert Bar.

I love blues and greys for the eyes so the minute I saw Alyssa I said “She’s MINE!” and you know what? She is! The colours in the palette are shimmery and fine to the touch. They are on the slightly sheerer side but buildable for effect especially if you use it over a cream eye base. I don’t have problems with oily lids so the colours lasted on me without a base for the whole day from 1pm to 11pm – no creasing, minimal fading.

What I like about these palettes are the brief instructions in the inside cover that shows you how to execute 2 different looks with this palette. Its useful for those wanting to learn a new technique or to learn how to use colours easily, and unlike many other palettes, you don’t have to turn the palette around or worse still, look for the case to look for the instructions. The cardboard palette closes with a magnetic closure and does not come with applicators but I’m not overly fussed about that.

However, I might venture to propose that some utilitarian sponge tip applicators might be useful for those who may not be so familiar with makeup and thus may not have brushes or applicators on hand. Still, if all fails, use your fingers! Works a treat – its what I use most of the time! Here’s a look I prepared earlier *she says with a flourish ala TV chefs*

The shimmer black is good for contouring near the lashes and on the lower lash line and the seafoam makes a pretty light lid shade. The grey is actually a little dark to be used as a highlighter but you can if you use a light hand. I use the seafoam to blend out the darker shades. In the alternative, you can swap the colours around for a smokey eye look – grey on lid, seafoam in crease and to highlight and black smoked up from lash line.

The pink blush is pigmented so be careful! Unlike the cooler tones of the eye colours, the blush has warm tones and goes on the skin very prettily. I could wear this palette everyday and not be bored – I have in a fit of boredom and I lasted 4-5 days 🙂

The Alyssa and Victoria palettes are small, slim, dinky and come with an adorable charm hanging from it – they are the perfect travel size. My favourite colour in Alyssa is the shimmery black shade. It is one of the nicer black eyeshadows I have come across – shimmery, dark and just beautiful all round. The blue is more of a seafoam shade – blue with a hint of green. I was hesitant to place this palette as a a dupe for MAC Wisteria trio from the Dame Edna collection but I have no hesitations saying that the seafoam and black are perfect dupes for the Too Dolly eyeshadow palette from MAC’s Hello Kitty!

The grey in the palette is slightly lighter than it looks in pan but still not light enough to be a highlighter shade. You could do some serious smokey eye looks with this palette and then top it off with a pop of pink blush on the apples of your cheeks. Very pretty!

The Beautilicious quad palettes retail at RM49.90 each (I told you it was wallet friendly!) which belies the quality and cute factor of the product. You can find Beautilicious at most Watsons stores, Jusco, Parkson and those in East Malaysia now have access to Beautilicious at Parkson in Miri, Sarawak. I’d run (not walk) and get one of these palettes now!

Pros: Cute, Functional, Good colour payoff, Affordable

Cons: Alyssa could do with a lighter highlight shade though you can just as easily use any light color in your present collection.

Have you tried any of the Beautilicious makeup palettes? Incidentally, Beetrice and Kahani love the Victoria palette. I’m still trying to make browns work for me.

Bit of Trivia: Alyssa is named after the daughter of Julie, Beautilicious’ owner – I thought that was a very sweet touch! I’d like a palette named after me too! Haha…

Stay beautiful,

Paris B