Hey Everyone,

Before I get into this post, want to let you all in on the series of Christmas giveaways I will be running next week. As a THANK YOU to all my followers across all my social media platforms, I will be having a giveaway for each. The instagram giveaway will be in conjunction with the blog, a facebook giveaway and a twitter giveaway. It is the season of giving, and is in addition to the #ChristmasWithBiL offers I have arranged with various beauty-businesses (ps: this started last week Friday by the way)

I will share all the information in a post very very soon, but let’s get into this one right now. Before I started blogging I never realised how many small/medium beauty brands there are out there and also those still springing up. Most people only know the big name brands like MAC, Iman, Nars, BlackUp, etc., but a few of these upcoming businesses should also be patronised. I find that with such businesses, they haven’t got a wide variety of products and shades to choose from, but they do bring something unique to the market place.

TAOS COSMETICS

Taos Cosmetics is one of such businesses. It’s run and owned by a lovely lady called Vanessa. She reached out to me in September introducing her brand and about a month after sent me some of the products to try out. It’s a fairly new brand and she’s decided to start off with versatile products like lipsticks, lipglosses, eyeshadows, bronzers and blushes.

I was particularly taken by the eyeshadows I was sent. The packaging in their cardboard boxes is quite similar to MAC’s but that’s where the similarities, in terms of packaging, end.

‘Big Daddy’ – N2,700*

 The lid is a screw cap, which is nothing like MAC’s. This shade is a nice frost-finish bronze, that blends beautifully and does not crease. (NB: I always use a primer/base on my eyes before I apply my shadows. I never review shadows without a base because I naturally hardly ever wear one without. So I honestly will not be able to tell how a shadow reacts without a base, and I don’t know why you won’t apply a base before your eyeshadow -__-) ).

‘Black Orchid’ – N2,700*

A grey-black with duo-chrome gold specks that just blend in beautifully when applied. This is not as pigmented as I expected from looking at it in the tub. But nonetheless, its a lovely dark grey that can be used as a transition colour for a black smokey eye.

‘T.O.’ – N2,700*
This was my favourite shadow. You know how typically you need at least two colours to create a smokey eye? I found that I could use just this to create a similar effect. It’s perfect for those lazy mornings (which is EVERY weekday morning for me) where you want some colour on your lids with some depth, but can’t be bothered to get 3 shades going in. I use a flat brush and pat this all over my mobile lid and into the crease a little, then use a clean fluffy brush to blend out the crease. Instant soft smokey eye! This is a medium choclate-brown shade (no red undertones here) and will work as a great transition colour for dark skin tones.
I will warn you, these shadows are quite powdery so there is a bit of fall out from these. So use some shadow shields when working with these, or work on your eyes before your base; which is what I do.
Swatches

Where To Buy

www.TaosCosmetics.co.uk

Hope you enjoyed this post!

Laters,

Ez xxX