Review - Lunar Beauty Life's a Drag

These days, you're no kind of social media influencer or beauty guru unless you're selling something to your loyal followers. And Manny Gutierrez, AKA MannyMUA is no exception! Hot on the heels of his friend Laura Lee, and ex friend Jeffree Star, Manny has now put his name to his own makeup brand.

Lunar Beauty launched its first product in June, the 14 shade eyeshadow palette, Life's a Drag. The palette has 12 matte shades and 2 foiled finish shadows. Life's a Drag is available from www.lunarbeauty.com for $45 and Beauty Bay for £37.

The first half of the palette has a black, white and some neutral shades, while the second half contains some stunning brights. Two neutral foiled shadows separate the sections.

Inspired by drag queens, the palette casing has an image of Manny's eyes with heavy drag makeup (applied by the very talented Lipstick Nick), and the shade names are all inspired by drag culture which I think brings a really fun aspect to the palette, whilst also taking advantage of the fact that drag is super popular right now. I definitely don't think that this is a palette that's aimed towards drag artists, but rather tapping into the current marketability of drag. The palette, in my opinion, is too bulky for a travelling performer to carry around, and I think the pan sizes are just too small for a drag artist to be using on a daily basis.

The packaging of this palette is absolutely beautiful. It feels very heavy and it's larger than I had expected it to be. The palette itself has a holographic overlay with embossed rose gold details, and it comes in a rose gold box with glitter effect writing. This palette also has a mirror - albeit a small one - and a double ended brush.

I, personally, could have done without the brush - I never use brushes that come with palettes, I find that the fluffy end tends to be too stiff and the flat side too wide (and this brush is no exception), but I do appreciate the attention to detail here, it is a pretty little brush. The mirror is far too small for such a large palette, I think that in this case there has been more attention to packaging details than practicality, but again, this is not really an issue for someone like me who doesn't use the mirrors on a palette. I did give the brush a quick try, but after approximately 3 seconds of trying to blend with the "fluffy" side, I threw it down and went back to my Illamasqua blending brush.

I knew as soon as I saw this palette that I would buy it (it says drag and I'm a marketers dream), but I did have my reservations about the shadow quality. I think the idea of a palette with a good range of neutrals, brights and shimmers AND a black and a white shadow is ideal, I really don't know why there aren't more on the market like this. It's SO versatile! I always use a white shadow to set my eye primer, so I always give extra points to a palette with a matte white, although I didn't really get on with the white in this palette. It's just not pigmented enough for my liking and even with building up it doesn't reach full opacity. This is the only shade I had any trouble with at all though.! The black is also a great basic addition to any palette and this one is very black. Manny said in his reveal video that it's a buildable black shadow, but I have found it to be pretty black straight off, which I do appreciate. There's a nice selection of browns and all the bright shades you need! The foils in this palette, although only two of them, and both neutral, are super reflective and shimmery, and the shade Beat makes a beautiful face highlight!

The shadows in this palette are nicely pigmented, and the ones that aren't one swipe opacity are easily built up (with the exception of Cake Face, the white shade). These shadows are very dusty, and although I experienced quite a lot of kick back in the pans after gently dipping my brush in, I didn't notice any fallout while applying to my eyes at all, and the shades blended nicely together using a good brush.

Swatches as always are applied over a base of Urban Decay Primer Potion using a Wayne Goss 18 brush for matte shades and Illamasqua flat shader brush for metallics/shimmers. The second picture is the pans after swatching, this palette has the potential to get very messy very quickly!

I used the palette to try and recreate the eye look on the front of the box, and although I am no Lipstick Nick, I was pleased with the results and how nice the shadows were to work with. And yes, I put on the biggest eyelashes I could find - this is a drag inspired palette after all!

I also used the shade Beat as highlighter on my cheeks and cupids bow, although it's only visible on my cupids bow in this picture. I really like it as a highlighter, and I rarely use warm tones on my cheeks.

This palette is made in the USA, although it does state on the box that the ingredients are "domestic and/or imported" so make of that what you will.

Some of the shades in this palette are advertised as "pressed pigments" which is not a concern if you are in the UK, but if you wanted to know which shades aren't considered to be "eye safe" by the FDA, the shades are Pageant Queen (purple), Kai Kai (pink), Trade (burgundy) and Snatched (red). I have covered the topic of pressed pigments and FDA approval in a previous review on Jeffree Star's Blood Sugar palette if you'd like more information on that though!

In summary, I absolutely love this palette! The white is just not good enough considering it's a drag inspired palette (sorry Manny but no self respecting drag queen is gonna be using this, it's not a patch on Tako from Sugarpill), but the rest of the shades completely make up for that. The white is fine if you use it to set your eye base (which I always do), just not great for building up - in the images above I used Jeffree Star Cosmetics' Drug Lord as a base for the white shadow to make it stand out. 

If you are stuck in a neutral rut and would like to experiment with colourful eyeshadows then I think this is ideal. It would be great for adding a pop of colour to the lower lashline or inner corner of a neutral look, and then once you break out of that comfort zone you might even grow up to be a real drag queen!

Anti Haul

If you venture outside of the more popular beauty gurus on  YouTube (and I'm sure most of us do), then you will more than likely be familiar with the concept of anti hauls.  For those of  you who have no idea what an anti haul is, it originated from Kimberly Clark, a drag queen, activist and anti consumerist. It's basically a list of products that you don't want to buy, for whatever reasons. Kimberly did her first anti haul back in November 2015 and they have really taken off on YouTube, with lots of content creators making these videos on a regular basis, so I thought I'd give one a try! I'll  link Kimberly/Chris's YouTube and Instagram at the end of this blog if you want to give some of the videos a watch, although I believe Kimberly is taking a hiatus at the moment as Chris is currently on tour.

So, cracking on, the first item I am not going to buy is the Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam palette. On first glance, this palette is so pretty! The pink shimmer and the pops of orange are so beautiful, they would make a really pretty summery look and I do enjoy ABH eyeshadows.

Image: anastasiabeverlyhills.com

However, after a closer look, this palette is very neutral and there are a lot of brown shades which I will absolutely never use. There are also a couple of shades that are repeated from the Modern Renaissance palette which I already own, and they are shades that I don't particularly reach for.
I have seen it mentioned often about how great this would be for bridal work and to keep in a professional kit, but I completely disagree! Yes, the shadows are beautiful, they are pigmented and blend like a dream, but they are also small and very loosely pressed which means you go through them very quickly (I see Modern Renaissance used often on project pans because they are easy to finish). The packaging is also not kit friendly. At all. The velvet type finish on the component is lovely but it gets filthy almost immediately. It picks up dirt and fluff constantly, and because of the material it's impossible to clean. I took Modern Renaissance out of my kit for this reason, I don't feel professional showing  up to someone's home with minging products!

Image: uk.morphe.com

Next on the list is the Morphe x Bretman Rock Babe in Paradise highlighter palette. Oh boy, where to start with this one?
Firstly, the price is unreal. £29 for a Morphe palette is ridiculous in my opinion. Their products just do not warrant such a high price tag in my experience of the brand, customers are basically paying extra in order to give "beauty gurus" a pay cheque at this point. If you really want this then I don't think it will be long before the likes of Lick and Lash, Delanci etc release this.
Secondly, why do you want this? There are 6 shades in this palette of varying depths of colour. If you are pale, you won't be able to highlight with the deeper colours, and if you have a deep skin tone the light shades are going to look ashy on the skin. To use in your kit? No, Morphe is not a brand I'd want to see in a professional working artist's kit. Yes, you could possibly use the other shades as eyeshadows, but look at  your eyeshadow collection, do you already have shimmers that look like the shades in this palette? I have fallen into the trap of telling myself I'll use a palette like this as eyeshadow, and guess what? Never happened. I bought the Jeffree Star 24K palette, telling myself I'd use the pink one as a blush and the others as eyeshadows. I've worn one shade to death but the others remain untouched. I'm not a fan of face palettes that cover multiple skin tones unless it's going in my kit.

Image: urbandecay.co.uk

The Urban Decay Naked Petite Heat palette is up next! Cute? Yes. Shades that are super popular right now? Absolutely! But I didn't get the original Naked Heat palette, and this one appeals to me even less. The shades in this palette are slightly different to the original Heat, but not different enough that  you would necessarily need both palettes. There are six shades here, varying from a bone shade to a deeper reddish brown. All very basic colours that you probably already own in some form or another. Warm toned palettes are so popular right now, and although this is a good little palette for travelling, I am sick of seeing them now. If you haven't bought yourself a warm toned eyeshadow palette by now, you probably aren't going to. Sorry Urban Decay!

Image: allure.com

This one is hard for me to write, but I will not be buying the Kat Von D 10 year anniversary collection. It looks absolutely BEAUTIFUL, and you can see a lot of work has gone into the designs for the packaging and case for this collection but aside from the fact that I'd probably have to sell a kidney to buy it (a huge annoyance of mine is how Kat Von D Beauty don't tend to announce prices very far in advance), I don't know if this will be on sale at Debenhams yet (and I don't want to imagine the customs on this collection) and I wouldn't use a lot of it. The collection has a Tattoo Liner, two liquid lipsticks, a lipstick, a brush collection, eyeshadow palette, Metal Crush highlighter and makeup case. I'm not a huge fan of the Tattoo Liner, I really dislike the brushes from this brand and didn't enjoy the Metal Crush highlighting palette. Having seen the eyeshadow palette too, it appears pretty at first glance, but it's really nothing that special or anything that I don't already have somewhere in my collection. It would essentially be a very expensive makeup case and lipsticks for me!

Image: salutemag.com

Next up are the Fenty Beauty Body Lava and Fairy Bomb. I've not got round to trying anything from Fenty yet, and I have to admit it Rihanna, you almost got me with this glitter pom pom! The Fairy Bomb is a huge fluffy pom pom filled with glitter which you are supposed to pat over your body for some sparkle. Super cute idea, and it looks absolutely gorgeous. I think that this would take up a huge amount of space though, I'd probably never use it and it is pretty much a big teabag full of glitter for £34, so I will pass. Unless it goes on sale.
The Body Lava comes in at an even higher price of £46. It does come in a beautiful glass bottle, and you get a huge amount of product here, but are you really going to go through 90ml of glittery body oil in the two and a half days of summer we get in this country? No. I have also seen and read lots of reviews stating that as this is a body oil, it doesn't completely dry down and can stay quite tacky to the touch, which would drive me absolutely crackers! You can make your own version of this for next to nothing too - just pop some shimmery pigment into a body oil that you already have and apply it wherever you fancy.

Lime Crime have recently announced that they are releasing a fourth Venus palette. This is perhaps not surprising given the success of the recently launched Venus XL palette, and the previous Venus palettes which were very well received and some may argue that the original Venus palette kicked off the whole warm toned eye trend.Venus 2 was also quite a forward thinking palette at the time, and they both have colours that would work really well together if you owned them both. Venus 3 has me stumped. I don't understand why they've gone for a palette full of pink and purple shades - most of them shimmers. There is nothing versatile or groundbreaking about this palette, and while the colours certainly are pretty, you are absolutely going to need to incorporate another palette if you want to get more than a couple of looks from this. I do think that the Venus palettes have excellent quality shadows, but this is just a hard pass from me. If you want to try out the Lime Crime eyeshadow formula, then I'd definitely recommend picking up the Venus XL if you can!

Image: @mallybeauty Instagram

I'm going to finish up with something that I'm unlikely to buy (I daren't say for definite until we get more information though!) and that is the very recently announced Mally x RuPaul collection.
Ok, now I love drag, it's had an impact on me aesthetically, politically and socially. I'ts a big part of my life and of who I am. I applaud Ru for bringing drag into the mainstream and helping it to be much more socially acceptable and seen as less of a "freak show" than it used to be. That said, not only have I never tried any Mally products, I'm really not a huge fan of Ru. So unless this collection has the best packaging and shades I've ever seen, I reckon this is gonna be a bit of a "Sashay away" for me!


Kimberly Clark YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/kimclarkqueen
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimberlyclarkofficial/  https://www.instagram.com/chrisgiarmo/