I handed in my last assignment for this semester just yesterday and the Ameli eyeshadows I ordered from Vanity Box arrived on the same day! I know I said I’d stop doing reviews for awhile (at least until exams are over) but I just couldn’t resist sharing this (plus I’m in a way too good a mood to ruin it with more study)! I originally intended to just do a haul post (not much effort required and just pretty pictures would suffice) but it didn’t take too long to do the swatches so I figured I might as well make your visit here worthwhile.

I’ve been looking for some matte eyeshadows for quite awhile now and I wasn’t too sure about picking up the Urban Decay basic Naked palette that just about everyone is using. Enter Vanity Box’s closing sale! Not only were these babies discounted – I got an extra 60% off each item as they’re closing! I am not sponsored to do this review but this deal is really good. In total, including $6.50 for shipping, I paid about AUD$28! Works out to be $5.60 each!

Read on for swatches, reviews and more!

I bought 4 eyeshadow shades – all from the Step Basic line and one contour blush (brown). I’ve never tried contouring but I’m ready to take that brave step!

Basically… There are two matte and two slightly shimmery shadows in the Step Basic line. The contouring blush is a brown shade with no hints of orange anywhere – its a totally matte shade so no worries about random shimmers on your face!

The Good stuff… The pigmentation is on the sheer side but I like it as I can just build it up gradually to create a more natural look.

Packaging They come in individual tubs and its made of plastic made to look like graphite metal. It looks pretty cute but does take up quite a bit of space together. The packaging for the contouring blush however feels quite cheaply made and very ‘plastic-y’. I don’t know why its not the case for the eyeshadows (they feel more sturdy) but it’s the product that counts right?

Matte shades – true to colour





Nude Beige and Charcoal Brown truly lives up to the name of being matte shadows, they go on smoothly and when I was swatching them only Charcoal brown showed a tiny bit of fall out in the pan. These two colours were what I’ve been searching for all this time! I didn’t want to get matte palettes from Urban Decay or The Balm mostly because there’re all those extra colours that I won’t use regularly and use only two or three colours most often.

Slightly Shimmery shades – true to colour



These two shimmery shades are direct compliments to the matte shades and are perfect for a night out. You can see how it matches so well in the swatch below!

Swatches – true to colour

L to R:

Nude Beige, Orange Skin, Cinnamon Dust, Charcoal Brown

Apologies for the weird over saturation – it’s not been edited, just was very sunny when I was taking photos. Its still true to its colour in the above swatch – that’s just how it’ll look like in direct sunlight. Indoors it shows up normally. I’ve used a heavy hand on these swatches to make the colours show up but they still look quite neutral.

Contour Blush (brown)



I didn’t swatch this but it’s almost the same colour as Nude Beige – the only difference is that it is just that little bit more brown.

In a nutshell…

Love: They’re the exact colours I’ve been looking for! Minimal fallout, sheer coverage so I can control how much I use, the shades look beautiful on my skintone (warm/yellow) and makes me look more alive in general, the price I got them for is just fantastic and if you’re new to eyeshadow, this range is really newbie friendly!

Do not love: Just the weird flimsy packaging on the contour blusher and the fact that they’ll take up more space compared to shadows in one palette.

Who should buy it? In the market for a natural matte colour but don’t want to shell out for Urban Decay or The Balm? This is it.

Rated: 4/5

Have you tried any Ameli cosmetics? What is your favourite matte eyeshadow?

Exams are seriously around the corner (first one on the 19th!) so I better get back to studying T_T

After showering, lunching, redditing and procrastinating.

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