Did you notice all the pretty and cute collection for Spring 2016? The one I was not aware of until being told to Google for photos is none other than Mary Kay Into The Garden Color Compact, which I am going to talk about today.

For Spring 2016, Mary Kay is all about the inspiration captured from warm sunshine, fresh flowers, beautiful blooms and lush greens. Thus born the all-NEW Limited Edition Mary Kay® Into the Garden™ Collection. The entire collection is in collboration with fashion designer Patricia Bonaldi.

The Patricia Bonaldi for Mary Kay collection was designed through the exclusive collaboration between Mary Kay Inc., Brazilian fashion designer Patricia Bonaldi and Mary Kay Global Makeup Artist Sebastian Correa. The entire Limited Edition Into The Garden collection was developed to capture current fashion fascination towards floral. Patricia Bonaldi has been mesmerizing celebrities and fashion editors with her unusual talent in creating wearable works of art. Bonaldi’s creativity coincide perfectly with Mary Kay’s passion for beauty and innovation. Into the Garden™ was born as an alliance between two like-minded brands. That is what I called when fashion meets beauty 😉

Into The Garden Color Compact comes with a BEAUTIFUL floral casing. So beautiful that I cannot stop staring at it. The palette comes with four eyeshadows and three lip glosses. Now, I am not a fan of having a lip product in the same palette as the eyeshadow unless it is covered. After torturing the palette for the past few days, I can report that no eyeshadow residue went to the lip gloss side.

You will also find a dual-ended applicator on the inside of the palette. I personally prefer to use a brush for eyeshadow so I skipped the sponge-tip applicator. The lip gloss applicator however is surprisingly useful for the lip gloss. I like that the included applicator is longer than any other applicator you find in a palette.

After photographing the palette as it is, I proceed to swatch it on my arm. I literally WOW so loud that my mom came out to the garden to check on me. She thought I fell or something lol. I certainly did not expect the eyeshadow to be buttery smooth and crazy pigmented. It is not a matte eyeshadow nor is it a shimmery eyeshadow. It is somewhat a satin eyeshadow. Yes it does look shimmery but minus the shimmer.

Here are the swatches for all the eyeshadows and lip glosses. The shades on the palette does not look very interesting but once I had the swatches on, I was sold. My friend will definitely say “this is Fiona’s color” 😀 .

The lip glosses on the other hand has three different consistency and payoff. The Nude shade has a glossy finish. It has a very small hint of peachy shade in it but on the lips it will goes on as nude, just as the name suggest. Pink is my favourite among the three. As you can see from the arm swatch above, it is more pigmented. Coral is in between Nude and Pink. Slightly sheer but has a great colour payoff to it 🙂

Okay. I have not done a makeup tutorial for quite some time so I thought this time I would do a Halo Eye Makeup for you. It is very simple. I have simplified the steps so that you don’t get confuse 🙂

Note: I have prepped the eye lid with eyeshadow primer and applied transition shade prior.

Step 1: Take a denser blending brush and dip into Violet. Apply onto the inner 1/4 corner of the eye lid. I made a mistake by using Sigma E25 as that is too fluffy so it came out patchy. I find Bdellium Tools 776 is perfect for this. As you can see, I applied heavily towards my nose bridge as I have a typical set of Asian eyes. This will open up my eyes further or rather make the shade more visible on my lid.
Step 2: Apply Violet on the outer 1/4 corner of the eye lid, leaving the middle empty. That is where the “halo” name came from.
Step 3: Take a blending brush or in my case, I used the same Sigma E25 brush which already has Violet on it and connect the top. Just a tiny bit.
Step 4: Take a brush or use your finger and apply Pink on the empty space in the middle. If you want more intense shimmer effect, mist the brush with a setting spray. This will make the shade more metallic.

To blend the harsh Violet line on the crease, take a clean blending brush, dip into a transition shade and run the brush over the crease.

As for the lower lash line, you can either replicate what is on top but I prefer something darker so I take Plum Brown (which is the darkest shade) and apply onto the 3/4 of my lower lash line. Then apply Natural Taupe on the 1/4 inner corner of the eyes. You may tie the whole look with Pink on the tear duct 🙂

As for the lips, of course I went with lip gloss in Pink from the same palette. Surprisingly it has a golden sheen to it. Even more prettier than the swatch. Totally unexpected but since the pink is quite muted, the shade matches with my eyeshadow 😀 . For a lip gloss, this is definitely not sticky. The texture is kind of like melted lipstick, not quite a liquid lipstick.

Here is the whole look! I finish the look with some contour on the hairline and cheek bone, blush and highlighter 🙂 . I did not do my usual winged eyeliner as the purple is quite intense to begin with. However I did take Plum Brown and run that along my upper lash line to darken it just a little bit.

You know how some product disappoint when you have high hopes on it and how some product impress you when you did not expect it? This is a palette that caught me by surprise. From the swatches to the colour payoff to the lip glosses. I am skeptical about having lip product in the same palette as eyeshadow. It turns out I was being a wimp. This palette did not disappoint.

Hope you like the simple halo eye makeup tutorial. It is the simplest and quickest eye makeup which you can replicate using different eyeshadow shades from the same Into The Garden Color Compact 😉

Disclaimer: Product was sent to me for review consideration. This doesn’t affect my judgement in the review in any way.