yaby

This Yaby palette is easily my most extravagant makeup purchase of 2010 so far. Even with the IMATS show discount, it was pretty pricy at £64.99. I decided I had to have it on the Sunday of the show after buying a few of the single shades on the Saturday.

Best of Both Worlds is one of Yaby's pre-filled kits, with 40 shadow pans in one of their customisable palettes. This isn't the exact Best of Both Worlds layout. I have swapped a few pans with the singles I bought. Like "Highlighted", that neon yellow.



It's extremely easily to change the pans around or replace empties. You just press down on the edge of the pan with your finger and out it pops. Very well designed. The palette generally is a solid piece of work, with a decent mirror and a pleasant, smooth weightiness in the hand. If Apple made palettes, they might look a bit like this.


I think one of the most powerful draws for me was the miniature-ness of the pans. They're like adorable little buttons. I've always been a sucker for tiny things, and when tininess is combined with cosmetic-ness, I'm sort of helpless to resist. The palettes also remind me of the Bobbi Brown Brights LE palette which was around last summer and which I wanted quite badly at the time.

There are two textures in this palette (hence Best of Both), regular eyeshadows, and Pearl Paints. The Pearl Paints are buttery opaque shimmer dreaminess, and the regular shadows aren't half bad either - very pigmented and smooth.

Here's my attempt to create a suitably bright look with my new toy. I'm not entirely happy with this (nnng at not getting shadow in crease exactly) but it does give a suggestion of the finish and opacity these shadows can achieve. My camera has washed the colours out quite a bit.



Yaby cosmetics are available in the UK from The Makeup Artist Boutique. The Best of Both palette costs a rather daunting £79.99, but it is quite a special bit of kit. And you won't need to say "I don't have any [x colour] eyeshadow" ever, ever again.

Sarah and I were introduced to Yaby Cosmetics at the IMATS this year. Yaby was founded by Canadian makeup artist Liz Yu, who was looking to condense her makeup kit. And Yaby's products are condensed - they make palettes which hold 40 eyeshadows in small dots, and their liquid foundation comes in small 8ml tubes.

The foundation is described as "unbelievably natural", which is an accurate description - once applied, it looks just like skin; not too matte but not dewy, and not at all powdery, as you can see from the blended swatch below. It's very spreadable and easy to apply, and a small dot will cover the entire face. I would describe it as a light coverage foundation; it evens out the skintone beautifully but doesn't cover blemishes - you will definitely need a separate concealer for those.

I purchased the "vanilla" shade, which is the palest pink-toned shade, according to Yaby's website. It is a very good match for my NC15 pale, cool toned skin. There are five shades available in yellow tones, five in pink tones, two in neutral tones, and a further six corrector shades (white, peach, green, lilac, blue, and pink). Furthermore, while the petite tube of foundation contains 8ml - 8.5ml of product, there's space for 12ml, so that in-between shades can be mixed in the tube.

After a day's wear, my skin still looks pretty much as it did just after application; I don't really get a lot of oiliness breaking through this. It's something I'll reach for when my skin is generally in good condition, and I imagine it'll be great in the summer. I also really like the fact that the product is in a small tube; for those of us who switch foundations regularly, there's a lot less product to waste should you not use it all that often; it sometimes takes me a year to get through a regular size bottle of foundation.

If you'd like to try Yaby's liquid foundation for yourself, you can find it at the Makeup Artist Boutique, where it will cost you £8.99 - a mid-range price given the size of the tube. You can get 10% off your first order if you use the code FIRSTORDER.