NYX News - relaunch under L'oreal in Singapore and new product range

The original cheap 'n' chic beauty brand NYX has relaunched this January 2016 under the L'oreal umbrella, and the great news is they have brought it a much bigger and also a more updated range. New products launch at the same time as they do in the US, so we're not stuck watching people talk about new things for 6 months before we can try them.

The bad news is it won't be all that easy to grab some of the more popular things right now - they don't seem to have put a ton of products on the shelf at this time, and the renewed interest from shoppers has caused a lot of things to be sold out very quickly. I say give it a bit of time for stock levels to even out.

Still, if you can't wait, I do suggest going down to see what's still available because the updated range at Sephora is really great. NYX has stepped up their game in the recent year or so, and a lot of the products are pretty much on point in terms of quality and composition. There are the Intense Butter Glosses, the Avant Pop palettes, and my personal fave - the Go To Palettes (SG$30). I have Wanderlust, which is an eye and cheek palette with 6 shadows, a highlighter, blush, and contour shade.

My reason for actually highlighting this palette is because in the past I've never been very impressed by eye and face kits from lower-end brands. A lot of times the concept is on point but you may get great shadows, an okay blush, and crap highlight and contour. But this palette is pretty impressive. I would say 95% of the products are things that I would consider buying if they were sold on their own for a good price.

I won't say it's a 100% hit but all the shades are definitely good. The shadows are GORGEOUS. You get 2 mattes, 1 satin and 3 metallics. The metallics are the most beautiful in terms of feel and texture, but the mattes and satin are still good. You also get the option of doing light soft looks, dramatic metallic looks, or smoky smoldering looks.

The blush is my one complaint; it is a tad sheer and dusty feeling (it will dust right off if you apply it on dry skin so I don't expect it to be long-wearing unless you use a setting spray or a cream blush as a base first) but in general everything else is very silky and blendable. The thing that sealed the deal for me was the highlight and contour actually. I usually expect the ones in a face-kit to be there just for the sake of it, and never that great quality.

This highlighter is silky but not overly metallic or too chalky and cheap feeling. And that contour shade actually is a good contour shade for light to tan girls. Don't get me wrong - you won't get the silky luxe texture you will from Becca or Dior, but those cost more than double this entire palette.

As a case in point, because a reader was asking on Dayre, I have swatched the contour shade with a number of other bronzer/contour shades.

The NYX Wanderlust contour is actually one of the best in terms of being cool-toned enough to be a great contour color. It is not as cool/ashy as NYX Taupe blush, which means it can also be used as bronzer if you want to fake a tan. It's less warm/orange than the Physician's Formula and Marc Jacobs bronzers. I would say it is closest in tone to the classic bestseller Too Faced Chocolate Soleil, but it's actually even a hair cooler-toned.

I had a lot of new readers asking about what makeup to invest in as a beginner, and I know you guys are not about to go out and grab a Tom Ford or Marc Jacobs until you figure out how to use contour/bronzer properly and whether you like it at all.

This Go-To Palette is a fantastic place to start in my opinion. You get 6 neutrals in colors that can take you from soft to smoky, and a blush, contour and highlight in tones that are appropriate for daily use. Even if you're not a newbie to all this, this is a real work-horse palette that you can get a ton of use out of if you are traveling.