It Takes Death To Reach A Star – Review!

It Takes Death To Reach A Star by Stu Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Unexpected Greatness

This was an unexpired delight. I went in, reading slowly chapter by chapter, letting the world of this story create itself in my mind, and the characters unfurl from the pages.

There’s a depth to Mila, the main protagonist, that makes her incredibly like able. She’s beyond tough but exudes incredible warmth and charm. Demitri, the other protagonist, is equally enthralling. You want to feel sorry for him and his predicament but you’re also waiting to see exactly what his role will be. He flips between incredibly useful to Mila to a level of burden, making you want to scream at him to just toughen up.

The story itself is filled with amazingly well-written action scenes and even more incredibly inspiring character-building moments. The twists aren’t wholly unexpected but they are done so well and creatively that you’re still left with your mouth gaping open at the scene on the page.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone who likes dystopian-inspired stories, has a desire for a strong female protagonist that doesn’t immediately (or ever) swoon and fall for the male protagonist, and needs action that pushes the story forward and isn’t just to fill pages.

View all my reviews

Eyeshadow Comparison

So, I decided I would do some eyeshadow comparisons, choosing, in particular, the gold shadows from four of my palettes.

Rich Bitch – Jeffree Star Cosmetics Beauty Killer palette

Mojito – Kylie Cosmetics Royal Peach palette

Wodaabe – Juvia’s Place The Saharan palette

Irresistible – Too Faced x NikkieTutorials The Power of Makeup palette

This picture was taken in natural daylight, no filters whatsoever.

Now, maybe I ended up biasing myself by swatching Wodaabe first, but the other three shades all felt like I was running the pad of my finger over a burlap sack afterward. Wodaabe is such a creamy smooth shadow, with potential for fallout as a result, but it’s well worth that risk with the color payoff, in my humble opinion.

Rich Bitch, by far not the worst of my four picks here, seemed chalky and a little rough in the pan. I actually went back for a second swipe at the shadow for the swatch, justifying it by the fact it was my pinky finger that I’d used. The color isn’t terrible, but it comes across as a little patchy.

Mojito felt like I was touching a brick, to be honest. The color isn’t terrible, once you get past that obvious odor, but again, it seems a little patchy to me.

Irresistible…. isn’t necessarily so. While it doesn’t have that rich gold, or even the olive undertone of the other shadows with the swatch, in the pan, it seemed very similar. Unfortunately, as you can see here, there’s almost no color pay off. I definitely recommend using glitter glue or an eyeshadow base if you want to maximize the performance here.

Take this little comparison for what it’s worth. People all have their own personal opinions, brands they prefer, needs from their makeup, etc. However, if I could recommend one of these four? I’d definitely choose Wodaabe above the competition.