Cosette's Cosmetics: Mushroom Collection

Don't you just love make-up?
Well of course you do, otherwise you wouldn't be reading a make-up blog, right?

Shiro Cosmetics

Shiro, shiro, shiro...



Where do I start, the color, the pigmentation, the uniqueness..
There are so many good things I want to say and trust me, there is a lot of writing to do so bare with me.
So lets start with the basics.

Cosette's Cosmetics

We all love to try new things right?
Right?
Well I do.

Since I first discovered how fun makeup was and how passionately I felt about it, I wanted to acquire more and more brands. Educating myself about the companies and the textures and what each thing could do for you was my first mission.
Well all this could seem like fun but it is also very expensive. Writing a blog in itself is expensive. Not only do you have to research, swatch, take pictures and write about a certain product, but doing it on a regular basis can really put a damper on your wallet.
Luckily, there are "indie brands".
Indie refers to the word Independent, usually these are brands created by one or several individuals just like you and me who have a passion for makeup and who a great deal of creativity. Their companies are fairly new and they run their shop right from their home. Now what's good about these companies is that they offer good quality product for a very low price.

Revlon Illuminance Creme Shadow

I've never owned cream shadows. I always see the girls on YouTube using Mac paint pots but they are quite expensive and since I have no need for them I figured that I could find a cheaper substitute to start out with.

Almost every time I went to purchase drugstore makeup, I was tempted on buying these, but they were a bit pricey for something I really did not need, so I held off. I held off until they went on Bo Go sale. Now you know me, I will jump at the chance of buying one and getting the second 50% off.

So I initially was going to purchase four of them, but I wasn't sure how I would like them, so I only got two. The ones that I got were Black Magic and Moonlit Jewels. Beautiful colors!

I brought them home and immediately started to take pictures, the colors looked vibrant and super pigmented. When I swatched them on my arm I was not disappointed. They were gorgeous!!!

I fell in love. I couldn't wait to do a look with these to photograph for this blog.

So I got my chance one day when I wanted to go out and decided to use Black Magic because it has pink in it and that is my ultimate favorite color. I applied it with my finger since I do not have any spare brushes to use with these and the instructions actually advise you use your fingers anyway. The color went on nicely on my eyelids. The pink was super nice and it stayed put pretty well. I want to add that I did apply my Urban Decay Primer Potion beforehand to avoid any creasing. I then wanted to blend out the edges of the color, and this is where trouble started. As I was trying to blend out a bit with my finger, the color started to fade really badly. I then applied a little more and blended ever so slightly. So far it was OK. I then wanted to add a bit of a highlight with the white color in the palette to my inner corner and a bit on my brow bone. Again the color stayed pretty well, but when it came to blending with the pink, it was a disaster!

Coastal Scents 88 Matte Eyeshadow Palette

Hey guys, here I am again with another great find to review for you. This time it's in the form of a much cheaper product.
It is the Coastal Scents 88 Matte Eyeshadow Palette, what a mouthful right? Well I made it a point to give you the full name since there is a couple of other 88 palettes from them, one of them being the shimmery one which looks almost like this but as you can assume, it has shimmer.

Anyway, let's get this review started, shall we?

Over the beginning of my beauty tutorial experience on YouTube, I came across few videos that included this palette. Some of them were reviews and others were tutorials were they would show you the many looks you could create with it. Now, as some of you who are just starting with makeup, you have the precognition that name brand is always better and in some cases you are right, but back then I didn't know that cheap didn't necessarily mean poor quality as in the case of Coastal Scents products.
So I ignored it. Yes, this palette was everywhere, all the beauty channels had at least one video about it, yet I still ignored it. That is until the boyfriend started complaining about his wallet, he mentioned something about going broke I think. So I was on a mission: to find great makeup at great prices. That's when this palette came to mind. I looked it up on the website and it was less than $20, oh emm gee!
I couldn't believe it so I had to do some research.

Turns out that palette was a great buy, the colors are gorgeous to say the least and the pigmentation is pretty nifty, Not only hat, but you get 88 eye shadows to create as many looks as you desire!

I watched video after video educating myself on the matter and once I made the decision to get it I realized I had another problem. Shimmery or matte?
I'm a shimmer all the way gal so you would think that the choice was obvious right? Well not really, you see most of my eyeshadow palettes are already shimmery and although I love to sparkle, I wanted some colors that could help me create a more toned down look. Still, I watched more videos to help me choose and I finally decided to get this one. I figured that I could get the other one later on if I really wanted.

So I placed my order and a week later my order arrived. I was so excited, it was huge! The palette itself was a bit smaller than I expected though, but experience has taught me that isn't always a bad thing. It is super portable, I can put it in my bag and be ready for whatever. Not that I carry makeup palettes wherever I go, but it suits me nicely for when I plan to spend a weekend at my family's house.

So on to the good stuff. The colors are beautiful and vibrant, they are sectioned into bunches, not rows, because some rows contain other colors, you'll see what I mean when you get to the pictures. You have your greens, and your neutrals, golds, purples, blues, blacks and my favorites: pinks! Each eyeshadow circle is about the size of a dime I would say, but they are so pigmented that you only need a little to pack onto your eyelid and blend. This is great for someone who is just starting out with makeup and wants to experiment with color.

So how does it look on your face you may be wondering. Well I used Marlena's video from her YouTube channel Makeupgeektv right here, where she teaches you how to do a smokey eye. Now I'm not talking about the black on black smokey eye, I mean any type of color smokey eye you want to get and since I like pink, that's the color I used. Oh my goodness my darlings, I was so impressed with the colors and how it looked, even my boyfriend who is completely uninterested in makeup thought it looked beautiful. I have to say that this is one of those great buys where you will be completely satisfied.

Now I know this was a long review and I thank you for reading all the way through. Sometimes I like to give the back story behind my purchases and reviews so you can get an idea of what incites me to buy a product.

So what's the verdict? I give it a million lipglosses!! Oh wait, I can only issue five.

(5 out of 5 lipglosses)

I would still give it a million if I could, it is that good!

-You can purchase this palette from CoastalScents.com and it will cost you $18.95 plus S&H
While you're there I recommend looking through the other products they have to offer, I am definitely purchasing more stuff from there in the near future.

Sephora Collection Color Play - 5 in 1

Right off the bat I want to say that this is an amazing product. I mean holy cow!
Let's start by saying this: you can't beat the price for what you're getting here.

Right from Sephora's description of the product:

What it is:
A versatile eye, lip, and cheek set featuring five interchangeable color stories.

What it does:
Create a look to fit any mood or style with five sub-palettes, each of which fits easily into a conveniently portable compact. To switch color stories, just pop out the previous look and insert a new one. New Sephora Collection formulations provide long-lasting wear and excellent color payoff for seriously stunning results.

Each of the five sub-palettes contains:
- 10 x Eyeshadows
- 2 x Lip colors
- Blush

Did you see that? That's 50 eyeshadows, 10 lip colors, and 5 blushes! They've also named their palettes and made it so that colors in each palette can be worn together to create a foolproof look. To me that's a huge plus since I am still in the learning stages of makeup application. Anyway, being that this product has so much to offer and had such a small price tag, I thought that it was going to be a generic drugstore type with sheer colors. Kind of like those $20 dollar makeup cases from K-mart I saw years ago, but no! The colors are beautiful, very vibrant, and in my opinion, very pigmented. Some of the shadows are shimmery and some have glitter. I'm not much for blushes and I own tons of lip-glosses, so I got this just for the eyeshadows and I'm glad I did. Regardless, the blushes and lip colors in each palette do go with the shadows, so I guess depending on the mood you're in all you need is a little creativity and one of the palettes, or if you're adventurous just mix and match colors form all five of them!
Another little perk for me is the fact that I can pop out a palette from the big packaging and pop it in the little carrying case which has a nice long mirror too. To me that is essential since I don't like to carry too much make up around.
The only downside I suppose would be that it does not include and applicator. In my case it doesn't really matter because I use brushes and if you don't have a brush I suggest you get one.

So the bottom line is:
Great palette, awesome colors, excellent price.
I give it:

(5 out 5 lip-glosses)

I totally recommend you get it, you won't be disappointed I promise.

You can get this palette from Sephora and it will cost you $29.50
Here is a picture of what it looks like, sorry about the quality, I took it with my phone.

Added 6/30/10, a smoky look I did with Dinner in Paris (the first palette)