Colourpop Fall ’15 Collection Review

Ok, time for some Colourpop realtalk. When it comes to this brand, internet opinions seem to fall into either a LOVE IT or HATE IT camp. I’m in neither camp and I want to tell you what these products (particularly the eyeshadows) are and are not good for. I ordered the Colourpop Forever Freshman eyeshadow set, two extra shadows, a matte lipstick and two ultra matte liquid lipsticks to get a feel for the brand. I purchased them last Monday and they just showed up today, so I wanted to get this review out while it was fresh in my mind.

First of all, in case you are not yet acquainted, Coulourpop eyeshadows are weird hybrid mousse-cream shadows. There’s some debate over whether they are creams or powders or whatever and while they are a little different than a traditional cream, I would still call this a cream shadow for sure.

Because of this, they don’t apply well with brushes and work better with your fingers. A lot of people in the makeup community hate this about the shadows. I’m neutral about it, because there are benefits to that. Here are the pros and cons to these shadows:

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PROS:
very pigmented
lots and lots of cool colors to choose from
blend very smoothly
fun to work with
can create extremely quick looks on the go
very pretty metallic shimmers
longwearing
inexpensive

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CONS:
Don’t play well with brushes, so they’re not precise
difficult to create multi-colored looks
if you try to use glitter and matte the glitter gets EVERYWHERE
color sheers out when you try to diffuse
all of the sets include exclusive shades that can’t be purchased separately
sets do not cost less than buying the shadows separately
Not much product in pan
Some of the glitter shadows have glitter that’s too chunky

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What does all that mean mean for you? Basically, the main issue is that the shades are difficult to blend together in a precise way. That means that hooded “smoky V” type eye that I like to do is all but impossible without a brush, but these shadows also don’t work well with brushes. So there’s that.

On the other  hand, they are really great for an all-over wash of color or a simple two-shade gradient. Those are very doable and they are quick, easy and beautiful. Plus you get to apply with your fingers and that’s fun.

My takeaway from all of that is if you really like complicated “beat face” eyeshadow looks, you will hate these shadows. If you like doing simple eyes sometimes or you are really intimidated by the idea of expertly blending four different shades into your crease and want a shortcut, then these are worth your time.

There’s also some really nice pigmentation to be had if you stick with these. Check out my swatches:

This is the Forever Freshman set ($30) from the new, ’90s-inspired Fall 2015 collection. It has three mattes and three shimmers. The Shades swatched L-R are Baby-T, Melrose, As-If, 90210, Koosh, Crimper.

These are two single shadows I was drawn to, Shark Attack and I Heart This ($5 each).

For my part, I have been a lot more into one or two tone washes of color offset by bold lips lately, so I’m actually pretty into these. I also think the cream shadows lend themselves to a particularly lovely sparkle that is hard to recreate in a powder shadow. For that reason, I think Colourpop super shock shadows also make a good base tone when you do want a cut crease look. You’ll just need to use a powder-based contrast tone in the crease.

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Lippie Stix in Lumiere ($5).

This is ok, but I’m not wowed yet. It feels good, but looks sooo dry in the pictures. It feels like a Maybelline Creamy Matte (love those) and the Jordana Modern Matte, but I don’t think it looks as good on. It might just be this shade, I dunno. I also may have just needed to moisturize (I was in a hurry to get these swatched and reviewed TODAY, so shortcuts were taken). The packaging also seems  needlessly long.

Ultramatte liquid lip in Beeper ($6).

This stuff is great! Ok, so it looks REALLY dry on my lips (as basically all matte liquid lipsticks are wont to do) because I didn’t adequately moisturize first, but what I’m so hyped about is that it feels extremely light on. This is the first liquid lip that I can actually forget I’m wearing because it doesn’t feel heavy and tight. It’s comparable to Kat Von D, but for a quarter of the price. I just need to be sure an plump up my pout before swatching next time.

Alright, let’s do some looks!

This is Shark attack and I Heart this blended together. This is the sort of easy wash I was talking about, this is where Colourpop shines.

Then there’s this wayyyy too subtle look-

That is an example of trying to smooth out the lines of an eye contour and blurring it into nothingness. Believe it or not, that was at one time As If, 90210 and Crimper from the Forever Freshman set (check the initial swatches and let me know if you expected that).

The problem was that I couldn’t get a balance of pigmentation and smooth lines. Blending the shades with any precision other than just an allover lid color is not going to happen.

After that, I tried to really challenge myself to make it work by adding the rest of the shades in, and this was the best I could do.

Also pictured: the Lumiere Lippie Stick.

Ok, so to salvage that sad look, I smoothed the crease out with a little bit of Busted from Urban Decay’s Naked 2 and added liquid liner. After that I felt way better about my super shocks.

Also pictured in this set: Beeper ultra matte lip.

Morphe Brushes Eyeshadow Review

I’m really excited about today’s review! This post has been in the draft stage for far too long, but I want to finally put in my two cents about Morphe Cosmetics. I had been stalking Morphe Brushes’ site for a while a couple months ago since they get rave reviews from beauty bloggers, but I kept stalling because I don’t need any more eyeshadow. While that is still true, I eventually caved because the eyeshadow palettes are only $20, so I somehow justified it to myself.

So first of all, these palettes look suspiciously similar to the kind of palettes you can get from sites like bh cosmetics, crown brush and coastal scents, among others. While all of those companies have branched out into creating more of their own unique products, their original focus used to be importing those Chinese 120 color palettes that were once only available through eBay. I’ve reviewed the 120 palettes before and I really like them, but they’re generally best for extremely bright looks. The reason being that while those eyeshadows are typically pretty vibrant, they also have a somewhat dusty, chalky texture. I love them because they have a great range of pigmented brights and they’re very affordable which is good since I don’t use colors like that often, but they don’t feel as good to work with. For neutral colors that I use a lot, I prefer to go with higher end shadows that are nicer to work with and easier to blend.

These palettes are NOT the same as the eBay palettes. They are made in America and the eyeshadows are (mostly) smoother and better quality. This is also a female-owned small business, so I feel good supporting them. I ended up with the 35W palette for $19.99. Weirdly, it has the exact same shades as the 35N palette, except that pallette is all matte while this had some shimmers mixed in. I actually wish I had waited to buy this because they just released some new 35 pan palettes that look amazing (the 35P plum palette, 35K smoky neutral palette and 35O orange-toned palette), but whatever. For $20 I can always buy another. Let’s talk about the one I have for now.

Let’s start with pictures of the palette itself!

In bright daylight (quarter shown for scale):

Artificial light.

The second image in artificial light looks closer to what the shades look like in real life, but I thought it was helpful to show both pictures to give a better idea of which shades have shimmer and which don’t.

I also swatched every single shade, so here they are, shown in the same order they appear in the palette. Each swatch is done over a strip of primer, so you can see how each one performs with and without it.

Based on my swatches, I made this chart indicating the best and worst performers. The shadows with the stars are really nice, smooth, buttery, and high-end feeling. The ones without any marks are decent, like higher quality drugstore shadows (think NYX or L’Oreal) and the X’s are for weak shadows that work like low quality cheap shadows.

Only 4 real duds here. That’s not bad for the money I spent, right? I have had had a little trouble blending some of the shades, but overall I found the palette versatile and good to work with. The only problem I had was keeping track of which shadows I preferred working with over others. The really good ones are so smooth to work with, but sometimes I’d accidentally grab a muddier one and end up having to start my eye look over.

Here are a couple of looks to give you an idea of how they work in practice.

Quick Review- Jordana Modern Matte Lipstick

Hi friends! I’ve been so busy but I have so many things I still want to share with you! Today I’m trying something different, I’m doing an out-of-pocket review from my desk since I’m never at my home computer anymore. The lighting here is so unflattering, but I really wanted to tell you guys about this lipstick regardless of how sallow I may look.

Other than nearly-lethal servings of coffee, my primary work stress reliever is to go makeup shopping during lunch (how surprising) and my biggest vice is collecting drugstore lipsticks. My desk seriously has SO MANY hiding in it right now. This was getting expensive quickly, so I was really pleased to find Jordana’s Modern Matte Lipsticks. These are not fully matte, they have more of a satin finish, but the color is really intense, they’re comfortable to wear and they’re only $2.49. I also love how they look very light-textured, like a stain, instead of thick and heavy on the lips. There’s no real need to layer these, but if you do they stay very thin and comfortable. The color is bold no matter what!

Right now I have Matte Bare, a nice nude shade that works well for pale girls and Style, a fantastic blue-based red for anyone and everyone. Today I’m wearing Style:

This color looks pretty bright in the office lighting but can be a bit darker in lower light. The
shade actually reminds me of the MAC Marilyn Monroe lipstick I tried out a while ago, but the texture is much more comfortable! You can’t beat that. I will definitely be picking up more of these lipsticks.

Update!
The next day I wore the bare shade and thought I’d share that, too. It’s a very pretty pink-brown color that I am just loving. The finish is a little more satin-y than Style but is still mate-ish. Very comfortable to wear.