little white truths

There we are again for good measure:


Verdict

I've been reading up on this palette online (the full-sized version) and there's a lot of talk about it being a reasonable dupe for Urban Decay's Naked 1 and 2 palettes. I can't comment on that because I don't own anything from Urban Decay and I've only tried this little sampler, but I can see from the pictures that there's a lot of similarity in the colours at least of the products from the two brands.

I have been into Mecca Maxima a few times to test the UD palettes, and I agree with the general consensus that the UD palettes are superior in quality - the shadows are softer and easier to work with - but these shadows from Coastal Scents shouldn't be discounted.

Of course I can only comment on the four colours I received and not the palette overall, but these four shadows tell me that Coastal Scents can make a decent matte (not all brands can) and the shadows are reasonably pigmented but not so much that they're hard to work with.

The texture of the shadows is fair: they mightn't be as soft and smooth as Urban Decay's, but they're softer and more pigmented than the Nars shadows I own. I found them easy to work with and blend, and while I find that some eyeshadows can be patchy when you're rushing to get ready, these aren't and they're pretty foolproof.

One thing I noticed was that the lasting power of these shadows isn't great without a primer (at least on me). This may be in part due to my puffy eyes and the rubbing that occurs, but the highlight shade in particular didn't want to stay put. I often have this problem with sparkly shadows, however, so that's nothing new. All in all, the fallout wasn't too bad but the mattes stay where they're meant to more readily (as they usually do because there's no glitter in them, and glitter tends to move).

Assuming that the quality of the full-sized palette is on par with this little quad, I reckon this is a decent quality palette for someone who needs a range of shades but doesn't want to spend a lot. If there were more matte shadows in the bunch, I would definitely be considering purchasing it: the quality is reasonable; there's a range of shades; and it looks like a travel-friendly palette because it's slim and there's no wasted space (eg taken up by useless applicators).

Ticks from me.