Coastal Scents Revealed Palette Sampler - review

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I received this eyeshadow sampler via the Facebook Bellabox Swap group. I've been going through a bit of an eyeshadow phase (last year it was blush) and I've been trying to sample as many products as I can, to work out what I like and don't like, and what does and doesn't work for me.


I'm glad the palette contains two matte shades - the pale brown and the black - although I would have preferred that black wasn't included and instead another neutral shade was, purely because I have enough black shadows and I don't have a lot of use for them. When it comes to lining my eyes, I prefer doing this with dark brown because it looks so much more natural. Anyhoo.

I also would have preferred a different highlighter shade because this one is too deep and cool for me and I prefer something softer and warmer to use eg as an inner corner highlight. The darker brown shade is ok but as you may know, I can't wear sparkly eyeshadow on my eye area because it's so puffy and I don't want to highlight it, so I have more use for matte shades. 

Still, I'm glad to have given this little set a go because I was interested to see how the shadows performed: they're at the cheaper end of the spectrum (although not so much in Australian prices!) and I wanted to compare them to more expensive brands.


Coastal Scents claims/product details:
  • Each smooth, powdered shadow goes on soft and blends seamlessly together for a flawless put-together eye makeup look
  • Creates an array of wearable day and stunning evening eyeshadow looks
  • Available in the Bellabox shop
  • Contains nude and neutral metallic hues in a single palette
  • Slim, easy to carry
  • Easy on-the-go application
  • RRP $35AUD for the full size palette, which contains 20 shadows (but do shop around)

Ingredients:

Talc, Mica, Magnesium Stearate, Kaolin, Phenyl Trimethicone, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Polymethyl Methacrylate, o-Cymen-5-ol. May Contain: Mica and Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides, Chromium Hydroxide Green, Chromium Oxide Greens, Manganese Violet, Ultramarines, Ferric Ferrocyanide, FD&C Red 40 Al Lake, FD&C Yellow 5 Al Lake, FD&C Blue 1 Al Lake.

Swatched in natural light:


With flash:


Below I've used the pale matte brown all over my lid (travelling upwards), the deeper brown on the outer third, the paler shade on the inner third and the black as a liner to kick up the outer corners of my eyes. As usual I've gone for a more subtle look, but you could certainly build the colours if you wanted more impact.


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.




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