Ok, where do I start actually? Yesterday I thought it would
be a good idea to review the Coastal Scents 28 Neutral Palette so I sat down
with some tea and my notebook and started swatching and carrying on. This
morning I went and read a few other reviews and some of them made me quite sad.
There seems to be two trains of thought, people who think these are Mac dupes
and people who don’t. I couldn’t really find an accurate review where people
weren’t either trying to prove that these shadows were Mac dupes or lambasting
people for trying to prove these to be Mac dupes.
Lets get this out the way quickly. These are not Mac dupes.
Here is what they are; they are a nice little collection of colours that, if
nothing else, will help you to learn what sort of shades go well together on
your eyes before you take the plunge and make your own palette with a higher
end make up brand.
They do not last as long as the more luxury eye shadows out
there, when I swatched them on my arm (I was doing 8 at a time because I don’t
have orangutan arms) I could easily wipe the shadow off with just my hand. I do
have to layer and blend extensively when I use them on my eyes but for the most
part I am happy with the finish. They do work better with a primer and setting
spray, they are unlikely to last from 7am through to the end of whatever after
work engagements you may have but I have worn them for a full (8 hour-ish) day
before.
Some of the shades are better than others but happily I have
reviewed each one separately. I started getting bored of naming the colours
because it occurred to me I was trying to describe different shades of beige
and brown. Anyway. Here we go.
 |
| Coastal Scents 28 Color Neutral Palette |
1)
Very light, almost white satin shade. Good inner
corner highlight, probably too white to take through the brow bone.
2)
Light cool-toned beige, a bit glittery but not
bad.
3)
Sadly, this is a dud with very little payoff
4)
Warm toned matte light pink, good for all over
the lid.
5)
Cool toned pale lilac, payoff not great, a bit chalky
6)
Matte light beige, also a bit chalky
7)
Satin beige, this is a winner. Goes on smoothly
and blends easily.
8)
Looks almost identical to the previous shade but
sadly comes off a bit ashy. I wore it yesterday and it looked like I had died.
9)
Cool toned very light brown, payoff is good, I
use this in my crease mostly (I tend to only use this palette in the day)
10) Matte
tan, not a great payoff but I use this on a 217 to contour my nose and it works
quite well for that.
11) Cool
toned light pink, comes off a little chalky unless you use it with a primer –
and then it is actually quite nice.
12) Matte
light brown, the payoff is fine. I use it to contour my eyes when I am doing a
‘no make up’ sort of look.
13) Matte
light plum sort of colour, it comes off much darker than what it looks like in
the pan. I do enjoy using this colour, it does leave a bit of fallout though.
14) Another
dud
15) Medium
brown – shimmery. This colour is ok I suppose. You do have to use quite a few
layers and more often than not it makes my make up look a bit untidy. It will
work if you a patient. I am not. If I want a shimmery brown I usually go for
Stila Gilded Gold.
16) Another
dud and somehow mine is broken. Weird. I haven’t dropped this palette, also I
haven’t found a mysterious pile of eyeshadow anywhere.
17) Cool
toned medium brown – medium. Good payoff, good for crease.
18) Lovely
bronze shimmer shade. Excellent payoff. I used this for a night out and it
stayed put. This is definitely one of the top 3 shades in this palette and one
I would possibly stick my neck out and say is a dupe for something. I will
look.
19) Deeper
tan, good payoff
20) Warm
dusty pink – matte, I often use this with shade #4 and a nice black eyeliner.
21) Nice
medium pinky brown, good payoff.
22) Satin
finish light tan, ok payoff. Not my favourite.
23) Ooooh!
Lovely reddish brown, it is a matte shade, excelled payoff. Beware of fallout.
Definitely a setting spray candidate. Also Top 3
24) Cool
toned matte brown, pretty meh. You need to build it for any sort of effect
25) Black,
pretty disappointing to be honest, as some weird red glitter thing going on,
very sheer and I find that sheer black colours look messy. Unless you are very
good and patient. Which I am not. Obviously.
26) Deep
brown. Its ok but I would rather use one of my other brown shades because,
again, this is a bit sheer.
27) Here is
the final Top 3 shade, it is a lovely deeper cool toned purple shade. Good
payoff, the finish tends to be more satin once you build it a bit. I like it.
28) Ugh, this
is easily the worst shade. It looks like you have gone outside and picked dirt
clod and rubbed it over your eyes. Also weird red glitter. I really don’t like
it. I thought I would love it, it looks so beautiful and aubergine in the pan. Sad. Just sad.
So, should you buy this palette? I am going to go with yes,
$13 for the shades that are actually good in the palette is really not bad. I’m
not going to lie, I would have paid $13 for my top 3 shades in the palette.
Have a go, have some fun.
