As with my previous Philosophy post, please keep in mind that my opinions are primarily based on my swatches. I haven't done much, if any testing of these products on my face. I have no idea how well or long the colors with wear. I wanted to get these posts up quickly so you could see the products and get over to Big Lots and pick up the ones that interest you before they are gone.
I was able to get two combination palettes: the Amazing Grace Coloring Book and the Supernatural Coloring Book.
Amazing Grace Coloring Book
I wish I had thought to take a picture of these with something for a size comparison. They are both about the same size as my Smartphone. They are also similar in size to the Wet n Wild baked eye shadow palettes that came out back in the fall.
The pans of products themselves are on the small side. The top row pans are the size of a nickle, and the bottom row pans are a little bigger than a quarter. I was originally concerned that the pans of blush would be soon small to use comfortably, but my Real Techniques stippling brush worked pretty well. It was larger than the pan, but not so large that it ended up in the color next to it. I wouldn't attempt using a large, fluffy blush brush, but a smaller one should work.
Top row from left to right: Dream eye shadow, Angel eye shadow, In Love lip gloss, and Be Sweet lip gloss
Bottom row from left to right: Amazing Grace shimmering face powder, Pure Joy powder blush, and 7th Heaven all-over cream illuminator.
I am not a fan of palettes that mix cream and powder products like this for the obvious and often complained about reason that the powder falls into and gets stuck in the cream products. Thankfully, the plastic overlay came in handy when it comes to solving this problem. I cut the overlay so that it covers the cream products and used basic Scotch tape to keep it in place. I'll have to replace the tape occasionally, but I'm okay with that.
From left to right: Dream eye shadow, Angel eye shadow, Amazing Grace shimmering face powder, Pure Joy powder blush, 7th Heaven all-over illuminator, In Love lip gloss, and Be Sweet lip gloss.
Both eye shadows have decent, but not really good, pigmentation and a little bit of shimmer in a matte base. Dream has a bit more shimmer, but the shimmer barely shows up in either when swatched.
The shimmer in both Amazing Grace and Joy is really fine, so they aren't glitter bombs. Amazing Grace will add a nice pink sheen to the skin, and Joy is a gorgeous bright pink that would work well on medium skin tones, but also looks like it will sheer out nicely for fairer girls like me.
7th Heaven is a really pretty cream highlight that is similar in tone but a little darker than Benefit's High Beam.
As you can see from the swatches, the lip glosses don't have a lot of pigmentation, which is another typical problem with palettes like this. I quickly threw some of Be Sweet on my lips to test how it feels, and it doesn't feel particularly sticky. It also isn't so slippery and thin feeling that it will wear off in five minutes.
The Supernatural Coloring Book
Instead of the fake leather cover used for the Amazing Grace Coloring Book, the Supernatural Coloring Book is fabric covered.
Top row from left to right: Down to Earth eye shadow, Pure of Heart eye shadow, Open Your Heart lip gloss, and Reflect a Little lip gloss
Bottom row from left to right: True powder blush, Honest powder blush, and Bare Your Soul cream blush
The layout is pretty much the same as the Amazing Grace palette. The powder products are on the left and the cream products are the right. I did the same thing with the plastic film of this palette, cutting it and taping it down to protect the cream products.
From left to right: Down to Earth eye shadow, Pure of Heart eye shadow, True powder blush, Honest powder blush, Bare Your Soul cream blush, Open Your Heart lip gloss, and Reflect a Little lip glos
Just like the Amazing Grace palette, the eye shadows have decent pigmentation, but they aren't outstanding. The colors are nearly identical to the first two colors in the Box of Truffles eye shadow quad and aren't overly different from the ones in the Amazing Grace palette.
True blush is a pretty muted pink that has good pigmentation. It has less shimmer than powder blush from the other palette. Honest is a decent looking bronzer. It also has a little bit of shimmer to it, but it isn't overly noticeable. It doesn't appear overly orange to me, and isn't so dark that I would be afraid to try it out on my fair skin.
Bare Your Soul cream blush has good pigmentation and a smooth feel. It isn't sticky at all and blends out evenly.
As with the other palette, the lip glosses are lacking in pigmentation. Even the red doesn't really show color on my lips.
Final Thoughts
For $3 a piece, these palettes are a great deal! The overall quality is pretty good. Your preferences in terms of cheek products will determine which one to pick up. If you like cheek highlighters and aren't afraid of bright blushes, you would probably like Amazing Grace. If you go for more muted tones and bronzers, grab the Supernatural. OR...with the price, just go ahead and grab both! :-)
What do you think? If you can get your hands on these, would you pick either of them up?
Both of these actually look great! I think I like the colors in the Supernatural palette a bit more. Those are a score for $3! Thanks for the swatches!
ReplyDeleteSince you don't have a Big Lots near you, you'll be happy to know that I picked up an extra of the Supernatural palette to throw into my next giveaway. :-)
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