Coastal Scents Original and Shimmer 88 Palettes and Gel Liners: A Review

Okay, am I too late to join the 88 palette bandwagon? Well I finally got both the Original (which features matte and satin shadows) and Shimmer palettes. Even before I came home tonight, I knew they were by my front door because I checked the FedEx tracking number. Needless to say, I was very excited to get home. We live in a safe neighborhood and I've never had any of my packages stolen at the front door, but tonight I was a little concerned. LOL! Anyways, I found them and quickly unraveled the packaging and bubblewrap (it was very meticulously wrapped, so thanks CS!). My shadow palettes were perfect, not a shadow broken. I got the Shimmer palette in the matte casing so I can distinguish it from my Original palette that has that shiny patent leather-esque case. I love the matte case as it looks very similar to my MAC 15-pan palettes, so chic and stylish.

Okay, first impressions. Very colorful, definitely eye candy. Just by looking at it, I'm liking the Original better than the Shimmer, although I can't wait to come up with looks combining shadows from both palettes. I feel the Original shadows are better pigmented, have better depth and just look more sophisticated compared to the Shimmer ones. The Shimmer however is a definitely fun palette, with lots of amazing colors and shades to choose from. Both have, surprisingly, very good shadow quality. I know, I am a MAC and mineral shadow 'ho, so to admit that these very affordable palettes are good is quite a statement. I believe MAC still has the edge in terms of quality, though, because some of the colors from the 88 palettes can be chalky. But then, for the price, you get 88 shadows with better than average color pay-off. What more could you ask for?

Now the downside. I know they are tiny (a little smaller than a dime), but I only realized how small the amount is when I used the shadows for my look below. The shadows when new have a slight dome to them, now I just about flattened the yellow shadow I used on my lid. Really. I can probably finish the shadow in maybe five applications, especially if the shadow is a lid color as I literally pack them on the lid to show up. The crease colors however would probably last a while as I only use a very tiny amount in each look.


The Shimmer palette

Below is a look using shadows from the Original (matte/satin) palette as I was immediately drawn to this particular one. Since many of you know I am partial to green shadows, I just had to create a green look. I used MAC Beige-ing shadestick as base. The colors I used are indicated in the picture below.











I used Lauress Minimalist mineral foundation in Pure Yellow and Soft Yellow (50-50 mix), Aromaleigh ultra resolution finishing powder in Translucent, false eyelashes in Red Cherry #15, MAC blush in Enough Said from Red She Said collection. I used MAC lipstick in Rubia topped with MAC 3D glass in Lightswitch.





I got a couple of gel liners as well from Coastal Scents. I already have several MAC fluidlines and Indelible gel liners, so I just got two that I think I will be using quite often. Truffle reminds me so much of a chocolate cake's moist folds. It is so easy to apply and, just like a good slice of chocolate cake, the consistency is moist so you know this will just glide on your lids. Grape Vine is also smooth and glide like butter. Downside: these apply a bit sheer and you need several tries to make them opaque, unlike MAC fluidlines which give the richest hues in just one glide of the brush. These gel liners apply like a dream but are a bit lacking in the pigmentation department. However, a few tries would give deep, pigmented color, and for the price, this is a steal. The advantage of being sheer though is that you can build color. I also see this as great bases, just like paint pots, because of the sheerness in application.

Anyways, I am quite satisfied with my Coastal Scents purchase. Can't wait to do more looks using these.