Coastal Scents--Two Hits, One Just Okay

So, in our spare time at work, a couple of girls and I ordered from Coastal Scents. We all ordered the Silica Sphere Powder. One girl has the Make Up For Ever HD Powder, made of 100% fine milled silica powder. Guess what the only ingredient of CS Silica Sphere Powder is? That's right, 100% fine milled silica powder! It is $4 for 1 oz, as opposed to $30 for about .3 oz. It is seriously EXACTLY the same, for so much cheaper. I love it already. It is like a much better mineral veil, by Bare Escentuals, because it is more mattifying. I can only use it sparingly because it can be a bit drying, but it definitely gives skin that glow and airbrush finish. I use it with a mini kabuki brush I got in an Ecotools set from Long's Drugs. Perfection. The Make Up For Ever set of powder/brush is $39. The difference is in the packaging. The CS packaging is very cheap and bulky. I had an extra small sifter jar that I used to put my powder in, to store in my purse for a mid-day shine reducer. Shipping was only $4.70 for our order--including the powders, gel liners and liner brushes.

I had read rave reviews of CS gel liner, but unfortunately, it does not match the quality of my Bobbi Brown gel liner. On my upper lid, it didn't budge. The liner under my eyes smeared slighty as the day wore on. Very disappointing. My BB liner DOES NOT move all day. But, it is $14 more.

I have a Bobbi Brown Ultra Fine Eyeliner Brush that I use with my gel liner, but decided to try the $1.99 super fine brush from CS. I have to say that it is more accurate than my BB brush! I was so excited. I love finding bargains that are comparable quality to the splurge. I don't mind splurging on quality, but it is so exciting to pay less and get the same results!

If I worked for a cosmetics company...

Bare Escentuals finally put one of their Mineral Veil in a portable form.

Why couldn't they do the same with their foundation?

Or, better yet, why can't Make Up For Ever do it with this??

Make Up For Ever

I am only beginning to discover the wonders of this brand. I had heard of the waterproof "Aqua Eye" eyeliner. However, I have tested so many "waterproof" pencil liners and am convinced that the only truly waterproof are gel liners (like Bobbi Brown.)

Alot of magazines and beauty blogs are raving about the new High Definition Powder, and how its light-reflecting particles mask any skin imperfections and set makeup with 100% mineral silica powder (seriously, this is all from my memory...no joke, everyone is writing about it.) So, I got myself down to Sephora to try it out.

I go to Sephora about once every few weeks, and have a list of all the products I want to play with. While playing around at Make Up For Ever, I tried on the Pearly Waterproof Eyeshadow Pencil in shimmery taupe. It went on kind of creamy and I had a blend a little, but--boy--did that stuff stay put. I was seriously impressed. I usually put in the eyelid primer, then eyeshadow (on the odd day that I actually wear eyeshadow.) This was one step. If they had it in gray, I would snap that thing up.

$18