So, today I had to go to the bank because I have a tuition payment due. I withdrew a little bit more than I needed so I could go pick up an eye palette I had had my eye on for awhile at Rite-Aid. Anywho, I went and picked up said palate and a couple other things besides. Since I only picked up 3 products I didn't want to do a full video for my first impressions, but I still wanted to share them. Perhaps If I pick up a couple more products in the next week or so, I will do a haul video.
First product = City Colors "special effect bright eye colors" palette in Multi-Flash
Referred to as "Lenticular" palettes (they must have come out around Lent), they retail for about $4, come with 10 eyeshadows, and you can choose amongst 3 palette compilations. I went with the most colorful one (Multi-Flash) but there is also one that comprises of neutrals, mostly browns (Dark Room) and one that is all blues and purples (Back Drop) Unfortunately this company does not have a website per se so I cannot be certain of the names of the palettes other than my own, but they do have a blog at http://citycolorcosmetics.blogspot.com/. I'm going to start with the pros and cons of the packaging. First of all, the packaging has this holographic cover, which is kind of neat, if not particularly chic. Two eyes that open and close.
This cover is kind of handy because it gives you an idea of which palette choice you have in your hands. The neutral palette's eyes use brown shadows, for example. This is useful because there is no other clues which colors you are getting unless you happen to know what name coincides with which palette. It would also be kind of neat if one could recreate the look on the cover. However the flip side is the holographic cover definitely gives a more juvenile (and cheap, which this product is inexpensive) vibe.... personally I don't care so much about the look of the packaging as the product within said packaging. That being said on top of the more juvenile holographic cover, the rest of the packaging is rather lackluster...a boxy black case that looks as if it might break pretty easily. Definitely not the best packaging in the world, but hey its $4, I don't expect awesome packaging. It's serviceable, and that is what matters here. Let's look at the shadows within, shall we?
As you can see, there are 10 shadows...colorful! Since my lighting is not the best today I will describe the colors right to left: a very light grey, a darker, mid-tone smokey gray, a slate blue, a matte black, a bright cobalt blue, a soft yellow, a bright tangerine/melon, a bright teal, a lavender purple, and a white. There is actually some variation in texture, the black is the only fully matte shade in this palette, but some of the other colors, such as the teal and cobalt, and noticeably less shimmer than, say, the lavender. Now, the pans are not huge and they are rather narrow so bear that in mind when picking an applicator, but it is certainly not unmanageable. This does come with a dual ended sponge tip applicator. Also, the palette has a lovely large mirror! Swatching time!
The pigmentation isn't bad with these shadows, and if washing off the swatches is any indication, some longevity... especially the black. I will admit that they are somewhat powdery so it will be interesting to see how they apply to the eye....will they stick? Crease? Fade?? Can't know until I try them out! They may also be a bit fragile, I had to take back the first one I picked up because it was broken when I opened it up at home, however I had no issues exchanging it for an unbroken one and the cashier let me unwrap and open it to check to make sure the replacement was unbroken before I left. The cashier said the guys working in the warehouse tend to toss things about so the first one might have gone through a lot of abuse before making it to the shelf. One final thing I like about it is the Cruelty Free bunny displayed on all the City Color products!
Overall first impressions = 2 stars out of 4... pretty colors with decent pigmentation, but the chincy packaging and the powdery, possibly fragile shadows brings down the overall score.
Next: City Colors Nailpolish (Spring Collection- Lilac)
There were several different Nailpolishes I wanted to try, but I limited myself to one. The City Color nailpolishes retail for about $2, according to my receipt I paid $1, there must have been a buy one get one 50% off deal going on that I was unaware of, but I can live with those kind of surprises! The packaging is very simple, a glass bottle that says City Colors plus a shrink wrap label that include the barcode, ingredients list, and the bunny. Unfortunately, the packaging does not list the color or even the line and since City Color does not have a website, I cannot be more specific. It does have a little less product than is standard, .3 fluid oz (8.7 ml) instead of .5, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially if you don't go through nail polish that quickly. The handle does have an adorable rose detail on the top!
Coverage-wise...it's alright... I put 3 coats plus a high gloss top coat on my nails and it is still not fully opaque. Well..the color is opaque, but the formula is a bit thin there are just a couple spots where the color is not quite as opaque but it's not that noticeable unless you are ocd about it..of course my base coat is glossy so it might have a more uniform coverage on a more traditional base coat. The color itself is lovely and not shimmery at all. Only time will tell how well it wears. My biggest issue with this nail polish is the smell...it has a REALLY strong odor. Nail polish usually has some sort of smell, of course, some stronger than others; but by a "really strong" odor, I mean borderline intolerable. Usually, the only smell I have issue with is baby powder, so for something to be nearly intolerable to me that isn't baby-powder like is saying alot. If anything would prevent me from purchasing another polish from City Colors, it would be that smell.
Overall first impression score: 2 stars out of 4 ... marginally for coverage, mostly for smell.
Final product was on SALE! 75% off!
Revlon CustomEyes palette in 025 Metallic Chic
Normally, this palette would retail for about $9, but since I found this in the discount bin, I only paid about $2.25. I've been wanting to try these shadows for the longest time, but the $9 price tag always stayed my hand, naturally I couldn't resist one at 75% off and I could live with the pretty earth tones in this palette. Now, I don't know if this particular color configuration is discontinued, but if I like the shadows in this set, I might just have to pick up more even if they aren't on sale. So, to get a better look at the shadows themselves.
A white, a forest green, a gold, a rusty/copper color, and a charcoal. As the name suggests, these shades are all metallic. Like the City Color palette, it comes with a dual ended sponge tip applicator, but one end is narrower than the other...also it seems a slightly better quality sponge, if you like sponge tip applicators.
When I swatched these shadows...they felt like butter, I also barely touched them and got a ton of color payoff...so these are definitely of higher quality than the City Color ones (due to the sale, I payed less for these too :-)!) Let us look see:
The rusty/copper color is not showing up as well on my skin in the poor light, but believe me, it is just as pigmented as the others. Overall I am quite impressed, they may even be better than my Too Faced ones! I love the feel of them..however, once again I will have to see how they wear on my eyes.
Overall first impression score = 4 stars out of 4
