Em Cosmetics Beach Life Palette: Cabana Party

And so it comes down to the last (well, rather, first) quadrant of the Em Cosmetics Beach Life Palette which features a selection of pinks and browns. It doesn't really scream out Cabana Party" to me, but I didn't really know what to expect considering the previous quadrants, with a giant bag of hit and mix.

I swear, I should not have expected much from the highlight shade. Seriously, if 2/3 of the previous highlight shades were terrible, you would assume based on probability that it would be just as terrible. And yeah, it was. The next two pink shades proved quite pigmented and mostly smooth too, the deeper pink shade a bit more chalky. Then the next neutral matte wasn't too great, but I'm thinking that Em Cosmetics just does not fare well for mattes. The only thing that's been decent is the satins, but you can't just make a look out of satins, right? The grey matte shade was pretty bad too, but the brown was a bit better, although not quite so matte so my theory holds true. 

The lipglosses/lipsticks in this quadrant were quite a bit of a nicer surprise, they were pigmented and smooth, although they still had that sticky feel to it. The darker pink shade leaves a deep pink stain onto your lips which I find to be quite attractive, perhaps looks better than the "stained glass" look of the lipstick itself.

The blush is quite nice as well, it doesn't have any glitters or is overly shimmery, maybe just a slight satin finish, but it is mostly matte. It's quite the pigmented blush too, but seems to pretty much blend out. So that's not really the best type of blush, but it's pretty enough... Still probably not the right shade for my skintone - just a slight bit too deep I think.

Without Flash

With Flash

Applying the eyeshadows on the eyes were pretty much the same pigment, I would recommend using a natural fiber brush rather than a synthetic brush just so you can get more punch out of the shadow. I quite liked the formation of shadow in the Cabana Party look, possibly one of my favourite looks given out of the Life Palette. Though I will say I don't really know when that light shimmery mauve toned pink shade would be used (maybe on the lower lash line for a pop of colour?). 

The blush applied as I thought it would, overly pigmented but still blended away so I don't know what to think of this blush besides... Cheap.

The lipgloss was pretty okay, but, again, I prefer the stain over the actual product itself.

Before

After

This is pretty much the epitome of the palette, where the shades are half there, the other are a surprising shade and the blushes could go either way. The lipglosses however are different in this quadrant, in that they are quite pigmented, but I think you could tell from looking at them in the pan. They still maintain the same stickiness of the other glosses and don't have much of a longevity. The combinations of the colours in this quadrant was quite nice however, the pinks look fantastic on the eyes and go well with the deep browns. The lipsticks and blushes leave something to be desired in terms of the overall style. But this quadrant really is a summation of what you would expect roughly of the palette. 

Em Cosmetics Beach Life Palette: Summer Getaway Look

The second last quadrant to be reviewed of the Em Cosmetics Beach Life Palette is filled with promising neutral bronze-y shades, as one would expect from something called a Beach palette.The previous two quadrants reviewed (Sunshine Lover and Poolside) had a mixture of hit and miss shadows, with Poolside being more successful in quality. Unfortunately, the quadrant today performed very poorly.

I swear this picture looked better on my camera

My god. This look like some nice neutral-ish  shades that can even be built up to make a party look, right? Righhht? Yeah. I was heavily disappointed when I started swatching these eyeshadows. Almost all have close to no pay-off and don't feel smooth at all. The peachy golden shade was a nice surprise, just in terms of the colour, I was expecting a duller colour looking at the product in the pan, but it turns more golden and satin-y when swatched. The medium bronzey brown shade (middle left) was probably the smoothest shadow, but the pay-off was the same disappointment.

The lipglosses (lipstick?) were super sticky, the same as the others. And they are quite shimmery, but the colours themselves are pretty nice. Once the majority of the product has faded or wore off (which is actually quite quickly), there are traces of gold sparkle left which gives the lips a nice sheen. 

The blush could possibly be the redeeming point of this palette. This is really smooth, nicely pigmented and has a nice sheen to it that adds a glow to your face. I think this is my favourite blush so far out of the entire palette (I mean, there are only four, though, but still). It's a peachy shade, but not too much glitter or sparkle, perhaps you could call it very smooth, even shimmer? I'm not even usually a fan of peachy blushes, but this looks nice and quite subtle in a good way on the cheeks.

Without Flash

With Flash

I wasn't expecting much from this palette quadrant when applying, based on the swatches, but, as usual, they did perform better on actual application. The shadows are just a slightly more pigmented version than the swatches, but most of them are pretty much accurate in their relation to each other (if that makes sense, the more pigmented swatches are more pigmented on the eyes than the less). The satin peach shade was used as a base and that's pretty much the best shadow that applied on the eyes. The rest were pretty much less average to average. And, in previous, while the colours matched well in the given look, the gold colour just didn't seem to fit to me as an inner corner highlight. Blending a bit on the browbone was pretty okay, but it just seemed a bit of a stretch.

The lipglosses were sticky on the lips as I expected and lasted not long at all, maybe about half an hour to an hour? Just a clear gloss with a bit of shine is all it is really.

The blush was fantastic as I was expecting, and it does apply quite sheer on the cheeks. But you can build it up and it doesn't look patchy, though it gives a nice slight sheen on the cheeks. It goes quite well with my NC30 skintone; I don't really see this shade working too well on lighter skintones, although it could perhaps work as a highlighter for deeper skintones. It's not too shimmery too which I like about it.

Before

After

I stand by comments earlier in this post: this quadrant is the most disappointing in this palette. The quality is just not there, the pay-off is very lacking and the shadows are hard as anything. The lipglosses are sticky and the longevity is pitiful. Again, the only redeeming factor could perhaps be the blush. It's smooth, with a nice finish and a gorgeous colour for medium skintones. I can slowly see what I would actually be using and what will take more work, so the travel palette would work out nicely to choose out the pans that will actually be worth it.

Em Cosmetics Beach Life Palette: Poolside Look

I'm really quite enjoying playing around with this Beach Life Palette by Em Cosmetics. There's just a lot of choice, and what with the huge range of reviews from saying "I returned this" to "this is the best palette ever", of course you have to find out yourself what really works in order to get a good impression. I decided to go a bit brighter and more out-there today, and went for the fourth quadrant of the palette that has got a lot of blues and shimmery white.

This quadrant has actually got quite a few impressive shadows. The blues are fantastically pigmented, and the shimmery white highlight is particularly vibrant. The majority are smooth and show a lot of colour in just one swipe, the exception for this, however, is that peachy pink eyeshadow. That one is actually a bit rough in texture, nowhere near as smooth as the others. None of them really kick up that must dust either, not even the white shade which I fare to be the butter-iest, but the dark blue shade (like the dark shade of the third quadrant) does have the slightest bit of fluff to it. Again, a shame because it's so dark and close to the lip products.

The lipgloss is pretty nice, a bit more solid than the lipgloss from the Sunshine Lover look, but it is quite pale, so it doesn't work too well on my pigmented lips and skintone. The lipstick is very, very soft and squishy, I can't imagine this being in an actual bullet form. It's of sheer pigmentation too, but a nice orange tone.

The blush is really nice in this quadrant too, it's very smooth and quite pigmented. No dust either. It has a slight sheen to it, maybe a little more than a satin finish, but really no shimmers in it. It leans more pink than in the pan which I quite like, but it does keep the peachy coral undertone. This is really nice for, I would assume, almost all skintones, even much paler and deeper skintones alike.

left to right, without flash: anti-clockwise starting from the top left corner

With Flash

I used the designated look again for this quadrant called "Poolside". These eyeshadows apply really nicely on the eyes, pretty much on par to the swatches and they blend really well, the peachy pink applies better than the swatch, though. This is really quite the frosty look, because of the combination of the blue and the white in particular, so I suppose this could be a look for a "pool party" I suppose. But it still quite bright. I used the dark blue for a liner as I wanted a more deeper liner look, just to contrast a bit better with all the lighter shades. As much as I love how easy it is to line with the shadow using the angled brush included, the order of instructions perplexes me, in that you line your eyes and then add the shadows. It diffuses the line a bit too much for my liking.

The blush is really quite nice, a bit more sheer on my skintone, but I like going light on the blush. It probably would have worked better with a denser brush, but the eyes were so bright, I was hoping for a more neutral rest of the face. 

I used the lipgloss for this look, it is quite light and sheer even though the designated look says that the lipgloss is more for a 'pop' look, I don't really see it being a 'pop' colour.

Before

After

Close-up of the eyes

While I do like that they give you looks to follow, it does use a bit too many of the colours, I feel, and the order is a bit whack. If you're following the look given, it really almost defeats one of the main ideas of the palette being that it's for the woman on-the-go. There are quite a few steps, and the liner pretty much disappears after applying the other shadows, but it's nice if you apply it on the lower lash line, especially the deep blue. These shades will probably make it into my favourites from the palette, just based on how smooth and pigmented they are. I don't think they are the creamiest I've ever tried, but they can probably gain the "luxury" name these are meant to have. Again, a more out-there look, but if you love blues, these are pretty decent. 

Em Cosmetics Beach Life Palette: Sunshine Lover

Oh boy, oh boy. First time using the Em Cosmetics Beach Life Palette today, both swatches and for today's makeup! I chose to go for look 3: sunshine lover, i.e. the third quadrant of the palette, as the colours seem quite neutral (going to go meet with the bf's parents for a late lunch) and just happens to contain two gorgeous colours that pulled me in, the orange and the shimmery brown-black.

quadrant 3

Out of the eyeshadows, the rose champagne (mid left), the shimmery brown (bottom left) and the orange fared the best for swatching. These shades were smooth and pretty pigmented, and the dark satin brown fared pretty well too, albeit not quite as pigmented as the others. The shimmery black brown was a tiny bit patchy and a bit dry, not as smooth as the others. What was the worst of the shadows is that damn gold shade (top left). Terrible. And it was the first one I swatched too, so bad first impression! I was scared the shadows were all going to be dry and scratchy and just difficult to work with. The payoff is really bad as well, thumbs down for the gold. Though, the majority of the shadows in this quadrant were pretty good, about medium pigmentation but nothing really too special, but the darker colours were much better than the lighter ones. All of them were not super buttery, but they are smooth enough to use... Apart from the gold.

The lipgloss (the shimmery taupe brown) is very sticky, and almost a clear gloss with a bit of sparkle. I can see where the issue of shadows being next to lip products can create an issue, as you can see in the photos, a bit of the previous shade got the tiniest bit in the gloss. The lipstick has a much nicer texture, this one isn't too pigmented, but it swatches like punch and it not too sticky.

The blush is actually pretty decent. Not too pigmented but not too sheer either. Swatches a bit smoother than most of the eyeshadows, it's a medium peachy-brown, more on the neutral side than bright.

swatches going anti-clockwise starting from the upper left shade, without flash

With Flash

So I followed the look designated for this quadrant called "sunshine lover"... Don't really know where they come up with these names, but okay. All the eyeshadows apply A LOT better on the eyes, par, again, for the gold. I seriously hate that gold shade. Maybe if I scrap off the top of it and underneath could be better? But anyway. I love the orange, it applied evenly and pigmented, just so easy to work with. I used the shimmery brown-black as a liner with the included angled brush, and it looks wonderful for lining the eyes. It does kick up a bit of dust though when using the brush, which is particularly an issue as it is so dark and right next to the gloss. Contouring with the shimmery brown was also pretty good, it blended with the orange really well, the colours compliment each other nicely, I think, as did the "pop of colour" rose champagne shade. Why would they even suggest the gold if it is so crap, though, seriously. Even applying with a natural hair brush, it was pretty bad, patchy on the eyes, but you can barely see it anyway. 

No complaints really about the blush, didn't kick up dust and applied like normal. So nothing too special at all either.

The gloss is pretty much clear, it went on a lot more glittery on the lips than in the arm swatch, maybe a bit too glittery for my tastes. It doesn't have a particular scent, besides that makeup scent, and it is quite sticky as I suspected it would be on the lips, but it isn't too heavy.

The Sunshine Lover look

Before

After

Close up of the eyes

So far, my opinion of this palette is not that impressed. It's good that 5/6 of the shadows were actually pretty nice, but none of them were too special or exceptionally pigmented, or exceptionally creamy either. The gold, I will say again, was terrible. The double ended brush that comes with it, however, I quite like, especially the angled brush end. Very thin, precise, doesn't hurt the eyes and works well. The blush is average as well, but I like that it isn't too powdery and kicks up dust. As for the lip products? The gloss is a bit more for parties as a topper, probably not best to be worn alone, I haven't tried the lip stick on the lips yet, but I am so far liking the consistency and colour from the swatch.