Profusion Beauty Gift Set Review

So this is my review on the Profusion Beauty Gift Set I got from Walgreens a couple days ago. Due to the holiday season, there are a lot of deals going on so I bought this set for $14.99. It came with:

~6 nail polishes

~5 lipsticks

~4 eyeshadow pallets

~4 color corrector/concealers

~4 lip sugars

~2 lip glosses

~2 lip liners

~2 eye liners

~2 blushes

~2 face powders

~a variety of sponge applicators and brush applicators

Not a bad haul for $14.99. This is going to be a pretty long review, so I've only taken pictures and swatched items I'm more likely to use.

So here we go....

The Eyeshadow Pallets

So there were four that came in this gift set. Since the pallets had varying colors but specific themes in them, I'm going to refer to them as my "Spring", "Summer", "Fall" and "Winter" pallets to better differentiate between them.

I swatched two colors from each pallet on my hand over Urban Decay Primer Potion in the order: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. I also did a look using the Winter pallet and I will include a link down below to take you to my LOTD.

The shadows gave pretty decent pay off but were a little hard to blend. I also had to pack on a lot of the shadow to get the opacity I wanted, but considering the look I was doing, I probably would have to do that with other shadows as well, so I can't complain.

The Lipsticks

The lipsticks that came with the set were all right. Nothing I'd be overly thrilled to get. The reddest lipstick gave the best color payoff but it wasn't as pigmented as some lipsticks I've used in the past (MAC, L'Oreal, Wet n Wild, just to name a few). I had to really rub it on to my skin just to get them to show up on my skin. The lighter pinks and peach colored lipsticks had a little too much shimmer for my taste and I don't think they were the right tone to compliment my skin.

The Lip Glosses

I actually really liked the lip glosses. The red lip gloss reminded me of the holly berries that people decorate their homes with and showed up very nicely, even on my darker toned skin. And the peach colored lip gloss had little bits of gold shimmer in it (at least that's what I saw, lol) which I really liked. I could see myself using these lip glosses over lipsticks.

The Lip Sugars

These were way too sticky for me and the colors screamed "pre-teen" to me. Plus there was too much "buble gum" shimmer in them. I might give them to my daughter or include them in a giveaway I'm thinking of having.

The Lip/Eye Liners

Their your pretty standard lip and eye liners. They give decent pay off. I like the red lip liner though. I could see myself using it to do a red lip sometime in the future.

The Color Correcter/Concealers

They blended right into the skin which I suppose is a good think, but they almost completely disappeared which leads me to believe that I would have to use a lot of product to make a difference in correcting and concealing skin blemishes and there really isn't that much product in a pot. I might throw these into my PROkit just for back up purposes.

As for the nail polishes, blushes, and face powders, I don't think I'll ever really use them, but I wouldn't mind giving them to my daughter to play around with.

All in all, I really liked the eye shadow pallets and lip glosses. I don't think I lost out on anything knowing what many eye shadow pallets and lip glosses run for these days.

This gift set is cool for what it is and is a great starter kit for someone getting started in makeup and wanting to experiment with using different colors.

I hope you liked this review!


link to LOTD using Winter pallet: http://chaselovemakeupartistry.blogspot.com/2011/11/lotd-winter-snow-princess.html

TKB Trading Haul/Review

recently, i found out a dear friend works for a mineral make up/distributing company based out of the Bay Area. she came to visit me at my school and even brought me a little sample of some shadow. (we had a good laugh because she walked to the bathroom and when she walked out she saw me testing the shadow on my hand. she said i looked like an addict of some sort. LOL. i AM a make up junkie after all.)

after her visit, i went home and checked out the site. it is called TKB Trading and has been around since the early 90's. my friend, who works in the shipping department, told me how far their business ranges all over the world, all the way from here to Australia.

the site is extremely user friendly and easy to navigate. there are a variety of things to take a look at from DIY mineral make up kits, to ready made eyeshadows, lipsticks, bath salts and dyes, etc. since my main attraction was the make up, i immediately maneuvered myself over the "Colored Micas" under the makeup tab. they have over 200 different eyeshadows, ranging from vibrant to muted shimmers, and enough sparkles to assuage any make up junkies next fix. after poring through the pages and pages of colored shadows, i finally came up with 14 shadows that i decided i had to have. TKBs Pop! Collection in Raspberry Pop, Strawberry Pop, Tangerine Pop, Lemon Drop Pop, Apple Green Pop, Blueberry Pop and Grape Pop. Then some metallic as well as some soft shimmers in Crucible Gold, Crucible Red, Sagittaire Mica, China Jade, Smokey XXX, Copper Basics and a beautiful brown red shadow with blue interference called Chameleon Fine.

14 shadows for only -get this- $1.50 per sample. and each sample consists of about 1 full tablespoon (approx. 15 grams)! shipping was only $3.25 and it took 4 days from when i initially placed my order. so for loads of product, cheap AND fast shipping, i only spent a little less than $25.00! sounds almost too good to be true, right? well, yeah, it does. there had to be something that wasn't adding up. so, naturally came the next question, "how does it show up on the skin?"

being a darker skinned girl, i usually have issues with shadows that aren't as vibrant on my skin as i'd like them to be without some kind of mixing medium. especially those that are yellow and purple based shadows. so i did what any make up junkie would do.

SWATCHES!!!

First up: Raspberry Pop, Strawberry Pop, Lemon Drop Pop and Grape Pop.

Dry w/ flash:

Wet (using MAC's Studio Fix +) w/ flash:

Next: Apple Green Pop, Blueberry Pop, Chameleon Fine, Smokey XXX and Sagittaire

Dry w/ flash:

Wet (using MAC's SF+) w/ flash:

Last: Crucible Gold, Copper Basics, Crucible Red, China Jade and Patagonia Purple (the sample given to me by my dear friend, Nancy!)

Dry w/ flash:

Wet (using MACs SF+) w/ flash:

As you can see, the color pay off is really good, especially foiled using Studio Fix + or any other type of mixing medium.

I also wondered about durability, so I decided to try out one of the shadows to a reception I was attending this past weekend. I chose Copper Basics for my eyeshadow over Urban Decay's Primer Potion and using MAC's Studio Fix + to set it.

Beginning of the night (please don't mind the wolf-woman brows, lol):

Copper Basics on lid, Urban Decay's Smog and Grifter in crease and Sin on brow bone.

I love how the copper shows up so vibrantly on my skin. so far so good!

End of the night after dancing and partying hard with my friends:

as you can see, the shadow stayed in place very nicely even though i'd sweat underneath it from all the dancing i had been doing. if anything, the only issue was my eyeliner which had run slightly into the corners of my eyes. there was minimal creasing and it was still as vibrant as when i'd walked out of the house some 8 hours earlier. the shadow was also very easy to remove with some make up remover wipes and didn't leave any stains or irritation.

so i can easily say that i am very pleased with this product and will more than likely be shopping at this site again!

Thanks for the heads up, Nancy!

hope you enjoyed this review!

XOXOX