Life is Difficult Sometimes

I don't feel that personal information like this should be announced on Eldemore but I also don't like to leave everyone hanging with very few updates. We are still actively working on things, sadly at a slower pace than we anticipated. I'm sorry this won't be a very positive update. I've decided to post all this in my personal blog at the very least.

The last few years were not kind to us.

I can only speak for my own personal problems and struggles, but know that Benathorn and Zayin also have their own struggles. The amazing thing about having family work together on the site is that when things are great, they are really great and we can get a lot done in a short amount of time. The downside to that is when there are family emergencies or tragedies it effects all the admins at once. Unfortunately 2017-2019 had things happen that effected all three of us deeply.
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2015/2016 - Finally admitting to feelings of depression, having a breakdown and getting medical help with the support and encouragement of my family. I was diagnosed with clinical depression and it is still an ongoing issue as of 2020.

2017 - We lost our Paternal Grandfather. Our Grandmother never recovered from his loss and her health began to deteriorate.

2018 - A cousin struggling with a painful illness committed a very public suicide. Most of the family found out about it over the local news. If you or someone you know struggles with thoughts of suicide please talk to someone: ( call 1-800-273-8255 and/or visit https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ )

2019 - We lost our Paternal Grandmother. We almost lost our Father due to blood clots/clot breakage in both legs and both lungs. It came out of nowhere and he collapsed at home. It was thanks to the quick action of EMS, doctors and our local hospital that he survived. We lost Rosie, our 15 year old Pekingese. We lost two uncles in December.

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I have only briefly touched on some serious things that we and our family have been struggling with. While I appreciate the concern given I don't feel comfortable further discussing personal or family problems.

Zayin is still working on all the new coding from scratch. All while juggling a full time job and despite everything that's been happening. It is taking longer than any of us would like but we have no plans to stop and will continue to work behind the scenes during the hiatus. Thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

I hope that 2020 is kind to everyone and that we can heal and make some good memories this year.

-Jendalie

Back to Basics!

After a year of using the other blog I've decided to switch back to Blogger for its simplicity.

Still struggling with depression but writing therapy seems to be helpful. So I'll start posting again here.

Some things I'll be talking about:

Games

Makeup

Tech

Art

Misc. Hobbies

Here's a random picture of Bleu so this post doesn't look so boring!

New Fancy Blog in the Works!

It's almost been a year since my last entry. Seems about right for me. I've actually been too busy with work to do any personal writing or beauty posts. That's a good thing!

I use writing as a form of therapy for clinical depression. I get a few monthly subscriptions to give myself something to look forward to. Beauty products I receive or purchase make me want to take better care of myself. Gaming boxes are fun to open and give me something new to try and play during my free time. Anything extra or things that don't work for me become gifts for family and friends, since I have sensitive skin things can be hit or miss.

I also dabble in photography (I fell in love after taking in-depth courses in college) and want to start travelling and posting what I shoot. So I'm putting some things together and re-starting with a professional looking blog with it's own domain. I will post a new post with a link when it's finished! I loosely predict it being available around the end of April. If it goes live earlier then all the better!

I'm getting my health and weight under control. 17 years of weight gain due to PCOS, stress, anxiety and emotional eating has left me at 275 lbs. I'm 5' 1''...so that's grossly obese (or fat, if you will). I'm proud to announce that I've lost over 10 lbs in the first week! My doctor has put my ideal weight for my small frame and height at 115-120 lbs. So that's exactly what I'm going to aim for. I begin going to the local YMCA later in the week.

Eldemore has been growing and we've been hard at work on new features and artwork. I'm excited to introduce new characters, locations, avatar artwork and a whole new map section! Lots of fun new things in the works for this year. (:

Stay safe and be well!

- Jendalie

Petit Vour April 2015

So...it's been a while. I had a bad relapse with clinical depression shortly after getting back on, so I've been mainly focusing on getting better. Things are leveling back out and looking up so I decided to get back in the swing of obscure blogging. ^^'

I've re-subscribed back to Petit Vour, a cruelty-free and vegan beauty monthly subscription service. For $15 a month you receive a selection of sample and full size products. They offer free shipping to the US. 

April 2015 ''Spring Forward' Collection:

Konjac Sponge Co. '100% Pure Konjac' (full) $12

Lauren B Nail Polish in '#ImSoLa' (full) $18

Box Naturals Luxe Towelettes (Trial Pack) $1.29

Suntegrity 5 in 1 Tinted BB Cream Sunscreen (0.25oz) $4.95

Total Box Worth: $36.24


*I've posted links to the items on the product list for anyone that wants to do further research for themselves.



The Konjac Sponge has to be my favorite of the pack! It comes sealed and and dry. When wet, it becomes very soft and can be gently rubbed in a circular motion (with or without cleanser) on the face. It's re-usable and lasts about 2-3 months. And it actually works! The April box supplies a full sized sponge and I've been using it daily and so far I rally like what I see.

The Lauren B Beauty polish I received is such a pretty bright berry pink! Perfect for both Spring and Summer. This polish is from a 5-free line which means no formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, DBP, toluene or camphor. The polish is expensive and alone is more than worth the box.

Box Naturals are packets of towelettes made from natural ingredients, no synthetics. They come in either Rosewater or Lavender scented. The full size product is $9 for 12 towelettes so it's on the pricey side. But I love the scents and how versatile and gentle the product is.

Suntegrity is a well known sun protection and skin brand. I received a sample size of '5 in 1 Natural Moisturizing Face Sunscreen' in the shade Fair. It's basically a tinted moisturizer with 30 spf. I've been trying it over the past 2 days and so far so good. It's very nice and seems to provide fairly good coverage, moisture and sun protection without needing to re-apply. The full size is 1.7 oz for $45, so it's very expensive. Looking at the ingredients, I'm not entirely sure why it's so expensive for such a small amount. But it does work so I will consider purchasing full size.

Again, please check out the links in the product list if you are interested in anything from the April Petit Vour box.

ColourPop Cosmetics

ColourPop is a new 'made in the USA' cosmetics company that's affordable and animal friendly (they don't test on animals)! They have a unique shadow pot formula and really great lipstick and lip pencils (or Lippie Stix). Every shadow and lip product is only $5 with free shipping on any $30 purchase. So I had to buy a few things!

My first order included two shadows in the colors '3' and 'Amaze', both have a gorgeous metallic finish and the formula has to be one of the best I've tried. They come pressed with a into white pots with a screw on lid. They are bouncy and very soft/creamy to the touch. Apply the shadow with your fingertip and then blend with a soft synthetic brush. I have never experienced any fall out or creasing with these! I then purchased 2 Lippie Stix and 2 Lippie Pencils in the matching colors 'Lumiere' and 'Frida', both are gorgeous nude pink colors! 'Frida' is a brighter warm nude pink in a satin finish. 'Lumiere' is a darker cool dusty pink in a matte finish. The Lippie Stix work best and last longer when used with their Lippie Pencil counterparts.

The Lippie Stix twist up as you use it while the Lippie Pencils need to be sharpened as they are worn down. The packaging is solid and easy to take on-the-go.

Here are swatches in order from top to bottom: 3, Amaze, Frida and Lumiere (Pencil/Stix).

They are all really gorgeous colors! Very pigmented and creamy.

I liked everything in the first order so much and with the new matte shadows released on ColourPop's site, I had to try a few more things. I made an account on the site and received a $5 off coupon which I used to get one of the shadows shown for free. $30 for all of this was a really good deal!

-Swatches and photos taken in dim indoor lighting.

 ('Mittens' matte)

 ('Girl Crush' matte)

 ('Desert' matte)

('Hanky Panky' matte) 

('Cop A Feel' matte)

('Sequin' metallic) 

('I Heart This' metallic) 

Swatches shown in order from top to bottom: Mittens, Girl Crush, Desert, Hanky Panky, Cop A Feel, Sequin and I Heart This. Cop A Feel is almost invisible on my skin. All of the colors and finishes are beautiful!

Final Thoughts:

I am in love with ColourPop! Their products are animal friendly, affordable, great quality and made right here in the US. The company seems really nice as well, with both orders I received a hand written note saying thank you or offering a positive quote.

I look forward to seeing what new things come from ColourPop this year. (:

Coastal Scents Revealed Palette

I received this palette in my December Boxycharm subscription. Coastal Scents has a nice selection of affordable shadows. It's available here on the official Coastal Scents site for $19.95. 

The included shadows range from matte to shimmer in neutral shades. All of the colors shown are very pigmented and creamy.



Shadows and Swatches:

Shadows applied dry (no primer) on 01 pale skin and with indoor lighting.

I'm breaking the palette into 3 parts to better show the colors and how they swatch.

Swatched from left to right and top to bottom.

The first two shadows don't show up that well on me.

This photo is slightly overlapping with the above one. I'm only focusing on the last 4 shades.

The black is really velvety and pigmented!















Final Thoughts:

I'm really loving this palette! The colors look amazing, natural and go with all skin tones. The only downside is the large amount of fall out when using a brush. Even when using my fingers some of the colors would get all over the place. But they are pigmented and easy to blend so that's not a deal breaker for me.

Technical Issues

I'm having some problems with my iPhone 5S (what I take my photos with) so I will not be able to post up November/December things. It's unfortunate since my Disney photos and videos are also on the phone. Seems that something is corrupted. Aah well, no point sweating the small things. I have my memories for the holiday trip and what I posted up on my Instagram profile.

So I'm just going to start with January...and pretend like nothing happened in November or December.  <<

I have a few beauty products and subscriptions to review, so I'll have those posted up later today. (:

I hope everyone had a great holiday season last month and that 2015 is treating you well!

Small Update!

I've had a lot of personal things to deal with and haven't had much time to post reviews or experiences with products or subscription services the past month or so. I'm feeling better lately and I finally have some free time from work.

Better late than never!

I will have November posts up over the next few days for Wantable, Ipsy and Boxycharm. I will also update with December goodies as they arrive.

We've got a trip to Disney this holiday season. That means Christmas at the Magic Kingdom! The resort looks amazing and I can't wait to see all the holiday decorations, lights and trees. Will also be celebrating my 26th birthday while I'm there! I might make a haul with park things if I get anything worth mentioning (the only thing I purchased last visit was a pin). Not very familiar with hauls but it was suggested and requested by an online friend. So much to look forward to and be thankful for this month!

I've got Influenster to thank for giving me a push to post again and put myself out there a little more. It's a great thing for people that struggle with meeting new people, sharing and shyness. (:

October Beauty Subscriptions

Boxycharm October 2014

Not the best box but still a fantastic value!

- Palmetto Derma Collagen Booster & Restoration Serum  $48.00

- Coastal Scents Eclipse Concealer Palette  $19.95

- Cult/Commerce x Boxycharm 'shady' polish duo  $21

- Be a Bombshell Eyeshadow  $14

- Starlooks Ultra Gem Pencil  $14


Total box value = $116.95



The Palmetto Serum has an odd smell. It's not bad just unusual. I'm only 25 so I  don't really need to use any serums and I don't usually notice anything when I apply them.

Coastal Scents is a great affordable brand and I was really excited to see their concealer palette in Octobers box. Unfortunately the formulas are drying and hard to work with. I would suggest heating them a little with a blow dryer to allow them to apply and blend easier. I have really pale skin and all but three of the shades were too dark for me. So this will be gifted to my olive skinned youngest sister.

The 'Shady' polish trio is massively overpriced. The brushes are very stiff and don't apply the polish smoothly. They chip within 24 hours of applying without using a top coat. The packaging is also tiny. While the colors are Halloween themed, there are much better polishes out there for less money.

Be a Bombshell is a nice brand and their shadows tend to be very pigmented and smooth. The color I received was a very pretty autumn brass color. Unfortunately anything gold or orange looks terrible on me.

Starlooks Ultra Gem Pencil in 'Ultra Violet' is my favorite thing from the box and the only item I kept. It's a pretty blue jean lilac eye pencil with a slight shimmer. It applies very smoothly and is very blendable. I suggest wearing an eye primer underneath the pencil because it tends to wear off after a few hours worn alone.


While I can't use the majority of the items in this box, they will make great gifts for the holidays! Thank you for another great box Boxycharm. (:



IPSY October 2014

- Figs & Rouge Hand Cream in 'Mango Mandarin' $6.56
- MicaBeauty Mineral Eye Shadow in 'Harlequin' $?
- Starlooks Lip Gloss in 'Guilty Pleasure' (sample)
- Skyn Iceland Mini Glacial Cleansing Cloths (10 ct) $5
- ECRU New York Acacia Protein BB Cream Hair Beauty Balm (1 oz) $12




I'm not a fan of the hand cream. The cream itself is nice and moisturizing but the scent gave me a headache. It's a very sweet and fruity smell so if you like products like that you may like this lotion.

MicaBeauty is a nice cosmetics brand. I wish we had received a different color other than greens for this product. There's no way I can make this work, I look very bad with emerald eyelids. The eye shadow is very pigmented but messy.

The Starlooks lip gloss was fantastic! The color is a 'my lips but better' for me and I wear it everyday. I just wish we were given a larger size, the sample is tiny. Very creamy, pigmented and smooth. Not very sticky and kept my lips moisturized.

The Glacial Cleansing cloths are really great! I have sensitive skin and these worked wonders when removing makeup of just to refresh my face. The scent is very pleasant and fresh. The only downside is the $15 price tag for a 30 count cloth bag. But I feel it's worth the money.

The ECRU BB hair cream was something I had to get used to. The scent is pleasant and it does make my hair very smooth and silky.


A great value for this months glam bag! A little bit of a let down with the lotion and eye shadow but the bag is only $10. I can always gift away what I don't want to keep.

September Beauty Boxes

Since I've been really really lagging in the subscription box review department, I decided to do a larger basic post including Boxycharm, Ipsy and Wantable. After starting several medications for a string of health problems, developing a sinus infection and having to deal with some work issues..last month was pretty stressful.

I'm also just lazy and didn't want to take some images off of my phone and write up a review. I don't think anyone even reads them lol.


Wantable Makeup September 2014

I usually only purchase a wantable box every other month. At $36 (shipping included) they tend to be pricey but a really good value. The items are always full size and the value of the total box is always worth double or more than what I pay. If you have some money saved up and are looking to start to start or try new things than this might be a good service to try.

And I have somehow lost the paper that listed the prices.

- Vincent Longo stain in 'Liquid Kiss' $24
- Vincent Longo velvet riche lipstick in 'Indie Rose' $23
- MUD eyeshadow in 'Bronzed' $14.50
- Face Stockholm nail color in '#25?' $12
- MICA Beauty Cosmetics Kabuki $35

Total Box Value = $108.50 (Wow!)

Both the stain and lipstick are pretty colors, the stain looking the best with my skin tone and pigmented lips. The stain is very blendable while wet and once it dries it does tend to stay put all day with very little fading.

The shadow color is gorgeous and the product is very pigmented. It just looks terrible on me. My entire personalized quiz shows I am very pale, cool undertoned with blond hair so I have no idea why they sent orange gold to me. Is it because I have earthy tones chosen? I wish I could exchange the color for literally any other MUD shade.

The polish is a basic cream blue lavender color. It chipped after 2 days with a top coat.

I was very excited for the MICA kabuki brush! It has little to no bristle fall out. The brush is very soft but firm enough to blend face products well.

Aside from the odd shadow color I loved Septembers makeup box! I plan on giving my shadow away to one of my younger sisters since both have our mothers olive skin, which unfortunately skipped me.


Boxycharm September 2014

Boxycharm is my absolute favorite beauty sub box! At only $21 (shipping included) I always receive 4-5 full sized products from all kinds of brands and price ranges. The box is always an amazing value.

I apologize for the bad photos from this one. I was moving my room around again and couldn't use my regular photo location.

- tarte LipSurgence lip gloss in 'tipsy' $19

- Coastal Scents Go Palette in 'Moscow' $12.95

- NCLA Nail Lacquer in 'Model Behavior' $16

- Tarina Tarantino limited edition fleur de lash mascara in 'Black Opal' $19

- Hello by Harvey Prince fragrance 10mL $29

Total Box Value = $95.95 (Nice!)

I love love love everything in this box! They can continue to put Tarantino products in every box if they like, I absolutely love the products and packaging.

I'm also really happy with the Hello fragrance. I was actually thinking about purchasing the full size. But that price tag for a fragrance the size of a lip gloss was hard to justify. The fragrance notes are Meyer Lemon, White Grapefruit and Satsuma Mandarin. It's a delicate sweet scent.

The mascara is amazing. The bristles are evenly dispersed and thick so you can 'wiggle' the brush slightly while applying to get thick, but natural looking, lashes.

The tarte lipgloss is in clear packaging so the color applies exactly the way it looks in the tube. The formula is pretty thick and sticky but long lasting.

The NCLA polish is a black plum color and applies smoothly. But it will chip in under 24 hours without a top coat.

The product that everyone was really excited about would be the travel coastal scents palette! There were several color collections we might receive and I happened to get the 'Moscow' palette.

I have each color show in order from left to right and top to bottom. Shadows swatched dry and without a primer base.

I love many of the browns and reds, they look great with my skin tone and green eyes!






IPSY September 2014

Ipsy is extremely affordable at only $10 (shipping included) a month! You usually receive 4-5 full size or luxury sample size products ranging from skin care to makeup. The products range from name brand to drugstore.

- Hikari Matte Lipstick in 'Cabernet' $13
- Deluxe Infinity Shadow/Crease Brush $7
- Pacifica Water-Proof Liner in 'Fringe' (sample)
- Nourish Organic Moisturizing Cream Face Cleanser (1 oz sample)
- CAVIAR CC Hair Cream (0.85 oz sample)

Total Value = around $30 (samples estimated)

Hikari 'Cabernet' and Pacifica 'Fringe' swatched.

The lipstick is a really pretty dark pink. While it's matte it doesn't dry out my lips too much and is long lasting. I really like it!

And finally, a BROWN eye liner! Even brown liners show up dark on me. But it's much better than the tons of black liner samples IPSY and Birchbox have been tossing in boxes all year. It's fairly long lasting, blendable and does work fine on the waterline (although it fades after a few hours). I may purchase the full size since I really like how it can blend right into my shadows.

The duet brush works great! The bristles are soft but firm and I love that it has a crease and lid brush all in one. Great for traveling.

The face cleanser works just fine but it smells terrible. It's a nice enough organic cleanser if you can get past the Cucumber and Watercress scent.

The CC Hair product smells very nice and leaves my hair feeling very soft. It's supposed to be a 10-in-1 treatment that "provides moisture, shine, smoothness, softness, UV protection, manageability, strength, anti-breakage, heat protection and light hold." The full size is 2.5 oz at $25, so the 1 oz sample provided is very generous and worth somewhere around $10! However...I am losing my hair due to illness and it's becoming increasingly frustrating receiving hair creams in my bag (more than 3 hair creams in total). I change the quiz, I review the items..nothing has changed. After being a member for a year I highly suspect there is no real purpose to the quiz (or they rarely ever reference it) and the only reason for the reviews are to earn points.


Final Thoughts:

September was a great month for beauty subscription services! I usually only purchase Boxycharm and IPSY each month, Wantable had such a nice line up for September that I decided to un-skip and Ii'm glad that I did. Lots of products for myself, but most importantly almost half of these are being put away to go into Christmas and Birthday goody bags for some of my female family members. Ii can't wait to gift them. (:


And if you actually read all of that then you deserve some kind of reward. Like a cookie!

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

A really good supernatural murder mystery game just released this week on Steam for $20!

It's a story driven first person exploration game. You're character is trying to find a young kidnapped child before it's too late. You have a few 'gifts' that allow you to see what others cannot. You use these abilities to piece together the dark happenings in Red Creek Valley.

There was also a tentacle at the end of that trailer. I'm going to go ahead and say it...Cthulhu.


It's available right now for the PC and will be available for the PS4 in 2015. The graphics, elements and ports are extremely impressive for an Indie title. My hats off to 'The Astronauts' and 'Nordic Games' for a really interesting dark mystery.



I will update my post with a small review once I've completed the game and w-Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

Update (spoiler warning): Kind of a depressing plot twist ending. It's a great game, don't get me wrong. It's just one of those 'it was all a dream' kind of games that leave you feeling sad at the end. But that's just an opinion. Check it out for yourself, It may be something you like.

Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition

One of my all time favorite game series and titles is finally getting a well deserved update for it's 20th Anniversary this October!

All game information can be found here.

Or if you're a member of Steam you can purchase it here. 

-Trailer from Phoenix Online Studios youtube channel.

Steam currently has the game 15% off and a free official soundtrack (the music is fantastic!) when you pre-order. (: 

em Cosmetics Day Life Palette

em Cosmetics is a makeup line by L'oreal and a youtube beauty guru named Michelle Phan.

The Day Life Palette was on sale for $49 so I decided to finally give it a try.


Knobs and Bobs:

The palette comes with 24 eye shadows, 8 lip products, 2 blushes, 2 bronzers, a double ended shadow/liner brush and pick removal tool.

The packaging is very sturdy with magnetic lid closures on both the large palette and travel palette.

Each product can be removed and placed into the small palette for on-the-go color application.


(All colors applied dry to skin without a primer.)

First in the palette is (look #1) 'girls'day out' at the top left.

This is a more everyday look for me. Since I have green eyes the red tones really make them pop and look great with my pale skin.

All of the color have a good consistency except for 'Busy Lady' found in the lower left corner. The color is lovely, but the formula comes off very chalky and I have to really press down hard or keep layering it to get it fully pigmented.

In contrast, 'grab your purse is very rich, creamy and pigmented.

The lip products are very pretty sheer berry colors.

a pink moment

first priority

busy lady

things to do

rush hour

grab your purse

sweet raisin 

berry busy

(look #2) 'coffee break' at top right.

These are very nice brown neutrals.

These are mostly warm yellow based neutrals so  I tend to not look very good in them.

All of the colors are ok and fairly pigmented. 'lottsa latte' is a very creamy and pigmented color and would look great on someone with darker skin than my own. 'beige frappe' seemed to come off chalky and I had to keep trying to build up the color to make it show up, which is odd considering it's a shimmer.

The lip colors look nice in the pan but apply very sheer. 'what's nude' is a lovely coral pink but 'morning peach' doesn't show up at all.

creamy

beige frappe

lottsa latte

biscotti

cocoa

espresso

what's nude?

morning peach

(look #3) 'weekend brunch' is a nice mix of yellow and pink toned neutrals.

I love the darkest color 'nibble'. The photo doesn't do it justice, it's more of a deep plum brown rather than black. The formula for it is very creamy and pigmented. 

I was able to swatch all colors without having to layer them.

The lip colors are sheer. 'parisian nude' was another gloss that doesn't really shop up once applied.

creme

girlie

peach gelato

ballet flats

french toast

nibble

roses

parisian nude

(look #3 'day dreaming' is a gorgeous mix of muted pinks and purples. 

I love all of the colors here and all of them apply smoothly. The only one that's really chalky is 'fantasy', a really pretty duo tone mauve with gold sheen. The black 'onyx dreams' isn't as pigmented or smooth as the other darks.

The lip color 'misty mauve' is my favorite of the bunch and the one I keep in my travel palette.

french kiss

light violet

silver lining

fantasy

storm kiss

onyx dreams

misty mauve

one more

(with primer)

Colors used in travel palette:

perfect rose (blush)

beige frappe

espresso

rush hour

things to do

grab your purse

light violet

fantasy

Blushes/Bronzers

(look #1) 'perfect rose    -blush

(look #2) 'cappuccino'    -bronzer

(look #3) 'pinched'          -bronzer/blush

(look #4) 'day dreaming'  -blush

Final Thoughts:

Is it worth the money? I personally think it was a good purchase for $49. I received a very large amount of product as well as a travel palette to transfer my favorites for easy on-the-go access. 

em cosmetic products are expensive and I don't think I would have been very happy with the original $75 price tag that came along with it. These are slightly better than drugstore brands but nowhere near as nice as MAC, Urban Decay or Lancome (another l'oreal brand). I'm very excited to see that the permanent price for the Life Palette series has been lowered to $59!

Is it a good product? Some of the eye shadows are pigmented and creamy. Very few need to be built up for their color to fully show. Most are chalky with a lot of fall out, but very pretty colors. All of them last for hours with a primed base. It's a nice collection of mostly dependable products but nothing to get overly excited about.

The packaging is sturdy/solid with a very clean design. I love the magnetic closure on both palettes! The only negativity I have experienced is fall out from shadows getting into the lip products. The only way to avoid this is to either remove the lip products and place them in another palette or be very very careful with using any of the surrounding shadows. I found it best to remove what I want to use for the day into the travel palette to avoid any mess. It's also good to have them around if you need to touch up during the day.

I will be trying a few more em products and will be sure to write up my experiences with them once they arrive in the mail.

*Is it just me or is there a significant lack of sentence capitalization anywhere on the em cosmetics site? It's driving me crazy. Maybe it has to do with the brands name theme? Even this palette's product names were all lower case. I would be interested in learning what others think or know about this. ^^ 

Coastal Scents 28 Neutral Palette

I've done some cleaning up and throwing away the last bits of expired eye shadows. I didn't know eye shadows expire but it makes perfect sense. It's made using ingredients and those ingredients will go bad over time.

So it was time to say goodbye to a few shadows as well as some lipsticks, gloss and misc. face stuffs.

I kept thinking about things that could give me the best bang for my buck and provide good quality. Coastal Scents immediately came to mind and I decided to finally give their products a try. They're also cruelty free, which is always a good thing with cosmetic companies.


The Knobs and Bobs:

Since I prefer a more neutral or natural look I decided that the 28 Neutral Palette would suite me best.

They even threw in four dime sized samples! I don't really wear color but the blues would look gorgeous during summer vacation or a beach/trip to the coast.


I waited until a sale came up and purchased all of this for only $9.95!

Look at all those lovely neutrals!

The only oddball color looks like that one bright pink to the left of the palette.

For the price many of these are very nice quality. The pans are slightly larger than a quarter.

I love how everything is together in one palette. I would strongly recommend a base or primer before applying though.



Swatches:

I swatched every two columns from right to left. The shadows have no names (other than the samples)...so I'll improvise! Colors are shown swatched dry with no primer or base.

Clockwise from the brown~

Thunderous- Dark olive brown
Reef Blue- Light aqua
Cloud White- Creamy off white
Paris Green- Dark aqua green

Aside from the white, the shadows are a little chalky. But the colors are very nice and different from what I usually get.







Swatches shown from top to bottom and right to left:

Dark Chaco- Dark chocolate brown (shimmer)
Fawn- Light yellow based brown (matte)
Willow- Dark brown (shimmer)
Noir- Gray/Black with red glitter specs (shimmer)
Dusty- Very light brown cream (matte)
Sahara- Yellow khaki (matte)
Brisket- Light brick brown (matte)
Oak- Milk chocolate brown (matte)

My favorite color range!

Rosemary- Dark rose pink (shimmer)
Lantern- Light orange gold (matte)
Postcard- Bright box brown (shimmer)
Antique- Sable cream (matte)
Blushing- dusty mauve pink (matte)
Caramel- Muted gold cream (matte)
Cobbler- Rich gold brown (shimmer)
Pebble- Muted dark lilac (matte)

Most of the light colors don't show up against my skin. The formula for the light colors is hard to see, most appear to have a sheen to them.

Corduroy- Soft pink brown (matte)
Oh My!- Bright cool pink (matte)
Teddy- Light yellow brown (matte)
Fossil- Earthy brown (matte)
Twine- Eggshell white
Newsprint- gray off white
Bikini- Sandy white
Oatmeal- brown off white

Peachy Keen- Light peach (shimmer)
Marble- Muted stone white
Barely- Light skin toned (shimmer)
Marsh Mellow- Chalk white

Final Thoughts:

I'm very pleased with this palette! Some very nice colors that are a step up from drugstore brands for a fraction of the cost. Some of them aren't as pigmented and require a few extra swipes, but they show up just fine with a primer or shadow base underneath. 

I don't see the need to purhcase anymore eye shadows so my original goal has been met. hopefully these will last me a good while.

If anyone is interested in their cosmetics line they also carry many other products and shadow/blush palettes. If you are interested in more information on the palettes there are many reviews online and youtube that may be helpful.