Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes Collection - Review, Photos, Swatches

A dreary and dark day in my area sets the perfect setting for curling up on the couch with a mug of hot dark chocolate for some good old-fashioned blogging!  Today I have one of my purchases from the Sephora F/F sale from a couple weeks back - the Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes Collection, a set of two full-sized liners (0.04 oz.; in Mat Black 0L [black] and Pearly Brown 2L [pearly medium brown]) and four mini liners (0.025 oz.; in Dark Grey 21L [shimmery gunmetal], Blue with Green Highlights 12L [metallic teal], Champagne 23L [warm metallic champagne], and Black Purple 6L [blackened purple]). 

L to R: Mat Black 0L, Pearly Brown 2L, Dark Grey 21L, Black Purple 6L, Blue with Green Highlights 12L, Champagne 23L

I think most are familiar with Make Up For Ever's Aqua Liners, but if not, they are a solid, long-wearing staple that I keep on rotation in my makeup collection. They have good pigmentation and can be purchased individually for $18 at Sephora. As for this set, it is a lovely little classic collection that offers a variety of colors, none of which are too crazy, and a great value at $36 (basically, it's like purchasing two full-size and getting four minis free). Unfortunately this set seems to be out of stock and the moment, but if any of these shades speak to you you can purchase the full-size pencil from Make Up For Ever's permanent line. Sephora frequently offers MUFE value sets, so keep an eye out!

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Coastal Scents Winterberry Palette - Review, Swatches, Photos

  I love Coastal Scents' Winterberry palette! Despite the name, some of the colors are subdued and pastel-y enough to be wonderfully suitable for the upcoming Spring season.

L to R, Top to Bottom

Coastal Scents continues to impress me with the quality of their very reasonably priced shadows! These shades are soft, workable, and pigmented (as you can see), all featuring a shimmery, frosty finish (as you can see). I've posted enough about this brand and there's nothing notably different about this palette's formula, so I'll leave you with a quick Winterberry look -

This lovely little set is available at the Coastal Scents site for $19.95, though it's frequently on sale.

e.l.f. Studio Cream Eyeliners in Black, Gunmetal - Swatches, Photos

I liked the performance and price of the e.l.f. cream eyeliners I reviewed here so much, I bought two more!

To be honest I didn't test these for wear time (I hope they're comparable to the good results I had with Plum Purple and Metallic Olive), but I though I'd share swatches and photos.

Flash

No flash

The black is very.. black! 8D The metallic is very shiny and pretty, and I'm excited to try it for perhaps a smoky or otherwise dramatic eye.. These are $3 each, purchasable at Target or through the e.l.f site. For a detailed review of e.l.f.'s cream liner formula, see this post.

That's all I've got. Off to enjoy this fine Saturday evening, as I hope you are doing too :)

e.l.f. Studio Cream Eyeliners in Metallic Olive, Plum Purple - Review, Swatches, Photos

There are some things I've not the willpower to resist - a good sample sale; stopping by Starbucks after work on cold evenings for a soothing green tea latte, non-fat with double matcha; making kissy faces at my pup when he's trying to sleep, which annoys him to no end but brings me a great deal of pleasure :); documentaries, especially on the subject of classical music, dance, or the fine arts (I'm not much of a fiction fan, either in print or in cinema); eating round foodstuffs (cookies, bread, etc.) in a circle from the outside to the center; and, the only item relevant to this blog really, untraditionally colored cream or gel eyeliners!

I was thrilled when I found that e.l.f., an inexpensive drugstore brand, offered shades beyond the conventional black and dark brown. I purchased two of the Studio Cream Eyeliners ($3 each) in Purple Plum and Metallic Olive.

The containers are adorable, much sturdier than the $3 price tag warrants!

L to R: Metallic Olive, Plum Purple

L to R: Metallic Olive, Plum Purple with flash

The colors are both gorgeous! Here they are swatched -

L to R: Metallic Olive, Plum Purple

L to R: Metallic Olive, Plum Purple with flash

I'm enamored with Olive especially - look at that fine gold shimmer! Brilliant and beautiful. Plum is a deep, velvety royal purple and also very, very lovely.

In terms of wear time, these e.l.f. liners are tops. I wore both for 12+ hours with no smudging and very minimal fading. I also tried rubbing at the eyeliner vigorously and both persevered against budging very well (if I'm nit-picking, Metallic Olive was just a stitch more hardy than Plum Purple). I'm very impressed by e.l.f.'s formula and how well these creams perform. I want them alllll now, and with the bargain-basement price I might just allow myself to have them :D They have my highest recommendation!

Thanks for reading! Are you an e.l.f. fan?