What do you think about a palette that smells like coconuts? Are you intrigued and totally tempted? As a “food enthusiast,” I am, but when I sniff the new $14.99 Maybelline Total Temptation Shadow + Highlight Palette, and I really get my nose up in it, the coconut isn’t nearly as strong as it is in Maybelline’s Total Temptation Mascara, which seems kind of odd to me…
I dunno why, but I just expected the powder products to smell more coco-nutty than the mascara. It’s probably from the years of opening compacts and smelling roses or violets or gardenia or vanilla, or whatever else has been the scent du jour. I’m conditioned.
Or, maybe I’m just hungry and wish these eyeshadows and highlighters smelled like coconut macaroons. 🙂
Part of the Maybelline Total Temptation product family
The list price is $14.99, so it’s a little expensive for drugstore, and it’s part of Maybelline’s new Total Temptation line, which is available on Amazon now (the Amazon price for the palette is $9.49) and coming to drugstores next month.
There are eight powder eyeshadows and two powder highlighters divided into two groups.
One side of the palette has warm browns, peaches and golds, and the other has cool mauve, violet and charcoal shades.
Drugstore palettes have come a long way!
Total Temptation is a textbook example of how far drugstore quality has come over the past few years. I’ve been wearing drugstore makeup for… Well, let’s just say that it’s been a looong time and leave it at that. 🙂
This palette compares well to pricier products from MAC and Urban Decay. Like, you get a lot of pigment, even with one or two layers. Plus, your wrists can take it easy, because you won’t have to spend eons blending the crap outta your edges, and you can even skip that midday touch-up.
I checked my makeup after seven hours with this on my lids and cheeks and was like, “Yeah, that’s not going anywhere,” because it looked like I’d just applied it.
How finely milled are the powders?
So, why not just save the $$$ and go all-in with drugstore eyeshadows then?
You could, and a lot of people do. It depends on the product, but I do generally feel that the finest powders around are from department store brands, and the more expensive an eyeshadow is, the finer and more delicate the grains of powder.
As an over-30 person (OK, over 40!), this is a big deal, since smaller grains don’t settle into lines as eagerly as bigger grains do.
Even within the drugstore category, I think the pricier the palette, the finer the grains, and Total Temptation is somewhere in the middle, with grains that are finer than bargain basement drugstore powders, but larger than Chanel.
Depending on your skin, you may or may not notice a difference at all. I mean, if you’re 20 and you can’t see your pores and don’t have any lines (enjoy it while you can, kid), no big deal, but if you’re in your 30s, 40s and up, any fine line action on your lids will be more obvious, unless you spend at least a few extra minutes doing that windshield wiper motion and making those little circles to buff the grains down and get rid of any powdery-ness.
The final word
This is a quality palette for the price and a great choice for teens, tweens and most 20- somethings. And the 30-somethings and up, yeah, you can pull it off, too, but you’ll have to do more buffing and blending.
Desperately seeking smoothie recipes (and Chanel at Costco)
You guys, I’m getting to that smoothie tipping point — you know, that place where if you have one more of the same spinach smoothie you’ve been making for months, you’re going to gag, so I’m searching for new ways to work the green stuff into my diet.
I just bought a huge tub of spinach for smoothies from Costco last weekend, and I don’t wanna waste it. If you have a spinach smoothie that you love, please share. My body thanks you in advance.
Oh, and speaking of Costco, I just found out that the one in my town now sells Chanel (!).
Well, it was just this one jar of Le Lift Chanel face cream for $99 (it’s $165 on chanel.com), but still. 🙂
I saw a stack of jars on a card table out in front of the optical section, along with some random Coach and Prada bags.
Have you ever seen Chanel at Costco? This was a first for me.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
