I bought a generic 120 eye shadow palette off of Ebay recently and thought I would review it for everyone. I had heard that some of these palettes were the exact same products sold by Coastal Scents and Manly, but without the branding.
I bought this for $5.39 plus $6.49 postage from the seller Agro-Store based in China. That's a total of $11.88, which, at that price, I figured I would take the gamble. A fair warning, the seller has upped the price to $19.99 plus $2.88 postage since I bought mine, which equates to almost double what I paid. If you shop around on Ebay, you can find them as cheap as I did, but please pay attention to feedback ratings if you are thinking of buying one, and read some of their feedback. I also didn't really have any contact with the seller, because I had no real issues to address with them, so I can't comment on their customer service at all.
Packaging
The palette comes in a black matte plastic case with no writing or markings on it. It isn't the most impressively sturdy feeling plastic, but it isn't flimsy by any means.
The eye shadows are housed in two plastic shelves, stacked one of top of the other, that can both be completely taken out of the outer packaging. It did have little ribbons that stuck up out the side of each shelf to help you remove them from the packaging, but mine both fell off the first time they were pulled. You can also take the top shelf out and sit it on the lid, as shown in the first picture above. The lid has little brackets to stop the shelf from sliding, but it won't hold it if the palette is tipped too far vertically. Both layers come with a little plastic sheet to protect the shadows and prevent any powder from migrating all over the rest.
The Eye Shadows
As you can see, the colour selection is pretty great. The top layer contains whites, greys, silvers, blacks, green and blue glitters, purples, pinks, reds, as well as neutrals and browns.
The second layers has a heap of teals, blues, greens, yellows, golds, peaches and oranges. The far right column of this layer are all a mix of two colours. You may also notice the second from the left and the far right in the top row are a little broken.
Pretty much all of the eye shadows have been incredibly pigmented. I was very surprised by just how pigmented they were. The palette contains mostly matte finishes, but includes a good share of metallics, shimmers and glitters. I have found that the consistency of the shadows does vary. Some are very creamy, some are very softy and fine while a few others are a bit harder and drier. As a result, it varies from shadow to shadow as to how easy they are too work with, or how long lasting they are. Overall, I have found them very easy to apply and blend, and haven't experienced many issues with them moving or fading (I do always use a primer, because I have oily eyelids).
Below is a photo of a few of the shadows swatched onto the back of my hand. They are SO much more pigmented than they look in this photo.
Overall, I really like this palette. Especially when you consider the price. I can't compare them to the Coastal Scents or Manly palettes, as I don't own one of either, but I am very, very happy to have bought this.
