em michelle phan The Life Palette, Beach Life

These were $75 each when they were released in 2013, so I never got any of them. They're definitely not worth $75... because you can get a urban decay naked palette for less than that! But $11?!?! $11 bucks for that?? It's a steal. For $11 you can't even buy some of the recently released drug store eyeshadow palettes!!!! But this?! You get so much product, and even though they don't perform as well as urban decay or too faced, they are much better than drug store brands in my opinion. I received the 4 palettes I ordered over thanksgiving - day, career, love, and beach. So far I am LOVING the colors - very easy neutrals, relaxed warms and not too much cool toned which is exactly my preference. The blushes are gorgeous for my Asian skin - especially the bonze toned and peachy toned blushes. Very well thought out design - sturdy acrylic, clean layout, pristine presentation. Fast shipping and no damage. Grab this before it sells out because it's going to! I know I am going to use my life palettes for my everyday looks for at least a couple years now.By the way, don't forget to get a magnetic palette to go along with this - whether the $6 one by em cosmetics or just any z palette. You want to keep the lipgloss separate from the shadows. I have already separated all the lipglosses even before I used all the shadows. The life palettes come with a convenient tool so you can easily remove any shadow or gloss. Please be sure to separate the glosses from the shadows... as the first ingredient in many of these shadows is talc, which has been shown to be bad for your ovaries if you breathe it into your lungs. Which I take to mean you also don't want to be ingesting that stuff by accident when it gets into your lipgloss!

First- use a different brush set than what is given for sure! The reason colors are coming off so light is because I discovered how much powder the brush keeps vs how little it transfers to skin with the one included. I think more came off than got put on.Second- use primer and a setting spray if you have some. The color is decent when using a different brush, but it doesn't quite compare in quality to higher price shadows from places like Sephora. Before I used any primer though I did try it on my hand with a different brush and it did take several rubs to rub off, so again, it's not horrible shadow.Third- best if you can catch it when the price is lower. I bought when it was $11.80 recently and I probably would not suggest paying any higher than $15-20 for this set. The palette is a decent size though. Mine arrived intact and decent packaging.Fourth- the glosses are just that, glosses. The color is fine, no yummy flavor, but no bad taste or scent either. They last like any gloss, which would eventually need reapplying.Fifth- all in all I do quite like it! For the price I paid and what I got I gave it 4 stars. 5 stars is reserved for items that would be in my favorites, and though I use this, I would only buy again for the lower price.

I may return this.I haven't swatched these, because I'm trying to decide if I want to return this. I quite possibly will. The colors look completely different in person.First of all, I bought this at the discounted $23 price, so my expectations were on par with that price. I watched several youtube reviews, so I expected the quality to have highs and lows within the palette. (I haven't used or swatched these colors, so I don't know how well they work). What I CAN say is that the colors in the palette in person are darker and muddier than the clear pure looking colors on the listing image. Kind of reminds me of the muddy quality in a lot of e.l.f. eyeshadow palettes (and I'm not a fan of those palettes).I'm not sure if .em cosmetics is retooling/relaunching/transitioning or simply defunct now? No clue, but if they are, the color clarity of actual product compared to advertised images might be why.Overall, I'm already very disappointed in this item. VERY. However, since it was fairly inexpensive, I may keep is, as I could forsee getting $20 worth of use out of it. Not all the colors are unappealing, but none of them are the color from the product image. NONE of them.Don't pay more than 23.50 for this, and don't buy it because you are in love with the colors in photo. I was personally looking forward to the large number of light and bright colors that looked like possibilities as a base and highlighter colors. That was the use I had in mind for this. To be able to pull from it for a lot of those (mixing in other palettes I own). That won't be possible. (ETA: Actually, there ARE several lighter colors, but they look darker before swatched; however, there are NOT as many light colors as the photo indicates.) If you want a range of mid-tone to dark-ish near neutrals this might suit. There's not ONE good brow bone color in the lot.Update: I am not removing my original statements (above) but I am revising my star rating. And I am adding some positives (and a couple more specific negatives) now that I have swatched and used. First, there are more light browbone/inner eye/highlight colors than was my initial impression when the product arrived. Still, many of the light colors are darker in person.Some of the colors are lovely, soft, blendable. Others are a smudgy mess. A few (few) are weird in their pigmentation; it's as if the pigments aren't evenly distributed in the pan; one swipe is not as an intense as the next. All of the blushes/highlighters have more of a coral tinge than anticipated (not a fan of corals). However, for those of us with light skin, the soft bronzer is light pleasant option for when you don't really want a strong bronzer. With that said, I wonder if that color would be useful for those with darker skin. I tried following the tutorials for the sample looks for each palette; most of those are...not as flattering as other options you have with this palette. There are a couple colors I LOVE though, and it's been fun to play with. A couple of the mid browns and the deep purples are really nice. I've tried some colors that I would not have otherwise bought, and some of them I've liked. (The pink in the lower left quadrant is, however, hideously unwearable; it's the only truly regrettable color, and it is one of the ones with the irregular pigmentation as well.)And the Lipsticks! I have serious positives and negatives to say about them. I popped out the discs to examine the depth of the pan before making this comment: The amount of product is ridiculous! I've seen free samples in blister packs with more product in them! Just a joke. However, in a TUBE form, I would buy these in a heartbeat. Some colors I like, some I don't, but I LOVE the formula. Really nice smooth, cushioning one-swipe color.Also, the listing mentioned the small palette as if it were included. It is NOT.I totally think it's worth the $20. But there are enough negatives that make it's original price just silly.

I first saw the em palette as a special offer on Ipsy. I was interested in it, but it was priced more than I wanted to spend. I was thrilled to see this as an Amazon daily deal recently, so I snagged it. I've been using the this make up palette daily since it arrived. There is a great variety of colors. A lot of them are natural and subtle which is what I prefer. I have been impressed with how long the color lasts. I apply my make up in the morning before going to work. I often notice that by lunch time it hardly looks like I have any make up on at all. I've been able to tell that it's still there (in a good way) well into the afternoon. I do have to reapply after work if I have plans out, but that is pretty normal anyway. I love using some of the colors as my eyeliner. I tend to rub my eyes a lot, so the powder doesn't last as long there, but the eye shadows and blush are good for most of the day.