Beauty Haul! ROCKET CITY, STILA & SMH

OK, so for the past couple weeks I've been completely obsessed with makeup blogs. I was never heavy into makeup myself, but lately sites like Temptalia and YouTubers like Fafinettex3 and macNC40 have been providing me with all the makeup and beauty porn I never knew I wanted. These chicks (and sometimes dudes) are even getting shine in the New York Times! Inspired by all the different looks and colors palettes available, I decided to do a little beauty haul of my own.

Look what came in the mail today:

L to R: ROCKET CITY Space Case for Eyes in RC-67; STILA Color Push Ups in Rose Flash;
SMH Eyeshadow Single in Metro

I'd been on the lookout for a silver or pewter eyeshadow, so I could recreate the eye in this video:

I'd heard good things about the Stars Makeup Haven (SMH) brand of eyeshadows; in fact, one beauty blogger says the quality and variety in color is on par with MAC shadows, but for less than half the price (!!!). Metro is a beautiful dark metallic gray color. The color is true to how it looks in the pan and goes on smoothly. Here, I paired it with a base color (NYX Eyeshadow Pencil in Black Bean), which really intensified the color payoff:

In this pic you can also peep the STILA Color Push Ups in Rose Flash on my cheeks and lips. Color Push Ups come packaged like tiny deodorants. It's a cute idea and the unique packaging makes for easy application (a definite plus, as these are an all-over color product, meant to be used on cheeks and lips). These would be great for travel.

The formula for Color Push Ups is creamy and sheer; it took about 4 applications for the color to show on my cheeks and lips. You will need a gloss or balm if using these as lip color though, as the formula isn't very moisturizing. I'm liking the color payoff; Rose Flash lends a natural flush my cheeks, like I just got through running around the block (ha). It doesn't leave my skin feeling like there's product on it either: no stickiness, no goop.

Last up we have the ROCKET CITY Space Case for Eyes in RC-67. I was watching some girl's YouTube makeup tutorial and she used the MAC Spiced Chocolate quad (below) for the look.

MAC Spiced Chocolate quad (L to R): Nanogold, Brush, Sweet Chestnut, and Spiced Chocolate

Only prob is, that quad was limited edition and came out two years ago If I was to recreate the look, I'd have to find dupes of the colors in that quad, which is exactly what I found in this ROCKET CITY palette. Yippee!

ROCKET CITY Space Case for Eyes with the MAC Spiced Chocolate quad dupes highlighted

What makes me truly proud of this purchase is the money I saved. The original MAC quad of these colors was $36. The ROCKET CITY palette--which in addition to the colors I was really looking for comes with an additional four, pretty neutral colors--came to a resounding $1.99. That's right folks, I got twice the color for 18x LESS of the price of the quad!

I haven't tested these out yet, so color payoff, texture, quality, etc. have yet to be seen. But I shall be using these shadows in an upcoming experimentation (gotta recreate that chick's look after all), so stay tuned!

P.S. Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there!