Helloooo lovelies!
It's been a little while, hm? I do apologize. In the past couple of weeks, I've been dealing with a million things at once including finishing the summer term for school, speaking with a potential employer, work, and packing for Montreal (where I am right now!). So you've guessed it--I'm on vacation right now! And I'm not doing much except for some shopping, eating, and playing Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door on Game Cube. My life has been so hectic and stressful that being able to relax and not do anything has been such a luxury. After a few days of that, I start feeling guilty and I've had nightmares about not completing calculus assignments, papers on literary works, and reading. Crazy, huh? I haven't taken calculus in years, and I'm currently enrolled in beauty school.
Anyways, let's talk MicaBella. I came across this brand a few years ago at The Westfield Mall in San Francisco. They should be located at many Westfield Malls across the nation, and a little booth should be located on each floor. You may also purchase MicaBella products from
micabella.com. But if you can, you should purchase them at the booth. Not only can you swatch swatch them and check out the products in person, but the booths offer better deals on the products. For example, an eyeshadow retails for $20 USD on the micabella site, but you can get them for about $15 each (or less if you buy more) at the booth.
You get 2.5 grams/0.1 ounce of products in each little jar, which also comes with a sifter.
When I made my purchase, I was offered 8 eyeshadows for $65, which comes out to be $8.13 per eyeshadow before tax. Since I bought some eyeshadows, I was also offered their eyeshadow primer for 50% off ($10 instead of $20). I'm a sucker for good deals so I indulged in both.
MicaBella does boast to be a mineral makeup line, but I am fairly certain their ingredient listing (on the jars) is incomplete, as every one of the eyeshadows have the same list of products. I do know that the eyeshadows are not vegan, however.
Below are swatches of the colors I chose, and the MicaBella primer as compared to MAC's Painterly paint pot. Swatches on the top row are done on bare skin, while swatches on the bottom row are swiped over the MicaBella primer. Pictures of swatches were taken outdoors without flash. As for the pictures of the products themselves, I don't remember the the light setting as these were taken a while ago.
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| The pretties. |
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| Left to Right: Bronze, Passion, Patience, Sunshine, Insistance |
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| L to R: Kelly Green, Freeze, Luck O' The Irish, MicaBella Primer, MAC Painterly Paintpot |
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| MAC Painterly Paintpot & MicaBella Primer |
Regrettably, I haven't given these eyeshadows as much love as I should of. As they are loose eye shadows, I find them more of a hassle to deal with. HOWEVER, they really are one of the best loose eyeshadows I have ever used. I will even say that the quality is right up there with Sugarpill loose eyeshadows. The eyeshadows are finely milled and extremely pigmented. They do lose some of their shimmer over a primer, so if you want the sparkle to shine, it is best to use them over a primer and a glitter glue of some sort. There are a variety of finishes available, from shimmer to duochrome to matte, all of which are beautiful and wonderfully pigmented.
The primer is also a fantastic product. I've had it for longer than my paint pot and it still shows no sign of drying out. As you can see from the swatch, it doesn't go on transparent, and is a nice base color to work with. The lasting power of the primer is as good as any of the more popular eyeshadow primers out there, but I find this one to be a better choice for loose eyeshadows as it is more tacky and holds onto powder products better.
Here are some looks that I've done in the past using MicaBella eyeshadows:
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Playing around with a lot of stuff ft. Sunshine
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Kelly Green Hysteria ft. Kelly Green
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FOTD: Lisa Eldridge Metallic Smoky Eye ft. Bronze
MicaBella isn't a brand I hear about too much. What are your thoughts on this company?
