Every time I stop by Forever 21, I tend to overlook the beauty and cosmetics items. I am more into the nail polishes and the clothing. But on my last trip to the store, I decided that it was finally time to take a closer look at the beauty items. Ultimately, I picked up some stuff to test out, so stay tuned for a few more posts in where I will share with you all some more Forever 21 beauty finds. I really hope that this post-along with the others coming up, helps those of you who are not familiar with Forever 21's Love & Beauty line, and are contemplating on weather or not these beauty products are something you want to try.

I really love how the beauty items are so inexpensive. But what I really wanted to find out was, weather or not the quality was there. Today, I am going to share with you all my thoughts on the Love & Beauty bronze/turquoise eyeshadow palette ($2.80).

natural daylight, no flash

The black, flip-open compact houses four eyeshadow strips, as well as two double-ended sponge tip applicators. I really like the look of the packaging but, I definitely would not want to drop it. I don't find the case sturdy at all. I am really clumsy, so I will have to make sure to be really careful. 

I noticed something quite surprising actually, when it came to the packaging. We all know that makeup has expiration dates and there is usually some sort of indicator which shows the time span of the product. For example, some items would read 3M, 6M, 12M, 24M, etc. The M indicating months. Well, I was surprised to not only see a time span indicator on the back of the compact, but also the EXACT DATE of when the product expires. Not only that, but it also shows when the product was manufactured. How cool is that? If you take a look at the back of the compact in the picture above, you will see that the expiration date is 10/14-October 2014. This is a quality that I really appreciate. And I think all cosmetic companies should do this with their products. It is so informative and very helpful. There is one thing I don't understand, though. The year 2014 is two years away, and the time span illustration reads 12M. Maybe it means that unopened, this product lasts until 2014. But then once opened, the time span of the product is a year?

When I first spotted these eyeshadows, I immediately fell in love with the colors. I think they compliment eachother so well, and I love how the colors remind me of summer. During the summer months, I LOVE to sport gold and bronze eyeshadows. And I think a lovely turquoise shadow would compliment a tan quite well. When it comes to the eyeshadows, you get a turquoise that I would say leans more on the green side, a bronze, a gold, and a creamy beige. All of the eyeshadows are heavily shimmered. So, if shimmer eyeshadows are not your cup of tea, these are not for you. I personally love shimmers in my eyeshadow colors. I think the shimmers help brighten up my eye area and makes the shadow colors that much more fun. The eyeshadows are pressed closely together. Some may have an issue with this, but its not a deal-breaker for me. I find that I can comfortably fit my eyeshadow brush in each of the colors with no problem. Also, I am happy to report that this product is cruelty-free and not tested on animals!

Pigmentation is pretty impressive. The shadows are nicely pigmented and pack a nice punch of color. With the turquoise color, I found that I had to really pack on the color, in order to get it to show up to its full potential. When it comes to the texture of the eyeshadows, I find that they are very soft. There is already a small crack on the corner of the lighter cream shade, and I have done nothing to cause the crack. Believe me when I say that I have been very gentle with this eyeshadow compact. Who knows? Perhaps the crack was already there before I purchased it, and I didn't notice? 

I did an eye look using all of the eyeshadows in this palette, and I really liked the turn out. I applied the gold shade to the middle of my lid, then I took the bronze shadow and applied that to the outer V, blending into the crease. To brighten up the eye look I took the creamy beige and applied it to the inner corners. Lastly, to finish the look, I applied the pretty turquoise shadow to the lower lash line, to add an unexpected pop of color. The shadows were super easy to blend. But, I did experience some fallout, though. Of course, I applied an eyeshadow primer beforehand. My oily lids require it because if not, the shadows will crease on me within 5 minutes! The longest I have sported these eyeshadows was for about, 5-6 hours. I was pleasantly surprised that I did not notice any fading or major creasing, during that time. This leads me to believe that these eyeshadows have the potential to last beyond the 5-6 hours I had it on for.

I admit, I wasn't expecting much from these eyeshadows. I was ready to be disappointed. But I was proved wrong. The colors are lovely, the pigmentation was nice, and I could definitely see myself using this eyeshadow compact frequently. How could I not? The colors are gorgeous and right up my alley. I have a feeling these shadows are going to be in heavy rotation come summertime. I was left very impressed, and I am going to be on the lookout for more shades.