Victoria's Secret Ultimate Makeup Kit : Swatch & Review

Growing up in the '90s, I remember seeing a lot of makeup palettes that were sort of ubiquitous at the time. I don't remember the brand but it was usually encased in a black plastic container. The container's design ranges from simple to creative ones such as in the shape of nautilus, with a single pull-out palette to a more elaborate ones with multiple palettes that pull out or swivel. The many colors made for very interesting visuals.

Those palettes may have long gone but the fascinations continue, though. It's why palettes like ones from 88 Coastal Scents or ones that come out during Holiday Season from Sephora have become very popular.

Today I'm gonna review one from Victoria's Secret. It's called Ultimate Makeup Kit and I am very pleased with its quality given the price. It's from Victoria's Secret VS Makeup line and I bought this a little over a year ago, I think. It actually came with a cardboard box with Adrianna Lima's face on it but I discarded it a long time ago. I believe Victoria's Secret doesn't produce this exact same product anymore but they always have a makeup kit containing exactly the same thing that they launch every season in different packaging.

The kit comes in a compact black plastic box with smooth and shiny finish. The dimensions of the box when fully closed is 5.6"(L)x4.3"(W)x1.2"(H).

It opens up to two Silky Eyeshadow palettes that contain 15 shades each. The palettes slide to the side, revealing the Perfect lipstick and lip gloss palette. The lip glosses are on the left while the lipsticks are on the right hand side. Next to the lip palette is where the applicators, eye liner, lip liner, and mascara are stashed. There's another palette underneath that pulls out. This palette contains 4 blushes, a bronzer, and two kinds of powder.

All the makeup are made in USA except mascara, lip liner, and eye liner (Made in Italy) and the applicators and container (Made in China). I'd say for SGD45, that's not too shabby. Do you realize that nowadays big name brands would launch special limited editions palette during holidays in such cheap price but they'd all be made in China? I hate it when they do that, such a rip-off.

Now, for the swatches I'm gonna start with the eye shadows first, then the lip palette followed by the blushes and powders. Enjoy!

Silky Eye Shadows

  

ROW 1

 ROW 2

 ROW 3

 ROW 4

 ROW 5

The eye shadows really are silky and with the exception of the matte ones, they have a slight sheen that make them look very modern. They are all pigmented but not as pigmented as say, Urban Decay's so it's more foolproof and easier to blend or mix 'n match.

Perfect Lipstick & Lip Gloss

Left:Glosses, Right:Lipsticks

The lipsticks and glosses are very moisturizing but the color can be a little too sheer at times. It also has poor staying power and the glosses seem to dilute the lipstick color when applied on top of it and the pigment can settle into the creases. Can't say much about the eye liner or the lip liner, they come in the shape of tiny pencils that's a little over 2" long, very hard to control.

Blushes & Powders

Number 1 is the only matte color in the bunch. Numbers 2 & 3 contain the most glitters while number 4 is somewhere in between. Number 5 is called 'Luminous Powder', I think it's supposed to give some glamorous finishing touch. Number 6 is called 'Translucent Powder', it gives a nice sheen to the skin but it looks like it's only suitable for fair-skinned girls, not sure how it would turn up on dark-skinned girls. The bronzer is quite sheer so it's buildable depending on what effect you aim for, it also has a nice sheen to highlight your features.

The kit also includes a mini mascara which has apparently dried up. I don't like to use mini mascara anyway because it's hard to control the wand but if you're wondering, here's how the mascara looks when applied. 2 coats, no curler.

Here I've included a few look books using the VS Ultimate Makeup Kit for your reference as well:

 And a couple of look books using the lip palette:

So in conclusion, this palette is definitely worth it and I totally recommend this one if you're planning to get a palette to complete your cosmetics vocabulary. This palette offers variety of colors with modern finish and the colors (including the lip products and the blushes) are totally wearable, they are buildable so you can adjust the intensity of the color. This palette (different packaging, same contents) is available in any Victoria's Secret stores and online on their website for only USD32.

Until next time!