Is cheap make up any good?

I'm abit short on cash at the moment but want to keep up with all the make up trends. So i've been rummaging through ebay, i've heard that this 88 palette is good quality even though it's cheap (selling from £10 to £25 on ebay)....

It's also sold on www.coastalscents.com but i'm not buying from there as it's an American site and i live in the UK so the p&p will probably cost a fortune.

Also Ebay sells alot of cheap brushes - like 24 Mac brushes for £29.98 (although i imagine are fake)


I realise the quality isn't going to be as good as the big brand names but i figured they might still do the job, is it a no-go area???

I've heard a lot of good things about these 88 palettes (both matte and shimmer). Many people on Youtube have done swatches of the colors and they look fantastic. They'll definitely get the job done.

If you check out geisha1254 on Youtube ( https://www.youtube.com/user/geisha1254 ), you'll see she's done a lot of looks with that palette.

As for the brushes, I can't really help you there.. but even I know that 24 MAC brushes for only £29.98 are fake.

Hope this helped.

I wish I could answer this question but having never tried either I cant help. Sorry x

My best advice for you is to do a bit of research before you buy any cheap makeup on ebay. If something seems to good to be true, it probably is (in the case of the fake MAC brushes, for example). On the other hand though, those 88-color palettes have gotten fairly good reviews on YouTube. I have the matte one and it's great. I couldn't even imagine paying the $1000+ dollars that we'd have to spend on comparable MAC shadows.

If you want to get cheaper brushes, try your local craft store. Their small paint brushes can be comparable to some MAC brushes. Also try your drugstore. There are some good drugstore brands that offer brushes at a lower price.

Hope that helps!

If your really strapped for cash you could try www.crownbrush.co.uk.

Not all their brushes are great but I love the C141 blush and C203 shadow brushes. I also have C104 Angle Blush, C203 Small contour and the eye brow grooming tool which are good too.

I have heard good things about the badger series but I havent tried them personally.

I dont have that pallet from coastalscents. However, I do have some of their other pallets and some of their mica powders. I really do like them. Color payoff is great. Only thing is you need to use a good base for them.

I bought a couple of the coastal scents palettes- the neutrals and the 78 palette version 2. The pay off is ok, you really have to make sure you use a good base though. I still prefer MAC and other name brands to these palettes, but they are a great alternative to someone just getting started with working with makeup and they are pretty ok to practice with.
About the brushes, they definitely look like fakes just by looking at the pictures. I wouldn't buy MAC brushes on ebay. I've heard a lot of horror stories.

It's also worth mentioning that crownbrush.co.uk also sell the coastal scents pallets as a UK supplier. You could buy from them rather than ebay.

I've been wondering about cheaper cosmetics (I'm short of funds at the mo). Has anyone got any thoughts about GOSH make up or brushes?

I dont know much about GOSH but I love the 'make-up by barbara daly' range @ Tescos

Hi, I do have the 88 palette from coastalscents.com, I have the shimmer version while my partner has the matt one and we both LOVE them... I mean, you can do sooo many looks out of those palettes.... the only thing I dont like about them is that since I got mine I got no more excuses to buy any more eyeshadows =( ( I mean you do need neutral ones etc) but this palette is great for starters. That thing about having to use a good base? true.

Also, I use some brushes from coastalscents.com (crown brushes also have them) and they've been good enough so far.

Pixiwoo Sam wrote:

I dont know much about GOSH but I love the 'make-up by barbara daly' range @ Tescos

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll see if I can find a Tescos near me that sells the range.

I also have the 88 Palettes, the matte and the shimmery, and I loooooooooooooove them.
I got them from Coastal Scents, we´ve already made like 5 massive orders from them. I´ve had all the palettes they sell in my hands, and swatched them, and they are all pretty good, but the 88 have much better payoff than the 26 and the 78. Blushes and the contour palette are pretty good though. Base?, yes!, but I use it with any brand, as eye shadows crease on me.

Regarding brushes, I have many of them, the badger line is great, and the synthetic ones are amaaaaaaaaaazing.

Another thing are the mica powders and the glitter powders. You can buy samples for 1 dolar and then buy the jar for 0,50 dollars and there you go!, fantastic pigments fo a 1,5 dollars. Beautiful colors and great payoff.
They also sell 1 oz of silica spheres for 4 dollars, same thing Make up Forever HD powder. I have both and they are the same thing.

The shipping costs are not bad, I live in Europe as well, and I normally order with more friends so we share the costs. So you have an idea, last order was 260dollars in items and less than 40 dollars in shipping. We were 5 people ordering.

However, after all this novel, I found someone in Ebay ho sells all the CS palettes cheaper. http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZjolieeeee
Yes, they are from China, but so are the CS ones, and you save a few dollars. Shipping is more or less the same.

Mac brushes in Ebay........ if among the brushes they offer there´s a foam one, that´s clear, they´re not real!!!Mac does not have foam tip brushes.

Check out the shadows samples at http://www.fyrinnae.com/index.php , they do free international shipping for 20dollars orders.


Anyway, I hope this has helped anyone, and so you are thinking I have anything with this sites, no I don´t , I just like doing research and finding good stuff for good prices!My experience is great and I´d like to share it.
I use all brands, Mac, Sephora, Urban Decay, Stila, YSL etc.....

Cheap makeup: Be careful where it is made. Here in U.S., it will be labeled, "made in U.S.A. with imported materials." This is a dead give away that the 'imported' materials are coming from China.

I just don't trust what type of chemicals China is putting in cosmetics. Some of those ingredients may be carcinogenic. Who wants to take that risk. Remember what happened with the dog food recall?

{just my own opinion} :

I bought my 88 palette from Ebay, just make sure that the seller doesn't seem to be a fly by night. It took a while to arrive but the colours are great and it's the same product that's sold by Coastal Scents and Crown brushes for a whopping markup and the only difference is that they are re-branded. They are massed produced in Hong Kong.

Barry M does nice sparkly makeup and I really like GOSH. Superdrug does a great range of different priced makeup and is a good place to start. Tesco's own range is supposed to be good too.

PS forgot to mention that ELF brushes are very good value for the money. I bought myself a set a few months ago and I've have no negative comments to make about them.

I love the 88 palette and the 120 palette. I'm starting out as a make up artist myself and I'm trying to build up my kit so I bought these palettes, which are obviously the cheaper alternative to MAC colours. They have fantastic pigmentation and there are extremely long wearing. My only criticism is that some of them do not blend very well with other colours and MAC colours tend not to go over them very well. This only applies to some of the colours however, and I do recommend that you buy them and have a play about with them to find out for yourself. Buying from ebay is also definitely recommended, just make sure it's from a good seller and insurance is also recommended as a lot of the palettes come from china and a few of my colours were smashed when they arrived. I just simply put a 5 penny piece over a bit of tissue and pressed them down but other people may not like to do this. It's just up to you.

With regards to the brushes, i wouldn't recommend the mac ones, which are definitely fake. Many sellers sell them for £30, but you're just paying for the fake MAC sign, as you can get better quality brushes off ebay for a lot cheaper. The pink brush set that often comes up on ebay is quite good quality and as mentioned by some other people - crown brushes has some really good ones too. None are comparable to the real thing however, which really get the job done. Academy of Freelance Make up does a fantastic brush belt for £100 and Sigma brushes are absolutely fantastic - comparable to MAC and much cheaper. However these are often sold out and you will have to pre-order them online as they are hand made but they are worth it. Fantastic brushes. its like $80 for a whole set, which may seem expensive but the quality is amazing and they are sooo much cheaper than what you would pay for a whole set of MAC brushes.

Hope this helps

I could never afford designer brand makeup, however beautiful it is. When I went to Selfridges in London recently to look at the Illamasqua counter I was appalled to discover one eyeshadow cost about £15 for 2 grams. Ridiculous, worse than drugs! More addictive..

In regards to the pallettes, I use the 120 one and though I love it for some of the quirky colours, there are some that are frankly useless. It's good to have base colours from a reliable brand I think (think black, brown, good highlight) and of course the all important sticky base. After that, they are great value. I'm still discovering colours in the 120 palette actually as a lot of them swatch differently to how they look.

It's also great to have a palette of colours in front of you to give you an idea of what works and what doesn't. Sometimes it's hard to know what colours to slap on (especially if you're like me and like to change it as often as possible).

The CS one looks like it might be of a higher quality so I might get that next.

I have the Manly (yes, that's the brand's name) 120 palette. I've had a great time playing with all the colors, and they stay vibrant through the day. Each pot is about the size of a US dime, but they are so highly pigmented that you only need dip your brush in once to cover the whole lid. It's a good starter set for someone who needs a lot of colors fast.

I have the 88 palette you mentioned and I would say it was OK. The shadows themselves are very delicate and break very easily. You have to be persistent when applying to the eye as
I found that some colours took a while to really show ! having said that after dropping some on my carpet, I can't seem to get the colour out of that.

I can highly recommend the Sigma Brushes, as they are really good MAC dupes, they even have the "same" numbers on them. They are from the states and did take a while to arrive, but they are great.

http://www.sigmamakeup.com/p01.html

I also have some of the coastal scents brushes, which are pretty good too.

I got my 88 palette about 4 or 5 years ago and I really liked it. I recently ordered the 120 one, that is the same just with more shadows. It isn't super high quality, but the pigmentation is great. In my avatar the green shade is from what is left of my 88 palette.

I think it is a great item to have on hand, the shades are not complex at all and they are a little chalky but balanced with the cost, pigmentation, and variety of shades-- it really is a great deal!

i love, love, LOVE gosh cosmetics, their eyeliners are great, loads of colours. I have their foundation primer too, which is good. haven't tried their eyeshadows, but i really want to, coz i have a couple of their coloured lipbalms, and theyre great too. their brushes are pretty good, my friend got me a set of ruby and millie brishes last xmas, and they are competition for those, i would say.

I would go as far as saying that GOSH is my favourite cheap brand.

xoxo

Don't touch the Fake MAC branded brushes they are rubbish! I have heard the same of fake Bobbi Brown!
If you want cheap MAC quality brushes Sigma do fantastic cheap brushes I have a full set of MAC & Sigma & in some cases I prefer my Sigmas!

The Palletes are ok I have most I like to use them as backups the colour payoff is ok, MAC blends alot better & has better reflect but you can achieve some amazing looks with these cheap pallets!

Sigma. Com for the brushes & ebay way cheaper than Coastal Scents for Palette.

I have both 88 palletes, plus several other coastal scents ones, and I think they aren't really worth it. Most of the colours, especially the lighter ones, aren't pigmented enough to show up. You definitely would need a good base. The shimmery ones are very crumbly too. There are a couple of great colours in the mix, like there's a fantastic neon pink. But overall I would say there are more poor colours than there are good ones.
If you want cheap good makeup, I highly recommend, Sleek, GOSH, Prestige, Barry M and the Collection 2000 Dazzle Me eye dusts. GOSH have a fantastic collection of eye pencils and liquid liners.

For cheap brushes I really love the Revlon brushes that you can get in Superdrug, and the Boots No7 brushes. the boots no7 shadow blending brush is exactly the same as the MAC 217 except softer!
The GOSH brushes are just ok.

I agree with prvious comment ... NEED GOOD BASE!

You need Mac painterly pot or Urban deacay Primer potion (I use both under) Cheap eyeshadow.

Mostly I use my MAC & is worth finding 6 perfect shadows in neutrals & going for your brights in drug store colours.

I have heard about starsmakeuphaven and I'm considering getting one of their palettes. They have quite good reviews in Youtube, but as I just use a few colours when doing my make up (and they are kind of soft colours) I'm not quite sure if it would be worthier investing in a small MAC palette. What do you think?

By the way! this is my first post and I would like to say your web is amazing! It is helping me a lot to learn tips about make up and at the same time improving my English (I'm Spanish) LOL!