Show & Tell - My everyday neutral eyeshadow Z palette

I wanted to do a quick show & tell post sharing my everyday neutral eyeshadows I keep in my Z palette. I have a Z palette 4U and I really like the size - it fits a lot of eyeshadow without feeling unwieldy. All of these pans magnetize to the Z palette without needing any extra magnets or magnet tape. I love mixing and matching brands to pull together the shades I use most in a palette, even if there is some wasted empty space. I have a mix of depotted shades from palettes and eyeshadows that are sold as single pans.

In my palette:

1. Stila In The Know Air, Wind, Desert, Clay, Earth, Rain, Smoke, and Ebony
2. Revlon Colorstay eyeshadow quad in Coffee Bean, top 2 shades
3. Too Faced All I Want For Christmas (LE) 
4. The Balm Nude Tude Stubborn and Standoffish 
5. Covergirl Cheekers bronzer in Golden Tan (this isn't a great bronzer color for my skintone, but I enjoy it as an eyeshadow)
6. Inglot 341 and 31

 Do you have an eyeshadow palette for your depotted eyeshadow or shades that come as single pans? What do you keep in yours?

BESTOPE makeup brushes update

You know how I halfheartedly recommended the knockoff Amazon BESTOPE makeup brushes about six months ago? My original review said the quality is "competitive with the Elf Studio brush line" and that they are "decent for the price". Well, I haven't published a post like this before, but I would like to rescind that.

After intermittent use and washing intervals that could charitably be described as lazy, these brushes have lost function. The large pencil brush (my most used of the set by a long shot) lost so many bristles in the last washing that it is about half its original density. "Shedding" would be a polite euphemism for the amount of hair lost - the sink in my bathroom reminded me of when I used to give my Barbies haircuts.

So, for the record: I now rank BESTOPE as inferior in quality to the Elf Essentials brush line, dramatically inferior in quality to the Elf Studio line, mileage from a full tank of gas behind the Real Techniques line, and a continent behind my beloved Hakuhodo brushes.

So there you go - even for 4 brushes for $5, these are not worth the price. (A slightly happier ending after the jump).

Book review - Face Paint: The Story of Makeup by Lisa Eldridge

I was so excited when Lisa Eldridge announced her new book I pre-ordered in on Amazon right away. Face Paint: The Story of Makeup shipped to me a few weeks ago and I took my time reading it (as you do with books as beautiful as this one). Note: This is a spoiler free review to help you decide if this book is for you (it is!), not a summary.

As Lisa explained in this video on her YouTube channel, the concept of this book is to tell the story of makeup, from a historical, color story, and business perspective. This is consciously not a how to artistry book or an academic history, which I appreciate.

Longtime blog readers know that my day job is in finance, but you may not know that I earned my BA in History, not business or finance as you might expect. I already knew a little bit about cosmetics history and some of the trends touched upon in the book, but I was pleasantly surprised how many people and stories introduced in the book were new to me. I can't tell you how many times I had to stop reading and tell my (eternally patient) husband "did you know that..." or show him a stunning photograph from the book. The back of the book claims "read this book and you will never look at makeup the same way again" and that is not meaningless dust jacket crap, it is the absolute truth.