Skinn Cosmetics | Dimitri James Fall in Love Blush & Blink Compact

I have been entranced by less commercialized brands lately ~ you know, those that don’t rely on heavy marketing, ubiquitous advertisements, and broad distribution strategy. Brands that are content with word-of-mouth and loyal cult following. Maybe they have more to offer in terms of quality sans the hype. Maybe.

You might have seen Skinn Cosmetics in some home TV shopping channels or privately owned spas where most of its products are sold. Created by celebrity makeup artist Dimitri James,  this beauty line claims to use pure ingredients devoid of fillers and fancy packaging. Sounds promising, let’s dissect further.

Enter Fall In Love Blush and Blink Compact with collagen-boosting peptides.

$22.50, skinn.com

This palette includes four coordinating Italian baked eyeshadows and cheek color, packaged in a plastic casing with small built-in mirror as you flip it open. Nothing fancy, check. The ingredients as listed above seem natural, so that’s another check. Brilliant shades as described in the website, check nope check, geez! this one’s tricky!

Okay, I almost gave up on this beauty because the first time I swatched and used it, the color pay-off was too weak for me, especially the darkest one on the bottom right side (No.4). I even scraped the side so I can pick up the color from the brush.

Warm nudes.

Swatched over eye primer. #4 is the darkest shade yet the most pale of them all

No. 1 is vanilla shade in matte finish; No. 2 is sheen pink-copper-ish; No.3 is sheen brownish-gray; No.4 is matte brownish-asphalt. After several trials, I found out that the most ideal method to use these, especially No.4, is the wet technique. With a damp flat eyeshadow brush, apply this color all over the lid and let it dry before you blend with another shade. Gotcha! The staying power, when used with eye primer is about 8 hours on me. Not bad eh?!

The partner blush is subtle peachy-pink in matte finish. My skin tone is light-medium and it gave me a barely-there pinkie-pop-of-color.

Can you even tell?

Over-all rating: 4/5 Must-try. If you are looking for neutral and/or daytime-friendly shades made from natural ingredients, this might be for you.  Just remember, these eyeshadows are better applied WET otherwise you will be disappointed with the pigmentation. On a side note, I have been using this palette everyday for a week now, ‘kind of odd to hear from someone who likes variety.

xoxo