Brazen Cosmetics - Review

I recently signed up for Brazen Cosmetics' monthly "Friends With Benefits" subscription service and received my first bag a few days ago.

Let me preface my review with a tl;dr: This is a pretty sweet monthly. I recommend it if you're into indie stuff and, in my humble opinion, you should be! In my marvelous makeup journey, I have run the gamut from mid-high end to drugstore to indie, and I have to tell you, there's nothing quite like supporting a start-up that puts out a quality product that you love, versus supporting a nameless, faceless conglomerate that manufactures its products god knows where (hint: places with incredibly lax or completely absent quality standards...Looking at you, China.). I've laid out the cash for $50+ palettes, goops, creams, potions, etc., thinking that a higher price guaranteed quality, when in fact, it doesn't. Drugstore and Indie brands have really been stepping up their games as of late. There are higher end products I've purchased after falling for the hype, only to find they just weren't all they were cracked up to be (looking at you, OCC Lip Tars - I know, you're all kind of beautiful to look at, but when the rubber meets the road you lag way behind products from brands a fraction of the price of yours).


Brazen has three subscription options, outlined below, and you may rightly assume here that I was quite pleased with what I received, or I probably wouldn't waste your time babbling on about them:



THE PACKAGES:

Silver:  For $15 you receive three (3) 3g pots of Brazen's UltraLuxe™ eye shadows. On their website, they note that these shadows are "unreleased, shades you'll get your eyes on before anyone else". Certainly can't poo poo that, right? For those of you unfamiliar with or new to this magical world of indie makeup, a 3g pot will actually yield quite a few uses, so you'll really have a chance to test-drive the shadows!

You also receive a mini of UltraGlaze™ Lipgloss or Ultraplush™ Lipstick, also exclusive and unreleased.  That's $25 or more (retail value) of makeup! Not too shabby! As if that weren't enough, you also get a 10% discount on orders from their e-store and Beauty Lounge AND free shipping within the US. They will ship to Canada and other international locations for only $5.00 extra which, as anyone who has had to ship stuff internationally from the US knows, that's a screaming deal!! 

Gold: The Gold package, $20 before shipping, in addition to the goodies you get with the Silver package, gets you a full sized exclusive shade of UltraGlaze™ Lipgloss (unreleased, woot!), AND a 15% discount in the e-store and Beauty Lounge, and free shipping in the US. That ends up being a $40+ value for $20 bucks. Can't argue with that!

Not temping enough yet? Oh wait, there's more:

Platinum: Their highest tier, the Platinum features everything in the Silver and Gold packages, and also includes a full-sized (5g) Ultraluxe™ eyeshadow in addition to the full sized lipgloss, 3x 3g eyeshadows and a mini exclusive shade of their lipgloss or lipstick.  For $25, you end up with $60+ retail value of product.  Shweet! But wait, there's even more! You receive a 20% discount in the aforementioned e-store and Beauty Lounge and free shipping on orders (US).  Niiiiiice!



"Get to the Taking Care of Business Part!!"

 THE REVIEWS:

Overall Impression:
I was thrilled with the contents, the packaging and the products, especially for the price. The packaging was super cute; someone obviously put some time and thought into it, and that's one of the sweet touches that come along with Indie products. When was the last time that multi-national conglomerate of cosmetics sent you a mash note with your order? Truth be told, I was pretty stoked about the return on my $15 investment.

The Samples:
If you prefer samples in pots, this is the monthly for you, as the "samples", which are quite generous, come in wee jars with screw tops, versus wee baggies. Personally, I am a fan of both options for packaging, but I know not everyone is. I end up transferring my baggie samples into wee containers anyway, with awesome labels denoting super powers, so as to be able to ogle them, lovingly, through their clear acrylic exoskeletons.

The Goods:

The first product I tried, the UltraGlaze Long-Wearing Color-Rich Lip Gloss™ in "Under the Covers", kind of blew my mind. It is, at first glance (or maybe second - I get the order mixed up), "hmm, another bubblegum pink frost", cue high school flashbacks. Let me (re)iterate, I am so not a pink / pink shimmery / pink frosty kind of girl. If I'm wearing a frost on my lips at all, it's a muted, deep plum with a slight gunmetal shift. Why? Because it's both reminiscent of a time and place in my life; a time when I was edgy and hip and cool, and frankly it just fucking looks good. 'Twas a time when I could fit into that teeny black cocktail dress, pair it with a feather boa and sassy strappy heels and be all, "aw yissss, so fierce!" Flash forward to now, and well, let's just go with "frosts aren't for everyone" and leave it at that. 

UTC is a frosty, shimmery pink lip gloss. Not particularly glossy in the traditional sense, it is very well pigmented and upon closer inspection, a very rich, multifaceted color. It's got a lot going on underneath its pretty exterior, and quite personifies the "don't judge a book by its cover" memetic.  

Boring Backstory: I grew up in a time where bubblegum pink, super frosty lipstick was all the rage. As every generation does, we look back on our "blunderyears" and think "what the fuck were we thinking???" Frosty can be a dicey thing - not everyone looks good in them, but this...this gorgeous, beautifully pigmented, silky textured, gold-laden loveliness was heavenly!! It looked AMAZING. It was so pretty and reflective. I don't know what kind of crazy alchemy they used for this, but they managed to strike a perfect balance between "perfect shimmer / frost" and "oh god, why!!" It was really pretty and quite striking. UTC definitely makes an entrance!

tl;dr  - I was really quite taken with this gloss. Sure, it could have been the lovely afternoon sun streaming in the window or the tasty beverage I was enjoying, but OH WOW, that lipgloss. Holy. Crap!

On to the eyeshadows: Brazen's UltraLuxe™ eyeshadows in Snow Day, Blizzard and Frostbite. They are very generous samples!! You will get *many* uses out of these. They seem to be quite well pigmented and they are definitely very well...sparkled? Shimmered? They are true to their names and quite striking. See my swatches here. Frostbite in particular is just gorgeous, in terms of shimmer and of how well the color really exemplifies the name, know what I mean? Snow Day swipes on with a beautiful finish, is SO sparkly-pretty, and is also very true to its name.

My schedule has not yet allowed me to actually test drive the shadows (I know, that sounds ridiculous), but they are quite lovely and as long as you use an eyeshadow primer (which you always should, unless you're some kind of crazy person), they will show up beautifully!

BRAZEN COSMETICS hails from Ferndale, MI. And I don't know specifically why, but I have such a thing for the upper midwest: WI / MI / MN / IL.  Pretty much, if you border one of the Great Lakes, I love you and I really don't know why.