Glowing up with Zoeva

Summer weather has been pretty underwhelming where I live. There's been some rain and lot's of cloudy days. I haven't had many chances to wear my summer clothes! In fact, my most worn article of clothing in June was a long sleeved knit sweater. I've been trying to compensate the lack of sun with my makeup: a touch of bronzer, a pop of bright color on the lip, glowy cheeks and cupid's bow. I've been using Zoeva's Spring Strobe Spectrum palette for highlighting recently. I purchased it at the beginning of last month and I've been very into it so far! I'm in the process of replacing my old face brushes, so I also got their 105 Luxe Highlight brush too.

The palette comes with four highlighters with a kind of a metallic/pearlescent finish in pastel green, violet, pink and yellow. They are definitely the kind of mermaid or unicorn colors that have been trending recently. Not going to lie, I think the powders look pretty odd in the pan: they seem kind of chalky and washed out in pictures. When applied, however, they are absolutely lovely! The formula has a velvety texture and it feels pretty buildable. The highlighters are a bit powdery and kick up a little when I pick them up with a brush, but they apply and blend out well. I'm not sure if you can achieve a blinding tin man -level highlight with these, but you can definitely create a beautiful glow-from-within look.

From left: SP010, SP020, SP030, SP040. Finger swatches on bare skin.

SP010 is my very favorite of the four. It's a duochrome green with a slightly teal-ish shift. It kind of reminds me of shiny insects. SP020 is an interesting blue-violet shift. It almost has a blacklight-effect kind of a look to it, it's pretty fluorescent. SP030 is a light pastel pink. I don't think it works the best as a highlight on my skin tone, but I like to wear it over my blusher for some extra glow. SP040 is a very wearable light yellow with a golden reflect, and my second favorite of the bunch.

If I have one complaint about the palette, it's the packaging. The design itself nice enough. I like the holographic detail and metallic lettering against the dark background. The (very satisfying) magnetic closure feels pretty secure too. But the surface of the cardboard palette has some sort of a waxy treatment that sucks up all and any oil that touches it, so it gets easily covered in fingerprints. It starts to look really messy really fast. I had to wipe the cover of my palette down with a damp microfiber cloth several times before it looked presentable.

As for the brush, it's a very soft blend of natural and synthetic hair. I haven't had problems with picking up powder or blending with it. I really like the size and tapered shape. The very tip of the brush is great for highlighting my cupid's bow and the bridge of my nose and the sides are a nice fit for the tops of my cheeks. I haven't noticed it disturbing the makeup underneath when I use it, but it does gradually build up on foundation/blusher. It might just be the nature of the beast, or maybe I need to use a lighter hand when I'm blending. In any case, it's definitely a step up from the old EcoTools eyeshadow brush I was using to apply highlighter before, haha.

What's your favorite highlighter?

Upgrading my brushes!

My old make up brushes had started to fall apart, so at the end of April, I finally took the plunge and bought a new set. My last brush set was from EcoTools, and while I liked them a lot, I wanted to try cruelty-free natural hair brushes next. I considered a lot of different options. At first I thought about getting individuals, but it seemed kind of time consuming. Plus I figured that in the end it might be cheaper to just buy a full set. I decided to go with Zoeva's Complete Rose Golden Eye Set vol. 2, because of all the good things I read about them. They were pretty pricey for me, but I think they have been worth it. I've been using them almost every day for the past month, and so far I've really loved them! There are 12 brushes in total: four of them are synthetic taklon and the rest are a blend of synthetic fibers and goat hair. 

The brushes are not only beautiful to look at, but they feel really lovely and soft against the skin. I love the shiny rose gold ferrule and the tiny engraved decorative detail it has. I smile every time I get them out for use! I even feel like I manage blend my eye shadow a bit better than before (but that might just be my imagination).

Here are my favorites from the set, from top to bottom:

227 Luxe Crease is a soft blending brush that tapers toward the tip. It's perfect for blending everything together to create smooth transitions between shades.

227 Luxe Soft Definer is a fluffy flat brush. I like to use it to apply a dome-shaped wash of color on the whole mobile lid for a simple and easy eye shadow look. I reach for it a lot when I do my daily make up.

The 235 Contour Shader is one of the reasons why I decided to purchase this set. I think a brush like this is a must have for anyone with hooded eyes. The shape really makes lid-contouring easy.

231 Luxe Petit Crease brush is great for precise application and blending. I don't have a lot of visible lid-space, which can make eye shadow a bit tricky. I need to be really careful about how I place the colors. This brush is really helpful, when I want to blend small areas and keep the color contained.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the pouch that came with the set. Usually these sort of things look and feel kind of cheap, but this one is made of a pretty nice material. I like the dangly puller on the zipper. It's very pretty! I've been very pleased with my new brush set and I want to add some of their face brushes to my collection too.

Have you used any of Zoeva's brushes? Do you have any favorites/recommendations?