In Case of Emergency: Profusion Spotlight Eye/Lip Palette

Back in October, I raved about Too Faced's Glamour To Go palette. I'm still absolutely in love with it, and it's taken up permanent residency in my purse. In fact, just this morning it saved me from going around with one eye only partially lined (it's been a long week). Plus, $22 is a fantastic deal for eight good-sized shadows, travel blush and bronzer, and a pretty lipgloss. The Dream Edition one that I have isn't available anymore, but the new one out is nearly identical. The shadow and gloss shades are slightly different, but still infinitely wearable. As I said, it's a great purse kit, and I feel a lot more secure knowing that I'm prepared for all contingencies. Need a quick gloss touch-up? Covered. Find out you're going out after work and have no time to change? Covered. Realize you highlighted your right eye, but not your left (not that I've ever done that...*whistles nonchalantly*)? Covered. Having a designated purse kit has been a real lifesaver.

However...(you totally knew that was coming) it's almost Summer. Maybe you're going on a beach vacay; maybe you have a penchant for leaving your purse in the car; maybe, just maybe, you're like me and live in the ninth cir--Deep South, where it's hotter 'n Hades. Whatever the situation may be, you might just not feel comfortable having high end makeup sitting in your purse where it can get lost, stolen, or just plain melt. In that case, I think I may have an alternative for you.

Profusion (remember my gushing about their 99-cent palettes?) has a lipgloss/eyeshadow travel kit now, available at Ulta for $3.99. You get six shadows, six glosses, mirror and travel brush, all in a super-cute silver and black polka-dotted package. It's about the size of a lipstick holder, and perfect for tossing in a purse. For comparison purposes, here it is next to the Too Faced (which slightly larger than a credit card):

The Profusion is a smidge smaller, but comparable. Here they are opened, for a better look:



And there's my armpit in the mirror. Classy.

 The Profusion is on the left, and the Too Faced on the right. Obviously, they're not the same products, but they are basically the same size.

Now, just to get them out of the way, here are my issues with the Profusion kit:
1) The brush sucks. Either side will do in a pinch, but you're better off carrying a small travel brush kit, which you'd need to do with the other kit, anyway.

2) There's not a blush or bronzer option. You're still getting a ton of product for four bucks, but, in my case, blush and bronzer tend to be what I need most from a purse palette. That said, you could toss this non-space-consuming blush/bronzer duo from E.L.F. in and have everything you need. It's $3, so you're still only up to $7, or roughly a third of the price of the Too Faced.

Okay, with that out of the way, here's why this thing rocks:

Are  you believing that pigmentation? Those are some gorgeous colors, and I love that they give you two neutrals, two brights, and two smokier colors. There is some glitter, but mostly just shimmer, and so far, I've not experienced any real fallout. Sure, a brown or a matte would have been nice, but for four bucks, I'm not complaining.

Again, check out the vibrancy of those colors, and how creamy they are! I ran out of fingers, so the deeper red isn't shown in the above picture. It's the only one that wasn't super creamy. It is shown in the swatches below.

Left to right: clear, pink, peachy beige, purple, orange-red, red

These are very good glosses. They're moisturizing, wear for a decent amount of time, and look beautiful on. 

I picked this up because I needed something little and cheap to hit a dollar amount for a gift with purchase. I had no idea I'd come to love it so much. I'm keeping my Too Faced in my purse, but this is going in my beach bag. 

Final Verdict: 8 out of 10. If you see this, grab it. It's a Summer must-have.

P.S. There's also a pink kit available from Ulta with all berry-hued shades, but it's in-store only. Also, keep the plastic covers for the glosses and shadows. They fit snugly and will keep the products from mixing.