Motives Mavens Element Color Box Review

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As someone that's tried hundreds upon hundreds of beauty products and that spends an embarrassing amount of time reading reviews and keeping up on the latest launches, it's a bit of a shock to come across a well-established brand that I've never heard of. While my immediate response is to feel like I've been living under a rock, I think it also goes to show that the world of beauty influencers is pretty heavily biased. Everyone always seems to be raving about the same big name brands carried at Sephora and Ulta, to the point that you can forget there's a lot of fantastic stuff going on outside of their doors.

By a matter of happy coincidence I was introduced a few months ago to Motives Cosmetics, which with over 2 million Instagram followers, is certainly not your small indie startup. In fact, they've been around for almost a decade under the umbrella of internet marketing and product brokerage giant Market America. They've got a pretty extensive range of products, have been featured by tons of magazines and websites, and have still managed to totally fly under my radar.

Of course, as is the case with any die-hard beauty fan, my curiosity was immediately piqued. What are their products like? Is there a reason no one is talking about them? Or was I about to stumble upon a beauty gold mine of underrated goodies? The only way to find the answer was to get my hands on some Motives products and find out for myself!

Drybar Hair We Go Travel Blowout Set Review

It doesn't take a very long time after meeting me to find out that I have a mild obsession with savvy shopping. Seriously. Getting a bargain is basically my version of thrill seeking. And of course, my excitement for finding a sale is something that can't be contained. The first thing I want to do after an epic couponing conquest is to go tell the rest of the world how to do the same. After all, when you work hard for your money, why would you not want to save as much of it as possible when purchasing the things you need or want?

And thus, here I am to tell you a tale of how I scored this adorable little set from Drybar for a ridiculously low price, and whether or not I think its worth the original price tag.

Morphe 35B Color Glam Eyeshadow Palette Review

If there is such a thing as a color bug, I've been bitten by it. Either that or it's just all of the amazing colorful looks that I've seen while scrolling through my Instagram feed. Either way, I've had a hankering for putting bold bright shades on my eyes as per late, and had been looking to add something to my collection to give me a little more variety than what exists in all of my neutral palettes. At first I spent a fair amount of time hemming and hawing over the new Sephora Pro Editorial Palette, but spending $68 on something that I would only use for creating looks to film or photograph seemed like a bit of an unwise investment.

But then, I made a discovery. While prepping my shopping cart to purchase the Morphe x Jaclyn Hill collaboration, I noticed a palette that was EXACTLY what my heart desired. The Morphe 35B Palette had 35 stunning ridiculously colorful shades and retailed for only $19.99. Paying $68 for an artistic palette when you aren't a makeup artist is iffy, but $20? $20 I can justify. Surprisingly, I had never tried anything from Morphe before (the Jaclyn Hill palette was to be my first purchase) and I decided that this was a wonderful opportunity to explore the brand. So I snatched that baby up along with a few eye brushes that I thought would be helpful for getting my inner MUA on, and am here to report back on my thoughts!