Jeffree Star fairly consistently comes out with interesting and flamboyant products. Every release he’s had in his now 4-year-old company has seemed to take the beauty community by storm with it’s originality and fun concepts. From his first launch of wearable matte liquid lipsticks, to the bright red palette Blood Sugar, his products greatly appeal to makeup artists and those that lean toward more colorful looks in general.
This year’s “holiday” collection, if I’m honest, feels somewhat disjointed. I’m not unhappy with the color stories or anything, but the new eyeshadow palette theme doesn’t really seem to “go with” the theme of the lipstick shade names or lip scrub names. Now, that’s just something I’m personally being nitpicky about, and doesn’t say anything about his products. What I was able to try of the new line feels very similar to the formulas he’s had for previous launches (which I LOVE), and though the themes don’t seem to be matching up, the color story is pretty awesome for cool-tone lovers. As usual, the palette is $52, the lipsticks are all $18, and the scrubs are $12. For those that aren’t familiar, this brand is vegan and cruelty free, which means any given product is safe for whatever your artistic streak desires. I personally love using his liquid lipsticks and eyeliner!
The Alien Palette has 18 shades, similar to both the Thirsty and Blood Sugar palettes from earlier this year. The shadows are unbelievably soft, with the exception of the bright, matte purple shade Area 51 – which is fine, because purple pigments are incredibly difficult to make viable products from, and the fact that he was able to formulate a vibrant, usable matte purple at all is pretty impressive in my book. All of the shades are cool-toned and pack a punch. This is definitely a palette that you will want to use a little at a time and build it up, unless the end-game is an intense, bold, color-packed look. In my opinion, these shades are much softer than Blood Sugar. This is definitely a palette to be careful with – don’t dig those brushes in!
The mattes are all very soft and blendable, the shimmers are even softer all apply well on dry or wet brushes, and overall I’ve been incredibly happy with this palette. I think anyone who is obsessed with cool tones, loves the aesthetic, and wants to try some pigmented and easy-to-use shades would enjoy this palette. *Quick disclaimer, I have only used this with a primer (I used MAC paint pot in soft ochre, both set and unset it worked great), but I have not tried this without a primer.
I wasn’t able to get all of the liquid lipsticks, but the ones I have feel like the same formula I know and love. Jeffree’s velour liquid lipsticks have been my ride-or-die for about three years now, and I’m glad to see that the formulation isn’t changing. A few of these have some glitter in them (Triggered and Scandal) but they don’t feel gritty at all. I personally avoided the metallics but my friends love them, and haven’t seen a ton of issues with streakiness or patchiness (at least, not any more so than any other metallic liquid lip they’ve tried). Also, the bullet lip toppers are STUNNING. I haven’t had any issues with them smearing the underlying liquid matte, or any grittiness.
Overall, if this brand has a formula you like, or even just a color story you’re interested in, I would give this collection a shot. This brand feels very unique in an incredibly saturated market, and continues to grow at ludicrous speed. His packaging always feels very sturdy, and generally there’s a ton of product per item, so the price per gram/oz is actually quite low (not drugstore low by any means, but definitely a great value).
Have you tried this collection? What did you think? Sound off below!
Glamming & Gaming 