Hello!
Long time no post, I know. College has been keeping me busy...
I am going to cover something people seem to ask me a lot-
Which is better? MAC Eyeshadows or Coastal Scents?
Well it really depends. I can't say one is clearly better than the other but I can give some similarities/differences. I personally like both.
Similarities:
1. Cruelty-free- neither company participates in animal testing for either the final product OR the individual ingredients.
2. Both have a lot of colors to choose from and are highly pigmented, so a little goes a long way.
3. Both are versatile- can be used wet or dry (although certain colors of each brand are better at this than other colors)
4. Both are very popular among makeup gurus on YouTube and both get a lot of exposure this way.
5. Both companies also have the option of making your own custom palettes.
6. Both are very high quality shadows and are hypoallergenic. I have sensitive eyes and have never had problems with either brand in regards to irritation.
Differences:
1. MAC is more expensive. For the price of one color (About 14 USD) you can get almost an entire palette of 88 colors from Coastal Scents (their 88 color palettes run about 25 USD)
2. MAC has a larger amount of color in each pot. If you are someone who only uses a few colors regularly, MAC might be a better choice because there is a lot more and will last longer if you wear the same color every day.
3. Coastal Scents is a cheap way to experiment with lots of color if you are unsure of buying the more expensive MAC colors.
4. MAC does get limited edition (and sometimes pretty cool) colors that Coastal Scents does not make anything close to sometimes.
5. I believe Coastal Scents palettes are made in China (on the back of the box that my palettes have come in, it says Made in China), whereas MAC colors are made in Canada, USA, and Italy (so far as I have seen with the colors I already have.)
In conclusion, choosing between MAC and Coastal Scents is really a matter of preference. For my regular makeup I do use MAC but when I try something with a wild color I normally wouldn't use, I use my Coastal Scents.