3CE MOOD RECIPE FALL 2018

I've always had my eye on this brand; 3 Concept Eyes! It was pretty popular around Korea and other East Asian countries but I've never really had good reason to ever test their products out, as nothing from their lines ever really spoke to me or appealed to my lolita aesthetics. 

However ! Now that I've descended into the madness of natural kei, the lovely muted fall tone color palettes of 3CE's, or more accurately, their offshoot branch Mood Recipe, which consists of mostly faded natural colors, which is the perfect all around season fall collection. It suddenly spoke to me honestly, in a way that I've never felt before, so I had to pick up a few items! 

Here's a little snapshot of the few products that I got. 

My review of these products: 

I love the two blushes, I got them in the color #Rose Beige and #Mono Pink (HK$149 each)

(disclaimer: I have no idea why all the names are hashtagged/prefaced with a #)

They're both lovely subtle flushes of color, and also buildable. They are slightly too muted for summer wear but during fall and winter they're more than enough to bring that little bit of glow and color into your face. 

I like the formula of these, they're not too outstanding and I like that I can build the color on these while going a little heavy with the application and still get a nice blend out of them. 

Currently, I'm travelling with Rose Beige and it leans a little more orangey than I actually thought it did when I usually wore this during summer but overall, I still love it. 

On the other hand, the eyeshadow palette, #Smoother, isn't necessarily bad (HK$319).

I, as a general rule of thumb, have never really loved shimmery shades (as any of my friends who have known me will tell you as a Fact.), which is why I finally felt it was necessary to take the dive and get this all matte palette.
(Also, don't you love the fresh little marks of pressed eyeshadow before you use them for the first time!)

That being said, I really am not a huge fan of it. 3CE is a little on the higher end of the price range, and I feel despite the aesthetic and lovely matching color packaging on the products themselves, the products themselves lack a bit. 

The colors are fine (I only really ever use the deeper mustard and burgundy colors) and I find the shadows way too powdery with a lot of kick up when I use them with a brush. 

They've (seemingly) been pressed quite loosely- one drop will actually shatter these eyeshadows and I can attest (luckily just a light flaking around the edges).

They work lovely on the fingers, and apply best with fingers but unfortunately, I can't stand not using brushes to blend out.
I do however, loosely enjoy using this also as a contour product when I don't have a bronzer (as I usually don't), and also using it with a sharp angled brush for eyebrow definition, which makes up for not really being able to use it too much for eyeshadow.

I would like to give this another go with my current aesthetic especially in the fall/winter months again and I still do really love how travel friendly and convenient and mostly no nonsense no frills the packaging is. 

I would definitely recommend the blushes, but I can't say the same about the eyeshadow palette. 

It just doesn't fit my needs and my desires out of an eyeshadow palette at all, so I've not brought it to travel with me. 

Also regarding other products from this line/brand, I have looked into a few of the liners, brow products and most impressively, their huge lip color range and never really found something that fit what I wanted. 

I spent about 2 hours in the shop swatching every fall color in this line and didn't find one that worked for me, and also didn't enjoy the slightly drying and matte (read, flakey on my lips) formula that they have. 

The liquid lip colors also don't dry down, and I have not worn a gloss in about 10 years. 

I may get around to trying them again one day but for now, I am perfectly content with my lovely muted (and actually very unique color shades as far as I'm concerned) blushes!