Before last week, the only place I had seen the Profusion beauty brand was at TJ Maxx. Scattered amongst the dented boxes and half-open products, the sturdy Profusion packaging always stood out to me. Plus, it seems like this affordable beauty brand is attempting to take on high-priced competitors, as they have highly dupe-able products from eyeshadows to liquid highlighters. While I’ve always been curious about this brand, I’d never actually taken the plunge. I think the main reason I hadn’t given in and picked up a palette was due to their lack of representation in the beauty community. My lizard brain occasionally gets convinced that visibility = quality, and that’s obviously not always the case.
Luckily, just in time for summer, I caught an opportunity to try out some Profusion products including the Mixed Metals Peach Eyes & Lips Set.
The Mixed Metals Peach Eyes & Lips set comes with four pieces:
1 Mixed Metals eyeshadow palette in Peach
1 lip liner pencil
1 metallic liquid lipstick in Peach Nude
1 Pro Line blending brush
As soon as I saw the photos of this set, I was impressed. The packaging seemed way too nice for the low price point, but everything comes packaged in a plastic display box that – fair warning – takes about 15 minutes to fully remove. And be careful with the stickers on the palette. They apparently use an industrial-strength adhesive infused with plutonium or something because my rubbing alcohol did nothing in terms of removing the sticky goo leftovers, and instead just discolored the palette slightly. Boo. As someone who will gladly spend 20 minutes tediously peeling the stickers off of things in exchange for the satisfaction of looking at a clean, untouched product that will only be untouched for 3 minutes, the amount of damage that sticker did to my palette will haunt me forever.
Anyway, after you’ve carefully extracted the eyeshadow palette, you’ll see it contains 9 large pans of taupe, peach, pink, and brown shadows, each stated to have a matte or metallic finish.
RIP top right corner, lost to sticker goo.
But lemme rewind and talk about the packaging again for a second: this is nicer than a lot of the more expensive makeup I’ve reviewed. Not only does this square palette have a satisfying click when you close it, but the cover of the palette is actually gorgeous.
The cover says “MIXED METALS” in rose gold-colored mirrors which are inset, along with the brand name and description of the palette. In contrast, the largest text reading “PEACH” is in a striking silver mirror and, together with the rose gold, looks very, very cool. And the modular, minimalist font totally echoes the identity of the palette, which is an obsessive exploration into the all the beautiful colors of a peach.
There are four matte shadows and four “metallic” shadows, and all of them play well together. (Reasons for the quotation marks forthcoming.) Like all palettes with a mix of finishes, the texture of the shadow changes from pan to pan. If you’re concerned about smell, don’t worry. These smell unidentifyably good, without any harsh chemical smells or froo-froo sweet scents.
Here is my attempt to describe these shades to you (L-R):
Polite: Pearly white shimmer
Wannabe: Light pink with subtle neon pink shift
Ecstatic: Vibrant coral pink with a tiny bit of lavender glitter
Outgoing: Medium taupe brown matte
Certain: Warm metallic bronzed orange
Outspoken: Red-toned brown matte
Crimson: Pinky brick red matte
Bordeaux: Metallic berry brown
Special: Deep cocoa brown matte
If that one off-kilter swatch bothers you as much as it bothers me, we’re gonna be great friends.
Reasons why I’ll never be a true professional aside, these actually swatch really nicely, save for the darkest brown matte, Special. The matte shades are definitely “crispier” than the shadows with other finishes, but most of them applied really nicely, albeit a little dusty.
Truly, there are only two metallic shadows in this palette, Certain and Bordeaux. Contenders include the first shade, Polite, and the second shade, Wannabe, which aren’t shiny enough to be metallic but have a shimmer or sheen that sets them apart, especially when you try to use Polite, the lightest shade, as a base and all of a sudden you’re Britney Spears in the Oops, I Did It Again video.
The softest shadow, by far, is Wannabe. You can even see in the swatch (second from the left), there are tiny crumbles of shadow lingering even after I tried to blow it off. It’s a beautiful shadow, honestly, but just be careful when dipping into it as it really wants to go everywhere. Blending is pretty simple, save for the problem shades (looking at you, Special). I would also recommend using Ecstatic over a sticky base, otherwise the tiny glitter isn’t going to show up at all.
About the actual metallic eyeshadows, though: they’re great. They’re rich, not a lot of fallout, excellent payoff, decent staying power… I mean, overall, this palette performed really well. For an everyday palette, it’s awesome, and even affords you some brighter, more exciting colors to create dramatic looks with.
Finally we can talk about this lipstick: the Profusion Metal Metallic Lip Creme Liquid Lipstick in Metal Peach. Having tried a ton of liquid lipsticks, and more than my fair share of affordable metallic liquid lipsticks, I was a little apprehensive about trying a new formula. Expecting affordable lipsticks to be drying and/or flaky is commonplace for me now, but believe me when I tell you that I was pleasantly surprised.
The doe foot applicator is fluffy and sturdy, with a little bit of give so you can really push the color onto your lips. The tube is clear, and I love the (once again) minimalist design. Plus – do you see that gleam?! The shade of this lipstick is totally intoxicating.
As far as metallic lipsticks go, this one isn’t messing around. After one or two swipes, you have full-on metalized lips. The color is a true peach-champagne with a heavy emphasis on the peach. Not only is this actually a wearable shade (in the right setting, obviously), but I can imagine that mixing this with other shades, or plopping it into the center of a lip look would add all kinds of vavoom to a dramatic beauty look.
Last but not least, the Profusion Lip Liner in Matte Peach is a versatile dusty pink-orange shade that would be gorgeous all by itself. Layered under the metallic lipstick, it adds a nice foundation and a deeper-toned base to ground the metallic a little bit. Also, dabbing the metallic lipstick over the lip liner, alone, is definitely worth trying.
Oh yeah, before I forget and end the post, the makeup brush is fine. It’s nothing super special, but it’s soft, it blends eyeshadow, and it’s a great addition to this set. ‘Nuff said!
Where to find Profusion Mixed Metals Peach Eyes & Lips Set
How much would you expect to pay for this set? There are four major components, each piece is versatile enough to fit into almost any beauty style… So what’s that worth?
How about ten freaking dollars? Yep, the Profusion Mixed Metals Lip & Eye sets are all $10 (or $9.99 if you’re Target – what a bunch of tryhards!), and if peach isn’t your jam (mmm, peach jam…), then try out their Mixed Metals Nude set, Mixed Metals Amber set, or Mixed Metals Glam set. They all come with lip and eye products, just like this one.
Have you tried any Profusion Cosmetics products? Have you had any experience with the Mixed Metals collection? What were your favorite parts of the Mixed Metals Peach set?
Tell us in the comments!
Other reviews of the Profusion Mixed Metals Peach Eyes & Lips Set
(En español!)