Coastal Scents Haul: Silica Powder Spheres, Hot Pots Eyeshadows (Taupe!), Loose Powders

Coastal Scents had a 40% off storewide sale after Christmas (don't worry if you missed it, they typically have a 50% off Black Friday sale as well as the end-of-year sale, and other various discounts throughout the year), and I just had to haul this time, even though shipping was a killer, because I was in desperate need of my staple, the silica powder spheres! I'm nearly running out of my big bag of silica powder spheres, so I thought this was a good opportunity to replenish! And being the beauty junkie I am, I couldn't just stop there, so I ended up getting some of the Coastal Scents Hot Pots Eyeshadow Pans as well, since I've been hearing good things about them!

Coastal Scents haul: Silica powder spheres, eyeshadows, and other loose powders

So yes, this is my complete haul! I'll admit that I just got what I wanted, so the volume of stuff I got is a lot, but the variety is small - I really just stuck to my loose powder staples and eyeshadows! But hopefully next time I haul, I'll buy a bigger variety of stuff! Although shipping was around US$27 or US$28 or so, I have to say that I didn't mind, giving the weight of the powders I was ordering (2.5lbs, or 1.25-ish kg). I used Fedex (at those package rates it was the cheapest option), and my order arrived in 5 days, less than a week! It definitely arrived faster than I thought it would!

Coastal Scents haul: Shipping was not cheap, but my haul arrived in 5 days

Anyway, enough of my ramblings, I'm sure you're more keen in taking a closer look at what I actually bought. So let's dive right in, and start with my favourite item of my entire haul!

The reason why I hauled in the first place was to get more of my beloved silica powder spheres (the INCI name is silica, for those of you who want to know). These things really work for me, and I've been loving these for a long, long time! Even before I began my blog, I was reviewing makeup products on Makeup Alley, and my review of my beloved Coastal Scents powder totally gushed on about how awesome it was. And, after I began my blog, I reiterated my utter love for it a few years later in a blogpost on makeup I use for hot and humid climates. And, on top of that, it is pretty much in most FOTDs of mine where I'm not reviewing a new foundation or a new base product. It is that awesome for me, I kid you not. I really like it first and foremost of its very remarkable oil control properties, eliminating the need for any touch-ups once I step out of the house, but I also like how it makes my skin look subtly better, with a slightly nicer finish, when I use it.


Coastal Scents haul: Silica powder spheres, possibly my favourite Coastal Scents item ever
I do use my silica powder spheres straight up as a setting powder (over my sunscreen, but under the rest of my colour makeup), but more commonly, I like to mix it with whatever other loose powder I have lying around. Silica powder spheres by itself can be a little drying or leave a white cast on darker skintones (and sometimes on fairer skintones like mine too, if I overapply), so I often mix it with another loose powder just to kind of dilute its whitening and drying properties. It seems to play nicely with almost every loose powder I've tried with it, from more popular brands to no-brand brands. I guess silica spheres are a pretty universal filler for powders! I had some questions on how I mix my powder on my Instagram post on my haul, so when I have some time I'll probably show you guys how I mix my powder (although personally I don't know if there is much to see - take powder A, take powder B, and mix, really).

The next item I bought was Synafil, or synthetic fluorphlogopite, if you are looking at the INCI ingredient name rather than the tradename. This is one of those things that I kind of bought on a whim, without really thinking about how I was going to use it. I bought it because I already mix my own loose powder, and I thought this looked like a good addition to the mix. I was also curious about the ingredient because I've seen this ingredient featured fairly prominently in the ingredients lists of several high-end powders (including brands like Guerlain), so I thought, "Man, this powder must be good!" And on top of that, with the 40% discount, it was cheap. So I bought 1lb of synthetic fluorphlogopite, the largest size available, and it turns out it is some variant of synthetic mica. Oops - that's what you get for not doing your homework! But the good thing about this is that this is a fine glowy shimmer of a mica, rather than the sparkly glitterball type of shimmer, so I can definitely see myself mixing this in with my loose powder mix for a bit of a more glowy finish. Hopefully it will give my loose powder mix a Guerlain-ish glowy finish!


Coastal Scents haul: Synafil, a shimmery mica for formulating with
And, yes, more powder! These are called "cosmetic microspheres" on the Coastal Scents site, but the INCI name for these is magnesium silicate. These are pretty good filler powders with a matte finish, and apparently they have some pretty good oil control properties as well, although I'm not sure how it performs in comparison to my favourite silica powder spheres. Eventually I'll find out! From the reviews online, it seems that people use this in a very similar way to the silica spheres - either as a loose setting/mattifying powder, or added into other powder/foundation mixes. For now, though, I will probably include some of this in some of my loose powder mixes. This is an 8oz bag, because I just wanted these to play around with. I can definitely see myself using these!


Coastal Scents haul: Cosmetic microspheres, a matte filler for formulating with
So that's it for the boring-looking colourless white powders I bought. I also bought colour makeup! Well, when I say colour makeup, I really mean "75% of my haul is made up of various shades of taupe", which is expected because I'm something of a taupe hoarder collector lover. This is my first foray into the Hot Pots Eyeshadow Pans, and they look pretty good so far - I've swatched them a little, and the texture is soft, and pigmentation is good. Some of these shades are for my mother (who also likes taupes!), so there are some duplicates. I got Ashen, Frosty Taupe, Bazaar (x2), Aluminium Taupe (x2), Fleshtone, and Thunderous. Unfortunately my Ashen arrived broken, but Coastal Scents offered me a refund for the broken shadow, so I was happy with how they resolved things.


Coastal Scents haul: Hot Pots in Ashen, Frosty Taupe, Bazaar, Aluminium Taupe, Fleshtone, and Thunderous
I know the various shades of taupe look alike, but I swear they are all different! Ashen and Aluminium Taupe are a bit lighter and more silvery in appearance, while Bazaar is deeper and leans more purple, and Frosty Taupe is also deeper and leans more brown. In terms of finish, I felt Aluminium Taupe had the most shimmery finish, followed by Ashen, while Frosty Taupe and Bazaar both have less intense shimmer. I know the differences are more nuances than obvious differences, but for a taupe lover, sometimes you just want to buy all the taupes, you know?

I also bought some empty compacts to keep my shadows in. These are pretty basic, so I don't have much to say, but I do like how every well is magnetized, so you don't need to stick magnets to the base of your eyeshadow pans.


Coastal Scents haul: Empty eyeshadow palette compacts
And, here is a shot of my Hot Pots Shadow Pans in their little compacts! Yes, there is a quad that is all taupes, and I deliberately made it that way. I know most quads have a highlighter shade, a base shade, a lid shade, and a crease shade or similar arrangements, but I just wanted a quad full of taupey goodness, and I couldn't be happier! The colours in the shades are (left quad, from top left) Fleshtone, Aluminium Taupe, Thunderous, and Bazaar; and (right quad, from top left) Ashen, Aluminium Taupe, Bazaar, and Frosty Taupe.


Coastal Scents haul: Quads with Ashen, Frosty Taupe, Bazaar, Aluminium Taupe, Fleshtone, and Thunderous
And because I love taupes that much, here is another shot of my very special quad of taupes! To be honest, it was difficult narrowing my four chosen taupes, there were so many pretty-looking taupes on the site! My next haul will definitely consist of more taupes.

Coastal Scents haul: Hot Pots in Ashen, Frosty Taupe, Bazaar, Aluminium Taupe

That's all I bought, but I wanted to show you guys the free samples that came along with my order. I got a "I ♥ MAKEUP" car decal, which I would totally display proudly if I had a car (I don't), and also an eyeshadow sampler. I love eyeshadow samplers, they are so nifty for travel, and useful for trying out different colours too.


Coastal Scents haul: Freebies and samples
So that's my haul from Coastal Scents! I'm a happy camper and I love everything in my haul, and, more importantly, I'm glad that I bought enough silica powder spheres to last me for another few years!