My first look at SST Cosmetics back in June was a bit of a mixed bag – I liked the lip gloss (although lip gloss isn’t a product I wear all that often), but the eyeshadow duo crumbled on me during my first use and I was forced to throw it out. So when a few more products landed in my mailbox courtesy of the brand, I was a little bit surprised and a touch hesitant. My hesitation was gone when I noticed a bronzer (squuuuueeee!) and an eyeshadow colour that was remarkably similar to MAC’s Sketch (a favourite of mine).
Let’s dive in.
This is SST Cosmetics’ Composed eyeshadow. It’s a lovely satin finish burgundy/maroon shade with tiny specs of gold. The way the shadow reacts on my eyelids is very similar to MAC’s Sketch – which is to say that it deepens my crease quite easily (and believably) even though I have quite hooded eyes. The pigmentation on this eyeshadow is fantastic – a little goes a long way. You will, however, notice that a lot of product gets kicked up when you stick your brush into it. Some people see this as a downside, I’m not that fussed really since it didn’t lead to fallout.
Next up, and easily the most exciting thing to me, was the SST Cosmetics bronzer in Sun Kissed. It comes with a useless sponge on top that I quickly threw out (and you should too. No one’s got any business applying bronzer with a square sponge.) and has a decent mirror in the lid. At first I was a bit skeptical about the powder since it looks and swatches very, very warm. There’s not much red in there, just straight up orange with flecks of glitter. I had no idea how it was going to look on my face. Amazingly though, somehow, it freaking transformed and made me look tanned without looking totally fake n baked.
See? That bronzer is definitely on the orange side.
And lastly, before we get to the face shots, I also received the SST Cosmetics Lash Rebel mascara. I’ll be brief with this one, because I didn’t like it. Lash Rebel did make my lashes look nice and the wand was easy to work with, but overall I felt it caused my lashes clump together more than I’d like. The formula is also very, very dry and I much prefer wet mascaras. These are all personal preferences however and I know mascara is such an individual thing so I can only offer you what I like in a mascara.
In the shot above, I’m wearing Composed eyeshadow on the outer half of the lid and through the crease as well as the Lash Rebel mascara. I’ve got some bigger lash clumps than I’d like, but it did a pretty good job of coating them.
Here’s my full face with all the products included (eyeshadow, bronzer, mascara).
And a side view so you can see the bronzer a bit better. I apply bronzer to my forehead, back-tops of my cheekbones (what the hell is that area called??), along my jaw line and on my nose (because I like the sunburnt look).
And another shot wearing the SST Cosmetics Sun Kissed bronzer. For reference, I’m not wearing foundation in any of these shots, so what you’re seeing are the colours on my natural skin tone with a little bit of blush and highlighter.
Final Thoughts
The Lash Rebel mascara is a total loss for me. I wore it about four times and I just never liked it enough – to the point where I was dreading applying it.
The Composed eyeshadow was such a win compared to the duo I received last time and definitely more of a colour I will wear frequently. It didn’t crumble on me and I love the shade. *thumbs up*
The absolute stunner of the whole lot has got to be that Sun Kissed bronzer though. I have no idea how something so orange looking in the pan and in swatches could look so goddamn stunning on my face. It’s not over the top, which I enjoy, and yet it adds the perfect amount of colour I want out of my bronzer. I’m so happy to have that one in my bronzer collection right now!
SST Cosmetics can be purchased at several salons in the Western provinces of Canada. They can also be purchased via their web site at www.sstsignatureseries.com.
The products featured in this post were provided for consideration.
