A few things happened between working on Part 1 and Part 2. First, I decided to keep a few extra products from the Mystery Bundles instead of giving them away. Second, the only lip pencil I received that smelled relatively normal in the beginning ended up starting to smell very off like the others (still without me ever even using it), so I’m no longer going to review it. Third, Melt had a 50% off sale the day after I posted Part 1, so I bought the few remaining things I wanted from the brand. This means I’ll be reviewing a few extra things not pictured above.

Part 1 with reviews of all the eye products in the photo can be found HERE.

The Sculpt Stack

This stack is surprisingly handy! I love that it comes with a small mirror as the “cap” for the stack. The med/dark bronzer and contour both work for my skin tone, but even the light/med bronzer I’ve been able to use as a setting powder! It’s just the light/med contour that I have little use for. I prefer my contours to have slightly more grey than this one has, so I had the idea to mix some of the light/med contour shade with it, but I was unsuccessful in making those two properly blend together to turn into the perfect contour shade for my liking. Using the Med/Dark contour on its own looked better than the combination of the two.

These blend easily enough, though it can stick in place a little bit if my face is dewy, but that just requires a dense brush to buff out and then it looks fine again. The Chikuhodo FO-2 is a beloved buffer brush up to that task, for example.

These don’t fade. They are matte, but not drying. I love a slight sheen to my bronzers, which this doesn’t give, but it’s still quite nice. Overall, my impression of the stack is that it’s a useful product. It’s not in my very top favorites, but I do enjoy this product a lot and will continue using it. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if this turns out to be something I like even more over time.

Ultra Matte Bronzer in Malibu

Despite the “Ultra Matte” name, I don’t find this product to be drying on the skin or to look any more matte than the bronzer in the stack. The powder feels slightly silkier to the touch, but it’s actually less easy to use than the stack because of my preference for wearing slightly dewy foundations. If I’m wearing a drier foundation, the blend is at least equal to the bronzer in the stack. Overall, I prefer the stack’s color and blendability than Melt’s actual dedicated line of bronzers. Plus, whatever makes this formula different from the one in the stack also causes it to start forming a weird film on the top layer (presumably from double dipping between the compact and the moisture on my face from skincare, primer, and/or dewy foundation).

I find it interesting that the shade range seems to lean on the darker end of the spectrum. My shade is number 3 out of 4 and Malibu is even a bit darker than I tend to wear these days, though perhaps it’ll be perfect in the summertime. However, I will realistically not reach for this because I prefer the stack and plenty of other bronzers in my collection over this one. It’s not bad, but I just don’t think it’s worth full price. Even at half price, I’d choose a Mented Cosmetics bronzer, Nabla Skin Bronzing, or Covergirl Trublend So Flushed.

Cream Blushlight in Pinched and Lynx

I’ve reviewed this type of product before and it falls into the category of loving the shades and finishes, but not liking the fact that these don’t set down to a dry finish on the skin. Just like the Rose Inc blushes that I have the same issue with, I was unable to turn down the opportunity to buy something (like a mystery box) to essentially get the blushes for free. They’re so pretty! I just wish they could set without a strong powder (like a powder blush that fully removes the glow and warps the color which defeats the purpose of wearing them at all).

Pinched looks quite similar to Polished, but I wanted an option that didn’t have shimmer and was more pigmented on my cheeks and Lynx made for a gorgeous cream highlighter. I’m satisfied with these two shades, and will use them for photos, but the continued wet feeling on the cheeks is why I will never get much use out of them in public or private. For those who don’t mind a wet creamy cheek, these are beautiful. And I know there are some people who absolutely love this formula, like Amy Loves Makeup who owns them all.

Digital Dust Highlighter in Genesis

This highlighter was in the “last chance” section of the website, so it’s discontinued now, but something about pink and gold shimmery hues intrigue me. If they’re too pink, I tend to not like them, but if they are gold with a slight pink tinge, I tend to find them beautiful. Genesis is the kind I like. The shine can be built up to medium intensity in person, but it remains subtle on camera. I thought at first it just blended in very well on a day I wore my Rituel de Fille Thorn Oil (left photo), but when I made sure to take pictures again with a drier base, the shimmer particles were more obvious, but still didn’t look very reflective on camera (right photo). So, this is the type of highlighter I would wear in public, but not if I wanted my highlight to pop in pictures.

Sexfoil Liquid Highlight in Peaches & Cream

I reviewed these before and even mentioned that I think Peaches & Cream might show up more intensely on me. Ironically, it’s even more subtle than Gold Ore, but I think it’s a far better match for my skintone and even prettier. This product has a tendency to lift, depending on what other makeup I wear underneath it, but because the base color is about my skin tone, it covers up any patches while also having shimmer light enough to reflect and still work as a highlighter for my face.

Although I rarely use liquid highlighters, this might be the exception.

Gel Liner in Fortune

I have an example of this on the eyes in the Half Lashes section with the green eyeshadow look. Just like the other Melt liners, they dry quickly, don’t smudge, and last all day without the line cracking. I prefer eyeliner pens because of the convenience of not needing to use a second tool to apply it, but I find these gel ones to be great from Melt, especially in the waterproof formula that works for the waterline, though I only reach for them occasionally. If the brand ever releases felt tip eyeliner pens, I would definitely want to give one a try.

Johnny Half Lash

This was my first time ever buying Half Lashes and, just like most full strip lashes, these aren’t for me. The issue is that I have a very rounded curve to my eyes directly in the middle. This requires me to have strip lashes that are longer than usual. My eyes also have a steep downward curve at the outer edge, which I try to balance out with cat-eye wings. So, in order to have room to adjust to my eye shape, I would need a longer half lash (something like a 3/4 strip) and for the outer portion to have much longer lashes so that it can look like it’s curving upward at the ends. On my eyes, putting the half lash from the actual middle to end part looks strange because my inner lashes are super short, which doesn’t have a normal looking transition from shorter lashes to suddenly longer outer ones. This causes the outer part to look either downturned or just makes the eye look heavy. If I move the lash slightly more inwards from the top of my curve in the center to almost the end to keep it from looking downturned, it looks even more ridiculous because the lashes go from short to long to short again.

The best I could get it to look was in the purple look when I made sure to have a wing that made the outer edge appear to curve up higher than the actual lash was curving. It still looks quite heavy though, so this style of lash just isn’t for me. If I want half lashes, I think I would need to just slightly trim a full strip and ensure it has a very flared out end. But considering my sparse and shorter inner lashes, I’d just stick with House of Lashes Iconic Lites.

Amor y Mariposas Collection

Recuerdos Lipstick and Corazon Lip Pencil

As I mentioned in the beginning of the post, I didn’t end up wearing the lip pencil because of the smell. As for the lipstick, it’s certainly an interesting color. It still has a vanilla scent to it that is similar to the cream blushlights. The color isn’t very even and this formula is very drying and the bullet was stiff. I don’t know if this is the case with all of Melt’s lipsticks (I have heard they aren’t very comfortable) or if this is just performing this way because of how long ago the collection was released. The gold packaging is absolutely stunning though. I love the details, as well as the imprint on the lipstick bullet. I will never wear this lipstick again (and removed it after taking the photo so I have no idea how good the longevity is), but I want to save the packaging and maybe pour a homemade balm into it so I can reuse it for something because it’s so pretty, plus luxurious feeling from the metal with magnetic closure.

Mirror

I ended up with two of these when it was temporarily reduced to $5 with a purchase of an Amor y Mariposas item and then again when it was temporarily free with either a mystery box or certain spending minimum. It was never officially announced, but something I noticed in the website carts. So, I gave the spare one to my sister!

This mirror is beautiful. I love the gold writing on the back and the clear red color. It’s a thick plastic though, so it feels weighty but isn’t too heavy as to be uncomfortable for a handheld mirror. The only downside is that it’s quite small, around the size of Colourpop mirrors. The one I got from Gerard Cosmetics is the current one I use because it’s much bigger in size, which I compared in the photo below. I can be quite clumsy and have already broken five mirrors in my lifetime, so I don’t mind having backups. However, if my Gerard one breaks, I would probably repurchase it because I like how much larger of a mirror surface it has. I know I own plenty of palettes with mirrors, but those are heavier to lift up, or the lid doesn’t stay up in position, or the mirror is just too small for my liking. So, I continue to use hand mirrors and I like collecting pretty ones, even if I barely use the spare ones.

Brush Set

The brushes in the order pictured are Rubor 718, Pomulo Alto 779, Pincel Denso 23, Mini Difumadora 808, Sombra Angular 627, Sombra Plana 24, and Lapiz Fino 523.

Rubor makes for a decent sweeping blush and bronzer brush. I like the density level, but wish it was more of Pomulo’s shape. Pomulo is my kind of blush brush, but it’s not as dense as I like and makes for a sheerer blush application. If I want something this sheer, I’d just use one of my natural hair brushes, so it disappointed me a bit. Pincel is a bit large for my eyes, but I have used it as a highlighting brush. It’s okay for that purpose, but a little odd because of the pointed tip. I’ve also used it to spread out one of my more liquid eye primers and preferred it for that, though I spread the product a bit wider out than anticipated since it’s so big for my eye. Mini Difumadora I’ve also used for highlighter and do like it for that. Sombra Angular I’ve used for eye primer and liked it. Sombra Plana I’ve used as an eyeliner brush, though I would prefer if it came even thinner at the tips for even more precision. I think it’s technically a concealer brush as it’s similar in shape and size to my Smashbox concealer brush that I also don’t use for concealer. Sonia G’s Jumbo Concealer brush is much more my style in shape and thickness. Lapiz Fino is a strange one because it’s shaped like an eyeliner brush, but it’s so thick that I never want to use it for eyeliner and can’t think of any other purpose for that brush either. Maybe spot concealing, but I almost never do that.

Overall, I do think this brush set is worth the currently reduced $35 price. I got one set free in a mystery box, but I did buy another set for my sister who is always afraid to use pretty brushes for fear of messing them up. I got this set specifically for her to “mess up” as much as she wants but she still finds the gold metal outside (I’m guessing full aluminum) and lovely shade of red synthetic bristles to be too pretty.

I’ve only washed these brushes once, but I did not notice any dye seeping out. Just wanted to mention that. However, I wash my brushes with cold or lukewarm water at most.

Before we go, I should post this disclaimer…

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That’s everything for today. Thank you for reading!

-Lili ❤