makeup revolution week: haul + review (setting sprays and primers)

There are many reasons the holiday season is special. The traditions, time spent with family, and all of the beautiful twinkling lights. Another perk? Fabulous holiday beauty sets. The months of November and December are notorious for all of the special makeup and beauty collections. During that time, I was given a holiday set loaded with items from Revolution (also commonly called Makeup Revolution or Makeup Revolution London). The amount of product inside was shocking - in a good way. There were twelve items in all with all but one of those items being full-sized versions. With so much to test, try, and review from the brand...I wanted to highlight and dig into those products properly. That is why this is the first post of the latest theme week here on the creation of beauty is art. Ready to find out what is inside the holiday box? Learn more about each product? Keep reading to find out all the essential information about this holiday release.

Revolution Holiday Set - What is Inside?

Whoa! As you can see from the picture above, this holiday set was not messing around. Not at all. There are so many different items included. That makes this a wonderful release for someone who is not overly familiar with the brand - or if you were looking for makeup related gifts for multiple people. This could easily be unboxed and split between several different people. Luckily for me, I was given the entire collection to unbox and enjoy. This Revolution set came with: a travel brush set, lip gloss trio, illuminating fixing spray, mattifying primer, cooling fixing spray, illuminating eye primer, metallic crushed pigment palette, ultimate neutrals pigment palette, velvet matte pigment palette, blush and highlight palette, ultra contour palette, and a brow palette. There is clearly an awful lot going on here. 

There are several things I enjoy about this particular release. First of all, the fact that everything minus the travel brush set is a full sized item. Then the fact that the actual box everything came in is super sturdy, cute, and can be re-used for makeup storage. (Which is exactly what I will be using it for in future. I think it will be a great way to store eyeshadow palettes.) If that wasn't enough, the sheer variety of products here is also impressive. There are a lot of essentials like face products and primers, but then of course, there is fun stuff like eyeshadows and blush palettes.

Product Review (Setting Sprays and Primers)

This set came with two different setting sprays. The first was the Illuminating Fixing Spray and the second was the Cooling Fixing Spray. The illuminating spray is intended to give your skin a healthy glowing finish while keeping your makeup locked and in place. The cooling spray is meant to give your skin a nice cool clean finish while making sure your makeup stays put. I'll be honest, these setting sprays just weren't for me. I wanted them to be! Sadly, both of them had a strong chemical scent. Though that did fade as time went on, I didn't feel like the results were impressive enough to overlook the unpleasant scent. Both of the sprays worked decently enough. However, there are far more impressive setting sprays out there. For something affordable, there is NYX, which has several to choose from. On the higher end scale, Too Faced and Urban Decay have excellent offerings. While it was wonderful to try out two different setting spray options, these just weren't for me. 

Product Review (Eye and Face Primer) 

Now for a couple of primers! This set came with the Mattifying Primer for use on the face and the Illuminating Eye Primer for eyeshadow looks. The face primer was quite impressive. The texture reminds me of one of my favourite primers from Hard Candy. It has more of a silicone feel to it and it does a wonderful job of mattifying the skin. It really helps foundation glide on smoothly and last significantly longer. This primer is a wonderful way to give yourself a smooth polished finish for an affordable price. I would highly recommend! As for the eye primer? It is a total miss. This did nothing. In fact, it made my eyeshadow looks crease even more than they do without a primer. I tried it multiple times with various eyeshadows and the result was always the same. It was a complete dud. 

Clearly this Revolution set has some good (the Mattifying Primer) and some not-so-good (the setting sprays and Illuminating Eye Primer). Thankfully, it isn't over yet. There are many more reviews to come. For the rest of this week, the creation of beauty is art. will be all Revolution all the time. 

Are you a fan of Revolution? Have you tried any of these products?