current obsession: high school musical makeup from colourpop

What team? Wildcats! Okay...there is something that you all need to know about me. I love High School Musical a lot. More than the average person. In fact, the lamp in my living room is a High School Musical lamp that I have had for over a decade. I own the movies, soundtracks, dolls, accessories, blankets, pillows, and an assortment of other nostalgic items. Honestly? It was love at first watch for me. I remember sitting in the den at my parents house the night of the High School Musical premiere. I could not wait. Zac Efron was already a celebrity crush of mine, thanks to his role as Cameron on Summerland. Plus, there had been tons of promo leading up to the release of the movie. From that night on, it was High School Musical, High School Musical, and more High School Musical. I loved the second and third movies just as much as the first. And even today, I love to watch High School Musical: The Musical: The Series on Disney+. Everything about HSM feels special.

Early in the month of December, my husband and I went out with one of my friends and her husband for a long overdue dinner. Since the pandemic, my social life has been limited, but I am trying to get back out there and see the people that I care about more often. Hence the dinner! Well, it was during that dinner that my friend gave me an early Christmas present. I could not believe what was inside that holiday themed bag: High School Musical makeup. High School Musical makeup! ColourPop launched their High School Musical collection in August 2022. Unfortunately, it was not in the budget at that time. Never in a million years did I expect that my friend would not only remember the conversation we had about the collection, but go out of her way to order items from said collection for me. It was overwhelming. I fought back tears at the restaurant and did my best not to blubber all over everything. Truthfully, her kindness and thoughtfulness still floors me to this day. Now that I have been using the High School Musical themed products from ColourPop for the last month or so, it seemed only right to review them.

Thanks to the generosity of my friend, the East High Pressed Powder Palette and the Just a Tint Lip Crayon are on display in my beauty room. I love looking at these colourful products each and every day. It always makes me smile to see those iconic High School Musical symbols. More than a month later and I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that there is High School Musical makeup in my life. What a blessing. I had never tried anything from ColourPop before, but had read lots and lots of reviews over the past several years. So, I was definitely interested to find out what the formulas were like. Before I dive into all of that, it is important to talk about the theming. ColourPop really hit the ball out of the park with that. Everything about the collection screams High School Musical. This includes the outer packaging and the products themselves. The East High Pressed Power Palette has East High written on the front and is designed to look like a yearbook. It is bright red and has the Wildcats logo. On the inside of the palette, there are signatures from all the main High School Musical characters: Troy, Gabriella, Taylor, Chad, Sharpay, and Ryan. The eyeshadows also have the best names ever. For instance, Shoot Baskets, Scholastic Decathlon, and Was That a Cellphone? The Just a Tint Lip Crayon came in a themed cardboard box, but the crayon itself was less themed. It was pink and had both the High School Musical and ColourPop logos printed on the outside.

Clearly, the collection was well thought out and the theming was on point. But how did the products actually perform? As I mentioned earlier, this was my first time using anything from ColourPop, despite hearing about the brand for many years. The East High Pressed Powder Palette has a fantastic colour story, with neutrals, bright colours, and a mixture of matte and shimmer shades. There are certainly some standout eyeshadows, like Big Game, Something New, Sharpay, and Troy. The brighter colours were the best by far. Unfortunately, there were a lot of similar looking shadows in the palette. Though they look different in the pan, Creme Brule, Big Game, Student Body, and Twinkle Town look nearly identical when applied. Essentially, those are lightly pigmented shimmers. To be honest, the ColourPop formula is not exactly what I expected it to be. Based on the reviews I have read elsewhere (and the YouTube videos I have watched)...I expected richly pigmented and creamy shadows. These are more drugstore level and fall somewhere between Cover Girl and Maybelline. That being said, this is a very special palette. I love that the bright colours are shimmery and easy to wear. I love that there are light, medium, and dark shades. I love the theming and I love the colour story. There is an awful lot to adore about the High School Musical palette.

Now for the Just a Tint Lip Crayon in the shade Pop and Lock. (The name is another example of fantastic theming.) The packaging is simple but cute. There are stars on the lip crayon lid, which ties in the High School Musical inspired design well. As for the product itself, it smells fantastic. The lip crayon has a light citrus scent, goes on easily, builds well, and adds a nice wash of colour to the lips. This is such a fantastic product. I love that it adds just the right amount of colour without being too over the top. It is ideal for more casual makeup looks or events. The lip crayon is easy to apply and the colour fades naturally. It is also super comfortable. Definitely a fan of the Just a Tint Lip Crayon! Want to see it in action? Below is a makeup look that used both the eyeshadow palette and lip crayon. I used the Sharpay and Troy eyeshadow shades, because they belong together. 

What could be better than High School Musical themed makeup? Not much, to be honest. It has been such a thrill to use and enjoy these products from ColourPop over the last several weeks. What team? Wildcats.

Are you a fan of High School Musical? Have you tried ColourPop products before?