Colourpop 2019 Birthday Collection: Buy or Bye

Hey, all!

Today’s post is another episode of my Buy or Bye series where I talk about recently-released full makeup collection and discuss whether it’s worth a purchase or not. At first I didn’t plan to make this a series in my blog, but from time to time, I find some full collections worth to discuss! I wrote one before, which was the Zoella x Colourpop collection. As they are still available now on Colourpop (CP) website, do check that link if you want to know more about my thoughts on that collection.

This month, May, Colourpop, the so-called brand that never sleeps, is celebrating their 5th birthday. CP has been releasing a bunch of new stuffs and drops many sales every other week, so of course this month is no different, especially since it’s their birthday month. According to their tradition, they always released a full huge collection as well as one special super shock shadow that is limited edition and comes as freebie for every purchase.

By the time I wrote this post, I actually have placed my order, so I’ll tell you what I got!

Ok, without further ado, let’s dive right into the post!

PS: stay tuned until the end to get a 20% off discount code to shop on Colourpop website (NOT A CLICK BAIT)

Full collection

Since this is their Birthday Collection, of course everything must be so special. Not only it’s a HUGE collection, the main theme of this collection is also not disappointing (at least for me!). The theme of this collection is watermelon. Every items here are designed and named accordingly. The graphic design of the packaging is so cute, and you know I’m a sucker for a cute packaging. If I had unlimited amount money, I’d probably have bought everything just because of the packaging! ><

The full collection consists of following items:

Main Squeeze eye shadow palette: USD 12
Best Served Chilled bundle: USD 24
Three liquid lipstick duos: USD 12 each
Melonade ultra matte lip: USD 7
Big Slice so juicy plumping gloss: USD 7
Three Supernova shadow and Mini Gliterally Obsessed duos: USD 12 each
Mini Gliterally Obsessed trio: USD 12
Two Full size of Gliterally Obsessed: USD 8 each
Birthday Treat super shock shadow: free with any purchase while stock lasts

Now, let’s break it down one by one!

Main Squeeze Eye Shadow Palette

In every CP releases, of course the eye shadow palette is the star of the collection. This palette is meant to be a red monochromatic palette, and it’s an addition of their currently existing monochromatic palettes, such as Brown Sugar, Ooh La La, It’s My Pleasure, and Just My Luck.

Apparently, this was a highly requested monochromatic palette, and I was actually one of them who requested a red palette, so I’m not complaining. I love red, and I personally don’t have anything like this in my collection. I’m currently liking the 9-pan palette as I can create a quick look without having to think much. Since this one is right up my alley, this is the first item from this collection that I know I’ll pick up!

However, after looking some swatches and reviews online, I must admit that a lot of the shades in this palette are somewhat ended up looking so similar once applied on the eyes. It’s also lacking in depth. There is no light enough or deep enough shade. If you look this palette as a whole, it’s full of medium and transitional shades only. The darkest shade which is the one on bottom right corner (“red bottoms”) could’ve been even deeper. And I can’t tell which one is the lightest shade, the 1st one (“frose”), or the 6th one (“big gulp”)?

Aside from that, some also mentioned that since it’s a watermelon themed palette, there should be a green, creme, and black shades. I personally don’t mind the fact that even though they claimed it to be a watermelon palette, it’s only consists of red colors. I’m sure they want to add this palette to the monochromatic palettes family without having to release another red-only palette.

With that being said, I did pick up this palette! This is my favorite item from this collection, the packaging is stunning, and the fact that it’s a 9-pan palette is also practical. I can’t wait to create all-red looks using it!

Best Served Chilled Bundle

This bundle is a collaboration with CP sister skincare brand, Fourth Ray Beauty (FRB). It consists of Watermelon Face Milk, Watermelon Seed Oil, and Watermelon flavored Lippie Scrub. Watermelon Seed Oil is previously existing product from FRB, while Watermelon Face Milk is a new one, and Watermelon flavored Lippie Scrub is also a new product from CP’s Lippie Scrub line. By the way if you’re wondering, Watermelon Face Milk is a light weight moisturizer that’s supposed to be hydrating but non-greasy.

I’ve been wanting to try FRB products and CP lippie scrubs, but since I’m on a low buy year, I can’t just buy them whenever I want. I have to follow my low buy budget and schedule (PS: you can read my low buy rules here). So, when I saw that CP offers this bundle, which include literally everything I’ve been eyeing, I know I want to pick up this bundle. Additionally, from swatches and reviews I saw online, many people seems liking this bundle also.

This bundle retails for USD 24, while the actual total price of three of the items is USD 26, so we’re not really saving a lot of money by buying them in a bundle.

I was actually a little bit iffy to buy liquid products internationally because I’ve read from several bloggers who ordered FRB stuffs that their stuffs came leaking (I read from my friend AlwaysCleia and PolishedAndInspired). I wish that they are sold individually so that I can pick up only the lippie scrub which doesn’t have high risk of leaking. But, since I’ve been wanting to try FRB products for a long time, I decided to pick up this bundle and just hoping for the best that there won’t be any spills during the shipping! ><

Liquid Lipsticks Bundles

There are so many liquid lip products within this collection and I like it since it’s very suitable with the theme. The three liquid lip bundles are: Sweet Crush, Slice of Life, and Our of Your Rind.

Let’s talk about them one by one!

Slice of Life

This bundle consists of one ultra glossy lip (UGL) in “Fresco” and one ultra BLOTTED lip (UBL) in “Swing Away”.

It’s been a long time since CP released a new shade of ultra blotted lip so I’m very excited to try it. But I’m actually not a glosses type of girl. I like lip products that are pigmented and not sticky. If they were sold individually, I would’ve pick up only the UBL. But since they are only available in bundle (as of now), and luckily the UGL here is the only one that actually has color in it among the three bundles, I decided to pick up this bundle. I don’t hate glosses so I will just wear it from time to time.

Sweet Crush

This bundle consists of one UGL in “Granita” and one ultra MATTE lip (UML) in “Sherbert Shop”.

I actually really like Sherbert Shop, it’s the type of lip color I like to wear. But since it’s only sold in a bundle, and I rarely wear glosses especially clear glosses, I decided not to pick up this bundle. Were they sold individually, I think I might’ve picked up only the UBL from previous bundle and the UML from this bundle.

Out of Your Rind

This bundle consists of one UGL in “Scorcher” and one UML in “On The Grill”.

I don’t wear a lot of hot pink or fuchsia matte lippies because I find it too “in-your-face”. If the shade On The Grill was in UBL formula, I don’t mind it since UBL looks more muted than UML. I also rarely wear glosses, so this bundle is a pass from me. But I still think it’s a pretty color. I just hope it was in different formula.

Melonade Ultra Matte Lip

I actually can’t justify why they include a single UML with only one shade option. I really like the color, tho, it’s right up my alley. But if they want to include a single item, there is one item I think is better than one shade of UML. They should’ve included a true red loose pigment! It much more makes sense to include a single loose pigment than a single UML that’s already available in bundles, too. But this is only my suggestion, I’m sure they had their own justification.

Honestly, if all of the items here were available as singles, I think the ones I picked up would be the watermelon lippie scrub, UBL in Swing Away, UML in Sherbert Shop, and this one. Since I have limited budget, I decided not to pick this one up, although I really really want to pick it up also 😥

Big Slice So Juicy Plumping Gloss

As I mentioned before, I don’t usually wear glosses, let alone a thicker one like this. I personally think the color is pretty and really suits the theme. I actually considered to pick this up because I think this time might be a good time to try this plumping glosses. But since I have a limited budget, this one didn’t make the cut.

Supernova Shadow and Mini Gliterally Obsessed Duos

It’s been a long time since CP released new shades of supernova shadow. The last time was in their collaboration with Zoella. I never tried a supernova shadow before, so I can’t say much about it. I imagine it’s just like a usual liquid shadow.

Gilterally obsessed (GO) is not a new product, but this time they released it in a mini size which I think is a clever idea! The full size is 15 g/ 0.53 oz and retails for USD 7.5. The mini is 3 g/ 0.11 oz, and if we break it down from this bundle, since supernova shadow retails for USD 8, this GO mini’s value is around USD 4.5. If you wanted to try it since before but not quite ready to commit to a full size, this could be your chance. But you might want to keep in mind that you pay around half of full size price with the amount of 1/5. Of course we can’t always value a product based on their weight only since there’s also packaging that contributes to the price. But I think I just want to mention this in case it helps you decide on whether to buy the mini or not.

There are three of these duos, they are Dear Summer, Sandia Smash, and Slip N’ Slide.

Dear Summer

This bundle consists of “Wish Me Luck” GO and “Sand Castle” supernova shadow. Wish Me Luck is an existing GO shade but Sand Castle is a new one.

I was actually intrigued to try this since I never tried a supernova shadow and GO before. But I need to consider whether I will get a lot of use out of it. On daily bases when I go outside, I wear hijab and my whole body is covered except my face and my palms. On the other hand, GO is intended to use on the body or maybe face except the eye area. However, there’s not many part of my body that is shown. The highest possibility is only to use it around my face or my eyes (which is not safe). But I can’t justify going to a mall wearing glitter on my face XD. So although I like the shades of this supernova and actually don’t mind wearing glitter, I don’t think I can get many use out of it. So I decided to pass on this bundle (and also any glitter products within this collection).

Speaking about the bundle itself, I think the shade of supernova shadow in this one is the most consistent within this whole collection, which is around red and coral color family. The other two bundles are too pink-y and purple-y, which I think a little off to be paired with the palette if you want to wear them together.

Sandia Smash

This bundle consists of “Avenue of The Stars” GO, which also an existing GO shade, and “Ice Pop” supernova shadow, which is a new one. I actually really like the glitter since it’s very colorful, and I do think the supernova shadow’s shade is also pretty, and the overall shade of both of them quite matches. But again, since I won’t be wearing them a lot, I decided to pass on this one.

Slip N’ Slide

This bundle consists of “Disco Lady” GO, which also an existing GO shade, and “Hazy” supernova shadow, which is a new one. Among the three bundles, I think the supernova shadow in this one doesn’t quite match the theme. It’s still a pretty shade, so if you like the shade alone without considering the whole theme in this collection, I’m sure you’ll be happy to have it! I also passed this one with the same reasoning as I mentioned above.

Mini Glitterally Obsessed Trio

This trio consists of three mini GO retails for 12 USD. Each of them is 3 g/ 0.11 oz and if we break it down from the bundle’s price, each would be USD 4. The shades are “Starfire”, “Star Party”, and “Keep it Plutonic”, which all of them are existing shade. If you don’t want the supernova shadow bundle, you can have this instead. I myself didn’t pick this one up.

Full Sized Gliterally Obsessed

There are two new GO shades in this collection which are “Trippin on Skies” (the left one from image above) and “Bring The Heat” (the right one from image above). They are just like typical CP GO that has been released before. I can’t say much about it since I never tried any of them. I also passed on this one.

Free Birthday Super Shock Shadow

Just like CP’s previous birthday celebration, they give this super shock shadow (SSS) as a freebie with every purchase made during the birthday period. I love SSS and this color is perfect for this collection. I obviously get it for free with my purchase and can’t wait to play around with it!

Additional Bundles

Besides the ones mentioned above, CP also offer some additional bundles. The first one is “Birthday Bash” which consists of four previous birthday-special SSS retails for USD 20.

I didn’t pick this up because I have limited budget and for this purchase, I decided to pick up products I never tried before such as FRB stuffs, lippie scrub, and UBL, so this one didn’t make the cut. But now I’m kinda regretting myself by not picking this one up. They are special SSS and not sold in singles anymore so I should have pick this up to complete my collection. Now I only hope they make this bundle a permanent so I can pick it up a little bit later 😥

The next bundle is “Sweetest Fling” which consists of Main Squeeze palette, Melonade UML, and Big Slice Plumping Gloss. This one retails for USD 26, which actually doesn’t save any money.

The next bundle is “In Season” which consists of Main Squeeze palette, Best O liner, and Get Paid liner retails for USD 20. I actually considered to pick this up since it saves USD 3. But after considering the liners included here, I think I don’t really want them at the moment.

Overall Thoughts

So that is it guys my thoughts about CP 2019 birthday collection. The ones I picked up are Main Squeeze palette, Best Served Chilled bundle, Slice of Life bundle, and Birthday Treat SSS. Overall, I really love the theme and in my opinion they executed it well with the selection of products, the graphic design, and the product/ shade names. There are some elements that could’ve been better, such as a wider range of reds in the palette, adding another type of product outside the bundle instead of one single shade of UML, and selling the products individually so that we could choose them more freely. In the end, I am still happy with my purchase and can’t wait to play around with it!

20% Discount Code

This is what I promised you guys. I have a referral link so that you can get 20% off your FIRST purchase only. This is not an affiliate code but I will get also 20% off my next purchase if you use this link to make your FIRST EVER purchase with CP. So it’s a win win for us!

https://www.talkable.com/x/boSyX0

This code (as far as I’m aware) is applied for all Colourpop’s products including new arrivals. So it’s a very good deal! Please feel free to use it or not. I really appreciate if you decided to use my referral link to make your purchase! ^^

That’s all for today’s post! Now let me know what you think about this collection. Did you pick anything up? Which is your most favorite product? Or did you completely skip this collection? Please comment below!

I’ll see you on my next post!