Motives Cosmetics: Review and Swatches

Hey friends! I was contacted a while back by a sweet lady named Dani (whose blog can be found here) who works in business development for the brand Motives Cosmetics. She asked me if I was interested in trying a few things from the line-no commitments, just to try things out and share on this blog. I checked with Dani who let me know that Motives is cruelty free which is great! It is also listed as a cruelty free brand on My Beauty Bunny and Phyrra-Beauty for the Bold. I said I’d be happy to participate, and that I could write up a post about the products once I got a chance to try everything out.

I had heard of Motives before, but I know it’s not based in the US. On the bottom of their site, they have links to specific geographical areas including Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and a Global Shop.

Dani sent me these products for free so I could review them and share my thoughts with you all. These are absolutely my honest thoughts and opinions.

I also wanted to include Dani’s personal link that she sent me and the little tidbit of information that goes along with it. “If you just sign in on the page as a customer, without even buying anything you can then refer people to the site, when they say you referred them you receive cashback on all their purchases! It’s a completely free program that helps to spread the word about Motives by giving incentives to the customers themselves, saving everyone money!”

The products I received and their retail prices are linked below. (Just normal links, I’m not affiliated in any way.)

Motives Custom Palette-2 Blushes and 4 Eye Shadows Palette – $11.00

Motives Pressed Shadow in Red Earth – $14.95 (Discontinued)

Motives Pressed Shadow in Gold Rush – $14.95 (Discontinued)

Motives Pressed Shadow in Gun Metal – $14.95

Motives Pressed Shadow in Chic – $14.95

Motives Pressed Blushed in Runway – $18.95 (Discontinued)

Motives Pressed Blush in So Peachy – $18.95

Motives for La La Illuminating Lip Shine in Sweet Candy – $13.95 (Discontinued)

The first product is the compact including two blushes and four eye shadows. These were gently used products from Dani’s salon, obviously cleaned and sanitized. The compact feels really sturdy and has some weight to it-it’s a hard plastic. It has a solid click closure, a large mirror, and the lid stands up on it’s own. Seems very travel friendly.

These powder products are very nice quality. I’ve used them multiple times, and everything has nice lasting power and pigmentation. The shadows (over a primer) lasted all day as did the blushes. Everything is very nicely pigmented, smooth, and applies easily. All of these eye shadow shades are shimmery. Runway blush is matte and So Peachy has some shimmer in it.

Runway

So Peachy

Top-So Peachy Bottom-Runway

Red Earth – Red Rosey Gold

Gold Rush – Bright Yellow Gold

Gun Metal – Deep Gun Metal with shades of Gray and Blue

Chic – Burnt/Antiqued Copper/Brown

I also wanted to include some simple eye looks using these products. The first three photos feature Gold Rush and Gun Metal eye shadows. The second set features Chic and Red Earth eye shadows.

On the the lip gloss which for me, has pros and cons. The shade is Sweet Candy which is a very light pink. It has a mirror on the side and also features a light in the cap.

As you can see from the photos above, this gloss has a small brush tip that comes to a pretty sharp point. I don’t usually prefer brush tips, and because this one is so small, it was challenging to apply this gloss without streaks. On one hand, the small tip is nice for precision; on the other other hand, using the brush alone, it’s streaky going on, and I can’t get it to be perfectly smooth. I need to rub my lips together in order to get a smooth finish.

The color is a lovely light milky pink with no shimmer. I really like the color although as with most glosses in light shades, it can settle into the lip lines more so than darker colors. While I notice that effect with this gloss close up, I don’t notice it from a distance and it looks nice overall.

I’d say the texture of this gloss is closer to the sticky side. It’s not a gloss with that slick/slippery texture. I notice some thickness and stick to it, and you can feel it on your lips. This could be a pro or a con depending on your personal preferences. I know many people can’t stand any sticky factor, but on the other hand, a stickier gloss with some more thickness to it is better in terms of lasting power. I personally don’t prefer sticky glosses so this gloss isn’t my favorite.

The mirror on the side is definitely a convenient feature that could come in handy as you go about your day. However I find the light in the cap to be a distraction in application at least in daylight. I tried it out in my dark closet where the light was helpful, but for applying in normal day time lighting, I find that the light hinders my vision of my lips and just makes everything more difficult to see because it’s so bright. Helpful if you’re out at night, but a hindrance for me in the daytime.

Overall, I have positive feelings about most of these products. The lip gloss was a little hit and miss for me-I’m not a huge fan of the brush and light, but I do enjoy the color. I personally wouldn’t purchase this gloss myself because I tend to prefer formulas that aren’t as sticky. However I did enjoy all of the powder products! The eye shadows are gorgeous and highly pigmented. Obviously I can’t speak for all of them since I only tried four, but these were great quality. The blushes are also nicely pigmented-So Peachy is my favorite.

Thank you guys so much for reading, and I hope this review of some Motives Cosmetics was helpful for you! Please let me know if you have any questions. And another huge thank you to Dani from Motives for sharing these lovely products with me 🙂