The Color Workshop - a Look of "Wings of Beauty" Cosmetic Kit

Every year, around the holiday shopping season, stores such as Wal*Mart, Walgreens, Big Lots and many more, carry the inexpensive cosmetic kits by TCW. Also know as: The Color Workshop. Perhaps in the past this product was looked over as a gift idea due to concern it may be poor quality. TCW offers eye shadows for around $2.50. Other products include make up cases with everything from nail polish, eyeliners, pressed powders and more. Some kits are only a basic nail kit with tools for a in home manicure. One moderately priced kit is "Wings of Beauty."

The name sounds nice and the price at only $15.00 didn't seem bad for what is included. It contains 24 eye shadows, 2 blushes, 12 lip glosses, 4 lip sticks, 3 nail polishes, 2 eye pencils, 4 pressed powders, 3 cream eye shadows , 1 lip gloss in a plastic tube container, 2 lip pencils and 1 mascara. The tools included are: 3 eyeshadow applicators, 1 separator, 1 sharpener, 2 make up brushes and 1 carrying case with a mirror built in.

The color scheme comes in pastel or more natural earth colors. The case is made of black intimation leather that has a silver clasp lock to avoid items from falling out. At times it can be hard to remove items such as the lip gloss container, pressed powders or lipstick out of the plastic casing. Both the mascara and lip gloss container are a small 0.12 fl oz and can easily fit into any purse or pants pocket. The kit comes covered with a plastic sheet for all eye shadows and blushes. Surprisingly after removing this due to it becoming hard to remove each time to use the eyeshadow, the cosmetics haven't fallen out of their place.

Both the lip and eye liners glide on smooth and didn't smudge easily. Many of the eyeshadow contains tiny specks of sparkle and blend easily. But between 4-6 hours the shadow did begin to crease. In humidity weather or at the gym the shadow quickly disappears. Wearing cosmetics during exercise isn't recommended due to the fact bare skin is able to breath more freely. Perhaps a night on the town using another cosmetic brand would be best to avoid a melt down. Cream eyeshadows didn't leave a lasting impression. This mascara won't give extreme volume or curl. The mascara due to it's small brush leaves lashes looking like spider legs. This may be good during Halloween but maybe not the rest of the year. If available use a eyelash comb to separate lashes.

The lipsticks come in 4 colors and unfortunately two of the colors resulting in the look of all natural. It does have a slight make up taste. The same goes for the lip gloss with the brush applicator. The gloss goes on smooth and lasts for a while granted there's no eating or drinking. The 12 lip glosses are applied via a brush applicator. Make sure the brush is cleaned after each use or the bristles will become quite hard and unmanageable. The small 0.12 fl oz tube lip gloss has a bit of sparkle and a hint of fruity flavor.

The pressed powder and blush are the standard powders. Be careful not to use too much of the pink blush or the result may look a little bit clownish. Take note there is no concealer or foundation included in this kit. The nail polish is thin and chipped easily after washing the dishes.

Overall there are some good aspects about the TWC cosmetics kits. They are inexpensive, offer a variety of colors to experiment with and can be found in mass merchant stores such as Wal*Mart. The quality is basic. Often times after the holiday shopping season these kits are marked down. In between the holiday shopping season TWC can be found online at places such as Amazon.com and Drugstore.com