Sweet Steal: Nordstrom Beauty Grab Bag

Hey guys!
I always love when makeup surprises me, especially 'cheap' looking sets, you know?
I got the Nordstrom Beauty Grab Bag as a stocking stuffer experiment from my Mom, with her hoping it was decent, and prefacing it with "well, you can blog about it either way".
She knows me so well!
But thankfully, I have good news to report---for $10 (and there are a few of them left hanging around the beauty department of your local Nordstroms! And they put out these sets frequently), Nordstrom's makeup brand has significantly upped their game. I would say this set is on par with anything Sephora brand.

The Beauty Grab Bag includes 4 pot glosses, 2 blushes (one matte, one with a hint of shimmer) and 12 teensy eyeshadows (but they are big enough to get a brush in them).

Swatch time! All swatches are done without primer.

This is the top row in the palette. Neutrals mostly, and although they aren't the most pigmented in the world, they have a buttery texture that shocked me, and very minimal fallout. I was impressed instantly.

The violet was surprisingly non-streaky and pigmented, which was awesome!

The blues were a bit disappointing, but the gorgeous dark pink and moss color are amazing, both here and on the eye!

The shadows wear just as well as any other with a good primer. Score! And I am kinda loving the teeny size...maybe I will finally hit pan on a shadow (which always makes me feel accomplished).

The blushes are decently pigmented and very finely milled, but the pots are a little hard to get a good sized brush in. The top is matte and slightly mauvey, and the bottom is more coral with the tiniest hint of shimmer.

I am always afraid of glosses in pans---that they will be hard and gross, but these are creamy (a bit sticky on the lips but that goes away after fifteen minutes or so) and they last decently long (about 2 hours). I like that there are darker colors as well. Pleasantly surprised here.

Now some face shots!

I am wearing the hot pink and bronze colors on my lid, a swirl of both blushes on my cheek, and the second darkest gloss. Makes for a pretty little look! Color me even more impressed!

The glosses are much more opaque than I thought they would be! Even with the annoying pan aspect, I think I will be using these often!

So...bottom line...sometimes cheap can be a good deal...and if you see one of these in the future, you might want to check it out!