Juvia's Place The Masquerade Mini Eyeshadow Palette & feeding your soul

The Juvia's Place The Masquerade Mini Eyeshadow Palette (currently on sale for $19.99) contains the most glorious colors on earth, and their textures are just as special.  It is 6" X 6", not actually mini at all, but it is a whole lot smaller than their original Masquerade Palette which is huge.  The website reviews give it 5 out of 5 stars.  I give it 5 out of 5 stars.  Here's why....

I love color.  I live for color.  It feeds my soul and makes this often arduous task of being a human being on earth totally worth it.  I love colors found in nature and I love colors invented by man (or woman, as in this case).  I have many eyeshadow palettes that sometimes I am too lazy to fully utilize, yet I am never too tired to swatch them on my arm and admire the colors as I go about my day.  My collection of colors brings me joy.  And yet I haven't been doing much about it lately.

The other day I was talking with a friend - the kind you can say anything to - and I was telling her how I felt I had lost my way.  I didn't feel in touch with myself, my true self, and I didn't know what to do.  I was lackluster and bored.  She reminded me that I used to make fabulous large collages, intricate scrapbook/photo albums, and color with my Crayola crayons.  She said I needed to create with my hands using color, shape, and texture.  Now I am not an painter or illustrator at all* - I can't draw a straight line to save my life - but cut and paste I can do.  And so I did.  I went to Michael's craft store and explored for an hour.  I bought some collaging supplies and came home and took down my boyfriend's picture of a 1950s drive-in and put up a big blank collage board and went to work.  After gluing on about a dozen images I felt happy and energized, life didn't seem dull at all anymore.  I had reconnected with my true self.

I think people just need to create, and some of us to create with our hands.  You don't have to be an accomplished artist, just doing something for the fun of it can actually lead to joy and fulfillment.  Personally I need to manipulate color and texture, shape and design.  Many girls and women get that same satisfaction from makeup application, and if you are one of those people I highly recommend this Juvia's palette.  It has phenomenal colors to experiment with.  While I feel a little old to be wearing the vivid blues and purples out in public (in fact I only plan on wearing the earth tones), they are still fun to play with.

Just to wind up with a little bit more data on this indie brand palette:  there are 7 cool shades and 9 warm shades, 5 matte shadows and 11 shimmer including one that is actually more metallic (Casablanca).  The colors have awesome African names because the creator of Juvia's Place is Nigerian born.  These colors are meant to accentuate darker skintones but pale girls will love them too.  It's an artistic array.  I find that the shimmer shades feel like deluxe velvet but in my a palette a couple of the matte shades feel a bit dry (Zobo).  That said, they still apply and blend just fine.  The quality is top notch and I wouldn't change a thing!

What types of creativity feed your soul?

* Nor am I a great photographer as you can tell from these swatch pics - although I also suspect my camera is crap.

all products reviewed were either bought, researched, or sampled by me. And product pictures were stolen from the link's websites. I am not financially compensated for my reviews