Covergirl Shadows + Magnetic Palettes = Awesome

Covergirl mostly sucks. Given my experience with them, their liquid foundation gives no coverage; their powder is way too pink-toned; their NatureLuxe line is overpriced; their Liquiline Blast pencils are impossible to use without their own sharpener; their Flipstick shades are garish.
I do like a few of their eyeshadows, if you psychically know how to pick the shades that aren't chalky or under-pigmented--their Shimmering Sands trio works well for natural daytime looks, and the Golden Sunset trio is very pretty. Aside from these, though, I thought that my money would be much better spent on brands like Wet 'n' Wild, which has shadows of more consistent quality, at a significantly lower price.
Until I tried taking the shadows out of my broken-hinged plastic Shimmering Sands case, and moving them to the mini GlamRX magnetic palette I got in Ipsy's March 2013 bag.

1. There's a good gap between the eyeshadow pans and the plastic casing. This makes it easy to pry out the shadows with anything--a nail file, scissors (my choice), Godzilla's toenails.
   I have the trios from before their more recent re-packaging/-formulation; but given this picture, it looks like the amount of space remains the same.
2. The metal of the pans isn't too malleable. Combined with the space you get when prying out the pan, this is great--it won't be too easy to bend the pan and crack the shadows.
3. The glue is relatively weak. No need for baking your palettes, putting a lighter to the bottom of the case or otherwise releasing toxic fumes of burning plastic to release the hold on the glue. (That said, the glue still feels pretty 'wet', and can take several minutes of cleaning to avoid making a mess on your magnetic board.)
4. Best of all: The pans are already magnetised. That's right. No need to painstakingly glue tiny pieces of magnetic strip to the bottom of tiny pans; no need to purchase expensive magnetic stickers or tape. These pans will stay in your Z Palette, Unii or GlamRX palette, right where you transplant them!

Farewell, unattractive old packaging.

Hello, magnetic pan.

I might have to buy more Covergirl shadows the next time I have coupons. The Desert Bronze and Prima Donna quads look good to me.
Also, why isn't there a list of products that already come in magnetised pans? I should start one.

Review: Rosallini Makeup Bag

For most of the time since I started using make-up, I was using e.l.f.'s wristlet for carrying my make-up with me. The clasp for attaching the wrist strap was made of very malleable (read: shitty) metal that quickly started detaching itself from the bag, and the initially-cute antique silver coating looked worse and worse every time I scratched it; but it served me well for more than two years.

Then, several months ago, I moved back to a part of LA that is severely underserved by public transportation, leading to a lot of nights stranded at Denny's or other equally sophisticated establishments, and/or napping on a friend's armchair. I made it my mantra to carry with me enough crap to feel comfortable after an unexpected night away from home: toothbrush, eye drops, enough make-up for a full face. I moved things to the inner bag of the now-not-sold e.l.f. organizer, whose outer, actually-an-organizer sleeve had a zipper that broke on the first use, and magnets not strong enough to actually keep said inner pouch in place.

That was fine for a while, but I started getting annoyed at the complete lack of inner compartments, leading to a lot of digging inside the bag to find an eyeliner pencil. I tried using plastic bags for organisation, but the mess of identical-looking, torn-up polyethylene sheets was still frustrating.

So I ordered a Rosallini makeup purse from Amazon a few days ago. I purchased the larger one--25cm/9.8in--because it was only a few cents more than the small one, and also because I don't have a good sense of numerical size (that's what she said).

It arrived tonight, and my first impression was:
It's huge. Way bigger than the e.l.f. bag I'm used to carrying. I'm sure it'll encourage me to start carrying an even greater amount of extraneous things with me, but I should have considered the smaller version instead.

It smells like Chinese factory (if you've ever ordered cheap clothes from China, or anything that just got off the boat from Mass Production Land, you know what I'm talking about). Not too offensively so, but it'll take a bit of time to air out.

It crinkles--like thin plastic. Obviously, the material used to line the bag wasn't of the highest quality, and it'll be no surprise to me when the bag starts to fall apart. For the price, though (slightly under US$7), I shouldn't have expected much more.

It comes with a small mirror that's attached to the inside with a strap. The mirror is of decent quality, and will work fine for touch-ups.

There are three compartments inside: two small clear plastic sleeves, and one zippered pocket. Neither are of terribly large capacity, but they will still work for short pencils, single shadows, sharpeners, cotton buds/swabs and the like.

This is what I carried in my e.l.f. organizer's innards, with lots of space to spare:

(Physician's Formula Healthy Wear tinted moisturiser; MUA powder; sponge; plastic bag with one gel liner pot and two L'Oreal Infallible shadow pots; bag with contacts solution, contacts case, hair ties and challenge coin; Revlon stain balm; two thin Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips automatic eyeliners; and, if I really wanted the bag to nearly burst, a travel-sized e.l.f. brush set and an e.l.f. baked bronzer.)

I'm not in love with it, but this bag is okay for the price. It's more of a bag that I would use to carry a larger assortment of make-up, during planned travel; but I'm sure I'll become accustomed to the larger size and volume soon.

Where do you guys get your make-up bags? I always see seemingly-amazing ones in 'What's In My Bag?' videos and posts.

Can be purchased from Amazon as an add-on item (as part of an order with a cumulative sub-total of at least $25).