You might have seen my Coastal Scents video where I reviewed shortly a few of the products which I got. Right after I recorded that video I went on a business trip and was not home for 3 months. I wrote a review about the Coastal Scents revealed 2 palette I was going to write a review about the Coastal Scents custom palette 28 piece with clear lid but I decided to not write a review and I will tell you why. After using the palette for over 6 months, if I just got it. I was very impressed but then one of the palettes broke. I decided to wait and test the second palette which I got and see if the same problem would occur and why it happened in the first place.

Since these products were sent to me as PR samples, I wanted to make sure that I understood the cause and reason behind why my palette broke. I got two palettes. When I first got the palette I was in love with it. When I saw the many Youtube gurus review these palettes, which come in 12 and 28 pieces, and it had a clear lid. I just had to have it. After my summer makeup gig and using the palette for 3 months straight, carrying it in my kit and on set. It finally broke after summer, so around October. After that I saw that my second palette was not doing any better. I wanted to see what I did wrong or was the quality of these palettes questionable.

Coastal Scents Custom Palette Review

Here is what I found out about these Coastal Scents custom palette 28 piece with clear lid for my review. The custom palettes are matte black with a clear see through lid which is also plastic. The palette contains built in magnets and the size of the holes will fit your Coastal Scents hot pots and even MAC eye shadows. The palette in general is sturdy and the magnet is very good. Here is where the problem occurred. The plastic clear lid even though it’s sturdy the joint part where it connects with the bottom matte palette part of the palette is not sturdy, It’s actually very sensitive. I found out that due to my poor handling or better said me holding the palette by the weakest part, the clear lid, put a lot of stress on the weak joint area (which you can see in the picture) and it cracked and in the end broke. If I held the palette by the bottom part (not by the clear lid) my palettes would be intact.

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Coastal Scents Custom Palette 28 pieces

So, what do I think of the palettes now? Well after using the Coastal Scents custom palette 28 piece with clear lid for almost a year, one is broken while the other one is holding up well since I started handling  it correctly and with care. Another issues I had with it was the top layer of the bottom part of the palette started to lift up, it’s best seen in the picture. This is not the first time I have had this happen with these kind of palette. I have ordered similar palettes from ebay (nothing cheaper to be honest) and the same thing happened. I also wondered why and the only logically reason was exposure to heat.

Coastal Scents VS MAC palette

Now comparing it to MAC’s PRO palette large/single with a clear lid. Here is what you need to consider. MAC’s pro large single kit is bought individually at $8 + you have to buy the insert which is $2 and only fits 15 eye shadows and they are not magnetized, so it retails for $10, or better said 0,66 cents per hole, This Coastal Scents palette fits 28 eye shadows (MAC size) and it’s magnetized and it retails for $14, or better said it retails for 0.50 cents per hole (or cheaper if on sale). Even though the MAC palette looks sturdier, I do believe that it would encounter the same problem at the joint part of the palette as I had with my Coastal scents palette. Comparing the two, you can see that price wise, they are close only about 10 cents difference what is not bad at all. Size wise, you get to fit more in Coastal Scents custom palette without stocking up on palettes.

To sum this up, these kind of palettes no matter what brand, the clear lid palettes, are just very sensitive and need to be handled with care. I do not think that this Coastal Scents nor the MAC clear lid palette are good for PRO travel kits. This palette is travel friendly but do keep in mind that it is sensitive. I do think that this palette will look absolutely beautiful on your vanity table.

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If you want to get a magnetized palette for your PRO MUA travel kit then rather look into the Coastal Scents interchangeable palettes. They are priced the same as these clear lid palettes but for a PRO MUA travel kit they will be sturdy enough for all the bumps in the road. While for home personal use, I do recommend the clear lid one more for it’s beautiful esthetics. Would I repurchase it? Yes, but only for my own personal home makeup vanity kit.