haul: the day life palette from em michelle phan

hi guys! so last week, i posted about how the life palette was basically $30 off. so of course i ordered one! another reason why i went ahead and ordered it was because i had $20 on my paypal from doing surveys through opinion outpost (see its blogpost here). so i wound up paying only $29.05 out of pocket for a $75 palette. super sweet. also, i've figured out a reason for their super fast turn-around/shipping time: they're shipping from like tennessee or something (the return address says southhaven, ms but the tracker says it originated in memphis, whatever). i ordered the palette friday at noon and got a shipping email by 8pm, and it arrived on monday.

impressions of packaging & execution:

shipping: the life palette sampler and lipstick that i've purchased thus far came in thick black bubble mailers, with the items wrapped in pink tissue paper. this palette, due to its size, came in a fairly well padded box, and both the palette and travel palette were wrapped in tissue.
exterior packaging: i like how the box is designed with all the pictures on it, it's got a flap to see the inside. ..i guess that's about it.
the life palette:

when you go to open the palette, there's a plastic sheet on the inside of the palette, i think this is partially to help reduce mess if anything happens to a pan and it shatters or whatever. i'm planning on keeping it basically for this purpose.
i like how, beneath the divider, there's a magnetic sheet, so that the pans can magnetize to the palette. i like how it's aesthetically pleasing to the eye as far as artsy-ness, but i tend to prefer space utilization. the packaging, while online may look cheap, it's actually very sturdy and nice. it's a fairly thick acrylic and i think it works quite nicely. has strong magnets on the lower end of the palette for secure closure.

photo below

i think i'm going to eventually take all of the lip pans out and put them elsewhere. don't want to get blush/eyeshadow fallout all in them. bleh!
dotting tool: this really looks like a nail dotting tool. it's great to wedge into the palette to easily remove pans from the palette. i think i may use it for my zpalettes too, when i can't reach between some of the pans.
dual-ended brush: i don't really plan to use it, but i'm sure a good number of people will like it and use it
looks-card: drawn by michelle herself! i'm excited to try out the looks on here; they look pretty easy to follow. she's also got videos of some looks on emcosmetics.com.

the travel palette: i don't like how this did not come with it's own box, but it's just a personal preference. i love how it's designed in the same format as the quadrants of the life palette. i don't like, however, is that if you'd like to mix and match from the other quadrants (i.e. don't transfer over an entire quadrant to the travel palette), they have to fit in those particular holes. so you can't carry more than 3-4 of the large shadow pans, given that you stick one into the blush's spot. has strong magnets on the lower end of the palette for secure closure; sometimes the magnet on the lower left side would catch onto shadow pans as i was trying to get them in or out. and by catch, i mean stick. strong magnets!

now, i don't really have time to post swatches on the different quadrants right now; so here are some initial photos of the palette. i intend to post swatches, pan-by-pan impressions, and recreate the looks on the enclosed card when i have time. sorry for slacking on you guys, but this semester's been killing my free time.
***i have not swatched any of the pans yet, outside of the four that were in the day dreaming sampler (see post here).*** ~L-c ^.~

this palette and other em michelle phan products can be purchased at emcosmetics.com.