Beauty on a Budget: REVIEW: Ulta " Gorgeous on the Go" 61 piece kit

This review has been a long time coming! I'm kind of glad it's over. Not because it was hard or boring, but because I could only use the products in the kit and couldn't experiment with anything else. I try to test as many things as I can at once, but this kit contains almost everything you need to be
Gorgeous on the Go!
The kit contains:
8-blushes
40-eyeshadows
3-lip glosses
3-small shadow applicators
1-eyeshadow brush
1-blush brush
1-sponge applicator
2- double sided eyeliner pencils (4 colors total)
1- wallet holder ( holds 1 palette, 1 lipgloss and all brushes)

Total Value: $175. Actual price $24.99
I got it on sale for $20 PLUS I used a $3.50 coupon!

I will review each group of items separately.

Blushes- It's really nice to have a variety of 8 blushes. But since I'm a medium, toffee shade with red undertones some of the colors did not show up on my skin.

My favorite shades were 'heartbreaker', 'flush' and 'exposed'. They are dark enough to show up on my skin and compliment my skin tone nicely.
All the blushes that have a bit of shimmer and do double duty as highlighters and maybe even eyeshadow. These blushes are soft, long lasting and not powdery.
My only suggestion would be to incorporate a peachy color into one of the palettes. All the colors are pink based.

Brushes-OK these brushes are terrible! I HOPE all Ulta brushes aren't like this and they only put these cheaply made ones into the kit to keep the cost down.
1. they are hard and plastic like. I used a softening process, but it only helped a little it. At the end of my experiment these brushes looked very worn out.
2. they are hard-these brushes ruin the shadows and blushes. They scratch the pressed powder and all this loose residue is just lying on top of the makeup. At first I though it was the makeup itself that was powdery but the brush is scratching the makeup and creating a mess. I tried other brushes and no loose residue.
3. they hold onto makeup-these brushes are hard to clean. I had to wash them every 3 days and I sprayed them with brush cleaner daily. If I didn't do this the colors would get all muddy on the brush, your face and the palette. The sponge eyeshadow applicators are good though.

Lipglosses- I like the variety, even though it's only 3 colors. They are 3 different pinks, 2 have sparkles but they sparkles don't show up. They are not 'super shiny' as the label indicates, but it's just enough shine. This lipgloss is not greasy or sticky. It's slightly tinted so you can wear it alone ( I wore it by itself most days) and it blends perfectly with lipstick. Even if you have a lipstick that you think is too bright, applying a coat of 'flirtini' or even 'sweet' will tone down the color.

Eyeliners-The eyeliners come in 4 colors on 2 double ended pencils, black & brown, and purple & teal. The eyeliners are soft, pigmented and have great staying power! The choice of colors was nice and the purple & teal are fashion forward, but I would have liked a light green & light pink instead. Since, I was going for normal daytime looks, I didn't have much choice in eyeliner besides the brown or a light application of black. With the 'golden glow', 'fresh' and 'natural light' palettes I would have liked to have other options and a green or pink liner would have added that little bit extra.

eyeliner swatches in order- brown, black, teal, purple

Eyeshadows- I love the variety of colors and the way the colors are grouped in each of their separate palettes. Each palette comes with 6 colors that can be worn all different types of ways. I actually can't pick a fave palette. In 'golden glow' they have a few colors that are the same tone so there aren't a lot of possibilities to be had there.
Most of the shadows are pigmented and soft, but not flimsy or powdery. Some of the very light colors 'sahara sun', 'iceland' and 'ice queen' are hard, so applying them with a sponge tipped applicator is necessary.

Overall- I liked this kit! On a scale from 1-10 I would give it a 7/8. Minus 1 point for the brushes, minus 1 point for the blush colors and maybe minus 1 for the liners.
( these last 2 minus' being personal preference)
I like they way the eyeshadows were arranged with the blushes. The dramatic eye colors are paired with very subtle blushes. This kit does not come with mascara, but most days I didn't wear any because I didn't need it.
This is a great beginner set or even great for someone looking to try new styles. You can be very creative with this set and probably have a different look everyday for a year...or more.

Please let me know if you would like additional swatches of the mini palettes! I will gladly make some!

Some looks I created :)