Recently I was asked to try the new eyeshadow palette from Pur Minerals, the one they made that is inspired by the movie Beautiful Creatures. I was torn—despite not wearing makeup that often I’m actually pretty picky about my makeup, but….I can never resist a good freebie so I said “Sure, please send and I’ll try.”

When I got the makeup in the mail, first I was excited. I love getting a good surprise in the mail. Once I opened it, at first my heart sank.

Wanna know why? I really dislike brush eyeshadow applicators. I know, I know….all the beauty and fashion magazines say it, the beauty people on all the morning shows say it–that you should use a brush instead of a sponge applicator. But I’ve just never found a brush applicator that I’ve liked. I immediately liked the colors and knew they are colors I would wear, I can always use a good black eyeliner…but I just didn’t see myself using it much because of the applicator. However, I was obligated to try it, so I did.

And I think Pur Minerals may have changed my mind about brush applicators–because I actually like this one! It holds the eyeshadow as well as a sponge applicator, or maybe it’s the consistency of the eyeshadow that helps. Whatever it is, I love it. The colors are fantastic–there are darks for when I want to be more dramatic or go out at night, and lighter colors for daytime. There’s also a mix of frosts and mattes which is good.

Now, for the release of this new makeup collection and the movie Beautiful Creatures, they have an awesome giveaway going on right now. Starting today and running through 2/17, you can enter below. One Grand Prize winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to purminerals.com and the limited-edition collection inspired by the film Beautiful Creatures free. Five winners will receive a $25 gift certificate to purminerals.com. To enter, you must sign-up for the Pür Minerals newsletter. You may also gain additional entries by completing the following actions: “Like” Pür on Facebook, follow Pür on Twitter and tweet about the contest (daily entry). Winners will be chosen at random. The more entries a person gains, the better the chance of winning!

Now, I have to wag my finger a bit…because lately I’ve been getting some really crappy contest entries. WE DO VERIFY your entries. So if you click that you’ve signed up for the email, we’re going to check and so on. It’s disappointing (and mildly annoying) to have to pick several winners because the entries don’t check out. If you don’t want to like us on Facebook or sign up for the email…don’t enter the giveaway, thanks.

Good luck, have fun and let us know if you win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway