I purchased the Nars Climax Palette near the end of 2021 and this is what I will be reviewing. I didn’t want “Climax Palette” in my title, although what better day is there than Valentine’s Day to discuss such a cheekily named product!
This has a great selection of mattes: a brightening, transition, colorful, and deepening up shade. Since I love bright colorful greens, I wish Up In Smoke was a bit brighter and less muted, but I can appreciate that the olive hue in that eyeshadow pairs well with the olive shimmer called Hooked. It’s similar to the way that Public Eye is the matte counterpart to Next Level.
Open Wide adds brightness to my eye area and it is pigmented enough to even partially cover darker shadows. Private Show is a little light as a transition shade for me, but it still works.
I was always under the impression that Nars eyeshadows were lacking in pigmentation, but that is at least not the case with the ones in this palette. They blend and build easily over MAC Paint Pot. Passion Play, Next Level, and Night Rhythm are all more shimmery than I anticipated! Even though they aren’t vibrant shades, the sparkle level is the intensity that I like in my lid shades. Envious is my preferred shade for the inner corner though. The inner corner is the spot where I most easily get shimmer particles in my eye. Envious isn’t to the same sparkle level as the others, especially when I wet my brush. The smoother the formula, the less likely I am of accidentally getting some in my eye while trying to apply it evenly. Envious gives me a nice amount of shine while also being easier to get on the inner corner.
I don’t even have much to say about this palette except that I’m glad I decided to buy it before it sold out, since it’s Limited Edition (it did get restocked recently on the Nars website). If all Nars eyeshadows are this quality, I would want to purchase more in the future as long as the selection of shades match my preferences. I’ve been waiting for years to pick the right one for me, so it might be quite a while longer until I’m interested enough in the color story to buy the next one.
I admittedly have an excessive makeup collection for a single person. Though it may not seem like it considering all the newly released makeup I purchased in 2021, I actually made a bigger effort to talk myself out of getting makeup in categories I already had favorites of and didn’t need. Each product reviewed today were things I thought I successfully anti-hauled, but all it took was a sale for me to change my mind!
These purchases were all made in 2021, so my beauty resolutions for 2022 are still intact and going strong! If anything, this post is an example of why I had to come up with a better plan for this year.
Anastasia Beverly Hills Cream Bronzer in Hazelnut
This purchase I attribute to Angelica Nyqvist’s many videos talking about how fantastic this product is, including her end of 2021 favorites. I wish I could say I had the same experience, but I just find it to be okay at best. This cream is easy to blend out, to the point that I have to build it back up, but if I overblend while building it up, it starts to look patchy because it’s setting in spots at different times. On the opposite side of the issue, I try not to apply too much at once because the shade is a bit deep for me. The shade jump between Hazelnut and the next lighter shade, Caramel, is huge. Hazelnut was my only color option. So, perhaps if I had a better match that didn’t put me at risk of overblending, I might like it better. As it stands, I prefer the Danessa Myricks, Kaja, and Sol Body/Colourpop cream bronzer formulas above the one from ABH because those three all blend quickly and easily into a skin-like finish. They’re also just as deep, or in some cases deeper, than the ABH without the blending and building troubles.
I’ve used this about ten times, so it’s possible I could find another brush that works better with this bronzer other than the Sonia G Mini Base and Scott Barnes #65 Flawless Face Brush, but between using a sponge, brush, or finger, the end result looks similar for all of them. I’m cutting my losses and rather than figure out how to make this one work better, I can just use my no-fuss cream bronzers that I like instead.
Pat Mcgrath Labs Skin Fetish: Sublime Skin Highlighter in Lunar Nude
I couldn’t resist the gold packaging with that embossing, but I’m at least glad I waited for a sale. I told myself over and over that Lunar Nude would look too light for my skin tone, so I shouldn’t get it. I was half right. The shimmery reflective particles are light gold, but the base color is a copper color. It even looks copper or gold depending on the lighting of the room and the angle. The base tone helps it look a little more wearable on me, but it’s still lighter than I’d prefer in a highlighter.
I can see the shimmer particles on my face, which is also not my preference, but I also realized that certain brushes of mine pick up more of the sparkle than others. On the website, there was a note to pair this with the highlighting balm duo. When I used the balm and then applied Lunar Nude on top, it definitely helped to make the product melt into the skin and look super smooth and achieve that “wet look” that I enjoy. However, it really cranks up the intensity level and the fact that the highlighter is too light for me becomes way more obvious. Since I figured out how to use it to my preferences, I like the formula but not the actual shade. Ultimately though, I don’t think this is worth buying at full price except for collectors and luxury product lovers. For anyone looking for the best highlighter on the market for the best price, this isn’t it. Much better and more affordable options are out there. It’s “pretty good” at best. I personally prefer Pat Mcgrath’s Divine Rose highlighter. That one is listed as a “futuristic gel-powder formula” in the “Skin Fetish: Ultra Glow” line whereas Lunar Nude is a “luxe gel-powder formula” in the “Skin Fetish: Sublime Skin” line. It’s possible they are the same formula, but Lunar Nude leaves more sparkle on the skin, which is the biggest difference other than the color.
Pat Mcgrath LabsHighlighter Comparisons
Different lighting to reveal the color shift of the trio.
Of course, since making this purchase, Pat Mcgrath has released similar highlighters to Lunar Nude’s formula in the Bridgerton collection. I don’t believe either of those new colors would look nice on me. If PML releases a shade variation I like in this same formula with the same special packaging and same or similar embossing, I would most likely sell Lunar Nude and buy that one. As it stands, this one isn’t getting much use in my collection but I still don’t want to part with it without a superior replacement.
Smashbox Loves Becca Under Eye Brightener in Dark
Although Becca Cosmetics is no more, a few best selling products were resurrected through Smashbox. This decision is presumed to be made by their parent company Estee Lauder.
There were originally just two shades: light-medium (now called Fair/Light) and medium-deep. The Smashbox x Becca version has two more in the mix: Medium and Dark. It’s my understanding though, based on a YouTube video by All Beauty by Sarah, that the original medium-deep color is actually close in depth to the current Medium shade with the main difference being that the original had a stronger pink tone to it. The third darkest shade now is called Medium/Dark and is much darker than the original medium-deep. The final shade, and the one I picked up, is Dark. Based on the description and the shade in the pot, I expected Dark to be too dark for me. Technically, as this is supposed to brighten my under-eyes, I should have gotten Medium/Dark. However, I prefer for my under eyes to match the rest of my face rather than being brighter, so Dark works perfectly for that. It’s the best matching color-corrector type of product I have ever used because it has a slight orange tone to hide my dark circles, but there’s also enough brown to make it look natural. I try to avoid showing my skin discoloration as much as possible, but in this instance I felt it was necessary to show a demonstration photo below.
Cream products almost always move in my under-eye area, but what makes this one a little different is the very sticky texture. This product has gripping power similar to the Milk Hydro Grip Eye Primer, but stronger than that one. This makes it ideal for applying a concealer on top, even though based on the color match, I don’t find that to even be necessary. However, it will not set on its own, so I either have to apply a concealer that sets down like the Tarte Shape Tape or apply a setting powder to my under eyes (or both). If I apply the Smashbox x Becca corrector by itself, it will settle badly into creases. So, I need at least something on top to keep it from creasing and to continue looking smooth.
So, I have an answer to using this product to hide my dark circles and keep it looking as smooth as possible considering I have heavy lines under my eyes. This product would be perfect if it wasn’t for the transfer issue. No matter what products I apply on top of the corrector, it will lift off my under eyes if I accidentally touch it or if I try to wipe away shimmer eyeshadow fallout. So, despite being the perfect color match for me, this isn’t a holy grail product. I use it on days when I’m not planning to go anywhere and am just putting on makeup for Instagram and Blog photos. I am at least glad I’m still getting use out of it. This would work wonders for people who don’t touch their face or rub their eyes as much as I do, so I still recommend it, but I would be wary about potential issues. Also, I would use a dedicated brush specifically with this product because it’s a bit of a pain to use with my favorite concealer brushes the way it coats the hairs in its sticky texture.
Flower Beauty Jungle Lights Palette
The release of Flower Beauty’s Desert Lights palette didn’t take away the major hype surrounding the original Jungle Lights palette. That’s what ultimately caused me to finally want to try it out. I’ve also always been curious how it stacked up to the MAC Tempting Fate palette a lot of people were comparing it to.
In the photo above, in the “Flash Off” set of swatches, I put a yellow divider line to help show the differences between the Flower Beauty swatches on the left half and the MAC swatches on the right half. In the “Flash On” set of swatches, I did not put a divider in order to keep it from impeding on seeing how similar the two sets look next to each other in every shade except Amazon (which had no equivalent) and Jaguar.
The Flower Beauty Jungle Lights formula is as creamy as everyone says, except Paradise and Jaguar have less slip and feel a tad more gritty. I also like the sparkle and shine level of these shimmers, which clearly surpass that of the MAC Feast Your Eyes Palette from the Tempting Fate Collection.
They’re as nice as people say, and I appreciate the fact that they last fairly well on my eyes as long as I pack on enough color with my finger (which is the recommended application method) and am content with the colors fading a bit to a duller color by the end of the day.
I think it’s worth looking into, especially at the price point. $17.99 is great already, but between a sale and coupon codes at Ulta, I got this one for $8.68. I still would have thought it was worth it at full price.
One of the most fascinating aspects of this palette was when I came across a reddit post showing 47 different shade combinations that could be made using this palette depending on which shade was on the bottom layer and which one was on top. Of course, the differences aren’t as obvious on my skin tone, but there were enough combinations to leave me thoroughly impressed. I took photos of some of the most obvious color changes with comparisons to the individual shades on their own to make it easier to see the differences.
And then the photo below shows all the individual shades plus my favorite five new shade combinations.
Unfortunately, some of these shade mixtures don’t show as well on my eyes as they did in arm swatches. However, it’s still fun to play around with the combinations. It makes for a more versatile palette.
I wish there were some mattes included, but I could perhaps continue to get use out of this if I remember to pull it out in conjunction with some of my all or nearly all matte palettes.
Sigma Beauty Berry Glow Cheek Duo
I really thought this duo looked nice on my skin in person, but in photos, the blush looks very ashy. The fact that it’s cool toned does look a little off to my own eyes though. I’m torn.
I bought the duo for about 40% off during a Black Friday sale and thought it was an extra great price considering it came with a brush as well. The brush will be reviewed in an upcoming synthetic bristle brush post. Considering the ashy look of the blush on camera, I’m not sure if I’ll continue to use it. I guess as long as it still looks nice in person, and I could potentially mix it with a warmer blush, I still somewhat like it. However, considering I also had mixed feelings about the Cor-de-Rosa blush palette, I think this will be the last blush purchase I get from them. I do like the highlighter, as it’s quite smooth with a small shimmer particle size and it doesn’t look stark even though it’s such a pale highlighting shade. It comes off a little more champagne-gold in person even though it looks almost platinum on camera. I’m almost tempted to investigate Sigma’s Glowkissed Highlight Palette from last year, but I have a full highlighter palette already from Danessa Myricks that I just bought during Black Friday too. I certainly don’t need another.
Those who are fans of the Sigma blush and highlighter formula already will likely enjoy the quality of this duo as well. I will continue to give it a few more tries to solidify my own feelings on it, but it’s just “nice” in terms of quality in my opinion. It doesn’t quite reach the “great” territory.
That’s everything! Out of the five items, I wish I could have successfully anti-hauled the ABH Cream Bronzer, Sigma Duo, and this particular shade of PML highlighter, but I really expected to love them and wouldn’t have known otherwise without having bought them first to try out. I will certainly try harder to stick to my anti-hauls in the future. Thank you for reading!
This is the second of only three items I purchased in the last Sephora VIB sale, the Natasha Denona Glam Face Palette being the first. I always thought the Love Palette was beautiful because reddish purple is my favorite color. This color story is a pink, red, and purple lover’s dream! However, the colors that are most pleasing to my eye are not the colors I actually wear the most on my eyes. I talked myself out of getting it for a long time, but at the reduced price of $27, I could not hold back any longer.
I knew Commitment was a cream to powder formula, but I was pleasantly surprised to see Dream was as well! Dream is one of the less common purples in my collection, so I am extremely happy to have it, although it’s a bit sheer and takes a bit of time to get it to look opaque on the eyes. Both are smooth, blend beautifully, and work perfectly well with the traditional matte and shimmer eyeshadows in the palette. I’m being a little picky, but these cream to powders are both purple. I wish Natasha added one more shadow in that formula in a red or pink shade. Then I would be especially excited because I enjoy this formula on its own and also as a base.
I very much enjoy the shimmers. Lifetime and Transparent look quite similar, although Lifetime in my palette looks much lighter than I’ve seen in some other people’s palettes. After being restocked several times, this limited edition product is finally being discontinued, so perhaps mine looks different because it’s newer and the shade from my batch was tweaked? That’s my best guess anyway. Lifetime feels like a traditional shimmer, whereas Transparent has a little more slip to it. This causes it to go on smoother, but lately I’ve found that more slip doesn’t mean better performing for my lined/creased/semi-oily lids. So between the two, I prefer Lifetime and in terms of shade, I’d have been over the moon about Transparent if it had a little more peach or pink to it, like a strong gold-pink duochrome.
Passion and Blind are nice and opaque. Pure Love is a gorgeous pink-purple duochrome. Giving is another pretty peachy-pink duochrome shade, but it doesn’t make much impact unless I apply it with a damp brush.
The mattes are fantastic and pigmented, but Heart, Heartbeat, and Soul end up looking very similar on the eyes. They are a lot darker than I expected and are better suited on me as deepening up shades. I can’t believe I’m saying this because I’m almost always wishing for more dark shades in palettes, but I really wanted Soul and Heartbeat to be more mid-toned so I could use them as crease shades without making the overall eye looks end up being so dark, and so red. I hoped for a more Terracotta tone to Heartbeat and a bit more pink/coral in a medium tone for Soul.
Even the shade Intense is slightly darker than I expected, but it’s my favorite matte shade in the palette! And because this palette doesn’t have a lot of light options, I can actually appreciate the addition of First and Valentine. First took me by surprise when I discovered it was so pigmented, it could even cover up the darker shades, but it doesn’t stick very well on top of other shadows, so it has a tendency to blend away unless I start with that shade initially. I almost made a joke about having to use First first. Hehe. Valentine is a little more sheer than the rest of the mattes. It would be perfect for me if it was a little less cool-toned, but that’s me being picky again.
Even though I’m not sure how much use I will get out of the Love Palette, I always have the option to mix and match this with my Metropolis and Bronze palettes that share the same pan size. A few shades in here don’t perform as well, but those who like Natasha Denona’s eyeshadow formula will most likely enjoy this palette like I did.
Today I’ll be reviewing the full trio of Deep palettes in the collection, as well as the single eyeshadow called Dear Reader. I will also swatch the best comparisons I have between the shades Temptalia chose to the other 103 Sydney Grace shadows I own, previously swatched here. I purchased this collection on launch day, so this is definitely not a first impression review.
Each palette consists of multiple types of finishes and textures: mattes, metallics, shimmers, duochromes, creamy shades, stiffer packed colors, grittier shadows, etc. Regardless of these differences, they are all highly pigmented shadows. Sydney Grace products always give great color payoff, but I find that these are even more intensely pigmented. Good eyeshadows will have staying power on the lid, but these looked practically the same from the start of the day to the end of the day. There’s no fading or dulling down of the shine.
There is a bit of a tradeoff though regarding the boost in pigment. The mattes give me saturated color right away, but it can look patchy initially if I don’t give a little extra blending time. It isn’t significantly more time, but it was enough to make me notice, particularly with the deeper shades like Interstellar, Sublime Reverie, Midnight Courage, and Umbra. Those blue-green mattes especially give me more kickup in the pan despite my efforts to be gentle and pick up a small amount at a time. With the shimmers, one may want to do the eyes first before the face because I get fallout during the application process, though there isn’t too much extra fallout throughout the day (at least not unless I happen to rub my eyes more than usual).
Quintessence Palette
Quintessence has my favorite color story of the three and it’s the one I knew I absolutely had to get. Ironically, I had the most difficult time creating looks I liked that weren’t monochromatic, so I sought inspiration from Temptalia’s website. For swatches, eye looks, details of the shades, etc. there is no better resource than Christine herself, so I will link the blog here and recommend giving it a look if you need additional help and information.
The last two looks were the ones I attempted to recreate (but tweak the tiniest bit) from Temptalia.
A color guide to the swatches is that yellow font = Temptalia collection, orange = the Chase Your Dreams palette, blue = individually sold eyeshadow, and green = the Tiny Marvels palette.
This palette had a few similarities (pictured above), but Temptalia mentioned that the shade called The Greatest Gift is the one she specifically wanted to keep as is, but make it more intense and shimmery.
I initially wrote off the comparison of The Greatest Gift and The Mielke Way when I was seeking dupes because the silvery shimmer in The Mielke Way gives it a completely different look. I’m not the biggest fan of icy shades, so I prefer having just the gold shimmer with the raspberry base over the added metallic sparkle. This highlights an important aspect though, which is that there are other shades from Sydney Grace’s line that I decided not to post as similarities because the intensity of the shimmer in the Temptalia collection gave it a different effect. Or if the shadows shared the same base color, the shimmer additions were different enough justify having both in my collection. I also estimate I probably have less than half of the Sydney Grace singles (at least before many were discontinued) so there may be other shades that are close. However, I don’t think many have the exact undertone or as much sparkle. I believe Temptalia owns the full collection of Sydney Grace eyeshadows, so she probably made sure that hers were different enough as well.
On the Horizon Palette
The outer packaging for this palette was too beautiful to skip. I knew instantly (and I did end up doing it) that I was going to transfer all of the Quintessence shades into this packaging so I’d have my favorite color story in my favorite palette artwork. Between the three palettes, the On The Horizon color story was the one I didn’t like and felt like I could skip. So, imagine my surprise when I ended up loving every look I’ve created with this! It opened my eyes to new color combo possibilities.
These colors are a little more subdued, but Temptalia described the intention for these to be almost like neutrals with a twist. And because I mentioned these are not the kind of shades I typically go for, it makes sense that I was unable to find similarities in my collection. I did compare it to the Dear Reader shade that was part of the collection but sold as a single because her followers seemed to love it in the sneak peek of it, but Lunar Illumination was already chosen in its place as a better compliment to the other shades in the palette.
I actually put Dear Reader with the OTH shades and moved Lunar Illumination into my custom palette with the rest of my Sydney Grace collection. I prefer it too!
Radiant Reflection Palette
Radiant Reflection reminds me so much of the Coloured Raine Cheers to the Beauty Palette because both of them possessed shades I tend to like, but the tones weren’t as appealing as I imagined once I saw them in person. I love greens, but not quite like those in Radiant Reflection. I like golds and blue-purples, but not quite like the ones in this either. Then the other shades in the palette were similar to others shadows I already have many times over in my eyeshadow collection, and not just among Sydney Grace shades. So, I ended up selling this palette. I knew I wouldn’t reach for it again because that’s exactly what happened to my Cheers to the Beauty palette which I depotted and sold most of the shades from it. I don’t regret buying Radiant Reflection because I needed to be certain I didn’t want it, as odd as that sounds. The Our Starry Night shade was so unique, Dearest Constant deep version is my type of orange eyeshadow, and Forget-Her-Not had me curious to see it in person. Once that happened, I could put the curiosity to rest.
Final Thoughts
I do feel like this trio of palettes all have similar sort of shades, but I still couldn’t talk myself into getting Quintessence only. I fell into the trap of wanting to possess all my favorite shades from the Temptalia collection and envisioning how I could mix and match the palettes with my other Sydney Grace singles. Funny enough, I only swapped three shades: Mango Tea for Sirius Starlight (placeholder and not a solidified decision), Dear Reader for Lunar Illumination, and Adore Me for Infinite Echoes (Deep). That last swap actually makes the palette more similar to the light version of On the Horizon!
Speaking of the light version, I find it amusing that my gripe with most eyeshadow palettes is when they have a disproportionate amount of light shades and mid-tone neutrals. When I used these palettes exclusively, which is how I prefer to do the testing process, I found myself actually wishing for a light matte to blend out edges and a medium brown. Temptalia intentionally left out brow bone and transition shades because it’s unlikely that anyone purchasing her palettes would not already have plenty of those types of shadows in their collection. So, in a normal situation this wouldn’t really be a problem except for those who like to have every palette being a complete palette.
As much as I think I don’t want palettes that are very similar in color story, I found myself not wanting to make any major changes to them, or even wanting to switch these around. I’m very satisfied with Quintessence and On The Horizon. The minor inconveniences for using the palettes, such as fallout and spending a little more time on my eye makeup, are fine with me because I know I will be able to make very impactful looks with phenomenal longevity. $40 per palette is a fair price, but the fact that I was able to use a promo code on top of the bundle discount made this all very reasonably priced. These palettes were even eligible for Sydney Grace’s sale/discount offerings during their annual Christmas in July sale. While I don’t recommend getting all of them purely for the sake of having a complete collection, I think they’re great quality and do recommend picking the one(s) that really speak to you.
Thank you for reading! I hope it has been helpful!
-Lili ❤
*Disclosure: When it comes to collabs or creations from influencers or other public figures, I always disclose any affiliations I may or may not have with them. In this situation, I have no personal or public ties to Temptalia, but I am a frequent peruser of her blog. I consider her an invaluable resource within the beauty community as her dupes and comparisons feature on her blog has impacted a lot of my purchasing decisions as well as her reviews, which mostly tend to align with my own opinions. I respect her as a blogger, but I don’t know much about her specifically.
Building off the hype of their large Zodiac Palettes, BH Cosmetics released website exclusive individual mini zodiac palettes during each month of the year. In 2021, they decided to do that again through birthstone palettes. One unfortunate thing to note is that each palette contains a pressed glitter, which I will not be swatching on my arm or wearing on my eyes.
Sometimes, US customers who purchased the palettes at launch were able to get free shipping as an incentive to pay full price rather than waiting for one of their frequent sales. Ordinarily, shipping is free with purchases at or above $40. For the low price of only $9 USD per palette, having six usable shades was still worth getting in my favorite color stories, plus my own birth month.
BH Cosmetics Emerald Palette
Emerald and Peridot are the two green-centric palettes out of twelve, but I chose this one because these particular tones are more my speed. The shades Emerald and Artsy AF look quite similar on my eyes, but the main differences are that Emerald is a satin-like shimmer that is a slightly brighter green in tone, while Artsy AF has a medium-dark green base with gold and silver shimmer. Restless didn’t swatch very well, but that shadow and Stubborn both blend easily and are opaque on the eyes. They both deepen up slightly, but Restless remains olive whereas Stubborn comes off a little more brown than the red-brown shade appears in the pan. I learned the hard way that Total Package was far too sparkly to look nice as a brow highlighting shade for my tastes, but it makes an excellent inner corner and pinpoint brightening shade. Lastly, Hard Working is a stunning warm brown shimmer shadow. Overall, the quality in this palette is great and I am so impressed by the cohesive color story. I don’t have to worry about clashing shades when I put any combination of them together.
This is a fantastic alternative to the Nars Climax Palette. Emerald has less shades and is warmer in tone whereas Climax is more neutral and a little more subdued. Another alternative is the Oden’s Eye Urd Palette which has shimmers that are even more intensely sparkly than Emerald, as well as a light green matte instead of a closely similar green shimmer. For this reason, I think Urd is an even better planned color story. The listed prices are quite different though at Emerald’s $9, Urd’s $20, and Climax’s $49. The two pricier palettes are a bit more refined in mill and texture, but I had no issues with Emerald whatsoever and it was a pleasure to use, so I’d even be willing to pay $15 for this one.
BH Cosmetics Sapphire Palette
It might have been silly of me to want more purples out of a Sapphire palette, but I saw images of this product online that led me to believe Sympathetic had more of a purple tone to it and that Sapphire was a true purple-blue duochrome rather than a blue satin-shimmer shadow with a blue and purple base. I also expected Confidence to lean a little more green than it does. I went from expecting to love this color selection the most to rating it my least favorite of the three I bought. In hindsight, I should have gone with the Amethyst palette.
These mattes are on the thin side and can look patchy in swatches, but they can be built up to full opacity. In a way, I’m glad to have this formula in these particular shades because sometimes brands going for more pigmented shadows overdo it on the ultramarines and oxides (pure pigments) which are much harder to blend if the ratio is off in the formula. Of the mattes, Organized AF didn’t apply as well on top of the others, so my eye looks weren’t as smoky as I wanted.
Cool is even prettier in person than my swatches and eye looks demonstrate. Although I’m not the biggest fan of silver eyeshadows, Sporty was necessary with this color story. I prefer it over other alternatives they could have chosen such as a baby blue shimmer. After adding some fantastic blues to my collection like the Kaleidos Club Nebula and Oden’s Eye Hummingbird Palettes, Sapphire falls short. It’s still not that bad for the price though, but knowing myself, I doubt I would reach for this again if I felt like doing a blue look.
BH Cosmetics Citrine Palette
I bought this palette purely because November is my birthday month. I’m rarely impressed by bright yellow mattes because they either blend into my skin or find some other way to disappear from my eyes, but I quite like this one! Because Unique is on the thinner side, it can look patchy though and even if I build up the shadow, it still isn’t perfect. Generous and Inquisitive are the tones and depths I was hoping to get out of Transition and Crease from the Natasha Denona Glam Face Palette in Dark. If Inquisitive was the tiniest bit darker, it would be perfect, but it still gives me a decent amount of depth to the outer corner. The two brown mattes are opaque and blend well without much effort.
Determined is a peachy gold that is a bit lighter than I like for a lid shade, but it doesn’t look too bad on the inner corner. Citrine is the shimmer-satin version of Unique. Both Citrine and Dynamic aren’t the prettiest or most exciting shadows, but all the shades (except perhaps Determined) look nice when paired together.
Overall, this palette ranks second of the three because it got me re-inspired to give yellow mattes a chance, as well as yellow eye looks altogether.
That’s all I can think to include in this post. The BH Cosmetics formula has proven yet again to be not just great for the price, but great quality overall.
That’s all for today! If you celebrate Christmas or other holidays during this time, I hope you had a great one! Thank you for reading! See you in the next year!
In under a month it will be two years since Marlena Stell rebranded Makeup Geek and two years since I started purchasing their products. I have some experience with the original shimmer eyeshadow formula, thanks to a sale they were having of their older products, but I cannot compare the original mattes to the ones now. For some reason, I use these shadows once and then go 3-4 months before I use them again. The cycle of use and disuse continued until September 2021 when I committed to thoroughly testing them once and for all.
About half of the square pan eyeshadows were purchased within a few months of the rebrand. The remainder were purchased during new launches like the Soft Focus Colors Collection and Fall Scenes Collection. The face products were purchased at different points in 2021, but I consider them fairly new, especially the bronzer since the shade I purchased was just released in September.
Makeup Geek Individual Shadows (old and new)
All swatches above Caitlyn Rose are from the older collection. The shades with an asterisk in front means it came from the All That Glitters Palette, which I depotted. The “Blue My Mind” color is stated as the name on the palette, but the actual name printed on the bottom of the pan (which I saw when depotting) is “Surf’s You Right.” I don’t know if this was a simple name change at the last minute or if it’s an example of quality control issues Makeup Geek may have had in the past.
I haven’t worn all the older shadows, but I’m very impressed with the ones from the All That Glitters Palette. The exceptions are Venom and Hype which are satin shades and they don’t feel as nice as they did when I first bought them, so I think it’s actually time to toss them. Same goes for Plot Twist and Caitlyn Rose which are beautiful but crumbly now.
I have to also mention the pigment in Blue My Mind is insane! The formula feels wet like a cream to powder shadow, but I have no idea if it’s supposed to be like that. It’s so opaque, sparkly, and intense, but the texture makes me a little concerned as to whether it’s time to throw that out as well. I purchased all the older circle pan shadows in March 2020, so it’s not unrealistic for them to be going bad by now.
I don’t have many of Makeup Geek’s current foils, but I actually prefer the sparkle and shine level of the original foils over the new ones. I even like the older formula better because I have creasing issues with Mystical and especially Medieval. Medieval isn’t as smooth as Mystical either. Illuminaughty, Grandstand, and Epic don’t crease as much. I really like those shades. The foils are described on the website as being a cream and powder hybrid. Perhaps the cream element is what gives it the tendency to crease. While I’ve always had some deep lines around my eyes which is natural to crease a little, Mystical and Medieval move so much to the point of leaving blank spots. It’s quite disappointing since they were the two shades in the rebrand I was most excited to buy. One issue all the new foils have though is that the shimmer dulls after a few hours. This isn’t completely unusual for me, but when they aren’t super sparkly to begin with, they basically look like satins by the end of the day.
Regarding the mattes, the only eye base I’ve tried that works well with them is the MAC Paint Pot. In the photo below, the top half shows where the mattes patch off the lid after being worn for less than an hour. The bottom half shows how the shadows looks after the same length of time when redone over MAC Paint Pot. It’s not perfect, but it’s much better. I don’t remember which shades I used here because the eye photos were taken at least six months ago.
Most of the mattes don’t have pigmentation issues. A few that I own are a thinner more powdery formula than others (like Chickadee and Peach For the Stars), which do fade me on quickly. Even those that fade will still leave a hint of color all day if I use the Paint Pot as a base. I learned though that the absolute best results are just like the face powders and look better if the eye has been set with a powder layer first. These are definitely not creamy mattes, so my eyes can look extra dry and ashy with some of these lighter shades. I think the dryness is what I initially couldn’t pinpoint as to why I was underwhelmed by MUG shadows.
These are some of the looks I’ve done prior to reviewing. I don’t remember which ones I used. I had a few additional shadows that didn’t make this review because I didn’t like them or they were too similar to other shades I purchased. I sold Daydreamer, Wine and Dine, Creme Brulee, Current Obsession, and Latte as Usual.
The best of the Makeup Geek mattes blend nicely and easily and show up opaque the way I like. The downside is that whatever shade it looks initially will turn into a darker variant of brown after a few hours. Had Me At Yellow turns into a mustard yellow-brown. Back To The Fuchsia turns purple-brown. Curfew turns dark brown almost black. I don’t mind these changes as much considering the brown-blends still look pretty and they mostly last all day.
Courageous, Unleashed, and Invincible are part of the Power Pigments formula which are supposed to be the most saturated and most pigmented mattes Makeup Geek have. They give more opaque results right away compared to the other mattes, they are more vibrantly colored, and they have a drier rougher texture. The last one is to be expected when using actual pigments over micas and dyes. The Power Pigments used to be more expensive than the regular mattes at $7.99, but were lowered to $5.50. I think this was a good decision because I don’t believe they are that much more special than the regular mattes considering most of them can be built up to the same level of opacity.
Contour in Scandal (discontinued)
Makeup Geek does not currently have contour products available for purchase, but I got it during a sale shortly after the rebrand. This is a great contour color for me, however, this product doesn’t blend very well. Wherever the powder first touches my skin is where it will stay. Every time I use it, I have to apply a finishing powder to blend out the edges or foundation to sharpen where it got too spread out from me trying to blend it. It still looks heavy even when applied with my softest most loosely packed brushes. This product was probably created at the height of contouring when it was popular to be ultra pigmented, sharp, and intense. If Makeup Geek brings the contours back, I hope there’s a formula change to produce a more natural or airbrushed look. I can make it work, but I likely won’t use it again. The sale price was under $2, so I can’t complain too much.
Bronzer in Chestnut
The color in the pan looks great for me. Unfortunately, this shade looks almost identical to the contour when I actually apply it to my skin. It has a golden sheen with fine gold specks throughout, which gives it the appearance of warmth, but the actual base color is deeper and neutral toned at best. When I apply this, most of the gold is brushed off the skin and what I’m left with creates a shadow and very little warmth. The swatch photo in the blush section shows how similar Chestnut and Scandal look when blended.
The bronzer blends easier than the contour, but the only way it looks nice is if I’ve set my face with a layer of powder first before I blend the bronzer on top. Powdering first gives a softer nicely blended look that I want. However, since 2020, I pretty much stopped using setting powders except under my eyes. If I use a powder at all, it’s a finishing powder which is the last step in my makeup routine. Because it’s not my usual style to set my foundation before I apply the rest of my face products, I don’t see myself reaching for this over the other bronzers I own. However, if I was willing to switch up my style, I know I could get a really beautiful end result. I did end up purchasing the shade Burnished during Black Friday, which is much more cool toned of a shade and just barely deep enough to show on my bare face. I have not yet had the chance to try Burnished over foundation.
Blush in Chivalry
Chivalry is a pretty terracotta brown shade. It performs better than the bronzer on unpowdered skin, but I’m still not completely impressed with the finished look unless it has that powder layer underneath it. Then it looks quite beautiful and almost airbrushed. This technique reduces the amount of pigment I get on the cheeks at once, but it also prevents me from getting darker patches where my brush first touches my skin. In the photo below, the left set of swatches were done with my finger and the right set were blended with a brush to demonstrate the blend without powder (though the sticking issue would have been more prominent if the swatches were applied on top of foundation).
Because powdering isn’t an absolute necessity with the blush and I can still get it to look nice if I take my time blending and use fluffy airy brushes, I could see myself continuing to use this beyond testing purposes. It has good staying power and can be applied lightly for a subtle flush (if powdered first), medium intensity on unset foundation, or built up to a fairly deep shade.
I purchased Covet during the Black Friday sale and I like it even more than Chivalry because medium pinks tend to be my favorite.
Also, unlike the bronzer and contour, the blush leaves a bit of kickup in the pan.
Highlighter in Midnight Sun (discontinued)
This highlighter color is discontinued, but I very happy I could get it because I think it’s a flattering shade on me. It’s quite funny that I like it so much considering this is listed as being best suited for fair skin tones. It does look pale in swatches, but as the cheek photo shows, a highlighter for someone lighter than me should look way more bright and stark. Then again, this isn’t a blinding type of formula. A shade actually geared toward my skin tone would probably not stand out on my cheekbone as much as this color does, which is just the right amount for my taste. Of all the face products, I like the highlighter formula the most.
Full Spectrum Eye Liner Pencil in Plumeria
This is another last minute Black Friday addition to this post. It did not arrive early enough before my trip for me to thoroughly test it. I watched how Marlena used this pencil and was drawn not only to the color, but the fact that it could be smudged out as a shadow color or base and is supposed to be almost water resistant. That element worked well on my arm. After giving it some time to dry, it couldn’t be moved by rubbing it with my finger. Even after wetting it, it didn’t smudge, smear, or run. However, for some reason this pencil did not last on my eyes for even an hour. I do have oily lids, so perhaps this is the reason. I tried it one time on bare eyelids with no primer or other eyeshadows. I put it all over the lid, blended out on my eye like a cream shadow. In an hour, about a third was gone. When I checked a few hours later, there wasn’t any of it left. Since it worked on my arm, I’m guessing this is a “me” problem and anyone who does not have oily eyelids will be able to use this pencil. In the future, after testing it thoroughly, I will update this post if I found a way to keep it on my eyes.
Customizable Compacts
I couldn’t end this review without discussing some of the things I noticed about the compacts offered by Makeup Geek. Whether you get the clear or gunmetal lid of the mini palettes, they both have a magnet of standard thickness and rounded edges. The square pan face powder singles fit perfectly inside them. On the other hand, the “Travel Vault Palette” with the gunmetal lid that anyone who makes a custom 9-pan palette will get, has the kind of magnet I get from the craft store in thin sheets with the peel off sticker on the back. As can be seen in the photo above, mine was not cut properly to the size of my palette. It arrived with the edges lifted up and when I press to stick them back down, they still don’t lay perfectly flat and are curved. When I watched reviews during the rebrand, I saw plenty of other people had warped magnetic bottoms like mine. The actual palette packaging is well constructed, sturdy, and beautiful. The mirror in the lid is a nice quality and a great size. However, I believe Makeup Geek cut corners (literally and figuratively) with the magnets. At one point I had four of these palettes and three out of four were not cut, laid, and stuck properly. When you have expensive eyeshadows, the last thing you want is to have to worry about the whole sheet lifting off and your shadows breaking. I have two of the travel palettes left and I took the better glued one on a trip with me and had no issues. However, I cannot say what would happen if someone keeps their shadows in there at all times.
The main reason I don’t keep my Makeup Geek pans in there is because of all the wasted space. I can understand the older circle pans not fitting better into the palettes considering their shape, but I expected the rebranded new shadows in their mostly square shape should be made to fit the palettes. They still only fit 9 shadows. I understand wanting enough space to be able to easily take the shadows in and out, but it doesn’t look good in my eyes. It looks like I took another brand’s shadows and tried to put them in Makeup Geek’s palette because they’re so ill-fitting. It bothers me when a pre-made palette is larger than it needs to be, but having dividers between the shades indicates it was intended to be that way. Custom palettes without those dividers look untidy on the part of the one who made the palette. Me.
In addition to the eyeshadows not fitting well, there is only room for one face product; if you put one face product, you can only add a maximum of 5 eyeshadows that are still widely spread out. One of the things I love about making custom palettes is having things line up and looking orderly. If it can’t be orderly, I enjoy at least filling up as much space as possible, so it’s a pet peeve of mine that they are this way. The only brand’s shadows that fit nicely in the Makeup Geek palettes are the mini circle shadow pans from Colourpop such as the pans from the Blue Moon, Lilac You A Lot, Star Wars The Mandalorian The Child palette, etc.
There is one other palette type for sale called the Mega Vault Palette. It’s the Matrix Shadow Palette that holds 28 shadows, and those at least fit nicely on all sides with a reasonable amount of extra space. When comparing the 9 pan palettes (whether old version or travel vault version) to the Mega Vault, it’s clear to see a palette of that size should have been made to hold 16, not 9. Marlena has expressed her struggles keeping her brand afloat, so I can see the desire to reuse packaging or try to drum up buzz by announcing a rebrand. I just wish the shadows-to-palette aspect was better planned out for the 9 pan palettes. Then again, perhaps this is why the custom palettes are so deeply discounted. In case anyone is wondering, I kept my Makeup Geek shadows in a custom magnetic Juvia’s Place palette, which I don’t believe is available for sale anymore. I kept them there until I bought the Mega Vault.
Whenever I review a brand from an Influencer, I disclose whether there are any personal feelings involved. I started following Marlena on YouTube shortly before her rebrand and although I only watch a quarter of her videos, I do like her as a person and I’ve improved my eyeshadow skills because of her live demonstration videos. At the same time, I was also very unhappy with the situation between her and Tina (The Fancy Face) which played out after I already made my initial purchase from the brand. Because of that incident, I did not want to review the products on my blog. However, this was two years ago and my opinion of Marlena returned to a neutral state. I wish her and her brand success. Even though the products aren’t a perfect match for my skin type or my application style, I’m still interested in seeing what else they create in the future and am likely to continue purchasing from them.
That’s all for today! I’mgrateful you’ve taken the time to read my review and I hope the information was useful.
-Lili ❤
*UPDATE: MARCH 4th, 2022 It is quite sad to see that Makeup Geek Cosmetics is officially closing in April. Even though I didn’t love a lot of the products, I wanted to see the brand grow and improve. I wish Marlena the best with her next endeavor as she is the type of person who doesn’t give up on pursuing her passions (as even stated by her in her brand closing video). In the event that someone new has come to my blog in search of recommendations on what to purchase before the items are gone forever, I easily recommend the highlighters and the Mega Vault empty magnetic palettes. Perhaps even the blushes, but that’s all. I know the brand is best known for their eyeshadows, but I personally think they’re just okay. Since my review, MUG has released a primer, mascara, and brushes but I haven’t tried those, so I cannot say anything about their quality.
Clionadh is my favorite brand when it comes to duochromes and multichromes. Actually, it might be my favorite beauty brand period. In one of my previous reviews, I combined Kiln and Bloodline to create a gorgeous new shade and wondered what other exciting combinations could be made. Today, I’m showing a few that I experimented with and really like! I’ll also swatch the new Charity Bundle for 2021, along with the latest additions to my single shadow collection.
The Combinations
Trial 1
Royalty comes off as an icy purple on me, so I wanted to add more of a purple (with a little blue) tinge to my look. I ended up with more blue than purple, but I still thought it was quite pretty.
Trial 2
Crown Jewel is such a vibrant blue that I consider it a statement or occasion shade. It’s not something I’d wear on a regular outing. Spire is the dramatic opposite. It’s striking, but very dark, and also a bit much for daytime usage. So, I wondered if I could lighten up Spire and add an extra shift. I love how this turned out! It’s still not an everyday kind of shade but it’s gorgeous! I see myself creating this combination again in the future.
Trial 3
Opulent doesn’t do much for me besides being used as a highlight shade, so I thought if I could add Smoulder, I could perhaps get something a little darker and more pink. I hoped it would look closer to Bloodline, but the color it turned into reminds me of Weld or the Sextraterrestrial shade from Pat Mcgrath’s Divine Rose II (which is supposed to be a dupe for Forge but I don’t own Forge to compare).
Essentially, the most dramatic changes happen when I pair a shadow with one of the Jewelled Multichromes from the Stained Glass Collection. I tried many other combinations, but one issue I found is that some of them looked dramatically different on my arm, but on my eye there wasn’t a significant enough difference or the resulting combination looked too similar to one of the shadows already used.
Clionadh announced a shade extension coming to the Stained Class Collection, so I would be curious to see if any of them look like one of the Mixed shades I created!*
*Note: I completed this post months ago but kept pushing back the publish date. Clionadh originally announced a shade extension in time for Black Friday, but they decided to focus on restocking their current inventory in time for the sale and then afterwards fully focusing on building up the inventory of the new shades to be released in 2022. Their sale is still ongoing until December 3rd.
Collection Update
Left swatches were taken with flash off. Right swatches were alsotaken indoors but with flash on.
The Perfect Neutrals Collection Bundle
Other than Shani, these are not the types of shades I reach for because they rarely look nice on me. Baby pinks (or in this case rose gold) like Linny tend to look white or silver on my lids, but what makes this different is the gold they have running through it. On Clionadh’s website, Linny looks gold with a hint of rosiness, but the gold blends with my skin and lets the pink really pop. I’m left with a pale pink that actually looks pink on me, which is an unexpected surprise! It’s the same thing with Chelle that it’s supposed to be mauve, but it turns into the only lilac I’ve ever liked!
Although I’ve begun to appreciate neutrals again, I’m not interested in actively purchasing a ton of neutral shadows because they all look the same on the eyes. The reason I decided to add this bundle to my collection is because Clionadh does neutrals in a way that’s unlike the others on the market. The more intense shimmer neutrals tend to be a reflective metallic finish from other brands, rather than having this level of sparkle. The actual shimmer from others tend to be the standard gold or silver, but for instance, BrittBritt has pink, red, and gold glitter. Cookie has a pink shimmer that doesn’t translate as well on my camera but is very noticeable in person. I consider these shades to be spiced up neutrals, which is that much closer to the style of eyeshadow I’m into lately.
The other incentive for purchasing this set is that it’s Clionadh’s second charity bundle. According to their website, “100% of the profits will be split and donated to…True North Aid and The Black Queer Youth Collective.”
The previous charity bundle was limited edition, as is this one. When the Perfect Neutrals were released, the shadows were only available as a bundle, but were eventually listed individually. Some shades are already sold out and I believe I read somewhere that there will be no more restocks for it.
I should also note that the sparkle level of the shimmer shades in the bundle is similar to, but not as intense as Clionadh’s most glittery shadow options. They aren’t as flaky in texture as those and they aren’t as pigmented either. I wouldn’t call them topper shades, but the intensity lies in the sparkle level and not as much in the base pigment. It’s enough to give opaque results, but it’s not 100% opaque on the first swipe. The sparkle level and nuances of the shadows are what make this collection special, but in terms of color payoff and formula, I don’t consider them to be unique. The Stained Glass collection is where the special formula can be found.
Circle Pan Eyeshadows
Every time I think I’m finished buying non-matte circle pan shadows, I end up getting more! Ironically, I had this post completely finished and then Clionadh had a surprise anniversary sale, so the bottom three are those new additions!
Clionadh brought back four shades from their discontinued Valentine’s Day set. I purchased one, Amour, thinking it would be a deep red-orange. I like it anyway, even though it’s not as deep when compared to the rich coppery red of Poinsettia. I have been very much into rusty red shades like this lately and thought I might have dupes in my collection. They look similar in their pans, but they are definitely not the same as can be seen in swatches.
I am also very happy I picked up Wormwood because it’s the type of maroon-brown shadow with blue reflects I used to love in my early makeup days but haven’t worn in ages!
The anniversary sale shades I purchased are Toadstool, Yukon, and Vortex.
Toadstool is described as, “A rusty red-based duochrome eyeshadow with a bright green reflect. This is technically a tri-chrome shadow that will also shift up to red.” I’ve wanted this shade for a long time but finally took the plunge. Yukon is another one I’ve wanted for a long time, but I thought it might be too similar to Rune, so I didn’t get it until now. The two shades are about the same depth, but Rune has more of a yellow-olive tone whereas Yukon is a light golden green. Vortex is like Wormwood’s cousin. It has a brown base rather than a maroon one and it has green and aqua shimmer.
Stained Glass Collection Update
Majesty is described as having, “an orange base that shifts gold-green-turquoise.” I wish more of that orange would peek through on my eyes like it does on my finger and arm swatches. The gold and green are certainly visible though. Out of the five Vibrant Multichromes I have, only Heirloom and Crown Jewel look the way I expect them to on my eyes.
Sand Blast is the most orange in color of the Jewelled Multichrome category. It’s a dark orange with a gold and lime green shift. It’s not too far off from Smoulder (magenta-orange-gold-lime) and Kiln (red-orange-gold), which is why I figured I would like those two shades more. However, I couldn’t escape the feeling of missing an orange shade like this, so it is finally here!
The other Stained Glass addition I purchased is the mini palette! It’s so cute! Even though I have zero plans to travel with my Clionadh shadows, I wanted to be able to keep my Charity shadows separate from the rest of the collection, so I put them in it. Below is a photo showing the size difference.
On Clionadh’s Instagram, I recall seeing a comment about the possibility of a Jumbo size palette in the future, so of course I’d be interested in that as well. Even though I have plenty of Coloured Raine’s gigantic 96 pan palettes, Clionadh’s shadows are so special to me that I want to keep them in special packaging as well. As it stands, my one mini and two standard size palettes are pretty much full.
This is what my collection looks like now. I downsized the Stained Glass side by five shadows: Blaze, Sunbeam, Ripple, Spotlight, and Glazed. It was not easy to let them go, but I wanted to only keep shades I could happily use on their own without needing to mix them.
I think I’m finally set on the circle pan shadows unless Clionadh brings back the mattes. Parchment, Nectar, and Raspberry Fudge from the Harvest bundle are still on my wishlist. Halo is the only one left on the list from the Stained Glass collection. If I purchase any of the extended shadows in the future, I’ll make room by placing the highlighters in my custom face palette.
The last thing I want to mention is that Clionadh’s labels have changed since August at the latest, but likely before that. They now list the shadow type and removed the brand name.
Thank you for reading and Happy Shopping this Cyber Monday!
The annual Sephora VIB sale ended last week and this was one of only three items I purchased. The Glam Face Palette appealed to the resurgence of my interest in neutral eyeshadows, my strong love of blush, and my attraction to highlighters. I did not enjoy Natasha Denona’s original blush duos that were part of her brand launch, but I’m a big fan of the Bloom Blush & Glow Palette, so I had high hopes.
I could see from videos that the back of the face palette did not have designated holes the brand sometimes includes for ease of popping shades in and out, but I hoped that with a magnet I could still pull the shadows out and be able to interchange them with any ND mid-size pans I wanted, since they’re the same size. Unfortunately for me, these pans are glued down to the palette, and since it’s metal glued to plastic as opposed to metal glued to cardboard, the pans would not pry loose no matter how much pressure I applied with my box cutter (which I use to depot shadows sometimes). I own a Z Potter, which theoretically is supposed to allow me to depot eyeshadows without destroying the palette, but the settings needed to melt glue in thick packaging has caused me, in the past, to accidentally melt and warp the packaging of things I wanted to reuse. So, I don’t want to take the chance of using it on this palette. In my eyes, this is the prettiest Natasha Denona packaging she’s ever made with such a sleek smooth mirrored bronze surface and those rounded edges. It looks and feels luxurious. Even though being able to customize the eyeshadow shades would be a game-changer, the price of the palette prohibits me from wanting to make further depotting attempts.
The plastic flap covers the blush and highlighter, so it’s natural to assume both are cream products, but it’s just the blush that has a creamy texture. The highlighter is a pressed powder in a formula that’s new to Natasha Denona’s brand, “that uses Japanese technology to deliver an extreme glow.” The way it looks in the pan with that texture instantly reminded me of the highlighter from Beauty Bakerie’s Brownie Bar.
The Glam Face Palette comes in a Light and Dark version, but choosing between them isn’t as straightforward as using only the Light palette if you have light skin and the Dark palette if you have dark skin. Those with light to medium skin could easily pull off wearing either palette because the face products in both are essentially in the medium zone. Ignoring what the shades look like in the palette, the Light version contains a light champagne highlighter with a blush that spans from light pink up to medium pink. The Dark version contains a medium champagne highlighter with a medium pink blush that can be realistically built up to medium-dark pink. I would describe the color itself as dark coral, which is akin to medium red in terms of depth, but just with a slightly different undertone. In fact, neither cheek shade in the Dark palette is actually in the dark range, which is why choosing which palette works best for those with light to medium skin could come down to the eyeshadows and whether someone prefers lighter or deeper toned eye looks. The highlighter doesn’t have a strong base color and the shimmer particles are so bright and reflective that it looks even lighter on the skin than it does in the pan. It may still leave a cast, but not as much as it would if it had a more opaque base. The blush is a buildable formula that blends out quite sheer depending on the application tool used, but even if I get the most concentrated amount of blush onto my cheek, it doesn’t look as dark as it does in the pan. That’s what also adds to the wiggle room as to which palette works best for someone. In Natasha’s own words, the Light palette is best for those with “light to medium” skin tones and the Dark palette is best for those with “medium or tan to deep skin…but both palettes wear beautifully on all skin tones.” However, I think someone with deep to rich skin tone might want to check what the palettes look like in-store because even the Dark palette doesn’t run all that dark in my opinion. The blush swatch in the photo above was done with two swipes with my finger, which kind of says it all. I also compared it to the blush from the Bloom Cheek palette further down and that took just one swipe of the blush from that palette. That one is what I consider to be an actual dark blush.
The Bloom Cheek Palette and Hourglass Ambient Edit Universe Unlocked Palette compared to the Face Glam Palette.
While I’m comparing palettes, I should add that the cream blush from the Bloom Cheek palette is a traditional cream formula, though it sets quickly and I definitely need to use it with the cream base to tone down the color. The cream blush from the Glam Face palette is cream to powder and doesn’t feel like anything on the skin until about the third layer, which is the minimum I need to get it to show as pigmented as I want. Using the Sonia G Classic Base, I’m not satisfied with the look of the blush until I’ve applied at least three layers, but it doesn’t get much deeper than that with even a fourth or fifth attempt using that brush. If I use my fingers, I get a lot more color payoff, but because the surface of my finger is so much smaller, I still need to apply three times to cover one cheek. So, I may as well use my brush which gives the smoother blend. When I try this with a denser flat top brush like the rephr 17, I’m able to build up the color to my satisfaction in 2 dips instead, but it’s definitely still not dark. With that brush I can achieve medium-dark level with about 4 layers. A sheer layer of this blush will set to the skin and be dry to the touch, but the more layers are added, the creamier it remains. In the amount I wear, it is not sticky but it’s also not transfer-proof.
With a sponge, I’m able to get the brightest color and most color payoff with the least amount of product, but as I continued to blend, it always moves the foundation and concealer I have in my cheek area on the left side of my face that’s covering up hyperpigmentation. So, my preferred method is using a dense brush. Another nice thing about the blush is that it lasts all day.
This buildable blush takes some effort to use, but I don’t mind because the result is so pretty! It’s the kind of shade I love where I get a natural flush without it being too bright, too dark, too light, too warm, or too cool. The color is perfection. The formula is almost perfect. There are random specks of shimmer in the blush, which I’m guessing is there intentionally to aid in the shine. I think I would have preferred if this had a sheen without the flecks, but at least the particles are on the smaller side and the area looks no more shimmery than I usually have on my cheeks anyway from shimmer eyeshadow fallout.
That ties in with another major thing to know about this palette. The top of the blush has a textured film over it which will make it a struggle to get any product onto the brush bristles. I recommend wiping off the top layer first before use. I think this is something that could affect many customers’ first impressions if this isn’t done.
There’s no kickup when using the highlighter, which is nice. I can get Star Glow to look quite subtle using the Wayne Goss #15 Fan Brush and Smashbox Precise Highlighting Brush. With those brushes, I can dip into the pan multiple times to control how much I put on. However, when I use the Koyudo La Fuga del Gato highlighting brush, I gently tap my brush into the highlighter one time, yet that amount always lays an intense amount on my cheeks. Brushes make a big difference in look and performance with this highlighter! Star Glow is high shine. Even though the particles are very fine, it’s so reflective that it still gives me a sparkle effect. Sometimes I like it and sometimes it’s too much for me.
The amount of blush in the photo above is the most I can get if I’m not using a very dense brush. I would have to really go out of my way to successfully overapply the blush. The amount of highlighter in the rightmost photo was created with two passes from an brush that doesn’t pick up much product and one pass with a brush that picks up a lot. I would not want to build it up any further or it would start to look ill-suited for me.
As for the eyeshadows, I first tried following the guide based on their names. Because Transition and Crease are so close in depth with Transition being orange-brown and Crease being the slightest bit darker but red-brown, it was hard to see the distinction between them on my eyes, especially after adding Smoke. They just blended together without much of a gradient effect. I’m used to using transition and crease shades that are a little further apart in depth, so it took several tries to get used to having to be so careful where I place the shadows and how I blend where my eyes are partially hooded.
So far, I’ve used the shadows with the Gerard Cosmetics Clean Canvas, MAC Paint Pot, and Urban Decay Primer Potion. Although Cocoa and Layin’ Low aren’t darker than my natural eyelid color, I found that Transition shows the best when I use the clear-ish primer from Urban Decay. The shade Crease blends well on all of them. Smoke is a great deepening up shade, but I have to be careful to remember to give Paint Pot some time to dry down before applying the eyeshadows, or else the shades I lay down will darken up and be more difficult to blend. I don’t have to set Paint Pot with powder before using it with the eyeshadows in this palette, but it allows me to get started quicker. Another thing I observed is that I need to be careful in which direction I blow away the powder kickup. Sometimes the leftover matte eyeshadow dust goes into the pans of other shades and then when I dip my brush in there, I get a mix of another matte color.
The shimmers aren’t very intense unless they’re applied with a damp brush. Using my finger somewhat works for Inner Corner, but the shimmer from Outer Corner doesn’t stand out much without being foiled. Even if applied wet, I was still expecting something more sparkly like the shadows in the Lorac Noir palette. In order to create that effect, I have to pop Inner Corner on the center of the eyelid.
For my eye shape and considering the eyeshadow colors available, I will probably end up using Transition or Crease, but not both of them in the same look. I foresee myself using the mattes to create structure and then pulling a lid shade from another palette to complete the look, so some of the blend work will probably be covered up by my lid shade and the hooded skin anyway.
The eyeshadows are beautiful. From the lens of a neutral wearer or someone who loves wearing the same go-to eye look on a daily basis, I can see how this palette would be a beloved staple in their collection. I am absolutely crazy about the blush. The highlighter is nice, though not my favorite formula. Overall, this palette was completely worth the price at 20% off. It’s aesthetically pleasing on the outside and inside, and every single pan of product in this palette is usable for me. Even if it’s not my favorite, I can still use it all. I love it and I have no regrets purchasing it, but it doesn’t top the Hindash Beautopsy Palette in terms of the color variety I can get, the multiple types of uses, and being travel friendly. I can do my brows, eyeliner, blush, bronzer, contouring, setting powder, and eyeshadow with that one. Even though the Glam Face Palette has shimmers, I know I would still get bored of just having those two shades and would need a supplemental eyeshadow palette to use with it, just like I need with Beautopsy. The only thing Natasha’s palette has Hindash’s palette beat on is that it includes a highlighter, but since that doesn’t crack my top favorites list, I would want to bring a different highlighter if I took it traveling anyway. This wasn’t the most practical purchase for me, but I wanted it regardless. It brings me joy! In any case, this is going to be a more all-encompassing palette for a lot of other people, so if you were thinking about getting this one, I do recommend it.
That’s all for today! My next post will be after Thanksgiving, so for those who celebrate it, I wish you a happy time and I appreciate you stopping by my blog!
I have nostalgic feelings when I think about Lorac Cosmetics. I bought my first palette from them in July 2014 and later it became the topic of my very first post on this blog! Back when I probably had ten total palettes in my makeup collection, I got so much use out of that Lorac Pro 2 Palette. This was during my short lived time of actually preferring cool toned eyeshadows over warm ones. Who would have thought!
I very quickly learned that I only liked Lorac’s PRO formula. The shadows in their Unzipped line was alright, but the PRO palettes were quite pigmented for what was available on the market, as well as being blendable. At a time when Urban Decay’s Naked line was their biggest competitor, I always favored Lorac’s formula over theirs. Unfortunately, the brand faded into near obscurity over the course of several years. They tried to make a comeback towards the end of 2020 with a revamped PRO line, but they returned with a large variety of primarily neutral shadows which many of their customers had gotten tired of in the first place. Lorac updated their packaging, formulas, and lowered their prices per palette, but they are nowhere near as popular as they used to be. Ulta put their palettes for 50% off during the 21 Days of Beauty, so I bought one purely for curiosity and nostalgia reasons. With the October release of Lorac’s smidgen of a more colorful palette, Fairytale Forest, the brand captured a temporary moment of hype. Macy’s had 15% off beauty products, so I went ahead and bought it in the hopes of eventually creating my version of the perfect semi-neutral palette. That didn’t quite go how I planned. Will Lorac seize the moment and revitalize their brand or will they sink? Have their formulas improved? Are they worth buying?
These are some of the questions I hope to answer in this review!
The Lorac Mega Pro (purchased in August of 2019)is the only older Lorac palette I still own. Previous palettes owned were the afterGLO palette, Sweet Temptations Eyeshadow Collection, Pro 1, Pro 2, Unzipped, and Unzipped Gold.
OLD versus NEW
I’ve had the Mega Pro for two years and did not even swatch it until I began working on this post! The shade variety was so much less colorful in person than I expected from photos online. The retail price is $60, but I bought it on sale for $30 from Lorac’s website. It’s one of the few older palettes they still sell and it has been restocked a myriad of times since the first one launched in 2014.
Based on previous experience with their older formula, as well as this Mega Pro palette, I can see that the main difference between the previous mattes and the new ones is that the old formula is soft but more powdery. The current mattes still have quite a bit of kickup and they’re still soft powders too, but they’re silkier now. Both are blendable, but with the older mattes they needed a creamier type of primer like the Lorac brand primer that used to come with those original PRO palettes. The current mattes are more buildable and have enough grip that I can pretty much use any of my primers and get a nice result, though I prefer them the most with MAC Paint Pot.
Regarding Lorac’s specific ingredient changes, they no longer use mineral oil, kaolin, and parabens. Instead, the newer formula has shea butter in addition to many other emollient and skin conditioning ingredients. As far as I can see, the main preservative replacing parabens is potassium sorbate. There’s also glyceryl caprylate, which can have antimicrobial benefits, but that isn’t it’s primary function in cosmetics.
The newer matte formula is a noticeable upgrade, but still fairly similar to the original. The difference between the newer and original shimmers is literally visible by looking at them in the pans! Lorac now includes shinier and sparkly ingredients such as synthetic fluorphlogopite, calcium aluminium borosilicate, and diamond powder. Often times I don’t even feel the need to wet my brush before using them on the eyes because they’re intense enough to my satisfaction. However, I do get a lot of fallout when I skip using them wet or with a tacky base, so I recommend doing that. I still think there’s a place for Lorac’s more satin leaning shimmers, but I very much prefer the effect that the current shimmers give. The older ones were smooth whereas these current shimmers are creamier with more slip to them; they’re almost wet to the touch with a finger, but I can feel the grit from the sparkle shades when I apply them to my eyes.
Lorac Noir Pro Palette
As beautiful as this palette was, I knew it would have shades that look pretty redundant for my skin tone. This is why I jumped on the half price sale, considering I figured I would just use half of Noir. I still found myself really liking this palette because even though I cannot get a wide range of looks, I appreciate the fact that there are cool tones and warm tones as well as different finishes.
White Diamond is a true topper shade, as it has white sparkles but no base color. Rendezvous has silver sparkles and a brown base. That base color blends with my skin tone, so it gives me a topper shadow type of effect. Those two shades plus Stardust all have the same creaminess and slip as the traditional shimmer formula, but with those three I can also feel the actual grit from the glitter when I apply them to my eyes. Majestic is the high sparkle exception that I don’t feel grittiness from when I use it. It’s a grey/gunmetal type of shade, like Onyx, but Majestic is a glitter/sparkle eyeshadow whereas Onyx is a fine but impactful shimmer for those who want something reflective but not as dramatic. Whisper, Primrose, Lust, Silver Moon, Dahlia, and Whiskey are traditional shimmer shades, which is the area that feels most repetitive. Silver Moon is distinct enough, but Primrose, Lust, and Dahlia will give me nearly the same look on the eyelids despite their different tones. Black Violet is a nice smooth satin, but the purple hue doesn’t show as much as I wanted.
The mattes are a good gradient. I can use Ecru as my brow bone shade. Soft Taupe doesn’t show up on me at all, but it would probably work for someone else as a transition shade. A shade like this can still be useful in blending out edges without making the area lighter, but the way these shadows blend, I don’t feel like I need to use it that way either. Sable works as my transition shade. Burgundy looks mostly brown if I use a light amount. I have to really pack it on to get the reddish tones to show. Smoke looks so much darker in the pan than I expected. It’s a deep cool toned brown that is satisfactory enough for me to be content with that as my deepening up shade without needing Ink, the true black shade.
I tried my hardest to create some variety with these shadows but I found myself making the same 4 looks, even though I used totally different eyeshadows: a red look, a smokey warm look, a smokey cool look, and a caramel/gold look. Essentially, the only way to get some truly different looks comes down to the eyeshadow style and placement of the shadows like the classic placement, a halo eye, a cut crease, etc. That is what will bring the most variety. I am really pleased with this palette though and I do recommend it for the ability to create something basic, glam, or something in-between. It’s a good neutral all-rounder type of product with great quality that surpasses the original PRO formula.
LoracFairytale Forest Pro Palette
The six shadows on the bottom right corner are what got me to buy this palette. I could not get them off my mind! I figured between the Noir palette and this one, I would really have some repeats. So, my plan all along was to mix and match shades between them to create my ultimate semi-neutral palette. I did not expect to like Noir in it’s pre-made state as much as I did, so my plans had to change.
Birch, Oak, and Earth look identical on my eyes, and I sometimes skip applying a brow bone shade altogether, so those three aren’t useful to me. Wherever I apply Mushroom just looks like my skin color depth but as a cool tone shade. It doesn’t make as much impact as Fog, which is a darker and cooler grey. Rosewood is like a dusty pink. I have to built it up a lot to get it to show more pink and less taupe. Essentially, the entire top row doesn’t add much to my eyeshadow looks, but I was at least prepared for that. I was banking the most on Redwood and Woodland for a color punch and depth. Once again, to get more of the orange tone to show in Redwood, I have to build it a lot. With these more colorful mattes, I get pigment right away, but it either comes off grey or brown in those first few layers on the eye. That’s why I’m still pleased with the Lorac mattes overall, because they still give me something, but to get the colors to show true to what’s in the pans is where the time and effort comes in. I am impressed though that despite how much I pack on, they layer well on top of each other and are easy to blend. Woodland is the darkest shade and helps to deepen up the look when I pair it with the lighter colors, but I can see that it’s not quite as deep as I’d like when I use it with the midtone mattes and darker shimmers.
I did not notice any difference in performance between the mattes in Noir and Fairytale Forest. However, Fairytale Forest does not have any shades listed in the sparkle formula, just shimmers and metallics. The two “metallic” shades, Pine and Grove, felt like the traditional shimmer formula to me, though perhaps slightly less wet to the touch. Enchanted, Wind, Wildflower, and Evergreen feel borderline between creamy and wet to the point of being almost chunky in texture (but not quite).
I was shocked to see North Star described by the brand as a “soft baby pink shimmer” since it looks flat out white to me and definitely sparkly. Both North Star and Folklore feel a tad drier than the rest of the shimmers, which is emphasized by the semi-gritty texture as well.
Butterfly stands out as it feels completely unlike any other shadow in the palette. It has the most slip, seems to have a transparent base, and is like a topper duochrome looking pink or rose gold depending on the angle. Enchanted looks like a duochrome as well, but it doesn’t have an actual shift. It has a bronze base which contrasts with the golden olive shimmer.
The only shimmer that I don’t think applies very well is Komorebi. It always looks patchy when I first apply it and it has to be smoothed over multiple times in order to look even in color. I smoothed it out in the swatches*, but apparently I didn’t smooth it over enough because it still doesn’t look as nice and even as the others.
*Note: When I changed my blog template, it made the proportions smaller than usual. In case someone doesn’t know about this, clicking on any photo on this blog will show the enlarged version of the picture. Also, holding the CTRL button and pressing + or – will magnify or minimize the size of font and photos on the website. I personally keep it at 110 or 120%
In the bottom two looks, I didn’t use any of the same shades, yet they look very similar.
Without distinct crease shades, I can’t get as much drama as I like, even though I’m getting more colorful options than Noir. I know myself and know that I would never reach for this palette if I kept it as is, just like the Mega Pro palette I couldn’t bring myself to even swatch in such an uninspiring shade selection and layout. So, I decided to combine the two!
REARRANGED PALETTES
I depotted my favorite shades out of the Mega Pro palette, stuck a label sticker on the bottom of each pan to keep track of which shadows are which, and placed them in a custom mini magnetic palette. The pans are magnetized, but unlike these newer palettes, the older ones were held in place with glue. Whenever I depot palettes with the intent to reuse the packaging, I cut a strip of magnetic tape and place it at the bottom so I can pop the shades in and out as much as I want. However, Lorac’s pans sit so flush with the surface that even the thinnest magnet would cause the pans to stick up and out, which impacts the ability to close the palette properly and this would get even more eyeshadow all over the mirror than it already does.
I removed Woodland from the Fairytale Forest palette and replaced it with Smoke from Noir to give me the depth I wanted and add a little smokiness. I filled the one vacant spot in Noir with the shade Gray so that I could keep with the theme of a traditional smokey neutral palette. Swapping out Smoke for Gray is the only change I made to Noir. Woodland is currently in the custom mini palette, along with the entire top row of shades from Fairytale Forest. In my first color swap version of FF (shown below) I initially kept Rosewood, plus added the shade Dusty Plum,but I ended up not getting enough impact out of either of them for my liking. They were too mid-toned. This is how I ended up removing them both again and putting Orchid instead.
First custom version
Current custom version
Orchid is not very opaque, but since it’s something I want to just use as a transition shade and blending out color for Mulberry, I don’t mind. Also, if I want a satin version of Mulberry, I basically have that in the shade Merlot. Redwood is the only original matte shade in the FF palette that remains. I could have kept any of the three lightest mattes, but I actually liked the Camel color and figured it could do the same job, just more subtly.
When I think of Fairytale Forest, I expect sparkle, iridescence, and a decent amount of greens. I would say that’s the most lacking aspect of the premade palette. I wish there were some matte greens in it. In any case, I added Deep Teal because I want to use it as a smokey green shadow to deepen up eye looks, even though it’s a satin and not matte. If Lorac ever sells a different kind of green as a single shadow, I might replace it. I thought Maroon was a good choice since it’s a neutral shade but the pink shimmer in it pairs well with both the browns and the reddish purples. Apricot was another last minute decision when I felt like I was missing a light color shimmer to highlight the brow arch. My other two light shades, North Star and Folklore, are too sparkly and don’t have a strong enough base color to them to fill that role. When I use Apricot, I can see it in person but it doesn’t pick up on my camera very well. I have a soft spot for chocolate brown shimmers, so that is why I chose Granite.
I think my choices still invoke the spirit of Fairytale Forest while still giving me just enough color to satisfy my desire for both colorful and neutral eyeshadows. I’m back to being tired out of neutrals for Lorac though. As wonderful as the quality is, I don’t need anything else from them unless they start really delving deeper into the realm of colorful shadows. I think Lorac could become popular again if they got out of the neutral box. Other brands that keep cranking out neutral palette after neutral palette have embraced exciting packaging as a way to entice customers into buying similar products repeatedly. As much as I like Lorac’s very professional (though basic in design) black packaging, the outside doesn’t grab me as a consumer, so it comes down to the color story. I want one that’s exciting and I don’t want anymore repeats than I currently have.
That’s all for today! And just so everyone knows, from November 14th through November 16th (my birthday!), Ulta has the Noir, Fairytale Forest, and other palettes on sale for 40% off! The link I included is a regular non-affiliated link.
Oden’s Eye Cosmetics is a brand I’ve really come to love over the past year and I’ve tried quite a few of their products. Their color stories and finishes don’t always match my style, but there was something compelling about the entire Legendary Diversa Collection. I couldn’t choose between them, so I decided to purchase all three. They each retail for $34 USD and shipping is free on orders over 50 euros (roughly $58). Influencer promo codes did not apply to the collection, but they worked on everything else. Each palette also comes with a corresponding scarf that matches the cover art. My products came in a special edition Legendary Diversa box, which I’m not sure if I got because I purchased all of them or if anyone who orders from the collection gets it.
I also got a free brush, which has happened for my last few orders. Again, I’m not sure if this is because I spent a certain amount of money or if everyone gets a free item when they order. I have not used the brush yet, so I will not be reviewing it here today. If you’d like to see my review of other products from Oden’s Eye, click here.
One thing I’d like to fully disclose is that these three palettes are collaborations with YouTubers: The Fancy Face, Annette’s Makeup Corner, and Judy. I follow Tina (The Fancy Face) and consider her one of my favorite YouTubers. I’ve spoken about her several times on this blog and while it’s true I would have purchased her palette regardless of the color story (this is partly to do with my trust in the quality of Oden’s Eye makeup), my support of her does not mean it gets a free pass. I hold it to the same testing standard as any other product I review. Annette is someone whose videos I watch from time to time and have started to watch a little more recently. As for Judy, she left me a nice comment on Instagram, but that’s the extent of our interactions. As for her content, I’ve only watched her Oden’s Eye videos. I wanted to make sure I put that out there in case anyone wonders if I will be biased. The artwork for all three palettes were equally beautiful and I wanted them all for that reason. The book-like format, sizing of the palettes, the unique outer texture, the reflective holographic sections that add a sort of glow when the light hits it, the shapes of the pans, etc are all so appealing to me. These packaging details are all part of the brand’s aesthetic. The collaborators’ images were used for the covers and it’s their color stories, themes, and final decision whether the formulas are up to par, but because these ladies were working with a great brand, it’s not surprising that I’d like their palettes. The infamous Too Faced x Nikki Tutorials collab is proof that the best of ideas a collaborator has will still do poorly if the company they’re working with fails on their end. Besides the packaging, I love Oden’s Eye’s formulas, so it’s just a winning combination between the brand and these three ladies. It comes down to whether someone likes Oden’s Eye shadows and in these particular shades.
Before we get started, I just wanted to add (so I won’t have to repeat myself three times) that each palette has a multichrome. These don’t have a dark base and they’re a thin metallic smooth type of formula, so they will actually look very different if layered on top of different eyeshadow colors. These provide a lot of shade variations and combination possibilities to the palettes.
The changes in lighting really do effect the looks of these shades. It’s mind boggling how they appear distinctly different in the pans, and while indoors, but if I step outside they suddenly look quite similar to each other.
These don’t surpass my top three favorite multichrome formulas from Clionadh, Devinah, and Terra Moons, but I do like them. They’re nice and shifty and perfect for those who don’t like the chunky, glittery, or dark-base types of multichromes.
The Hummingbird Palette
This palette appealed to me because it’s so bright and colorful. Purples and greens are my top two favorite eyeshadow shades, but I think I may have been intimidated by all the different color choices if it wasn’t for the Kaleidos x Angelica Nyqvist Club Nebula palette. The Club Nebula and Hummingbird palettes have a very similar vibe to each other. Because I learned what shades I like to pair together in Club Nebula, I knew exactly which combinations I wanted to try with the Hummingbird palette. Club Nebula will not be restocking, so if anyone missed getting that palette, I think this one is a great option.
There aren’t any spot on dupes, but some similar looks can be created. I will say, I prefer the multichromes from Oden’s Eye over the ones from Kaleidos. As much as I like the matte formula from Oden’s Eye, I think the mattes in Club Nebula specifically are even more my speed. The pros and cons for both make it so that I couldn’t choose which one I like more, so perhaps those who already know they like Club Nebula will enjoy Oden’s Eye’s palettes as well. Just as I felt the Club Nebula color story inspires me to try new things, I still see even more shade combinations I want to test out with the Hummingbird palette that I haven’t yet. It inspires me as well.
Of the three palettes, the Hummingbird palette has the most number of different finishes and also the greatest variation within the formulas. There are five mattes, the multichrome, two metallics, and four shimmers. Among the mattes we have Lagoon which is right on the cusp of being a cream to powder, or “cream to matte powder” as Tina describes it in her launch video. It’s just barely creamy enough to be detectable by touch in order to tell it’s more than just a creamy feeling shade. In fact, it reminds me of the satin-like metallics (Realism and Passion) and creamier shades (Obsessed and Colourful Black) from the Oden’s Eye Norn’s Palette. Unlike those shades from the Norn’s Palette, this one has no tugging on the skin and performs just like the other mattes. It’s a dark almost navy blue in the pan and can look that way if packed on, but when Lagoon is spread out, it’s revealed to be more of a deep teal. That’s why I compared it to Queen of Blades in the Club Nebula section rather than Void. Clear Blue is a very thin matte that can be built up to full opacity. It’s not my kind of shade on its own, but it makes a fantastic shade to blend out the edges of a matte. I love pairing it with Star Apple because it makes the edges turn a light violet purple. It also works beautifully with Lagoon. But speaking of Star Apple, that’s my one troublesome shade from the palette. All the other shades are easy to apply and blend, but Star Apple takes significantly longer to get an even color. At first I thought it was because it’s a patchier shade, but then I realized that whatever red-raspberry tone was used to create this purple actually peeks through. It’s visible in the edges of the swatches as well. When I take photos, the red that shows through makes it look unblended, even though it’s completely opaque in person. So in order to make it look nice for the camera, I actually take a tiny bit of Lagoon and blend it in. The blue from Lagoon mixed with the red spots in Star Apple turns it purple without changing the overall color. As much as I love the concept of the shade and how perfectly it captures the color of the actual fruit, it makes the most sense to just use it paired with the other pink and red shades in this palette. If I want to pair it with blues, I need Lagoon with it. Red Hills is a beautiful dark red that when applied in a thin layer shows a lovely warm orange hue it has to it. Hibiscus is the last matte and it’s a stunning vibrant deep-pink red shade. It’s difficult to describe and I don’t have a shade like this in my collection, which is a pretty big feat. The closest thing I have to it are some of the neon mattes from Terra Moons and Splash from the Coloured Raine Vivid Pigments. With Hibiscus, using the right primer will ensure it stays vibrant on the eyes. There are a few times I had issues of it deepening up.
The main differences between the metallic formula with shades Feathers and Tropics compared to the shimmer formula is just that they are a bit smoother and more fine. The other shimmers are a bit wetter in texture and a little on the chunky side. Among the shimmers, the shade that really stands out is Hummingbird because it’s a duochrome that’s mainly dark purple but has a variety of shades of purple and blue shimmer.
The Giant Wolves Palette
The Hummingbird Palette is vibrant and fun whereas this color story is the most “me.” It’s the selection of shades I was drawn to the most. It still has greens and purples, but with a grungier smoky side to those shades.
The first time I watched Annette’s launch video, I actually missed the part where she said each row of three could be one eye look. When I was deciding which colors to pair with each other, I swatched them in order on my arm. I did notice the groups of three were nice, but I loved how the groups of four looked together. Making those initial swatches was when I noticed the shade Hati was incredibly hard to pick up. I had to make 3-4 passes to build it up to what is shown above. It wasn’t so much an issue of being sheer as it was not getting it to spread across my arm. The fact that I could get product onto my finger every time showed me that it wasn’t hard panned, but the shadow was so compacted that I knew trying to pick it up with a dry brush would be quite the chore. I thought mine was a dud until I rewatched Annette’s video and saw that she said this shade was, “…harder pressed in the pan than I wanted.” This could mean physically pressed too hard or the use of too much of a binding ingredient. As it stands, the shade Hati is the only one I wasn’t impressed by and since a looser press had the chance of changing my feelings about it, I decided to try the physical route and repress it myself. I broke up the shadow using a cosmetic spatula and it remained in large soft chunks like dimethicone heavy shimmers tend to do. Then I used the spatula to lightly flatten it back down, particularly the edges, and then placed a paper towel over the shadow and gently pressed down with my finger. I did not add any liquids. It was a dry repress. I suspect there was already slightly too much dimethicone in the shadow in proportion to the other ingredients, but what I did still improved things a bit. I could swatch Hati across my arm with 2 passes. I considered it a topper type of shade before and pressing it myself didn’t change my mind about it. It can be built up to be very sparkly but it’s too sheer for me to want to use by itself, so I’ll keep using it as topper to add extra sparkle to looks.
We have three other shimmers and seven mattes. They all perform perfectly and the only noteworthy things I want to mention is that Desolate looks a lot more green in the pan but on my skin it comes off as a green leaning dark teal. The actual shade description according to Oden’s Eye is, “grey…with a slight green tone.” Annette describes it as a “bright dark green” so I feel better about the fact that it’s hard to describe this kind of shade. But as I said, it’s more of a teal on my skin. Astral looks more gold than it does in the pan and Sköll is like a duochrome purple-blue. It’s a black based purple as opposed to the brighter purple of the shade Hummingbird from the Hummingbird palette.
This palette also inspires me to try new combinations and brings me so much joy to use.
The Red Dragon Palette
This is the most neutral of the palettes, which made it the only one I wasn’t certain I would get. However, I have Annette’s reveal video to thank for deciding to get it because the poolside video with the sun hitting those swatches showed the palette in all its glory. The colors are so much more stunning and more interesting than it looks on the surface. And then combined with Judy’s eyeshadow look in her launch video and using the shade Dragon for blush…I was officially sold!
This is the most matte-heavy of the palettes with a grand total of eight. They all work beautifully and blend easily, but I should note that Sunrise, Jade, and Serene are a bit thin and will need some building up in order to be fully opaque. Also, Sunrise and Serene have a very hard time showing on camera, but they are visible in person. The effects of using Sunrise as the transition shade into Jade really helps to emphasize the yellow tone within Jade, but Jade is still beautiful on its own.
For deepening up looks, my options are Claw, Fire, and Aurora which add enough depth if I’m only pairing them with the light shades, but if I want to also use a mid-tone like Amber or Yin, then they aren’t quite as deep as I’d like for my skin tone. Aurora in particular looks like it should be dark enough, but I have a hard time layering it on top of other shadows. I appreciate the fact that Judy wanted to have these darker shades so no one would have to pull from other palettes to create a look, but it’s something I’ll still likely end up doing in the future.
Using a white or light base helps to distinguish all the red colors when I use them together on my eyes. They can get muddled if I don’t place them correctly, or use either a clear base or one that matches my skin tone.
I’m really quite shocked how much I enjoy this palette. I would not have thought to pair that mustard yellow-brown and jade green with those reds. I still struggle with shade pairing and finding new ways to put colors together, so this was a great learning experience. I’m very happy I decided to get this one as well.
So, do I recommend these palettes? Absolutely, yes! I recommend giving Oden’s Eye eyeshadows and even their blushes a chance. The older original palettes contain pressed glitters, but the releases in the Norn’s Collection and onwards do not have them.
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