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Oden’s Eye Flora Story and Swatchfest of Holiday Palettes and More

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Joining the Legendary Diversa line from Oden’s Eye, the Perfect World Collection is their new round of Influencer collabs. Makeup Just for Fun and Lauren Mae Beauty are two of the three YouTubers they worked with that I’m subscribed to, but it was only Amanda’s palette that I felt would add something to my collection. I was one of the early purchasers, so I was able to get the faux silk ribbon that came with it.

At the time that I’m writing this, Flora Story is the only one that sold out. It’s being restocked for one final time on March 23rd, so I wanted to make sure I included my first impression thoughts in this Swatchfest post. I also included two eye looks for this palette, as well as Solmane II, which is another palette the brand continues to restock. Cat’s Breath is still available, but I suspect it will be discontinued once sold out, just like the other items in the Freja Collection.

My previous reviews of other Oden’s Eye products can be found listed with links on this page here.

Oden’s Eye + Makeup Just For Fun Flora Story Palette

It’s interesting that the multichrome, Dawn, looks yellow and pink in the arm swatches when it’s purely orange on my eyes. In fact, this multichrome reminds me of Pink Chameleon from the Norn’s palette and Double-Sided from the Hela palette. I love being able to get multichromes from Oden’s Eye at an affordable price, but they tend to look a bit similar to one another.

These mattes are mostly easy to use, but they feel slightly thinner than I’m used to from the brand. They still give decent color payoff despite being soft muted colors, with the exception of Sage that ended up looking quite similar to Clover on my eyes, even though they look completely different in swatches. The issue is that I had a harder time building up Sage to something deep enough for my outer corner. Without being able to build it up more opaquely, there wasn’t as much distinction from Clover which was used first. Perhaps I would have gotten more color payoff if I used Sage first.

I used Orchid first in my second eye look, but I was disappointed that this turned out to be one of those types of purples that have a magenta tinge that when blended out gives me two different tones of purple and makes it look improperly blended or patchy on my eyes no matter how much I build it up. I still managed to create a look that I thought was beautiful, but I covered up some of the patchiness by throwing the shimmer on top. There might be a trick to using purples like these that I just haven’t discovered yet, and I only played with this palette for one day, so perhaps another primer could have also helped the situation.

As for the shimmers, some felt chunkier and wetter than others. Best Buds felt and performed the most like a typical Oden’s Eye shadow, but I was suprised that Misty was not very easy to smooth onto my lids. Despite being thick, it still had some spots I could see my skin beneath. Magnolia was thinner in consistency and didn’t have as opaque of a base either. It also gave me quite a bit of fallout. In using these shimmers, I suddenly remembered the complaints I’d heard about there being too much mineral oil or dimethicone in some of Oden’s Eye’s new single eyeshadows (inconsistently across the range). I’m wondering if they started increasing the amount of it in their formulas with these newer palettes from Christmas last year and onward. How wet it feels and the consistency doesn’t necessarily dictate how it will perform though because Lush was a little thick and wet, but did go on more opaque than the other shimmers.

It could be the case that these shimmers perform exactly the way Amanda intended. I think she prefers building up her shadows and likes color, but not too intense. For that reason, I wouldn’t want to judge this palette as any sign of the direction of Oden’s Eye. I just wanted to compare it to other palettes in the past so one can have an idea of what to expect.

The eyeliner in the Green look is from Melt Cosmetics.

Even though this isn’t my favorite formula, I still like the palette and the shades and it’s not too hard to come up with a pretty look with a little bit of effort. It’s not so much effort as to make me not want to reach for it though, nor consider it bad in any way. It’s very nice, just not on the level of amazing. I can appreciate though that the colorful nature of it, while still being in softer tones, makes it stand out among past palettes from the brand. I was right in thinking it would be something different from the kinds of palettes and color stories I usually get. Plus, the added wetness led to only the tiniest amount of creasing. The amount I consider negligible.

I bought both the Christmas Eve and Merry Christmas Palettes from Oden’s Eye and received two free ornament keychains with my purchase. I was very easily drawn to the Merry Christmas palette because of the greens and how on theme that color scheme is, but the Christmas Eve palette wouldn’t leave my mind. There was something so intriguing about the non-blue shades. I’m still in anti-blue mode, but I can feel that start to dissipate for now. At the time, I still felt it was worth getting the palette for all the other colors. That turned out to be a great decision because it was even more gorgeous in person and Oden’s Eye did not end up restocking these two despite the pleas from customers who I still see three months later asking for a restock on social media.

Christmas Eve Palette

Merry Christmas Palette

I’ve used these holiday palettes every so often since getting them, but mostly in combination with eyeshadows from other brands. That’s why I don’t have many photos of those instances (used on non-testing days). The hype is real on these! I love the shades. I love the performance. The shimmers are so bright and reflective. The mattes are still on the thin side, but blend and build beautifully. I think there are some similarities between these shades and past palettes, but I like having them in one place. I admittedly have only used half of the eyeshadows in both palettes, but so far so good! If other palettes hadn’t taken priority (ones actually available to purchase), I would have used these way more already. I wanted so badly to bring at least the Merry Christmas palette on the trip with me, but I didn’t have room.

Although the brand hasn’t said anything about restocking them, I think it would be smart if they waited until this coming Christmas to bring them back. As much as the demand is for them now, they are still holiday themed palettes, and it would make more sense to return during the actual holidays. As long as they keep the same formula (which does have some chunkier and wetter shimmers like in the Flora Story palette, but they’re at least fully opaque), I would recommend getting one or both.

Solmane II Palette

I only used this palette once so far, just before I left for my trip. In the eye look using the entire bottom row, I had a easy time applying everything until I got to Black Hole. Normally, I tend to love the black eyeshadows from Oden’s Eye (Colourful Black from the Norn’s palette is still one of my favorites to this day, plus I like Complete from the Hela palette), but this one was tougher to blend. I tried to build it carefully and slowly. I could still make it work, but it’s definitely not effortless.

Galaxy was also not the easiest to use either, similar to Orchid from the Flora story palette. However, I was in a rush doing that eye look, so I’m going to give that one another shot in the future. Meteor is more like a topper shadow, but still pretty. I could have used it on its own and been happy with the look, but it also worked to intensify the shine level on top of Hallucinations.

For being nearly pastels, I was impressed with how Soft Cloud and Dream looked on my eyes (more so Soft Cloud because of the opacity). Pastels aren’t the most flattering on me, from my perspective, but I’m interested to see how else I can incorporate these shades in future looks. They look and perform similarly to shades I own from Lethal Cosmetics.

I definitely need to use this palette more before I make up my mind about how I feel. Sometimes it only takes one instance to know, but not this time.

Cat’s Breath Palette

I don’t have any opinions on Cat’s Breath because I haven’t used it on my eyes yet. I just wanted to share the swatches. This palette and Solmane II are the ones I bought during Black Friday because I was attracted to some of the shades, but not all, and I didn’t think buying them at full price would be a good idea for me. Honestly, I wanted Cat’s Breath for the packaging artwork. I mean, how cute is it?

I hope this was helpful, even though it wasn’t a full-on review. As I mentioned in the beginning, I know the restock for Flora Story is coming in a few days, Solmane II was just restocked recently as well, plus a few of the Oden’s Eye singles. This will probably be when a lot of new purchases will be made, but I also wanted to remind the shoppers out there who love a good bargain (like I do) that Oden’s Eye usually has a decent sale during Easter, or at least they usually have some kind of deal like Mystery Boxes. That could mean wanting products from launches two weeks apart with shipping to consider. It would be a risk to wait if you want the Flora Story palette, but I wanted to at least give that reminder about Easter.

For those who may be wondering, I do consider myself a big fan of Oden’s Eye products, but I won’t be buying the individual shadows unless they make some announcement about they having a “new and improved formula,” after the major creasing and fading issues I’ve seen on Instagram. The fact that I’m on another low-buy this year is what saved me from potentially being in the same boat. I’m also disappointed about the lack of transparency about it and them not addressing it despite how many months have passed. Plus, I’ve heard customer service complaints have been ignored, which in my experience had always been good in the past. So, I’m not sure what to make of that situation. I think it’s important that I at least mention it because I don’t want anyone to make purchases without knowing potential issues that may arise with certain products or customer service.

Have an awesome week!

-Lili ❤

Oden’s Eye Solmåne II Blushes and Liners Review

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I shocked myself that I “only” bought three blushes and two eyeliners from the Solmane 2 Collection. The palette was quite beautiful, but not unique enough to add something different to my large eyeshadow collection. The highlighters are iridescent, sparkly, and pale, which isn’t flattering on me. However, I noticed that the shade Sienna Lustre in the shimmer blush formula seemed perfect for me to use as a highlighter. So, I feel like I’m still getting to experience a highlighter from Oden’s Eye that just happens to be in orange packaging instead of the purple ones. As for the eyeliners, I only added them to my cart so I could qualify for free shipping after using an influencer code to lower the price total. The brush came free and is one I already have and reviewed before, so I will not be reviewing that one here today.

Sunlight Love Blushers in W102 Peach Gleam, W103 Sienna Lustre, and B103 Orange Sunny

Other than the eyeshadows from Oden’s Eye, their blushes have always been my second favorite category of makeup from the brand. I’ve raved about the Alva blushers in the past and always wished they would expand the range, so I am very happy that they have, especially in this updated beautiful packaging.

Because the Alva Flower blushes are among my top favorite shimmer blush formulas, I’m happy to see that the Solmane II shimmer blushes are just as great. The Solmane II mattes are even better than their matte Alva Fruit blushes since they are softer and less powdery.

Peach Gleam

Peach Gleam shows more true to color with a white background.

The shimmer in this is ultra refined, to the point that it looks closer to a satin formula with a golden sheen. The larger size glitters on the right side of the pan don’t really stay on the face, which is something I’m grateful for as I love the sheen-like shimmer finish. It looks like a satin head on except where the light directly catches it, giving it such a beautiful gentle radiance rather than a harsh metallic reflect that some brands opt for in their shimmer blushes. Peach Gleam is what I wished Taj Mahal from Nars would be like on my cheeks!

I struggled trying to decide between Peach Gleam and Orange Sunny, which is how I ended up just choosing both. Their finishes aside, the main difference is that Peach Gleam is a red-leaning orange. Because it has that golden shimmer though, it works with both red-warm looks and golden looks. Orange Sunny is a yellow leaning orange and I only liked it when paired with gold, neutral eye, or other eye looks that compliment yellow. When I wore it with a red toned eye look, Orange Sunny didn’t look as pretty to me as Peach Gleam did. So those are some things to consider.

Sienna Lustre

Sienna Lustre shows truer to the pan color with a white background. However, this blush on the skin is a medium tone peach, which looks more similar to the photo with the colorful background.

There are simply “shimmer” and “matte” categories for the Oden’s Eye blushes, but I can see a textural difference between Peach Gleam and Sienna Lustre, which are both considered shimmer blushes. Sienna Lustre clearly looks more shimmery in the pan and in swatches, but I can see and feel the extra slip it has to it more than Peach Gleam.

This is a close up of Peach Gleam (left) compared to Sienna Lustre (right).

Silver in highlighters rarely look flattering on me, but I am happy to see that Sienna Lustre just takes on a peachy golden look on my skin and all that visible silver sparkle doesn’t show on my cheeks. The silver is basically an overspray, but without impacting the color overall. Admittedly, whenever I use this blush/highlighter, I try to avoid picking up product from the right side of the pan, but I did thoroughly rub my finger on that right side for the swatches and it still didn’t look silvery on my arm.

Because this has visible shimmer particles, I prefer to use Sienna Lustre as a highlight. I also prefer using it on top of Orange Sunny instead of Peach Gleam, since I personally believe the peachy tone looks better as a highlighter over a yellow-orange blush than a red-orange one. It still doesn’t look that bad together, as seen in the face photo above.

One other thing I noticed is that although I have no longevity issues with Peach Gleam and Orange Sunny, Sienna Lustre starts to dull down and disappear from the skin as the day goes on. I still have most of it on by the end of the night, but sometimes I’ve noticed missing sections where I assume I must have touched my face at some point in the day.

Orange Sunny

Orange Sunny shows true to the compact color with a white background. However, the photo on the left is still relevant in revealing the yellow-orange tone of this blush as opposed to the terracotta orange-brown I expected.

As I mentioned already, I believe the matte formula in the Solmane line is even better than the Alva blushes because it’s richer in pigmentation, softer, not as powdery, and blends better into the skin. I hope Oden’s Eye continues to expand on their blush line to include even more shades and darker ones as well. The ones I have are as deep as they go. In my photo wearing Orange Sunny, I could have applied a little more product, but it doesn’t get much deeper than what is already shown.

Although I think the matte formula from Oden’s Eye has improved, I am still the most impressed with Peach Gleam. The brand’s shimmer formula continues to rank among the best in my substantially large blush collection with Peach Gleam, Little Jasmine, and Sweet Tulip being the ones I use.

Gel Liner Pencils in 002 Orange and 012 Golden Brown

These pencils are creamy and a bit on the soft side. I accidentally broke off the tip of Golden Brown while trying to swatch it on my arm, and I wasn’t even being rough with it. It’s nice that they included a sharpener at the other end of the pencil. I discovered that as I accidentally tugged off the back.

I’ve tried both of them in my waterline and they don’t last. My eyes are just too watery. They last quite well as liner for my upper lash line, as well as an all over shadow for the lids.

Even though I added these to my cart solely for the free shipping minimum, I’m not upset at getting them. I feel like I would have been more impressed with these if I hadn’t just used the Amor y Mariposas gel liners from Melt Cosmetics, which have phenomenal staying power and remain intense, sparkly, and shiny. There is a huge gap between the retail price of Melt’s liners versus the ones from Oden’s Eye though. I can also say I like these more than the pencil liners I’ve purchased in the past from Colourpop.

That’s everything for this review! I didn’t have a ton to say because there wasn’t much to critique. I really like the products I bought from Oden’s Eye’s newest collection and I definitely recommend them.

-Lili ❤

Oden’s Eye + Angelica Hela Palette

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The collaboration palette between Angelica Nyqvist and Oden’s Eye is the newest addition to the Legendary Diversa Collection. Just like the previous release, all orders from this collection come in a box with the palette artwork printed on the inside. The free scarf idea was tweaked for this launch in the form of a reversible ribbon/Twilly, while supplies lasted.

This palette is currently sold out, but the restock is happening tomorrow: March 22nd 1:00 PM EST. I don’t know if the Hela box and/or Hela Twilly will be available again. Also, according to Angie, this may be the only restock.

The outer sleeve that’s around the palette has a different color scheme than the actual cover. For that reason, I plan on keeping the sleeve too.

The eye shadows are the same Oden’s Eye quality I’m used to and enjoy. The mattes are very pigmented. Some are a little on the thin side, making them easier to blend and build up if needed. My issue with thinner matte formulas can be that they either dust away the longer I blend them, aren’t opaque and leave patches, or they practically disappear in areas where a wetter shimmer formula touches it. This wasn’t an issue for any shadow except the shade Underworld, which was fixed by just adding a bit more of the shadow back on top of the spot.

A lot of eyeshadow formulas either work better if applied in order working from lightest to darkest or darkest to lightest. With the Hela palette, it doesn’t matter which way I’ve used it. The lighter shades are pigmented enough that I can use them to blend out the edges of darker shadows, but not so pigmented as to ruin the depth I try to create. The darker shadows are also not so dark as to overpower the look.

I expected Soot to be my most used shade and go-to shadow for deepening up the outer corner, but on my eyes the purple tone is very strong. The purple goes well with quite a few shades in the palette, but from my viewpoint, not as much as it would if it was a bit more of a neutral color. My partial solution for this is that I can use Decay on top to counteract the purple tone, but then it turns the whole thing into a dark grey.

Hellfire and River are two topper-type of shadows in this palette. They both have bases, but those bases really don’t show through on their own and need to be applied on top of other shades to get the effect I’m looking for. For example, the gorgeous peachy look to Hellfire in the pan just looks like the palest pink, almost white eye shadow on me. So, I just use it now as an inner corner highlight shade. I also don’t get the purple tone out of River, as seen in the photo above in the pink/purple look where the only effect it had when patted on top of Hellfire and Soot was to darken them slightly and add some extra sparkle.

I don’t have the best luck with yellows, so I was shocked at how well these built up and lasted on my skin, especially Rebirth because using pastels on dark skin can often be unflattering. Rebirth isn’t the kind of shade I’d wear on its own, but it’s very complimentary to the other yellows and greens in this palette, so I’m surprised to say I like it! My two most frequently used mattes are Wolf as a transition shade and Ouroboros as a deepening shade for the yellow/greens/browns and as a colorful pop when used with the shadows in the bottom rows of the palette. Decay is intriguing because the first time I used it was on top of Wolf and that made the taupe/cool brown tone turn more of a dark grey color, which is not the kind of shade I like to wear. However, I noticed it should be deep enough to create depth for some lighter looks, so I decided to try it again. When Decay was applied on top of Underworld, that helped to bring more of the brown out of that shade. In Angelica’s launch video, she says she wanted a colorful palette that still had some neutral leaning options. I haven’t liked any of my attempts to get a neutral look out of this palette, so I always turn them into a more colorful look to salvage it. Perhaps this wouldn’t be the case for someone of a different complexion than me. This is not a complaint, as usually I have the reverse issue where partly neutral colorful shades (like reddish brown, grayish purple, etc) just look solidly neutral on me. So, it’s kind of refreshing, but also unfortunate that I’m going through a neutral loving phase at the moment. How ironic!
The best neutral look I’ve been able to create, and I think is just an okay look, is below. The first two pictures are with this palette alone, but the third is what I’d want from neutrals and I was able to create by combining Hela with the Norn’s palette.

Of all the yellows and greens, the only one that didn’t stand out for me was Fluorescence. Other than being an eyeshadow highlighting shade, I never have a purpose for this kind of color, but to each their own.

Golden Bridge is one of my favorite kinds of golden green shimmers. I actually tried not to use it too much in these eye looks because it’s such a go-to color for me. It’s the same with pairing Venom and Ouroboros together that is so instinctual for me. Because Venom is such a bright shade, I really wanted to use it on the center of the lower lash line, but it’s a bit thick and chunky for that spot and I had a difficult time smoothing it out. Perhaps I’ll need to apply it wet.

Moss is another really great shade. It’s a grungy green in the pan, but it’s a bit vibrant on my eyes, which I don’t mind. The way it looks is the tone I’m often drawn to as a transition color in my green eye looks.

Double-Sided is like an orange-pink-green shifting shade, but the orange shift is strongest on my lids. It’s everything I wanted out of the shade Hellfire, but with the fun twist of being a multichrome. I discovered that if I mixed Goddess, Rebirth, and Wolf together, I could create a peachy-orange shade, which brings out more of the peach in Double-Sided when I apply that shadow on top of it. I add a bit of Hela too, just to soften up Goddess, but technically the color can be achieved without it.

Complete is another fascinating shadow. In the photo above, I had to include a picture with flash on to show the black tones accurately when paired with Ouroboros. For some reason, those two together throw my camera off and make Complete look very teal. As seen in other eye looks with Complete, it still veers a bit blue, but is still very much a dark gunmetal-esque black. Oden’s Eye impressed me with the shade Colourful Black in the Norn’s Palette, and once again, they’ve impressed me with this one too. I keep wanting to use that shade in every eye look I do with this palette!

I have my own preferences when it comes to color stories, so is this the perfect one for me? No. Do I still enjoy this palette? Yes. Does it inspire me? Very much so! Angelica’s palettes push me outside of my comfort zone to think of new color pairings and combinations. I went from being an eyeshadow fanatic for most of my life to actually being a little less interested in palettes over the past twelve months. So, whenever one can give me the drive to want to be creative and play with eyeshadows, that is worth every penny.

A comparison between Angie’s Oden’s Eye collab and her Kaleidos Club Nebula collab, for those wondering if they are different enough to purchase both (which the answer is yes)!

The Oden’s Eye palettes are part of my Shop My Stash for this month, so I’ve been enjoying combining shades from the Hela palette with each of the other Legendary Diversa palettes because they go so well together! I’m really happy to have made this purchase.

*UPDATE: Last minute eye looks! In the discussion with Nikki below, I realized my tendency to keep only using the top half or lower half of the palette, so here are two quick additional looks I created combining the two!

I believe that’s everything I wanted to discuss! I hope this has been helpful, especially for those considering purchasing the palette during tomorrow’s restock!
Thank you for reading!

-Lili ❤

Oden’s Eye Legendary Diversa Collection

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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.

That’s all for today! Thank you for reading.

-Lili ❤