Happy Friday everyone and holy shit, it's 2021! Can you believe it?! I'm keeping a cautiously optimistic outlook for the next year! (I hope you all had an good, quiet New Years!)
It's been a pretty quiet week for me, so I'm skipping a life update for my Five on Friday post (and will save my update for next Friday!) and instead I'm sharing and swatching 5 palettes that I've been keeping in my collection for a while and totally missed getting reviews up on them in a timely fashion!
I purchased all these palettes myself - this post contains affiliate links
I have done this before, and these are palettes I've picked up a little later than their releases and so a whole post wouldn't really do much (and actually a couple of them aren't my favourites, but I still like a little record of them here) so you can see how they swatch and what my thoughts are. Most of them I have used for makeup looks, so I will share those too!
ONE
Storybook Cosmetics is a indie brand that I have shared quite a bit on in the past - it is a brand that I am rooting for, despite some bumps and slow releases after they've announced ideas. At the end of last year, they released 3 exclusive palettes with Boxycharm - two mini palette and one large one. I wasn't a Boxycharm subscriber, but I did find these on Facebook marketplace and I picked them up right away because I loved the Fairytale theme! I reviewed the big Briar Rose palette right away and it was just okay - I do think the formula was a little different as Storybook switched to a different lab to produce more of these.
Storybook Cosmetics Red Riding Hood Palette ~ $35.00 US. This is magical palette was created exclusively in partnership with BoxyCharm. Inspired by the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood Feauturing a custom mini hardcover storybook with 6 pigmented matte and metallic eyeshadows. The cruelty-free, long wear, buttery smooth shadow formula can be used wet or dry. Mix and match to concoct your favorite Fairy Tale look.
This is supposed to be a "red" themed palette, however, I was a little disappointed that the red shade and all the deeper shades are metallic and shimmery. I don't think this the most cohesive palette theme and colour story - I've actually struggled to make cohesive looks with this palette and all the shimmery lid shades are too dark for me.
Red ~ Bright Red Matte
Bad Wolf ~ Light Taupe Metallic
Basket ~ Warm Yellow Soft Brown Matte
Peril ~ Red Metallic
Journey ~ Soft Peach Matte
Woods ~ Soft Brown Matte
Alright, they have Red listed as a matte, but it is not - it is a satiny shimmery shadow. I didn't really get this palette to work for me. I found the mattes a little stiff, I mean they applied and worked fine, but the metallics were even stiffer and didn't blend. They were shimmery and did look nice on the eyes, but this didn't work for cohesive looks and overall I just didn't like the formula of this palette. I actually decluttered it from my collection in September, but thought I would share swatches and thoughts!
TWO
Along with the Red Riding Hood palette, the other mini palette in the Boxycharm x Storybook Cosmetics fairytale collection was the Robin Hood palette - this one is a green themed palette. My favourite thing about the Storybook Cosmetics palettes is their packaging - they look like little books and the detail work is always fantastic!
Storybook Cosmetics Robin Hood Palette ~ $35.00 US. This is magical palette was created exclusively in partnership with BoxyCharm. Inspired by the classic fairy tale Little Robin Hood, Feauturing a custom mini hardcover storybook with 6 pigmented matte and metallic eyeshadows. The cruelty-free, long wear, buttery smooth shadow formula can be used wet or dry. Mix and match to concoct your favorite Fairy Tale look.
I found the colour story of this palette much more cohesive than the Red Riding Hood palette - I loved that some of the deeper shades are matte and also that there was a matte and a metallic green in the palette. Also, the gold and cool toned taupey brown fit really nicely with the colour story and theme!
Maid Marian ~ Yellow Gold Metallic
Quiver ~ Yellow Orange Matte
Nottingham ~ Cool Soft Brown Matte
Forest ~ Cool Dark Brown Matte
Merry Men ~ Forest Green Matte
Robin Hood ~ Hunter Green Mettalic
I thought this palette had a nicer formula than the Red Riding Hood palette - or, it was just easier to work with overall because the colours worked much nicer together. I have used this in a green Shop My Stash look, and I thought it worked pretty decent. The metallics were pigmented and the mattes blended well. I did actually declutter this palette recently, not because the formula was bad, but because I got the ColourPop The Child palette and it had a lot of greens and a better formula, so this felt redundant to keep. I would recommend this over the Red Riding Hood palette for sure!
THREE
I have picked up a few smaller Pat McGrath eye shadows before and I'm a big fan of the formula - they are very pigmented and lovely. So, when I saw these mini palettes on sale for $19.00 CAN from $38.00 CAN originally, I had to scoop this one up instantly!
Pat McGrath Labs Eye Ecstasy Subversive Palette ~ $38.00 CAN. A curated collection of five cult-classic shades unlock the secrets of McGrath's backstage kit in hues and texture that apply in a single saturated swipe. These hybrid cream-infused powder formulations release infinitely smooth and extremely blendable pigments for seamless color transitions with unprecedented buildability.
Spoiler alert - I love this palette! This made my Monthly Favourites in October 2020 and it is lovely! It's all metallic creamy shadows, so it isn't ideal for creating full looks, this is mostly accent and lid shades! The formula is stunning and pigmented - applied with a finger is the best way for these to be applied. I've used this in a few looks, you can see Crimson Fire and Gold Standard in a Fall Look here, and I've used the blue in my Halloween Sally makeup look!
Lapis Luxury ~ Multi Dimensional Turquoise Metallic
Gold Standard ~ Metallic 25K Gold
Crimson Fire ~ Rebellious Ruby Metallic
Blue Blood ~ Deepened Burgundy Sheen
Synthetica - Sparkling Purple Metallic
These shadows are stunning - they are so pigmented and absolutely gorgeous on the eyes. They apply well and look amazing, they also last long on the eyes and wear well all day. And, because I loved this one so much, I actually went on the website and immediately ordered the mini Sublime palette as well!
FOUR
This palette was also on sale for $19.00 CAN (and still is!), so as soon as I realized how much I loved the formula in the Subversive palette, I knew I wanted to try this one too! These mini palettes do include five favourite shades, so if you have other Pat McGrath palettes, you might have duplicates - I don't have that many palettes, so I wasn't worried about that. This formula is amazing for this price! And, even though these are mini palettes, the shadows are a great size still, as they are quite large in the other palettes.
Pat McGrath Eye Ecstasy Sublime Palette ~ $38.00 CAN. A curated collection of five cult-classic shades unlock the secrets of McGrath's backstage kit in hues and texture that apply in a single saturated swipe. These hybrid cream-infused powder formulations release infinitely smooth and extremely blendable pigments for seamless color transitions with unprecedented buildability.
This is a much more neutral palette - all of these are easy to wear lid shades and look amazing on the eye. There is one darker shade that is a matte with shimmer in it and it is a different formula than the rest, but the other shadows are lovely - I do wish for cohesiveness that it was a shimmer formula like the rest, as I'm typically not picking up these particular palettes for a matte and the rest are all shimmery lid shades. Again, the formula is fantastic (of the metallics) and they apply nicely on the eyes and look great! The matte is pretty deeply pigmented so it's a good out corner shade, but you only need a tiny bit!
Sinful ~ Platinum Gold Metallic
Gold Nectar ~ Gleaming Golden Bronze Metallic
Sextrovert ~ Brilliant Bronze Metallic
Illicit ~ Deep Brown Matte with Gold Sparkle
Corruption ~ Fiery Bronze Duo Chrome
I love that this palette also has a duo chrome in it - they are gorgeous shadows. The formulas are a little different - I find Sextrovert to be a little more subdued like a shimmer compared to the other metallics - Sinful and Gold Nectar are very impactful. These are all pretty shadows, and for the sale price, this palette is very much worth it! I don't love it as much as the Subversive because of the different formulas, including the matte, but it's still very nice!
FIVE
This palette was released at the end of Summer and I picked it up because it was a very unique colour story compared to other Wet n Wild palettes that I have. I'm a big fan of the Wet n Wild formula and have a couple of their 10 pan palettes in my collection. It also had this pretty marbled shadow and is supposed to smell like Ice Cream! But, this took almost 2 months to arrive to me, so it was sold out and out of season and I didn't want to dedicate a full review to it.
Wet n Wild Ice Cream Bee Shadow Palette ~ $8.99 US. I scream, you scream, even our queen bee screams for wet n wild’s new Ice Cream Bee Shadow Palette! With a deliciously buzzworthy lineup of 16 creamy pastel shades, you’ll have all the attention swarming around the amazing looks you’ll create with this shadow palette! The buttery-smooth formula is comfortable and long lasting, and the rich, high-payoff pigments blend seamlessly with a soft glide application.
This palette is pretty shimmer heavy, but it does have a good range of mattes that include light, medium and dark, so I think it will be good for a wide variety of looks. I like the purple, orange, and teal colour story! It does have two shadows - Anything is Popsicle and Raisin the Roof - that are flagged as not for use around the eyes (this is something that is pretty typical with a pressed pigment, however, I am usually comfortable with these formulas around my eye and sometimes they just leave a little staining after use).
Malt With You ~ shimmery white
You Got Soft Served ~ matte cream beige
Waffley Cute ~ light brown matte
It's Sherbert Day ~ shimmery marble cream
Anything Is Popsicle ~ shimmery fuchsia pink
Milkshake It ~ shimmery lavender
Lemon Sor-bae ~ yellow gold shimmer
Pistachio & Love ~ shimmery teal
Brain Freeze ~ shimmery light purple
Any Given Sundae ~ matte rose
What's The Scoop ~ orange shimmer
Mint To Be ~ shimmery medium mint green
Raisin The Roof ~ matte purple
Love You S'More ~ shimmery purple pink
The Fudging Best ~ matte deep brown
Black Cherrific ~ shimmery purple black
I have to say that I love the colour story of the palette - there is only two shimmery purple shadows that are really pretty and it feels very Summer/Springy to me, so getting it in mid-Fall wasn't ideal. I have used it for a week, but am hoping to use it a little more in the Spring to really get a feel for it. I didn't think that this was the Wet n Wild formula that I'm used to - I didn't think it was as good as their 10 pan shadow formula, but it was okay. The mattes blended and some of the shimmers lasted longer on the eyes than other - some of the shimmers had faded by the end of a work day. Not the ideal formula, but not bad overall.
What do you guys think of these palettes? Have you picked any of them up?!
The Pat McGrath palettes are so nice! I have those two as well and ugh so pretty!
ReplyDeleteYes! They are amazing!
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