A huge thank you to my wonderful, thoughtful friend Cindy for gifting me this beautiful palette on my birthday.
It was so incredibly thoughtful of her to check my blog to make sure I didn’t already have this palette. She wanted to gift me something that I didn’t already have so that I could review it here. Isn’t that so sweet? She is a muffin.
How lovely is the cover artwork and the color palette? The white outline of the petals have a sheen to them. I’m absolutely in love.
Upon opening the palette, I was quite disappointed that there is no mirror. I expected a mirror to be included like the other Colourpop nine-pan palettes (including the other cardboard ones), so I was unpleasantly surprised to find that there isn’t one. I use palette mirrors when I do my makeup, so a mirror is pretty much quintessential for me. This is especially true when I travel. For this reason, I would say this palette doesn’t check off as the perfect travel palette even though the color story is just so beautiful. As many of you know, I’ll to flying out to Tokyo for a job orientation in September. I’m still on the fence as to whether or not this is the palette I want to take with me as the shades in here are incredible versatile, but there’s just no mirror. The floral art design that replaces it is lovely, but a mirror would have been much more functional.
This warm, pinky brown palette includes four complete mattes (Bluffin’, Bear to Wear, Au Naturale, Moody) and two mattes with twinkling shimmer toppings (Mugged Off, The Cocoa). One soft shimmer (Lap of Lux), one twinkling shimmer with a base color (Put on Heirs), and one twinkling shimmer without a base color (Wink Wink) are included as well.
One thing to watch out for is that the mattes in this palette can be a little hard to blend. Just make sure to use a soft, fluffy brush and gradually build up the intensity to minimize this issue. It’s nothing that can’t be worked with but still worth mentioning in my opinion. This also applies to the two shimmers with the matte base. When blending out the two matte base, shimmer topping shades, most of the shimmer dusts off, leaving the matte base with maybe a few specks of shimmer. The quality of the three complete shimmers, however, are divine. Another thing to note is that the shade Bluffin’ may come off ashy on certain skin tones as it is a very light base color.
Top row (left to right): The Cocoa, Mugged Off, Au Naturale, Wink Wink, Bluffin’
Bottom row (left to right): Moody, Lap of Lux, Put on Heirs, Bare to Wear
My favorite shades in this palette are Bare to Wear, Mugged Off, and Wink Wink. Bare to Wear just looks like an ordinary light tan shade in the pan, but it applies as a soft pink brown color. Mugged Off reminds me of my all-time favorite eyeshadow, Aritaum Mono Eyes in M02 Magenta. Magenta is still my favorite, but Mugged Off from Colourpop has a similar color and vibe with the matte base and shimmer topping. Last but not least, Wink Wink is perfect for adding a diffused twinkle. It looks nice on the lower lash line for a teary effect. This shade is also a super shock shadow that’s been reformulated by Colourpop to last in palette packaging.
What do you think? I still wish there was a mirror included with the palette and that the mattes were a little easier to blend, but I have to say that based on the color story alone, this is probably my favorite neutrals palette that I own. I love the pinky brown tones and the versatility that comes with it. It can be used for a soft, natural look or amped up for a night out using the darker shades. Plus, the cover art is absolutely gorgeous to boot. It may not be my perfect travel palette, but the color story sings to my heart that maybe I can let it slide just this once.
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