Becca Apres Ski Glow Collection Eye Lights Palette ($45.00 for 0.35 oz.) includes seven eyeshadows inspired by the brand’s famous powder highlighters, just designed “specifically for the eyes.” I think that one of the strengths of Becca’s Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed highlighters is their texture–that creamy, smooth, and velvety-feel that is almost effortless when it comes to blending and diffusing on the skin. That doesn’t exist in this palette; the textures are dry, powdery, and prone to sheering out. The eyeshadows only adhered decently to the lid with a dampened brush but were barely-there washes when I attempted to use them dry. When I tried using them dry over eyeshadow primer, they were still miserable to work with.
Natasha Denona Lila 15-Pan Eyeshadow Palette ($129.00 for 1.20 oz.) is a new, permanent palette with 15 eyeshadows that span matte to metallic textures and pale pink to cool purple shades. There were a few shades that could have been better–more pigmented, less sparkly–but most were easier to work with when used with a dampened brush, which I know many have no issue using with their high-shine shimmers, so those things might not be deal-breakers in that instance. Most of the eyeshadows were pigmented and blenable with eight-hour wear.
An observation (but not something that impacted the rating) I had was that it was not the most cohesive palette on its own; the colors could certainly be used together, but there were a lot of intensely shimmery shades and only a few mattes. The mattes could have been in more readily usable shades to coordinate with some of the tones of the shimmery shades as well. It felt like a palette that I wanted to use to complement other palettes than as a standalone palette for me.
Too Faced I Want Kandee Candy Eyes Eyeshadow Palette ($45.00 for 0.48 oz.) features mostly warm-toned shades with a few, slightly more neutral shades in it (like a taupe, plum, deep brown, and black). The overall quality was better than a lot of Too Faced palettes, though there were still some misses and shades that were prone to fading faster than average on me (without a primer). The formula was still on the thinner side, but most shades were fairly pigmented and not too powdery.
I don’t normally comment on packaging, unless there are noteworthy things to say about it, and that was the case here: it felt particularly well-done. The palette is housed in a tin that resembles a candy box and the back shows the eyeshadows as if they were chocolates in a box.
Estee Lauder Blonde Gold Eye Metals ($45.00 for 0.10 oz.) is a light gold with moderate, warm undertones and a sparkling, metallic finish. For swatching purposes, I tried it dry as well as damp, but it was fairly pigmented even without the use of a dampened brush. The texture was smooth, dense, and more-cream like, which helped the eyeshadow stay together on the lid and have minimal fallout over time. The eyeshadow was blendable, though there were bits of sparkle that came away from the area when I was blending it out. It wore well for six and a half hours before creasing on me.
It is supposed to be a “rich color powder eyeshadow” that is “densely pigmented” that can be worn alone or layered. There are two shades in the collection, and they performed similarly, though Bitter Clove is a bit richer overall and longer wearing. They were nicely pigmented with very dense, almost cream-like textures that blended out easily on the lid and adhered to bare lids. I found that they were prone to creasing within six hours of wear, but the wear time improved to eight hours (before creasing) over primer, so primer helped but ultimately, this was not an ultra long-wearing formula. I did not experience much fall out, though, despite the high sparkle content in Bitter Clove (Charred Emerald has more of a pearly sheen). I liked them, but at the price point, it’s definitely a lot for a single eyeshadow, so they’re not going to be worth it for everyone.
Marc Jacobs Beauty Frivoluxe Eye-Conic Eyeshadow Palette ($49.00 for 0. oz.) features an assortment of pale peach, mauve, violet, purple, and taupe. I think the color combination was rather unique relative to most palettes, so I really was quite disappointed by its performance, though I was not entirely surprised, given grays and purples are often hard to do well. The palette was workable but lacked pigmentation in some shades with inconsistent textures with one being exceptionally stiff and others being smooth and silky.
Huda Beauty Desert Dusk Eyeshadow Palette ($65.00 for 0.89 oz.) is a 18-pan palette that features eight mattes, six “Pressed Pearls,” three “Duo-Chrome Toppers,” and one “Pure Glitter.” It’s a story of hits and misses, and I think that there will be some who really enjoy it and others that will find the better shades too dupable and the more interesting shades needing too much work and/or improvement to be “worth” it. This palette will be best suited for someone who likes using their shimmers with a dampened brush, fingertips, and/or adhesive base and prefers their mattes to be thinner (and does not care about how they feel in the pan, only about how they perform on the lid).
The mattes are supposed to be “highly-pigmented” and “butter-smooth.” The formula has a chalkier, drier feel to them–almost sandpapery in a way–with a thin texture that has slight to moderate powderiness in the pan. I did not find these shades to be that prone to fallout; I did not feel like I had to take great care to minimize fallout and ultimately had little fallout after producing looks from this palette. Something I noticed was that while the matte shades looked fairly matte on the lid, most of them had very tiny, almost imperceptible micro-pearl in them. The pigmentation varied but most were pigmented and fairly blendable to very blendable. They wore anywhere from seven to eight hours on me.
The “Pressed Pearls” are supposed to be “rich” and “add depth and intensity” and can be used alone or layered over the mattes. The consistency of the formula was creamier and slightly denser, but the eyeshadows never felt stiff or difficult to pickup on a brush. These were the ones that applied well with a brush, though I noticed a couple did not appear as metallic after blending as they did initially. They were also quite pigmented and wore between seven and eight hours.
The “Duo-Chrome Toppers” are “ever-changing illusions” so the colors are designed to shift. The brand recommends blending these “into the base shadow with a brush or apply with finger to maximise the reflection.” They are not as chunky as last year’s Rose Gold eyeshadows, and they definitely bind together better on the lid, but they were not very usable dry, even when I used a fingertip. I tried patting on top of other eyeshadows with my fingertip, and the majority of product just stuck to my fingertip with little transfer and visible shift over the base eyeshadow. I also tried the same layering technique using a brush and had better results but they were still subpar. The best technique I found was using a flat, synthetic brush dampened or even using a light adhesive on the brush. By the name and limited description, they seemed design to be layerable, e.g. not fully opaque.
The “Pure Glitter” is described as a “ready-to-go formula” that can be “dabb[ed] on with a flat brush.” The idea that it is a “Pure Glitter” is an odd way to put it, as pure glitter seems like it would just be glitter/sparkle and nothing else, but the ingredient list for Cosmo is as long as all the rest of the eyeshadows. The idea of it being “ready-to-go” and the recommended application not mentioning adhesive or even dampening the brush also suggests that it can be used as-is. Well, not really–there is a creaminess to it, but it is half-loose, half-pressed, and moves around easily in the pan. It doesn’t fly away like a truly loose glitter would when applied directly onto skin or over a powder eyeshadow, but it does not stay in place for long at all. To use this, I would recommend using an adhesive base or patting over a cream product.
