Thursday, December 24, 2015

Olivia Palermo x Ciaté London "The Smouldering Eye Palette" ::: Review and Swatches!!!

Olivia Palermo is an American Socialite and is currently serving as Guest Creative Director for Ciate London. She has also collaborated with the brand to create an 11-piece Fall collection that is as chic as you would expect from something she created. For US folks it is presently available in Sephora and if you happen to read this from UK it can be found at Ciate London website. This collection includes 2 eyeshadow palettes, 4 lipsticks, 2 eye pencils, 2 blush-bronzer duo and a few nail polishes. 


If you google “Olivia Palermo Makeup” you will see eye looks that can be defined as effortlessly glamourous. Very sultry, expressive and yet subtle!  She took inspiration from different fabrics and fall colors to create a collection that can be easily transitioned from day to night time wear for every skin tone. I can see that thought reflecting in the entire collection! Today I will be talking about The Smouldering Eye Palette which has more colorful shades compared to the The Smokey Suedes Palette! There are a total of 9 shades in matte, pearl and shimmer finishes. 4 of the shades has 0.042 oz. of product and the rest has 0.052 oz. of products each. So you get a total of 0.42 oz. of product at a price of $39. You can see in the picture that the eyeshadow pan is very close to the rim of the palette which means you are getting a bit more than the average amount you will normally get. It is quite a compact palette and very easily fits into my fist. But when I keep in mind the size, I cannot help but wonder if a $39 price is justified.



I absolutely adore the packaging. Simple & chic, edgy and yet has a girl-next-door vibe to it. I think it quite fits her personality. It’s a very well built palette. The palette is gold metallic and has a leather type of textured lid. That is quite uncommon and I absolutely love it. It also has big mirror that stands on its own! As I already mentioned the actual product comes very near to the inner rim of the palette; whoever designed it, did an excellent job in optimum space utilization! I love the outer paper box too! It’s quite festive looking! Also, it is definitely one of the smaller palettes with these many shadows, in my collection.

As described in Sephora website it is an “An eye palette with nine fabric-inspired, suede-like textures for simple to smoky eye”. Formula wise these shadows are ultra-soft. When I touch them with my finger it almost feels too soft and delicate and a just a tad dry for my taste! But it is not a bad thing either! Because of this texture they blend almost immediately. I was watching on YouTube and one reviewer said that one has to be careful not to over-blend and I totally agree! If I put way too much time and effort in blending, it can quickly become muddy-looking and all shades merge into each other but not in a good way! For the same reason I find it difficult to create much intricate looks! But I do enjoy how soft and fast they are to work with! In my experience, this is best for effortless smokey eye looks that can also be viewed as “slightly undone”. Did I mention how easy these shadows are to work with?


As you can see, the palette contains an impressive range of the shadows and can definitely be an all-in-one palette. It has a dark and medium brown, a matte brow bone highlighter and a lot of different shimmery shades! All of these shades are very balanced; not too cool or warm. All of these are quite enough to complete a look without any help. Overall I am really enjoying the shade assortment here. 

Here are the shades-
Penny Jar: Described as purple grey shimmer pearl; “Penny Jar” has grey purple-y base and beautiful multi-colored speckles across it. The glitters are very finely milled and I dont feel anything harsh on my eyes. The glitters are very prominent and quite reflective. The base kind of disappears on my skin tone but that gorgeous glitters look so incredibly beautiful and elegant. There will be a ton of fall out if you don’t use any primer, so I always apply glitter glue or normal eye primer. Once you are done with the application, there is no fall out though. It can be a messy shade to work with but I am absolutely enjoying it, and almost every day that I am wearing this palette, I am incorporating this shade somewhere in my look!

Double Denim: I am glad that blue eyeshadows are making a comeback and almost every palette this year has included a blue in them (eg Anastasia Beverly Shadow Couture World Traveler Palette, , UD Gwen Stefani Palette, Make Up For Ever 15 Artist Shadow Palette, Lorac Pro 2)! “Double Denim” is a deep and muted midnight blue; nothing extraordinary about it but can be used for a quick colorful smokey eye as an alternative to boring black or brown shade.

Camo: I don’t have any khaki olive shades so this fills up that void. I love wearing it all over my lid. These are not insanely pigmented and they blend out without any effort. Sometimes I don’t even need to apply any matte crease shade to finish the look.


Mulberry: This year, I have developed a great affinity towards this type of maroon shades. “Mulberry” is superb for wearing to work when I need to feel a little glammed up. This is pigmented, however it still needs 2-3 layers to pack a punch of color. I still absolutely adore this shade!

Pisces: It’s a cool tone simple light grey shade in pearl finish. I am quite sure that this will be my least used shade. This type of cool tone shades makes me feel more aged, or so I feel! But I am trying to move out of my comfort zone. I wore it today all over my lid and I am very satisfied  with the performance.

Rest of the shadows are matte in textures.
Butler: This name is so random! Anyway, it is a perfect cream brow bone shade. Very, very soft in texture, extremely easy and quick to blend! It would also be a perfect for blending the crease area if you have a paler skin tone. I love this shade!

Amaretto: I love that they included this matte aubergine-brown and placed it close to “Mulberry”; it is super quick to create a fast and easy fall cranberry eye look. It’s a bit pigmented than the rest of the palette, perfect crease or outer corner shade.

Blondie: When I was reviewing the “Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca Remix Palette” I was talking about the absence of mid-range brown like this! These are a must have shades for me and I am glad that it is here. It is a slightly cool toned mid-range brown, when applied it appears just a tiny hint darker than my skin tone. Performance wise all these matte shades are quite consistent.

London: I wished they would have included a light black or even darker grey instead of this. But same smooth formula; easy to use and blend. 

I am quite impressed with the staying power. May be because of the powdery formula, I favor Urban Decay Primer Potion then my MAC Paint Pot to use underneath these shadows. They stayed at least for 10 hrs. before starting to ever-slightly fade. However my feelings are very lukewarm about the formula of these. I like the satin, suede like finish and the easiness to work with them. It makes it perfect for someone who is just starting out with makeup or for someone who is always busy and running out of time like me :-)! However, the pigmentation is not strong or vivid enough to my liking. It is evident from my swatches here that these are just less intense! But at the same time they are quite even, not patchy at all and easy to work with. Some of the colors just don’t pack a punch as much as I would have liked.

I used a $15 off of $50 purchase while ordering this and Urban Decay Delirious pencil set (reviewed here)! Considering that and the gorgeous shades with impressive staying power and absolute easiness to work with, I am quite happy! If you are interested in this palette, go for it :-) But it is not something that excite me enough to vehemently advocate for it and ask you to run to your nearest Sephora (or to the website) to grab it! :-)

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank and appreciate all my readers and followers here :-) your comments and feedbacks are always very much appreciated! Hope you all are having a wonderful time with your loved ones! :-)

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Love,
~Arrru

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