Today I am talking about the Mini Masquerade Palette from Juvia's Place.
I have heard about Juvia's Place so much, they have so many palettes with such great color stories! I have always wanted to try at least one palette from them, but everytime I look through the palettes, I get overwhelmed! There is just so many options!
I got this palette with The Nubian 2 palette in a bundle deal about a month ago! The brutal killing of George Floyd by the police had stirred the nation and that initial charge of change had reached the Beauty Industry as well. Most of us, the beauty consumers were frantically looking for Black Owned Beauty Brands to invest in and to show our support to the black community. (We as consumers should have made this a practice long time ago, but I digress!). Juvia's Place had a sale and the profit were to be donated to Black Lives Matter causes (I now do not recall all the details). But with all that was going on I was emotionally charged, (like a lot of you) and I bought these palettes. I am really glad that I got a discounted price but also because I got a chance to be a part of a nice initiative. I honestly did not thought a whole lot about which palette and just grabbed the bundle that called out to me at that moment!
Anyway, onto the review -
Color Story: I think this palette has a beautiful, very cohesive color story. There are two rows of neutral and two rows of vibrant shades. Also, there is a great balance between matte and shimmer shades!
All the colors in the top row speak to me! I love those blues and I love that they included mattes that are colorful! The bottom two rows have 4 mattes, all of them are some version of brown and this is where I find myself wanting some variation in depth and color. Looking at the pans, I can see different aspects of these browns; one is warm, one is more neutral, one has a lot more red in it etc. But when applied on the eyes, these four shades aren't entirely distinguishable from one another. Burkina & Fulani are dangerously similar to each other. Same with Zulu and Ada. I wished they would have made one shade a much deeper brown, and one a few tone lighter. But it is just a thought, and I am not really complaining here. The market is saturated with lighter browns! So, I am okay!
Here are the colors:
Chi (shimmer): This is a Deep Navy. Very Pigmented. Easy to work with.
Mali (shimmer): Turquoise Blue. Very Pigmented. Easy to work with.
Dalia (shimmer): Beautiful Cobalt Blue. Very Pigmented. Easy to work with.
Zola (shimmer): This is a Deep Sky Blue. Very Pigmented. Easy to work with.
Makeda (shimmer): This is a gorgeous Royal Purple. Quite Pigmented. Easy to work with.
Zobo (matte): This is a muted Berry shade. I love the subtleness and muted aspect of this shade.
Calabar (shimmer): This is also a Berry shade. Very pigmented. Easy to work with.
Bori (matte & shimmer): This is a bright Fuschia with lots of Gold shimmer. I mainly use it as matte.
Gisa (shimmer): This is fantastic Champagne Rose-y shade. It's delight to wear.
Burkina (matte): This is a matte Neutral Brown. Not very pigmented so had difficulty building it up.
Cairo (matte & shimmer): Deep Orange with lots of Gold shimmers. Another good shade.
Ada (matte): This is a Warm Brown. Not very pigmented so had difficulty building it up.
Dahia (shimmer): I see this as a soft Rose Gold. Very Pigmented. Easy to work with.
Zulu (matte): Another Warm Brown. Similar to Ada.
Casablanca (shimmer): Very shimmery Bronze-y shade. Quite pigmented. Easy to work with.
Fulani (matte): Another matte Neutral Brown. Very similar to Burkina.
Formula: As I said before, I have heard great things about these eyeshadows. The shimmer shades are definitely upto my expectations. They are VERY pigmented and applies as vibrantly as you see on the pan. I have used a flat liner brush, my fingertip, shadow brush and pencil brush and the shimmer work great with any of these brushes.
The mattes in here looks delicious in the pan and honestly, I was expecting a lot from them. When I use them on the crease or as a wash of color on the lid, they build nicely while still keeping the pigment. But when I want to apply it strategically on a specific area (let's say I want to darken the outer corner on the lid or a very intense lower lashline), I don't get the payoff right away! May be I am spoiled by the quality of my beloved Viseart mattes (and their intense color payoff) but with these I need to work quite a bit to build up the color! Bottom line, the matte neutral applies much lighter on the eyes than they appear on the pan. This could be a great thing for a beginner or for someone who tend to be a little rough with their eyeshadow application. It is a just a tad bit disappointing for me!
Bori and Cairo has matte base with glitters running throughout! And I do love using them on the crease; they look beautiful when blended. But I have seen the glitters travel to nearby matte shades in the pan. That I do not like. Also, note that the palette comes with the following disclaimer - 'Zobo, Bori, Burkina, Cairo, Ada, Zulu and Casablanca are not intended to use around the immediate eye area', I have used some of these shades in my eye-looks but please make your own decisions.
Staying Power: I almost always wear eye primer. So when I have primer on and I do a full, intense eye-look like the ones I have shared here, the eyeshadows last all day (at least 8-9 hrs). The vibrancy of the pigments starts to slowly fade after 6-7 hrs. But they still stay on! I tried to use one of the brown shade as a thick eyeliner with a primer on! But it did not really impress me. I had to apply a few layers to get the color show vividly and after around 4-5 hours it faded (granted, I was outside doing engineering work for about 1-2 hrs). That was a bit a disappointing to be honest.
Packaging: It's a very colorful palette and the outer package also shows that. I love the bright pink colorful packaging and the beautiful artwork on it. It brightens up my day whenever I use the palette. There is no mirror but that's perfectly fine for me!
Price & Availability: Juvia's Place products are available at very approachable price and I absolutely enjoy that. This palette is priced regularly at $25 for a total of .84 oz (24 g). But I always see some sale on their website. So, if you look around you will find a sale or coupon and you need not pay full price. That is awesome. You can buy the palette from Juvia's Place website and Ulta Beauty. Also, don't get apprehensive about the "Mini" in the palette name, these pans are quite decently sized!
Additional Random Thought: As I mentioned before, I conduct extensive research before I buy any makeup. Especially if it is from a permanent line. I spend time looking for deal and swatches to get a feel of the products. But because this was a very impromptu purchase, I did not have a clear idea of what to expect. When I got the palette and swatched the shades, I was taken over by an initial sense of let-down.
Although the palette has beautiful vibrant shades, they are still commonly found shades.There is royal blue, a teal, a deep purple. One pink! There is no intricacies or uniqueness to these shades! For a makeup enthusiast/(or a hoarder) like me who already have larger collection, these are not going to add any novelty to my collection. That being said, when I actually started to play with the palette I could move on from from my initial bout of disappointment and eventually started to enjoy playing with the palette.
Here are the looks. I have summed up my thoughts at the very end.
Overall thought: It is a good, well executed palette with well curated shade range! The 'very approachable' price tag is definitely a huge plus. I can see this as a perfect palette for you if you have a smaller collection and/or if you trying to slowly venture out to colorful eyeshadows. This has all the basic colorful eyeshadow like purple, pink, orange and blues - perfect for you to play with and figure out what you like best. You will definitely get a lot of use out of this palette. And supporting a black-owned brand is always a plus in my eyes!
But I do have to say that, if this was a palette I got early in my makeup journey, I would have loved it way more than I do now. I have been definitely enjoying it for now! I think it's new, so the initial excitement is still there! But only time will tell if I actually reach for these colors over my existing favorite products as time passes.
Love,
~Arrru
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