Pat McGrath Divine Rose II ::: Review & Swatches!!

Alright, I am finally ready to talk about the famous Divine Rose II palette from Pat McGrath.

I bought this palette last year when their website had some sale going on. It was a value set that included the original Divine Rose and this one, and I have been primarily playing with this one since then. 

I have been lusting after Pat McGrath palettes for years, researching which one to get! But no one stood out particularly; I liked all of them a lot but could not decide on one. So, when I saw this offer, I gave in :-) . I will have my comprehensive thought at the end but lets discuss topic by topic first!

Color Story: As the name suggests, it is a rose themed color story. I see the Original Divine Rose palette as more of a cool toned neutral palette rather than a rose colored one. But II is much more vibrant and has more of a rose theme, which I do enjoy. It has 2 matte shades that are perfect for my skin-tone. There are 4 metallic shades and rest are her famous special glitter shades. Of course, I am getting more use out of the four special glitter shades than the rest. 

Swatches from L & R: Gold Lust 001, Astral Pink Moon, Bronze Rose 005, VR Sextrarrestrial, Eleganza, Rose Seduction, Naked Blush, Divine Dusk, Skinshow Rose Opal, Xtreme Burgundy

VR Sextraterrestrial: This is the 1st multi-chrome in the market that is being offered in a big, luxury palette, hence it peeked a lot of interest (please remember that Indie brands have been doing multichromes for a long time now). I did not have any multichrome before this, so I don't feel like I have a good basis for comparison within my collection! But I did enjoy this shade; I typically apply it all over my lid, sometimes I use black and brown liner smudged underneath to enhance the multichromeness - I have realized that this is the best application method for me. I have also tried it over glitter primer, regular primer or on top of other powder shadows. It works just fine in all three different ways.

Astral Pink Moon: This is also a special shade and has a little more glitter than the others. This is a pinky-beige shade and because of the glitter, I feel this one has a bit more sparkle to it which I really do appreciate. 

Bronze Rose 005: This shade is appropriately named; a very light bronze with a pinkinsh hue. Love it!

Gold Lust 001: This is a typical gold shade. I do really enjoy the refined glittery-ness of these shades, but other than that, this isn't necessarily an unique shade.

Overall, I really find myself reaching for these special shades! They are sparkly, easy to use and definitely bring me a lot of joy.

Next four are the metallic shades:

Skinshow Rose Opal: Very pale rose/beige type of a shade - I do not see a lot of use out of this shade for me as it is quite pale for my skin-tone. I do sometimes love it on my inner corner.

Eleganza: Very pretty metallic taupe with rosey hues, I am more inclined to colorful shades and thus, I have not found a lot of excitement for this shade yet. Once the world opens up and I need a fancy neutral shade to go to some fancy events (one can dream), I hope to find more use for it.

Divine Dusk: I find this to be kind of similar to Eleganza. It is just more bronzier and deeper. I do enjoy it.

Rose Seduction: Very pretty vibrant and sophisticated hot pink shade in a subtle metallic finish. I do really appreciate this shade in this palette. I find myself craving for color whenever I use this palette, so I tend to use this shade to add accents to my eye looks and make them colorful. I also have used this as a layering blush.

Xtreme Burgundy & Naked Blush: These two are the only matte in the palette. Naked Blush is a bit mauve, light pink shade that's very flattering on my crease. Xtreme Burgundy is much more deep and I absolutely love using it on my outer corner or wherever I need to deepen up my eyeshadow color. 

I typically use multiple palettes in my looks, but I did try to use this palette exclusively to test out the variety of looks I am able to create. I did come out with different type of looks but because the colors are more or less similar, my heart is not satisfied in terms of the variety. Although, the looks are different, they can be categorized as neutral look with a pop of pink. 

Here are all the looks I did with this palette:

Naked Blush on the crease, Rose Seduction very lightly layered on the inner and outer corner. I have Rituel De Fille Alchemist Highlighter on the lid over the eyeshadows. 

Xtreme Burgundy all over the lid. Black liner smudged on the outer corner & brown liner on the 2/3 of the inner lid to emphasize the multichromeness.

Naked Blush on the crease, Bronze Rose 005 over Eleganza on the lid, Rose Seduction on the inner crease and outer corner, Astral Pink Moon as the graphic liner.

Xtreme Burgundy on the outer crease, Naked Blush on the crease, Divine Dusk on the outer lid, Eleganza on the inner lid on the lid.

Xtreme Burgundy on the outer crease, Naked Blush on the crease, VR Sextraterrestrial on the lid, Rose Seduction on the browbone and inner corner. Urban Decay Midnight Cowboy glitter over the lid.

Formula & Staying Power: After all the hype, and after trying all the shades, I have to admit that they are worth the hype. The first thing I experienced is the fact that they are so easy to work with. Very easy to blend, also easy to place them strategically in a targeted area. All the looks, even the complex looks took very little time to create - which I absolutely enjoyed and loved. I don't really think that the metallic shades are the most supreme quality metallic out there but I do like them. The glitter shades are fantastic. They are very elegant looking and oh-so-very-sparkly. I will buy a whole palette if she makes one exclusively with the glitter shades.

I do not have any complaints regarding staying power! I have not had any crazy days while wearing this palette that I need to test the staying power but generally I don't have any complaints. 

Packaging:  By now we all know about her 10-pan palettes! These are very fancy, sturdy palettes; and of course, it looks and feels like a 125$ palette. One major complaint I have about it is the absence of the names on the palette itself. I am pretty sure I will lose the sheet that has the names eventually!

Price: OKAY, so this is the part I was dreading the most for my review. We know that Pat McGrath palettes are incredibly expensive; this 10-pan palette is going to cost you $125, and I had a discount code on top of a bundle deal, so I did not spend that much money. 

I do absolutely love the formula, and every time I use the palette I really do enjoy the look; so quality wise I absolutely have NO COMPLAINTS. But every time, I pick up the palette, the cost of the palette flashes out in front of my eyes. Not regret per se, but I cannot shake off that feeling.

I am someone who loves to splurge on myself from time to time, but I think $125 is still a bit much for me! And I think that is why there is a pinch of guilt! My Viseart palette cost is $80 and I have 4 of them; I get so much use out of them so I don't experience this kind of guilt. This is my very personal experience - do what you can with this information :-).

So, it is kind of safe to say that I will not repurchase any palette from her anytime soon unless she comes with colors that I cannot resists or creates a palette  exclusively with the glittery shades only. 

Love,

~Aru