I have to admit this palette was the source of great angst this week. I know, it’s just eye shadow you say. I know.
Still, great angst.
Let’s start with the biggest source of the angst. The packaging.
It is undeniably adorable. All of The Balm’s packaging is. And I know there is a little ribbon on the side for fingers to grasp while the metal container is opened. I gripped the little ribbon. It is just a little too short to be helpful. In addition by the time I reach my eyeshadow I have already applied moisturizer sunscreen, primer and foundation. I have rinsed my hands.
I have gotten really good at washing my hands lately.
However my hands are still a little slick from being washed. This palette was very hard to open. There were some mornings I decided I didn’t need eyeshadow and grabbed the Blush palette and eyeliner instead and just let the shadow be because I was tired of fumbling with the metal. There needs to be a slightly larger indent or something to aid in the opening of this palette. If there was a lot of my angst would disappear.
This was even more frustrating, because in general I like the formula of The Balms eyeshadows. They are usually really good. I have the Meet Matt(e )trimony palette and several single shadows, all of which I adore. This palette was no different. I really liked all of the shadows.
The row of metallics worked excellently well, the two mattes were pigmented and lovely to wear. I even liked the neutral cream primer in the palette. I really liked all of the products in the palette. They didn’t swatch really well but they applied well.
The selection of colors wasn’t exactly my favorite. I liked all of them, but the only really light shade is Rodeo drive. I found myself using the neutral St. Charles Matte, picking one of the colors as an accent shade (which sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t) and then accenting with Rodeo Drive. Most of the shades, while nice, are dark enough that I wanted it towards my outer eye. They are buildable and easy to work with and I think they are all meant to stand alone instead of really being paired with other shadows. It’s like they were never really designed to work together. They just happened to be put in the same box.
There is very little fall out and as a product, they are individually good. They aren’t as good as some of the other Balm eyeshadows I’ve tried. The others stay in place all day. These do tend to disappear towards the end of the day, even with a fixing spray, but for a few hours, your look is great. I have no idea why this formula is a little different than their other shadows, it might just be the metallics because the mattes appear to be fine.
It was a lot of metallic for the week for me. It wasn’t helped by the fact that I thought I picked up a black eyeliner and it turned out to be a gunmetal shade. I felt very shiny this week. (They call me Old IronEyes. At least when wearing the silver shade with the gunmetal liner.)
And not shiney in the Firefly Series way. I think if I were going out I might like it better, but this was kind of a quiet week, without even a grocery visit to spice things up. Outside of my walks the farthest I went was to the mail box.
Instead of using the metallics, I found myself just using St. Charles with Pennsylvania to darken the crease. It was a nice look ad one I didn’t mind using repeatedly. However, I think I would just buy the individual shades to use as two shades, which sort of defeats the palette.
Although truthfully with all of the issues I had getting it open, I’d have a hard time recommending this palette anyway. I love the mattes, am fond of but not in love with the metallics, but not in this mix and not in this container.
I find this very frustrating because it just feels like the palette wasn’t thought through. St. Charles was the stand out winner of the palette and definitely a single shadow I will add to my The Balm collection of single shadows. And honestly I may actually see if they sell the neutral cream primer as well. It worked better than my usual concealer and I really enjoyed it.
Well I enjoyed it when I could get the palette open to use it. I think a depotting is in this palette’s near future. I would use the metallics with the sticky Pretty Vulgar lid primer and I would use them as the finishing touch to a look created with other shadows. I probably wouldn’t buy them individually. The Mattes, I would still use on their own and pick up individual replacements. Maybe I can use the metal box to store seeds in this autumn once I depot the shadows. It’s a sure bet they won’t spill out.
Diamond Candles has a special collection out at the moment. They created a collection of candles for Grace Anna. She is a girl in KY with a lot of health issues. She designed and created each one. This weekend she will be on the Mike Huckabee show (weekend of June 27th, 2020) with the candles. The link to the candle collection is below if you would like more information.
Inspired by Grace Anna’s Favorite Recipes – Buy her Candles Now!
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