Here is the last of my Makeup Revolution palette haul from my trip to Scotland in the spring. You can see my reviews of the Iconic 2 and Iconic 3 palettes here:
This is the Makeup Revolution Flawless Ultra Eyeshadows palette, which contains 32 (32!) shades. It cost me £8, a little more than the Iconic palettes.
The palette comes in a shiny rose-gold box, and the palette itself is a glossy black with the brand name on top in gold. It feels much more expensive than it is, though the palette will certainly get scratched and grubby. You can already see the fingerprints on it in the photo above!
On the other side of the lid is a massive mirror. MASSIVE, I tell you. It was hard to photograph this palette for you without the reflection of my camera flash in the mirror!
Unlike the Iconic 2 and 3 palettes (dupes for the Urban Decay Naked 2 and 3 Palettes), the eyeshadows in the Flawless palette have names, but they're on a clear plastic sheet that sits on top. If you don't care about the names, you can toss this away. But for the sake of this post, I'm glad to have names for them!
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| Inside of the Makeup Revolution Flawless Palette with name sheet overlay. |
There's a good mix of mattes, satins and shimmers in this palette, though there are more shimmery shades than matte. I've seen this palette described as neutral, and for the most part this is true but in the makeup world the word neutral is often used to mean "natural", and that is definitely not the case here.
Still, I think those with warm or cool undertones to their skin would be able to use all of the colours in this palette, though some shades might be better suited to cooler undertones than warm. For the price and the number of shades you get, this isn't really an issue. Who cares if there's a few shades you might not like as much as the others?
So let's get to swatching. I did the swatching logically, row by row, from left to right. The shades range from lightest in the top left corner of the palette to rich and dark in the bottom right corner.
Here is Row One, left to right.
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| L-R: Paper, Glow, Buff, Highlite, Angel, Unlimited, Brew and Silver Smoke |
And then we'll go two by two, from left to right:
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| Paper and Glow |
Glow is a softly shimmery, champagne-gold shade. The texture is creamy and it's also barely there on my skin in the swatch. This would be a good, though subtle highlight colour for the brow bone.
Angel is very similar to Highlite, but with gold, not rose. Excellent creamy texture and frosty glow.
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| Buff and Highlite |
Buff is a softly shimmery, glowy brown-taupe shade, with creamy texture and soft pigmentation. This is a pretty, natural shade that would work well as a soft lid colour.
Highlite is a shimmery silvery-rose shade, with a lot of glow to it. It's a beautiful creamy eyeshadow.
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| Angel and Unlimited |
Angel is very similar to Highlite, but with gold, not rose. Excellent creamy texture and frosty glow.
Unlimited is a light bronze-copper with soft shimmer, good pigmentation and creamy texture.
Barely Pink is the amped-up older sister of Uncover. It's pinker and the pigmentation is better than Uncover. The texture is creamy and it's got a soft glow to it.
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| Brew and Silver Smoke |
Brew makes me think of brewed rooibos tea but with shimmer. Its pigmentation is very good and the texture is creamy, without any fall-out.
Silver Smoke is a lovely silvery taupe. In the photo above, you can see the almost duochrome effect with the warmer brown showing through at the top and bottom and the dark silver in the middle. The texture of this is creamy and the pigmentation is solid. This is one of my favourite shades in the palette.
Onto Row Two!
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| L-R: Almost There, Uncover, Barely Pink, Lowlite, Golden Night, Gold Digger, Cheerless and Blue Stars |
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| Almost There and Uncover |
Almost There is a warm, matte soft brown. This would be good on fair skin as a crease shade, or as an all-over shade on darker skin. The texture of this matte wasn't as dry as the others, though the pigmentation was a bit lacking.
Uncover is a gorgeous shade, a softly shimmery rosy nude. The texture is somewhere between dry and creamy and the pigmentation is low, though I think it'll work well as a subtle highlight or all-over lid shade.
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| Barely Pink and Lowlight |
Lowlight is similiar to Brew (in Row One), but a little lighter in colour. It's a warm, shimmery medium brown with just OK pigmentation and just OK texture.
Golden Night is highly shimmery, rich gold that nicely straddles the line between warm and cool. It's one of the palette's frost shades so the texture is very creamy and the pigmentation is solid.
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| Golden Night and Gold Digger |
Gold Digger is slightly warmer than Golden Night, with a touch of orange. It's softly shimmery with good texture and good pigmentation.
Cheerless is a deep purple frost, with metallic shimmer. It's got a touch of dark brown to it, and the texture and pigment are both decent.
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| Cheerless and Blue Stars |
Cheerless is a deep purple frost, with metallic shimmer. It's got a touch of dark brown to it, and the texture and pigment are both decent.
Blue Stars is one of the worst performing shadows in this palette. It's a deep blue, with lighter flecks of metallic blue running through it. Colour-wise it reminds me of MAC's Contrast eyeshadow, but performance-wise it's dusty, dry and difficult to build.
Smudge is lovely, matte medium golden-brown. This is one of the better performing matte shadows in the palette and would make a good crease shade. It's got the best texture of all the matte shades in this palette and its pigmentation is pretty good.
Shimmer Heart is a softly shimmery medium pink. The texture is creamy and the pigmentation is good.
Universal is a lovely, softly shimmery dusty rose, with just OK pigmentation but a creamy texture.
Here's Row Three.
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| L-R: Smudge, Shimmer Heart, Universal, Copper Shimmer, Medal, Darkest Shimmer, Tarnish and Black Tie |
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| Smudge and Shimmer Heart |
Shimmer Heart is a softly shimmery medium pink. The texture is creamy and the pigmentation is good.
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| Universal and Copper Shimmer |
Universal is a lovely, softly shimmery dusty rose, with just OK pigmentation but a creamy texture.
Copper Shimmer is gorgeous. It's exactly as you'd expect from the name - a shimmery copper. Like rust. Beautiful pigmentation and texture.
Medal is as if Copper Shimmer had some orange-gold added to it. Beautifully shimmery, with good pigmentation and creamy texture.
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| Medal and Darkest Shimmer |
Darkest Shimmer is softly shimmery dark red-brown. Russet would be a good word for it. Texture is slightly on the chalky side and some effort is required to build up the pigment on it.
Tarnish is a beautiful shade - a glowy taupe, but the quality of the shadow does not match, sadly. It's on the powdery side and needs a few layers to build up the pigment.
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| Tarnish and Black Tie |
Tarnish is a beautiful shade - a glowy taupe, but the quality of the shadow does not match, sadly. It's on the powdery side and needs a few layers to build up the pigment.
Black Tie is, like Blue Stars, disappointing. It's black with some silver shimmer, but it's quite dry and chalky in texture and there is fall out. Messy to use.
Pure Chocolate is a beautiful colour - a matte warm dark brown, but it's texture is dry and therefore the pigment is disappointing. It's usable, but you need to work to get much colour out of it.
And finally, here is Row Four.
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| L-R: Pure Chocolate, Raw, Red Night, Molton Chocolate, Burgundy Nights, Green Stars, Cafe Noir and Night |
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| Pure Chocolate and Raw |
Pure Chocolate is a beautiful colour - a matte warm dark brown, but it's texture is dry and therefore the pigment is disappointing. It's usable, but you need to work to get much colour out of it.
Raw is is my least favourite in the palette. It's a matte beige but it barely shows up at all, even in layers, and it's dry and chalky. One of, if not the poorest in the palette.
Red Night is a beautiful, shimmery cranberry with slightly dry texture and OK pigmentation.
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| Red Night and Molton Chocolate |
Red Night is a beautiful, shimmery cranberry with slightly dry texture and OK pigmentation.
Molton Chocolate is one of the best eyeshadows in the palette. A dark, rich brown with soft shimmery glow to it. There's a bit of fall-out in using this eyeshadow, but it is easy to apply and blend otherwise.
Burgundy Nights is similar to Red Night but more of a burgundy. It's satiny and shimmery, but slightly on the dry side when it comes to texture. Pigmentation is only alright.
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| Burgundy Nights and Green Stars |
Burgundy Nights is similar to Red Night but more of a burgundy. It's satiny and shimmery, but slightly on the dry side when it comes to texture. Pigmentation is only alright.
Green Stars isn't really green. It looks like a shimmery antique green in the palette, but once swatched, it's a black with a bit of green shimmer. And I mean a bit. It's pretty dry and difficult to build in pigmentation.
Cafe Noir is another shade that promises more than it delivers. It's slightly shimmery and a grey-brown with a hint of green to it. It's dusty and dry and the pigmentation is only so-so.
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| Cafe Noir and Night |
Cafe Noir is another shade that promises more than it delivers. It's slightly shimmery and a grey-brown with a hint of green to it. It's dusty and dry and the pigmentation is only so-so.
Night is a matte black and as such, it's chalky. There isn't much pigment to it at all, and is ultimately one of more disappointing shadows in the palette.
Phew!
My overall thoughts of this palette is that it's a good selection of shades and textures. The shades with shimmer have better pigment and texture than the matte shades. There are some shades in it that I won't use because they're just not great quality and I have good quality eyeshadows in my collection that will work better.
One negative to this palette is that there are a few shades that are pretty similar to others. While there aren't any dupes, some, such as Black Tie and Blue Stars, Angel and Highlite and Red Night and Burgundy Nights, are close enough you'll want to avoid using them in the same look.
With that being said, it is a versatile palette. You can get dozens and dozens of looks out of it, and for £8, that's excellent value. I do wish there were more matte shades, but judging by the less-than-great quality of the matte shades there are in it already, I'd be disappointed if there were more.
To close this review, here are a few looks I've created using it.
Look One and Look Two are more for daytime works. They're pretty similar, but using slightly different colour palettes.
Look One: Shimmer Heart, Smudge, Blue Stars and Silver Smoke
I applied Shimmer Heart all over my eyelid, and worked Smudge lightly through the outer half of my crease, as well as along the outer half of my lower lashline.
I smudged Blue Stars along my upper lashline but only the outer third. Finally, I tapped a small touch of Silver Smoke to the outer corner of my eyelids.
Look Two: Shimmer Heart, Angel, Darkest Shimmer, Pure Chocolate, Soft Glow and Smudge
As in Look One, I applied Shimmer Heart to my eyelid, and tapped Angel to the very centre of my eyelids for extra shimmer oomph. With an angle brush I worked Darkest Shimmer from the outer third of my upper lashline and into my crease. I then blended.
I then smudged Pure Chocolate along my upper lashline, and a combination of Pure Chocolate and Smudge lightly along the outer third of my lower lashline. Finally I dabbed a touch of Soft Glow to inner corner of my eye.
Look Three is more dramatic and would work well for a night out. It's also soft and romantic feeling.
Look Three: Highlite, Cheerless, Red Night, Darkest Shimmer, Green Stars, Burgundy Nights and Universal
I applied Highlite fairly heavily to my eyelid and then Cheerless from the outer corner of my eye up through my crease. I then blended with a fluffy brush. I worked Darkest Shimmer through my crease and high up to my browbone.
I wanted a pop of colour, so I applied Red Night from about the center of my lashline up to my crease in a diagonal line. I smudged a combination of Green Stars and Burgundy Nights along my lashline, focusing on the outer third. For my undereye, I worked Universal all along the lower lashline, quite heavily. Finally I dabbed a touch of Highlite to the inner corner of my eyes.
Grade: B
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