Doucce Freematic Eyeshadow Palette (Smokey)-Retail $70
Eyeshadows are my absolute favorite makeup item. I've played around with so many palettes (my own/friends'/in stores) I know what to look for quality in eyeshadows-and you probably do too! Besides just the shade range, blendability, pigmentation, and the amount of fallout are the main things to look for when critiquing an eyeshadow quality. My all-time favorite is the Too Faced Natural Matte eyeshadow palette retailed for $36, and though I got it for way cheaper, it would gladly pay the full-price for it if I had to. This is rare for me to say since I love deal hunting and almost never buy anything beauty/apparel related for regular price! So when I saw this palette was coming in the FFF box this season retailed at $70, I was skeptical.
Specs:
- Size: 0.59 oz
- Mirror? Yes
- Contents: 3 mattes, 4 shimmers, 1 highlighter
- Magnetic case, snap closure
- Types: Smokey, Neutral, Unicorn (special ed)
Ingredients:
Highlighter: talc, mica, magnesium stearate, ethylhexyl palmitate, polyisobutylene, petrolatum, dimethicone, mineral oil, phenoxyethanol, tocophertl acetate
may also contain [ + /- ] -iron oxides 77491, iron oxides 77492, fd & c red 40 ai lake, titanium dioxide 77891
Eyeshadow: talc, mica, ethylhexyl palmitate, magnesium stearate, paraffinum liquidum, polybutene, petrolatum, phenoxyethanol, tocopheryl acetate
may also contain [ + /- ] ferric ammonium ferrocyanide 77510, ultramarine blue 77007, manganese violet 77742, ultramarine pink 77007, black iron oxide 77499, iron oxides 77491, iron oxides 77492, yellow 5 lake 19140, fd&c red no.40 lake 16035:1, fd&c blue no.1 lake 42090, titanium dioxide 77891
*Notice talc is the first ingredient for both. Talc is preferably avoided by some because it may contain abestos, a known carcinogen.
Packaging:
The packaging is luxe-feeling at first. It's weighty, black and sleek with a big mirror on the inside. However, the fragile snap closure of the palette broke after me opening and closing it a couple times. Now, the palette doesn't close all the way. It would've been nicer if the closure was magnetic like the rest of the palette.
Performance:
Already swatching on the hand I was very disappointed. But to give it a fair shot, I still wore it all day on my eyelids with primer. I used the entire bottom row, the highlighter (attempted as an eyeshadow), and the top shimmery white shade.
Mattes: These mattes are soft and creamy to the touch, and the performance wasn't actually bad. It did blend well on the eyelids to give depth and definition. However, I did have to go into the palette a couple times because it wasn't as pigmented. Its staying power was good, lasting all day without creasing.
Shimmers: This is where they messed up. Normally, it's easier to formulate shimmers well and mattes badly, but in this case, the shimmers were horrible. Swatched, there was minimal pigmentation with a lot of fallout. It got messy because glitter got everywhere! None of the shimmer shades were pigmented enough to show up-all you saw was glitter basically. Especially for the first 2 shimmer shades, they barely showed up, and it was just fussy to work with. I ended up not using the shimmers at all and opted for using the matte cream shade on the inner lid. The shimmers' staying power was poor, rightly so since there was so much fallout and minimal pigment.
Highlighter: This is horrible too. It's a champagne glitter shade, and for me personally, I don't like shimmers in highlighters because I have naturally bigger pores and glitter accentuates them (sigh). There was also minimal pigmentation, so you have to go in many times to get any kind of noticeable sheen. I used my fingers, but normally for highlighters, it's applied with some kind of brush. With a brush, though, nothing will transfer onto the skin.
Verdict:
No, absolutely not worth the price. Although the mattes were fine, the rest of the palette was a total dud. It's cool that the palette is magnetic and has a big nice mirror, but at the end of the day, no one should pay $70 (or dare I say even $10) for low pigmentation palette that has a fragile clasp.
If you're a FFF member and see their eyeshadows as an add on, skip it. If you've tried this product/brand before, please let me know in the comments your thoughts! I'd love to hear all your opinions!
Save Some $:
There are TONS of great drugstore palettes out there! Just know your preferred accompaniment of colors do some research on which palettes have good pigmentation. There are always sales at the drugstore too.
Better yet, check out the colourpop shadow palettes at Sephora (or online). Recently the Kathleen Lights palettes have been getting a lot of good reviews. Morphe also has nice, quality budget shadows you can get in a palette or individually. Check out the HUGE Jaclyn Hill palette ($36) and their limited edition holiday one. For Morphe, use code JACATTACK for discount.