My second review on an eye shadow palette! How is it that I've been on blogger for 5 years and this is only my second review for an eye shadow palette? Ahahaha.
As the title implied... I have mixed feelings about the Viseart palette. Will explain as I go.
I normally don't like to spend a lot on eye shadows. For me, reasonable price for eye shadows would be like the NAKED palettes ($54 for 12 shadows average at $4.5 per shadow). The MAC neutral palettes were on the expensive side for me ($85 for 15 shadows average at $5.7 per shadow). But for the Viseart palette, $80 for 12 shadows O_O that averages at $6.7 per shadow. But I got 20% off it so really I paid $5.2 per shadow hahaha cheaper than MAC =DDD
But the reason why I decided to give Viseart a go is because a couple of YouTubers I watch both mentioned that this palette can be used for multiple purposes; the shades are suitable for contour and setting/highlighting powder. And I mean just looking at the shades they look like they can be eye brow friendly too. Thinking to myself that if this eye shadow palette really can go that extra mile, it justifies the price tag.
First of all, the packaging is supreme. LOVE it. Super travel friendly. Took it with me for my recent road trip and it was wonderful. You probably will be surprised to hear that the plastic lid really has NOT taken up that many scratches (and the scratches that did leave a mark are very minor). The only thing is the lid does attract some fingerprints but not bad at all. And it does collect a bit of eye shadow dust. But those two really are minor details for me. It is compact and sturdy, I have no complaints about the packaging.
By the way if you ask my opinion about the MAC neutral palettes packaging... oohh I wouldn't dare travel with those. Well first of all I can't, even if I want to. It's slim but too big-- doesn't fit into my makeup bag and I have a rather big one (still using the same one shown here). I always make sure all my skincare fit in one compartment and makeup the other. If I jam the MAC palette in it then I really can't fit much more in. Plus, the MAC palette lid takes up scratches easily. Just... not travel friendly.
It says "Highly pigmented, smooth and homogenous texture, easy to blend, no fall out, long stay. Can be used with water to correct eye brows".
I say...
Agreed with all, except black eye shadow has fall-outs. But it's hard not to for black eye shadows so it's cool. I'd just wear my foundation last when I want to use black.
I've tried filling my eye brows with both dry and wet shadows. It does work much better when it's wet! It applies much easier. I like to get the wet shadow on the back of my hand and wipe off excess to make sure I don't deposit too much. Then I'd use a spoolie to soften the look.
It was kind of hard to get a true-to-color shot, but this is probably the closest one. In person the colors are deeper.
Taken with yellow lighting.
Upon swatching the shadows... I would describe the eye shadows as... not chalky, but dry (keeping in mind those are matte eye shadows). Kind of like the textures of Too Faced Chocolate Bar eye shadow but better. I would describe eye shadows from Bobbi Brown and Urban Decay buttery (well at least the matte ones I've tried from them so far feel buttery to me). MAC's matte eye shadows... inconsistent. HAHAHA. Off the top of my head I think Copperplate is relatively buttery.
Here are some swatches for you. Didn't think 12 shadows are gonna take up that much arm space LMAO.
Okay, so I numbered the shadows so they're easier to talk about/refer to.
I have tried every single shadow and I'm happy with the color pay off for all of them.
Blendability wise... I'm happy with all of them except #10, which is the true grey in this palette (#11 and #12 I consider greige). This is the only color that requires more blending. It's not that bad but I'm lazy as f when it comes to blending eye shadows, lol.
One of the reasons why I have mixed feelings about this palette was the shade #1. I was so excited to try this shade out... looks like such a nice soft peachy shade. For some reason it pulls REALLY pink when applied on my eyelid... : ( was disappointed about that.
Not crazy about shades #2, #3 and #4. I'm curious, what do you do with a completely white eye shadow??????? It just looks so stark. I have tried to use it to highlight, alone or mixed with #3. To me highlighting products doesn't necessarily have to contain shimmers... as long as it brings out the feature, it's doing its job. But like I mentioned on my Instagram... it's not the smoothest. Meaning while it works completely fine on eyelids, when used elsewhere on the face, it just looks on the powdery side. So you can say I will always bring an extra highlighting product with me (at least when wearing powder foundations. Don't care as much when wearing liquid/cream foundations lol. I wonder if this is why? Because I rarely use extra highlighting product over liquid foundations... maybe if I try that it would be smooth???).
As for ppl saying they are able to use those light shades to set/brighten up the under eye area... I just want to ask... HOW????????? If it can look powdery on the nose bridge/between eye brows, for sure it's not gonna look good beneath the eyes where the skin is even more delicate/dry. I don't put powders in the triangle area underneath my eyes... because I find even powders made for that purpose can make my under eye fine lines stand out, so how on earth are these shadows even gonna perform that way???? I just don't understand how anyone can use the shadows for that. Anyway, that's just me. And like I said I haven't tried using the eye shadows over liquid foundations... so that might be why.
So #1 pulls too pink on me so I don't really like to use it, #2 and #3 I would use as a base to layer other shadows over, #4... in general I don't really go for white shadows but I have tried using it for inner corner highlighting. It's not bad, but just generally not the look I go for.
While I will use #2 and #3 to layer down as a base (so darker colors that I apply over will blend better), I found that I prefer using a shimmery eye shadow. I don't know, just a preference I guess. Don't like a completely matte eye shadow look.
Out of all the colors in this palette, I surprise myself by favoring #11 and #12. Simply because greige/taupe toned shadows usually just don't flatter me and just make me look really tired. But these are just wonderful. LOVE LOVE LOVE.
And I know it doesn't look like it, but the #7 brown shade actually pulls quite orange on my eyelid. It's hard to tell here especially when it's swatched next to #6 the orange eye shadow lol. But I swear whenever I apply #7, I always wonder if I accidentally dipped my brush into #6 lol. In general I like orangey brown, but I think this one pulls a bit too orange on me. I wish it would look exactly how it appears in the pan.
I was excited to have an orange #6 in this eye shadow palette, but I also found this particular brick shade isn't the most flattering on me.
#8 is my next favorite after #11 and #12 in terms of lid color.
#5 is a fantastic shade for lining the eyes and darkening the outer V. It looks like it's gonna be a very red brown but surprisingly it's not. Maybe it has some purple tones to balance it out? I have no idea what I'm saying lol but I just know it's a great brown... doesn't make my eyes appear yellowish/tired :)
#9... you can't go wrong with a good black lol. I know in my MAC palettes review I said I don't really care for black, but after getting this palette I have been enjoying using black to darken my look, and layering over #5 for a more intense liner look. Granted I still layer my liquid liner over it but I still think it gives quite a good effect. Of course... not praising this particular black eye shadow; I don't think it's that hard to find a good black these days. But just saying I enjoy having a black in my palette now XD
Some looks I did with this palette... nothing special... and honestly too hard for my camera to capture -_- everything is so washed out here, but I hope you guys get an idea anyway.
Here I did use #10 to do my eye brows. I accidentally used #11 for eye brows one day and didn't like it... it showed up too purple on my brows. Know that faded tattooed eye brow look? That's what #11 alone looks like LOL. But when #10 and #11 are mixed together it makes a nice brow shade too.
By the way, even though the shades can totally work as brow powder, by no means I'm replacing my brow products with this lol. Even if I'm traveling, I'd still rather carry a brow product instead of using this to multitask. It works and I do know some ppl are perfectly happy using eye shadows for their eye brows, say MAC Copperplate or Omega, but I'm just not used to it lol. I will say using the wet shadows for eye brows turned out better than I expected.
And I did use #8 to contour here (sides of face/jawline). You guys probably can't see it well... forgot to do before/after, sorry lol. #8 is a pretty good contour shade for me. At first I kept trying to mix #8 with #11 or #12 (thinking I need to make it more grey hahahaha) but it just ended up looking muddy/unnatural on me. But #8 works perfectly on its own... not too red at all =)
While I think #8 works as a contour... it's definitely not my first choice lol. Meaning I would only opt for it in case of emergency lol. I still prefer having a separate contour product (nowadays I just like using a darker foundation shade if I'm contouring at all). Simply because using a highly pigmented product like an eye shadow requires more blending to sheer out the color, just too much work for me lol!!
And I did mix #3 and #4 to highlight my nose bridge here... don't know if you guys can tell. I think it looks pretty nice in the photo but in person it looks a bit too powdery for my liking (again, have not tried it over liquid foundation). These are the only pictures where I wore the eye shadows as highlight.
Here I used #10 mixed with #11 for my eye brows, and applied it wet. I did have to use a spoolie to comb out my brows for a softer look.
Here I think I used mostly #7, but I layered a bit of #8 over it to tone down the orangey-ness. Can you guys even see the hint of orange from #7?? Haha prob not. I tried LOL.
This one I used a shimmer eye shadow from another palette as a base, then used #11 or #12 I can't remember... you guys probably can't even tell the difference LOL think I might have used #5 to darken the outer V as well. But it's more of a greige look. But I remember loving the way the shadows turned out hahaha.
Eye brows done with eye brow pencil. Don't think you guys can tell the difference from these pics but just want to throw that out there anyway.
Just know that in person the look is a lot more intense hahaha.
Think I used #11 and #12 but also used black this time so that's why it shows up much better here.
Eye brows also done with brow pencil.
Love love love #11 and #12. I think they're so flattering =D
So you guys kind of know my thoughts on each eye shadow... my overall thoughts for this palette?
Like I said... it's a mixed feeling. I absolutely LOVE #11 and #12, and I adore #8 and #5, but the rest I think I can do without lol. #11 and #12 seriously got a lot of points from me for this palette simply because I have such a difficult time finding good taupe/greige colors (example: MAC satin taupe is a cult favorite and it looks SO GOOD on a lot of ppl but I just don't like it... makes me look so tired).
Also... since I don't like a completely matte look... I feel like I'll always have to carry a separate quad for something shimmery. So I guess that kind of defeats the purpose of me just wanting one do-it-all palette. I guess I could use a shimmery eye shadow primer... but I don't have one lol.
I guess my final say for this palette is, if I haven't had all these extra expectations for this palette (namely using it to multitask for highlight and contour), I would have been pretty happy with this eye shadow palette. The reason I said that is because even though there are quite a few shades I can do without, I can and will still use all of them. At least I find this palette a lot more utilizable than the MAC neutral palettes. It's just preference. The shades in the Viseart palette are more practical/appealing to me than the MAC ones, and if I have to carry an eye shadow palette with me, of course I would choose Viseart over MAC (particularly referring to the neutral palettes... I know MAC has some smaller quads... those might be nice). But then again, I don't think I would've bought the Viseart palette in the first place if all I wanted were the eye shadows.With that said I'm still happy that I tried this out. See? So many conflicting emotions for this palette LOL. I guess I would say... just see this as a normal eye shadow palette. Don't expect to multitask with it, then reassess how much this palette is worth to you. I want to check out the Kat Von D Shade + Light Eye Contour Palette to see if that's closer to what I'm looking for. But that palette looks huge and I definitely want something travel friendly.
Alrighty, that concludes my extensive and overly long review of the Viseart neutral matte palette. I hope it helps some of you. I'll need to try out highlighting over liquid foundation and see if it works any better. Will come back and update that. Hope you guys have a good weekend :)
Update: It's slightly better over liquid foundation but still on the powdery side for my liking. Yeah an eye shadow is just an eye shadow lol
<3 Frances
