Colourpop Garden Variety Palette

I had been eyeing up this palette for a long time, the green shade and packaging design was just calling to me! I saw it for sale on Depop and finally decided to pick it up.

THE PACKAGING

The packaging is made out of mint green cardboard, which is wrapped with a colourful flowery design. The palette name and branding is printed in white and the shade names are printed on the back of the palette. It has a magnetic closing, which you lift up to reveal the inside of the palette. The circle eyeshadow pans are arranged on a white base with the shade names printed underneath them in mint green font.

THE EYESHADOWS & FORMULA

You get fifteen 1.13g eyeshadows in Matte (M), Metallic (ME) and SuperShock (SS) finishes.

 

·        Highly Pigmented

·        Long Wearing

·        Blends Smoothly

·        Cruelty-Free

 

THE SHADES & SWATCHES

Deserted - ivory (M)

Herbivore - pastel peach with silver & gold pearl (M)

Synergy - icy pink with a teal shift (ME)

Wavelength - opal with a gold shift (ME)

Prickly Please - pastel coral (M)

Third Eye - soft green gold (ME)

Best Buds - icy vibrant green (ME)

Smudge Off - pinky purple with silver pearl (ME)

Don’t Leaf - metallic soft coral with pink, silver & gold pearl (SS)

Over The Bloom - true coral with silver & gold pearl (M)

Stay Sharp - warm mid-tone brown (M)

Succa 4 U - brown plum with silver & gold pearl (M)

Stuck On You - plum (M)

Clay Day - dusty rose with silver & gold pearl (M)

Root ‘Em Up - green brown (M)

 

MY THOUGHTS

·        Primer/Base - The eyeshadows are pigmented enough without a primer or base, but I would always lay one down. I used Too Faced Shadow Insurance and Too Faced Glitter Glue.

·        Pigmentation - The pigmentation is beautiful. The SuperShock shade Don’t Leaf doesn’t really have any base pigment which is disappointing, but I believe that is what the Super Shock formula is generally mean’t to be.

·        Application (wet/dry) - The eyeshadows can be applied wet or dry. I always use mattes dry, unless I am applying them to my lower lash line or using them as eyeliner. I sometimes apply metallics/shimmers wet, but it depends on the formula and whether they contain glitters. Wet application can max up the pigmentation and help prevent fallout.

·        Blending - They blend like a dream. I only had slight trouble with two shades; Stuck On You and Root ‘Em Up.

·        Kick-Back - Obviously, there is always going to be kick-back in your eyeshadow pans as you are disturbing powders. The kick-back was not a concern or issue for me in this particular palette.

·        Fallout - You will get some from the metallic and matte with glitter shades. A good tacky glitter glue is a must and maybe do your eyes before your base.

 

This palette is beautiful. I wasn’t expecting too much for some reason, but I was very pleasantly surprised! The packaging and colour story is stunning. My favourite shades are; Third Eye, Don’t Leaf and Over The Bloom. The only sort of issues I had were that Herbivore and Prickly Please are too light for transition shades for my skin tone, but they are good blending out shades. Stuck On You and Root ‘Em Up can be slightly patchy when blending, but it wasn’t really a massive problem. I do dislike that four of the matte shades contain little glitters, it is so unnecessary. You can blend them away but it can cause a mess with glitter fallout. The formula of these mattes also seems more powdery (quite a bit of kick-back) compared to the regular mattes. The SuperShock shade also doesn’t really have a base pigment to it, which I think is the point of the SuperShock formula. I’m not too mad at that as the shade is very light reflecting and kind of wet looking. I found I had to apply it using my finger as it wouldn’t pick up on a brush. Overall, I really enjoyed this palette and it is my favourite of the three Colourpop palettes I’ve tried so far. I am now tempted to pick up the Coast to Coral Palette as I really loved how the shade Over The Bloom (coral) from this Garden Variety Palette looked on my eyes (green/blue). I highly recommend you give this palette a try. It is great for a neutral wearer as the pops of colours are not too bright and intense.

 
You can purchase the Colourpop Garden Variety Palette for £15.00 ($20.00) exclusively from Colourpop.com.
 
| I purchased this palette for £23.00 from Depop.com |
 
| Swatch Stencil: Stripes Double 14 Pan by SwatchPerfect.co.uk |