Friday, February 15, 2013

pacifica enlighten eye brightening shadow palette


Makeup review the second! Today we're going to discuss the other, less terrible half of my Pacifica makeup purchases from Target. This was $11.99 in the store, but is listed at $14.99 on the Pacifica website. Spoilers: I really like it. Thank god.



Swatches of Skinnydip, Coral Sands, Golden, and Urchin

The colors in this palette are:
Skinnydip: "Matte nude base cover or lash liner. A universal highlighter."
Coral Sand: "Satin coral for lid base or highlighter." 
Golden: "Perfect gold with just the right amount of shimmer.  Use on the lids and/or for highlighting."
Urchin: "Iridescent jeweled purple with gold tones.  Perfect for lining and crease."

The descriptions on these aren't nearly as insipid or flowery as those on the cream shimmers. They're also pretty accurate, although they are listed from dark to light on the box which totally bugs me. Skinnydip is a almost matte pink-leaning cream shade, Coral Sands is a light shimmery peach, Golden is a yellow gold, and Urchin is a dark purple. It doesn't strike me as particularly iridescent, but it is pretty.

They're decently pigmented - not spectacular, but they get the job done. All of the swatches above are a single swipe on bare skin. With the exception of Golden, the shadows are creamy and a bit powdery, but I don't notice any fallout. Golden is kind of hard and difficult to pick up comparatively, but it still applies fine. None are glitterbombs; I'd call them all satin finish, even the "matte" highlight. Coral Sand is a great lid color that really brightens up the eye, Skinnydip is the perfect inner corner/brow highlight, and Urchin is a beautiful liner. I've used it wet and dry for this purpose and it works well either way. Golden is my least favorite color, but that's just personal preference. I don't love yellow golds. My skin has yellow/olive undertones to start with so yellow golds tend to make me look jaundiced if I'm not careful. I would've loved to see a medium brown in its place since the only thing I think this palette lacks is a good everyday crease color. They indicate that Urchin could/should be used in the crease, and maybe some people can work that, but it's a bit dramatic for my preference.



Comparison swatches!

Skinnydip and Coral Sand are similar - but not identical to - two colors from my favorite everyday eyeshadow palette ever, Wet n Wild's Walking on Eggshells (seriously though, Walking on Eggshells 4EVA). Skinnydip is slightly pinker than the browbone color in Walking on Eggshells, and Coral Sand is a peachier version of the lid color. Both Pacifica shadows are less pigmented and slightly warmer than the WnW ones.

Overall I really do like these shadows. They could stand to be a bit more pigmented, but the colors are all pretty and good for a glowy, natural look. They wear well over primer - I get minor creasing after 8 hours or so, but I have problem with most eyeshadows so I don't think it's a knock against these.

To sum up, the pros: Pretty, wearable colors, reasonable good quality, affordable, gorgeous packaging, cruelty-free and vegan.

And the cons: Could be more pigmented, Golden is a bit hard and scratchy, and in my opinion the palette lacks a good crease color.

Would I buy it again? Yes. It's not perfect, but I do like it a lot and I find myself reaching for it most days since I bought it. I'd like to see Pacifica put out more of these.

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