I recently got this palette in my DIY essence advent calendar and it was part of a collection dedicated to some of the most popular cities in the world such as Berlin, Paris, Sidney, Bangkok, Tokyo and so on. It’s inspired from the gold and pinks hues of the L.A. sunset, so the colors story is right up my alley. I played around with the palette over the last few days, so here are my thoughts on it.

Packaging:

The packaging is really nice. It’s a a hard cardboard packaging with some popular L.A. spots printed on it, like the Route 66 or the Santa Monica boardwalk. It has 9 pans containing 13.5 grams. personally, I think they could have made it a 10 pan palette because the second row looks a little like a waste of space. I also like the pale pink inside of the palette and the fact that it has a mirror. I must say the packaging looks really well done for such a cheap palette.

Texture:

The eyeshadows are a mixture of mattes and shimmers – 5 matte shades and 4 shimmer shades. They don’t have any fall-out and they apply very nice on the eyes without being too dry or chalky.

Ingredients:

MICA, TALC, MAGNESIUM STEARATE, CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE, DIMETHICONE, OCTYLDODECYL STEAROYL STEARATE, NYLON-12, POLYETHYLENE, SILICA, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, BIS-DIGLYCERYL POLYACYLADIPATE-2, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, PHENOXYETHANOL, MAY CONTAIN/ [+/-]: CI 16035 (RED 40 LAKE), CI 77007 (ULTRAMARINES), CI 77491, CI 77499 (IRON OXIDES), CI 77891 (TITANIUM DIOXIDE). AND/UND INGREDIENTS: SYNTHETIC FLUORPHLOGOPITE, MICA, TALC, MAGNESIUM STEARATE, CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE, DIMETHICONE, OCTYLDODECYL STEAROYL STEARATE, NYLON-12, POLYETHYLENE, SILICA, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, BIS-DIGLYCERYL POLYACYLADIPATE-2, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, PHENOXYETHANOL, MAY CONTAIN/ [+/-]: CI 19140 (YELLOW 5 LAKE), CI 77492 (IRON OXIDES), CI 77891 (TITANIUM DIOXIDE). AND/UND INGREDIENTS: MICA, TALC, CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE, MAGNESIUM STEARATE, DIMETHICONE, OCTYLDODECYL STEAROYL STEARATE, NYLON-12, POLYETHYLENE, SILICA, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, BIS-DIGLYCERYL POLYACYLADIPATE-2, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, PHENOXYETHANOL, MAY CONTAIN/ [+/-]: CI 16035 (RED 40 LAKE), CI 75470 (CARMINE), CI 77007 (ULTRAMARINES), CI 77491, CI 77499 (IRON OXIDES), CI 77891 (TITANIUM DIOXIDE). AND/UND INGREDIENTS: TALC, MICA, MAGNESIUM STEARATE, DIMETHICONE, CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE, OCTYLDODECYL STEAROYL STEARATE, NYLON-12, POLYETHYLENE, SILICA, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, BIS-DIGLYCERYL POLYACYLADIPATE-2, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, PHENOXYETHANOL, CI 16035 (RED 40 LAKE), CI 77491, CI 77492 (IRON OXIDES), CI 77891 (TITANIUM DIOXIDE).

Swatches:

The shades have no names, so I just applied them starting with the top row, from left to right. Like always, I used finger swatches and no primer or foundation or other type of product on my arm.

The first color is a matte light peachy beige, very similar to my skin so you can barely see it, so it could work as an overall base color, in my opinion.

The second color is a shimmery peachy shade, very nice on the eyes.

The third color is a shimmery golden shade.

The fourth color is a shimmery orange color (or more like an apricot shade).

The fifth color is a matte chocolate brown, the perfect color to darken up a makeup look or for the outer corner.

The sixth color is a matte cafe-au-lait shade, perfect for the crease as a neutral color.

The seventh color is a shimmery hot pink that looks gorgeous on the eyes. The shimmer ismore subtle, so it has more of like a satin finish.

The eight color is a matte pink shade which also looks gorgeous especially since I love pinks.

Finally, the ninth color is a matte lavender shade that also looks very good on the eyes, especially in combination with the pinks and the peachy shades.

Price and accessibility:

Although it was a limited edition collection in the spring of this year if I’m not mistaken, some of the palettes are still available in online shops (including this one). The palette is sold for about 6 euros which I think is more than decent for the quality.

My overall opinion:

I really like the color story of this eyeshadow palette and I think it fits the theme very well. My favorites are definitely the pinks and the lavender color, but I also like the brown shades because they are not so much on the warm side. Every eyeshadow applied nice, they didn’t get muddy or anything and my makeup lasted throughout the day (with a primer, which I always use anyway) so I have no complaints.

I think this is a very nice eyeshadow palettes for those who like neutrals, pinks and purples and for the price, you really can’t ask for more as even the packaging is very cute. I’m happy to add it to my collection.