*Disclaimer* *If I had it my way, every single cosmetic I purchase would be amazing, life-changing, and of the best quality available. ANY negative review is a reflection of my personal product experience. I am not here to bash any company or individual and I recognize that a product I didn’t love may work differently for someone else. A critical product review does NOT always reflect an entire brand and I do not think that a negative review of one thing means that everything from that brand is awful. I am always willing to revisit products to see if perhaps there was some user error on my part or misunderstanding of the product and how it should be used. Bottom line, I love makeup and supporting women in business. With that said, I also feel a duty to share my honest experience with products I try as I believe that people work hard for their money and should be able to encounter honest reviews. As always, I am a blogger by hobby and this is not my job. I am in no way compensated for my reviews/posts and I have not received any free products. I will always be transparent with my thoughts and how I have come by a product, just in case someone ever does send me something promotionally.**
I purchased the Kylie Cosmetics Holiday 2016 Palette in December of 2016. I had been wanting to try out Kylie’s KyShadows but felt like the Bronze and Burgundy Palettes were too similar to many shadows I already own. The Holiday Palette boasts a mix of colors I don’t own multiples of so I decided to give this palette a try. The packaging and mirror was also a nice bonus.
After playing with the palette for one month, I would NOT recommend this palette. Overall, the shadows are inconsistent, with many blending out to a dark and dull wash of color.
Thoughts on each shadow: (color descriptions come directly from Kylie’s website)
Kylie Cosmetics website claims…
…Shadows are talc and paraban free.
…Have medium build-able coverage and a velvety smooth texture.
Swatches
My Thoughts on Each Shadow
- Top Row (Left to Right)
- Sugar Cookie: (matte creamy warm nude)
- Good base shadow for setting shadow primer and evening out eyelid skin tone.
- Buildable? Yes
- Velvety? Yes
- Frosty: (metallic platinum silver)
- Best shadow in the bunch. Extremely pigmented. Smooth and buttery. Looks like liquid metal. One of my all time favorite eyeshadows.
- Build-able? Yes. It is so pigmented that it can be used with a fluffy brush to add shimmer or a more dense precise brush for highlighting the tear duct region of your eye (my favorite use for this) You could also do a full metal eye look with this shadow which would be very bold and fun.
- Chestnut: (matte muted dusty mauve)
- Pretty color, especially for use as a transition shade.
- Build-able: Yes
- Velvety? Not really…this shadow feels moderately dry to the touch. Pretty color but the texture is dryer than I like from my shadows.
- Sugar Cookie: (matte creamy warm nude)
- Middle Row (Left to Right)
- Mittens: (metallic deepened mahogany red)
- This was the first metallic in the palette after the impressive Frosty shade. This shade is so dark the metallic finish is somewhat difficult to discern. I opted to use it in my crease because of how dark it is. The metallic finish was undetectable and the shadow appeared as a reddish-purple somewhat muddy shade.
- Build-able: Yes
- Velvety: Yes, feels soft to the touch.
- Winter: (metallic shimmering denim blue)
- One of my least favorite shadows in the palette. Dry, with washed out pigment.
- Build-able: No. I could not get this shade to be intense or very opaque.
- Velvety: No. Dry and blends out to be a sheer watered down mid-tone blue.
- Nutcracker: (metallic silvery plum)
- Mittens: (metallic deepened mahogany red)
- Bottom Row (Left to Right)
- Gingerbread: (metallic silver bronze)
- This is one of the best shadows in the palette. It is pigmented and easy to work with.
- Build-able: Yes (can be used with brushes, finger or brush and a setting spray like MAC Fix+ to alter the intensity. I prefer using a brush with Fix+ or my finger.
- Velvety: Yes. Quite smooth.
- Evergreen: (matte deep teal green)
- I don’t agree with the description being a teal green. This is an evergreen that is dull and blends out to be a muddy, dull green tone. This does not read as a holiday green or a green that is easy to work with. It did not look flattering on my eye.
- Build-able: No. This shade blends out to be a dull, dark wash of color.
- Velvety: No. Very dry and patchy when swatched. Dry and dull when applied to the eye with brushes or finger.
- Silent Night: (matte blackened plum)
- This color performs similarly to Evergreen. It is dry, patchy, and blends out to be a muddy mess. I tried to use this to smoke out my crease and to be the darkest shade complementing Mittens and Nutcracker for an overall reddish-plum eye look. It was underwhelming as the colors did not stand alone well and my eye ended up looking dark, dull, and muddy*. By muddy I mean that the colors blended together in a way that lost individual shades and began looking heavy on the eye and too dark.
- Gingerbread: (metallic silver bronze)
Overall grade and impressions.
I would give this palette a grade of C- meaning I think that it has below average performance. Yes, the shade Frosty is amazing and one that I am a huge fan of. But it is not enough to save the other shades that are either subpar or of average quality. The shade Gingerbread is pretty but commonly found in multiple other palettes/single shades by different brands. This shade is not unique or good enough to cause me to reach for this palette more than others. The shades Sugar Cookie and Chestnut are pretty but again, are of average performance and are not unique enough to cause my to recommend this palette. I do not recommend this palette (though the packaging is adorable). I do not feel that the shadow quality is worth it’s price of $42.
As of now, this palette is available for sale on Kylie Jenner’s website (www.kyliecosmetics.com)
Have you tried this palette and had a different experience? If so, share in the comments!
Love, Elizabeth