ColourPop's Element of Surprise Eyeshadow Palette Review: Shop My Stash Edition

Price: $18 (No Longer Available)

Cruelty Free

Welcome to another edition of Shop My Stash! In these type of reviews, I look at my makeup stash and review the palette itself and determine whether to toss or keep it. I did a previous ColourPop review on their Disney Villains Jelly Much Eye shadow and created a look with it. I decided to recreate a glam version of Isabelle from the Animal Crossing Series.

With this review I wanted to play with this palette since I haven't had the chance to do so until now.

The shade colors from left to right are: Rayon (Pearlescent Pink Shimmer), Silk Street (Gold shimmer with taupe undertones), Late Night (a deep, cool toned, matte burgundy with purple undertones), Feels (a copper shimmer with rose undertones), Labyrinth (a light, peachy matte), Opulent (A shimmery lilac shade), Subdue (a vivid, shimmery fuchsia), Go With The Flow (a light, brown matte with a slight cool undertone), Peace of Mind (a matte burgundy with a warm, red undertone), Details (a matte, muted mustard shade), Sea Stars (a muted cool tone brown with pink glitter and purple undertones) and Blank Canvas (a warm, copper with orange and peach undertone and shift respectively).

I will start off by saying that the palette has a good mix of mattes, shimmers, cool and warm tone shades. As with any shimmer shade, it is better to apply it with the finger as opposed to using the brush. The shadows themselves blend beautifully and is a nice mix of cool, warm, deep and light colors.

When looking at it, I thought that the colors wouldn't go well together at all. As I applied it and made a look with it, I realized that they all work beautifully together.

Quelle Surprise!

While the look I created was stunning, there were some issues with the palette. Certain shades, such as Late Night, Labyrinth, Opulent, and Peace of Mind were a little bit streaky when I swatched them on my arm. Feels had a bad kickback when I lightly applied my finger to swatch it as did Blank Canvas, so those shades, I am certain will hit pan very quickly.

Another point of contention is the lack of mirror in the palette. I do understand some companies are trying to be more environmentally friendly by making eye shadow palettes that don't have a mirror and a magnetic closure so that the palette is recyclable. If that were the case for ColourPop for not having a mirror, then why do they have a magnet in the palette to close it. The lack of mirror to me, does not justify the $18 price point, however, I will acknowledge that in the grand scheme of things and compared to other brands, $18 is on the more accessible side.

One more flaw that I noticed is that the names of the shadows are on the back of the packaging as opposed to underneath the eye shadow shades. It is a big pet peeve of mine for make up brands to not have the names of the shades underneath the shadows.

Other than that, the palette is portable, beautiful and despite the streakiness and fallout from some of the shades, it is a gorgeous palette.

If you are a beginner looking to play with a little bit of color and some neutrals of warm and cool tones, check this one out if you can. Some Ultas may possibly still carry it, but it will likely be in the clearance section since this is an older palette.

This palette gets 7 elements of surprises out of 10

#notsponsored #colourpop #elementofsurprisepalette #eyeshadowpalette