I've loved Gwen Stefani ever since I heard this song! I remember thinking that she was so cool and beautiful! I tried imitating her voice, as I tried to sing along to the the song "Don't Speak" from her group No Doubt. Her sweet sultry melodic voice, could make me feel like I was a Pop Star. I remember belting DON'T TELL ME CAUSE IT HURTS NO NO DON'T SPEAK!!! Lol, good times! Fast forward to High School, when me and my girls would scream THIS SHIT IS BANANAS B-A-N-A-N-A-S (just in case you may have forgotten how to spell it, lol! Gwen was always good for a turn up! Fast forward to now! So over the weekend I decided to do some "Spring" cleaning. I don't know what came over me, but I needed organization like a liquid lipstick needs exfoliated lips! In the midst of my organizing, I stumbled upon this palette! I totally forgot that my bae had gotten it for me for Christmas! Cleaning is always fun when you find brand new makeup you forgot about, and money! I love finding money!
Well I knew I had to do a review for you girls! This is the first time I actually looked at the palette since receiving it for Christmas! I have no idea how I even forgot I had it! Like, what a treasure to forget about Alethea?!?
I know I am late to the party in reviewing this, but I wanted to open it and share my thoughts on it with you ladies. Especially if you are still contemplating on if you should purchase it or not.
Let's talk packaging...
I love the packaging of this palette! I love love love the Gold, Black and White concept! Gwen designed the whole palette by herself, with Urban Decay just helping with the formula. I think the palette looks chic and super expensive! I placed it on my vanity just for decoration. I think it's great that the palette is not to big either.
What's inside...
Once you open the box up, you will see that she included a lipstick sample! I love that! Great marketing on their part! Its a great way to see all the colors, test them out and see if you want to purchase any of them!
Shadow talk...
On the back of the box you will see that she cleverly shows all 15 of the shadows in order the way they are in the actual pan, along with the names! I love this, you can get a good feel for the palette even before you open it
Opening up the palette...
Opening the palette up, you will see that there is a beautiful range of warm neutral tones, with a few pops of jewel toned colors! At first glance, I'd say that this is my type of color range! I usually gravitate towards warm neutral tones. Let's talk about this mirror for a second though! First off, I'm obsessed with the size of it! This is the perfect traveling palette just based on the size of the mirror! As you can see it is the size of the palette, which is awesome! There is also a cute saying on the right hand bottom corner that says, "Magic in the Makeup" which is a No Doubt song.
"Can you tell I'm faking it? But I want to be myself
A counterfeit disposition
Can't be good for my health
So many different faces
Depending on the different phases
My personality changes
I'm a chameleon
There's more than one dimension
I can fool you and attract attention
Camouflage my nature
Let me demonstrate...
Makeup's all off
Who am I?
Magic's in the make up
Who am I?"
Back to the makeup...
OK! Back to the makeup! So we have 15 shades to play with! 3 of the shades are actually UD shades (Blackout, Skimp and Stark) the other 12 are all new shades totally personalized to Gwen's taste! There is a nice variety of mattes and shimmers, which I love in a palette!
I have seen many people say that this palette may not be brown girl friendly, in fear that the lighter tones may not show up on darker complexions, or wash us out! I don't know if I would say that. As you will see in the swatches below, I think darker skin tones will be able to make the lighter colors in the palette work! Like anything, you just have to know how to make it work for you! So to my dark-deep complexion babes, if you were interested in this palette but scared you may not be able to use it, I'd say go for it!
Girl, I can't even focus on what I want to tell you, because all I keep thinking of is what kind of look I want to do with the blue color Danger! Lol
Alright let's do some swatches!!!
Swatch life...
I tried to capture the true colors with the lighting I was dealt today!
Let's talk about it...
Blonde (Pale Beige/Pink Iridescent) - I like this color a lot! It was creamy and went on smooth! It is very pigmented off of just one swipe
Bathwater (Light Beige/Gold Pearl) - This wasn't as creamy as Blonde. It took two swipes for it to show up on me. I'd say this would be a buildable color.
Skimp (Nude/Satin) - This was very creamy and pigmented.
Steady (Light Rose/Hints of Metallic Gold) - This was also very creamy and pigmented. Perfect lid color.
Punk (Matte Redish Brown) - I hate this color! At first glance this looks right up my alley! I was so excited to swatch it! This color was blotchy and dry. It took several (like more than 5) swipes for this color to show up on me. Which was surprising since it is a darker color. I am really disappointed in this shade.
Baby (Cool Metallic Rose) - This shade shocked me. It was highly pigmented and creamy! Amazing color pay off! I definitely can't wait to create some looks with this!
Anaheim (Matte Light Taupey Brown) - Although this color may look like every Cocoa girls nightmare - in the sense it will wash us out, I think it is workable. This would make a great transition color.
Stark (Matte Nude Pink) - Very creamy and buildable shade.
Zone (Matte Medium Brown) - Like Anaheim, I think this is a great transition shade.
Serious (Smokey Gray/Iridescent Pearl) - I personally don't see myself reaching for this color. I don't do cool toned smokey looks often. This shade is ok not one of my favorites though.
Pop (Light Coral/Iridescent Sparkle) - This shade had a LOT of fallout, which really shocked me. This was not the first shimmer shade I obviously swatched, but its the only one that had a lot of fallout. It also wasn't as creamy as the other shades in the palette. I do like it though it's very pretty.
Harajuku (Metallic Pink Blue/Iridescent Micro Shimmer) - Very pigmented, rich and creamy! I love the Iridescent shimmer in this color! It's very buildable.
Danger (Royal Blue Metallic/Blue Micro-Sparkle) - I am so here for this color! This is such a gorgeous blue! I seriously want to put it all over my eyes lol! It is super pigmented and creamy, with no fall out!
1987 (Bright Metallic Yellow Gold) - I honestly loved this color before I swatched it because it is the year I was born lol. But seriously, once I swatched it I fell in love even more. It is the perfect yellow gold shade.
Blackout (Matte Black) - Just another matte black shade, lol! Not much more to say about that.
^ A closer look at the lighter shades ^
Summing it up...
If you are a girl that lives for bright vibrant color's, this may not be the palette for you! As you can see it is very toned down. I'd say this is a great every day kind of palette. Whether you want a simple look, smokey, or a pop of color, I think you are able to create a variety of gorgeous looks with these shades.
The down side to this palette, is that many of the shades kind of looked exactly the same! This is coming from a girl who has 10 red lipsticks that look completely different to me lol! I am kind of disappointed in the creativity of the palette, with Gwen being such a fun girl I expected a little more. BUT these colors were inspired by her everyday look, which is soft eye color with a fierce wing. So I totally get the lack of enthusiasm missing here. I also didn't love that many of the colors were not highly pigmented off one swipe. Majority of this palette is buildable, with a lot of patience needed.
BUT...
Like I said these are practical colors you can use for your everyday look, which is nice when you spend $58 on eyeshadow.
I really like these lipstick shades. In the excitement of the eyeshadows, I didn't even open this lol. All the colors look like heaven though. I am going to test them out and possibly purchase one or, two orrrrr ALL of them! Do you have any of the lipsticks? How about the blush palette, do you have that? If so let me know what you think of the other products in her line.
Im not a girl to rush to the store to purchase a celebrity colab makeup item! Shoot I don't rush to the store for any colab inspired makeup products. I don't roll like that, but I'm happy my darling man brought this for me! Hold up! Lets take a second to applaud him! This is the first makeup item he has ever gotten me in the 9 years we have been together. I'd say he did a great job. Better yet, I didn't even ask for it. 10 snaps for bae for coming thru with this great gift!
I can't wait to create some looks with it!
SOUND OFF!
What are your thoughts on this palette? Do you think it's brown girl friendly? What eyeshadow palettes are you loving right now? Holla at me in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you.
