Partially why I was on Iherb was because I was looking for an everyday palette which was small and sturdy enough to be portable and diverse enough to go from a day to night look. I'm pretty sure you'll see later on that I have actually been quite compulsive in my buying of small and cute palettes, especially of the nude/natural shade range. I still think I need more though.
Today's review is of the Pacifica Enlighten Eye Brightening Shadow palette. Can we all just take a moment to appreciate the gorgeous packaging? I've read some reviews and seen pictures but for some reason I always thought it was a little garish. Oh how wrong I was. By no means is this elegant, but there's just something so exotic about the design. I love Pacifica as a brand for perfumes (excluding the solid perfumes, yuck) and I love that they've now branched into makeup. Although, for a supposedly vegan brand, the size of the actual box is rather excessive; if you can tell by the first photograph below, the palette is incredibly slim and the height of the box is about four times the height of the palette. Most likely all in the name of attracting customers.
The design of the palette is very pleasant. Obviously, it is a nice tone of white with intricate, pale yellow designs that look Middle Eastern/Indian. It is very light weight and would probably break if one applies too much force to it, so not the best one to travel with. I wouldn't put that as a no go factor however; for the price and functionality of all the shades it is quite worth it.
The design of the palette is very pleasant. Obviously, it is a nice tone of white with intricate, pale yellow designs that look Middle Eastern/Indian. It is very light weight and would probably break if one applies too much force to it, so not the best one to travel with. I wouldn't put that as a no go factor however; for the price and functionality of all the shades it is quite worth it.
At 6.4 grams in total, this palette is super lightweight, as mentioned. Each shadow is claimed to be made with vegan ingredients and the main seller here is coconut oil, which is listed 6th on the ingredients list. I have normal eyelids so I don't have a problem with most shadows slipping or disappearing if I use primer. These lasted a good 6 hours on me before completely fading, so, thumbs up in the lasting category.
Pacifica describes each shade as:
Urchin - Iridescent jeweled purple with gold tones. Perfect for lining and crease.
Golden - Perfect gold with just the right amount of shimmer. Use on lids and/or for highlighting.
Coral Sand - Satin coral for lid base or highlighter.
Skinnydip - Matte nude base cover or lash liner. A universal highlighter.
Pacifica describes each shade as:
Urchin - Iridescent jeweled purple with gold tones. Perfect for lining and crease.
Golden - Perfect gold with just the right amount of shimmer. Use on lids and/or for highlighting.
Coral Sand - Satin coral for lid base or highlighter.
Skinnydip - Matte nude base cover or lash liner. A universal highlighter.
With these swatches, I always try to use tools instead of fingertips because I believe it would be a more accurate depiction of the product and how it would be applied, instead of ruining the product with natural oils and bacteria. It always pisses me off when I see beautiful swatches from so and so blogger, and when I get the product it is just so disappointing in quality and pigmentation. I'm very sure I'm not the only one with this problem, so its better to set reasonable expectations than high ones only to crash and burn. So, the shadows are all swatched and built up through a couple of strokes with my Ecotools Eye Shading brush and without primer. Please keep in mind, I am pale East Asian/pale olive skinned so the shadows may not show up so well on dark skin tones considering the two lighter shades barely showed up on me.
The individual shadow reviews are as follows:
Skinnydip - while this is claimed to be a matte shade, it isn't entirely matte, and I mean that in the best possible way. Even though it is very sheer, the shadow is dimensional. There's a very very subtle shine that is mixed with this, unlike many other matte base and highlighting shadows. It allows people to actually see the shadow and I do believe it would make an excellent brow bone highlighter as it defines rather than flattens.
Coral Sand - In the palette, this is a gorgeous pale coral, and it does translate on skin, but with a lighter touch of colour. This has a satin finish and isn't very pigmented, but as the palette is meant to be used to brighten eyes, Coral Sand may just be perfect for an all over lid brightener.
Golden - I've read somewhere that this particular shade is crazy good pigmented. Well whoever that was, they're lying. Yes, it is buttery. Yes, it is a beautiful, shimmering pure gold. No, it is not crazy pigmented. That swatch took about seven swipes to build it up to that colour. Right here is an example of what happens when people use fingers to swatch when a most people use a blending brush to apply. High expectations, yeah. However, again, for the purposes of this particular palette, Golden is great as it is blend-able and can be used to highlight too.
Urchin - I don't use a lot of colour on my eyes. Normally, I just use blue eyeliner when I use blue mascara, which is quite often come to think of it. You should try that combo sometime, it's fantastic for brown and blue eyed gals. I digress. Urchin in the palette looks like a lovely purple with tiny gold shimmers. On first swipe, it is a flat, sheer matte with barely any pigmentation. Took me a couple of swipes to build it to that specific shade, but it's nice and barely satin; a good balance to the middle two high shine shades.
Overall, even though I was not entirely impressed with the pigmentation of the shadows, the evident quality of use, stunning packaging, price and vegan-ness (I think mica isn't a vegan ingredient...is it?) won me over. Keeping in mind that is palette is created specifically brighten eyes instead of colouring them, I think Pacifica has done a wonderful job on this palette. Australians, buy this on Iherb for approx. $15.
Rating: 3.8/5 (better than average, but not HG material)
The individual shadow reviews are as follows:
Skinnydip - while this is claimed to be a matte shade, it isn't entirely matte, and I mean that in the best possible way. Even though it is very sheer, the shadow is dimensional. There's a very very subtle shine that is mixed with this, unlike many other matte base and highlighting shadows. It allows people to actually see the shadow and I do believe it would make an excellent brow bone highlighter as it defines rather than flattens.
Coral Sand - In the palette, this is a gorgeous pale coral, and it does translate on skin, but with a lighter touch of colour. This has a satin finish and isn't very pigmented, but as the palette is meant to be used to brighten eyes, Coral Sand may just be perfect for an all over lid brightener.
Golden - I've read somewhere that this particular shade is crazy good pigmented. Well whoever that was, they're lying. Yes, it is buttery. Yes, it is a beautiful, shimmering pure gold. No, it is not crazy pigmented. That swatch took about seven swipes to build it up to that colour. Right here is an example of what happens when people use fingers to swatch when a most people use a blending brush to apply. High expectations, yeah. However, again, for the purposes of this particular palette, Golden is great as it is blend-able and can be used to highlight too.
Urchin - I don't use a lot of colour on my eyes. Normally, I just use blue eyeliner when I use blue mascara, which is quite often come to think of it. You should try that combo sometime, it's fantastic for brown and blue eyed gals. I digress. Urchin in the palette looks like a lovely purple with tiny gold shimmers. On first swipe, it is a flat, sheer matte with barely any pigmentation. Took me a couple of swipes to build it to that specific shade, but it's nice and barely satin; a good balance to the middle two high shine shades.
Overall, even though I was not entirely impressed with the pigmentation of the shadows, the evident quality of use, stunning packaging, price and vegan-ness (I think mica isn't a vegan ingredient...is it?) won me over. Keeping in mind that is palette is created specifically brighten eyes instead of colouring them, I think Pacifica has done a wonderful job on this palette. Australians, buy this on Iherb for approx. $15.
Rating: 3.8/5 (better than average, but not HG material)