Review, Swatches | Byredo 5 Colours Eyeshadow Palette in Syren

Byredo is a luxury fragrance brand that came out with a makeup line not too long ago. And unlike their generic perfume bottles, the makeup packaging does feel worthy of carrying that “luxury” tag. Their 5 pan eyeshadow palettes look like they are encased inside a golden oyster. That alone made me want to try them.

I love it when a brand gives me an excuse to spend money.

Byredo eyeshadow palette Syren review

Of the entire line, Syren had the most appealing colour scheme to me. It looked artistic and somewhat avant-garde, and most other palettes were more subdued and neutral in shades, which is something I don’t need more of.

The eyeshadows in this particular palette are all shimmery, and can all be used wet. They have that almost putty texture that you see in some individual eyeshadow pots (like Ciaté’s Marbled Metals eyeshadows, Marc Jacobs See-quins Glam Glitter eyeshadows, or L’Oréal Infallible pots), where they’re almost a mix of powder and cream.

All of the five colours have greek mythology names, mainly related to the sea. Packaging looks like a clam. Everything makes sense.

Since each eyeshadow performed slightly differently from the others, I’ll give my review of each shade separately (left to right):

  • Victory: a very metallic, very reflective, silvery taupe. Very full impact, the palette’s most intensely pigmented eyeshadow. When used wet it was ever so slightly more opaque, but the difference between the wet and dry application wasn’t too obvious. Over an eye primer, there was no fading or creasing (and I wore it for more than 10 hours). This shade, unlike the others in the palette, is not sheer at all.
  • Charybdis: After Victory, it’s the most intense shade in terms of pigment. Used dry, there is some sheerness to it, but not due to lack of pigment – it has a translucent base, like you tend to see in some baked eyeshadows. It’s not a fault, it’s just a feature. Used wet, you can get it fully opaque, and the colour is true to what you see in the pan. I noticed no fading, but there was a little bit of creasing at the end of the day (barely noticeable though) when worn over eye primer.
  • Scylla: it looks like a bright yellow-green in the pan, but on the skin it’s a much paler, sheer version of that. This is the least pigmented shade in the palette. I struggled to get the swatch to look as intense as you see on the picture – that was after 4 or 5 layers of finger swatches. It’s disappointing because the shine and shift are not special enough to make up for the fact that the colour is very sheer. Like all the other shades, applied wet it’s more intense than dry – and in this case I really recommend you always apply it wet, because otherwise it just looks like an eyeshadow that almost fade away completely. That being said, the impressive thing about it is that after application (over primer) the colour did not fade or creased at all. It stayed the same for over 11 hours! So colour payoff will be hard to get, but once you get it, it stays put.
  • Melody: a pale, highlighting pink with a translucent base and an almost lilac-pink shift. Although this is a sheerer eyeshadow, unlike Scylla, the shine and shift of this colour are such that sheerness makes sense and suits it. It won’t ever be fully opaque, but the pink shine looks very whimsical and dainty. This would work well as a highlighter on the cheekbones. Again, a shade that didn’t fade or creased for as long as I wore it (although being that it is sheer, it’s hard to tell if it is creasing or not).
  • Odyssey: A purplish-blue colour, like a cool toned denim. I noticed a big difference using this wet and dry: wet was a lot more opaque, dry was more of a wash of colour. Worn over primer, there was no fading, it remained the same for 11 hours (the dry version did not fade faster, it was just less intense from the start), and there was no creasing at all. With artificial lighting, you can see that there is multicoloured shimmer on this shade – it ends up being more complex than what it looks like in the pan.

Packaging wise, this comes in a matchbox-like case (like the Hermès’ products I got a few months ago), and it has a little dust bag to put your gold clam in. Very fancy. Most importantly, the amount for the whole palette is 8 grams, which means each eyeshadow is about 1,6g, which is the same as a typical full size eyeshadow. Good to know they are not skimping on amount.

This is a good palette for one and done eyeshadow looks, and by that I mean you pick one colour to apply all over the lid and leave it at that, because the colours individually are interesting enough to be used by themselves. You would struggle to create a more complex look with just the shades in this quint (there are no browns, no blacks, no mattes) – unless, of course, you are very artistic and that’s your thing, in which case, kudos to you!

So, is it worth it? This is a luxury brand with a luxury price point, so it depends on your personal preference when it comes to eyeshadow application. If you like sheer washes of colour, or simple looks that are not necessarily brown and boring, this could be a real asset. But if you’re buying it because you are drawn to that lime green in the middle or you prefer intense and/or matte looks, you won’t get anything out of this. Personally, I’m enjoying it, and this has it’s space in my massive collection – for someone that enjoys a multitude of finishes/intensities/looks and doesn’t mind mixing and matching palettes, Syren is a welcomed addition.

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2 Comments

  1. I didn’t know Byredo had launched a makeup line. This is probably the most unique eyeshadow palette packaging design I’ve ever seen, with the clam shape and the Greek mythology inspiration. Shades are lovely, they have the kind of texture and finish I like in an eyeshadow, creamy and shimmery. Thank you for sharing!

    1. I want to see them expand their line, so far I’m enjoying it! I’m not too familiar with the fragrances, hard to get where I am, but I definitely have the bug now to tried them.

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