Out of every collaboration that came out for the Barbie movie, this is my favourite thing. NYX’s collection, overall, was very good, but this palette in particular, this little item, is the best thing of all. The colour story screams Barbie, the packaging looks like a toy, and the mini gloss keycharm brings me back to the nineties faster than a dial-up internet connection.
The only thing left to know is if the eyeshadow quality is any good. You know, the typically most important thing in makeup, but totally secondary to me in this particular case. Just in case you want to take quality into consideration before purchasing (I don’t know why you would need to, this is so damn cute), here is the review.
Shades are, left to right:
- 1 – a highly shimmery light lilac;
- 2 – a matte, purple leaning magenta;
- 3 – a matte, yellow based bright pink;
- 4 – a nearly metallic duochrome shimmer that shifts from chartreuse gold to bronze-copper;
- 5 – a matte, dirty lime green;
- 6 – a mid tone bright blue (also matte).
Texture: the mattes feel soft and smooth to the touch. They are not too hardly pressed, and can generate a bit of powder kick up on the pan, but they are not powdery or dusty. The shimmers feel like a traditional powder eyeshadow (and not cream like, like some of the more recent metallics we’ve been seeing); the first shade feels a bit gritty to the touch, but not on the eyelids, and they are not dry nor powdery.
Application: all of the shades applied smoothly and blended out and into each other with no issues. The three most left shades can have a bit of fallout, but nothing extreme nor unmanageable (you just have to tap the brush a bit to remove excess powder). The shades are also easy to build up.
Pigmentation: all the mattes are well pigmented, with the two pink shades being over the top intense. They can actually leave a bit of a stain on the skin. The shimmers are less intense, with the lilac shade having the least pigmentation – it almost looks like it’s a lot of shimmer over a transparent base – but you can build them up to full opaqueness very easily.
Longevity: all shades lasted very well. I only noticed some fading after 12 hours with the lime green shade, and no fading with the other shades (I tested them over an eyeshadow primer). The shimmers do migrate a bit, and the lilac shimmer has very slight shimmer fallout by the end of the day.
Packaging & Other Info: the first three shades are technically not eyeshadows, but “face pigments” – I guess because they contain some of the pigments that are not approved for eye use in the US, but I still use and tested them as eyeshadows. The compact is pretty tiny, you can see it on my palm, but still each pan contains 0,8 grams of product, which is not bad for a palette (this is about half the size of a single individual full sized eyeshadow). The compact is also very thin, and does not contain a mirror, but it does not feel flimsy. It cost me 14,95€.
I wasn’t too focused on reviewing the gloss, but in case you are wondering, it’s clear, not that shiny (honestly looks more like a lip balm on the lips than an actual gloss), and a bit sticky but still comfortable to wear.
Final Thoughts: if you can still find it, get it. It’s well worth it. It performs well, it looks cute, and it brought back some 90’s childhood memories. Hard to top that for just 14,95€.
