LOVELIES Eyeshadow Palette

1 Review

1. 

   outlyingHyena1

   Reply

   The Coloured Raine mini palettes were supposed to be limited edition and discontinued long ago, but they have stuck around for a long time on sale. Lovelies seems to be one of the less popular options, with Beauty Rust and Berry Cute getting most of the attention. When I looked at the mini palettes range, I felt that I had more than enough warm-toned eyeshadows similar to Beauty Rust and Berry Cute (and I think most of us with big eyeshadow collections do!). Smoke Show didn’t call to me at all. But Lovelies caught my eye as one of the more unique and refreshing colour stories available on the market at the time. I knew it would be unique to my collection as well. Warm-toned palettes are still more popular, but some of us are starting to crave more cool tones in our collections.

   All the shades are very cool-toned. Here’s a shade breakdown: Pure (a very bright, stark, matte white, more pigmented than most whites), Hi Cute (a shimmering, reflective, foiled light pink with a creamy texture), Daydreaming (a matte, medium-toned pink, very pigmented), Misty Nights (a matte medium grey, very pigmented), LoveLove (a shimmery red-pink, less reflective than Hi Cutie. While this looks red in the pan, on me it pulls more pink), and Romance (a dark, matte, highly pigmented navy blue).

   There are two criticisms of this palette that I am sick of hearing from people who either have not tried this palette or have barely used it: 1) “These colours don’t go together,” and 2) “You can’t do a full look with this palette.” In response to #1, pink, red, and blue are actually very complementary colours. Grey goes excellent with each of those colours as well, especially blue and pink. If you prefer your looks to be pretty monochromatic, or you prefer to use similar colours in a look instead of “opposite” or complementary colours, then you will struggle to come up with ideas for looks. In this case, Beauty Rust is probably more up your alley. But, if you appreciate complementary colours and like to experiment with opposites, this palette should get your creative juices flowing.

   In response to #2, while it doesn’t bother me to pull in shades from other palettes to create a full look, I also have no problem creating a full look with this palette alone. Here’s how to do a full look using all the colours: Daydreaming as a transition shade, Misty Nights blended down lower as a second transition, Romance deep in the crease and outer corner, Hi Cutie on the inner half of the lid, LoveLove on the outer half, and Pure on the browbone and inner corner. You can use Romance as a liner, or another liner of your choice. That’s a full look and it’s gorgeous. I’ve also used Daydreaming and Hi Cutie to do a very soft, pink look, with Misty Nights in the crease to add soft and smoky dimension. If you bring in one lighter blue single eyeshadow, you can make a super cute “Cotton Candy” look with the pink and blue shades. It’s a six-pan palette, so of course there is a limit to the looks you can do, but I do feel you have lots of options and it’s not fair to say this palette can’t stand alone.

   I have some criticisms of this palette. If you have tried the Queen of Hearts palette, you should be warned that the mattes in the Lovelies palette are not as creamy and bendable as the mattes in Queen of Hearts. In particular, Misty Nights and Romance can be pretty tricky to blend. Romance in particular has a very dry texture, and it’s so pigmented that you want to be careful and build it up slowly. You may need to experiment to find the right brushes in your collection to blend out these shades. However, the colours in the palette work well to blend each other out: I like to use Daydreaming or Pure to blend out the edges of Misty Nights, and Misty Nights to blend out the edges of Romance. I recommend always laying down the lighter shades first to give you something to blend the darker shades into. On the other hand, Daydreaming and Pure are truly incredible mattes that are pigmented and easily blendable. I don’t have anything else quite like Daydreaming. We all probably have a lot of white eyeshadows, but Pure is still a very excellent one, highlighting brilliantly without shimmer. Hi Cutie is such a gorgeous foiled shade. LoveLove is also very nice, but I reach for it a lot less than the other colours.

   Ultimately, if you’re a ride-or-die warm-toned kind of person, you won’t like Lovelies. But if you like cool tones, don’t let the colour combo in this palette throw you off. It’s really very nice. I reach for it a lot, and I often take it with me if I’m going somewhere overnight. I think the mini palettes were originally overpriced, but the new discounted price is pretty good. I hope more people will give this palette a try.