Pure Color Envy 5 color palette – 02 Ivory Power

1 Review

1. 

   anxiousCow6

   Reply

   I have been fancying this palette for ages as I am constantly on the look for the perfect combination of neutral eyeshadows that are not too warm (they make me look tired), not too rusty-reddish (my lids are always quite reddened), with a liner colour, a middle tone (ideally a taupe), and a good base colour, so to take only this one for travels.
   So when I found this for the price of a mono eyeshadow I just had to buy it.

   First of all, all five shades are true neutrals. I was afraid that the beige would be too reddish but on my lids it works very well.

   They are very powdery, finely milled and a have good pigmentation when swatched BUT on the lids they are quite sheer, especially the light shades, so, hitting the pan with a brush and applying them directly on my lids doesn’t bring me anywhere. I need some sort of sticky base for the powder to adhere to, something like a long lasting creamy eyeshadow (I use Bobbi Brown Bone and bareMinerals 5-in1 eyeshadow base). Also the way to apply affects the coverage: with fingertips I have the best results, but it is hard to do the fine work. With brushes I had the worst results: lots of fall out and nothing really sticks to the lids. I found that the best way is to use good sponge applicators, even better if they are a bit humid. The sponge applicators coming with the package are usable, they are only too short, so a bit annoying to handle. Then I use a soft brush to blend.

   The colours:
   1. This is an off-white with pink undertone, matte and powdery in texture but with a delicate sparkle. It can be used as a highlighter. As a base it is unfortunately too sheer.
   2. Ivory with neutral undertone. It looks matte in the pan but on the lids it has a satiny effect that is very brightening. Also, the yellow undertone counteracts any redness of the lids. Pigmentation is poor. Good as base given that it sticks to something beneath.
   3. This is a sort of caffelatte beige, almost a skin tone with a pink undertone, so much so that it is even hard to see it on my lids. It works very well at unifying the colour of my lids and brings out the green of my hazel eyes.
   4. The perfect taupe “greige”, no too warm, no too purple, not too grey and just with the perfect amount of satin-shimmer finish to look great also on wrinkly ageing lids. The consistency is different from the other ones, more creamy than powdery, so it will stick on the lid also without a primer. The best way to apply it is with a sponge applicator, then it will show in all its glory. If you layer it on the top of other shades it won’t be very pigmented but it is still very subtle to define the crease. It is also surprisingly good as a brow colour.
   5. A dark cool coffee brown, good as liner or all over the lid for a smoky look. It is very pigmented and can be toned down mixed with the “greige” or intensified with any other shimmery or metallic shades of other palettes like gold, silver. Unfortunately it is not long lasting and you really have to work a lot to make it stick on your lids.

   All in all, a part of the taupe, none of this shades is something extremely special, something you don’t want to live without, but the beauty of this palette is that it has everything you need for a day or night eye makeup and that the colours are very aging-skin-friendly. It is a travel-friendly basic palette that you can also use with any other palette with stronger, bolder colours, or with shimmery eyeliners to set some accents.
   But the lack of pigmentation of the lighter shades and the poor lasting performance is a real shame, especially considering the price. I won’t buy it again.