The Essentials Eye Shadow Palette

7 Reviews

1. 

   sadWidgeon6

   Reply

   Want an affordable quality palette that’s versatile enough to take you from work to running weekend errands, vacation with you, and can do a tasteful smokey eye for date night? Stop looking, you found it, and I’ve added some new photos so you can see it for yourself.

   I adore Cargo (their products are quality and value for money) and this product does not disappoint. As with all their larger shadow palettes, it’s designed in duos/quads that work together – but the beauty of this palette is that all the colours are doable and actually work here – separately, in duos, in quads, and in various combinations. Maybe it’s just me but none of the colours are too light or dark, too warm or cool, too sheer or heavy, too shimmer or matte, too day or night, or too occasion or season-specific. Nicely pigmented with no fall-out, you can layer and blend these to achieve many looks, keep them light or build them to the desired intensity.

   The packaging is terrific here: It has a mirror to make application easy and includes a nice dual-ended brush and lovely black eyeliner. It has a magnetic closure, which is really handy when you’re on the run, and it’s durable. I can’t count how many times I’ve dropped this palette or it’s gotten knocked off my desk. It’s even been through the roughness of baggage claim and customs. Twice. The mirror doesn’t crack, no splits or dents in the packaging, the magnetic latch works like new, and no cracked or broken shadows. It’s also easy to wipe clean with a cotton swab or tissue, did I mention that? True story.

   Of all the Cargo palettes I’ve enjoyed, this one is the only palette I’ve ever owned where all the shades are pretty much evenly worn down because I use all of them regularly. Not a dud in the bunch. (Having said that, lately I seem to favour Rush Hour, Industry and Metro.) So maybe it’s not the showiest palette in the history of time but it is the hardest working, most versatile palette I own, and It’s earned the coveted real estate it occupies on my desk. In fact, it goes everywhere with me.

   Bang for buck? This really is an essential palette. I picked mine up for less than 10 USD (you read that right) from wholesalers closing shop. Truthfully, I would have paid five times that for it but you don’t have to. It’s currently still available on the Cargo website for 34 USD with free shipping.

2. 

   artisticBoa0

   Reply

   Wow, so surprised to see some of the negative reviews on this palette. I have had mine for over 4 years and really need to purchase another as I have hit pan on so many of the shadows. This is an all around work horse of a palette and since I travel a lot for work, I usually bring this along since it easily goes from day to night. Yes some may consider this palette a bit boring but for work travel, it is a godsend.

   One thing that I thought of as I was writing this is that I purchased mine through ULTA, I was a hardcore Cargo Cosmetic addict back when ULTA sold in stores. Their foundation is HG, but does NOT travel well since the packaging is like a Capri Sun juice pack, but the formula is heavenly. I don’t care for shopping at Kohl’s, the makeup department seems to be the place where the mothers of small children dump them so they can shop in peace, and they use all of the testers as finger paints, ugh! Just wondering if the formulation has changed since the palette first came out years ago. When I reorder, I will go through ULTA or Cargo direct, I am hoping that they haven’t changed formulas as I really Love this palette and would hate if the formula changed.

3. 

   insecureTermite5

   Reply

   This palette is a joke. It’s so dissapointing that FOR SURE I will never again buy any eyeshadow from Cargo, and I will be hesitant to buy anything else from them as well. Its called the essential palette, and by this they mean an off white light matte color, a light shimmer bronze color, a shimmer grey color, and a dark matte black color. The bronze color hardly shows up on me. The top row of colors are so similar they could remove 3 of them and the palette wouldn’t be affected. Same with the bottom row, all the dark shaded are virtually interchangeable.

   The pigmentation is decent, but not great. Blendability is super average. Nothing to write home about. It comes with an eye khol and a brush that is usable but not great.

   This is not worth picking up AT ALL. And to think I passed on a smashbox mini palette to get this one instead because the picture on the back deceivingly looked like it came with a good range of colors.

   Will not repurchase. Do not reccomend. How dare you Cargo?!

4. 

   gleefulSmelt5

   Reply

   I bought this only for the 6 light colors in the top row. I am 51 years old and am desperately looking for eye shadows that does not make my eye area look crepey. I like that this eye shadow is finely milled and applies softly to skin. The top colors are soft and muted, so not for every skin type. I have porcelain skin and the light colored matte shades work great on me. The bottom row is dark colors, some with shimmer. I have found that the dark colors have little pigmentation and poor staying power. I do not have issues with fallout with this palette but overall, the eye shadow is not long lasting on me, even with eye primer. Halfway through the day, my eye shadow has faded. Also this eye shadow creases. The included black eye liner pencil, is soft enough to smoothly line eyes and is a deep rich black which I really like. I would not repurchase this and probably would not purchase Cargo eye shadow again because it does not last long enough on skin.

5. 

   forsakenSeagull8

   Reply

   Good Pigment, buttery not much fallout, but there is some dust/kickback. 12 shadows, .8g each, 34 USD for 10.6g total, which is on the high end for a drug store purchase, but worth it especially if you can use extra bonus points or whatever they are called (often a 5-10 USD discount). Five light matte neutrals; three dark matte neutrals, four shimmer. Though this is a neutral palette, the color selections are both lighter and darker than a nude palette, like WnW au natural bare awakening (tho WnW is a sixth of the Cargo price). Given this experience, I intend to buy more Cargo, probably a blush or bronzer.

   I am NC 30-35, olive skin, yellow undertones, with oily lids. The fact that the all the shadow colors actually show up on my skin and do not dissolve in a greasy mess is probably indicative of 4 stars by itself. I am not expert at eye shadow application, so i figure if i can blend these (I put my brush down and pick up a q tip) anyone can. The lights, being matte, serve a dual purpose as base coats and highlighter. There are subtle differences in the light tones.

   This stays on a decent amount of time provided I apply them over an eye primer base. When I went to repurchase Wet n Wild eye shadow primer, I could not find it. I hope its not discontinued. But, since i really needed some version of primer with isododecane and cyclopentasiloxane, I bought Wet n wild photofocus face primer Base de teint. First three ingredients are water, cyclopentasiloxane, isododecane. (WnW eye primer also has talc in the first few ingredients; UDPP has talc further down the ingredient list). But, the face one, dabbed lightly, works in a pinch to preserve the shadow. The primer will intensify the pigment of this shadow, so much so that i ended up ‘blending’ with a bit of micellar water.

   Re Cargo packaging, I like the magnetic closure, flip up top because i have a tendency to fumble the typical drug store clasps. But the open sides, the risk of dust everywhere and its large size make it something I’d rather keep at home. There is a lot of wasted space. This comes with a more than decent two sided brush (but if you are the kind of person who loves eyeshadow, you probably have your own favorite brushes) and a black eye pencil that is hard and sharp. It draws a relatively clean and smudge free line, but it drags and is not very comfortable to apply. Since makeup storage space is a premium, I’d rather something more compact and secure without the added accessories.

6. 

   yearningJaguar4

   Reply

   I thought this looked like a pretty practical palette and also one that would be great to take to India when I go for a wedding in February. Neutals with a teeny hint of “almost colour” (Facade, that is black with a tinge of either purple or blue but so dark it almost doesn’t register). Also included are a double ended brush (not the worst but not great either) and a black pencil liner so sharp you could almost do yourself an injury with it (oddly, even though it is sharp AND hard, the liner applies quite smoothly). I also had a $10 off coupon so this palette seemed like a perfect purchase but I’m a bit disappointed, to be honest. There is little to distinguish between most of the colours in the top row – Uptown, City Hall, Urban and even Plaza look pretty much the same when swatched or applied to your lids, though Plaza does look darker in the pan but it’s so lacking in pigment that it doesn’t show up as the nice cool-toned dark beige you’d expect. And I find that the colours fade. I do like Brownstone, and Facade really does pack some colour and it’s great smudged along the lash line as a shadowy liner. But I had higher hopes for this palette and I might actually return it but I’m prepared to give it a few more tries before giving up. But I know I’d never repurchase this. Far better to get either of the Lorac Pro Palettes for this price.

   UPDATE (Jan. 31 2016): I’ve changed my mind somewhat about this palette. For the past few days, I’ve been kind of forcing myself to give it another try and I actually like it somewhat more than I did initially, so I’ve bumped up my rating to 4 lippies and I feel like this palette is repurchase-worthy, even though I, personally, wouldn’t repurchase it but that’s because I really have way too many palettes that barely get used and way too many eyeshadows generally! And while I feel that some of the shades really are too similar and others totally lacking in any pigmentation, of the light shades, I’ve quite come to like a few of the shades that disappointed me initially. CITY HALL – one of the 2 white shades – because it’s a great shadow to lay down over my primer to make sure other shadows blend rather than “grip”, has been really useful. It’s not a flat, glaring “white” but soft and with a slight sheen, so it gives a beautiful and even “canvas”. DISTRICT, which looks like a blah beige, actually applies as a glowing light peachy pink and is great for lightening/highlighting the inner corner/tear duct area or as an all over lid shade, especially if your eyes are the least bit hooded and you want to bring out the lid. Given the choice between this and other palettes I own that cost roughly the same, I would choose those other palettes (LORAC, Too Faced or Stila) but this isn’t as big a let-down as I thought it was at the start. Also the double ended brush isn’t dreadful either. It has a tiny end that is really good for applying shadows to the tear duct and inner corner area and the other side is an okay brush too – not great by any means but not dreadful.

7. 

   adoringPup3

   Reply

   Saw this while perusing the makeup in Kohl’s and thought, really..? Do I honestly need another eyeshadow palette..? But something about this was calling to me.

   So glad I got this. It is my new fave and has been a regular in my makeup counter of most-used items ever since I picked it up. I seriously cannot put this ‘away’!! 😉

   It does not look like much in the pan, kind of blah, bland, boring, same-old, same-old colors, smoky-eye shades..the ‘usual’ and the ‘norm’..HOWEVER…

   These apply imho like a champ!! No fallout, no dusting, they do not crease or turn odd colors, nothing bad!! These also last a good long time on me, even without a primer, I get at least 8+ hours out of them, and even then they still pretty much look the same as when first applied!!

   I love using the top row (minus Uptown), each one from the top row I love using as just a single all-over shadow. I can see this being great to travel with, great daytime shades, and great nightime looks!!

   Love it, soooo glad I gave it a second glance!! 😉