Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette – Perception

2 Reviews

1. 

   pridefulBasmati3

   Reply

   The Perception eyeshadow palette is part of ColourPop’s collaboration with beauty influencer Shayla, which consists of this palette, 2 loose powder highlighters, a lip gloss and 3 matte lipsticks – ‘influencer’ collabs don’t bother me either way and I bought this solely for the shades, not the name on the palette. The Perception palette contains 16 shades of eyeshadow, in four different finishes; Unbothered [metallic ivory with a peachy flip], TF [metallic true gold], Titus: metallic gunmetal], Stallion [matte black with blue glitter], Spill the Tea [metallic warm taupe], Diva [metallic amber], I.E. [metallic olive], 14 [metallic navy], Strut ‘n Slay [metallic rosy copper], Culture [matte soft brown], Sassy [metallic eggplant with a teal flip], September [metallic pinky violet], Revenge [matte red brown], Thic [matte vibrant orange], Played Out [matte chocolate brown] and Shade [deep matte purple with violet glitter].

   You can technically make a variety of complete-look-in-one-palette looks with this palette, although the small number of matte shades means that I do prefer to use some matte shades from another palette alongside this one to make it go further [Karity’s all-matte 21 palette is awesome for adding some colour to looks], since the fun colour pops are all metallics and I prefer mattes. I also have used the metallic duo-chrome shade Unbothered as a cheekbone highlight. There is some fallout with the shadows, but that has never been a problem for me so long as the shadows apply and wear well, which these do. The shadow pans are smaller then ColourPop’s single shadows, but that is reflected in the cost ($23 for 16 pans, versus $4 per individual shadow).

   There are only three true matte shades in this palette and they aren’t fun/unique shades, which is disappointing as Colourpop have done very similar shades to them before – it really limits what I can do with this palette alone, since I don’t like using non-matte shades anywhere other than the lids on my heavily hooded eyes. The metallic shades Diva and Strut n Slay are very similar once applied and blended. The shades Unbothered and Spill The Tea are also fairly similar once applied and blended, so it’s a bit of a waste of space in my opinion – totally different colours could have gone in their places, such as more unique matte shades.

   The price of this palette is low, the product quality is mid to low-high, and the palette size & style is a huge step up for the brand [16 shades instead of 12, there’s a big mirror, the palette feels more substantial & the shades names are printed underneath the pans]. However I’m not totally happy with the Perception palette the way I am with most of my other ColourPop palettes since the mattes let it down and limit the versatility and creativity factor – when I open Perception to use it, I can’t help focusing on what I’d change if I could [change the finish of the colour pop shades to mattes and remove the too-close shades].

2. 

   excludedGranola3

   Reply

   I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this palette. I purchased it because of the shades and not because of the collab which I couldn’t care less about. I do really love most of the shades included, as well as how many come in this palette as opposed to their other palettes.

   My main issue with this palette is that the mattes do not blend, with Played Out being the worst. Basically the whole bottom row is useless, and Culture (the one matte in the row above) is the only matte that is workable. Granted, the shades in the bottom row aren’t anything special and I have a crap-ton of similar shades in SO many other palettes (and singles from other brands if I’m being honest), but it’s still annoying.

   I love the foils and shimmers, they’re soft, blendable and have fab payoff, but I was hoping for a little more…something that set them apart from the crowd. Alas, they’re pretty standard shades when all is said and done, though they are pretty.

   My least favorite shades in this palette (besides the mattes and matte glitter shade, Shade) are Sassy, I.E., and Titus.
   I swear, if one more palette includes a red/brown with green shift shade (Sassy), I’m gonna loose it. I’m not joking, I have 21 versions of this shade from different brands with my first being a MAC pigment I purchased when I was 19 (I’m 35 now). Stop it already. It’s enough.

   I.E. and Titus are not very interesting or flattering shades whatsoever. They read a bit muddy and don’t really do much of anything, both with other shades in this palette or on their own. I wish that I.E. was greener, and Titus was more of deep purple rather than a gray purple, I think that would have elevated this palette to another level.

   The Perception palette is not a must-have palette by any means, especially for those that are palette freaks (like me) and own just about everything. However, if you are someone who doesn’t have a ton of palettes and you don’t already have shades like these, I think you’d probably enjoy using it and owning it even though I don’t think the mattes are a good choice for the novice bc you won’t get them to blend and you’ll be frustrated.