Rimmel magnif'eyes eyeshadow palette in spice
I don’t like this palette. There I said it, you can leave now. Or you can read on about why I dislike it. Look, it’s not a horrible palette. If you’re after a dupe for Naked heat and you don’t have anything similar, then for £8.99 it’s decent. But on my eye shape, and my skin tone, it just doesn’t work for me.
I got this palette because I kept reading rave reviews on Instagram, and it just looked so God-damn pretty. This is an attractive palette. The packaging is long, and slim, and closes nicely, and the shimmer shades sparkle and catch the light. I was sucked into the hype, okay?
I was initially wary of the eyeshadows performance. I don’t think I’ve bought a Rimmel eyeshadow since Tony Blair was prime minister, and I was expecting that chalky, sheer, quintessentially early-noughties eyeshadow, but Rimmel, like most of the affordable brands, have upped their game. The shadows are smooth, and pigmented. I would go as far as to say they’re too pigmented. I have deep-set eyes and I like to sheer & blend out my shadows without sweeping over my sensitive eyelids again and again. I had to work on these. It was time-consuming. The wear time was okay. I’ve had cheaper eyeshadows that have lasted better, these did crease and become muddy after several hours, and I did apply the shadows over a primer. Despite these problems, I could have made the palette work for me, I mean it’s not awful.
But all the eyeshadows look the damn same. Perhaps you’ll see what I mean with a swatch picture. Now there are twelve eyeshadows contained in this palette, and shimmer or matte they all swatch the same way; an orange-y brown. The light purple shade, which I was most interested in, is very patchy and sheer, and although I know it’s there to imitate Naked heat, it really doesn’t mesh well with the rest of the orangey tones in the palette. The palette is just so limited. There’s pretty much one look you can do with it, a warm toned, slightly muddy eye, and that’s it. The shimmer shades are too dark to wear on their own as a shimmery wash of colour. That goes for all the shadows. They just apply too dark, and are too hard to sheer out, to do anything with. Now, if you’re a deeper skin tone than me or have a different eye shape, perhaps you can make these browny orangey tones work for you, but I look like I’ve been punched in both eyes, no matter how much blending I do. I was sorely disappointed by this palette, because I wear orange and warm tones quite a lot, so it’s not just a case of me not knowing how to do my eyeshadow.
Sorry, Rimmel, but it’s the noughtie step for you. Don’t give in to the hype kids.