I love using eyeshadows whilst doing my makeup, because I think that they are able to accentuate my eyes and make them stand out in crowds. I love seeing different shades on my eyes, pairing them with my outfit, mood, season or daytime, that’s why I have to have a lot of colors in my stash. And here, eyeshadow palettes come very handy for me, because it’s pretty useless to buy one or two shades separately.
In this review I want to tell you about ABSOLUTE NEW YORK ICON Exposed Eyeshadow palette.
OUTWARD APPEARANCE
The palette comes packed with a thick and stylish cardboard box.
The palette itself is actually a plastic compact, which looks like it was made of metal. The compact is sturdy and thick. I always have a desire of holding this palette in my hands, because it looks cute and of good quality.
Inside the palette there is a big mirror, which is full length with the palette. The mirror was sealed with a sticker, which I haven’t taken off yet, because I don’t use this mirror, but in general I deem it’s pretty handy here. Let’s take the NYX palettes for instance, usually they don’t have mirrors provided, besides, their compacts are made of thin and not really good materials, while the price is always usually the same with this palette, or sometimes even more pricey.
One more good thing about this Icon palette is the dual-ended eyeshadow brush provided. And the most important thing is that the brush isn’t flimsy, it’s really of nice quality and I like it a lot. Now I even use it for all my other eyeshadow application.
One side of the brush comes with an application brush. It’s of the right shape and size. Besides that, the product doesn’t shed. It isn’t soft or stiff. I like the way it picks up eyeshadows and packs the pigment.
The other side offers a blending brush. It’s really soft and pleasant to the touch. I like the way it blends out the shades, creating a beautiful and soft color transitions.
EYESHADOWS
There are 12 nicely matching refill pans in the palette. I like that the palette offers a selection of shimmer and matte shades at once.
In the photos below you can see the swatches applied with a dry brush over my non-primed skin. Most of the colors look beautiful and have good color payoff and nice glow, so I deem it’s possible to wear them without a primer.
However, the dark shades don’t look their best, so they require a primer in a cinch! Or you can also try to apply them with a wet brush maybe.
Dry application
Wet brush application
So here you can see all the beauty of the shades as they are.
USE
The use of the shades from this palette has turned out to be fantastic! I’m not among those people who can easily work with such products, that’s why I value the easiness of blending and beautiful results most of all.
I appreciate the fact that the colors in the palette are matchy and that they are even placed together in the refills. It makes the use of the palette super easy and handy. Just take a couple of placed together colors and you won’t even have to come up with anything difficult yourself.
By the way, the products can be mixed together for a new color combinations and shades. It’s so true! I like mixing the shades and see the new colors on my eyes.
The eyeshadows are easy to pick up with a brush as well as pack the pigment.
Here I used two shades - Ballet and Muted. The wing is done with the Stroked Pro Brush Eyeliner Pen.
The products don’t fall out. Well, maybe they do a little, but only when I don’t work neatly with them. And throughout the day they look on my eyes the same way as they looked when I just applied them.
The eyeshadows don’t crease and I like the blending I get when I use the brush. All in all, the application is easy and fuss-free.
Here again, I used two shades - Gilded and Cedar. The colors are saturated, attractive and have a seductive glow. Yet at the same time I can’t say that they are strictly for evening wear, I can apply them even for my daytime makeup.
These shades also don’t crease and show a massive wear time on my eyes.
Here the colors Flirt and Java were used.
And here Slate and Gunmetal. In this look I failed with my liner, I know, but after all I decided to leave everything as it is. I’m just showing you the colors of eyeshadows, indeed.
It isn’t a problem to wash off the products with makeup removers, such as cleansing oils, for instance. A cleansing milk is also able to wash them off, though it’ll be more time consuming.
OVERALL
It’s an awesome eyeshadow palette for an affordable sum of money. My everyday makeup now looks new, interesting and even inimitable to some extent everyday. Convenient to use palette, long-lasting products and outstanding shades - this is all about this Icon palette.
