I laid my eyes on this What's The Tea? palette when I was visiting the local beauty store recently. It looks adorable and I’ve been longing to have a warm-toned eyeshadow palette for the summer. The packaging from the Balm is on fleek, as always.
Inside it has a nice quality big mirror, which is quality and really handy.
The refills are as cute tea cups.
At first, I used to think that those two cream textures were actually a primer and a black eyeliner but I was only half right. Both neutral and black shades are actually primers! You can either intensify the color payoff with the beige shade or change the color and play with it with the help of the black shade!
The texture isn’t truly creamy, it’s more buttery. The pigments here are staining and I managed to wash the black stain from my hand by the next evening.
The back of the paper cover has all the swatches and color combinations + neutral and black primers.
Of course, I couldn't resist and also played with the black primer and some of the shades:
The idea is awesome but in fact, I didn’t like the results of the mixture of the black primer with the shades. Maybe that’s me who lacks some skills but in fact, the finish on my eyes looks messy and mud-like with glitter.
The shades without the black primer look way better and more beautiful. As always, the eyeshadows (well, not actually the eyeshadows) from the Balm have interesting names.
So, What's The Tea?
Let’s have a quick view of each shade:
Receipts is a satin gentle peach shade.
The pigmentation is average. And I guess it apts more for the blending of other shades or as a base. Nice to blend out.
Word on the street is a satin gentle pink color. You can also use it as a blush. Great to blend!
Hey Girl Hey! is a matte brick-brown red shade. Awesome pigmentation, good blending but it requires some skills because the texture falls out;
Drama Queen shimmering golden-brown shade with glitter. Nicely packed with pigments and easy to blend out texture;
On the down low is a very beautiful shimmering shade of red gold. It falls out and crumbles so opt for a damp brush or your fingertip for application;
Ohh la la is identical to the bronzer shade from The Balm Bahama Mama, absolutely the same. Matte, red-brown hue.
You can use it as a bronzer/contouring powder but I still find it too red for me.
Scandalous is a matte dark-brown shade. It’s beautiful in the refill and a tad dusty. But it applies either with my finger or a brush so moderately. Maybe that’s for the better because this way I can pack it neatly;
Tell-All is a green shifting to pink shade. It’s interesting in the refill, though not so impressive on my eyes. It’s very easy to blend. It doesn’t fall out but the pigmentation and color payoff are average.
Spill the beans is a yellow highlighter. The texture is super soft, almost creamy to the touch so it’s way easier to apply.
Actually, I was flabbergasted when I saw this color selection. Yeah, many shades are chunky but its aspect is a part of the Balm brand. I wish some of the shades were more pigmented because I hoped for the Receipts and Tell-All very much.
The price isn’t too high - $36
I have some questions to the primers, to the neutral one to be exact. Currently, I don’t use the black one because it doesn’t hold well. I mean my eyeshadows crease within 3 hours, even though my eyelids aren’t oily. So, if yours are, it’s better to use other primers.
And for the finale, my simple makeup: the blend of Receipts and Hey Girl Hey! to the crease and along my lower lash line. Word on the street to the center of my lid, On the down low on top of it. Spill the beans is in the inner corners. I also used the Word on the street shade as a blusher here and Spill the beans as a highlighter.
Unfortunately, the photo doesn’t reveal all the beauty of the shades, mind it.In fact, the palette is okay for me and I’ll keep on using it with pleasure. I hope that you found my review informative.
