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| Clarins The Essentials Palette |
I've recently picked a couple of limited edition items which I haven't had the opportunity to review, so I've decided to take advantage of the fact that I'm on a sick leave and catch up with these reviews before these products are completely sold out.
The first one is The Essentials palette, which was released this autumn. I was attracted to this palette as the selection of nudes and neutrals seemed rather cool-toned, with a variety of taupes and reddish browns.
The palette comes in a lovely, lightweight cardboard packaging with an elastic band which ties the lid securely and prevents the palette from incidental opening.
There's also a double-ended natural fibre brush, whiuch is one of the most usable brushes included in such palettes. It won't do the blending well, but for patting the eyeshadows onto the lids it's perfectly fine.
Inside the palette you'll find a transparent foil with pictorial instructions on how to use the eyeshadows to create a subtle and a more bold look, which is so unclear that I couldn't make head nor tail of it and never attempted to follow the instructions.
The comparison to the iconic Naked palettes is inevitable. The Essentials palette is closer to the Naked 2 one as it offers a set of rather cool-toned eyeshadows. There are 12 eyeshadows in the Naked palettes, while The Essentials offer only 10, but they are wider, so they're easier to use. The proportion of matte shades to the shimmery ones is similar, there are only two matte shades in the Clarins one. But the advantage of The Essentials is that almost none of the shimmery shadows is glittery or frosty (with the exception of shade2). Most of the eyeshadows are buttery shimmers/satins that produce less fall out than the UD eyeshadows, but the're also less pigmented. I'm not saying they aren't pigmented, but the winners definitely are their Naked counterparts. The thing with the pigmentation of The Essentials is that they seem more pigmented when swatched with fingers, but on my lids they seem to have much more subtle effect, so I often use cream eyeshadows as a base to enhance the performance. But the possibility to achieve a subtle look is not a bad thing by any means.
A couple of shades in The Essentials palette seem to be lighter and darker variations of the same colour (shades 5 & 8 and 9 & 7 in particular).
What is missing in the palette are definitely a matte light brown blending colour and a very dark, almost black or black shade to accentuate outer corners or line the eyes. I tend to use darker shades on my eyes and I find it very difficult to contrast the medium-dark shades with something somewhat darker. The colours don't look more intense nor dark, just a kind of different shade.
I'd say that if I were to choose, I'd go for any of the Naked palettes, but it's a very nice palette overall which would make a lovely Christmas gift for make-up lovers.
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| Clarins The Essentials Palette |
#1. is a matte yellow, slightly peachy beige which refused to show up on my skin.
#2. is a frosty yellow champagne colour
#3. is a more peachy champagne shade with irridescent, shimmery finish
#4. is a very pretty and unique shade. It's a rosy brown, matte. I love this shade as my all-over-the lid colour. It looks like one of the darkest shades in the palette, but once on the lid the colour is much lighter. Blends perfectly and is not chalky at all, which is a rare thing when talking about matte eyeshadows.
#5. is a very light shimmery taupe, a nice shade for those who like light make-up, I blend it with darker shades to get the tone I want.
#6. is the warmest shade here, it's a shimmery brown eyeshadow with olive undertones.
#7. looks in the pan like a shimmery counterpart of #4 but in fact it is much darker. It's a rather dark reddish drown. I like this shade very much.
#8 is a medium-dark taupe with shimmer. Looks like a darker version of #5.
#9 fits in the same colour family as #4 and #7. It seems to be a rosy taupe, which is a shimmery variation of #4.
#10 is the darkest shade in the palette. I'd describe it as warm, dark pewter with shimmer. Very similar to Urban Decay Darkhorse.
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| Clarins The Essentials Palette |
Disclaimer: I bought the product myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.
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