I've had the Rock Chick eyeshadow palette by Charlotte Tilbury for a while now, but only recently did I warm to it. While the class and quality are undeniable, this palette lacks in versatility and limits me to basically one look on everyday basis.
This eyeshadow quad comes in a gorgeous compact with a dark burgundy lid and golden interior and a tiny little logo-star in the corner of the mirror, which scream luxury to me.
The Rock Chick is a gray smoky eye palette which contains a whole variety of smoky shades and finishes to take your eye make-up from day to night.
Unfortunately, the reason I didn't fall head over heels in love with this palette is that I reach for two shades only and use other palettes to supplement transition shades which this palette lacks.
In the top right corner we find a pale cool-toned champagne shade which is called 'prime'. If you have ever watched any Charlotte Tilbury make-up tutorial, you probably know that this is the shade that she recommends all over the lid, top to bottom, from the brow to the lashline.
It looks quite decent on the models in the studio, though good taste of this make-up is a question of personal sensitivity, but in real life this looks horrible. Like some kind of throwback from the mid '80s. This is an extremely shimmery shade that looks tacky on everybody, but of course on ageing skin like mine other issues like accentuating wrinkles and sagging lids come to play as well.
The idea of a 'primer' eyeshadow is not new at all, Dior Designer palettes have had this sheer pearly base for years, but it is less sparkly and dry, therefore performs better.
This shade, however, may make a nice 'no make-up' soft nude lid colour as long as you stick to the movable part.
Shade 2 'Enhance' is a beautiful warm, taupey shimmery gray colour. The pigmentation and blendability of this shade are on point, making it one of my absolutely favourite smoky eye colours. The shade is rather unique thanks to its browny hue, it looks as beautiful with grays and blacks as with browns and taupes.
Shade 3 'Smoke' is a stunner. The only thing I can say is that it's a pity Charlotte Tilbury makes more shimmers and sparkles and mattes as it's the mattes that she really excels at. This dark, warm-toned gray matte eyeshadow is buttery soft, blends and adheres like a cream eyeshadow, remains true to the pan throughout the whole blending process and generally is perfection incarnate.
I usually use a combination of thades 2 and 3 or any of them separately for my ultimate smoky look.
But I almost never reach for shade 4 'Pop' which is a taupey glitter. Not because I don't like it, but I wear glitter on New Year's Eve only.
This is a very pretty palette, but if I were to rate it according to price vs practical use ratio, I would say it isn't the best buy in history. I love the packaging and every shade in it is right up my alley, but I wear only two, usually combined with some matte taupes or browns from other palettes.
While I have my reservations about the Rock Chick palette, The Sophisticate stole my heart entirely. Like I said, Charlotte Tilbury should make her matte palettes her selling point as she definitely somehow managed to master the technology in spite of her personal preference for all that sparkles and shines.
For some reason The Sophisticate palette is not as hyped-over as other palettes by the brand eg. The Dolce Vita (perhaps it's simply because it was The Dolce Vita that was submitted to bloggers for reviews). However, I think The Sophisticate deserves just as much attention of all lovers of neutrals and mattes and good eyeshadows in general.
Every single shadow in this palette is matte and all of them are pigmented, buttery soft and apply smoothly without dragging or skipping. They don't disappear or turn muddy while blending. They don't cause fallout, crease or fade during the day. And all of them are perfectly wearable on all kinds of occasions and would suit a variety of skin tones. I personally love them cause they lean slightly cool-toned which not only matches my skin, but also my taste.
Shade 1 'Prime' may look like it's not there, it blends so well with my complexion, but believe me it's pigmented and it makes a perfect even-all-out canvas for the other eyeshadows, it also makes the blending process easier (not that it's difficult with these eyeshadows, but you can use this with other more stubborn eyeshadows of yours). It's an ivory shade with some very, very slight sheen which reads matte with some depth and dimension.
Shade 2 'Enhance' is a warm-toned brown that is a lovely transition colour I reach for to combine with other palettes as well as this one. It also looks great all over the lid with some darker colour in the crease or on its own for mono-colour looks (just like all of the shadows except for the 'Prime' do).
Shade 3 'Smoke' is a brownish gray, much more brown than the one in The Rock Chick palette, but still more gray than brown. Looks good in the crease or when used to smudge a liner.
Shade 4 'Pop' is a gorgeous chocolate brown shade with some super tiny micro shimmer, which similarly to shade 1 looks matte, but not flat on the lid.
I've got a ton of palettes, many of them matte and neutral, but this one has superceded all competition. I own no other combination of eyeshadows that would appeal to my taste and work for me so well.
I'm a sworn believer in Charlotte Tilbury mattes and would buy all other matte palettes right now, but there are no more of them.
I strongly recommend this palette to anyone as this seems to be so versatile, not only on its own but also as a supplementary palette to blend or smoke out any other eyeshadows you might want to use.
No comments:
Post a Comment