Good morning, friends! It's Super Bowl Sunday, and for the athletically apathetic like myself, today is a day all about eating delicious snack food, socializing with friends, and critiquing commercials. Truly, I'm like the Switzerland of sports. Complete neutrality. It is fun to watch everyone else get all riled up, though.
The MAKE Calypso Eyeshadow Palette was custom collaboration between Birchbox editors and the fabulous MAKE Cosmetics and is exclusively available in the Birchbox shop. It contains 8 full-sized MAKE eyeshadows in satin, shimmer, and matte formulas. The colors are a gorgeous mix of neutrals, steely grays and tropical blues to encapsulate that Caribbean feel. By itself, the palette retails for $40, although considering that each eyeshadow normally costs $25, you're truly getting $200 worth of product! You can also get even more bang for your buck by purchasing it either bundled with MAKE's Dual-Phase Eye Makeup Remover or in the Vanity Affair Limited Edition Box.
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| From Left to Right, Top to Bottom: Alabaster, Bentonite Clay, Aquamarie, Star Anise, Great Lakes, Woad, Midnight, Cast Iron |
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| From Left to Right: Alabaster, Bentonite Clay, Great lakes, Woad, Aquamarie, Star Anise, Midnight, Cast Iron |
Upon first looking at the color selection in this palette you may think it a little too bold and bright for everyday wear. However, with the exception of Aquamarine, I think all of the colors are actually quite neutral or subtle enough to rock for the everyday. Bentonite Clay and Alabaster make the perfect base/highlighter duo. Woad and Midnight are great alternatives to black when used to line the eyes, and Star Anise, Cast Iron and Great Lakes make beautiful crease colors. Aquamarine is a little bit trickier, as it's certainly the brightest of the bunch, however, if used subtly in combination with the other colors from this palette I think it's a blue that isn't too difficult to pull off.
In terms of the actual quality of the formulas of the shadows I was pretty happy with this palette. The Satins are all rich and smooth and blend very well. Alabaster, the one shimmer shade, is probably my new favorite eyeshadow of its kind. It adds sparkle without looking overly glittery or metallic and doesn't leave fallout under the eyes. The weakest part of this palette are probably the matte shades, which are a little bit patchy and unevenly pigmented. Since I tend to use these shades primarily for lining my eyes it bothers me less, but it is still a little disappointing. When applied over primer (which is my default for all eyeshadow) these formulas are very long wearing and crease free.
To show you all this palette in action I've filmed a little tutorial! I'm not exactly the most graceful individual behind the camera, but I guess you've got to start somewhere. I've made a lot of mental notes for things to do better next time (which hopefully there will be).
The more I use this palette the more I really do love it. The packaging is super sleek, the shadows are really beautiful, and it's just plain fun to play around with. Blue and gray tones are not normally what I gravitate toward, but I'm glad this is encouraging me to step out of my comfort zone a bit.
Have you tried the MAKE Calypso Palette yet? What are your thoughts?
