Capturing the shimmering dunes and lights of a desert at dusk, Huda Beauty has released another majestic eye shadow palette to her line. The vibrant shades inspired by the mysterious desert landscape had me falling head over heels and utterly in love. As with any eye shadow palette I begin working out what the crease and transition colours are and imagining what looks to create, but I was just so blown away by how vibrant the shades are. Very few palettes excite me but this sparked a creativity in me like never before and that’s when you know its pretty damn special. The palette was available on Cult Beauty for £56, ( exactly the same price as her previous palette). As usual i’ll be giving my honest opinion about whether its truly worth the hefty price tag as well as comparing it to her previous palette!
Packaging
I love how Huda and her team took on board the complaints/suggestions her customers have said over her first palette, for example people wanted a mirror and I felt the same way too and the palette felt light and flimsy so people felt like it wasn’t worth the £56 (which in my opinion is quite a lot for an eyeshadow palette). A lot of effort and consideration generally can be seen because the packaging is so beautiful. Waking up and seeing an intoxicating Arabian princess on your vanity staring right back at you on a gloomy day is just so different and genius. Also, when compared to the Rose Gold, the palette feels a lot more sturdy and heavy and she’s also included a mirror (thank the lord) so I’m glad she took on board what we wanted and it shows that she took our concerns seriously!
Swatches
For £56 you are getting:
– 8 Mattes
– 6 Pressed Pearls
– Three duo chrome toppers
– One pure glitter ( I’ll be sharing a funny/heartbreaking story about this shade further on in the review!)
Some of the mattes for example Saffron were a little patchy and difficult to swatch however I was perfectly pleased with the rest including all the pressed pearls and duo chrome toppers that im so excited to create looks with. However, the heartbreak with Cosmo was that I wasn’t entirely aware that its a complete loose glitter in the pan so as I turned the palette over to read some information on the back I heard something fell… And it was at that moment my heart dropped and saw the pan completely empty and a bunch of glitter on the floor. I was so annoyed. I did scrape it off the floor and pat it in but I think there should have been some sort of protective layer, the paper provided isn’t enough to hold the glitter in place because it moves around. I genuinely think for a high price there should have been something to stop the glitter from moving its just my opinion but if I hadn’t have saved cosmo I would’ve been one angry customer😩
The look I created and posted on my Instagram was a halo eye.
1) Eden was used for a transition shade along with Musk to deepen the crease.
2) I then used Oud in the inner corner and outer corner to create the halo shape. To soften the edges I mixed Desert Sand and the tiniest amount of Musk.
3) Saffron and Amber were used to deepen and define the halo in the same areas I used Oud. In the centre I first packed on Nefertiti and then applied glitter glue on top. I then applied Cosmo using a small synthetic packing brush.
4) On the lower lashline I used the same shades but using more Oud on the outer eye. Nefertiti was used as a inner corner highlight and using a angled liner I applied saffron in my inner waterline and I really liked how it looked
The only issue I had was that some of the matte shades were a little patchy, when on the eye and swatches. For example when I layered similar colours such as Amber and Saffron to deepen and define I noticed skin still peeking through so I had to reapply and it was if the colour had disappeared or seperated. The problem with that is you end up adding more and more so it can turn into an unblended mess. Cosmo and Nefertiti applied nicely and there was a strong deposit of colour so I was happy with that. I will be creating more creative looks on my instagram so follow me if you don’t already so you don’t miss out!
One thing that really stood out and I admired was the campaign for this launch. If you haven’t watched the first look already on Huda’s Instagram i’ll link it here because it is jaw dropping. Im really loving the amount of effort digital influencers and bloggers with their own makeup lines are putting into their launches its incredible to see. Everything from the location, to the addictive music, the cinematography blew me away its one of my favourite launch videos to date. The genius idea of having a global snapchat filter to itensify the hype even further just made me admire Huda and her team even more. Their raw passion is so inspiring and uplifting and im excited to see what more Huda Beauty has to offer!
Final Verdict: Is it for me?
You ladies know that my reviews are a textbook long so to wrap this up I feel that if you want to push yourself experimenting with deep reds and purples, and playing with different textures and possibly scraping off glitter off the floor then this palette is for you. It gets my creative juices flowing and makes me want more to experiment with different coloured glitters, as opposed to my usual golds and silvers and get out of my comfort zone a little bit. It wont really be my everyday go to palette because I did try using Eden with Oud and I didn’t really like how it looked so i’ll be sticking with the Rose Gold. Its a palette to explore your creativity and have fun with but not really something i would be choosing to wear everyday.
I hope you found this review useful let me know if you have any questions. See you in my next post!
Love from Sahibah x
