EDIT: An updated blog post for the Coloured Raine Queen of Hearts Palette is available here
I’m coming at you with an new eyeshadow palette…you know I’m a sucker for a pretty palette! The palette in question, which I’m sure you’ve gathered from the title, is the Queen of Hearts eyeshadow palette by US brand Coloured Raine (Available from Beauty Bay*). Coloured Raine, known mainly for their range of highly pigmented, long lasting matte liquid lipsticks and single eyeshadow pans are a relatively new to the UK/ Ireland brand and in my opinion, not getting as much attention as they deserve! The brand is cruelty free, a lot of their stuff is vegan and their eyeshadows are pigmented, buttery and super blendable.
I had seen the Queen of Hearts palette on a few peoples Youtube channels and Instagrams over the last few months, but it recently popped up in Nikki Tutorials November 2016 ‘Hits and Oh God NO’s’ video as a hit obviously and that’s (if a lot of past Nikki faves are anything to go by) normally a good indicator as to if a product is going to achieve potential cult status in the not too distant future! However, it was one of my own favourite YouTubers to watch, Jkissa Makeup who helped seal the deal and made me pick it up! For those of you who love the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance palette (read more here) and missed out picking one up, or maybe like me, you have it, but just love warm toned shadows, or, if you’re after a similar colour selection to the coveted Kylie Cosmetics Kyshadow Burgundy palette minus the shipping and customs…this could be just the ticket! Perfect for the holiday season/ Christmas and New Year too!
Firstly, let’s take a second and look at the packaging! It comes in a beautiful, almost tribal printed black and gold sleeve and the palette itself, plain black with gold trim, is sleek and lightweight (coated cardboard) yet sturdy. It comes with a decent sized and good quality mirror (although I always prefer to use a separate handheld mirror for applying my makeup) and contains a mixture of 12 warm neutral and jewel toned shadows, 6 matte and 6 metal (some more glitter than others) textures. The colour and texture selection means you really can create a multitude of looks with this one palette and I really like how it contains a good selection of mid tone/ transition shades too that pre made palettes all too often lack. The shadows are rich and pigmented, with a high colour payoff/ opacity, so a little goes a long way. They’re extremely blendable too, the only one that needs a little extra care and attention and takes a little longer to blend to perfection is the shade Ladyship, however it still looks great once it’s blended out properly and purple toned shadows in generally can be notoriously difficult to get the formula spot on! For the majority, they’re some of the smoothest shadows I’ve come across and apply really well! Let’s take a look see at the swatches…
So swatched from left to right, we have the matte textures, followed by the metallics and glitters…
➕ Princess – matte blushed pink
➕ Heir – matte warm peach
➕ Royal Prerogative – matte soft terracotta
➕ Empress – matte vibrant orange
➕ Duchess – matte milk chocolate
➕ Ladyship* – matte vivid purple with a pink undertone (* this is the only non Vegan shade in the palette)
➕ Dethrone – glitter sparkling espresso
➕ Noblewoman – metallic burgundy with a purple undertone
➕ Queen Mother – metallic plum
➕ Your Majesty – glitter metallic rich copper gold
➕ Royal Highness – glitter metallic taupe with purple undertone
➕ Crown – Pearlescent white gold (looks so pretty as a highlight on paler skins too!)
So yes, the Queen of Hearts palette by Coloured Raine (Available from Beauty Bay*)…quite simply, it’s perfection! A great addition to both an extensive eyeshadow collection or a just good all rounder for using as your ‘go to’ only palette in your makeup bag or something to take around/ traveling with you. I’m looking forward to creating some more looks with it and just having a play with all the different colour combinations. It works particularly well for green eyes, but is universally flattering and complimentary to all colours of eye, very similar to the ABH Modern Renaissance in that respect! This will be reached for often, I can tell! Let me know if you’ve tried and rate any Coloured Raine products/ shades and think I should try them!
Lyd x
EDIT: Since I received my Queen of Hearts palette, Beauty Bay are, at the moment, not able to offer this to the UK and Ireland – it is still available direct from Coloured Raine and they do ship both internal to the US and internationally.
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