Hello everyone!
So far, this whole decade feels like a throwback to the ’80s and ’90s with the reboot and revival of many of our childhood favourites such as The Smurfs, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast and Trolls, just to name a few. In case you didn’t know, My Little Pony has, too, made a comeback in recent years and is now even shown on the silver screen! But this year being 2017, working in the showbiz isn’t enough – you have to penetrate into the beauty industry as well to stay relevant because hey, not everyone (especially the millennials whose big part of their childhood revolves around these shows) watches TV these days, right? 😏
Perhaps that’s why Hasbro has been granting their licensing rights for My Little Pony to a handful of makeup companies like PUR Cosmetics, Thailand-based Mille Beauté and most recently, ColourPop which released a 14-piece limited edition My Little Pony collection last month.
An overview of my ColourPop × My Little Pony haul – do watch this space for my review on the highlighters and liquid lipsticks!
As you can see, there’s quite a bit to talk about for this collection, so I will split my review into two parts for easy digestion. The first shall be on the eye shadow palette.
Inspired by the colourful personalities and magical cutie marks of the retro ponies, the My Little Pony Pressed Powder Shadow Palette features a range of nostalgia-evoking shades from “shimmery glitters and wearable mattes, to bright pops of colour and surprising iridescents”.
ColourPop × My Little Pony Pressed Powder Shadow Palette (US$16)
The back of the ColourPop × My Little Pony Pressed Powder Shadow Palette
The My Little Pony palette measures just 10 cm × 13 cm, essentially making it easy to carry around due to its slim and compact size. It is placed into a box adorned with purple-hued pony motifs and “My Little Pony” embossed in purple-foil lettering in the middle, followed by the My Little Pony rainbow and ColourPop logos at the bottom.
The design of the palette itself looks a bit more tacky and juvenile (like it was designed with PowerPoint) with six holographic ponies arcing across (yet another) rainbow plastered on the cover. The lid has a magnetic closure and it does not come with a mirror. The eye shadows – each weighing 0.85 g (0.03 oz) – are set against a purple background with white pony motifs. The names of the shades are printed on the back of the box and palette, which posed some inconvenience for me as I was constructing my review. Maybe someone can enlighten me, but what’s so difficult about having the names printed below the shades? There is sufficient space for that, am I right?
SWATCHES & REVIEW
ColourPop × My Little Pony Pressed Powder Shadow Palette – all shades and their names, for your convenience
ColourPop × My Little Pony Pressed Powder Shadow Palette – swatches of all the shades applied with finger (2-3 swipes)
On first impression, the mattes appeared to be underwhelming and require more swipes than the shimmery ones for a more uniform and pigmented application. For the undiscerning eye, there also seems to be a repetition of shades. For instance, Snuzzle, Firefly and Bluebell as well as Minty and Applejack are pretty similar with the same finish and thus won’t offer much colour contrast on the lid when put together.
Let’s now get down to the individual swatches and review! Being a proud owner of a plethora of eye shadow palettes, it wouldn’t be practical for me to compare the My Little Pony palette to every single similar shade I can think of (and not forgetting that it is also more time consuming than swatching lipsticks). Hence, to be more time-efficient, I am just going to compare this with the shades from two selected palettes in my stash which, in this case, would be the ColourPop Yes, Please! palette (for the warms) and LORAC Mega PRO 3 (for the cooler hues). Comparison swatches will be done using my finger only.
ColourPop × My Little Pony Pressed Powder Shadow Palette – swatches of first 6 shades applied with both finger and my Sigma E55 Eyeshadow Shading Brush
Butterscotch is described as a white with subtle pink violet opalescent sheen. It is a matte pale lilac with barely noticeable fine shimmers, so much so that you would need to scrutinise the product to realise they are there. The eye shadow is pigmented and mostly opaque with a chalky but smooth texture. Blendable, it is has no fallout during application and adheres well to bare skin.
Blossom is described as a metallic peach with pink and gold duochrome finish. It is a mid-tone rosy nude with warm undertones and gold microshimmers which are distributed fairly evenly when applied. Although I did not have to go heavy-handed with it to achieve reasonable opacity, it does provide fuller coverage with added pressure to my lid. The texture of the eye shadow is also slightly dry and on the stiffer side so it can be rather challenging to diffuse the edges.
Starshine is described as a metallic golden tangerine. Totally living up to its name, it is a gorgeous warm yellow with strong metallic gold sheen. It has an insanely opaque colour payoff in a single layer although some fallout can occur during application. It goes on smooth and even with a dense consistency which requires a bit of effort to blend out the edges – but it is all worth it. When worn in the middle of the lid, it helps to make the eyes appear bigger and brighter. This shade is pretty long-wearing as it lasted five hours (the duration I spent outdoors) on my oily lids.
Swatch comparison for the warms against the ColourPop Yes, Please! Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette
Bluebell is described as a satin golden ivory. It is a cool-toned white with pearly sheen from the microshimmers distributed equally across the product. It applies smoothly on the lid while offering sheer to medium coverage. The texture, however, becomes chalkier with every additional layer. Even though it is somewhat easy to diffuse the edges, it loses its intensity as soon as it is blended out. This shade can alternatively be used as a highlight for the brow bone too because of its muted colour payoff.
Applejack is described as a matte dusty red violet. It is a mid-tone plum with pink undertones. This shade has a smooth, almost mousse-like (hence does not cause much kickback in the pan nor fallout during application) and blendable texture but tends to sheer out when applied to bare skin. It has to be used with a soft-bristled brush or the consistency would become uneven and lightly dusty.
Skydancer is described as a metallic bright icy lavender. It is a muted violet with loose purple shimmers. That said, this shade requires a dense brush to apply it with because the texture is stiff from being packed too tightly in the pan (to the extent that the surface of the eye shadow actually smooths out after use instead of leaving a slight dip). I had to dig my brush into the pan to pick up enough product and even so, I would need to exert a lot of pressure on my lid to get a decent colour payoff. Furthermore, it loses its, dare I say, non-existent intensity when blended out. This payoff is honestly so bad, it kinda renders this shade unusable.
ColourPop × My Little Pony Pressed Powder Shadow Palette – swatches of last 6 shades applied with both finger and my Sigma E55 Eyeshadow Shading Brush
Minty is accurately described as a matte cool-toned fuchsia except for the fact that it has inconsiderable amount of shimmer to it (or perhaps, my eyes were playing tricks on me 🤔). The payoff is quite similar to that of Butterscotch but this applies softer with a velvety consistency. It adheres well to the skin but has to be piled on to get an opaque coverage. Furthermore, the edges are fairly easy to diffuse without affecting the intensity of the eye shadow.
Flutterbye is described as a matte true pastel peach. It is a matte coral with warm undertones and has a really soft and silky texture as well as a thicker consistency than the rest of the eye shadows in this palette. This shade gives an opaque colour payoff in a single layer and blends perfectly well on the lid while still retaining its pigmentation. It is also extremely long-wearing even without primer.
Twilight is described as a satin deep blackened violet with blue and purple fine shimmers. Undoubtedly, this is the darkest shade in this palette but it isn’t as pigmented as it seems – it takes about five layers for it to achieve a reasonably opaque coverage. Apart from the fact that it applies rather unevenly and patchy, it also does not blend very well on the lid. It has a looser texture too so some kickback in the pan and fallout may be experienced during application.
Swatch comparison for the warms against Lorac Mega PRO 3 Palette
Firefly is described as a metallic silvery baby blue. It is a cool-toned grey with a metallic sheen from its finely milled and evenly spread shimmers. It has blue undertones which become more apparent as more product is piled on. Soft and buttery in texture, this shade has an excellent pigmentation in a single layer and is easy to use and blend out.
Snuzzle is described as a metallic icy white with opalescent blue duochrome. An absolute beauty that changes colour when seen from different angles, it looks like a plain shimmery white eye shadow in the pan but when applied on the skin, the iridescent blue sheen becomes very noticeable. This fairly blendable shade applies smooth and silky with a mostly opaque colour payoff but has a chalky consistency.
Princess Sparkle is described as a metallic rich smokey turquoise. Although it goes on slightly sheer on the first swipe, it is buildable to a fully opaque coverage with just an additional two or three layers. This shade has very good pigmentation and adheres to the skin very well. On top of that, the formula has an incredibly smooth and silky texture even when applied with a light hand and it also does not budge when I tried to blend out the edges.
Swatch comparison for the cools against Lorac Mega PRO 3 Palette
APPLICATION & LOOKS
I’m no beauty guru especially when it comes to eye shadows, so here’s my humble take on the looks you can achieve with the My Little Pony palette. Also, how would this US$16 eye shadow palette fare on my primed lids? Let’s find out!
Apply Butterscotch as the base colour
Butterscotch (using Sigma E60 Large Shader Brush from the Mrs Bunny kit)
Butterscotch
Starshine and Blossom for a pop of colour
Cut crease with Princess Sparkle (using Sigma E47 Shader Crease Brush), followed by Skydancer on the outer corners for a more seamless transition from the blue to the pink
More Starshine (using Sephora Multitasker Shadow Brush #63) along the lower lash because, why not?
Add a shimmery highlight (Butterscotch) to the inner corners of your eyes for a brighter look
Peek-a-boo!
Final look (without eyeliner)
The meh choice of shades aside (I actually prefer the shades on the PUR Cosmetics palette), I must say that you are getting a huge bang for your buck out of this palette. For the price of US$16, I certainly did not expect the eye shadows to be this pigmented and blendable. They are pressed rather perfectly which is probably one of the reasons for the minimal to no kickback in the pans after usage. And yet, you could still get decent colour payoff out of most of them.
Needless to say, I am impressed with the quality and won’t mind dedicating space for more eye shadow palettes by ColourPop 😁 In fact, I just placed an order for 4 of their newest palettes 😆 #sorrynotsorry
Paired with my M·A·C lipstick in Gabriel Zamora
What are your thoughts about the palette? Let me know what you think in the comments below or take a quick poll!
Do stay tuned for the second part of my ColourPop × My Little Pony collection review where I will talk about two of the highlighters and Ultra Matte Lips.
Thanks for reading!
The ColourPop × My Little Pony collection is now available on ColourPop.com. Get the featured Sigma eye shadow brushes at 10% off here with code “FIONASEAH” upon checkout.
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