Occasionally I'll suck it up, and venture - hand sanitizer ready to go - into that big blue building. Usually it's for something I can't find elsewhere, like the brand Hard Candy. Hard Candy has been a brand that has surprised me in the last few years. The quality oftentimes exceeds the lower price tag - which is always an awesome feeling. I've been looking to try their eyeshadows for some time now, so I found the perfect opportunity when I found this palette - which comes in 5 color options total - for a mere $6!
Don't be fooled by the photo - the palette itself really isn't that giant. Its about 2/3 of the length of the Urban Decay Naked Palette and a little over half of the width. The lace accent is only on the lower half of the top lid, and does arrive with quite an indent because of the way the brand packaged the included eyeliner along with it. The lid itself is tough - its definitely not going to fly open on you, but it can be a pain to open.
Green With Envy contains 10 eyeshadows - which are somewhat organized by shade, as the more neutral shades are on the left and the greener shades are on the right. There is also a half mirror on the lid.
Starting at the left end of the palette, the shadows swatched from left to right are;
- An opalescent pale taupe. This shade bears a good similarity to Urban Decay YDK, but may be a bit more gray. It was a little too gray to be a brow highlight, but made a good overall base. Good pigmentation.
- A light brown with neutral tones. This was a good allover lid to browbone shade and had a shimmery finish without being too frosty. Pretty, pigmented, but not all too unique.
- A warm medium brown. This one had pretty great pigmentation and made a great lid shade. Minor shimmer.
- A deep, espresso shade. Like the one before it, this shade has only a minor bit of shimmer, and wasn't really frosty at all. This shade made a wonderful crease shade and blended very well.
- A dark chartreuse - This one goes back to the super shimmery, almost frosty finish. It was actually pretty darn easy to work with and made a great base for a super gradient green look. I was surprised that this shade was flattering on me, as I normally can't do something so yellow toned.
- A dark sage green with silver microglitter. I was a bit wary about this one because of the glitter, but when applied with care, the shade itself is really pretty. It also only caused a small amount of fallout - like the one stubborn particle of glitter that would not leave my left cheekbone!
- A subdued, dark emerald. Not really my favorite of the bunch, as it was just a little..blah. It was a touch sheerer then the rest of the bunch and had a soft shimmer to it. It did, however, work well as a transition crease shade.
- A blackened emerald teal shade with a shimmery finish. This shade reminded me a bit of UD Loaded, but a little more blue. I wore this in the crease and it was super pretty.
- A medium golden olive. This shade, surprisingly, was my favorite of the bunch. Its in the same shade family as MAC Sumptuous Olive, and would probably pair quite well with it. It has a shimmery, almost metallic finish and was great allover the lid.
What surprised me is that there really weren't any duds in this bunch. There were a couple dupable shades, but other than that there was pretty great quality across the board. I didn't encounter any issues with sheerness or chalkiness, and all were more or less easy to apply. The more metallic shades, however, fared very well with a flat brush versus a fluffy one. The wear time of the shades in this palette were also quite good. Over just primer I had at least 8-10 hours before I noticed any kind of fading - and they never really faded away or creased, but rather just became a touch less vibrant.
For quick testing purposes I broke this palette up into only two looks (so I could get it tested quicker) - wearing the first four shades on the left along with the last shade on the right in one, and the five remaining greener shades in the other. The great thing about this palette, is that since these shades work together so well, its going to be pretty easy to get a whole lot of different looks out of this. My biggest complaint is the lack of a browbone highlight. If its a one and done palette, it needs a brow highlight - In my opinion - so if this is something that you are looking to travel with, you may want to throw a single highlight shade in your bag with it.
Overall -
Pros:
- Good pigmentation across the board.
- All shades worked well together, many possible looks.
- Longwearing
Cons:
- Needs a browbone shade.
- Could use a better range of finishes.
I'm quite pleased with this palette - at a $6 price tag for 10 pretty great eyeshadows, I can probably deal with having to lug around a separate eyeshadow for a browbone highlight - yes, I'm really that stuck on it! I've yet to try any of the other four color options, but Green With Envy is a go!
8/10
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