So unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, the name ‘Kylie Cosmetics’ rings a bell, right? The ‘reality’ star turned beauty guru Kylie Jenner launched her business at the start of 2016, following the popularity of her exclusive liquid lipsticks, ‘Kylie Lip Kit’ the previous November. Ever since then, her famous lip kits and glosses have been snapped up almost instantly with each restock on her site. As impossible as it is to obtain one of these exclusive beauty staples, it’s even harder to get your hands on her latest product, the punny and clerevly named ‘KyShadow Palette’. Kyshadow is a bronze hued, nine colour, eyeshadow palette, which the 19-year-old social media star claims is ‘your secret weapon to create the perfect Kylie eye’. Well we’ll just see about that.
These tears are because of the cost of the product, not the ingredients. I swear.
After having been glued to my laptop for an hour before the launch time and despite demand exceeding supply, I found myself looking at a confirmation email from Miss Jenner’s team. The palette itself retails for $42 usd. Roughly each palette works out at €38, plus standard shipping is €14 for delivery within the Republic of Ireland. So basically I spent €52 on an eyeshadow palette, but I can justify the splurge for research purposes. I swear!
The palette itself contains two shimmery shades, titled Quartz and Goldstone as well as light brown and taupe shades such as Topaz and Tiger eye. The shade Citrine is a muted orange, while the final three shades, Hermatite, Bronzite and Obsidian, lingering between a chestnut and mahogany brown to a matte black finish.
When I first swatched the shades, I was pretty impressed with the pigmentation and the finish, aside from one; Goldstone. From the rave reviews I had seen online I had high hopes for the shimmery tone, but I was disappointed when it was slightly more sheer than the others. Whether it’s a problem with the formula or just the shade itself, I have to admit it was a bit of a let-down.
As far as wear, the eyeshadow stayed in place all night, and the colours when blended created a gorgeous bronze that could rival Kylie Jenner’s look. However, I must put this out there as a disclaimer, the palette is also quite small and compact. When I opened the package, I was a bit stunned that the palette was scarcely bigger than a post it note. Realistically there are cheaper dupes for this product, and if you can’t get your hands on one of Kylie’s eyeshadows why not try ShanXO’S 18 colour eyeshadow and lipstick palette which retails at a much cheaper and far more cheerful €12.97.
Overall, Kylie, you may be one of the Kweens on Instagram, but this palette is yet to become royalty.
Verdict: Not worth going broke to go bronze.
Aileen O’Leary.