Ever since I first saw the packaging of The Balm Cosmetic’s makeup I was in love. They really go for that retro comic pop-art inspired graphic packagaing with hilarious pun names. The ‘Cindy-Lou Manizer’ highlight and the ‘Meet Matt(e) Hughes’ liquid lipsticks are just a couple of their fun and campy names.
I’ve read many glowing reviews over the years about their products but they are a little more pricey with most products retailing for over $35NZD for a bronzer, mascara or lipstick. But during the Beauty Week sale at Farmers I decided to dive in and give the brand a try!
I picked up the ‘Foiled Again Foil Eyeshadow Palette’ an eyeshadow palette containing 8 foil shades and 4 matte shades and themed around a superhero stopping a bankrobber. What a theme for an eyeshadow palette!
Also stick around until the end of this post to see a selection of looks I’ve made using this palette!
I was drawn to this palette not just because of the amazing lady-superhero packaging but also because the foil shades looked beautifully metallic in the pan. When I swatched them in store I knew they were a must buy. I am a sucker for all things glittery, sparkly or shiney. Also I felt that having the mix of matte and foil shadows made it very versatile.
Here are some daylight swatches of all of the colours found in the palette. I will break them down below in the rows of 4 in which they are packaged, but you can see here how shiney the foils are and how dead flat comparatively the matte shades are.
These first 4 make up the top row and are the shades: Mayhem, Busted, Cahoots and Behind Bars.
Mayhem is a lovely soft yellow gold shade that is perfect over the lid. Busted is a very dark rich gold shade which has a dark brown shift which gives it some beautiful depth. I thought Cahoots was originally a dark grey shade but it is actually more of a soft khaki/money green shade. And finally Behind Bars is a very reflective dark grey shade.
The middle row is made up of: Guilty, Red-Handed, Captured and Locked Up.
Guilty is a beautiful pinky berry colour which reminds me of sunsets. Red-Handed is a lovely super shimmery peach colour. Captured is a light dusky pink which looks incredible over the eyelid. Locked up is an icy grey with almost a lavender undertone.
The bottom row is the matte shades and consists of Unmasked, Arrested, Seized and Incarcerated.
Unmasked is a lovely orangey warm brown which is a perfect transition colour for warmer looks. Arrested is a very light beige and is actually finally a light enough beige to match my eyelids. Seized is a dark chocolatey brown which looks like the kind of crease colours I love. Incarcerated is a very cool medium brown and I think is the coolest toned brown I have!
All of the shadows apply pretty well. I use my finger for any foils on the lid so that I can pack them on for maximum shine and I like to use a dense brush to apply any to the crease or beyond and then will blend them out. They go on so smoothly they almost feel like cream shadows.
The matte shadows really need to be applied with a brush as they very solid and not at all dusty and have little to no fall out. I found the shade Arrested to be particularly stiff and I had to really work my brush around in it to get the pigment out.
Now for the looks!
This is just an everyday matte pinup eye look. I used Arrested on the Lid and Seized blended out into the crease. I also used Seized under my lower lash line.
This was a fun coloured smokey eye! I love doing these on days I just can’t be bothered. I use Captured on the inner half of my lid, Red-Handed on the outer half of my eye and blended into the crease. Finally I used Guilty to darken up the crease and shape the wing and took it under the eye.
This photo was used in my Leopard Lyra review but I loved this look so I thought I’d include it here too! I used Mayhem all over the lid and then Busted to darken up the crease and under they eye, you can really see the beautiful dark shift of the shade in this photo. I also used Unmasked to warm up the outer edge but I think it may have gotten lost in my eyeliner.
And this is my lovely cousin, I did her makeup with this palette for a party she was going to. I can’t remember exactly what I did but I know I used Captured and Mayhem on the lid with a bit of Busted and Seized in the crease. I also pulled Seized under the eye for some shadow. I used Arrested to highlight the brow bone. I also took Captured on a larger fluffy brush (very carefully) and used it as her highlight.
This is a very ‘soft glam’ look for me but I didn’t mind it as much as I thought I would! I used Captured over the inner half of the lid and blended it into the crease above, then I took Red-Handed over the outer half of my lid and blended that into the crease. I actually also used Guilty under my eye for a little more depth.
This palette usually retails for $69.99NZD here but because I bought it with 20% so I paid about $56NZD. I absolutely adore the shades in this palette and how most are so easy to work with. I probably would not have paid full price for this just because you don’t get a lot. This palette contains a total of 9.6 grams of eyeshadow which is only 0.8g of each individual one.
If you are looking for a palette with easy to wear shades with enough range to do some different looks then I really recommend this. Also the foils are so beautiful and buttery with an awesome shine payoff!
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