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Catrice 5 in a Box Mini Eyeshadow Palette [050 - Blue Smokey Look] Review

By Maychiri's Thoughts - March 22, 2023

Hello there!

 
The first of two reviews for this week is the Catrice 5 in a Box Mini Eyeshadow Palette, in the shade 050/Blue Smokey Look.
 
I was browsing the products that were being discontinued to make way for the (then) new Autumn 2022 line of products and I literally didn’t know what to get. I originally wanted this eyeshadow palette in a different shade, a more mauve, neutral shade, but it was sold out. The only ones remaining were this blue one and two warm brown ones, which were way too warm-toned for me. So I settled for the blue one. Did I like it? Let's see!

 
Packaging: it’s a very slim but quite sturdy plastic case with a lid that closes quite tightly, but it doesn’t actually click to close. I don’t think it’s completely airtight, to be honest, and I would prefer it clicked so I know it’s closed securely. I like how the lid has two open positions, one at roughly 45° and one fully open; what I mean by that is that the lid stops at those points. 
 
 
 
 
The lid is clear so that you can see the colours inside. This is a very similar packaging to Wet n Wild’s Color Icon 5-Pan Palette, but this one has smaller pans and just looks more elegant.

Ingredients: Damask rose (Rosa damascena) flower oil, vitamin E for nourishment and no parabens. The scent is barely there, and smells a tiny bit like roses. The expiration date is 24 months after opening.
 
Shades inside the pans
This is a grayscale smokey palette with the addition of a lovely denim blue shade, to break the monotony. There are 5 shades inside: a shimmery white, a matte light gray, a matte dark gray/gunmetal gray, a shimmery rich blue, and a matte black/charcoal. This is a wonderful selection of shades for a complete makeup look! It’s got everything you’d need for a grayscale smoky eye with a touch of blue! My absolute favourite shade is shade 4, the blue shimmer, it’s so beautiful!

Shades swatched on my eyes

 
 
 
 
 
The pigmentation of every single one of these shades is amazing! They all look super intense with just one layer and look stunning with multiple layers applied! I think that the most pigmented shade is shade 5, the charcoal, but they are all neck-to-neck in this regard. 
 
 
 
 

 
Let’s start with shade 1: it’s really well pigmented, but since it is a shimmer, it may need more layers to get to its true intensity. Shade 2 is super pigmented and looks awesome on pale skin, although it does kind of blend into the skin a little bit. Shade 3 is also super intense and richly pigmented. Shade 4 is extremely vibrant but, again, since it is a shimmer, I needed a couple of layers to get it to really be extremely intense. It still looks great with one layer. Shade 5 is extremely pigmented and you do need to have a steady and light hand with it, but it is actually really easy to make it look neat, and not smudge everything up. 
 
 
 
The two shimmers are, of course, more easily applied with fingers than brushes, but their super soft, almost creamy formula means that they can be applied with brushes, too. The blue shade seems to be ever so slightly more soft and creamy than the white. The mattes, on the other hand, are best applied with brushes, especially the charcoal shade, as it is way too intense to risk smudging it with fingers. The other two mattes can easily be applied with fingers, though. All the shades apply super evenly, even the shimmers! I seriously love the formula of these shadows, it’s so soft and amazingly easy to use! It’s just amazing! And not to mention that the finished look is so intense and strikingly beautiful, way more so than I ever thought it would be. 
 
 
 
The moment I saw the finished look I knew that I had fallen in love with palette!
 
 

The textures are: shimmery (shade 1, shade 4), and matte (shade 2, shade 3, shade 5). The mattes feel soft and creamy and are a joy to use as there is absolutely no fall-out or bleeding or smudging. This formula is noticeably softer than a lot of other matte eyeshadows. The shimmers are just a tiny bit more creamy than the mattes, so they are just as pleasant to use. They stick to my lids without dispersing everywhere, so, there is no fall-out with them either. 

When applied over the gray shades, the shimmers need a couple of layers to really pop; I imagine that that wouldn’t be necessary if they were being applied to nude shades or clean skin. I had absolutely no issues applying the white shimmer to the inner eye or the browbone; especially on the browbone it just like melted into the skin beautifully! The blue shimmer is stunningly intense when you just pack it onto the lid, instead of brushing it on. 

The grays were super easy to use to make a dark outer V and it was easier than usual to pack the pigment into my crease, making it look very intense. All the shades are incredibly easy to blend, with the shimmers being a touch easier to blend and the charcoal shade being somewhat more difficult to blend (it is intensely dark, so it’s not surprising). Even then, the charcoal shade is still really easy to blend, which is great, since black eyeshadows can be notoriously difficult to blend at times. 
 
 
 
This ease of application and blending has surely got at least something to do with the rose oil in these shadows, as they are not one bit powdery. In short, they are all awesomely easy to use and blend!
 
They all feel invisible on my lids, and when I touch them they are incredibly soft, thanks to the rose oil. This makes these shadows stupidly comfortable to wear!
 
 

 
 
The longevity of these shadows is phenomenal! There is barely any creasing with any shade, but the charcoal shade is particularly durable: there wasn’t so much as a trace of creasing after 6 hours of wearing it without a primer! Black eyeshadows usually always crease, and badly, so it is mind-boggling how Catrice managed to make it so this black shade doesn’t. Even the shimmers barely crease! It’s spectacular!
 
 
 

And guess what? These shadows were incredibly easy to remove, especially with a specialised makeup remover. I had no issues removing the dark charcoal shade, the shimmers didn’t leave any residual shimmer particles, and there was not a trace of any staining! 

 

 

So, all in all, I am really astonished by just how great this palette is to use, and especially by how stunning the finished smoky eye look is! I don’t normally use blue eyeshadows often, as I feel like blue eyeshadows can look not that good on my green eyes, but this palette is god-tier! The shadows are all super soft and so easy to apply that it’s a breeze making a smoky eye. The mattes and shimmers are equally good, and I enjoy using them both equally. Both can be used with either fingers or brushes, and when applied they always look even and intense. They all blend super easily. And since the shades have been carefully picked to coordinate perfectly, the end result is a gorgeous smoky eye with a stunning blue pop of colour. I honestly didn’t think the blue would look so good just from looking at it in the pan; from the first touch I realised that it’s going to be a stunner! Without it the look is kinda boring, but with it it is daring and dramatic. And they are all also removed in a blink of an eye. I literally adore this little palette, so if you happen to find it somewhere, don’t think too much. Feel free to buy it because you will not be disappointed! It’s just such a shame that it’s being discontinued, it’s always the great products that go away too soon! Absolute recommendation!

 

 

Colours used in the photos:
 
Blue look: Shade 1 + Shade 2 + Shade 3 + Shade 4 + Shade 5
Gray look: Shade 1 + Shade 2 + Shade 3 + Shade 5
Intense silver smoky eye: Shade 2 + Shade 3 + Shade 5; Makeup Revolution Forever Flawless Eyeshadow Palette (Constellation): Cluster + Fractal + Mercury

 


Rating: 9/10

Would buy again? YES (if it wasn’t being discontinued, sigh)



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