Zoeva Matte Eyeshadow Palette | Review

A few weeks ago I posted about the newest Zoeva Winter 2017 releases, which I was super excited about and couldn’t wait to get my hands on. The item I was most thrilled about (and you guys as well) was their newest all matte eyeshadow palette. By now, I have tried out almost all of their eyeshadow palettes, which contained a variety of both shimmers and mattes. I know from personal experience that their eyeshadows are amazing, but I was really curious to see if the quality of their all matte palette would be as great as their other palettes. What I also know from experience is that finding great shimmer shadows is easy, but finding affordable amazing matte eyeshadows can get quite difficult. Often, matte shadows are dry, chalky and not the easiest to blend. So if you’re curious to know how this new all matte eyeshadow palette by Zoeva performs, keep on reading!

As most of Zoeva’s palettes do, the matte eyeshadow palette comes in a cardboard sleeve with the exact same design as the actual palette. The palette itself is made out of a sturdy matte cardboard material that is super compact and feels durable and sturdy. Since this packaging is so thin and compact, it doesn’t contain a mirror or any brushes, just the 10 eyeshadow pans with their shade names right beneath each pan. You guys already know how much I love it when brands put the shade names close the actual pans instead of on some annoying plastic insert or on the back of the palette. Speaking of the back of the palette, the back has some additional information about the shadows as well as the ingredients list.

The design of this matte eyeshadow palette (and eyeshadow names) is clearly inspired by the late night city life. Both on the outside and inside the palette has black and white faded buildings on it and the ‘matte’ on the front has a rougher texture than the rest of the palette which is pretty cool. The black and white and faded buildings reminds me of the movie Sin City in a way.

Brand’s description:

Inspired by the calmness and beauty of a night stroll through the silent streets of a sleeping city, the ZOEVA Matte Eyeshadow Palette reveals a versatile range of mysteriously moody matte shades. Far from buzzing boulevards and bright neon lights, the highly pigmented and easy to blend shadows recall the dimmed lighting and melancholic atmosphere of a vibrant metropolis from dusk till dawn. With shades ranging from misty beige and gloomy brown to deep burgundy and muted red, create timelessly elegant, cosmopolitan makeup looks.

The formulation of the eyeshadows is enriched with vitamin E and is 100% free of parabens, mineral oils, perfume and phthalates. Made in Italy.

This palette comes with 10 all matte extremely warm neutral shadows. Right off the bat, I noticed the shadows were a little bit on the lighter side, with only a few darker shadows but no dark brown or black. For me personally, that’s something I don’t really mind but it can be annoying for those of you who like a dark smokey eye-look.

❤ Nighthawks: a light warm beige with a matte finish.
❤ Urban Culture: a muted warm medium brown with a matte finish.
❤ Through The Window: a vibrant warm medium orange with a matte finish.
❤ Cheap Bar: a muted warm reddish brown with a matte finish.
❤ Lost In Thoughts: a yellowish lighter warm brown with a matte finish.

❤ Across The Street: a soft yellow beige with a matte finish.
❤ Eerily Empty: a muted warm orange medium brown with a matte finish.
❤ Chat Late At Night: a darker reddish warm copper with a matte finish.
❤ Lonely City: a deep warm reddish plum with a matte finish.
❤ Two Clocks: a deep taupe neutral brown with a matte finish.

Across The Street (perfect blur shade) & Eerily Empty were extremely buttery soft with great pigmentation and color pay-off. Chat Late At Night was very pigmented and again, easy to work with. Lonely City & Two Clocks were the most powdery and chalky shadows in the palette. The intensity of both had to be build up, but they were easy to apply and blend out.

The formula of these shadows is extremely soft and smooth, with only a few exceptions that were a little bit powdery but only when swatched. The pigmentation and color pay-off is outstanding, this time without any exceptions. You definitely want to build up these shadows and go in with a lighter hand. The fall-out was minimal, but I do recommend tapping off the excess powder before applying the shadows. There’s a little bit of powder kick-up in the pan when you go in with your brush, but I’ve definitely seen worse!

Aside from Lonely City & Two Clocks, which had to be build up, the shadows were super easy and nice to work with. They all blended out effortlessly and didn’t need to be build up all that much.

I don’t have anything bad to say when it comes to the lasting-power of these eyeshadows either. When using an eyeshadow primer, these shadows last all day long on my eyelids without fading away or creasing.

My favorite and most-used shades are definitely Nighthawks (to set my eyeshadow primer and highlight my brow-bone), Urban Culture & Eerily Empty (transitions), Through The window (warm up any look) and Two Clocks (darken up the look).

As I mentioned before, I do wish this palette contained a deep brown or black, but there are definitely enough darker shadows you can build up to look quite intense.

Urban Culture, Chat late at Night, Nighthawks, Across the Street, Cheap Bar, Eerily Empty, Two Clocks, Through the Window, Lonely City: Talc, Zinc Stearate, Mica (Ci 77019), Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Polybutene, Octyldodecanol, Phenoxyethanol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Lauroyl Lysine, Dehydroacetic Acid, [May Contain. +/- CI 77491 (Iron Oxides), CI 19140 (Yellow 5 Lake), CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 77499 (Iron Oxides), CI 77492 (Iron Oxides), CI 75470 (Carmine), CI 16035 (Red 40 Lake), CI 77742 (Manganese Violet)]. // Lost in Thoughts: Talc, Aluminum Starch Octenylsuccinate, Mica (Ci 77019), Magnesium Stearate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Dimethicone, Phenoxyethanol, Dimethiconol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Dehydroacetic Acid, Cera Alba, [May Contain. +/- CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 77492 (Iron Oxides), CI 77491 (Iron Oxides)].

This palette may look like an ordinary matte palette, but it’s so much more than that! In my opinion, this is the perfect everyday basic eyeshadow palette you can grab to start off any look with or create an all matte eyeshadow look. Even though all of these shadows are matte, they are extremely smooth and easy to work with. Some of the shadows are a little bit on the dryer side, but they’re all really pigmented and staple colors. This is definitely a gorgeous palette to add to your wish-list if you adore warm-tones!

The new Zoeva Matte Eyeshadow Palette is now available exclusively on the official Zoeva website for €21,80 (15 g). Considering you get 10 gorgeous eyeshadows with great quality and equally amazing packaging, I honestly think this palette is a steal!