Hi! I'm reviewing another makeup palette today; this one the Kleancolor Classic Nude Eyeshadow Palette. I received this from Makeup Tutorials, the site I received the City Color Nudes Palette I reviewed a couple of months ago.
I entered a contest Makeup Tutorials was having in early August and after entering, you first get the option to share the contest with others to get more entries, then you get offered a site-exclusive makeup product if you pay the shipping. I entered a contest to win the much-buzzed Artis Brush set, and was offered a nude shadow palette if I paid shipping costs. I wish I'd gotten a screenshot of the palette they showed because it looked so beautiful and that's why I ordered. I received the Kleancolor palette a few days later and to be honest, I was a little disappointed. The images in the preview were a bit different than the palette I later received (maybe color brightening filters?) and I haven't had many good experiences with Kleancolor palettes so I was underwhelmed. But before I get to the palette itself, let's run through the quick deets first.
So how'd I get it?
How much was it?
Because I ordered it as part of a contest, I only had to cover the shipping costs, which were $5.00. If you'd like to order the palette from Kleancolor's website, you'll be paying around $10.99.
Have I used this brand of products before?
I used to buy Kleancolor products because they were cheap but stopped using them because I didn't like them. I own a couple of them now but I only use them during Halloween. I still use Kleancolor nail polishes, which retail for $1 at a local store.
Where can I buy Kleancolor products?
I can usually find Kleancolor products at a local beauty/jewelry store called The Jewelry Box. That's the only store that carries most of the Kleancolor nail polish line. I might occasionally find a couple of products at a local dollar store, but I'd suggest buying directly from Kleancolor's website if you're interested in the products because there's a lot more available.
Now that we've got the quick deets out of the way, let's crack into the palette!
I try to keep my makeup reviews filter-less so that you can see how they truly photograph, but this picture was pulling a little dull on all of the shades so I have Aviary's food enhancement filter on it. All of the other photos are unfiltered. Anyway, the Classic Nude palette is a 24-color variety of matte and shimmery nude shadows. I swatched all 24 shades and I included how the pigment shows up on three different skintones, which you'll see below in the swatches. There's a mix between lighter and darker colors, but because the color payoff isn't consistent on every skintone, I wanted to show all of them so you could decide for yourself.
Swatches
I'm still trying to figure out how I want to do my swatches, so please bear with me while I try things out and decide what I like. I knew I wanted to start including more skintones in my beauty reviews, but thankfully I didn't have to look far to find my subjects. None of them read the blog but big thanks to my mom (middle) and sister-in-law (top), and even bigger thanks to my little brother (heehee) for letting me borrow your arms so I could rub eyeshadow all over 'em. lol Both sets of swatches were done outdoors, but the left side is in direct sunlight, while the right was under some shade.
Direct sunlight makes this row look a lot more vivid on all skintones, but I noticed that many of the shades looked the same on light and medium skintones. I was really surprised at how different the last color looked on the different skintones; if you zoom into the picture it looks charcoal on the top, a metallic gray/blue in the middle, and a shimmery gray on bottom. This row seems to have a lot of similar colors in it.
My absolute favorite color in the entire palette is the gold, which is the third swatch from the left. I love the way it pops on medium and darker skintones. It washes out on lighter complexions though, which is a bummer. One thing I wasn't particularly fond of in this row was how ashy it looks on medium skintones; while there was some pigmentation at the top of the lines (because I had to dig into the palette to get a good swatch), the colors look pretty similar but in contrast, these colors really pop on lighter skintones.
This row looked the best on lighter complexions, both in and out of direct sunlight. Deeper skintones make these look similar and a bit ashy, especially under shade. As you can see with the darker colors (and a few of the lighter ones), there's quite a bit of crumbling at the top. These colors are more vivid when applied with a finger, so watch out for fallout.
My notes:
--Felt very satiny to the touch, but the dark shadows had a harder surface
--Many of the colors intensify under the sun or pull a little metallic depending on the skintone
--Certain colors swatch totally different depending on the skintone
--Many of the colors required me to load the product up on my finger in order to get a good swatch because of the lack of pigmentation
--Many of the shadows crumble and can cause quite a bit of fallout
--Other shadows, mostly the lighter ones, show up a little chalky
-- The best ways to apply the shadow for the best color payoff are to use either a damp brush or load up product on the fingers
--Applying with a dry brush on certain skintones causes the shadow to look rather dull; more shimmer shows up than an actual color
--The shadows last longer in swatches than on the eyelid; I didn't notice a difference between a primed and non-primed eyelid
--Many of the lighter shadows blur into the same cream/gold shimmery shade when smudged out a bit
--Removal is easy, probably due to the low pigmentation of some of the shades--a basic makeup wipe would be enough to remove it without much trouble
I'd initially had this all written out in the way I typically do my reviews (pros/cons), but I was reading back through it before I published the post and realized that nobody in their right damn mind would have read all of that. I'll be lucky if you read what I've got now. If you've been here before then you know I'm long-winded so this was my best attempt at TL;DR'ing you. lol
Overall, the Classic Nude palette is alright. I will say that there are nude palettes being offered by other affordable companies with more pigmentation and variety in the shades included, so if that's what you're in the market for I'd recommend a different palette. For an $11, 24-shade palette, I'd like something with less fallout, colors that don't look quite as similar, and don't look as chalky/ashy on deeper skintones.
I have to admit to being a little surprised; I think between the years I first bought a palette and now, the formula's been changed a bit. So even though I have a few complaints with the Classic Nude palette, it's a bit better than the earlier shadow palettes. Just don't expect to apply these shadows like you would shadows from other brands--taking it straight from brush to eye--because you won't get the color payoff you're after. Now for fairer skintones like my sister-in-law's, many of these colors apply beautifully. I can still recommend it if you don't mind putting in a little elbow grease to make the colors work for you. For those with deeper skintones though, I wouldn't recommend it. Many of the shades end up looking similar and I would say you could use them for transition or base shades but because many of them look metallic or shimmery, I wouldn't advise it. If you'd like metallic top shades for your makeup looks though, then go for it. But personally, I wouldn't pay $11 for a palette full of similar shades, most of which don't show up as vividly on the eyes.
If you have this palette, what are your thoughts on it? As for the swatches, would you prefer I continue doing natural light vs sun swatches in cases like this where the colors change? Let me know what types of swatches you prefer. Per usual, I hope you enjoyed this post and I'll see you soon!
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