I probably should have listened to my intuition about this palette – I wasn’t completely sold on the concept but I really wanted to try Becca eye shadows since the quality looked stellar (and with Ingrid whispering in my ear).
I bought this in January – I was torn between the Ombre Rouge or the Ombre Nude (varying shades of brown), but in the end I went with the Rouge since the makeup artist recommended it over the Nude. The palette cost $48 CAD for 5 shades, with 1.6g of product each for a total of 8g for this palette – it is made in the US.
The palette is quite compact, and includes a good quality mirror:
It doesn’t have a lot wasted space: it measures 14.8 cm x 5cm x 1.3 cm. The casing is plastic made to look like a bronzed metal – it’s really sleek looking but it does tend to attract smudges.
In theory, this is a good basic warm matte palette that can be used on its own to create a complete eye look, or it can be used to supplement shimmery shadows. In reality, this palette is so boring! I forced myself to use this for a whole week and my resentment for this palette grew by the day.
There aren’t even any shade names, just numbers 1 through 5. But I’ve taken the liberty of naming them for you:
1 = vanilla yawn
2 = rose doze
3 = beige blah
4 = sienna snooze
5 = drab brown
😛 And here they are swatched:
Don’t get me wrong, the eye shadow quality is fine – the eye shadows are buttery smooth and the colours blend nicely, if not a little too easily away to nothingness. The pigmentation is light to medium and doesn’t build too much beyond medium (the swatches were 3 passes over the skin). I did find that the formula does last very well on the lids over primer (10+ hours) without creasing or fading. I also noticed that these aren’t the mattest mattes, the shades #2 and 3 have what I’d call a satin finish.
But I’m bewildered as to how I can use all 5 shades from this palette on my lids, and come out with a boring monotone eye look that looks like I used just one colour. 😕 I tried to create various placements of the colours for different looks but they all ended up looking the same: a gradated warm eye look… even the included guide didn’t help.
On the Becca site, the tagline for this palette is:
Five highly pigmented & blendable matte rouge shades designed for your eyes, but capable of so much more.
With the following photo:
Um, how about a No? That shade #4 is way too orange as a face contour! (It is a nice crease colour) And #2 or 3 as blush? Hmmm, ok, if I’m going for a “I just smeared dirt on my cheeks” look. I did try using #3 as a blush and it was just ok – it clung too much to my skin in patches and the colour did look muddy (sometimes products formulated to be eye shadows just don’t work well as blushes and vice versa). And I’m not falling for the “use this eye shadow wet” trick again!
Overall, it just lacks a wow factor for me. Everything is so middle of the road which is unusual for a brand like Becca. There isn’t even a stand-out shade in this palette – sometimes a weak palette is saved by one amazing shade. If you force me to choose my favourite shade, then I suppose I’d go with the middle shade, #3 aka Beige Blah (even my choice is so boring, I know!) I guess it comes down to expectation – I thought I’d be so impressed by the eye shadow quality and usefulness of this palette, but I just wasn’t.
As far as the value of the palette, at $48 for 5 colours ($9.60 per shade), I think you could do better than this. To me, even the Urban Decay Naked2 Basics ($36 for 6 shades) or Too Faced Natural Matte ($45 for 9 shades) would be better matte neutral palette options at comparable price points (although, I’ve not actually tried those palettes, they seem generally well reviewed). I’m scratching my head as to how I’d improve this palette, colour-wise… maybe something like this:
I kept #1, got rid of #2, moved #3 over and changed the rest… this reads more of “Ombre Rouge” to me… no? Here’s the original again:
*yawn*
Pros:
• Smooth texture and blends easily
• Long wearing
• Complete eye look using just this palette
• Good packaging
Cons:
• Medium pigmentation (not high pigment as claimed)
• Powdery – prone to fall out
• Expensive for what you get
• Boring! Zzzzz
Stash Worthiness: 4/10
I wouldn’t dissuade anyone from buying this, but just know its limitations. Do you have this palette or are planning on getting it?
I much prefer your version of the palette, The shades seem a bit meh, like they’d be nice shades as part of another palette but by themselves they are a bit boring!
Shame there isn’t a greyer toned – that could have been ‘Sardine Slap’ !!
LikeLike
Hahaha Sardine Slap! We need to make that into reality! 😛
You’re right, these colours would be fantastic as part of a larger palette – on their own I just feel underwhelmed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha I love the names you gave the colours. I find a lot of palettes I see have pretty boring colours. I agree about the using the eyeshadows as blush part too. I rarely think the formula works for cheeks and eyes x
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hehe, I felt a little mean but it was fun to name colours! Yes, I found that although these powders blend find in small concentrated sections like the eye area, it wasn’t so good trying to blend over my cheeks. I’ve tried blushes as eye shadows before and they tended to fade and crease.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree, it’s rare it would work as a blush and eyeshadow. Plus a colour you use as a eyeshadow doesn’t often work as a cheek colour. Haha not mean if the colours are bland, just witty☺ x
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ooh your palette looks much better…and your shade names, too! Too bad about the snooziness of the shade selection. I find a lot of palettes have too few deep shades so I don’t feel I can do much with them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think that’s part of the issue, the colours are so wishy washy and don’t add much dimension to my lids They’re called eye SHADOWS for a reason – to shade and add dimension to the eyes. These just sit there. I’m going to try to find ways to make these work – I have yet to actually incorporate other eye shadows with these mattes. I’m sure adding a shimmer or even a rosey matte will amp this up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, they look like nice basics but should have been part of a larger color selection. Hope you find a great way to combine them with other shades!
LikeLike
Do we own the same palette ??!!!!!!😳 I almost felt 😤reading your review, since you know how much I LOVE this one … 4/10 is so harsh, I have to reminder that we are all different and I guess I like my eye look to be natural /boring !!! 😋
I agree that it’s expensive $$$ compare to a Viseart palette or the KVD Shade + Light or even 5 MAC Shadows !
If a person reads your review and after reads mine, they will be really confuse !!!😂
Did Becca really say that “sienna snooze” would be a great face contour color ??!!!! Not TRUE … I also TOTALLY disagree with that statement !
I’m still hurting …😉😘
LikeLiked by 2 people
Aw I’m sorry. It goes to show that everyone is individual! I just wasn’t WOW’d by this palette. It’s good that we’re not the same… gives variety to the world! 😛 I wear almost 100% neutral shadows daily but this palette just makes my eyes look BORING!
I can’t wait to get my hands on the Viseart!!! I saw that Sephora now does carry the new 6 pans:
http://www.sephora.com/viseart-theory-palette-P408032
(currently all out of stock!) But I think I’ll stick to the 12 pan.
Don’t take this personally! ❤
LikeLike
I have been eyeing the Becca eye shadow palettes as well, I was afraid they would turn into mud though to! Maybe I will go for a Viseart as well!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have such high hopes for the Viseart!!! I can’t wait to get my hands on it!
LikeLike
Those names you gave the shades are hilarious, I started giggling and my dad, who’s here for a visit, started giving me weird looks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
“She’s done gone off the deep end” 😂
Glad it brought you some laughs!
LikeLike
He can’t judge me, he’s weirder than I am! 😛
LikeLike
WoW! Perfect colour combo that is ideal to use for any kind of neutral eye makeup look. Awesome! I particularly love that dark brown shade and creating a smokey eye look using that shade will be a celebrity inspired smokey eye look, isn’t it?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes you can certainly do a smokey look with the deepest shade but it isn’t that pigmented so I would have to build up the product a LOT.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Buildable is always better and it really works perfect for smokey eye look. Hi five!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can so understand that you bought this eyeshadow palette because the colors looks amazing! And I can so understand you disappointment. They way you describe how boring you feel them and that they all look like one big color after blending them is almost exactly how I feel about the Balm Meet Matt(e) Nude eyeshadow palette. Not exactly but I had so high expectations and it didn’t give me that wow effect. And also when an eyeshadow palette says matte and all you find is satinated shadows something’s wrong! I haven’t reviewed it yet since lack of time but will as soon as I’ve go the time.
😘💕
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for understanding! I’m wearing this Becca palette today in honour of this review but I know that over time, I will reach for this less and less.
I also have that theBalm Meet Matte(e) Nude palette too and you’re right, overall, the palette is nice but not WOW. I must admit I hardly ever reach for it. I’d love to read your review on it!
LikeLike
Awwwwww looked pretty tho!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It does look pretty in the pan, I know! I’m not tossing it away… I’ll try to incorporate in into other eye shadows but as a stand alone palette, it is a yawner!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Awe mannnn! This palette has been on my wants list for a while lol. I’ve never swatched it as Becca isn’t available at my Sephora. But I’ll take your word for it 😛 and kinda looking at it and reading you’re review you’re totally right. The shades look mehhh and I have better quality shadows than these. I own the too faced matte palette and it’s awesome! And just like many people stated I a thousand times love your palette choice better lol:D
LikeLiked by 1 person
I say stick to what you have. This one isn’t worth the money! IF, you do get to play with it in person, I suggest you can go try it out for yourself to see if you like the colours. Thanks, I’m glad you like my colours – I guess it’s easy to be critical about the palette when I’m sitting at home adjusting the colours on my screen haha!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lol you should make palettes 😛 your choices are always better than the original ones !
LikeLike
Jeez. How disappointing. The Ottawa Sephoras stopped carrying Becca, and I refuse to order anything without trying it first. I think I will go ahead and order their topaz highlighter because a similarly coloured friend of mine looks great in it. Back to the shadows, that’s a pricey disappointment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Topaz highlighter looks beautiful! I do have the Becca highlighter in Opal and it is AMAZING. The texture on that thing is like churned high fat cream! That is why I’m scratching my head why they can’t get this palette right.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s it. I’m ordering that highlighter RIGHT NOW.
LikeLike
This shades in this palette look like they should be for anything but the eyes. The palest shade would make a good base colour and #2 and #3 look like they should be blush colours in a proper blush palette, I wouldn’t use them as blushes from this palette. As you mentioned #4 as a bronzer – hell no! #5 would make a nice lipstick colour though 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re right, #5 WOULD make a nice lip colour, haha! I like the way you think Chanelle! 🙂 I was really hoping this would have been an amazing palette but it just was a let down.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry to hear, such a shame when that happens.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love the names you gave the shades! Lol
LikeLiked by 1 person
Teehee! Sometimes you just gotta have fun or else you get mad! 😛
LikeLike
Omg you are so lucky you can pay for becca’s products
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t have a lot of Becca, I just started getting into it this year. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
This looks really pretty in the pan! Rose Doze and Beige Blah appeals to me especially…LOL love the names by the way ;)Too bad it was actually just meh, though. Becca products aren’t cheap, so it sucks that it was such a bland palette! And on what planet would #4 look good as a contour?! Yikes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha, Rose Doze is my favourite fake name, lol! I hope someone at Becca reads this and has a chuckle too. 😛
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lol on the names you gave these shadows! I can see what you mean as it being boring and limited. Sorry it didn’t work out for you. 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! I was initially skeptical about this palette just because some of the shades seem so similar to each other. I was also worried they wouldn’t show up on my skin. Overall, just a disappointing palette.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry to hear you didn’t get along with it, but at least you produced a review that was great fun to read. Even as a neutral lover I have to agree with you that this all seems a bit bluh. The palette you created is so much better.
xo Anne – Doves & Roses
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m glad you enjoyed the read! I think I’m at my best when I review products that didn’t work for me? Maybe that’s my niche… being a crabby pants!? 😆
LikeLiked by 1 person
hihi I think we all find those easier to write and more fun to read 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is too bad that it didn’t work for you – I know that Ingrid loves this one! But as you said, everyone is different – our colour preferences, skin tones etc.
The colour names were pretty hilarious 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Teehee, thanks. I had the help of a thesaurus to come up with some of those words for “boring”.
Yes, I think Ingrid kicked me out of the group because I don’t like this! 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aw, that awkward meh feeling on a high end product. With that price tag, it is just hard to forgive them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I always have a difficult time admitting a high priced item sucks. It’s that cognitive dissonance. I mean, more money = better, right?
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is hard for me to admit money went down the drain *sigh* had that moment with the MAC mineralised liquid foundation
LikeLike
Love it!! 💛💚
LikeLike
Too bad you didn’t like it! I really quite like this palette but I do agree with you on the sense that it is fairly boring but I guess I am a pretty boring gal haha! Never realised though that they were marketing it to be used on your face too! The supposed ‘contour’ shade is one I would definitely not put near my face haha!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wasn’t aware they were marketing this for the face until after I bought it and was doing research – how silly of them! I’m going to incorporate other colours from other palettes / singles to jazz this up – on its own, this palette is snoozeville!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know very strange! Yeah there is some nice shades that would work nicely with other shadows! Hope you can make it work!
LikeLike
Love how honest you are in your reviews! That way we can really trust on how good or bad a product is. I do not own something from Becca, but I am keen to try something!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aw thanks! I like reading honest reviews – it helps me decide what to buy. I trust my peers more than the products’ claims! Becca in general is a fabulous brand – this was the only item I’ve tried that I was disappointed with.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think this is the first time I’ve seen someone call a palette boring and going a step further to name it!!! HAHAHA!!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hehe, glad you enjoyed. It was the only way to make this palette more interesting for me. I will forever think of that 2nd shade as Rose Doze. 😛
LikeLiked by 1 person
its beautiful!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh wow, you’re back! I was wondering how you’ve been!
LikeLike
trying to but struggling to find time at the moment, missing blogging and speaking to you all 😦 how is everything? 🙂
LikeLike