Jump to Eye Looks
Jump to Review
I’m going to say Sorry, NOT SORRY, for the amount of Colourpop that will be coming on these Makeup Sunday posts. I’ve just been loving all of their products and releases lately, and they’re all so affordable, it’s so easy to just make another order. I’ve picked up a lot of their new palettes lately, and it’s all just made me excited about new makeup again. This is an affordable makeup blog always, and Colourpop just fits right into that, while coming out with such unique and fun things.
And this is the first of a series of Colourpop palette reviews! I got a stack of them, and this palette was the first one I knew I had to play with.
This is the Main Squeeze palette, and it’s the red addition to Colourpop’s monochromatic palette series. It’s one of their 9 pan smaller square palettes.
This retails for $12 like all of their other monochromatic palettes. You can sometimes catch this on sale as well! But for $12 it’s a solid little palette.
I wanted to show the outer box on this one as well, since it was just so adorable. This came out in a whole watermelon themed collection, and that shows in the packaging as well. I always love Colourpop’s packaging, and think it’s always so creative and fun.
Inside, the actual palette is one of their square plastic palettes. It’s obviously red, and has little seeds to match the watermelon theming.
Inside, you have a large mirror that takes up the top, and then the 9 shades. The shades have the names printed underneath them, which is always so nice, since they often release shades as singles from their palettes.
There are 5 matte shades: ‘Frosé’, ‘Like It’s Hot’, ‘Big Gulp’, ‘Seed Money’ and ‘Red Bottoms’; 1 satin shade: ‘Home Slice’; and then 3 shimmers: ‘Juicy Fruit’, Maraschino’, and ‘Bay Watch’.
From bottom to top here, we have: ‘Frose’ – a dark peachy matte; ‘Juicy Fruit’ – a golden shimmer with a touch of a red flash; ‘Home Slice’ – a bright red satin; ‘Like It’s Hot’ – a bright juicy red matte; ‘Maraschino’ – a red shimmer with golden sparkle; ‘Big Gulp’ – a burnt orange matte; ‘Bay Watch’ – a red toned bronze; and ‘Red Bottoms’ – a dark almost cabernet brown matte.
I’m not going to lie, looking through theses 3 looks made me really happy! I think this is my favorite “3 Looks, 1 Palette” I’ve done so far. Just with how I challenged myself to show that you can get some different looks from this monochromatic palette, and I just had fun doing this overall. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did! I’m loving keeping and recording the different looks I do.
Look #1: I used all the range of red shades to create a red look with more depth.
For the transition I used ‘Frosé’, and then ‘Like It’s Hot’ farther down. I used ‘Red Bottoms’ in the outer corner, ‘Maraschino’ on the inner 2/3 of the lid, and ‘Bay Watch’ on the outer 3rd of the lid.
Look #2: For the next look, I took more of the orange toned and bronzey shades. This was a little more “wearable” while still incorporating the red tones.
In the crease I used ‘Big Gulp’, and then ‘Seed Moment’ lower down. I used ‘Red Bottoms again in the outer corner and then ‘Juicy Fruit’ all over the lid.
Look #3: Lastly, this is a more bold, one shadow look that really just showcases the red and makes it the star of the show. I used ‘Like It’s Hot’ in the crease, and then ‘Home Slice’ on the lid. It’s the most simple, but I think my most favorite! I need to try out more one shadow looks with statement colors.
I also wanted to use this look to show the two bright red shades, ‘Like It’s Hot’ and ‘Home Slice’ together. ‘Like It’s Hot’ is matte, while ‘Home Slice’ is more of a satin shade with a touch of shine to it. However, once on the eye, even packed onto the lid, it does just appear as a matte. You can see, that when both are used and blended out, they look pretty well identical on the lid, which is my one complaint about the palette. I wish one of these shades was switched out for something different.
Well, I’m going to say it now, so it’s no secret: I absolutely love Colourpop’s shadow formula. All of the ones I’ve used before are blendable, pigmented and just so easy to work with, and they’re just so goddamn affordable that I never feel guilty about recommending them. (But I’ll always still call out when there are shades or formulas that don’t work, or deviate from their high standard, don’t worry).
This palette is no exception to that high standard. With bright, sometimes difficult shades like reds, they can be dry and tough to blend out on the eyes, or just not pigmented and patchy. I didn’t have any problems with these shades. They were stunning, and I loved finally having a bright red matte that I can use in other looks.
The mattes do have a touch of kick-up, especially in the pan when dipping a brush in, but I didn’t experience any fallout during application. I did have to build up the lighter transition shades a touch, but I prefer that to really get a smooth blend throughout my crease and they built up easily. For the super bright red matte, that shade is very pigmented right off the bat, so it can be intimidating. I definitely recommend going in and picking up a little product at a time, and working slowly. Because of that, and the boldness of the color, it can seem like it takes a little longer to blend out to a smooth gradient, but that’ll be the case with any sort of bold color (especially contrasting on my fair skin). Even when I got a little bit too wild and brought color up too far, I was able to blend and smooth everything out.
For the shimmers, I found they picked up best with a denser flat brush, or with your finger. They applied smoothly to the lids. I did have to pack them on more, just pick em up and press with my brush instead of pulling it across the lid, which is a technique I use with most shimmer shades. And of course, as with most shimmer shades, these will be even bolder on the eyes when foiled, or used over a sticky glitter base.
‘Home Slice’ was the one shade I noticed that was a touch drier and harder pressed than the others. It was a satin, but when blended out, it performed on the eyes like a matte. It did take a touch more blending because of that drier texture, but it wasn’t anything completely unworkable.
The main con with this palette is the one that others have brought up, which is for a monochromatic palette, some of the shades can look too similar, and will give you many of the same looks on the eyes. Especially in the case that I talked about with ‘Home Slice’ and ‘Like It’s Hot’. I get needing to stay within a monochromatic theme, but I do think there could have been some different tones and shades of red within this 9 pan scheme. But I’m still very happy with it, and am glad to add it to my collection!
***
This is definitely a bold color palette, and for that I know it won’t appeal to everyone. If you’re looking to add red shadows into your collection overall, this is a great affordable way to get those shades without breaking the bank. But as I always say, it’s about your own preferences and style choices!
********
Upcoming Reviews
Nails: Zoya Barefoot Collection • Essie Glazed Days • China Glaze You Do Hue Sesame Street Collection • Essie Gorge-ous Geodes
Makeup: Colourpop Sweet Talk Palette • Wet N Wild Pacman Collection • Elf Haul
***
Follow me!
@GingerlyPolished
***
Other Makeup Sunday posts:
LA Girl Haute Haute Heat Eyeshadow Palette in ‘Aloha Vibes’
Wet N Wild Crystal Cavern FULL COLLECTION
GINGERLY POLISHED 