I showed you the pictures of the Smashbox Eye Wish Look Book palette early this week and I told you I’d be back with the swatches. Tada! Here we are! 😀 Thought I’d get it out for you so you have the weekend to think over it 😉 It is rather picture heavy so do be warned. You can see more pictures of the palette itself if you click back to the previous post.
Quickly to recap. The Eye Wish Palette is a limited edition palette from Smashbox Cosmetics for Christmas 2010 and it comprises 12 powder eyeshadow, 4 cream liners, 1 mini DNA Mascara and 1 mini Primer, all for RM229. Broken down, its about RM14 per eyeshadow with free mascara and primer … if you like math 😛
Its a fairly decent price for a fairly decent palette I reckon, but only if you like the colours, which are a little more muted then I expected. I was very taken in by the vibrancy of colour in the Masquerade Eyeshadow palette, and I do love that one. This one just seems more muted to look at. Not that it doesn’t work though 😉
Also, there are blues and turquoises but where’s the green? Hmm… It isn’t quite Christmas without a touch of green 🙂 But griping aside, the eyeshadows aren’t bad, provided you use a brush. It isn’t chalky not glittery. I find it shows up better with a brush than when you use fingers, especially for the matte colours. If you like greater intensity, that’s where the lid primer comes in. The swatches below will show you the difference with and without the primer underneath. I’ve also shared some thoughts on the Smashbox Eye Wish palette vs the Urban Decay Book of Shadows III (NYC) for those wondering 🙂
Like the Masquerade Eyeshadow Palette, the Eye Wish Palette has a clever grid layout of eyeshadow colours too. If you run down the grid vertically, you will notice that there are 4 colour families – brown, purple, blue and grey with corresponding cream liner. Good when you want to do a gradational look.
If you run across the grid horizontally, you will find similarly complementing colours in each of the colour families for those who like to mix colours. But if you are like me, then you’d likely just mix it all up and play around 🙂
Here are the swatches swatched left to right. Swatches on top are direct on skin. Second layer are the same colours over the lid primer which appear more intense. Colour descriptions are my own.
Nos. 1 (gold with shimmer), 2 (light greyed lilac with shimmer), 3 (matte cream) and 4 (pale pink with shimmer) swatch light. These are the highlight shades. Nothing very exciting here but good for blending.
Nos. 5 (bronze with shimmer), 6 (lavender with shimmer), 7 (light blue with shimmer) and 8 (light grey with shimmer) are the medium shades and swatch a little more pastel. These work well for all over lid colour and accent. You can see that the colour shows up more intense over primer. I swatched with my fingers. With a brush it shows up better even without primer.
Nos. 9 (brown with shimmer), 10 (matte purple), 11 (matte turquoise blue) and 12 (matte black) are the most pigmented and deepest shades. These work well in the crease or along the lashline and can also work as lid colours. Again, they look brighter over primer and when you use a brush. I swatched with fingers.
The colours look a bit sheer but I like that transparent look which might be why I don’t go for particularly strong pigmented colours. If you like very strong colours, best skip this one.
The cream liners look quite dry, but when I use my angled liner brush, it swatches quite pigmented and creamy. On my eyes, it does show up as a decent liner, but nothing crazy dramatic, which can be good or bad depending on how you like it. I got it to stay on my lids all day without smudging but then most liners do on my eyes so I’m not your best test subject.
And here are a couple of looks I pulled off quickly to show you how it looks on the eyes.
Feeling the Blues – Nos. 3, 7, 11 and 15 to line
Not sure why this one turned out looking greenish in the photo. Its more of a turquoise/teal shade. Lip is the Radiant gloss from the Wish for the Perfect Pout set.
Smokey Hot! – Nos. 12, 8, 4 and 16 to line
I didn’t use the primer in both looks, just my usual eyeshadow brushes. You can see the colours are quite intense. I used the Smashbox DNA Mascara that came in the set but I didn’t like it. It was dry and clumpy. The shadows are nice, and so is the primer but not the mascara.
Pros: Good mix of shimmery and matte eyeshadow to suit different tastes, not glittery or sparkly, useful to have liner, mascara and lid primer in the palette, Clever layout to help those new to makeup
Cons: Limited Edition, Pricey, No applicators, Bit too bulky to travel with
Smashbox Eye Wish or Urban Decay Book of Shadows III palette?
Some of you might have noticed the similarity between the Smashbox Eye Wish Palette and the Urban Decay Book of Shadows III and Too Faced Enchanted Glamour Land palette. I haven’t seen the Too Faced one, but I’ve seen the Urban Decay one so I can share a quick thought on it.
If you like bright intense sparkly colours, get the Urban Decay Book of Shadows III (NYC Palette). The colours are brighter and sparklier (real word? 😉 ) and have more variety. It is also thicker, heavier and more bulky as the colours slide out from a drawer under the New York City pop up in the cover. The colours too are super glittery with fallout so I did not get it for these reasons – bulky, glittery, too many colours I won’t use.
If you are new to using eyeshadows or want something more work safe, or less bright and colourful for your eyes, then you might prefer the Smashbox Eye Wish palette. Not quite as pretty or eye catching as Urban Decay, but its decent for what you get.
The gold box of the Smashbox Eye Wish palette isn’t quite as funky as the Urban Decay NYC palette though so its a lot to do with what you prefer.
I do have one more gripe about the Eye Wish Palette, other than the fact there are no applicators. I’m not into applicators in palettes but they can be useful for newbies who may not have brushes on hand. The other thing I would gripe about is the markup we are getting here. The Eye Wish palette retails at US$45 in the USA and the RM229 pricetag here is a bit high all things considered.
I was quite pleased with Smashbox Cosmetics before for not hiking up the prices too much when the brand first came in. But considering the strength of the RM vs USD lately, I’d have expected something less hefty.
Whew! Now what do you have to say about it? 😀
Paris B
Smashbox Cosmetics Eye Wish Palette retails at RM229 and is Limited Edition at all Smashbox Cosmetics counters (Parkson Pavilion KL and 1 Utama)
I think my lemming of this baby has passed… I have tons of purples and blues already… And golds… yeeesh. 🙁 Looks great on you tho!
Yep for those with a lot of similar colours, this might not be a great idea 🙂
I reckon it comes in handy for travels coz it has different colour groups. And it looks so classy 🙂
I was lusting over the UD BOS too but then again,it’s all shimmery thus fallouts are expected. Not a big fan of their shadows but so far I’m loving my Naked palette.
Thanks for sharing and I m digging your smokey look! Grrr..!
Thanks Jessica 😉 I loved how easy it was to pull together the smokey look too 😉 Personally I find the palette a tad bulky for travel, but if luggage space isn’t an issue and you are going to be away for say a week, its a great palette to have on hand to do all sorts of day and night looks 😀 I’m loving the Naked palette too! I used to have UD palettes but they were all so meh coz of the glitter I was afraid Naked would be like that. Happy to know the textures are way way better than the usual UD stuff 😀
Thanks for the swatches. The 2nd and 3rd swatch sets are so pretty, I must have this now ….
By the way the 1st look really suits you, stunning!
Thanks shuaddict! Do check it out in person if you can – I saw you have the Urban Decay one. I personally think this is better than the UD… though I might get flayed alive for saying so by UD fans 😀
both colors look great on u. thanks for the review!
Thanks Lavender!
Thanks for the review. The colors look very pretty when swatched over the primer and I love the looks you did with them.
Thank you Gio 🙂 They are pretty over the primer but just as pretty by themselves – its just a bit of a pity that using fingers doesn’t show off that prettiness 😉
What I’d really love to see is a video tutorial for your eyeshadow application. It’s just how I would want to do it! Really want to know what brushes you use and watch your process and how you blend it. I seem to always overdo the outer 1/3 of my eyelid and end up having 2/3 darkened instead. Yours seem so simple (I like Connie’s tutorials too, but hers is a different thing altogether).
Video? Moi? o_O But thanks Hsu Jen! It really is simple. I don’t know if this previous post on how I apply my eyeshadows might help? I’ll set up a post on the brushes I use soon (makes note). Perhaps what you could try is to use a lighter, more shimmery middle shade. So when you do the outer 1/3 you can temper the darkness with the lighter tone and if it looks stark, that’s where the highlight comes in 🙂 Dunno if that makes sense LOL
Way to go PB! I know how hard it is to swatch palettes! LOL I actually dread it because I’m quite OC with swatches 🙂 I love your sample looks and the palette shade looks really wearable for someone like myself 🙂
Thanks Nikki. It certainly is a very wearable palette for almost anyone! Swatching is one of the hardest things about running a beauty blog. I take my hat off to everyone who does it and does it well.
Wow, the colours really look promising and nice on you *jealous*
I was considering which to get initially because honestly, I prefer Smashbox’s packaging compared to UD’s NYC. In the end, I got UD’s NYC instead and the sole purpose isn’t because it’s limited edition or the eyeshadows – I wanted the 24/7 eyeliners in it! Hahaha… Again, $17 for one eyeliner seems a lot so, I guess UD’s NYC would be more worth it rather than getting 3 to 4 eyeliners. Well, not loving it yet so far but just like you – Naked is awesome! LOLX!
Thanks Angel 🙂 You are perfectly right. Naked is super awesome! I think the reason I like it is because its so unlike the other typical UD shadows 😉 As for NYC its not a bad palette. As you have pointed out, its what you want out of it, and the 2 liners do make it value for money if you love the liners 😀 (the eyeshadows are then a bonus right? 😉 )
Thank you for doing the swatches…. the colors are quite sheer without a primer. And for the price, the conversion rate is crazy. That’s like about USD20 more than the retail in the US. Last year’s Eye Wish palette cost only RM189 and it has pink, green and gold shades among them…more Christmas-y, IMO.
Haha I didnt’ pay attention last year but from the online reviews the quality was really bad so i’m glad I didn’t pay attention then 😉 The price markup did get to me, but I’m glad its at least available here and if broken down, doesn’t seem overly pricey all things considered. Still, a bit of green in the palette would have been nice 🙂
I will give both palattes a pass. I’m still trying my best to hold back, not give in to my whims of wanting the too faced enchanted glamourland palatte. The holiday season is no good… too many enticing temptings!
I know exactly what you mean. Its like the brands are on this mission to suck us dry of money every end of the year! 😀 I saw pics of the Too Faced palette but not in person. Wanna share your thoughts on it… or why you’d want to get it? 😉
i love urban decay!!!