Catrice Soft Metal eye shadow palette

If you’ve been following my blog for some time then you know I love reviewing eye shadow palettes. The more the merrier! I am quite fond of some of the Catrice eye shadow palettes and whenever they come out with new ones I have to try them. So far I’ve tried the Catrice Absolute Matt, Catrice Absolute Rose and Catrice Chocolate Nudes palettes. Today I am adding the Soft Metals eye shadow palette to that mix.

Catrice Soft Metal Eyeshadow palette 010 Metal’morphosis

Every time Catrice updates their line, they seem to update their eye shadow palettes too. This time round they released three new ones: Soft Metals, Denim Greys and Sand Nudes. My eye was instantly drawn towards the Soft Metals collection. It seems to go best with the other palettes I already have and it was the one that looked the most interesting to me. Now, none of the Catrice eye shadow palettes I have tried have been fool proof, but for a price of €4.99 a pop, I think some of those faults can be forgiven.

The Soft Metal Eyeshadow palette comes with 6 different shades. This time they are all highly shimmery. Usually the offering is a combination of mattes and shimmers, or all mattes, but as the name suggests, this palette now contains nothing but shimmer. The palette is made fairly cheaply, but the packaging is sturdy enough, though I still feel that the brush this palette comes with is quite useless.

When you open up the palette, there is nothing but sparkle that greets the eye. I especially love how the eyeshadows already catch the light beautifully from the pan. When you shift this round in the light, you will see the eyeshadows light up and sparkle even more than I could capture on camera. The shade selection ranges from a light pink shade to a deep dark brown. This palette features both cool and warm shades and therefore could be a versatile palette.

Shade 1, on the left, is a soft shimmery pink shade. It is a little bit brighter than a champagne shade and a little bit whiter than a dusty rose. In short, it is a very white based pink with just the right amount of sparkle. The second shade is far more pink, yet with a golden undertone to it. This makes the shade a little bit warmer. My idea is to use this all over the lid, while using shade 1 as a highlight shade.

My favorite shade in this palette and the sole reason for wanting to try this palette is shade no. 3. This is the most shimmery shade in the palette and seems to be a perfect middle ground between gold, copper and pink. A very unique shade for a drugstore palette. Shade no. 4 is where the palette starts to pull more cool toned. This beige/ brown is another good all over lid shade.

The final two shades aren’t necessarily the darkest. Shade no. 5 is the coolest shadow in the palette. This is a straight up taupe, staying somewhere in between a brown and a grey. I love taupes and think this might look especially gorgeous on the lower lashline. Last but not least, is a gorgeous reddish brown shade. This deep shade is more warm toned again and has the least amount of shimmer of all available shades in this palette.

Texture wise these shadows kick up quite a bit of powder to the extent where some shades are quite grainy. Especially shades 3, 4 and 5 have a very chunky texture. Shade 3 causes the most problems: it is very grainy and can cause a lot of fall out if you’re not careful. My preferred way of applying this particular eye shadow is to press it on with my finger tips. The rest perform well when you use brushes.

The reason why these shadows perform well is their pigmentation. When swatched onto my arm you can see what I mean. The soft pink highlight isn’t overly shimmery making it applicable for both brow bone and inner corner highlighting. The middle 4 shades are fairly close together color wise, but the different undertones and textures make that these all perform slightly differently on the eye. Unfortunately that gorgeous reddish sheen is mostly lost in that deepest shade, which is a shame, but I think if you were to pack it on much more than I have you can still achieve that look.

On the eye these shadows are easily blended away. This is an issue I have had with many Catrice palettes and I think it is a comment I have made on these palettes in the past. The result is a very soft and subtle shimmery eye look that looks fresh and awakened. I didn’t go for anything too dramatic, and I wanted to incorporate all shades in the look, but I think that if you pack that darkest shade all over the lid, you could easily turn this into a smokey evening look.

How I created this look:

Apply shade 1 as highlight on brow bone and inner corner. Apply shade 2 all over the lid with shade 4 in the outer V and crease. Shade 5 is on the lower lashline and I smudged some of shade 6 into the crease and outer V to deepend them as well as along the upper lashline to create a soft lined effect. I finished off the look by pressing shade 3 onto the middle of my upper lid with my finger.

I like how this look is day time appropriate and quite soft. I would recommend pulling in some matte shades. Because of the high amount of shimmer, I find these shades are difficulty to keep apart once applied. So adding some darker matte shades in the crease or outer corner, would give this look more depth and definition. That would make this palette more versatile. Right now, I am leaning towards only using this palette if I am in need of a good dose of shimmer in my otherwise neutral eye look. Shade 3 will definitely give you that, the rest seems a little bland compared to it.

It’s a shame that Catrice still hasn’t created an eye shadow formula that doesn’t blend away too easily. This palette is very pretty and you can create some pretty looks with this, but most of them will be more day time appropriate than anything else. However, this is a still a very workable palette and the looks you can create with it are pretty. If shimmery shadows are your thing, then I am sure you will love this palette.

What is a palette that you love for creating day time looks?