Zoeva En Taupe eyeshadow palette

That German make up brand Zoeva has some great products should be no surprise. Best know for their affordable range of brushes, the brand has expanded into blush and eyeshadow since. Earlier this year I already reviewed two other eyeshadow palettes for you: Rose Golden & Cocoa Blend. When I was in London last May I spotted the En Taupe palette and fell in love with its range of mid range cool toned shades. Does it compare to its sisters?

Zoeva En Taupe eyeshadow palette

What drew me in were the cool toned taupes and mauves that make up this palette. I found it at Selfridge’s. Their beauty area has a counter devoted to all things Zoeva. So if you’re in London it’s well worth checking out. This retails for around €20. Since I bought the other two palettes Zoeva has been upping their prices. Where a palette used to cost €17.50 on their official website, they now retail for €21.80. I believe I paid something in between those prices when I bought it at Selfridge’s.

Like the other two palettes, this one is made of cardboard. Not the highest quality packaging but definitely a cool design. A geometric linear pattern is crisscrossing its way over the palette. The lines seem to have a duochrome sheen to it while the actual cardboard is made of a taupe grey color. It perfectly showcases what you might expect from the shadows inside.

Ta-dah! Now don’t be disappointed: this palette looks a bit lackluster to some perhaps. Sure, there are no very deep and dark shades in this palette. The shade range goes from a highlight to no more than a mid toned plum. That may throw some people off from the start, but I promise you that this is a very workable palette. Especially if you’re like me and feel like too many palettes have the standard intense black or brown, but lacks some good lid shades that could serve for all over one shadow looks.

• Stitch by Stitch: matte cream highlight
• Handmade: peachy pink with golden shimmer
• Gallery: matte soft taupe grey
• Hour by Hour: matte soft brown

• Old master: shimmery mid to dark toned plum
• Spun pearl: shimmery off white with hint of gold
• Sheers & Voiles: iridescent shimmery blue toned grey
• Outline: shimmery mid to dark toned toned taupe/ mauve

• Wrapped in Silk: shimmery mid toned taupe
• Exquisite:  matte mid toned plum

Stitch by Stitch – Handmade – Gallery – Hour by Hour – Old Master
Spun Pearl – Sheers & Voiles – Outline – Wrapped in Silk – Exquisite

As you can see the shades range from cream and taupes to plums and mauves. I love shades like this and you can see on the swatch that pigmentation is good for most of the shades. Only Exquisite and Sheers & Voiles seem to be a tad sheer or patchy. Hour by Hour is a great flesh toned shade that blends into my skin so well, you can barely see it.

When swatched I find this palette to look a lot less lackluster than it does in the pan. Some of the shades here are very interesting. Take Sheers & Voiles: looks like nothing in the pan, is sheer in a swatch, but when applied to the inner corner for a highlight it does something magical. These shadows stay put well if used with a primer, blend nicely and I was able to make some surprisingly diverse looks. As you can see below.

Look 1:

Outline – Gallery – Hour by Hour – Stitch by Stitch – Spun Pearl – Sheers & Voiles

For the first look, I kept it simple. I went with shades that I knew would work well together. I used outline all over the lid, blended Gallery into the crease and diffused it with Hour by Hour. That last one is the perfect blend shade for the crease. Stitch by Stitch is hands down one of the best brow bone highlight shades in my collection. I topped up the middle of my lid with Sheers & Voiles for some added shine and dimension.

Look 2:

Handmade – Old Master – Exquisite – Hour by Hour – Stitch by Stitch – Sheers & Voiles

For this second looks I went with a more glamorous look. I applied the super shiny Handmade onto my lid and blended some of the plums into my crease. I used Sheers & Voiles as an inner corner highlight this time and I find it works well for that purpose. It has the most interesting of undertones, which makes for a different look than your standard champagne/ white shades. It has enough sheen to highlight the area, but still is subtle enough to not take away from the rest of the looks.

Look 3:

Wrapped in Silk – Gallery – Hour by Hour – Stitch by Stitch – Spun Pearl

For a nice brightened up look, I applied Wrapped in Silk all over my lid. It has a silver toned undertone, which makes this shade nice and brightening all over the lid. I then finished up the look with the more basic shades in the palette. This is the perfect type of look to pair with bright, bold lipsticks, like the purple one I’m wearing here (Maybelline Vibrant Violet).

Yep, I really like this palette. It is the perfect companion on those bold lip color days. Zoeva En Taupe is a great offering in an otherwise warm toned shadow world. If cool tones are more your thing and you don’t want to break the bank that the En Taupe palette is a great bang for your buck. If cool tones are not your cup of tea, then steer clear of this, even though the quality of the shadows are good for the price you pay.

Which Zoeva palette would you like to try?