Catrice The Precious Copper Collection

Oh yeah Catrice did it again! After launching a fabulous new foundation in their spring/ summer 2017 line, they also released some new eyeshadow palettes. And they are stunning. This is why I decided to make this the next product to review from Catrice’s new line. I threw in a short comparison to the older formula as well so you can decide whether this would be worth your time and money if you already own some of the older palettes.

Catrice The Precious Copper Collection eyeshadow palette 010 Metallux

The original Catrice palettes received a lot of mixed reviews. The quality was a bit wishy washy at best and the texture was very powdery. This made the shadows easy to blend away into nothing and you had to layer and work with the product quite a bit to achieve a good look.

So with this update my questions were as follows: are these any better than the old palettes? Are they more consistent? Easier to work with? Better to blend? For the price this isn’t a palette you have to pass up: at just €4.99 a pop, the price of these palettes has remained the same.

The Packaging

The Precious Copper Collection comes with 9 different eyeshadows in a clear plastic container. The compact is a bit cheap, but this is an affordable drugstore brand and at just under 5 euros, I really don’t mind. In fact, I think it comes in quite handy as you know instantly which palette you’re using.

Where the older palettes came with a brush that space is now taken up by two neutral shadows in the top left and top right hand corners. A nice touch are the copper letters that spell out the name across the front of the packaging.

The Colors

As the name would suggest, this palette works with a copper theme. This is new to the Catrice line. They didn’t have any copper shades in their eyeshadow palette line yet. And I think it is a good thing they added this to their line as copper shades are definitely on trend.

Side note: in the pan these shades not only look quite samey-samey, they also don’t look overly coppery, but more bronze toned. All of the shades in this palette are shimmery, which is another point to bear in mind when looking into these.

The first set of colors can best be described as the more neutral and copper toned side of the palette. The ‘Light’ shade at the top is a touch sheer, but still a stunning shimmering champagne. The first shadow on the left has more of a rosy undertone and the second shade is a more intense version of that first shadow, but leans more rose gold. The first true copper is the last shade in this picture. It definitely has that reddish/ rust colored undertone typical of a good copper shade.

The second half of the palette becomes a bit darker and this is where the shades start to look very similar to one another. The first shade on the left is definitely more of a bronze, followed by two warm toned browns that also in the swatch are nearly identical. One is perhaps a touch lighter and more neutral than the other.

This set is rounded off with a cool toned brown. In the pan it looks like a taupe, but it definitely has a touch more mauve to it than a true taupe. The seemingly darkest shade in the palette is the ‘Sculpt’ shade. I wouldn’t say that is necessarily the case as it has a cooler undertone as well and a hint of sheerness.

The Swatches

When swatching these my skepticism based on my experience with the older palettes disappeared into nothing. Look at that! Light and Sculpt are on the outer edges. The other eyeshadows are all swatched in the same order as in the palette from left to right.

The color pay off is intense and while some shades look very similar in the pan, they definitely look more distinct once applied. There are only two shades that are too close in my opinion and that’s the two warm toned browns.

The Comparison

For the comparison with the older palettes, I went in with the Soft Metal eyeshadow palette. Out of all of my Catrice palettes this seemed the most comparable and as you can see in the swatch, 4 out of the 6 shades from that palette are exact dupes.

What is most noticeable in the comparative swatches is the difference in texture. The top row look less uniform and chunkier. Like those shadows are ready to fall apart. The newer shades at the bottom, on the other hand, look more packed together and more intense.

The color selection in the newer palette is also better. What Soft Metal lacked was a good copper and that’s what this Precious Copper Collection does have. It is also less neutral and features both warm toned and cool toned shades.

Moreover the new palettes not only contain 9 eyeshadows instead of 6: they also feature more product. The older palettes contained 6 grams of product, while the newer palette contains 10 grams. And that for the same price point!

The Application

To give you an idea of what these eyeshadows look like on, I created this eye look. It’s the look I wore in my first impression video of the new Catrice products. Some of you complimented me on this make up look and I would agree this creates some stunning looks.

There are two points of interest I should point out though. First of all, the application of these shades works fairly well. It’s still not comparable to high end make up, but it’s getting there. These eyeshadows apply easily enough and also blend well. They are not chalky and do not kick up a lot of product.

However, the shimmer in these shadows blends away really quickly. So what happens when you use these is that you need to reapply some onto your lid after blending to ensure that intense shine again. If you don’t you’re left with more of a satin finish.

Secondly I have to point out the shade selection. I used almost all shades on my eyes in this look and rather than a copper look, I feel this pulls more bronze toned. Now I’m not too keen on bronze eyeshadow looks if it’s not summer time, but if that is something you enjoy than this palette will be right up your street.

The Conclusion

The Catrice update has also treated the eyeshadow palettes very well. Quality wise this is definitely a step up and I already enjoyed the older formula. For the price this is a great little eyeshadow collection that can appeal to many different people, especially if you’re on a budget.

Would you be interested in this Catrice palette?