Zoeva Opulence Collection

My only Black Friday purchase? The Zoeva Opulence Collection. Like last year, they were doing 20% off again on their entire website. Last year that meant my purchasing the Plaisir Box, this year that meant purchasing the Opulence collection including the eyeshadow palette, face palette and a 10 piece brush set.

Zoeva Opulence Collection

The full Opulence Collection Box retails for €108. With the 20% discount, I paid just over €90 euros including shipping. If you were to buy these items separately, then that would be the price for just the 10 piece brush set, so technically, I got the two palettes for free. My main reason for wanting to buy this collection is a) I love Zoeva eyeshadow palettes, b) I love Zoeva brushes. I thought this box set would be a good opportunity to expand the collection while trying something a bit new in the face palette.

The Packaging

The Collection Box is completely styled according to the collection. The outer packaging is over the top and slightly Baroque in feel, which fits the name of the collection perfectly. For a collection named Opulence, this is of course very apt packaging.

The two palettes are on top when you open the box. The box isn’t magnetized, but is held shut with a sticker. It does close again after you open it, but not very well. So if you wish to reuse the box, this may be problematic, but I am now using it as a display in my office and it is working just fine.

Each Zoeva collection comes with its own idea and quote. For the Opulence collection that is: Sometimes More is Simply More. It is printed on the box as well as on all of the palettes.

Zoeva Opulence Brush Set

The brush set comes with a travel pouch and 10 brushes: 5 face brushes and 5 eye brushes and they are vegan. You can buy the set separately and most Zoeva brushes can be bought separately as well. One reason why I wanted to try the set is because I have never tried a full Zoeva brush set yet and I liked the look of these with the burgundy handles, gold writing and black ferrels.

The Face Brushes

104 Buffer | 135 Petit Face Definer | 110 Face Shape
142 Concealer Buffer | 137 Petit Fan

The face brushes are completely knew to me. I have a few Zoeva eye brushes, but I haven’t tried many of their face brushes. This set includes a potential foundation brush, a concealer brush, a brush that you could use for powder, bronzer, blush and one that would be perfect for highlight as well. The Petit Fan brush was my main disappointment when I opened the package: it is very very small, but might be good for very targeted highlight application.

The Eye Brushes

227 Soft Definer | 233 Cream Shader | 223 Petit Eye Blender
317 Wing Liner |331 Precision Lip

For the eye brush selection there are a few that really caught my interest. The 227 Soft Definer looks very much like a MAC 217 which is one of my favorite brushes. A flat shader brush is great for applying cream or glitter to the lid and the 223 Petit Eye Blender will be a great brush for the lower lash line. The Wing Linger and Precision Lip brushes weren’t the reasons I wanted to get the set as I have little use for these types of brushes, but a good angled brush is a good staple to have.

Zoeva Opulence Blush Palette

The outside packaging of both the eyeshadow and blush palette is in accordance with the outer box. Styled like a 17th century still life, I think it looks very well. As with any Zoeva palette, the palettes consist of sturdy cardboard packaging. There is no real closure to it, so I would recommend hanging on to the sleeves that these come with when you purchase: that way you can slip the sleeve on when you want to travel with the packages. Without the sleeves, there will be a risk of the palettes simply popping open.

The blush palette consists of 3 pans. One pan contains a powder highlight, the other two powders are blushes. The shades of these blushes are interesting. You have a very natural peach shade and the other is a deep burnt red shade. Especially the latter shade it an interesting one and a shade you don’t see many brands do. The highlight has a gold shift to it. Separately, the blush palette retails for €14.80.

The Swatches

Do Not Touch | Impossible to Move | Underneath the Gold

I was very surprised when I first swatched these. These are pigmented! I have only tried one Zoeva blush and that is from a line that I believe is now discontinued. That was quite powdery, but these actually feel a lot more smooth. They are still a little bit stiff, so that is something to bear in mind. And while intense, these shades work really well when applied with a light hand, even on my fair skin.

The Application

Nothing – Highlight
Peach blush –  Red blush

So on the face, you can see that these powders can easily work on the face. The peach blush is very natural and gives just that bit of color to your face when you don’t want to overdo it. The red toned blush, while scary at first, I really like the flush this gives. The highlight looks quite tame in the pictures, but I don’t like a very strong highlight as it emphasizes the texture on my cheeks. But you can build this up and look like a glowing goddess if you want.

Zoeva Opulence Eyeshadow Palette

My love affair with Zoeva eyeshadow palettes is well known. I think I review a Zoeva palette once every six months and I just love the quality you get for the price. Even though they are now a little bit more expensive at €21.80, these are very well worth it. Especially considering that a L’Oreal or Max Factor palette retail for nearly €20 and the quality isn’t as great. So I would put this in the higher priced drugstore bracket.

The Shadows

The main selling point of this palette is the rich tones in the palette. This palette features bronzes, golds, coppers and other rich metal type shades with a few rogue shades thrown into the mix. That is something Zoeva likes doing and in this palette it is the red and blue in here that are the slightly more unusual shades in this color palette.

The Swatches

In total you get 10 shades and only two shades are matte. The pigmentation in these was a little disappointing in one shade: the red really needed some building up and it was difficult to blend. The other matte shade you get is a deep brown shade which is actually a good addition to have here. There is an array of golds, bronzes and coppers in here that actually look quite similar once swatched.

Still they all have a different undertone which means they all will create different looks as long as you don’t use them all together. Also each shimmer shade has a clear golden shimmer to it. That makes the shades all look more samey, but I find that they all have a more warm or cooler undertone to which will change up the makeup look.

The Application

For my look, I wanted to use that red shade, just to see how it would blend. It was a little patchy at first, but it does build up and can be smoothed out. It just takes a little bit more work than I would want. I applied the lightest shade in the palette on my brow bone. And while I am usually not a fan of shimmery brow bone highlights anymore, I like the brightness this gives.

I used the lightest gold shade in the inner corner. The surprise of the palette was the gold shade in the middle of the lowest row or shadows. That is a stunning antique gold with that olive green undertone. I love the look of those types of golds against brown eyes and I used it on my lower lash line.

Of course, I couldn’t pass up using that blue and copper shades. And while that seems like a clash, because I put them on different lids, the looks till works overall. What I’m missing in the palette is a matte transition, but you can easily substitute that with a single or other palette you may already own.

The Conclusion

The Zoeva Opulence Collection Box offers a solid range of Zoeva products. This is a great choice if you’ve always wanted to try Zoeva and haven’t been able to yet. The brushes are consistent with Zoeva quality, while the eyeshadow palette is not the best they’ve done, yet is very workable indeed. The surprise for me here would be the face palette. That has just the right shades that I like and that are a little bit more unusual than your stand face palette offering.

What have you tried from Zoeva Cosmetics?