Juvia’s Place The Saharan palette

The eyeshadow brand has been the biggest break through in recent years? Juvia’s Place that’s for sure. From small indie brand, to now being stocked by major beauty retailers, this brand took the beauty world by storm. And for good reason. The palettes are affordable, they are supposedly great quality and the color selection is interesting to say the least. Meet The Saharan palette by Juvia’s Place.

Juvia’s Place The Saharan eyeshadow palette

There is a whole range of Juvia’s Place palettes and earlier this year I decided to get a few. I have by now tried most of them for an extended amount of time and have made up my mind about most of them. So there will be more reviews coming up on these palettes in the future, but for now we are sticking to The Saharan palette which in terms of Juvia’s Place palettes is incredibly neutral. This 12-pan eyeshadow palette retails for €35.25 on Beauty Bay, but you can also order these from the official website as Juvia’s Place ships internationally.

The Packaging

All Juvia’s Place palettes come in a separate outer box. Inside you find a sleek, cardboard packaged palette. The palette closes with a magnet and I really like the design of each of these palettes. It is true to the inspiration behind these palettes which is mainly African cultures and religions. What I appreciate about this palette is that the name of the palette is also written on the edge of the palette. So if you stack your palettes in a drawer like I do, it is easy to keep the palettes apart.

The Palette

I mentioned that for Juvia’s Place this is a neutral palette. There is one palette that is a true neutral palette: The Nubian, but I don’t own that as I already own so many neutral palettes. However, most Juvia’s Place palettes are far from neutral. They all boast a host of colors and this, despite a warm toned neutral color scheme overall, still has some very unique and interesting shades.

The most unique shade in this palette has to be Sokoto. That bright orange toned red looks almost neon and a shade you can have a lot of fun with. However, this palette is still perfect for making very neutral looks with as well as you will see below. The palette has 8 shimmer shades and 4 mattes. The only thing missing for me? A good matte brow bone highlight, but that shimmery white can still do the job, so you won’t hear me complain.

The Swatches

Hold on to your seatbelts we’re ready for take off!! Can you see these swatches? Stunning, not? That is what Juvia’s does very well. Pigmentation is right on point. These are some of the best eyeshadows I have come across in a long time. The pigmentation is rich, blendability is spot on and all the shades apply intensely. The shimmers truly shine when you foil them and tap them on with a finger, but even with a brush these are some of the best performing shimmers on the market today.

There are a whole array of interesting shades here too. Sokoto isn’t the only one. Bororo is an interesting reddish peach. Kia is that brown base with a green shift that makes for some interesting makeup looks. Zoya would be a boring shade, but is has a gold shift that keeps it from being so. In short, lots of shades to play with.

The Application

Look 1
Crease | Jamila
Lid | Zoya & Lulu
Inner Corner | Iman
Lower lash line | Jamila

I’m not going to lie. When I first started using this palette, I was nervous. After having seen those swatches I wasn’t sure how these would apply. But I was pleasantly surprised. For this first look, I thus didn’t do anything too extravagant. Just a very basic peachy warm toned look. This is pretty, but this palette is capable of much more.

Look 2
Crease | Sokoto
Lid | Bororo
Lower lash line | Fula
Inner corner | Iman
Outer V | Chad

Time to step out of that comfort zone to create my favorite look with this palette. I love this intense red toned look. Reds can be tricky to pull off, but I really like how this looks. I used some of the black (which isn’t super dark and intense) in the Outer V, which is something I never do as I usually find it too much. With this look, I think it nicely grounds everything into place and really anchors the look.

Look 3
Crease | Katsina
Lid | Wodaabe
Lower lash line | Senegal
Liner | Kia
Inner corner | Iman

Since I always try to use all the shades in the palette for my reviews, I put all the remaining shades in this look. I definitely have to try more color combos with this palette as the options are just endless. This gold look I came up with is pretty, but I don’t like very yellow-y golds on myself so that is not a shade I will reach for again.

The Conclusion

I am truly impressed with the Juvia’s Place formula. The Saharan eyeshadow palette is one of those palettes that gives you neutrals with a twist. I love that about it. You can pull this in so many directions and I haven’t stopped playing around with this just yet. If you haven’t tried any Juvia’s Place palettes yet: what are you waiting for?!

Have you tried any Juvia’s Place yet?