Nabla Soul Blooming eyeshadow palette

You know I’m a sucker for a good eyeshadow palette and I have so many eyeshadow palette reviews in my backlog of ‘blog posts to write’ that I have decided that it is time for me to start sharing them with you. That is why I want to try and get 2 – 3 eyeshadow palette reviews out every month, starting now. Today we’re having a close look at a stunning palette by Nabla.

Nabla Soul Blooming | Eyeshadow Palette Review, Swatches & Looks

Nabla is an Italian makeup brand, which means that this is fairly easy to get a hold of if you’re based in Europe. Their website does ship internationally too, so you don’t have to miss out on this no matter where you live. The palette retails for €35.90 and that is a reasonable price point for a 12 pan palette. It is not too expensive for the medium price range that Nabla puts itself in.

The Packaging

Can we please stop a moment and have a look at this gorgeous packaging? If that doesn’t shout spring at you, then I don’t know what else does. The packaging that’s hidden by the outer sleeve has a stunning bouquet of flowers printed on the front and even better: the flowers all represent shades you can find inside the palette. I love it when brands do that and use the actual color story of the palette to create their packaging. Other than that, the packaging is made of cardboard and you get a good sized mirror in the lid.

The Palette

Soul Blooming is the first Nabla eyeshadow palette I tried. I passed up on the Dreamy as that seemed very warm. This still has a few warm tones, but nothing is super fiery, but more muted and there are definitely some cooler tones in the palette too. And it is that particular color story that spoke to me the most. I love a good cool tone and really feel that this is a palette that does something that no other palette is doing just yet. It definitely makes for a unique offering of shades.

The Shades

In this palette you get 12 pans: 6 mattes and 6 shimmers. The shimmer vary in texture. Honey Drip in the top left corner looks very chunky as does Philosophy. I found these to be the most difficult to apply. While stunning, the shimmer in this palette definitely need a bit of work to ensure they go on fully opaque when applied to the lid. This is a palette where a glitter glue and a bit of Fix+ will definitely come in handy. I had no issue with the mattes at all: those are smooth, easy to build up and easy to blend.

The Swatches

Here you can see what I mean by a unique color story and the chunky formula of some of the shimmers. I definitely had to go in with fingers to make sure these packed onto the lid. And that is strange, because I already posted reviews about Nabla eyeshadows before, both of them shimmers and they didn’t have this issue. Both Selfish and Alchemy worked really well and were easy to use. The fact that these need more work tells me that there is a difference between buying Nabla eyeshadows as singles or in a palette. I am not saying this is bad quality, I’m just saying they are different for sure.

The Application

Look 1
Crease: Gea & Bolero
Lid: Bolero, Climbing Rose & Philosophy
Blend: Chamomile
Lower lash line: Anemone
Inner corner: Honey Drip

As usual I wanted to include some looks I did with the palette as well. I used all 12 shades between these two looks. They aren’t super varied as the tones in these shadows are all very close. However, You can create enough depth and variation for a few distinct looks. I like how this is quite peachy pink on top, yet purple on the bottom.

Look 2
Crease: Middle Karma & Flowery
Blend: Chamomile
Lid: Flowery & Garden State
Liner: Caravaggio
Lower lash line: Garcon
Inner corner: Honey Drip

This second look mimics the first one, but does the opposite: I used the purple shades up top and the warm shimmery copper on the lower lash line. I also used the matte dark brown to create a bit of a lined effect along my top lashes. I would recommend layering Garden State over Flowery: that way you have more of a base to work with and Garden State will show up a lot better too.

The Conclusion

I truly think that Nabla has created something more unique with their Soul Blooming eyeshadow palette. If you are a fan of cool and neutral toned shadows, love combining purples and peaches and you don’t mind a soft look? Then this is for you. It is definitely a unique palette and good enough for me to go out and buy their latest release The Secrete palette as this definitely gave me a taste for more Nabla eyeshadows.

Have you tried Nabla before?