Colourpop The Fame eyeshadow palette

If you saw my recent eyeshadow palette declutter than my doing this review may come as a surprise. But I believe that even if I am not a huge fan of a product, I should still review it. The Colourpop The Fame palette is one I have owned for a while now but that I never featured on the blog with a review. The reason? I don’t love this palette. Not because it is bad quality, not because it is not my cup of tea, but because I think it is boring. Let me explain.

Colourpop The Fame Eyeshadow Palette // Review, Swatch, 3 Looks 1 Palette

The Colourpop The Fame palette is one of the more expensive eyeshadow palettes I have tried by Colourpop. This retailed for $22, which is 2 dollars more than the Dream Street palette which I love (and which I now just saw is being discontinued like this palette). And yes, this has been discontinued by now, but I also feel that Colourpop has a lot of repeat shades even after they have been discontinued. So I believe that at some point Colourpop will release another rendition of this palette which has been tweaked just a little bit. So that’s why I think it is still useful to review this.

What’s the deal with this palette?

The Fame palette by Colourpop was one that was raved about on Youtube for it being a great cool toned palette. You have to give it to Colourpop: in a sea of warm toned palettes, they were the first in a long time to release a dedicated cool toned palette. So you can understand that I was jumping with joy when I was able to get my hands on this. I love myself a cool toned neutral palette as I showed in my dedicated Cool Toned Eyeshadow Palette Collection video. However, this was one that disappointed me. I generally like Colourpop quality and this was no different. This swatches nice, it feels nice, it blends easily. It’s just that I can’t get the versatility I’d like.

Why is this a boring palette?

Let’s get down to business straight away. My main issue with this palette is not the quality: it’s the color story. And at first glance this looks so stunning! It has all the shades you’d want in a neutral palette. It has a 50/50 split between mattes and shimmers, in all the right shades and places. There seems to be variety here with lighter, mid toned and deeper shades in all those categories. You get enough crease and transition shades and there are some seemingly different undertones in all of the shades that make it look like a palette that looks very appealing. Especially to me. I was super excited for this one: I was really wanting this to be the perfect cool toned palette everyone made it out to be.

It’s the color story!

While this looks stunning at first glance, I quickly realized as I was using it. If you scrutinize this a bit more closely, there are very many shades that are very similar. Four of the mid toned shimmers look nearly identical once on the lid. Those three stunning potential crease shades? Same thing. These shadows may seem pretty and distinct in the pan, but once you start using this, everything starts to blend and muddy together. Rather than 16 pans, this palette could have easily contained half and you would have been able to make the exact same looks. I have heard people say things like: I like that because it means I can get a similar look even if I run out of shades. Which I think is great, but for someone like me, who tries a lot and who has a lot of eyeshadow, this is just not a unique, standout color story that really puts it above any other cool toned palette I own.

What does this swatch like?

You can already see how bland this is in the swatches. The shimmers are so so: they aren’t exactly sheer, but they don’t pop off the screen. There are some good mattese here, but some of the darker shades look a bit patch. The black isn’t super intense, the dark greenish/ grey shade is a bit disappointing and the purple is just plain lackluster. So the depth you seem to get in the palette is just not fully there, not even in a finger swatch which makes a shade look more intense than when you apply it with a brush.

To me, about 75% of the palette is too light. Against my pale skin, the shades hardly stand out, let a lone if you have anything of a medium to deep skin tone. Normally I am all about palettes perfect for the fair peeps like myself, but this palette doesn’t promote itself that way. A cool toned palette doesn’t have to be bland and boring: it can be more intense and exciting if it has some more variety. What I also noticed is that there are still some warmer tones in here: some of the shimmers have a peach undertone and one of the mattes also seem a bit more warm toned. So as cool as this looks at first glance, that is also not the case.

3 Looks, 1 Palette

Look 1: My favorite look

I’m not going to lie: yes the looks I came up with are very pretty. They are cool toned, give you a great option of neutrals for a basic everyday look and I think this palette holds merit for people who can only wear so much makeup in their work space. If you are in a work place that does not allow you to wear much makeup at all, then this is the palette for you. To me, it is just a bit too basic. This looks is perhaps the one with the most depth and definition to it which is a must have for me for creating eye looks.

Look 2: Another pretty look, but wait? I used different shades? I sure did!

For my second look I achieved a very pretty soft look. But does it look like I used different shades from the first one? No it doesn’t. Now you know when I do eyeshadow palette reviews I won’t do them unless I have used and somehow captured all of the shades in the palette in an eye look. When I create three different looks, I want every single one of them to be distinct and different from one another, not interchangeable for each other. Sadly, that is what this palette does.

Look 3: Another look using again different shades, but you really can’t tell

By look number 3 I felt uninspired and just not into the palette anymore. Again, this looks very pretty, very wearable and great for a basic look. But when I buy a palette I want to at least be able to take it from day to night. I want to be able to amp up my look, add some more sparkle or add some more darkness to a lower lash line. With this palette, it never exceeds ‘basic’ for me. Again, there is nothing wrong for that if that’s what you’re looking for, but I wanted more from this.

My final thoughts

I think my roast of this palette is complete now: I hope I wasn’t being too negative. However, I think we all buy makeup based on expectations. My expectations were high because I had heard so many people raving about this. I think this palette was raved about for the wrong reasons. I think people got excited because there was finally an all cool toned palette on the market. Personally, I believe that enthusiasm for something new and different is what had people more excited than the actual palette and its colour story.

Would I recommend the Colourpop The Fame palette?

No I would not. And I would be careful deciding buying a Colourpop palette that has more than 12 shades. They seem to be doing a lot of repeat shades, essentially giving you a palette that is not as versatile as it could have been. They are now even doing bigger palettes than this and that has me concerned. I personally do not like anything that is too big or features too many shades that I know I wouldn’t use. It’s why I don’t like Morphe and it’s ultimately what I didn’t fall in love with this.

What palette was one that disappointed you?