After trying the Ace Beauté Oceanic palette, I decided to try some more blue/ green palettes. One of the other great blue/ green palettes is the Certifeye Affinity 2. As of late Certifeye is a brand that is not at the forefront of the makeup sphere, but this UK indie brand has some stunning palettes on offer among which my favorite rainbow palette: The Tropical Wonders palette. So I was curious to try their green/ blue offering.
Review: Certifeye Affinity 2 eyeshadow palette
Certifeye is a brand that has been flying under the radar for a while. Not many new palettes have been released by the brand for some time now and on the official websites almost all the products listed are offered at a major discount. Where the original price was around £30, the palettes now all retail for around £11. Perhaps this brand is going down the same route as its sister brand? Blush Tribe (run by the sister of the woman who runs Certifeye) closed down her shop last year and rebranded and started over. Maybe that’s what’s going on? In any case, this palette is still available and you can now snatch it up at a more than 50% discount.
What does this palette have to offer?
The Certifeye Affinity 2 is an 18-pan eyeshadow palette thatfeatures a block of blue and a block of green shades. There are two duochromes in this palette as well. Out of the 18 shades, there are 13 mattes and 5 shimmers. The palette does not have a lot of depth to it, but it mainly has a bunch of bright and lighter mid toned shades at first glance. It has a nicely comprehensible layout and there is a range of both warmer and cooler tones, especially in the green selection.
What is the color story like?
This is a blue/ green palette so surprise, surprise you mainly get blues and greens. There are three shades that break up the color scheme though. There is a silver shade with a blue flip in the blue half of the palette. Then there is a green/ brown duochrome in the green part. The palette is rounded out by a white that has a blue flash to it, which makes it the second duochrome. There are only two good deeper shades though: a matte navy and a matte forest green. Then the blues and greens also have some different undertones to them. The blues range from some more grey toned ones to some more sky blue options. The greens range from grassy greens to khaki and forest greens.
How does the palette swatch?
As you can see the shades are all saturated and well-pigmented. They blend easily and the shimmers go on vibrantly without too much work. The downside to this palette: it is a bit too bright for my liking. While pretty and working very well, the palette offers very little in terms of variety of depth. Even the deeper shades, once blended out pull much lighter and brighter than you might expect. I was able to put together two very pretty look, but the different undertones of the shades make that not all of them combine as easily together. The palette leans mostly cool toned but the few warm tones do not really go with anything too easily.
3 Looks, 1 Palette
I created three looks with the palette. Between these three looks I have used all the shades.
For the first look I focused on the greens in the palette. I used the green/ brown duo chrome on the lower lash line, but this also shows how deep the palette goes. Because I used the darkest green in my Outer V which as you can see is not all that dark. I love the shimmers in this palette though. They really make any look pop and I love how they create the juxtaposition needed to really make any look come alive.
For the second look, I focused mainly on the blues. Again, the look turned out much brighter than expected but I do really like it. The navy pulled a bit more purple/ indigo on me than I would like though: it doesn’t really go very well with the rest of the blue shades which are all in a different blue spectrum than that. Some blues are a bit more turquoise like, while others are more of a sky blue. Again, the shimmers here are the standout shades, but I feel there aren’t enough shimmers that would work well on the lid as they are all so bright. I think the palette could have done with a few extra shimmers indeed.
The final look is my least favorite one. Here you can see how some of the blues and greens just don’t really come together. I had some left over shades that didn’t really go with anything else, and they certainly don’t really go together either. The silver shade ended up being weirdly dark when I put it all over the lid: not at all the bright, light shade I had expected it to be. The greens are not my favorites here and also the blues do not play well with anything else. A bit of a shame, because the other two looks are exquisite.
My final thoughts
Overall I think the Certifeye Affinity 2 is a good blue/ green offering if you love some bright shades. I do think the palette is a bit too bright for my liking. Yes it is lovely and the two looks I did with the first few shades turned out very nicely. However, I don’t think this palette combines in any more than these two looks and that is a shame. With a 18-pan palette I want it to do more than just give me two stellar looks, I want it to give me 5 and then some. It’s a bit of a one-trick pony: a lovely one might I add, but not versatile enough for my liking.
Would I recommend the Certifeye Affinity 2?
The quality of this palette is exceptional, the color story a bit limiting. At the current reduced price point though, I think this palette can offer something for anyone in need of a bright blue/ green palette that is not too expensive. Just know it has its limitations, and if you go in knowing that, you should be able to make this work for sure.
6 responses to “Certifeye Affinity 2 eyeshadow palette review”
The swatches look great and the colours remind me of the ocean, but I agree with you that they’re too bright for my liking!
Yeah the Ace Beauté is also bright it comes with more variety in the deeper, murkier shades too so you can do much more with it.
I’m still looking for a blue-green palette, although I don’t use blues much. The Ace Beauté Oceanic was one I was looking at, but it’s hard to get here. I like looks 1 and 3 you did, really stunning! But I see your point on it being too bright for versatile use.
Have you tried the ELF Earth & Ocean? That palette is quite affordable and it has a great blue/ green selection.
Thanks I’ll have to have a look. Elf is very reasonably priced too.
I have a review up on the ELF palette in case you’d like to see swatches and looks.