I like trying a few indie makeup brands every year and in 2020 I committed to finally trying Glamlite. This brand is best known for their food related palettes that are shaped like pizzas and burgers. For a while I wasn’t all that interested in the brand: it seemed gimmicky and unnecessarily bulky packaging that I wasn’t into. None of their color stories necessarily appealed to me, but then they released their Cake palette and not only was a it a fun bright palette, it also got rave reviews. So I decided to try it as well. Is this the best rainbow eyeshadow palette I have ever tried?
Review: Glamlite Cake eyeshadow palette
You can buy this palette from a few different websites. It was sold out everywhere when I was looking into this. So rather than waiting for it to come back in stock at Boozyshop (a Dutch makeup website that stocks many indie and US drugstore brands), I bought it straight from the Glamlite website when it came back into stock. That meant I did pay $24.99 in shipping fees on top of the $40 for the palette. That makes this palette a bit pricier than when you would live in the US or if you have a bit more patience and pay the €45 this goes for in The Netherlands.
What does the Cake palette have to offer?
The Glamlite Cake palette is a large palette that is thought through to a T. Even the outer box goes with the birthday cake theme! Yes, this palette comes in a box that is shaped like an oven. How cute and ingenious. The palette sits inside it very securely as well which is something I appreciate. The outer box really serves as a good extra layer of protection. The palette itself is a bit odd shaped, so I prefer to keep mine inside the box to make it a bit easier to store, despite it adding bulk. I mean this palette is huge to begin with so I don’t mind it being a little bit bigger yet still well-protected.
What is the color story like?
If you are looking for a rainbow color story with a few shimmers: then look no further because this is exactly what this palette has to offer. Inside there are 20 different shades. 7 shades are shimmering metallics, the other 13 shades are vibrant mattes. You get all the colors of the rainbow and a touch of neutrals. There is a full on red, and some stunning corals. Then we go into oranges and yellows, into purples, periwinkles and blues. There is only one green, but it is a lime green and then we get a dark brown and a sparkling bronze shade.
How does this palette perform?
My main reason for purchasing this palette were the shimmers. That is what everyone raves about and my one gripe about many rainbow palettes is that they are all matte. Finding good vibrant, colorful shimmers is quite a feat and I had hoped this palette would give me that. Unfortunately, I found the shimmers to be the let downs of the palette. They were difficult to build up. I mean 4 layers in which I used a flat packing brush, my finger, then wetted the shadow and then used my finger again is just too much work to get these to look as vibrant and saturated as these look in the pan. The one shimmer that worked well was Cinnamon and the shade is quite unique, but the rest were just a big let down.
The mattes also didn’t wow me. As you will see in the pictures below I had issues blending these shades. The warm tones performed best as those felt smooth and blended out quite easily. The blues and greens however? Those muddied up and turned murky when blending and some of the purples looked identical once applied to the eye. The one matte shade that truly impressed me was Peach. That shade was stellar and I would keep the palette around just for that one shade. Overall however, I felt these are the kind of shades that need to be packed on and then need to be messed with as little as possible and getting these shades to look nicely took quite a bit of time. I prefer a more buildable shadow formula myself so this sadly wasn’t really my cup of tea.
How do these shadows swatch?
Does that mean these are bad shadows? No, not at all. These are some of the most pigmented eyeshadows I have ever worked with. However, precisely for that reason they aren’t my favorite. I prefer a sheerer, more buildable formula so I can add as I go along rather than packing shadow on and then having to blend like crazy. This is the kind of palettes that adheres strongly to the preferences of many of the people on Instagram and other beauty gurus who wear crazy looks that take hours to create. I don’t have time for that in my day to day life and for myself as a regular consumer, these shades are just a bit too much. These are powdery and need a lot of tapping off to prevent fall out and then I still felt that as I blended these shades the pigment transferred from my top to my bottom lid (as you can see in some of the close ups). While very pretty shadows, they just aren’t very user friendly unless you are looking for that BOOM, in your face, pigment.
3 Looks, 1 Palette
As is customary on this blog, I like to review a palette by trying every single shade in the palette. I create looks, putting together shades that I feel can go together based on how things look in the pan and then build as many looks as I need to use all the different shades. This means that between these 3 looks, I have used all 20 shades, given them all a chance to shine.
My favorite look I created with this palette was this warm toned look. I was capable of creating a nicely diffused look with the oranges and yellows quite easily. I feel the yellow lose some of the brightness once blended and they pull more warm toned once blended together with the orange. The stunning shimmer on the lid is Cinnamon and that is a great bronzy shade that will go with many other looks. It has a multidimensional sparkle and if all the shimmers performed like this one, I would have no issues with this palette. Guava is on the lower lash line and there is a bit of Carrot in the inner corner.
This palette is a classic case of: the warm tones are outstanding while the cool tones are just a bit lackluster. Don’t get me wrong, this look turned out great. I love how these shades play together but if you look closely you can see I had a lot of trouble getting a good blend in the crease. I tried using Icy Mint in the crease and this shade pulled very ‘dirty’ on me when blending it out. I had to pack it on over what I had blended out to ensure the shade looked as vibrant as it does in the pan. I felt the same about Key Lime: only when fully packed on does it look nice, but before I had it on at full intensity the shade just looked weirdly muddy. Banana is a great yellow shimmer, but Blueberry just ended up not looking all that shimmery once applied all over the lid. It’s like the shimmer just won’t stick down and it looks like a matte with sparse shimmer.
To drive this review home, I have another look that looks stunning if you don’t look too closely but that I had some issues with. The coral in the crease is Peach which is a unique matte that I don’t have anywhere else. However, you can see how far I blended this towards my nose. That’s because this is one of those shades that just sticks down and then it just stays there. I was still able to blend it out for sure, but that meant I had to take the shade up much higher and further towards my nose that I would like. Another issue is the fact that as distinct as these shades look in the pan, once applied to the eye, they kind of blend together into the same shade. There are two purples on the lower lash line: can you tell the difference? The shimmers I used here are Strawberry and Lavender and while Lavender is pretty in the inner corner, Strawberry was another one of those shimmers that I had to build into oblivion to get it to show up. They are just not as vibrant once applied to the lid.
My final thoughts
The Glamlite Cake palette is one that really wanted to love. I just didn’t. While everyone was sticking this in their best of 2020 eyeshadow palette videos as I was trying this last December, all I could think was: I don’t get the hype. Yes these are super pigmented shadows, but pigmentation is not the be all and end all of eyeshadow quality. I feel that some reviewers sometimes forget about that. To me, a good shadow is one that builds up easily, can be manipulated once on the lid and I can control the intensity so that if I make a mistake I can easily adjust as I go along. These shades do not do that. These go on, stick down and then you have to blend like crazy to get them to look blended and seamless. While that may be what many online creators are looking for, it is not what I am looking for. I have tried many other rainbow palettes that I love more than this, such as Certifeye Tropical Wonders and September Rose Cosmetics Slush.
Would I recommend the Glamlite Cake eyeshadow palette?
Not by default no. I like some parts of this palette: there are a few shades that are unique to this palette but there are also some parts I don’t like at all. At the end of the day, these shadows just don’t fit my makeup aesthetic. If you feel this palette goes with your makeup aesthetic then I think this can be a great, fun, vibrant palette. If you don’t own many rainbow palettes yet and you want a palette that can do it all: this can be a good one too. However, if you are like me and you like a buildable shadow and would use a palette like this mainly for a pop of color and the odd rainbow look, then this palette will not be worth it in the end.
8 responses to “Glamlite Cake eyeshadow palette review”
I wonder if you would’ve liked the Donut palette better. The shimmers in that one are amazing ! I do use a good glitter glue to hold them in place .
I didn’t like the color story on that one. 😉 And the issue for me isn’t wear time. A glitter glue mainly helps with sticking things down that otherwise have nothing to stick to so it doesn’t fall all over your face. Shimmers in a palette should not need a glitter glue to perform their best. That’s absolutely nonsense as I have plenty of metallic shimmers from the drugstore, indie, high end and luxury brands that do not need it at all. Even if some of these shades would perform better with a glitter glue then the palette is still inconsistent as some of the shimmers work just fine.
Oh I just meant I liked using a glitter glue as I live in hotter climate and have oily lids . I always try to make sure things stay in place , especially since I do things around the house or outside . But understandable.
Understandable indeed but I never use glitter glue unless I am wearing actual glitter.
Such a shame when such a hyped up palette doesn’t work for you. And mattes not blending and shimmers not showing up when applied with fingers? I’m glad to have dodged this one.Due to the hefty shipping fee, I didn’t go through with a purchase from the site when they had a nice sale going on.
Yeah I really don’t get why everyone loves this so much. Like another commenter mentioned: these probably perform great over a glitter glue, but I never use glitter glue with a regular shimmer. There are plenty of shimmer formulas out there that don’t even need it, so why are people saying these are the best shimmers ever and then fail to mention they need a glitter glue to be build up to full intensity? I don’t get it tbh.
What a brilliant review. Not going to lie, I probably would have been suckered in by the packaging! Love your blog, i’ve followed you and can’t wait to see more of your posts! xxx
Thanks!