I told you on Monday that I didn’t buy just Welcome to Miami from the Essence holiday eyeshadow palette line, but that there was more. So I didn’t want to make you wait any longer. That’s why today I thought we could review the Benvenuti a Roma eyeshadow palette. I created two looks with this warm toned neutral palette with a pop of green. So let’s have a closer look.
Review: Essence Benvenuti a Roma eyeshadow palette
Like the other palette, this retails for around €6.99. The packaging is similar as well: cheap cardboard with a semi-useful mirror that is too narrow to really do your makeup in. There are many different retailers that will stock this once this palette comes to a place near you. Here, this was just released, so it may not be out yet everywhere. Typically it takes Essence products up to 6 months to be released around the globe. It is best to check with the brand when they expect to stock a product in your territory.
What does this product have to offer?
Like the Welcome to Miami palette, Benvenuti a Roma is a 12-pan color story. This time however it is more of a neutral leaning palette. However, unlike the other palette we don’t get a 50/50 split between shimmers and mattes. This palette contains 7 mattes and 5 shimmers. It is a much lighter palette than I had expected when I ordered it but it can make for a pretty warm toned palette with a pop of green.
What is the color story like?
As you can tell from these pictures, this isn’t just a neutral palette. There are some soft neutral browns, but we also get some peachy shades, some orange toned bronzes, a gold and two green mattes. In short, you can do some very good everyday looks with this, but you can also go more colorful if you’d like to. Is this the most revolutionary palette on the planet? No, but it can make for a good palette that if you are looking for something affordable that is a nice neutral you can try this. That said, for Essence, I still think it is quite up there in price. For the price of this one palette, you could buy two of the mini palettes and call it a day.
What are the swatches like?
Compared to the other palette, this doesn’t have as much depth and definition as I’d like. It’s very soft and natrual, but the quality is great. The mattes feel soft and the shimmers are rich and creamy. The shimmers in this palette have a bit more vibrancy to them than in the other one. The white, bronze and gold all have a good enough shine to it, where I felt some of the shimmers int he other palette were a bit lacking. That said, we do get fewer shimmers here and I wish there were fewer light shades. Against my skin tone, this all just blended away into nothing.
2 Looks with Benvenuti a Roma
So I may not do the most adventurous of looks, but I always like trying out all the shades in a palette. Therefore I created two looks to showcase how all these shades combine. For the first look I worked in the greens and in the second look I sticked too all things neutral.
For my first look with this palette I opted to use the greens. The dark green works well enough but when I started blending it I felt it blended a way and it kind of muddied up a bit. I was able to work with is quite well if I just packed it on in the Outer V and on the lower lashline, but it just wasn’t great for blending as it was a touch too soft. The other shades I used including the bronzes and some of the browns paired together quite well and I like how this is a good neutral look with a bit of a twist.
For my second look, I just stuck to all the neutrals. I was a bit let down by the dark brown in this palette. While pretty, it wasn’t as deep as I’d like. I tried using it as an eyeliner here and I found it blended too much into the peach tones on the lid to really make it stand out. The peachy tones were pretty. The white shimmer in my inner corner is perhaps the most stand out shade in the palette though. It is vibrant and intense and makes for that bright pop of something extra in the inner corner.
My final thoughts
The Essence Benvenuti a Roma is a pretty neutral palette with a pop of green. Is this a unique palette? No. Is it therefore a product you must run out to buy? No. This palette is nothing special compared to other offerings on the market. You can buy this color story, even from the same brand for less money with shades that have a little bit more impact. Though this palette works well on my fair skin, I don’t think people with medium to deep skin will like these shades all that well. If these already blend away and don’t look the best on my skin tone, then I can only imagine what it will look like if you have deeper skin than mine.
Would I recommend the Essence Benvenuti a Roma eyeshadow palette?
Not really no. Mainly because the color story is boring and while the quality is nice I find it a bit too expensive for what you get. The Welcome to Miami palette at least had a more unique color story going for it, but this doesn’t even have that. You can probably find these shades already in your collection and if you are looking to buy into a color story like this I would suggest getting the Bronze this Way and Dancing Green mini palettes from Essence instead. It will cost just as much as this entire palette and you will get more shimmers and richer shades.