When I first moved to Australia and checked out the myriad of Aussie and international beauty brands in shops, I gave CHI CHI one look and decided it was definitely not for me. The amount of bright colours in eyeshadows, nail polishes, lipsticks, etc were overwhelming and thought they were just too young for me. I was only 28 then but already thinking like an auntie.
Hello. Welcome to my auntie world. 😛
Anyway, some time in 2013, I decided to properly browse CHI CHI again and I was quite surprised to see the range of eyeshadow palettes that they have, specifically the Glamorous Eyes line with 12 mini eyeshadows in each palette. I thought they looked awfully similar to the Urban Decay NAKED palettes, especially the one in Nudes. I wasn’t interested in the Nudes palette as I already have the Urban Decay one so I swatched some eyeshadows from a few of the other palettes instead. To my surprised, they’re actually not gritty, buttery smooth and highly pigmented!
As pretty as they were in store, I ended up not getting any of the palettes at that time because really, don’t I have enough? Well, it turns out that a few days before Christmas, I decided I don’t have enough eyeshadows (*raise an eyebrow*) and decided to pick one out at Target. It just so happens that there was a particular gift set that was exclusive to Target that contained one of the Glamorous Eyes eyeshadow palettes, 4 lip glosses and a blush/bronzer for only AU$24.95. As each palette retails at AU$22.95 already, I decided to pick up the gift set instead. There was an extra 25% off that day and I bought the entire set for only AU$18.70. After the Boxing Day sales, it was slashed further to about $12 or $14! If you’re lucky, you may still find this at your local Target store. 😉
Sorry, I digressed. Anyway, the palette I decided to get was the Rich Gems that contained jewel toned colours that are absolutely gorgeous for the autumn season. I know it’s summer now in Australia but it’s been stinkin’ hot this week (over 40C for 4 consecutive days) so please allow me some wishful thinking for my favourite season of the year. 😛
I’d like to get talking about the packaging out of the way because it’s just not worth raving about. It’s plasticky and comes with two sponge applicators that are pretty much rubbish in applying the eyeshadows. Plus if you want to create good looks with this palette, you’ll definitely need makeup brushes instead.
Unfortunately, I don’t know if my eyeshadow palette was a lemon because it didn’t really reflect the quality of the eyeshadows I swatched a while back. A number of the eyeshadows were very powdery and created a lot of fall out when swiped with a finger. Even so, they were smooth and not gritty to the touch. For the ones that weren’t dropping powder all over the place, they were buttery smooth and beautifully pigmented. It’s a win some-lose some palette, which I’m not surprised about because I very rarely like all the colours in a multi-coloured palette like this. The one that was the most powdery and created the most amount of eyeshadow wastage was the gold one (no. 5 from the left). It’s too glittery for my liking so it didn’t bother me too much.
The gold that yielded the most fallout
The colours I like the most are no. 6 and 7 (from the left of the palette, next to the dodgy fallout gold shade). Oh my, these coppery shades are so smooth and soft, and they look fantastic when mixed to a gradient. The green (no. 3 from the left) is also a gorgeous shade.
As for the staying power, they’re not as bad as I expected (given that some of them had a lot of fallout). I always wear eye primer underneath eyeshadows (damn ’em oily lids) and these adhere quite nicely. They only started to crease on my lids during the 5th hour (I was expecting them to be gone by the 3rd).
You can do a variety of looks with this palette. I like that there’s a combination of neutrals, a pop of bright shades and more muted dark shades that can bring the look from day to night.
Is this worth paying the original AU$22.95 for? For approximately AU$1.90 per eyeshadow, I’d say it is. You really do get some gorgeous colours here despite the amount of fallout some of the more glittery shades that they have. The Nudes and Bronzes palettes are worth checking out if you’re into more neutral shades for work. But do bear in mind that the quality comes nowhere near the ones by Urban Decay. As the saying goes, you do get what you pay for. Still, they really are not bad at all.
CHI CHI Cosmetics is available at MYER, Target, Gloss and Farmers stores nationally.
Push aside the plasticky packaging and fallout, this palette is beautiful. It’s right down my alley of eyeshadow choices :D. The variety shadow color is a plus point. The blue looks good on you too 😉
I know right? The colours they have are gorgeous. And aww thanks! 😀
Looks like a nice palette .. the colors aren’t too bright and seem quite wearable .. and I really like the blue/green eye look in your photos.
Monica
MonicaP recently posted..Swimming helps a young arthritic dog
The colours are definitely wearable. They’re more muted brights (if there’s such a thing, but I’m sure you know what I mean) that look amazing on the eyes.
For an inexpensive palette, I’d say it looks pretty good. The colors are very pretty, not overly bright. I would’ve bought it. I just received a LE palette from Benefit that I bought online on sale a few weeks ago for $20. It has 4 shadows (plus a few other goodies), and I was shocked to see how much fallout there was from the emerald shade: all over my cheek and well beyond the outer corner of my lid, ugh. I’ll try it again but it seems borderline unusable. Stay cool, Tine. The news said it was 104 degrees F in Melbourne today. I miss summer but not heat like that!
Allison recently posted..I Made DIY Lipstick Balm from Crayons
It’s RIDICULOUSLY hot in Melbourne, Allison. We’ve been getting consistently over 40C for the past few days and it’s horrible. I work from home and we don’t have an AC (well, we do, but it stopped working months ago and we didn’t get it fixed earlier). Terribly unproductive this week, that’s for sure. The cool change will only come in Friday night. 🙁
Another vote for the blue/green eye – you look stunning like that! 😀
I am on the search for an eyeshadow to replace my beloved discontinued HG Bare Minerals eyeshadow which has finally completely died 🙁 It was purity shade for those Bare Minerals junkies, its a matte matte matte bright white cream, with yellow tones in it. Can’t find a dupe anywhere – its quite bright, like a true pigmented white would be, but when you swatch it its not so much white as creamy yellow – brilliant for looking like you have no make up on but are wide awake (I get really bad red eye lids, so this totally counters that and makes me look like I’ve had more sleep than I tend to get).
Sooooooo annoying I can’t find the right shade. One day…..
Aww thanks lovely! It’s my favourite too. The photo didn’t do the other one justice because in real life, it looks like fire on my lids. Stunning!
Aww that sucks when HG stuff is gone. What about Urban Decay? They have really beautiful eyeshadows and a wide selection, especially neutrals. By the way, I heard that they’re coming to Australia very soon. 😉
Haven’t had a chance to swatch UB – its the kind of thing you need to swatch about a hundred different brands/colours until you find the right one – but as soon as they’re on the shelf (I heard too – but as usual with very little detail lol), I will be heading to Myer to swatch away. 🙂
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The colours are beautiful! Too bad about the fallout!
gio recently posted..QOTW: Do You Like Your Lipstick Sheer Or Opaque?
I know right? Without the fallout, I’d say it’s a winner!
I am a huge fan of these Chi Chi palettes! I totally agree though, the brighter/darker colours do seem to have a lot of fallout. But for the price tag I still reckon they are a pretty great product all up <3
We did a review of some Chi Chi products on your blog, please check it out if you get the chance 🙂 http://beautifulbedlamblog.com/?p=309 xoxo
Beautiful Bedlam recently posted..What’s in my Travel Makeup Bag?
I agree; they’re still pretty even though they do have a lot of fallout. The jewel-toned one is simply striking! 🙂