I was at Five Below last week and spotted some 16 Color eyeshadow palettes from L.A. Colors that I hadn't seen there before, and they were only $4 (you can find it at drugstore.com here for $3.99). They had a few different ones but this one caught my eye because it has some beautiful nude shades but also some greens and a navy blue. It's called Sweet and there are two other versions...one with bright shades called Haute and a smoky one called Smokin. Let's take a look!
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| LA Colors 16 Color Eyeshadow Palette in Sweet |
I'm usually skeptical of drugstore eyeshadow palettes...I'm rarely impressed by the ones from "bigger" drugstore brands like Maybelline, Revlon or Cover Girl. But lately it seems like the indie brands have taken over, as I've found that products from City Color, L.A Girl, and Profusion actually surpass the quality of the products found in the drugstore...and they're usually cheaper! The problem is, they can be harder to find so I hope that more drugstores start picking up these brands and carrying their full lines!
This palette is so pretty to look at, between the white packaging, beautiful shade selection, and the zig-zag design in each pan. These are almost all shimmery shades, with the exception of one or two mattes, and the shimmer varies from subtle to pretty heavy depending on the shade.
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| L.A. Colors 16 Color Eyeshadow Palette in Sweet |
The pigmentation of these shades is fantastic...all of these swatches are on bare skin (no primer) and were swiped just once after going back and forth in the pan a couple of times with my finger.
This first row of colors is harder to see, not because the shades aren't pigmented, but because they're almost all light shades and they blend in against my pale skin. I had no pigmentation issues with any of the shades in this row, and they all felt super soft and buttery. The more shimmer each shade had, the softer and more pigmented it was, but they also had more fallout.
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| Top Row |
The second row has mostly darker shades with the exception of the gold and white glittery shades (that white one on the end has a blue/violet shift...it's so pretty in person). In this row, there were two shades that felt a bit more dry, chalky and crumbly than the rest of the palette...the matte olive green shade (5th one from the left) which just wasn't as dark as it looks in the pan, and the navy blue shade, which looks dark in my swatch, but I had to swipe a few times to get it to show up. The first swipe was very light and streaky so I just kept going (this shade is the only one that required more than one swipe). Still, it can be built up easily, so that's a good thing.
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| Bottom Row |
Overall, this palette is absolutely amazing quality for the price, and the fact that there were only 2 duds out of 16 shades is really good. This could be the least expensive eyeshadow palette I own, but it's definitely earned a place in the collection of ones I'll use often.
You can find L.A. Colors at Five Below, Dollar General, Target and Kmart to name a few (for a full list of locations, click here).
If there are no stores near you that carry L.A. Colors, you can pick up this palette at drugstore.com for only $3.99.
Only 4 bucks? I'm sold!
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Crazy right??! :)
DeleteI know I'm late to post, this is 2017, but just found this at Shopko for$3.99. Thank you for your review!!! Just what I was looking for before buying.
DeleteThank you for blogging about off-beat brands like City Color, L.A Girl, and Profusion. Not only are they harder to find in-store, but information about some of their products can be scarce too. Even if I can't find an exact palette you're featuring, your reviews and swatches give valuable insight into the overall brand, which is really helpful when the quality of some lines can sometimes be hit-or-miss. I look at items such as this kinda like the cheap thrill of scratch-off lottery tickets; for a few dollars, chances are good I'll find at least a few nice shades - nice enough to be worth a buck a piece, but often I'll score some real hidden gems too! After that, the rest is all gravy, even if occasionally there's a "lump" or two! Keep up the great blog. I'm looking forward to your thoughts on more FiveBelow finds, and especially the holiday goodies starting to pop up at Walgreens!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, you made my day! :) I always feel bad if I review a product I can't at least link to...especially when readers come back and say they couldn't find it in stores. But I'm so glad it's still a helpful insight into some of these harder-to-find brands! I'll definitely keep posting about them...there are so many hidden gems. :)
DeleteI agree. There are so many blogs that cover the ME and HE brands (MAC, UD, Chanel, Dior, etc), it's refreshing to find cheap but good quality products with City Color, LA Girl and Profusion. Based on your recs, I've bought a bunch of stuff from City Color, and their shimmer shadows are amazing!!! Keep up the great work (Katherine T.)
DeleteI just love how you review so many hidden gems! I hope you're having a great week. ☺️
ReplyDeleteThank you Arzu! :) I've been having a great week and I hope you are as well! Tomorrow's Friday already :)
DeleteThese actually don't look bad. In the past I've found LA Colors eyeshadow to be some of the worst on the market, but it looks like they did very well with this palette. I might have to snag this one and give it a chance.
ReplyDeleteThis palette is so pigmented, with very pretty colors. I really like the other two palettes, especially the smokey one. I found them at target.
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