I had been lusting over the Juvia's Place Magic Palette for months basically, ever since Stephanie Nicole gave the brand an endorsement. Finally, BeautyBay started stocking Juvia's Place, but the Magic Palette was consistently selling out in the blink of an eye. I finally managed to order one recently, as a little treat from me to me for finishing my PhD.
I have plenty of eyeshadow palettes, obviously, but my collection definitely skews more "everyday". Except for the Urban Decay Moondust palette (and since this summer ABH Subculture), I mostly own palettes in neutral-warm shades since these are the shadows I use most on a day to day basis. However, I ended up having so much fun with Subculture that I felt like I could definitely play with the brights featured in the Magic palette, so I could justify ordering it.
Juvia's Place is still little known over here in Europe, so I can't wait to share my review with you guys!
Like I said, Juvia's Place's The Magic Palette is BRIGHT, but not in a neon way. The palette consists of sixteen rather huge eyeshadow pans in a mix of metallics, duochromes and mattes (of which there are six), divided equally between warm and cool tones. A very versatile palette, but obviously a little intimidating for your average wearer of neutral eyemakeup. Still, the range of colours is so gorgeous I simply figured I'd make it work!
Btw, Juvia's Place is a black owned brand, designed specifically with dark skinned makeup lovers in mind, which explains why bright pigmentation was such a high priority. Chalky pastels just don't show up on deep skintones.
The names of the eyeshadows are all obviously African inspired, making this a gorgeous thematic palette. And it is SO big! Great value for money. Just look at it next to my ABH Modern Renaissance palette. These eyeshadow pans are basically blush tins.
Now, the proof is in the pudding: let's look at the finger swatches. One swipe per colour, from left to right and from top to bottom.
First impressions: the shimmers are buttery and brightly pigmented, as they should be. The mattes are more of a mixed bag. Except for the brick orange Zakiya, the beige Kesi and the rusty-tan Nana, all of the other mattes translate much lighter when swatched compared to how they look in the pan. Inky blue Ife particularly looked much different when swatched, more purple than deep dark blue. This told me that the mattes would probably need a bit of building up + a primer underneath. Additionally, the less pigmented mattes were pressed very firmly, making it necessary to swirl the brush in the pan to pick up enough pigment.
I'd rank the feel of the metallics up there with the best, but the mattes definitely take some work, feeling more like "budget" eyeshadow than the heavily pigmented mattes by ABH or Urban Decay.
I created three looks to show how these shadow performed in action.
I created three looks to show how these shadow performed in action.
This first look I did features Faso all over the lid, Zuba as an accent in the middle of the lid, and Ife built up in the outer V. As you can see, while Ife swatches quite sheer, layering up the colour and using a primer makes it possible to get full saturation with this rich, purply navy shade. Only negative I noticed here is that Faso tended to crease on the lid a bit, but nothing too bad. I'm wearing Limecrime's Cindy on the lips here, btw.
My second look features the mattes: Kesi in the inner and middle parts of the eye, and Kogi on the outer corner. I also used a bit of Yejide to line the outer 2/3rds of my upper lashline, and Osun as an inner eye highlight. Kogi seems candy apple red in the pan, but translates hyper bright fuchsia on the lid, which I love! This was such a fun look to wear, and the mattes stayed in place gorgeously all day. I'm wearing Kylie Cosmetics' Okurrr on the lips.
For my third and final look I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and rock some greens and yellows, shades that I have learned to appreciate thanks to ABH Subculture. Here I applied the bright yellow gold Nubia to the inner corner, Yara over most of the lid, and Aya in the outer corner. I also used some of the green mattes in ABH Subculture to blend out the edges for a more finished look. I actually really liked the end result, but I feel like green eyemakeup really grabs the attention (moreso than purple or pink I guess - I know, makes no sense) so I wouldn't wear this as often. On the lips, I'm wearing Colourpop's Instigator.
Overall, I think this is a gorgeous palette that features unique, bright shades that offer a lot of room for experimentation. Do I think this palette is up there with UD and ABH? No. But the colour selection is worth sacrificing a bit of smooth blendability and hyperpigmented mattes. Let me know if you have any questions!
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