On The Eyes: Marcelle Eye Shadow Trio+ in Smoky Chestnut

I’m super excited for the weekend, mainly cause I’m getting one year older in a few days! I’ve also did some online shopping recently and feeling slightly guilty about it. Since it’s almost the holidays, I’m about to bring out the glitz and glam looks, but there’s always something comforting about a neutral palette. I love palettes because they’re handy and I don’t have to think about which colours to blend. Marcelle Cosmetics has some super cute, squared palettes that launched for fall.

Marcelle introduced 6 new eye shadow palettes called the Eye Shadow Trio+. The website describes that the shadows has more “intense color and “intense sparkle.” Not sure intense I like sparkles to be in a palette, but more color is always good!

“Smoky Chestnut” is one of the palettes with neutral colours in the collection. Although the word “trio” is in the name, there are four colours in the compact, though the one at the top left corner is super tiny. The shades in Smoky Chestnut include a light pink, plum-brown colour, light brown, and a white.

Though the palette seems slim, there are actually two layers; the top being the colours, and the bottom holds two eyeshadow smudging sticks (I actually never know what these are called…! By the way, I’m a bit more skilled in using these sticks rather than brushes and usually purchase a bunch of disposable eye shadow smudgers..they’re just so much more convenient, no?!)

For someone who has been using darker and bolder shades on my lids lately, Marcelle’s Eye Shadow Trio+ are not as pigmented as I hoped it would be as it didn’t have the intensity I was expecting. The white shadow, shown on the far left, leaves a chunky glitter when swatched. The light pink shadow, swatched on the far right, is also very light (not even sure if you can see it on the monitor.) The glitter isn’t as chunky and I think this colour is more suited for the browbone area or the inner corners for a soft highlight. Since you only get a tiny portion area of the pink shadow in the palette, I really have to pack on the product onto my finger/smudging stick for it to show up on my lids.

The plum-brown shadow shows up the best; the second swatch from the left. It leans more towards brown against my skin, compared to the palette. The light brown colour is still fairly faint. If you like shadows and is a beginner in makeup, this palette is average. However, since I wear glasses mostly, I prefer shadows that are more obvious on the skin. When I was younger, I did prefer colours like these, since they’re very subtle, but noticeable enough to give the eyes some definition.

Apart from pigmentation, the shadows are soft and easy to blend, except for the white one. I also don’t really know how to wear white eyeshadow, like how wearing red lipstick is seemingly more difficult than pink. I thought these shadows would smudge off pretty quickly, but they stayed intact on my eye for the whole day!

On my lids, I am wearing the plum/brown coloured over my lid and using Crave from the Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette on the outer corner. Smoky Chesnut’s plum/brown shade shows up pretty well even with my glasses on. (Had to wear a toque because of #MessyHairProblems!) Personally, I would skip the purchase of this neutral palette since it doesn’t really suit my style, but I don’t know if I can say the same for their more colorful palettes which I haven’t swatched in store yet! The other colours can be viewed on Marcelle online here.