Guerlain has been one of my favorite make up brands. Their L’essential Glow foundation is my holy grail and I’m eternally in fear that they’ll discontinue it. I’ve purchased and used 3 bottles in the last 2 years. I love their meteorites powder and their lipstick cases, too. Not a fan of the lipsticks I’ve tried, but the cases are so classy. I remember whipping it out at a party to check my lips and catching the eye of a handsome guy. Let’s just say that I had fun at that party.
So when I read on Temptalia that Guerlain was releasing eye shadow palettes I was excited. And then I saw the price tag and I wasn’t so excited. But I watched a bunch of reviews and most influencers raved about the gel-like formula and I decided to purchase a palette. I was immediately drawn to the Mystic Peacock palette. The palette reminded me of the Estee Lauder x Victoria Beckham 6 pan palette, which I couldn’t afford back in the day. After I received and swatched it, I realized how similar it was to Revlon’s Prismatic Palette in Clap Back.
Ordering & Shipping
In Canada, this palette was available only on Guerlain.com. At first, it was available for a limited time and then re-released. When I decided to purchase it, only Mystic Peacock was sold out but I was able to purchase it during the restock. The shipping was free which I’m not surprised about; the palette costs CA$ 95 without taxes and tops at around CA$ 103 with taxes in Ontario. I received 2 samples with the order.
Packaging
The palette itself arrived nestled in a small brown box with a cute bee painted on it. Now the samples, that was another story. They were packed in a scented cotton bag and OMG, I really want to know what that scent is. It smelled amazing.
All-in-all the unboxing was a great experience.
The palette not so much. I expected the palette to be similar to their previous palettes, luxurious. But I was horrified when I realized that it was a light plastic palette. I can’t believe that the company that released this product, released the Ombre G palette.
I may not like the quality of Olivia Palermo’s eyeshadows but I have to admit her makeup line, along with Victoria Beckham Beauty, have the best luxury makeup packaging.
I’m disappointed in Guerlain’s packaging.
Eyeshadow Formula and Colors
The theme of the palette is beautiful and kinda on point. I say kinda because I don’t think I’ve seen a peacock with orange in it’s plumage. It tends to be yellow and shades of blue in the center, and green around it. A true peacock palette we would be purple, blue, light brown and shades of green.
That being said, I get it, this is a commercial take on the peacock theme.
Before I begin talking about the formula and the colors, I’d like to point out that this is 4 shadows for $95. That’s around $20 per shadow (assuming the packaging costs $15 which I highly doubt). I know that it’s more expensive because it’s baked formula and is Made in Italy, but that’s too much for these shadows. Especially when Revlon can produce a similar product at a fraction of the cost. Even the ingredients in the shadows are similar, except Guerlain’s formula contains Camellia oil.
Moving on to the shadows themselves, I like the colors in the palette. You can go from a day look with the bronze (which pulls orange) and the dark brown to a night look with the blue and grey-green (which is described on Guerlain’s website as a shade of blue).
Where I struggled with this palette was the formula. Each shadow has a different formula and performed differently. I tried them all without primer: a few days on naked lids and a few days with foundation as my primer. With primer (in this case, foundation) the shadows performed better than without.
Here’s a look at the colors:
- Blue: I love this blue. It’s a satin formula that applies so well without any fall out. I don’t think it’s worth $20, but it performed the best in the palette. It lasted an entire day — 9 hours.
- Orange: This was one of the two shadows that I found difficult to work with. You need to apply this with your fingers and it was patchy on me. The pigmentation needs to be built and it does have a bit of fallout. If you’re going to use this, then definitely use a primer. This is one of the shadows that looks stunning on videos and pictures with lights shining on it (which is how it looked on video calls), but it was a hot mess when you looked at it up close. It lasted 6 hours on me
- Grey-green: This is a weird color and was very glittery, and I struggled with it. It has a tinge of green but it pulled grey on me. It was so difficult to apply, moved all over the place, didn’t have much pigmentation and had so much fallout. It also faded in such a weird way that by the end of the day, it looked smokey. What is strange is that in the pictures of a demo look on the Guerlain website, it looks peacock green, which it isn’t.
- Dark Brown: This is an almost matte shadow. It was a bit patchy but manageable. I did not like the tone of this shadow, it looked like someone had punched me in the eye. I couldn’t get the orange to layer on top of it properly, but when I did, it looked nice. That’s the only way I can see myself using the Brown — with the Orange.
Comparison with Revlon
I found this palette very similar in colors and formula to the Revlon So Fierce palette. The blue in the Guerlain palette is a bit more true blue while Revlon’s blue has more purple in it. But they are pretty close when you apply them on the eyes. Same goes for the browns, they’re very similar. The Guerlain palette contains the orange and the grey-green shades, while the Revlon has a beige and purple-pink, which are more wearable.
At CA$ 15.99 (+taxes), it costs a fraction of the Guerlain palette and provides the same performance. Sure the orange/bronze shade and the grey-green are unusual, but I’m sure you’ll find dupes in many Colourpop palettes.
Should you buy it?
Unless you have the skill to make any shadow work or are a fan of Guerlain, I wouldn’t recommend this palette. I simply do not think it’s worth the money.
P.s: After I had written this review, I came across Temptalia and Tarababyz review on the product. I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one not satisfied with this palette.