I don’t typically purchase drugstore brand eyeshadows because the consistency always seem chalky to me or the color payoff is weak. However, I’ve been following these little palettes for a while. I had a greater interest when I saw Maybelline do their first ever collaboration with beauty influencer, @makeupshayla for a special edition of The City Mini Palette. I’m a huge advocate of supporting my culture, so I was very excited to buy this special edition. I headed over to Ulta to look for it and all Maybelline products were buy one, get one 50% off. So, I ordered two of them to test and review it with my fingers crossed, thinking in my head, Shayla, don’t disappoint me, do it for the culture.
The City Mini Palette x Shayla
Shayla and Maybelline really did a good job with this palette. This palette has warm tones of golds, purples, and a black shadow. The palette has a look of one side is for a day look and the other is for a night look. I used most of the colors for one look. I love the small packaging. I can just throw it in my bag, if i need to put on my makeup in a rush. However, I will say to be careful if you do that. I’ve read reviews that the shadows can break easily.
The shadows are very soft and picks up easily on a brush or your fingers. It also blends easily on the eyes and packs a lot of pigment, which was very surprising to me being a drugstore brand. Okay Shayla! I was really impressed with this one!
My swatches below are on bare skin, no primer and are one swipe.
Concrete Runway
This palette was pretty good too. It’s filled with cooler tones like silver, blue, and purple. It has a shade of black as well. The color payoff was good but not as strong as The City Mini Palette x Shayla. I used this palette for a night look. For me, I don’t see it being used for a daytime look as a lot of the colors are on the darker side.
These shadows were soft and picked up well. However, the color payoff wasn’t strong. I had to keep reapplying to actually see the color, which was my initial expectations when I ordered the palette. It isn’t horrible, because I would use it again, but I don’t think I would purchase it again.
My swatches below are on bare skin, no primer and are two swipes.
Overall, The City Mini Palette x Shayla is excellent and I would highly recommend that one, while the Concrete Runway palette was just okay, I wouldn’t spend money on it again. Also, these are $9.99 each which is pricey considering how small they are. I would wait unit you see a sale if you’re interested in purchasing it.
