W7 Lightly Toasted Eyeshadow Palette Review

You would think the amount of eyeshadow palettes within my stash should deter me from adding more to my collection. Well, it has not and I am always attracted to Nude palettes that work well with my complexion. I am not sure when I started hearing about the brand W7 but I had seen a couple of reviews popping up. However, I just never got around to trying them. I popped into TK Maxx sometime this month and spotted this on the aisle and promptly picked it up. I have a love-hate relationship with TK Maxx when it comes to buying beauty products. I love that you can find some cool brands from the US that are difficult to track and the prices are reasonable. What I hate is the condition of some makeup items on the aisle. Some of them have been ripped open by silly customers and even swatched in a very disgusting manner. I was delighted that this palette was untouched and sealed. There were at least 3 others which had been opened and swatched; I have no idea why people do such disgusting things. Anyways, that’s beside the point here as we are talking about this lovely palette. I was drawn to this palette because I liked the colour of the eyeshadows. People have compared this to the Urban Decay Naked Palette. Although I don’t own any of the Naked palettes, I definitely think the quality of the Urban Decay eyeshadows are miles ahead of this (I have a few UD eyeshadows) but this is a good palette.

Packaging

I have to say I am super impressed with the packaging. It feels so sturdy but not heavy at all. It is made of tin/metal which makes it look quite pretty if you ask me. The inserts are made from some sort of rubberised foam hybrid which I like because it prevents the palette from getting dirty from fallouts. I wish it came with a mirror because it would have been the ideal travel palette but I don’t think that matters too much. It comes with a small eyeshadow brush which is surprisingly good quality. I have to say it is one of the few palette eyeshadow brushes that I find useful. I actually really like it and use it every now and then. I actually wish the Urban Decay Naked 1 Palette came with a tin packaging like this as I would buy it in a heartbeat.

Eyeshadows Shades in the Palette

The W7 Lightly Toasted Eyeshadow Palette contains 12 eyeshadows which are largely neutral colours and easy to work with. There is a good mix of shimmer, matte, satin and glittery shades which makes it a really versatile palette. The eyeshadows are individually named but you can only find their names behind the palette which is not very helpful but hey, it’s not the end of the world. The shades include: Teddy Bear, Wonderland, Cracker, Happy, Lady Luck, Twister, Di Di, Delilah, Magic, It’s a Dream, Smoke and Dawn. I think the names are pretty cool and they sound very whimsical. In this palette, you get various colours including metallic pinks, satin cream, glittery gold, metallic silvers, matte browns, satin deep browns, metallic green shimmer, deep copper tones and a nice black shade for smoking things out.

Texture/Pigmentation

I have to say the textures of the eyeshadows are not all consistent but this may be due to the different finishes. For the most part, they feel very buttery to touch and it is really easy to apply. The pigmentation is quite good especially when you swatch it with your finger. However, I think the pigmentation may appear better if you have a lighter complexion than mine. I have to reapply/layer  a couple of the shades particularly the lighter colours because they don’t show up on my complexion. However, most of the shades show up and appear well pigmented. The eyeshadows can be used wet or dry and I find that the pigmentation is amplified when I use it wet. It’s my favourite way of using it as it delivers better results for me.

Longevity/Fallouts

I never use eyeshadows without a primer so I can’t really comment on its natural longevity. However, it lasts relatively well on my eyes when I apply it. I noticed that its vibrancy diminishes towards the end of the day and this is why I always cherish my high end eyeshadows like MAC, etc. It has a considerable amount of fallouts particularly with some of the glittery/shimmer shades. This can be reduced by tapping any excesses off your eyeshadow brush. I have also noticed that using the eyeshadows wet seriously reduces the fallouts and I guess that’s another benefit to using this method.

Cost

This is where things get exciting as it is an incredibly cheap palette. I got mine for around £5; I can’t remember the actual figure but it was £4.69 or something odd like that. I don’t think anyone can complain about the price because it is such incredible value for money. The difficulty is you can’t really buy it in-store and I was lucky to find it in TK Maxx. It is majorly sold on line so it’s a risk to buy but seriously at under £5, you have little to lose. The easiest place to find it is on Amazon UK  for £5.29 or Amazon US for $10.59

Cons

1. You can’t buy it easily in-store so you have to rely on reviews or swatches.

2. It has some considerable amount of fallouts which can be annoying.

3. The pigmentation across the eyeshadows are not consistent; some eyeshadows may appear more pigmented than others.

Overall Thoughts

I really like this palette and I still reach for it every now and then. I am actually wearing it today and I love the soft neutral look it helped me create. I had to use a few other eyeshdaows from other palettes but I used majority from this palette. If you are looking for an affordable eyeshadow palette, this is a good one to try. That’s it folks!!  Have you tried any W7 Eyeshadow Palette?