The product: tokidoki Arte Palette in Vegas
The eyeshadows: The tokidoki Vegas palette includes four eyeshadows, described on the Sephora site as “pearl white, pearl grey, iridescent purple, and pearl dark purple.”
The pearl white is pretty standard (if any of you picked up last year’s Sephora BI birthday set, with Aspen Summit, I’m pretty sure it’s similar), and the iridescent purple is fairly “normal,” too – reminiscent of FaceFront Retro-Robotic Violetta, a shimmery mid-violet with red (rather than blue) undertones. (Think MAC Star Violet, but more pigmented.) They’re good shadows, medium pigmentation and blendable formulas, but they won’t blow you out of the water.
The other two shades (the two on the right), though…
In the top right is the pearl grey, which is just – wow. It doesn’t look all that special, but it swatches absolutely gorgeously. For a grey, it has quite a bit of yellow pearl (and violet-y undertones); the end result is sort of… mushroomy. I know, it doesn’t make a ton of sense right now, but just – look at the swatches! (It’s prettier visually than textually, and–like many great taupes–even prettier in person.)
And, finally, the dark purple. It’s not as unique as the grey, but it’s still well worth having. It’s a bit boring in theory, but it’s perfect in execution! I’m sure my fellow violet-lovers will understand when I say that purples are often pretty in the pan, but end up swatching too black, or too blue, or just too boring, you know? This one is a truer purple than most, though, which is definitely something I can appreciate.
tokidoki Vegas palette swatches – four eyeshadows, then the blush heavily/lightly
The blush: Described as a “soft bronze pink,” the blush in the Vegas palette made me think of NARS Orgasm right off the bat. Upon comparison, though, I can see that I was way off: they’re far from dupes, with Orgasm being more shimmery, less pigmented, and quite a lot more peach. More importantly, though, I’m a little concerned for the Sephora+tokidoki team – because whoever wrote up the blusher description is clearly struggling with language comprehension.
All of the three words apply, but it’s not a “soft bronze pink” blush. Colour-wise, the blush is pink. Period. It’s a strong, clear pink, and it happens to contain a healthy dose of gold shimmer, but that doesn’t interrupt the overwhelming pink (read: non-bronze)-iness of the shade. The formula is quite soft, so make sure to “dab” your brush to pick up colour; don’t sweep or push.
But, the blush, overall – it’s soft (in terms of texture), and bronze (in terms of shimmer), and pink (in terms of shade). However, it’s certainly not a “soft bronze pink”!
Top row, L-R: Clarins Miami Pink, Clinique Smoldering Plum
Bottom row, L-R: NARS Orgasm, tokidoki Vegas blush, generic 10 palette (leftmost shade on the top row of the palette)
The verdict?
For a measly $10USD/$12CAD, I cannot recommend this palette enough. The quality of both the eyeshadows and the blush is quite surprising, and though I’m very much not into the tokidoki packaging and branding, I’m willing to forgive it. I like the thin, lightweight cardboard packaging, I love the shades included, and the price tag & paraben-free formula are just the cherries on top!
I’m hoping that they’ll add another few Arte Palettes to the tokidoki lineup, but it would be nice to see a matte blush in the next one – this shimmery pink is a bit too in-your-face for me. Nonetheless, it’s a great, cheap palette, and it’ll hopefully make its way into quite a few stockings this December!
Vegas palette eyeshadow swatches
packaging detail
ingredients and back label (click to enlarge!)
tokidoki Vegas Arte Palette
