The product: tokidoki 24 Karat Skate Deck Palette

My Skate Deck palette is missing one shade (Goccia, on the bottom row), but I’ve swatched the rest of them. The tokidoki eyeshadow formula isn’t one that I go crazy over, but it’s not half bad — better than most drugstore eyeshadows, but not on par with a brand like MAC or NARS.

I’d put the formula at a solid “just okay,” making it a good choice if you’re looking for fun, glittery shades (think Urban Decay on a smaller budget,) but I wouldn’t choose it for staple shades.

–> The top row

The top row of the Skate Deck palette contains…

• Unicorno – a matte white (base colour) accompanied by finely-milled silver shimmer.
• Stella – chunky silver glitter in a sheer, shimmery silver base.
• Ametista – a pink-violet of medium intensity, paired with fine silver (and a bit of gold) shimmer.
• Cuore – a super-sheer white-pink with finely-milled, shimmery white reflects.
• Duna – a light, smooth, shimmery gold with a bit of fine silver shimmer for depth.
• Sabbia – dense gold shimmer in a translucent white-yellow base.

Stella is definitely the most interesting shade in this palette, (and would make a gorgeous faux-gloss lid,) but I think Duna is my favourite — it’s just such a gorgeous shade, with the perfect warm gold/cool brown balance.

A few of the bottom-row shadows stain (more on that in a bit,) but none of these top-row shades do.

Swatched L-R: Unicorno, Stella, Ametista, Cuore, Duna, Sabbia.

–> The bottom row

The bottom row of the Skate Deck palette contains…

• Goccia – missing, but it should be a dark, vibrant shimmery blue.
• Adios Star – a basic black with a small amount of chunky silver glitter.
• Tempesta – a blue-violet with fine blue and silver shimmer.
• Granata – a medium-sheer mossy green with yellow undertones.
• Camo – an intense, satin-finish chocolate brown.
• 24 Karat – a pigmented, dark yellow-gold with gold shimmer.

Of the bottom-half shades, it’s Camo (followed by Tempesta) that has my heart — the buttery dark brown is right up my alley, and like Duna, the shade’s warm/cold balance is spot-on. Adios Star, Tempesta, Cameo, and 24 Karat all stain lightly.

24 Karat is too warm for my lids, but if you’re looking for an eyeshadow with that really yellow sort of gold, you need this one. It’s just as smooth and pigmented as Camo, but differs in finish by coming heaped with shimmer.

Swatched L-R: Adios Star, Tempesta, Granata, Camo, 24 Karat.

Organization

The shades in the bottom row are smoother and more pigmented than the shades in the top row, to such an extent that I had to double-check I hadn’t done something wrong with the first set of swatches. But, nope, that’s just the way the palette was designed — you have your darker, more sultry shades on the bottom, and the lighter, more “ethereal” shades on the top.

I think it’s kind of a nice distinction, to be honest; the organization of the shades makes it easy to pick shadows depending on what kind of look you feel like creating.

The shades are organized horizontally, to a degree, as well: the two shades with chunky glitter (Stella and Adios Star) are stacked on top of each other, for instance, as are the two violets (Ametista and Tempesta), the two typical neutrals (Duna and Camo) and the two yellow-gold shades (Sabbia and 24 Karat).

Only Cuore and Granata break the mould, and even then, not by much — they have the same finish, with finely-milled shimmer giving them a frost (think MAC Frost, not 90’s frost) finish without any additional shimmer or glitter.

The verdict?

I deliberated over it for quite a while, but with the missing shadow, I had decided not to review this palette at all. The shadows are pretty decent, though–the formula’s just okay, but the shades are lovely–and when it went on sale yet again, I knew I had to feature it.

At the original price of $47 CAD, this one would have been a skip. For $18, though, grab it if you can find it! There’s a great mix of shades and finishes in the palette if you’re still building up your eyeshadow stash, and (despite the awkward size and childlike toy…thing,) I think it would be worth having around.

The ingredients