Last week I shared my Ipsy Metropolis Unboxing with y’all, including this little em Cosmetics Shade Play Eyeshadow Palette. For those of you who don’t know, em Cosmetics is Michelle Phan’s personal cosmetics line, Michelle Phan being the creator of Ipsy! Before Christmas em Cosmetics sold all of their products off at a steep discount (75% off!) to make way for a new image and with it, new products. I’m looking forward to seeing what they have next! This palette was originally $28US.
em Cosmetics Tokyo Plums Shade Play
Eyeshadow Palette Packaging
The palette itself is a plastic white square compact with rounded edges and em’s label on the front. I wasn’t able to capture it on camera but there’s white lettering across the top of the palette spelling words that start with an E, like Esteem, Embrace, Embellish etc. All positive vibes! Inside is a mirror, six different shades and a little indent for two mini brushes. The brushes aren’t held in place so they fall out every time I open the palette. It’s a bit annoying, It would be nice if they clipped into place.
Brushes
There are two brushes in this palette, one an eyeshadow brush and the other a double sided eyeshadow/angled liner brush. I would use them on the go but I wouldn’t reach for them on a daily basis. It’s a lot harder to create the look you want with mini brushes.
Layout
The inside of the palette has six circle pans in various shades and sizes. I’m kind of confused as to why the purple shade in the middle is so large. The largest shade in a palette is typically a lighter nude tone to use as a base/highlight, and it’s normally not THAT large. If I could pick a shade to have in the larger size it would be the shimmery pink in the bottom left hand corner because it creates a fabulous highlight!
Shade Selection & Pigmentation
This palette contains a matte pink (1), a matte blueish purple (2), a shimmery pink (3), a matte medium purple (4), and a shimmery (5) & matte (6) dark purple. I’ve had trouble getting shades 1 & 2 to show up. I really have to build both shades to get them to show up on the eye, and even more so on camera. I also find shade #5 to be apply patchily. It’s best applied wet as a liner. As a dry shadow I had to swatch it several times to get an even distribution of colour.
Keep in mind that my swatches were done without a primer and that the lightest shades show up slightly better with a decent primer.
The shimmery pink is exceptionally beautiful as a brow bone or tear duct highlight and the medium purple looks great in the crease or on the lid. I’ve been using the darkest matte shade to contour the outer V of my eyes.
Final Thoughts
I was a bit skeptical about the quality of this palette from reading reviews prior to it’s arrival, but I didn’t need to be. The shades have more pigment than I thought they would and they apply smoothly. All shades go together well and the purple is a great way to spice my look up but still be professional enough for work! I need a primer to get the most out of this palette and extend the wear time.
Have you used a em Cosmetics Shade Play Eyeshadow Palette?
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this post please support me by liking this post and subscribing! If you are a returning reader, thank you again and please let me know what you would like to see next!
Instagram ~ Twitter ~ Pinterest ~ Bloglovin
Great review and you photos are amazing quality !
Author
Thank you so much!! 😊 This is my first post with my new photo background, I’m glad you like it! All my photos are taken with my Nexus 5 so it’s a challenge to get good lighting and pictures
Wow, I am impressed! The look you did with this palette looks really good and way more pigmented than I was expecting. BTW, your eyes are so beautiful! I’m uber jealous! I haven’t tried any em products but I remember when her contour stick came out – it was one of the firsts in that category and I wanted it so badly!!!
Author
I was surprised as well with the quality, the lighter matte shades don’t show up quite as well as I had hoped but the purples exceeded my expectations!
Thanks haha, they always look a different colour depending on the lighting, sometimes bright blue and other times grey/green. It’ so weird! This is my first em product, I really wanted to buy some of her concealers and contour products when they were all 75% off but the website didn’t ship directly to Canada =/ Thanks for reading <3
Woah! What?! When was it 75% off?!
Author
Right before Christmas! Literally everything was on a blowout sale
Ugh…can’t believe I missed it! Oh well…it just wasnt meant to be >_<
Author
Awe, next time!
I really enjoyed seing this look! I love purple eyeshadow, so this post and this palette looks so pretty! Your blue eyes are stunning and you are a very talented blogger. Keep up the amazing blog! xoxo
https://makeupbymakena.wordpress.com
Author
I’m glad you liked it! I normally get stuck reaching for the same neutrals over and over so this palette is great to change it up a bit! 😄 And thank you, you are so sweet! This is my first time doing a close up shot of my eye, they always look different depending on the lighting haha. I love the flatlay arrangements over at your blog! 😊
If you are looking for the perfect palette with neutrals and very wearable pops of color, the Too Faced Sweet Peach Palette is perfect! I hate taking photos of my eye makeup because it always gets washed out and every look looks the same, haha. Thank you so much!
Author
I’ve wanted that palette so much since last summer! It will probably be my next big palette purchase, but it might be a while given the price tag =/
Close up photos are the hardest to take!
I will be doing a full review on it soon, so stay tuned, but it is amazing quality, and I think that as long as you love and would use every single shade, it is 100% worth it! I love warm purples, peaches, corals, bronzes, and nudes, so it is my dream palette! xoxo
Author
I’ll look out for that! I got the Too faced Chocolate Bon Bons palette in November and I still love it so I’ll probably love the Sweet Peach palette as well
I have five of the life pallets and the quality of the shadows is really sorta hit and miss. I use them all the time though, and it’ll be interesting to see what the brand comes out with next.
Author
I almost bought one through Ipsy but held back due to the website reviews. I really like the idea of them though and that the pans pop out. I hope they can improve consistency between palettes this year! Thanks for reading 😃
Love this look! And the palette seems gorgeous!
Great post, as always 🙂
Author
Thank you so much 😊 I hope the new em products are just as good!