Review: Blinc Shadow Fusion

It wasn't so long ago that I was swatching blinc's Shadow Fusion palette instore at David Jones Melbourne city location and pondering whether I needed another eye shadow palette when the opportunity to review it came my way.  I'm becoming a little more selective in what I'll accept to review on my blog these days but I didn't bother hesitating this time because I was this close to buying it and took it as a sign I was supposed to own it! I was attracted to the mix of warm and cool neutrals, mattes and shimmers...

Before I share my thoughts let's begin with what blinc has to say about this palette which provides, "...nine benefits...one blend."

The palette is called Shadow "Fusion" as the shadows combine "..the best attributes of liquid, gel, powder and cream shadows into one..." to provide "...a luxurious shadow that glides on smooth, blends seamlessly and offers a velvety, highly pigmented finish that doesn’t fade, crease or smudge...anti-aging ingredients [that] treat the skin while filling in existing fine lines for silky smooth coverage...Only when you are ready, remove blinc shadow fusion with any gentle makeup remover."

My impressions:

The 10 pan palette is housed in a sturdy tin which looks like a supersized version of blinc's mascara packaging as all blinc mascaras come housed in metal canisters - I'm not going to buy into the obvious comparisons with another brand fond of metal palettes!  There is the obligatory mirror in the lid which is a great size to get a view of almost your entire face during makeup application and the lid itself is hinged with a magnetic closure which unfortunately doesn't prop up by itself too well - although maybe I'm being a tad fussy because not being able to position the lid at the angle I wanted made it an issue for photography.  Beauty blogger problems perhaps?

As you can see in the picture below the shade names are all conveniently printed on the palette itself  rather than on a pesky plastic insert - yeah inserts can annoy me too, especially the ones that aren't attached - and there's a double-ended "shade & blend" brush included.  I took the brush for a test run and it picks up and blends out the shadows nicely so if I needed to grab and go without packing extra brushes I very easily could.

The shades are a good mix of shimmers, mattes, cool and warm neutrals, arranged in the palette with 6 smaller 1.1g shades in the centre, bookended by 4 larger 1.6g shades.  The rationale behind the choice of the shades for the larger pans is not just the typical brow bone or base shades, but mostly a mix of deeper satiny accents and lid shades. I'm not sure what my opinion is on that right now because I've only just started using this palette so time will tell if I do find myself using the larger pans more than the others. Stay tuned I guess...

What has really impressed me with these eye shadows is how creamy they all feel - and that goes for the mattes too.  These are not chalky or powdery in the slightest and are well pigmented so a tap of the brush into the pan is all that's needed to pick up enough colour for application.  The colours apply smoothly and blend out for a natural effect - I can't tell you yet if they've been treating the fine lines on my lids though!  The shadows do stay put all day without any fading or creasing so they live up to the blinc promise of being "Life Proof" as they stand up to the rigours of daily activity and long hours. 

Now for some arm swatches.  These have been swatched on umprimed skin, and due to poor lighting - sorry! - I don't think my swatches do justice to the shadows so I've also included pictures of a quick natural eye look I've done just so you can see some of them in action.

Centre shades from lightest to darkest (sort of):

Gypsum, Citrine, Moonstone, Terra, Graphite, Obsidian

Outer shades from left to right (as arranged in the palette):

Hyaline, Cinnabar, Sienna, Amber

I'm curious as to whether this Shadow Fusion palette specifically being called 'neutral' suggests the possibility of other colour combinations in future.  Given how prettily these translate on the lids I'd be happy to consider more, if only I could make the space...

Finally, for those who are ethical in their beauty choices - as I am becoming increasingly these days - blinc's Shadow Fusion palette is vegan.  The shadows are also gluten free.

Click here for your nearest blinc stockist.

(This product was provided for my consideration.  All comments and opinions are my own.)