Juvia’s Place, a little indie make-up brand, first went viral on Instagram when beauty gurus couldn’t stop raving about its pigmented and buttery-soft eyeshadows at budget prices.
Curious to test the hype myself, I logged on to the brand’s website to place on order. The large pan eyeshadow palettes cost between US$25 (Dh91) and $28, but since these are ship ped from the United States, I was prepared to pay a hefty shipping cost.
Juvia’s stocks both single eyeshadows and palettes, and also has bundle offers for those who want to purchase more products.
I decided to get the Nubian 2 palette, which is mostly neutral, with a few pops of colour; and the bold Masquerade palette. Both palettes in the bundle cost $50, but shipping was another $30, making my total about Dh297. I wasn’t too upset, though, since it was still more pocket-friendly than some of the other palettes available here (such as the Urban Decay Naked palettes, and the Huda Beauty Rose Gold palette, that each cost Dh250). Plus, Juvia’s gave me more colours to play with. My package got to me in less than a week.
The shadows come housed in a thick cardboard packaging with a magnetic closure, which – with its beautiful colours and graphics – was quite distinctive.
Now for the stars of the show: the eyeshadows.
They were everything I had hoped for: super-soft and pigmented, and extremely easy to blend. Some brighter shadows, in fact, are so pigmented, that I had to work extra hard to get them off my lids.
The shadows can have a bit of fall out, so tap the excess before application, and go easy on the darker colours when picking some up from the pan.
The shadows work great with both brushes and fingers, and each palette has a good mix of shimmer, matte and satiny textures.
They can be used with or without a primer, though it is recommended, and work great when used wet or dry. The lighter colours fade faster, but the darker ones stay put for a solid eight hours.
To sum up, the palette is lightweight, and the shadows inside are versatile enough to create different looks. This would be a good option to travel with as well.
• Juvia’s Place has extended its collection to include gel eyeliners as well as make-up brushes. Shop the collection from www.juviasplace.com.
ajhurani@thenational.ae
