Friday 25 April 2014

The Balm Balm Voyage palette review & swatches



Yes, I do admit it, I'm a packaging junkie and it was the packaging was that primarily attracted me to The Balm Balm Voyage palette.
The palette comes in a sleek cardboard box with a flip top opening that is equipped with magnetic closure. The vintage style of the box alludes to the motif of travel with 'snapshots' of landmarks, tickets and passports. Inside, apart from the eyeshadows you'll find an oval mirror that makes you look as if you were the one in the passport photo. Really cute.  


The palette consists of 16 eyeshadows, named after seat numbers, I suppose, and 3 lip and cheek cream products. Most shades are neutrals, but there are also a couple of brights that will liven up any kind of look. Most of the shadows are shimmers, a couple of them with a fairly frosty finish, but none of them is glittery. There are also a couple of matte shades that are always a nice addition to every palette. I may not be attracted to every shade, but one thing can be said for certain - all shadows within the palette perform exceptionally well.  All of them, even the matte ones, are buttery and soft, they glide on the lids beautifully, displaying no powderiness nor dryness. Every single one is highly pigmented, blends well, producing no fall out, and lasts all day on my oily lids. 






A4 is a gorgeous charcoal black shade with shimmer. I have nothing like this one in my stash. It's perfect in the outer corner or used as a liner.
B4 is a beautiful dark brown shimmer. Neither too warm nor too cool-toned.
C4 is the only shade that has something like glitter. It's a reddish brown with silver sparkle.
D4 is a khaki green, shimmer. I love khakis but I never use them as they don't look good on me.




A3 is a light silver with a somewhat frosty finish.
B3 is a gorgeous purple-based taupe with a matte finish.
C3 is a mid-tone brown with a matte finish.
D3 is a soft, muted, cool-toned gold. Very pretty and extremely unique.




A2 is a lovely bright, cool-toned, shimmery purple.
B2 has been described as blue by other bloggers, but to my eye it's a bright mint green with shimmer.
C2 is a matte teal shade.
D2 is hard to describe. It's a kind of flesh-toned shade, barely visible on my skin. Shimmer.


A1 is actually very similar to D2, just a bit darker.
B1 is another shade that matches my skin tone pretty well. Since it's matte it can be used all over the lid as a base shadow.
C1 is a light, almost white yellowish shade. Shimmer.
D1 is a yellow shade with shimmer. Really unusual, but I never use it. I'm not a big fan of yellow, not to mention yellow eyeshadow. 

As much as I love the eyeshadows, I barely reach for the lip/cheek creams hidden under the bottom flap.

First of all, I simply tend to forget that they're there and secondly they're a bit too drying on my lips and too greasy for my oily cheeks. What's more the insane pigmentation puts me off a bit as I don't want to end up looking like a clown. 


The shades themselves are actually very pretty and I find all of them perfectly wearable. 
Second Officer and Captain are actually sort of similar. Second Officer is more of a cool-toned proper red and Captain is a rosy shade. They have the same dewy finish that reminds me of a highly pigmented lip balm. I have oily skin so I use these as lipsticks rather than as blushes, but I can make them work for me if I dab on just the tiniest amount. They are so pigmented that this is what you need to do anyway.
First Officer is a peachy coral shade that has a strong pastel base to it. It's fully opaque and may look patchy on the lips, especially if you have dry lips or don't moisturise beforehand. It also offers satin to matte finish. This shade lasts way longer on my lips than the other two and performs better on my cheeks due to its cream to powder formula. I like this shade a lot, I don't have anything quite like it in my collection. It maintains a good balance between being bright and cheerful and bold and daring. Also makes a good base for a gloss if you find it too drying on the lips.    



Disclaimer: I bought the product myself for my personal use and I am not affiliated with any company. I am not paid to do this review and everything I said here is my genuine opinion.

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