As soon at Soph announced her new palette with Revolution I made a note of the launch date and on June 6 at 10 am I was there, debit card in hand, to pick up her beautiful new palette: Extra Spice. As much as I liked her previous palette (full review & swatches here) I found that a few of the shades were hit or miss, with the shimmers outperforming the mattes tenfold, which isn’t uncommon with Revolution eyeshadows. I find the combination of jewel-toned shades and the overall layout of the Extra Spice Ultra Eyeshadow Palette (AF Link) way more appealing than the first and I definitely appreciate the added touches, such as the shade names printed on the inside, which clearly shows Revolution and Soph have listened to customers concerns.
The Packaging
The Extra Spice packaging is beautiful but, wow, does it get covered in fingerprints easily. Soph used the same metallic rose gold and matte beige/pink combination as her first palette but flipped them around so the front of the palette has a beautiful mirrored effect. Inside is a full-sized mirror and 18 shades compared to the 24 in the first palette. Even though there are fewer shades, I think this layout looks less cluttered and more cohesive. It kind of reminds me of Huda Beauty palette inside. There are six shimmers and 12 mattes which I think is a nice balance. Yes, shimmer shadows always have the added wow factor, especially when it comes to the swatches, however, in my opinion, the magic is in the mattes. Not having the right combination of transition and base shades, is a clear sign of an ill-conceived palette.
The Swatches
Let’s get stuck into the shades. The names are a little basic, they are basically a mixture of Soph’s favourite foods and a whole heap of Taylor Swift references, but I appreciate that they are labelled clearly and she got rid of that plastic insert that, let’s face it, everyone throws out…
Everyday – very pale purple with a white shift duo-chrome finish, Running Late – matte carrot orange, Infinity – silver, metallic finish, Cheesecake – matte chestnut brown, Cookie Dough – matte soft brown & Dreams – warm champagne shimmer.
Vitamin C – matte canary yellow, Sweet N Sour – electric matte orange, Twenty One – matte cerise pink, Romance – burgundy shimmer with a pink shift, Enchanted – matte wine purple & Lakes – dark olive green matte.
Brownies – deep brown matte, Chocolate Orange – sienna brown matte, Mulled Wine – red violet matte, LA Sun – gold shimmer, Aurora – khaki green shimmer & Reputation – charcoal black matte.
Final Thoughts
With drugstore palettes, I always make sure to use my Urban Decay Primer Potion eyeshadow base underneath and I apply shimmers with a damp brush. You need to build the mattes up, but they blend nicely with an even distribution of pigment. They aren’t overly chalky or patchy. There is quite a bit of fallout, however, this doesn’t really bother me as I have come to expect this from drugstore palettes. Soph has also released three nude lipsticks (Syrup, Cake & Fudge) with a satin finish. All three lipsticks look very similar, I picked up ‘Cake’ a pink-nude and the lightest of the three. It’s the perfect your-lips-but-better shade that I know I’ll get a lot of use out of. The formula is a little on the wet side but glides on comfortably and looks glossy to give a fuller-looking pout.
The Revolution X Soph Extra Spice Ultra Eyeshadow Palette retails for £10 and is available here (Affiliate Link).
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