Swatch & Review: Topshop’s Eye Palette in Secret Liaison

The eyeshadow quad comes with a sponge applicator.

One of my best friends won this palette for me from a contest on Fashion Fast Forward’s Facebook page. I’ve tried out the palette and my verdict is that this is a tricky one to handle. Let’s take a look at the swatch:

The colours in the same order as in the quad.

I like the top two highlighter shades. They are subtle and shimmery and work best as a base or to give that pop-out effect under the brow bones. The bottom two purple shades are the one that I’m a little wary of because if not used correctly, they are the type of colours that can give you raccoon eyes. I’d say the last shade – the chocolatey one – is a safer bet for the smoky eye.

The packaging of the quad is pretty, somewhat like an in-between of Bobbi Brown’s Tortoise Shell collection and Guerlain’s Terracotta range. It comes with a mirror on the underside of the flip cover and an applicator, which makes for convenient touch-ups and a great companion for travels. The shadows are not extremely pigmented. I apply this with a brush and it picks up just enough colour. The powders also flake easily and tend to crack. On the issue of staying power, most of the eyeshadow washes off very easily with just water alone. Overall, I’d say the shades in this quad are best suited for Caucasians due to skin tone and compatibility. Not all is lost though, as the lighter shades match well with most other skin tones.

Thanks to Alexis, who won this for me!

Ingredients

Matte Ingredients: Talc, Mica, Dimethicone, Zinc Stearate, Silica, Zea Mays (Corn) Starch, Pentaerythrityl Tetraisostearate, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Potassium Sorbate, Chlorphenesin, Tetrasodium EDTA. May contain: Manganese Violet (CI 77742), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499) and Carmine (CI 75470).

Frosted Ingredients: Talc, Mica, Dimethicone, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Zinc Stearate, Zea Mays (Corn) Starch, Silica, Pentaerythrityl Tetraisostearate, Potassium Sorbate, Chlorphenesin, Tetrasodium EDTA, Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891) and Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499).

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