May 11, 2017

Pretty Vulgar Eyeshadow Palette Review & Swatches

Affiliate / Purchased
I purchased this item and I receive a small commission if you shop using the links in this post.

I picked up Nightingale Pretty Vulgar Eyeshadow Palette ($35) last week from Sephora.com. As you know, Pretty Vulgar Cosmetics is a new line that launched at Sephora that has a variety of different makeup products available including three different eyeshadow palettes that contain 12 shades each. I actually purchased the Pretty Vulgar Eyeshadow Palette in Early Bird as well but it seems a little too light for my skin tone and might look pasty. Nightingale was definitely a more wearable shade selections for me.

Let’s take a look!

I think the strong appeal of Pretty Vulgar is the packaging. It’s a very whimsical collection of makeup that will garner attention of those of us who put great importance on the packaging of our makeup. The eyeshadow palettes come housed in colorful shabby chic designed packaging with metallic gold accents. I mentioned it in my Pretty Vulgar Bury Them With A Smile Matte Lipstick review that the packaging gives off a Marie Antoinette Let Them Eat Cake sort of vibe. It’s reminiscent of Tokyo Milk. The outer packaging is actually a little more colorful and vibrant compared to the palette itself. The beautiful blue hue of of the nightingale on the outer box gives way to a black and white hand drawing on the actually compact. This is a sturdy cardboard flip top palette with a mirror inside and 12 shades which are held in a birdcage drawing. It’s quite a cute presentation. The 12 shades of eyeshadow vary in size with 7 of them being 0.05 oz in size and 5 being 0.04 oz. The palette says it is Bulk Made in the USA and Assembled in the Dominican Republic.

Nightingale is the smoker palette of the two palettes with a warmer shade selection that doesn’t go with a traditional black and silver smoky eye look. I was very attracted to the pretty taupes in this palette and presented the way it is the colors all appear to match up beautifully. After using the palette I was even more pleased with how well all the shades worked together.

Shades:

  • Nocturnal (ivory matte)
  • Pillow Fight (champagne satin)
  • Break Free (shimmering white)
  • Darkside (shimmering smoke satin)
  • Hide & Seek (light gray matte)
  • Clutch (rose gold shimmer)
  • Flip Out (chocolate brown matte)
  • Eye Spy (bronze satin)
  • Silver Spoon (blue slate satin)
  • Swoop (cool brown matte)
  • After Midnight (deep gray matte)
  • All Nighter (black brown matte)

Pretty Vulgar Nightingale Eyeshadow Palette Swatches (Nocternal, Pillow Fight, Break Free)

Pretty Vulgar Nightingale Eyeshadow Palette Swatches (All Nighter, Eye Spy, Silver Spoon, Swoop, After Midnight)

Pretty Vulgar Nightingale Eyeshadow Palette Swatches (Darkside, Hide & Seek, Clutch, Flip Out)

There’s a mix of frosts, matte, shimmer, and satiny shades here but not all shades perform the same. The top layer of shades was a complete bust for me (Nocternal, Pillow Fight, and Break Free). These are drier with very little pigmentation and proved difficult to blend. The next two rows (Darkside, Hide & Seek, Clutch, Flip Out, Eye Spy, Silver Spoon) was much better with good pigmentation and a softer textured formula. Although, the shade Clutch did have a good deal of sparkly fall out to contend with. These blended fairly well for me although the mattes were a touch drier but I still managed to work with them easily enough. The bottom three shades (Swoop, After Midnight, and All Nighter) were dense but packed good pigment but they if you plan on using them as all over color washes be warned they do apply a patchy. I used these shades to line with or as a color accent to contrast which worked out best versus all over the eye. Some of the shades are powdery which resulted in a lot of pigment flying around the palette and making a mess.

This Pretty Vulgar Eyeshadow Palette wasn’t without fault. I’m keeping it because I have to admit I really like this color selection but you might want to think twice about hauling it because a lot of the shades are formulated rather poorly.

Pretty Vulgar Eyeshadow Palettes are available now at Sephora.com.
Have you tried them?

Thoughts?

Do share!

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Affiliate / Purchased
I purchased this item and I receive a small commission if you shop using the links in this post.

About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

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Comments

  • Susan

    As always, you create a beautiful look, but I’m not falling for the “pay for the packaging” thing any more. Besides, they couldn’t even spell “Nocturnal” right, which then makes it look like something cheap made in China or Russia. (I don’t think “Nocternal” is a play on the word “tern,” aka a kind of bird, but I suppose it could be.) The pans don’t seem to fit in the packaging correctly, so despite the pretty cover — although I don’t want something that literally screams VULGAR — overall this makes me think of a cheap drugstore palette. Muse to the rescue, money saved!

    • Isabella Muse

      Aw thanks Susan! Haha I was waiting for someone to say I spelled it wrong, but actually that’s how they spelled it 😀 It does indeed look like something Made in China although the formula on some of the shades is def nice, other shades are duds and that’s where you have to question, “Do I really need this?” Glad I could be of some help!

  • Christina Tran

    I am never a fan of Sephora produced brands (excluding certain Kat von D. Products), so go figure that these eyeshadows weren’t the best. Since I like Japanese packaging, I thought I would like this brand, but I just don’t. It’s so bulky to me. LOL! I do like the mascara and lipstick packaging, though.

    • Isabella Muse

      I don’t think is a house brand, it actually appears to be line that was apparently created by makeup artists? Or so their website says 🙂 I thought it was a house brand too!

  • kjh

    Not only ought one wait to see these PVs in person, but a brush should be brought to blend out the swatches. ‘Bulk made’ seems to be skirting the issue. The shadows or the packaging, that was later assembled in the DR? If we’re talking DR, I’d rather have the larimar, tyvm. Had hopes, but seems these are fussy, uneven, and need a lot of futzing to put together a decent look…which, of course you did. Clearly, PV is leading with a concept that translates better in packaging than it does into product. You see a lot of form over function these days. Kind of disappointed.

  • Christina D.

    Hey Sista Muse…so, yeah, surprise surprise I caved and got all three eyeshadow palettes (two from Pretty Vulgar with 20% off and one from Sephora). The shadows look much nicer than I anticipated (I could care less about the kitschy packaging) and, although I haven’t had a chance to try all of them, swatched pretty well.

    Every time I hear this brand’s dumbass “vulgar” name, I start hearing the Sex Pistols’ “Pretty Vacant” in my head. Now THAT would have been an awesome name.

    • Isabella Muse

      HA now I have an ear worm and I’m humming Pretty Vacant! 😀 I noticed AFTER i ordered that there was 20% off on their site via newsletter BLAH! Oh wells! I liked this but I wouldn’t say I loved it. The first row is such a bust :-/

  • Adrienne

    Thanks for keeping it real. There has been so much hype and that contributes to more sales, which makes it appear more popular thus producing more sales before finding out it’s just “ok”. While I love the packaging I can wait for something I will actually use. Your honest. That’s why we love ya!

    • Isabella Muse

      aw shucks thanks Adrienne. I’m not going to lie, the packaging is what got me. It’s an ok palette but I dunno if you need to race madly to Sephora to get it 😀 It’s a mismatch of formulas some of which are good (not great) and others that suck :-/ We live in a social media vortex lately that just makes every single makeup release seem like you have to buy it or you’ll die 🙂 If we stop a second and ask “do I really need this?” most of us will probably end up saying naaa!

  • Isa

    Awww, I hoped they would perform better than that so I would have an excuse to indulge! If they ever expand distribution and it becomes easy for me to have access to the brand, I’ll still probably pick up a palette. Cos I’m a sucker for packaging and all that. But just one! The colourful one because at least it would broaden my collection a bit.

    Btw Muse, are you going to pick up the new Personal Color Palette Pros that Etude will be releasing?

    • Isabella Muse

      absolutely. They showed them on Instagram and I’ve been stalking them ever since 😀 they look good! How about you?

      • Isa

        I probably will! Although to be honest, I hope that the colours in the warm spectrum one looks a bit more varied in person. Some of the colours in the last 2 rows look very similar to each other, although the finish could be different, which would be good enough for me. But whatever the case, I’ll probably end up buying them anyway because I liked the first two versions of these that they released well enough and I’m always tempted to buy Etude’s stuff, almost regardless of quality, anyway! Well at least I don’t have a weakess for Tom Ford or anything at that price point, eh? That’s what I tell myself anyway lol.

        • Isabella Muse

          I have the warm tone one and I love it. There promo images looked good but I agree some of the shades are quite the same! I’ll buy it anyway though lol! I used to be that person that hauled every single thing from an Etude House LE release but I’ve gotten much better about that! 🙂 I think the original two palettes were wonderful so I wouldn’t mind more of the same especially since I use them often and true, it isn’t tom ford pricing haha!

          • Isa

            I actually bought both the warm and cool ones from the 1st release! Sometimes when I do that it makes me want to buy everything else in the line they release after, just to “complete”. 🙁

          • Isabella Muse

            lol me too! I try NOT to do that anymore. I try to get what I think I’ll use but I feel like I’m missing out if I don’t get everything from a collection ugh!

  • Waymire

    There ought to be a law against making the outer packaging prettier than what is inside. That and overspray.. grrrrr. I’m passing, looks very basic and “meh”.