I recently subscribed to Deck of Scarlet, a company that creates a palette for its members every other month which is supposed to be a full look in a package. Each palette has three eyeshadows, two cheek colors and two lip colors all in one mirrored palette. They typically include one or two liners as well. I love the concept, but how does it perform? Is it worth $30?
My first palette was the Edition 02, which was available for May-June 2017. I was a late subscriber, so my palette came in late June as part of a second batch. It looked pretty, but the quality wasn’t there. I know they had a large increase in subscribers, so I’m not sure if it was a rushed second batch or what, but there were serious texture problems.
The lip crayon was kind of greasy and smudgy, and the lipsticks were very thick and sticky textured. The blush wasn’t bad, but the highlighter was AWFUL. It felt gritty and chunky and there was surprisingly little pigment when applied.
Then there were the eyeshadows. The vibrant purple pigment was actually really good, but the peach color was dusty and under pigmented and the mauve was pretty hard to blend and work with. I did create the following look with it, but it took a lot of effort and priming and reapplication.
I’ll admit, the purple shadow was great. Everything else was pretty weak, though. Just try to find the mauve shadow in my crease. You won’t, because I worked it into oblivion when I tried to blend out its harshness. 😦
Even so, I was willing to give them a second chance. My Edition 03 palette arrived yesterday for July/August 2017 any fortunately it’s a big improvement. This time the package included a liquid liner pen with a brush tip, along with the standard palette.
The liner was excellent. Very precise, didn’t dry out during application and extremely dark and long lasting. I also love brush tip applicators, so that’s a bonus. The blush is good and the highlighter is very, VERY good. It’s soooo creamy and finely milled, the exact opposite of last month’s highlighter.
One of the lipsticks was the same kind of thick, tacky mess as last month, but the pink shade is an incredible matte stain, similar to the ColourPop blotted lips, or Glossier Generation G. It’s really great and I absolutely love it. Finally, two of the eyeshadows are good- the peach shade is dusty but pigmented and the matte greenish brown color was smooth and unique – but the sparkly pink is a little garish and has a sheer, crumbly texture.
I did another look using the latest palette, although I did go a little crazy with the liner because I was FEELING IT.
All in all, there were a few misses this month, but overall a worthwhile kit. I’m excited to see how this company continues to grow and improve!