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Back in November, I received a pretty exciting, albeit out of the blue but still exciting, package. See, I'm a user (member?) of TryandReview.com, a site wherein you leave product reviews and can apply to be a tester of a product as well. Products in this site range from beauty, fragrance, skin care, food, to home and electronics but I personally stick and apply to the beauty and skin care products. You don't always get picked given the number of users/members in this site but when you get picked, it's pretty damn exciting.

So back to the package. As I've said, it was pretty out of the blue, with the courier texting me the day before delivery to confirm said package. I knew I had a makeup palette coming, I just didn't know what it is exactly. The next day, my package came and I couldn't stop giggling because come on- how cute is this palette??

     

Here's the NOVO Silk Slide 8 Color Eye Shadow Palette! Honestly, how cute is it? In the Try and Review site, this palette comes in 3 variants and I didn't know which variant I'll be getting. Turns out, TaR knows me too well- they gave me 03, the pink palette with the berry shades! I absolutely adore berry and pink eyeshadows and this particular palette reminds me a lot of the Etude House Cherry Blossom Play Color Eyes palette. 

Before I go in depth with the shades, let's talk about the packaging for a sec. The palette comes in a plastic case but it certainly doesn't feel flimsy and trust me, I know flimsy from a mile away. The palette snaps shut snugly and I absolutely love the mirror inside as it's the perfect size. No lie, I actually reach for this palette to use the mirror most of the time After researching the product a bit, I found out that the character on the case and box is actually a Line Friends character. Not really familiar with them but I do know they're big in South Korea and they're cute characters.

Here are the 8 shades in this palette. As you can see from the swatch above, there are 3 glittery shadows, 2 mattes, and 3 satin shadows. At first I thought that the last three shades, the neutrals, are a bit out of place in this palette but I now see them as kinda like a second "look", with berry shadows as the first. I feel like the neutrals are there for a more neutral eye and the berries for a more out there look. 

I am very much in love with the 2 matte berry shadows as they're absolutely my cup of tea. The dark berry shade is a blend of dark brown and rusty red and the lighter one is leans more on the pink side. They're the shades I go for the most because they're just so freaking beautiful.

The three glittery shadows are very shimmery and I use them mostly as accent shadows. They catch the light beautifully and make a certain look pop and gives it dimension. 

Here's a sample look using the shadows. As you can see, I went with the berry shadows because that's my jam and also I wanted a look that's opposite of everyday. I wanted something grungy and just heavy on the berry, I guess. I did a halo on the top lid and just smoked out the lower lashline. I skipped the liner but I do think black liner will make this darker and grungier. 

So here's the lowdown on the shadows:

1. The glittery shadows need to be layered a lot when used alone. They perform better when used on top of another shadow. Because the glitters are quite chunky, expect some fallout.

2. The mattes have a bit of fallout upon application but they're not chalky. They are very pigmented and won't take a lot to get even and opaque pigmentation. Just like most mattes, they are quite hard to blend out so patience is key with them. 

3. The satins are decently pigmented and glides on smoothly. They're not exactly buttery but they're still pretty easy to work with. They're perfect for everyday looks and they're also easy to blend out. 

Overall, this is a good palette to mix and match with other palettes you already have. On its own, though, I feel like it's incomplete. I personally want a matte neutral brown for the crease, or a matte neutral shade for the lid or for blending. The shadows here are more on the shimmery side, so toning a look down can be difficult when you're blending a shimmery shadow on top of another. The matte shadows here are quite out there and something you won't usually reach for for a crease color. So yeah, 1 neutral matte shade would've been nice.

So what do you think about it? Pass or keep? I'm totally keeping it, fyi! xx

Disclaimer: product was sent to me by TryandReview.com but all opinions are my own.