The Balm 'Balmsai' eyeshadow and brow palette - review and swatches

If you are a regular reader of my blog then you know that eyeshadow palettes are my biggest makeup obsession and I have absolutely no shame in admitting that and keep collecting them :) At this stage I have enough eyeshadows to last me a lifetime but there is this collector in me who wants to have all the palettes in the world and once I'm obsessed with something I am OBSESSED, lol!

I like to try different brands, to check their formulations, to compare the shades, etc. if you're a fellow beauty junkie you get the drill.

I wanted to get The Balm eyeshadow palette for a long time but was not sure what to go for, not sure about the quality as not too many people feature them on their blogs, videos. When FeelUnique was running some discount offers I finally decided to take the opportunity and ordered the Balmsai eyeshadow and brow palette by The Balm which was £20 at the moment (regular price £30).

And just look at the packaging, I just love it! All The Balm products have those funny packaging featuring pinup girls and cheeky quotes.

The Balmsai palette contains 18 shadows, including 3 matte shades suitable for filling the brows, good size mirror and eyebrow, eyeliners stencils. Even though it seems like it should be a large size palette, it's actually very slim and compact, and not much bigger than my hand. The eyeshadows are quite small, about 0.8g each, which was a bit of a surprise when I first opened the palette but it's not really an issue for me but for someone who will use them very regularly it might be.

The palette contains also a small magnetic pocket for the brow and eyeliner stencils, together with explanations on how to use them. To be honest, I haven't tried them and I'm not sure if I ever will, I would prefer there was some cheek or lip products instead or just a smaller palette but I'm not bother much by these stencils as they're securely closed in the little pocket.

All the eyeshadows are grouped into 4 sections: basics, splash of colour, brow shadows and liners which can be used wet or dry.

The pigmentation of most of the shades is good with the lighter colours definitely needing a primer underneath to help them appear more vibrant on the eyes. They're all very soft, some of them feel a bit more powdery but they all blend effortlessly on the lids and last around 8 hours in perfect condition.

The finishes vary from satin, shimmery to matte. The shimmery shades have a very subtle shimmer to them so would suit even more mature eye lids as they don't seem to accentuate any lines.

One thing that I found a bit disappointing about these eyeshadows is the fallout they create while applying them on the eyes. And while this is quite common issue for many eyeshadows from different brands, low and high end, I have to say, that the fallout with these eyeshadows is quite noticeable so doing your eye makeup first is probably the best option.

 

Now onto the swatches, as usual in my reviews, they're done without primer underneath.

 

In The Buff (Basics)

From left to right:

Wipe Out - very light beige with satin finish, perfect as a base for other shadows and as a brow bone highlight.

High Tide - very light beige with frosted finish, a bit powdery and definitely needs a base to pop on the eyes.

Hang 10 - very soft golden shade with satin finish, the pigmentation is very average and it needs to be build up to show up on the lids.

Dream Boat - light peachy pink with frosted finish.

Sandbar - grey-ish olive colour with pink iridescent, definitely needs a base to show the true colour of it.

Tubular - soft medium brown with golden sheen to it.

Mavericks (Splash of Colour)

From left to right:

Epic - muted medium brown with red undertones and satin finish.

Surf's Up - medium dark grey with frosty finish.

Big Kahuna - teal green with golden sheen to it.

Kawabunga - olive green with soft metallic finish.

Surfari - plummy purple with blue undertones and shimmery finish.

Pipeline - medium dark blue with frosty finish.

Curve & Angle (Brow/Shadows) and Catch a Wave 

Top swatches:

Score - light brown, matte finish.

Dig It - medium dark taupe with cool undertones, matte finish.

Woodie - dark brown with cool undertones, matte finish.

Bottom swatches:

Stoked - dark matte grey with purple sparkles.

Ripper - dark brown with matte finish.

Righteous - black with matte finish.

The Balm Balmsai palette contains beautiful neutral shades with some fun colours, perfect to create any eye looks, from very simple day look to smokey eyes for the evening. While it requires more work with some shades being on the sheerer side and producing some fallout I think it's a lovely palette to have and to travel with. Having said that

I, personally, don't think it's worth £30, so if you like the look of it and want to get it I would recommend looking for some offers to try to get it cheaper.

Do you own ant eyeshadows from The Balm? What was your experience with them? Have you noticed significant fallout?

Dagmara

xxx

 

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