Since becoming vegan nearly four years ago, it's become apparent to me that some of my makeup is not! I've bought cruelty free for many years now but there's a catch - cruelty free doesn't necessarily mean vegan, and a product being labelled as vegan only refers to its ingredients and not whether it's been tested on animals.
This can be confusing and doesn't make a lot of sense, so there are definitely some products I own, mainly eyeshadow palettes, that could contain nasty ingredients like carmine. Personally I feel it's wasteful to throw these products out, especially as many of them were high end purchases, so I'm using them up but it has left me hunting high and low for cruelty free beauty brands that are clear about whether their products are vegan.
Enter Jolie Beauty. With their vast range of vegan products, they've been a very welcome new find. There's so much I'd love to try from their range, but as somebody drawn to witchy vibes, crystals and intentions all year (not just Halloween!) their new Sorceress eyeshadow palette couldn't be more up my street.
The packaging is beautiful - the deep purple palette and it's protective sleeve are decorated with the most beautiful illustration by Em Eato. The palette itself has a good sized mirror and is surrounded by gold detailing including the words "you look simply bewitching" for a really magical finish.
Designed to make you feel empowered and beautiful, the Sorceress palette is aptly named. It has a few neutrals which are useful for transitions but really the 28 shade colour palette is designed to create a fully transformative experience (that's half the fun of makeup, for me!) Unlike their other warm toned palettes (and let's be honest, the market has become saturated with those) this Gothic palette is predominantly cool toned - including some beautiful smoky greys, purples and greens. There are also some really unique transformer shades including Transform and Shapeshifter (both of which have a 3 way colour shift which is truly magical) Luna Eclipse, a duochrome, and Dreamcatcher which is an amazing pure black shimmer. There are also several pressed glitters which are perfect for finishing a look. There's a great selection of mattes, shimmers, glitters and duochromes creating a really versatile colour story.
The pressed glitters are particularly unusual to me - in the past I've had next to no luck with glitter in this form but these are very pigmented and striking when applied using a finger (glitter and brushes never seem to mix well in my experience!) I'll be using these on the lash line from now until January when I need a pick me up - tis the season, after all! For more tips with these I'd recommend checking out the Jolie Beauty pressed glitter tips video. The other shades are lovely to work with - they feel pigmented, blend well, and I haven't had issued with fallout (although I don't listen to my own advice, I would generally still recommend applying foundation AFTER a smoky eye to avoid potential fallout ruining base application. But I didn't, and it was ok!) I'm obsessed with the transformer shades too, being a bit of a magpie, I love pressing these into the centre of the eye for a really interesting shift. The shadows don't seem prone to staining either, which is always a welcome relief. My favourite thing so far to do with this palette has been to create a deep green smoky eye, Ã la Yennefer from The Witcher. The beauty of this being it can be quick and a little imperfect (after all I have a 17 month old!) but is still striking. Pressing Shapeshifter into the middle of the eye adds a little bit of magic to my everyday. To be honest, that's why I love makeup - it's not just about the way it looks, it can really transform the way you feel and for me the Sorceress palette is a perfect example of that.
For you, would this palette be for Halloween or for every day?
*ad - Sorceress palette gifted for review, all opinions my own.
