Thanks to Winners and Marshalls, I've been building a bit of a collection of Cargo palettes for the past couple of years. The first one I ever picked up, the Cargo Vintages Escapes Palette, is still my absolute favorite and one that I actually pull out a lot at this time of year. The two others that I have, the Shanghai Nights and the Summer In The City palettes, never managed to impress me as much as the Vintage Escapes palette, but I do reach for them occasionally. Recently, I saw the Cargo Around The World Palette at my local Winners and I couldn't resist picking it up - even though a Google search while I was holding it in the store didn't turn up much. I decided to review it for that very reason, because I'm sure it'll be popping up on discount and I thought this would be helpful!

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As you can see, this is a firmly neutral palette and doesn't include any pops of colour. This palette contains 12 shades, and each shade contains 0.85g of product. For reference, this makes the pans the same size as the smaller pans in the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette.

One thing that they've done with this palette is to curate the shades into both quads and duos with pretty easy instructions for how to create a simple eye look using the shades. Below, you'll see eye looks that I did using the Quad 1 and Quad 2 and the instructions from the included instructions. I think that the layout combined with the shade selection makes this a perfect palette for someone just starting out in makeup, particularly teens, as well as people who are a little lower maintenance than I am when it comes to their every day looks.

I actually really think that the shade selection for this palette is really well done. They chose solid shades for both the mattes and shimmers and there's a good gradiation from light to deep(ish) included. Again, I think this is a great palette for most people who just want to create simple, pretty looks on the day to day.

I also think that all of these have really good texture. There's a creaminess, particularly to the matte shades, that make them apply and blend really beautiful. I think the shimmers are really pretty, but they're definitely not going to give you a really reflective, foiled like look on the eyes. Instead, they're just going to catch light. The only shade that I feel like is a dud in this palette is London, because it's so light that it kind of disappears and it's a little bit difficult to blend.

QUAD 1

Rome - matte light vanilla shade

Paris - pale champagne gold shimmer

Shanghai - midtoned warm brown matte

Moscow - deep brown with gold shimmer

Overall, I think that this is a good palette for every day. It pulls a little bit warm, but not as warm as what I think we're getting used to with trend palettes at the moment. Everything is also quite soft as far as shade is concerned and I think a lot of people would like this quad for a simple, everyday contoured eye look.

QUAD 2

Tokyo - (almost) white shimmer

London - very pale grey taupe satin matte

Athens - midtoned grey satin

Dublin - deep cool toned slate shimmer

I think this is a good quad for a soft, smoky evening look. I find personally that it's a little too cool toned for day for me, but that's really all about preference. I think that these shades are really nice, again quite soft - but I wish that London had a little more depth because I did need to build Athens more in my crease and that gave me a little bit more sheen to the look than I prefer.

QUAD 3

Amsterdam - pale creamy champagne shimmer

New York - slightly coppery gold shimmer

Amsterdam - midtoned neutral brown matte

Toronto - deep neutral brown matte

Where Quad 1 pulled a little bit warmer, I think Quad 3 keeps it much more neutral. I also think that this is the quad that you're going to be able to get the most punch from because of the New York shade having a really good amount of sheen and the Toronto shade being able to really build depth in the crease without shine.

As you can see in the Quad 1 look on the left, this creates a really soft, every day kind of a look. I paired it with a black winded liner because I do like to create a little bit of drama in my looks, but I think a lot of people would really enjoy having this as a go to work or school eye look. I also think that this would be great for a really fresh look for teenagers. 

The Quad 2 look on the right really isn't my typical style, but I quite like how it turned out. Because it was, again, quite a soft look but I didn't want it to go too evening with black liner, I added a grey gel pencil that somehow ended up looking more navy in this look and smudged it out with an angled brush to give a soft wing to the look. Like I said above, I think this is a great evening look that's smoky but soft.

Overall, my feelings on this are overwhelmingly good, but with one caveat. I think this is a great standard palette that a lot of people will get a lot of use out of. I think it's great for a wide age range, because everything is so soft I think it'll look fresh on really young people and won't do too much to emphasize age on more mature skin. I really do think it's perfect for the casual makeup wearer and most every day women. That said, I think that those of us who have a large makeup collection and more than one or 2 neutral palettes might find this a little bit underwhelming, because the shades are so standard and there's not a lot of punch to them. I think it's worth considering your style and needs before picking this up, but I do think it's a really good quality palette with beautiful shades.

If you'd like to see a comparison or swatches of any of the other Cargo palettes, let me know in the comments! They were limited edition, but sometimes they do pop up at places like Winners or discount websites so you might still be able to find them around!

Thanks for reading!