REVIEW: Maybelline City Mini Palette in Chill Brunch Neutrals

by - August 17, 2017


I have to admit that after really not enjoying the larger eyeshadow palettes from Maybelline, I wasn't really sure if I was going to enjoy the new Maybelline City Mini Palettes, but like a true makeup junkie I always want to try everything and exciting in the drugstore so I had to pick up at least one. I actually spent a lot of time looking at the display trying to decide which palette I wanted to try before settling on Chill Brunch Neutrals. Though the trend is definitely pretty warm lately, I've gotten a little bit tired of filling up my collection with rusty shades so I decided to go with this plummy mauve colour palette because I think it suits my skin tone quite well. 

Wanna know how this worked out for me? Keep reading!


Small palettes seem to be all the rage right now, whether we're talking about high end or drugstore. I feel like the past year has seen a lot of these smaller palettes that have 6-8 shades and feel a little more affordable than your large 10-12 pan palettes. Personally, I think this is a pretty great trend, moreso with high end products because I have enough makeup that I doubt I'm even going to be able to use up a small palette so I'd rather save a little bit of money and pick up one of those. 


I really like the look of this palette. I feel like Maybelline has been stepping up their packaging recently to make everything feel a little bit more modern, which I absolutely love. I also love that they didn't bother to put an applicator in this palette, because (even though I will argue the merits of sponge tips for packing on colour to the death) most people just throw them out and they end up kind of ruining the look of the palette. This just looks a lot more streamlined to me. 


I have to say, I really like the curation of this palette. Though I think I would have liked to have seen one more matte shade rather than the two mid-toned glittery shades, I think they did a good job choosing the actual tones in this palette. I love that they included a matte highlight, since I do think that tends to be left by the wayside with a lot of smaller palettes, and I think the depth of the matte mauve crease shade is really perfect for my personal skintone. That said, I do think this is a palette that's going to work best on lighter skin tones if you're looking to complete a full look with it. 


I want to talk about each of the shades individually, so I will split them up into two trios. The trio on the left, containing the matte highlight shade, light rose gold shimmer and matte mauve crease shade is definitely the more impressive of the two for me and contains the shades I'll be reaching for most frequently. The trio on the right, containing a bronze shimmer, a taupe shimmer, and a blackened plum satin is pretty, but I do have some formula issues.


Matte Cream - This is by far the most pigmented shade in this palette and I kind of love it. The matte formula is really creamy and soft and blends really beautifully on the eyes. It's quite light, so it makes a really nice brow bone highlight on my skin tone. 

Rose Gold Shimmer: Of the three shimmer shades, I definitely think this is the best. This shade is quite light, but the pigmentation is good and the finish is smooth with a lot of shine. Rather than being a glittery shade, I would say this one is more metallic overall. 

Matte Mauve: On my skintone, this is a really great crease shade. It's quite light, so I do have to build it in the crease, but it gives a nice transition and I can build it to a soft depth. The formula is really smooth and creamy and I find it blends really nicely. Unfortunately, I think that on deeper skintones, this just isn't going to show up. 


Bronze Shimmer: I think this shade would have been absolutely stunning if it didn't have silver glitters running through it. Unfortunately, I feel like the glitters break up the application so that this ends up looking like mostly glitter with not enough pigmentation. I can make it work, particularly if I wet my brush, but it could have been so much better. 

Taupe Shimmer: This shade suffers from the same issue as the Bronze Shimmer. There's just too much silver glitter in this shadow for the base to really hold up to the glitter. Again, it's a beautiful shade and would have been stunning if it had just been metallic, but it ends up looking more like glitter than anything else. Again, though, I can make it work wet.

Blackened Plum Satin: Initially, I wasn't a big fan of this shade but it has grown on me. This type of shade is tricky because it can end up looking quite grey because of the black base, but I do think this maintains a good bit of that plum. It's very soft and creamy and I'm actually pretty impressed with the pigmentation. I think it had a bit of an overspray because initally I thought it was shimmery, but it's actually more of a satin matte in the end.


Overall, while I like the shade selection, I feel like this really could have been better. I've heard really good things about some of the other shades in this collection, so I might have to pick up another one to try it out. At this point, though, I don't think I can recommend this. Because I have it, I will use it, but I would recommend trying out one of the other City Mini Palettes because this one is just too hit and miss for me. That said, if you really like glittery shades and you love plummy tones, this might be something you'd be into. I suppose it's really about what you like. 

The Maybelline City Mini Palettes are available in drugstores now!

Thanks for reading!

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