I have to admit that when I first looked at the products I'm going to review today I was a little bit underwhelmed and wasn't quite sure how they were going to work out. The drugstore can be a little bit hit and miss when it comes to palettes and I was a little bit afraid that these were going to be the former, even though I was hoping for the latter. The Catrice x Eman Makeup Palettes*, featuring eyeshadow, highlighter and blush, ended up being sleeper hits for me and I'm SUPER excited for today's review.  

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I have to admit that I didn't know who Eman was before trying out these palettes, so there really wasn't that appeal there for me. But even without knowing who she is, on the shelf these palettes would definitely stand out for me based on just their packaging and branding alone. In three really soft neutral shades, each palette is distinguishable from the others and easy to grab for because each subtle difference in shade is perfect for what's inside - pink for blush, cream for highlighter, beige for eyeshadow. I also really love the soft flower designs and the little cursive quotes on them, which keep them simple and modern but also give them some really pretty detail. 

You probably can tell just by looking at what's inside the palettes why I was a little bit underwhelmed when I first looked at them. They're pretty basic palettes without anything in the curation that really makes them stand out. The eyeshadow palette is a really basic neutral shade selection, the highlighters are pretty standard champagne and gold toned shades, and the blushes lean quite warm with two pinks, an apricot shade, and a sort of bronzey shade. Honestly, if I hadn't gotten these in PR, I probably wouldn't have tried them out and that would very much be a mistake - trust me!

Of the three, this is probably the one that I'm the least excited about, but that is more about the shades and my skin tone because I think this palette is probably more suited to an olive to deep skin tone and, as we know, I'm a pasty, pasty woman. That said, I can make these work on me if I'm careful to use a light hand and they have a really beautiful formula. These blushes are quite smooth and creamy in texture and they blend out really, really beautifully on the skin. They're SUPER pigmented, so I would definitely use a light hand and build slowly even if you do have a deeper skin tone than I do. I prefer to use a brush that isn't too dense when applying these and just very softly touching into the product so that I don't apply too much. The wear on these blushes is genuinely impressive and I find that they stay looking gorgeous on my skin all day. 

The shades, I must say, are really, really pretty. Shisha is a matte peachy pink that has a subtle luminosity to it. Alexandria is a really pretty neutral pink with a strong golden glow. Luxor is a matte warm toned apricot shade. And Cairo is a bronzey tone. Like I said, these shades aren't quite ideal for my skin tone and I do have to be careful when I work them, but I really do think that the two pinks are really universal and would probably look gorgeous on just about any skin tone. The two bottom shades are ones that I might be able to make work in the summer months when I'm a little bit more tanned and tend to use a little bit more bronzer. But like I said, for an olive to medium deep skin tone I think that all of these shades would be no brainers. 

Catrice x Eman Eyeshadow Palette

I have to admit, I wasn't really excited about this palette at first because I felt like it was along the lines of a lot of what I already have in my collection. But friends, this palette is an absolute must have as far as I'm concerned. Seriously. I never say that, but I think that this is a palette that probably 90% of people will absolutely use to death. The formula on these shades is pretty much stunning and blew my mind a little bit if we're being honest. All of the shades, regardless of finish, have really amazing pigmentation and still manage to blend really seamlessly without having to work with them much at all. The shimmer shades pack a really nice punch, though I do apply them with a spritz of setting spray like I do with pretty much all shimmer shades to add a little more punch. What's really impressive to me is the wear. When I use this palette, my eyeshadow looks just as full on and perfect at the end of the day as it does when I first apply it, it's absolutely uncanny. Quality wise, I am absolutely beyond impressed with these shadows and feel like they would stand up in performance with pretty much any other shadow in my collection. 

Like I said, this feels like a really basic palette, but I really do think that the curation is pretty much perfect for every day wear and I think it's really well chosen basics. I mean, basics are basics for a reason and that's not a bad thing. As for the shades... Fairfax is a really neutral cream matte. Sunset is a camel brown matte. Melrose is a soft rosy champagne shimmer. Malibu is a neutral bronze shimmer. Laguna is a warm copper shimmer. Runyon is a warm brick brown matte. Hollywood Blvd is a yellow gold shimmer. Sweetzer is a chocolate brown matte. And finally, Mulholland Dr is a black matte. Like I said, these are really well chosen basics that make for a really versatile neutral palette that can work for every day but can also really be amped up for night out makeup. This really is an incredible palette, far above and beyond my expectations, and I would highly, highly recommend it. 

Catrice x Eman Highlighter Palette

I feel like highlighter is one of the most subjective products in the makeup world. Not only do you have to contend with shade - and when it comes to highlighter, the wrong shade for your skin tone can go really badly - but you also have different preferences when it comes to intensity. With a highlighter palette, especially one like this one that really runs a shade gambit, there are always going to be shades that any given person probably won't be able to wear, but this one actually does a pretty good job when it comes to the intensity because the formula is pretty versatile. It's a really creamy formula and when swatched the shades are quite metallic, but in practice I do actually think they're quite buildable and customizable to what you're looking for. For me, that's a light dusting buffed into the skin for a subtle glow, but this formula is also buildable or easy to apply wet for a more intense wet look. 

When it comes to the shades, I think most people will be able to use 2-3 of them, which is pretty good, particularly for me because I find that a lot of highlighter palettes only have one shade that really works for my skintone. In this palette I can use two of the shades pretty much all year and I think I could use a third in the summer when I'm more bronzed. Whistler is a white gold shade that doesn't lean too yellow for me, which is great. Victoria is a pale yellow gold. Surrey is a classic champagne. And Maple is... actually pretty much a bang on maple syrup coppery gold shade. My favorite shade in this palette actually surprised me, but I've been getting a ton of wear out of Surrey and I love the way it looks on my pale skin. Overall, this palette is really solid and I think will work for a lot of different people. Also, I really like the BC/Canadian names of the shades because... obvious reasons. 

Honestly, I'm just so impressed with these palettes overall and they've been a really nice surprise, especially since I will admit that I was initially underwhelmed at first impression. I think that when we get so wrapped up in looking for something new, we can sometimes forget that what we tend to use regularly are these really basic, workhorse type of products and having them in really outstanding formulas is super important in a collection. Sure, I love palettes that bring something new, but I actually think that I love a palette that gets the job done when I'm half asleep on a Tuesday a hell of a lot more. For me, my biggest recommendation from these three palettes is definitely the Eyeshadow Palette because I feel like it's pretty universal, but if you like the shades in the face palettes I really do think that they're worth picking up as well because the formulas are really, really solid. Honestly, colour me impressed with this collab!

The Catrice x Eman Palette Collection* is available now here in Canada at Shoppers Drug Mart for $14.99CAD each and at Ulta for $11.99US!

Thanks for reading!