I had heard a lot about Juvia’s Place but they’re a brand that I had always sort of put off trying. None of their palettes had really caught my eye and, although the pigmentation of them looked amazing in videos, I was unsure about how I would use them. They are an indie brand and, because of that, are not to widely available in Australia – but I recently did find a place that, not only ships to me, but also sells the palettes for a reasonable price! Black Swallow, whose office I had visited a couple months ago to film a GRWM, actually stocks a good range from the brand. I didn’t get to try out any of the Juvia’s Place palettes while I was there (I instead found myself drawn to the Lunar Beauty) but I did finally get to see them in person and – let me tell you – this palette is magic.
Yes, today I will be reviewing the Magic Mini Palette by Juvia’s Place. This is the smaller size of the Magic palette, containing the same 16 shades as the full size but in slightly smaller pan sizes. That being said, I still think that this is a rather large palette and I would be hesitant to use something bigger. I bought this during Black Swallow‘s 3rd birthday sale (congratulations, guys!) and – seriously – I have no regrets!
This palette retails for AUD$54 (the large palettes are AUD$63) and is honestly worth every cent! It is currently out of stock, but I’m sure that Black Swallow will be restocking them soon.
So, let’s get right into the review!
About the Brand & Product
As I previously mentioned, Juvia’s Place is an indie brand owned by a woman – Chichi Eburu. Coming from African descent, most (if not all) of her products draw inspiration from the vivid culture and art – they are vibrant, colourful and packs a serious pigmentation punch. They aim to create products can will work for all skin tones – no matter pale or deeper.
The Magic Palette (whether it is the full size or the ‘mini’) is inspired by the sun and moon goddesses – it is a palette that uses equals of warm and cool tones to create that sense of duality. There is a wide shade range in the 16 pan palette, with a variety of matte and metallic shimmers.
In addition, Juvia’s Place is cruelty-free and most products (included all palettes except the Warrior) are also vegan.
Packaging
The Magic Mini Palette has very simple but beautiful packaging. It comes in a cardboard box with the palette inside fully bubble wrapped (see above) to ensure safety during postage. The palette, which is also a cardboard material, has a magnetic closure and, while it’s too delicate for travel purposes, I like that it is light, sleek and relatively easy to store. However, below is the mini palette next to my phone (with is an iPhone 7 plus) – as you can see, they are about the same size. To call this palette a ‘mini’ is a serious misnomer because I would actually consider this one of my larger palettes.
The illustration on the cover is a caricature of the Eqyptian Queen Nefertiti. This is consistent across all of the Juvia’s Place packaging, with only the costuming and accessories of the figure changing noticeably according to the theme.
That being said, although I find the illustrations very beautiful, I am not very interested in the packaging of their products. I feel like their use of very bright colours can be detrimental to the design at times. An example of this would be the internal design of this palette. I feel like using a neutral black or white would be more suitable, as the surrounding background of the palette can affect how the shades look optically.
Overall, I am happy with the quality of the Juvia’s Place packaging – it is very simple but still decent, especially considering that their products are generally on the more affordable side. I am just not particularly drawn to the design, but that’s a subjective opinion.
Shades & Formula
This palette comes with a mix of metallic shimmer and matte shades, all with a seriously pigmented formula (though I find that some do blend more easily than others). These shadows are really beautiful and I get compliments every time I wear them, but I would not consider this a particularly beginner friendly palette. I’ll explain more on that below.
Here are the shades from top to bottom, left to right and a little description of them:
- Nubia (Metallic Shimmer) | Bold, yellow gold
- Zakiya (Matte)| Warm burnt orange
- Osun (Metallic Shimmer) | Pink with a frosty, silver reflect
- Kesi (Matte) | Nude, bone base shade
- Zuba (Metallic Shimmer) | Hot pink with a warm, gold reflect
- Nana (Matte) | Warm orange-brown
- Boronu (Metallic Shimmer) | Brown with a gold reflect
- Kogi (Matte) |Red with warm undertone
- Faso (Metallic Shimmer) | Pink-Purple with an iridescent blue reflect
- Aja (Metallic Shimmer) | Black with a green reflect
- Vai (Metallic Shimmer) | Cool taupe
- Yemoja (Metallic Shimmer) | Blue with icy silver finish
- Ife (Matte) | Blackened purple
- Yara (Metallic Shimmer) | Aqua with gold reflect
- Buzo (Metallic Shimmer) | Emerald with gold reflect
- Yejide (Matte) | Blackened blue
This palette has a really incredible shade range and it was the metallics that originally caught my eye. They are definitely pigmented and apply really well on the eyes even with a dry brush (though, of course, your finger will always give you the boldest finish).
I personally really love their nude base spade because it was so opaque and gives you a great blank canvas. I also really love Nubia, Zuba, Faso and Yara which are all really beautiful shimmer metallics that are colourful and bright, but somehow also very wearable – they aren’t overly in your face, but they make a strong impression.
Personal Experience
And above are my swatches! I did have to go over some of them a few times (in particular Ife and Yejide, the blackened purple and blue) as the shadows do apply better with a brush. The metallics are very bold and vibrant, easy to pack on with a flat brush or your fingertips, and they don’t require any glitter glue to adhere.
The mattes on the other hand, are a little more inconsistent. The light to medium mattes (such as in the top, warm half of the palette) are super buttery – they are so blendable, highly pigmented and can also be easily built to near full opacity. However, I had issues with the darker mattes where they felt dry and were more difficult to pick up and blended out patchy at times. They took a bit more work and I found that I had to pack on the pigment where I wanted before slowly blending out the edge. They are beautiful shades but not my favourite formula.
Overall though, I have always gotten great looks out of this palette and I have yet to do two of the same eye looks – the Magic Mini Palette has a great variety of shades and I love that, while they are very different, the actual shades work together well. However, there is some inconsistency in the matte shadows, meaning that the darker shades are more difficult to work with (hence why I feel like this is not a beginner friendly palette).
Although I love the colours, I do feel that they are missing some shades here – I would love a deeper warm matte shade and a medium cool toned crease shade to round out the colour scheme.
What I really love about this palette is the longevity though! As you know, I have very watery eyes and – while I don’t usually have issues with creasing from oily eyelids – I do have a lot of trouble with my inner corners. Generally, nothing will last there no matter what primer I use but these do!
I wore them for a full day and had zero fading, zero creasing and the shades were just as bold as in the morning. Heck, even my hayfever could no defeat this and I am just so impressed with that so I find myself happily reaching for this often. I know that what ever I put on in the morning will last.
So, here’s the verdict!
SO WHAT IS IT?
A palette of 16 shades – 6 mattes and 10 metallic shimmers
THE GOOD
- Slim and easy to store
- Beautiful colour scheme and variety
- Creates a lot of different eye looks
- Applies well with a dry brush
- High pigmentation with bold colour pay off
- Unique shades that work cohesively together
- Both cool and warm shades – all flattering
- Super long lasting with no creasing, fading and full vibrancy
THE BAD
- Inconsistency with the matte shades
- Missing another two or three shades to really round it off
RATINGS
- PACKAGING | 3/5
- PRICE POINT | 3/5
- PIGMENTATION | 5/5
- BLENDABILITY | 4/5
- COLOUR RANGE | 4/5
- LONGEVITY | 5/5
OVERALL RATING? 8/10
WOULD I RECOMMEND?
I would absolutely recommend this palette to people (and I already have been). I personally love the shade range of this Magic Mini Palette but Juvia’s Place actually has a bunch of other palettes that you can choose from to suit your own make up style. In particular, I want to check out the Saharan, Masquerade and the Warrior palette in the future.
I would recommend the ‘mini’ sizes over the large palettes though only because I feel like a larger palette would be excessive (even if it isn’t that much more expensive) and more difficult to store.
WHERE TO GET IT FROM
I got mine from Black Swallow, an official Australian stockist. Otherwise, check out the official Juvia’s Place website to see where you can buy yours.
