Review: Pro Eye Palette – Simply Pink (CLIO)

This product was sent to me by StyleKorean for review purposes. I was not paid for this post but please note that affiliate links are used on my blog. These go towards supporting Oh My Stellar and future content.

I feel like some really pretty eyeshadow palettes have been coming out of the kbeauty industry lately and that makes me so excited. Palettes are my weakness but I generally don’t use many Korean formulas because I find that many brands just aren’t pigmented or adventurous enough for my personal preferences. The recent trends are definitely leaning towards more colour and self expression though, perhaps even inspired by some of the Western beauty trends too – and I love it.

Maybe a month or so ago, I found a range of eyeshadow palettes that really caught my attention – the new Pro Eye Palette from CLIO. It seems to be a kbeauty dupe of the Huda Beauty Nude Palette, but actually comes in three colour stories – Simply Pink (which is the one I’ll be reviewing), Coral Talk and Brown Choux. CLIO is a brand famous for creating high coverage and long lasting make up products that are both artist quality and road shop priced. I’ve been a fan of their brand since I got my first liquid eyeliner from them and still use their stuff all the time.

After waiting a while for this to show up on my favourite kbeauty sites (previously, I had only seen it on the official Korean instagram), I found out that all three were being stocked at StyleKorean. I had a hard time choosing but I ended up getting the Simply Pink palette to test out, since this colour scheme seemed to fit my personal style best.

It is currently selling on StyleKorean for USD$35.20 so pop onto their website if you want to grab one (or three). But before you do that, let’s get into this review!

Packaging

The CLIO Simply Pink Palette comes in a cardboard unit carton (see above). It had a bold graffiti style print and a matte, ‘uncoated’ finish that gives it a new earthy texture. The box has a bit of silver foil detail and a clear gloss finish over the ‘Simply Pink’ text – it’s subtle but gives it a special touch. The overall design has a nice sense of texture from the background, giving it a youthful and trendy look. The small foiling details and the high quality cardboard (I love the finish of this paper stock and it also feels sufficiently heavy) helps it to maintain a more high end vibe.

Opening it up, the palette is made of a matte finish plastic with the logo and branding printed in a slighter darker pink (see below). I like that the packaging colour matches the eyeshadow colours (pink for the pink one, then the coral and browns also get their own matching colours) since, if you own more than one, they’re easy to differentiate.

The palette also contains a small narrow mirror – which you will see in a later photo – so it’s suitable to go on-the-go. However, I don’t think the mirror is travel friendly since it is so small. I would have preferred if they made the case fully opaque and included a full size mirror instead. Personally, I also don’t like that there’s a transparent window on the palette case; although this helps to see the shades inside, this sort of design always reminds me of drugstore brands and, in my opinion, cheapens what is a great, high quality design.

Product Description

The new CLIO Pro Eye Palette is a 10-pan palette that follows a monochromatic colour scheme (in this case, pink). It contains a combination of cool and warm tones, with a number of different finishes including matte, shimmer, metallic pearl and what they call their new ‘crystal glitter’ formula. Personally, I’m not totally sure which ones are their crystal glitter shades but – well – I can take a guess.

Shades are as follows:

• First Hug: A matte nude/beige
• Love lies: A matte warm light pink
• Letter me: A super reflective, iridescent glitter with both fine and medium size particles (most likely the crystal glitter shade)
• Lucky you: A pink and gold fine glitter
• Papi: A champagne glittery pearl
• Love maze: Rosy brown with sparse white/blue sparkles
• Love jam: A creamy magenta/pink pearl (this is the shade that looks like the Huda Beauty palette)
• Time to love: Medium cool toned brown
• Serendipity: Medium warm rosy brown
• One kiss: Matte mahogany brown

For this Pro Eye Palette, the product has three main points (summarised from the StyleKorean website):

• A great colour scheme: Includes a combination of daily colours from base to brights.
• The new crystal glitter formula: Has a wide range of formulas and textures, including the brand new Crystal Glitter.
• High pixel (not sure what this means), ultra-adhesion: Shadows apply true to colour with no patchiness or fall out.

Formula & Application

The formula of the CLIO Pro Eye Palette is definitely a significant improvement in kbeauty eyeshadows – although I understand that they are formulated to be light, some previous ones that I’ve tried have been almost pointless to use. However, this palette manages to be a perfect balance between the usual soft-pigment of the Korean formula, while also packing a punch when you want it to (keeping with current trends).

The formula of these shadows differ from each finish but they are generally flexible enough for both a light, every day look and something bolder (although the colour scheme is probably still too soft for a smokey eye). The matte shades have a soft, almost velvety texture and are very highly buildable – even with the lighter shades, they can be easily built to almost opacity. They also blend out easily, so I had no difficulty working with the darker shades too.

The glitter and satin shades are a bit more sparse but have some serious reflect. Their new Crystal Glitter shade actually reminds me a lot of the Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadows – super reflective and eye catching. They can be applied with both a finger or a brush – brush wise, I feel like smaller, dense brushes are best for this since you want to focus it on a small area.

Strangely enough, the shade that swatched the best (Love Jam, also known as the creamier pearl shade) was the one that gave me the most trouble! Although it looks great when applied with a finger, I found that it still takes a good deal of building to get that strong metallic pearl finish like in the below swatches. It is possible though and the colour is very pretty so I still use it in most of my looks. However, I tried so many brushes with this shade and nothing seems to work – dense, natural or synthetic! I have since given up and use my fingers only.

Personal Experiences

Look, I don’t think that I will be replacing all of my eyeshadow palettes with Korean formulas any time soon – I still prefer the bold pigmentation and bright colour stories of Western palettes. However, Korean eyeshadows have really been improving and this is one that I can see myself using in the future. I always use eye primer too, which definitely also helps with the colour.

I love the colour story of this Simply Pink palette – it’s absolutely down my alley and all of these shades are very ‘me’. I think that it lacks some deeper pink tones, but I still really like the rosy shades have been been included. Personally, I think that the mattes in this palette are exceptional – they’re so soft and easy to build up. The glitters/pearls are a little bit harder to work with but they’re still okay – I use to use either fingers or to dampen it with Fix+ to maximise the application.

So, here’s the verdict!

SO WHAT IS IT?

A 10 pan eyeshadow palette with mattes, glitters and pearl formulas in a pink colour scheme

THE GOOD

• Has three different colour stories to suit different styles
• Gorgeous packaging
• Good quality packaging too – from unit carton to the actual palette
• Includes a brush (for travel purposes)
• Is lightweight and portable, no wasted space
• Beautifully cohesive colour story
• Highly buildable formula – mattes can be nearly opaque
• Highly reflective and eye catching glitter shades
• Minimal to no creasing and wears well through the day (note, I do use a primer first)

THE BAD

• (Personal opinion) I highly dislike the clear plastic front
• Small mirror is hard to use
• Range of shades leans towards softer colours – isn’t as versatile as I would like. I generally keep creating similar eye looks
• Pearl finish must be applied with fingers

RATINGS

• PACKAGING | 4/5
• PRICE POINT | 4/5
• COLOUR STORY | 4/5
• PIGMENTATION | 3/5
• BUILDABILITY | 5/5
• APPLICATION | 3/5
• LONGEVITY | 4/5

OVERALL RATING? 7.7/10

WOULD I RECOMMEND?

This is a palette that I would recommend for people who want an easy to use but relatively ‘flexible’ palette that they can achieve both lighter and bolder looks with. The price point is great for a 10-pan palette and I do love the colour story, even though I find it a bit limiting.

That being said, I feel like this is not a product where I would want to collect all three – I would recommend just choosing which one you would get most use out of (pink, coral or brown), since this is more of a daily palette.

WHERE TO GET IT FROM

I received this palette from StyleKorean to review, so check out their website – the CLIO Pro Eye Palette (available in Simply Pink, Coral Talk, or Brown Choux) is selling for USD$35.20

cliokbeautykorean makeupstylekorean