Review: Nonie Creme Colour Prevails Watercolour Eye Shadow Palette in Nude & Neutral

Purchased by Me 

Continuing my reviews of the products I purchased from the new Nonie Creme Colour Prevails makeup brand (exclusive to Walgreens), today I'd like to show you the eyeshadow I purchased from the Walgreens site a few weeks ago.

PLEASE NOTE: The Nude & Neutral palette was the only palette available at the time of my purchase, but I see now that all three palettes are now available on the Walgreens site. You can check out the Marvelous Mattes palette HERE and the Smoky & Smudgy palette HERE. For more info about Nonie Creme (former founding Creative Director at Butter LONDON) and this brand, you can check out my Colour Prevails nail lacquer review HERE, and you can view the entire display, which is now popping up at Walgreens stores, HERE.

Nonie Creme Colour Prevails Watercolour Eye Shadow Palette in Nude & Neutral

(retail: $19, 0.32 oz)

Keep reading for my full review...

Before I get to the swatches, I want to talk about the pricing and value of this palette. There are eight shadows in this palette and each shadow is 0.04 oz. for a total of 0.32 oz. of product. The price of this palette is $19.

For perspective, here's a comparison (all palettes 0.32 oz):

Mass Market: 
Milani Runway Eyes Palette (now discontinued)
$8.49 for 0.32 oz.
Price per ounce: $26.53

Masstige: 
Nonie Creme Colour Prevails Watercolour Eye Shadow Palette
$19 for 0.32 oz.
Price per ounce: $59.37

Prestige: 
LORAC PRO Palette
$42 for 0.32 oz.
Price per ounce: $131.25

As you can see, the pricing of the Colour Prevails palette is about what you would expect for masstige. Not as economical as mass market, but not as much as prestige.

This palette is made of thick, die-cut cardboard with a glossy finish. The palette has an invisible magnetic closure.

Back of palette

Made in China

I tried this exact combo and it really is beautiful...

As you can see, this palette opens up like two butterfly wings, but it is also very much like an artist's palette. The one thing I do not like about the packaging is that you have to turn the palette around (facing the back of the palette) or the brush will fall out when you open it. In other words, if you open it while looking at the front of the palette (which would be the natural, instinctual way to open it), you'll find that the inside of the palette is upside-down, and the brush immediately falls to the ground. So you have to remember to turn it around and upside-down before you open it.

Here's a photo that illustrates what I'm trying to say:

Nyx Prismatic Eyeshadow: 0.43 oz.

Colour Prevails Eyeshadow (one pan): 0.40 oz.

I mentioned above that you get eight shadows in this palette, and that each shadow is 0.04 oz. But I'm more of a visual learner, so I thought it might help to see the pans next to a Nyx shadow that is 0.43 oz., just for perspective. As you can see, the pans in this palette aren't teeny-tiny. They're actually a good size when it comes to palettes (I've certainly seen smaller).

You also get a brush with this palette, which has a clear plastic handle. The bristles are quite soft on this brush, and it's not bad considering how lightweight it is (it's very, very light due to the plastic handle). I wouldn't use this as my primary eyeshadow brush, but it will certainly work in a pinch and it's much better quality than, say, the brushes that come with WnW trios or something like that. 

SWATCHES (NO PRIMER):

As you can see, these shadows aren't too impressive on bare skin, with the exception of the shade Jasper, which is absolutely dynamite without primer (super pigmented and metallic). So let's take a look at these shadows over Too Faced Shadow Insurance.

ALL SHADES OVER PRIMER (Too Faced Shadow Insurance):


Sand, Pebble, Chalk, Jasper


Fossil, Rock, Stone, Gravel

Over primer, the shimmers in this palette become so metallic that it was hard for me to photograph them without having them get completely washed out. Actually, the entire top row of shadows is fantastic over primer--much like a MAC, Urban Decay or LORAC type of formula. The bottom row isn't as impressive as the top row (Gravel, which is the dark purple matte with gold micro-glitter) was still patchy even over primer (not surprising since purple mattes in general can be problematic). But Fossil, Rock and Stone are not patchy--they're just not as pigmented as the four shades in the top row.

I thought you might like to see some comparisons to some other popular, higher-end neutrals, just for some perspective, so I did a few below.

COMPARISONS:

Colour Prevails Sand vs.

Urban Decay Sin and Urban Decay Burnout

Sand has more of a peach tone than UD Sin, and it's not as pink as UD Burnout. Notice how metallic Sand looks compared to the other two shades.

Colour Prevails Pebble vs.

Urban Decay Sidecar, MAC Satin Taupe and LORAC Smokey Topaz

Pebble is much cooler and more brown than all of the other shades above. 

Colour Prevails Chalk vs.

Urban Decay Virgin and Urban Decay Strange

Chalk is VERY similar to UD Virgin (I might even call it a dupe), and even though UD Strange is nowhere close to Chalk, I wanted to include it to show you that Chalk is definitely not a matte.

I'd also like to mention that, even though it's hard to see in my pics, ALL of the shadows in this palette contain micro-glitter (the sparkle is very, very fine--definitely not chunky). In some shades you can barely detect its presence unless you're in bright sunlight. 

Overall, I'm impressed with this palette for a few reasons. First of all, it feels like a lot of thought and care went into the color creation/selection. All eight shades feel very "modern" to me, for lack of a better word. I think we were just talking about how those new Neutrogena eyeshadow trios all contain the same ol' shades we've seen at the drugstore a zillion times, while the colors in this palette feel current and not just retreads of the same warm medium brown shimmers, etc. I am quite impressed with the shimmers in this palette. They are intense and metallic when worn over primer, and I actually haven't had any issues with any of these shades over primer, except for Gravel (which I explained earlier).

For the most part, the texture of these shadows is quite smooth and silky (some are SUPER silky, while others are good, but not mind-blowing). You may need to get them going a bit by rubbing with your brush a few times before the consistency really comes through, but I think that once you get in and start playing around with these shadows, you'll be as impressed as I am. They all blend easily, and the colors stay true and vivid over primer. I did experience a bit of fallout with a few shades, and a few shades are a tiny bit powdery, but overall the quality is there. Staying power is great over primer as well--I can get 6-7 hours of wear before I start to notice slight fading and creasing. 

FINAL VERDICT: Is this new drugstore palette worth $19? I think that depends on what shades you already have in your stash, and how much you love neutrals. I love that a palette like this is available at the drugstore level, filled with modern colors and shades that all work together so nicely. You could easily use just this palette on a weekend getaway and be good to go for daytime and evening. I think that if Walgreens runs sales on the Colour Prevails line moving forward (or you have a bunch of Balance Rewards saved up), this one's worth considering if you like shimmery neutrals. I'm not sure I'd pay full price though, because, well, look at the name of my blog. I don't like paying $20 for anything at the drugstore! That said, I don't regret this purchase because you know I'm always drawn to shades like this, and the quality is quite good (especially when worn over primer).

In case you missed it at the top of my post, you can check out the Marvelous Mattes palette HERE (I really want to try that one next) and the Smoky & Smudgy palette HERE. And you can check out the entire Nonie Creme Colour Prevails display HERE.

The products featured in this post were purchased with personal funds. For more information, click here.