Here’s a quick post showing some nail swatches of JINsoon Nail Lacquers. I’m still working my way through swatching so the feature will be split into two parts. Part 1 includes Nostalgia, Auspicious, Debonair, Rhaspody and Charade.
Nostalgia – two thin coats gives full coverage
Auspicious – extremely sheer, needs three coats for full coverage, below is shown with two
Debonair – sheer jelly cream finish requires three coats for full coverage
A gorgeous feature of JINsoon Auspicious from Messy Wands prompted me to order some JINsoon shades sight unseen from Sephora. In October, I featured JINsoon Coquette, a gorgeous sheer jelly red. Since then, I’ve had a few months to play with some more of the JINsoon nail lacquers that I ordered online from Sephora.com. They retail for $18 each and come with a black pull-off cap. (I’ve photographed them without the caps.) The past few months Sephora has had some amazing promotional codes for various discounts and gift-with-purchase sample packs. I found the offers hard to resist and I ended up ordering 9 different shades: Nostalgia, Auspicious, Debonair, Rhapsody, Charade, Metaphor, Coquette, Audacity and Risque. This is a preliminary review/swatch post with a few comparisons (scroll down to the end). Actual finger swatches to come in a separate post soon.
I found the bottle swatches online to be very true to the actual product. All the shades are creams (no shimmer). The pigment varies from a jelly finish to a full-coverage cream. Sheerer shades like Auspicious, Debonair and Coquette require three coats for full even coverage. The others are good with two coats. I found lasting power to be quite good with around 4-5 days without tip wear or chipping.
Nostalgia is a pretty full-coverage peachy nude with a tinge of pink
Auspicious is a lovely gray-lavendar with a jelly-transparent finish (3 coater)
Debonair is a sharp purple cream with a semi-jelly (3 coats needed)
Rhapsody is a dark navy blue, semi-sheer finish (2 coats needed)
Charade is a full-coverage gorgeous green teal
Metaphor is a dark forest green with full coverage
Audacity is a sheer aubergine
Risque is a sheer vampy color with a jelly finish
Coquette is a bright sheer red
Swatches below are with three coats:
The colors look like basic creams. For the most part I think these are very likely dupeable. I searched through my Chanel, Dior and RBLs to see what I could find. Half the shades are unique while the other half are very close to existing colors. I pulled one shade to compare to each of the JINsoon polishes I bought. Thoughts:
Nostalgia is more neutral than Chanel Inattendu but has enough pink to not look like death
Auspicious is darker and more lavendar than most greys, it’s darker than Chanel Frenzy
Debonair is a unique dark purple (at least in my stash), it’s dark but not so dark it looks black
Rhapsody is very similar to other navys like Dior Blue Rebel
Charade is a gorgeous teal green, I found this quite unique, it’s very wearable for a green
Metaphor is a dark forest green cream, I don’t have a lot of greens to compare
Coquette is warmer than Chanel Pirate
Audacity is very similar to other vampy shades, it’s a sheerer version of RBL Moulin Rouge (very close)
Risque is a dark vamp, it’s darker than Chanel Rouge Noir
Overall I’ve found that the JINsoon nail polishes have performed well. The shades are flattering on my skin and are good classic shades. For me they were worth the price I paid (about $14-$16ish for each shade from using a 10% discount or 20% discount code for VIB). Some of the shades have a jelly finish which require more coats unfortunately, but the good thing is that these dry relatively fast. Some might ask how the JINsoon compare to my other favorite brands. Long time readers know that I’m a die-hard Chanel, Dior and Rescue Beauty Lounge nail polish fan. My heart still belongs to those brands for color/pigment even though they are higher in price. I would say that JINsoon performs similar to NARS/Dolce & Gabbana, better than Sephora for OPI, but not quite as good as RBL, Chanel or Dior (at least in my experience).
Have you tried any of the JINsoon nail polishes? Thoughts?
Burberry Pale Nude No. 03 Complete Eye Palette ($59) is a beautiful palette of soft neutrals. The colors layer well to create a soft illuminated eye with a soft contour. For many pale-colored quads, I find the shades all end up looking the same on my skin. Not so for the Pale Nude and I was surprised to find that this one is probably my favorite in out of the Burberry quads that I have tried.
The shades in Pale Nude include a frosted cool white, a yellowish light cream with an iridescent sheen, a soft nude pink shimmer and a warm tan beige shimmer. All the colors in this palette have shimmer and frost. The color payoff is excellent like Pale Barley but not quite as metallic on the lids making this a great everyday staple. Texture is buttery smooth like the Burberry singles. I found the texture of this quad to be the best out of all the ones I tested.
Swatches on my Chanel B30 skin:
A few comparisons to other shades:
Pale Nude’s white is not as sharp as Porcelain White, but very similar
Pale Nude’s yellow cream looked similar to Porcelain in the compact, but it’s quite a bit more yellow
Pale Nude’s seashell pink is more neutral/warm than other Burberry pinks, I found it similar to Chanel’s Sillage single, just more neutral
Pale Nude’s brown shimmer is warmer and darker than Pale Barley
Overall a lovely staple and great palette for a soft nude eye. It does need a dark eyeliner for a complete eye look but other than that works great for me. The effect is subtle but glowy and softly defined. I really love it, but I can’t say it would be a must-have for everyone. I can definitely see that some would find it to be too neutral or pale depending on personal preference.
Burberry No. 05 Dark Spice Complete Eye Palette ($59 for 5.4 g/0.19 oz, made in Italy) is one of my favorite Burberry quads for color selection and pigment, however I found the texture to be slightly inconsistent among all four shades. Initially I was worried this might be too warm, but it works well with my skintone and the colors in this palette create a perfect warm smokey eye. The colors include:
a warm yellow cream shimmer – smooth and buttery like most Burberry single shadows, great for a blending color
a warm shimmery sienna, soft texture, easy to apply but not so easy to blend (needs a more precise application)
a dark chocolate brown with gold flecks of shimmer, great pigment, but also harder texture like NARS Galapagos makes it not so easy to blend/smoke out
a satiny dark black, soft texture rich pigment, blends well
The yellow and black are amazing in terms of texture and pigment. They are like most Burberry singles – buttery smooth and easy to apply/blend. I found the performance of the two browns to be similar to NARS Galapagos and NARS Mekong. Both are gorgeous dark smokey eye colors but require a more precise application. Blending works as long as it’s minimal otherwise the result is slightly patchy and uneven-looking. (Examples of easy-to-blend dark shades for me include NARS Fez, Cordura and Burberry Midnight Brown.) Still – with a bit of work using multiple brushes and a layering approach this palette works well for me. It just takes more time and precision than your typical eyeshadow.
Swatches:
Overall I think it’s really lovely and unique. While the colors seem basic, the combination is very flattering on the skin for a sultry smokey eye. It works well with a variety of shades for lips and cheeks. It’s neutral enough to be easily be incorporated into any look/outfit, yet has the warm sienna shade and warm yellow satin that gives this a unique twist to the traditional smokey eye.
Have you tried Dark Spice yet? What were your thoughts?
Burberry No. 02 Mocha Complete Eye Palette contains four warm-toned neutrals. I’m one who always falls in love with shimmery neutrals, but this palette seemed a bit too similar to shades in Burberry’s existing line. I’m all for no-fail safe colors and I really loved the texture, pigment and convenience of all the shades in one palette. I just wish the colors were a bit different from what Burberry already released in singles. The colors included:
a soft matte ivory that matches my skintone when applied, very similar to Trench but a tad warmer
a warm golden beige-tan with subtle shimmer, nearly identical to Gold Trench
a warm matte chestnut brown, lighter than Chestnut
a warm bronze shimmer, unique compared to other browns from Burberry, but still very basic
The texture is just as smooth and soft as the singles. There is a bit of a powdery finish with debris from dipping a brush into the compact, but I experienced very little fall out when applied on the eyes. The colors layered beautifully to give a perfectly natural contoured eye. Lasting power was excellent and the colors did not budge at all during the entire day.
Comparisons below to Burberry Trench, Chestnut and Midnight Brown as well as Guerlain Les Cuirs which is very similar but not quite as warm:
Overall I’m very pleased with the performance of Mocha. The pigment and wear is excellent. However, if you own Trench, Gold Trench or Chestnut, I don’t think you need this quad. I personally prefer the texture/color of Trench rather than the ivory matte in the quad, but they are still very close. It’s a lovely quad that has a nice earthy feel. It works amazingly well with pinks, peaches and bronzey colors for lips and cheeks and is perfect for everyday wear.
Did you try or buy Mocha? What were your thoughts?
I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! This week we have a zoo at our house. We have a little chihuahua visiting named Coco. Right now there are four fluffy friends in our home: two jack russells, a ragamuffin kitten, and a chihuahua. It’s been non-stop cuteness. They’ve all become quick friends, but the cat and the chihuahua have become particularly smitten with each other and are now BFFs. I have so much to be thankful for. I hope everyone who celebrates is able to enjoy time spent with loved ones.
Burberry No. 01 Smokey Grey Complete Eye Palette ($59 for 5.4 g/.19 oz, made in Italy) is a beautiful classic palette for a sultry smokey eye. The Complete Eye Palettes by Burberry have four shades in an embossed diagonal-shaped pan. The compact size is the same as the light glow natural blush compacts. The eyeshadow quads come encased in a velvet pouch with three small applicators (sponge, angled and eyeshadow).
The colors in No. 01 Smokey Grey include a frosted cool white, a shimmery gunmetal, a matte smokey grey and a satiny soft black. The texture seems to be identical to the individual eyeshadows, perhaps not quite as buttery smooth, and slightly more powdery, but still very close. Pigment in this quad is excellent. The finish allows for either a sheer application of color. Each shade is easily layerable and after testing this for a few days I found the lasting power was quite good. What I love about this quad is that it works remarkably well with my olive skintone. Most classic smokey eye quads with white, greys and blacks look ashy on my skin. This one has a good balance of cool and warm (the matte grey goes on slightly warmish on my skin) to work for me.
A few more photos and swatches:
Update, here is another swatch set under artificial light, I don’t know why the matte grey goes on so warm on my skin. On the eyes it’s more true to what you see in the pan:
Several have asked how this compares to the new Armani Eyes to Kill quads, Chanel Smokey Eyes and the Burberry singles. My thoughts:
I didn’t test all the Armani quads, but based on the two that I have, I feel the Burberry has a softer more buttery/blendable texture but more pigmented payoff in color. The Armani Maestro 01 seems to be cooler-toned and more subtle judging from swatches on Fruity Lashes, Beautezine and Best Things in Beauty.
Chanel Smokey Eyes is a quad I used to have (but think I gifted it away). It’s a quad that was extremely high maintenance and often clashed with the yellow tones in my skin. I think the Burberry has more buildable pigment (from what I remember). The Chanel appears to be cooler-toned as well. Cafe Makeup has excellent photos and swatches.
Compared to the Burberry single shadows, I found the texture and pigment similar. This particular quad was slightly more powdery, but I didn’t experience any fallout when I applied it on the lids. For color similarities, the white is very similar to Pearl White, but not as blue as Porcelain White. The gunmetal metallic shimmer is more pigmented and deeper than Pearl Grey. The black shade has better pigment than Midnight Black. You can probably achieve the same effect and don’t need the quad if you have the singles.
Comparisons to Pearl White, Pearl Grey, Midnight Black and Edward Bess’s Soft Smoke Trio (which is my favorite smokey eye palette).
I most likely won’t use the applicators since the quality isn’t anywhere near regular brushes. The handles are longer than your average machine-made small sponge applicators which is nice. The pouch is handy, but I don’t see myself carrying the quads in my makeup bag at work, so I probably won’t use those either. For the actual product I give it a huge thumbs up. I like that the colors are separated by the compact dividers – this makes it so much easier to apply and dip different shaped brushes into each well without mixing the colors. (I prefer to mix and blend on the eye.)
The quad worked well with a soft pink cheek (Burberry Peony) contoured with a matte tan shade (MAC Strada). I used Edward Bess’s eye base to help it stay put all day and paired it with a glossy pink lip (NARS Frivolous with Burberry Nude Rose):
Have you checked this quad out? What’s your current favorite classic smokey eye palette? Do be sure to check out other swatches and reviews (ones I found helpful linked here) to see how it looks on other skintones.
