Review: Viseart Cool Mattes Palette

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

It's a been over a year since that really great Alcone sale where I picked up the Viseart Cool Mattes Palette for $50ish, and while I used this palette that entire time, this palette is not the easiest to blog about.

Some of the colors in this palette really appealed to me, because they were reminiscent of Laura Mercier mattes which are the bee's knees for being understated transition colors. However, I rarely pull this palette out to use on its own. Just doesn't float my boat in that way.

One of the shadows in the palette really irritates me. The pink is hands down, one of the most terrible eye shadows I have ever encountered. It's so odd that it makes me think that this might be a defective pan - the top is lighter as if it were a coating over darker powder underneath. This shadow is awful, even with an even layer of eye primer, it looks horrendously powdery and emphasizes eyelid wrinkles that I'm pretty sure I don't even have!

The blue is also similarly faded on top, but the shadow underneath is like a C grade instead of the solid F come-see-me-after-class-we-need-to-talk that the pink shadow is. Of all the Viseart Mattes (and I have all five matte 12-pan palettes at this point), this palette has the misfortune of having the only two shadows that I don't particularly like. However, 1.5 bad shadows out of 60 is more than tolerable - percentage wise, I'm 97.5% satisfied.

I've mentioned in my previous posts what I love about Viseart shadows, and I'll sum it up briefly - while not the most pigmented shadows, Viseart shadows are my favorite to work with because of how true to the hue the remain on the skin after I blend. My Natasha Denona and Mehron mattes might have more color payoff, but they don't diffuse as easily. It's more of a struggle to work with them, I'd rather the buildable Viseart formula (this is probably why I'm not very excited for the Natasha Denona all matte Safari Palette).

Here I've used the ashy plum-taupe in the bottom row of the palette, as well as the lighter colors in the top row for the brow bone and the browns. The iridescent pink is KVD Alchemist Palette.

I use it constantly but the majority of the time it's never the star of the show. I tend to use this palette a lot with cream shadows - fluff a bit of a Cool Matte shade in the crease, dab a little bit of sparkle on the lid and then be on your way.

This was from my Pat McGrath Darkstar 006 review. I used PML Ultraviolet Blue, Tom Ford Opale and that ashy plum-taupe again, plus the lighter gray and the top row of brow bone colors.

The style of packaging that is pictured here is being phased out. I haven't tried the new style yet, but I think of Viseart 12 pan packaging as pragmatic not pretty, so I'm mostly just troubled that my Viseart collection won't all match. If nice looking packaging matters to you, I would save my money and opt for Guerlain or Chantecaille. The same goes if you tend to go for daily subtle glam rather than high impact makeup. I feel like Viseart is the Landrover of the eyeshadow world - for some the price is acceptable given its utility, but you'll still have people wondering why something whose exterior is so non flashy could warrant its pricetag.

Overall, I'm pleased with the first Cool Mattes palette but not smitten. I don't think I'll be buying Cool Mattes II, but I can't promise that it doesn't eventually end up in my cart if a really good sale comes to pass. The colors in Cool Mattes II do appeal to me more than the original, if they had both been available I would have opted for II not I.

Viseart Cool Mattes retails for $80 at Sephora.

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