LORAC Enchanting Elegance Eye/Cheek Palette

Today I have the other LORAC #Nsale Exclusive palette- the Enchanting Elegance Eye/Cheek Palette($18, currently). I had to have this one shipped, otherwise I probably would've tried this before the Refined Romance Palette (review here). That said, I want to give props to Nordstrom's shipping department. I ordered over the weekend and had it Tuesday afternoon! And given how much I fell in love with the other Lorac palette, I had my face all prepped for immediate swatching and testing Tuesday evening and all-day Wednesday- hence how quickly I got this one turned around for you!

Let's borrow the official description from Nordstrom:

"Inspired by elegant floral prints on the runway, the Enchanting Elegance Eye & Cheek Palette by LORAC features six universally flattering matte and shimmer eyeshadows, a shimmer highlighter and two satin blushes. It's everything you need to create beautiful, sophisticated and captivating looks.

Palette includes:

- 6 Eyeshadows - Cream (Matte), Light Brown (Shimmer), Dark Brown (Matte), Light Grey/Purple (Matte), Light Blue (Shimmer), Black (Matte) (0.22 oz.)

- Light Cream Highlighter (Shimmer) (0.08 oz.)

- 2 Blushes - Light Pink/Purple (Satin) and Fuchsia (Satin) (0.18 oz.)"

OK, let's start with the shallow part: these two palettes are just plain aesthetically pleasing. Here's a shot of these 2 cuties out of the box, together:

This is the cooler of the two options- I think you saw just how deep, warm, and fall the other palette pulled on me (I can't put that berry out of my head, BTW! Just not in 100 degree heat!). Normally I'd shy away from blues, but ironically it was the blue that pulled me in via the stock photo:

In that stock photo, it seemed to be a little bit blue-grey to me. I think I've teased you long enough before showing you what the pans look like:

I didn't mention it before, but there's a Lorac plastic overlay when you first open it up.

It's very pretty.

The pans are really securely in there, even though it's a cardboard palette. In terms of travel ease, it's really awesome.

For the purposes of this review, here's how I numbered the eyeshadows:

Eyeshadow #1 (Cream-Matte): I love these type of colors, and I'm a really tough critic of them. Why? They're workhorses for me, and if a brand can do them right, it's less other products that I have to carry around when traveling. Nailing this type of shade is essential in my mind.

Eyeshadow #2 (Light Brown- Shimmer): Ooh, this is the type of shade that I get lost into for long stretches of time. It's an easy-peasy all-over lid shade right now, and will be a nice accent when it's cooler.

Eyeshadow #3 (Dark Brown- Matte): I really like LORAC's mattes- there's not a ton of fallout here. I could see this as a subtle liner; I tried it as an outer crease shade.

I was playing with flash/no flash, so I included both photos because they showcase different aspects of the shadows.

Eyeshadow #4 (Light Grey/Purple-Matte): I feel like this is one of those shades that have a lot of unexplored depth. It's got a lot of tones in it- grey, purple, taupe... I tried using it as a transition shade since it's a matte when testing the full palette look. I think it'd make a lovely larger base.

Here's a shot of it when I was applying the first testing look:

Eyeshadow #5 (Light Blue-Shimmer): Blue doesn't normally go well with my blue eyes, but something about this one called to me as being more of a silvery blue. I was right. It's breathtaking, and makes an incredible lid color.

Eyeshadow #6 (Black-Matte): It's good to see how LORAC does black shadows; certainly much better than MAC Carbon. It made a nice, subtle liner.

Just like before, swatches both with and without swatches:

Before we move on to the cheek products, let's take a moment to talk specifically about this selection of shadows and compared to the Refined Romance Palette. The first thing that jumps out at me is that this is a mostly (4/6) matte palette, whereas Refined Romance was mostly Shimmer (4/6). I love that LORAC did it this way, making them truly complimentary at a low price.

In terms of performance, these lasted all day on me. I really am loving LORAC's formula and am considering picking up other palettes from the brand.

Now, let's talk cheek products:

Highlighter (Light Cream): This is another high-shine highlighter. It's very color-neutral, and would work on any number of skintones. I tried it with the lighter blush, but didn't photograph it because I had to use such a light hand due to the shimmery blush. I really like it, and think it would work with any number of looks.

Blush #1 (Light Pink/Purple-Satin): OK, I'm in love with this. You don't need a highlighter with this one because it's so shimmery. I was able to blend it nicely and make it work for me. I'll totally wear this in the fall once the shimmer comes back out. Out of all of the cheek products I tested in both Lorac palettes, this is my favorite.

Blush #2 (Fuschsia-Satin): I'm going to be 100% honest, this scares me. I didn't play with it at first simply because there's no way it would work on me the second that my skin flushed in the heat. I look forward to playing with this once it's about 40-50 degrees cooler out. I have swatched it for you though!

In terms of performance, the blush and highlighter performed lovely. My initial application was over L'Oreal Infallible Pro-Matte and Chanel Les Beiges, and it lasted flawlessly until I took it off about 6 hours later. My full-day test lasted a full 8 hours before showing initial signs of fading but did make it a full 12 hours.

The cheek colors read "not summer" to me, but the eyeshadows are more year-around neutrals to me.

Here's a couple photos of the palette in testing.

#1 to browbone, #4 as transition, #3 in outer crease, #2 inner lid, #5 middle to outer lid, #6 liner

That's the lighter blush-no highlighter-in action

Now, let's have some real talk. Yes, that's an eye look with all 6 eye shades on a small eye. Some bloggers might try to pass this off as a normal, everyday look. Unless you're a MUA, I'm not sure who does a look like that every day.

That's what I would call "let's test it all at once jammed on one eye" look. I would probably use 3 or 4 of them, max.

That aside, when I did my initial look, my first thought was "wow, that's really pretty. And soft." So with that in mind, I really recommend this palette. I'd recommend this palette at a much higher price point. At $18, I think you're crazy to pass it up. Bottom line, GO! Get this! You won't regret it.