Viseart Friday: Viseart Golden Hour Eyeshadow Palette

Warning: This is long and gets into formulations.

Instead of the palettes that should be next up, I'm going to review Viseart's brand new release for Fall/Winter/Holiday 2017- the Golden Hour palette. (Side note: September holiday releases are ticking me off and confusing me.)

This is the ultra-rare mid-week posting for me. That's how much I think of Viseart. It also forced my hand to deal with Sephora's shipping- which is something that I'm due to rant about. It literally took Viseart to break my online no-buy, because I will not support companies that choose to work with LaserShip due to a bevvy of disastrous experiences that continue despite numerous complaints.

The Golden Hour palette released with many of the Holiday 2017 items, so I'm still trying to figure out if it's a Holiday release. It's priced so well- a mere $49.  For that $49, you get nine pans of shadow- and 14g/0.49oz of product.

Doing a quick price comparison, here's the value comparison

12-pan palettes: 12 pans, 24g/0/84oz  (2g/pan; $3.33/g)
Petit Pro: 8 pans, 12g/0.42oz (1.5g/pan; $2.50/g)
Theory: 6 pans, 12g/0.42oz (2g/pan; $3.75/g)
Golden Hour: 9 pans, 14g/0.49oz (1.55g/pan; $3.50/g)

I can't help but feel like the Petit Pro is the outlier here. I got all weight data straight from palettes that I own. The packaging on Golden Hour is different. Pans don't appear to be removable, and there's a giant mirror- a first for Viseart.

I stand by my initial review that the Petit Pro is meant to grab one's attention regarding the brand. But the new Golden Hour.... it's different. It's a consumer release.

The packaging itself is pretty:

It's quite sturdy, but I fumble with this clasp:

I mean, would they do an overlay with product names in a Pro palette?

I am honestly quite conflicted as to how I feel about the release of the palette since it's clearly not a pro product. I think it's great that the brand is acknowledging their rabid consumer fanbase, but part of the appeal is accessible pro products.

I spotted something else different:

Every other Viseart palette I've gotten has been made in France, and that's part of the awesome quality control. Not that made in the USA is bad, but what the heck? That made me dig into the ingredient lists. Note the number of bolded items- they're ones that only appear in Golden Hour.

Golden Hour Ingredient List: Mica, Talc, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Zinc Stearate, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate, Silica, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Palmitic Acid, Alumina, Water. (+/- May contain: Tin Oxide CI 77861,Titanium Dioxide CI 77891, Iron Oxides CI 77491/77492/77499, Red 40 CI 16035, Carmin CI 75470, Black 2 CI 77266).

Petit Pro Ingredient List: Talc, Mica, Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate, Zinc Stearate, Octyldodecanol, Myristyl Lactate, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Isononyl Isononanoate, Silica, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Tin Oxide. + - May Contain: Titanium Dioxide (77891), Iron Oxides (77491, 77492, 77499), Blue 1 (42090), Carmine (75470), Black 2 (77266), Mica (77019), Ferric Ferrocyanide (CI 77510)

Theory I: Talc, Mica, Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate, Zinc Stearate, Octyldodecanol, Myristyl Lactate, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate, Isononyl Isononanoate, Silica, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Tin Oxide. May Contain (+ -): Titanium Dioxide (77891), Iron Oxides (77491, 77492, 77499), Blue 1 (42090), Carmine (75470), Black 2 (77266), Mica (77019), Ferric Ferrocyanide (CI 77510).

Neutral Mattes: Mineral Talc, Mica, Mineral Zinc Stearate, Octyldodecanol (Plant Derived), Myristyl Lactate (Vegetable Derived), Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate (Vegetable Derived), Isononyl Isononanoate (Plant Derived), Tocopherol (Plant Derived). (+/-) May Contain: Mineral Pigments: Titanium Dioxide (77891), Iron Oxides (77491, 77492, 77499), Blue 1 (42090), Carmine (75470), Mica (77019).

Sultry Muse: Talc, Mica, Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate,Zinc Stearate,Octyldodecanol, Myristyl Lactate, Octyldodecyl Stearoyl Stearate Isononyl Isononanoate, Silica, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Tin Oxide. May Contain (+ -): Titanium Dioxide (77891), Iron Oxides (77491, 77492, 77499), Blue 1 (42090), Carmine (75470), Black 2 (77266), Mica (77019), Ferric Ferrocyanide (CI 77510).

Something's up here.That's really different than the rest. We've got a different formula, different style of packaging, and everything about this feels different than the other releases. (I currently own 6 of 10 12-pan palettes, all 5 Theory palettes, and the Petit Pro, so I feel like I have a good knowledge base on this brand).

I did some research into those bolded ingredients.

Sodium Benzoate is a preservative that's commonly found in cosmetics.
Potassium Sorbate is also a preservative
Hydrogenated Polyisobutene is a skin-conditioning agent and emollient 
Palmitic Acid is a naturally occurring fatty acid- may be derived from animals
Alumina is a form of aluminum oxide- it's used for opacity control, viscosity, etc. 
Water- no, I didn't research water- but I wonder if its inclusion (which could be less than 1% due to its placement) is driving the multiple preservatives. This palette has a 36M shelf life (vs 24M on Sultry Muse, 36M on Petit Pro, 36M on Theory I, 24M on Neutral Mattes)

This could be just as good, but the OG formula is 11 ingredients... and this has 6 different ones. It's like a totally new item. This goes beyond packaging, to be honest. And that's why I'm digging deep. 

I will say that I did a bit more research and I can't find another identical ingredient list so this formula appears to still be exclusive to Viseart. Good.

I thought this would be a slam dunk in terms of a quick review, but I ended up doing a bit more work and multiple looks.

Let's go back to the actual palette. There are nine named (!) shades; four mattes and five shimmers. I'd call this a great all-arounder palette and I could travel with essentially just it.

I find it to be beautiful, and I can see where the brand was going with this release. I'm just still befuddled with the formula and manufacturing swap.

Let's talk about the shades. There's a Paris theme going on here, in case you hadn't noticed.

Honorée is a gorgeous cream matte. I can't even consider a palette realistically without one of these.

Rivoli is a light gold shimmer- similar to Chanel's "white" gold liner from holiday a few years ago

Montaigne is a neutral to warm caramel matte. It's quite nice for blending out in transition when mixed with Honorée or deepened on its own.

Seine is a champagne shimmer that works across the eye as a subtle and glamorous lid shade.

Palais is a fiery copper shimmer. Viseart does these well.

Louvre is a deep red matte that's completely on-trend.

Carrousel is a rich plum shimmer.

Royal is a grey-blue shimmer- the type of shade perfect for a smokey eye (or me, circa 5 years ago on the daily).

Tuileries is an inky black matte.

As I mentioned before, this palette is balanced, and since it has the large mirror it's potentially all you'd need when traveling. I was able to do my eye makeup in just that mirror when I was testing it.

Overall, I find that you'll get warmer leaning looks out of this palette- but that's what consumers are begging for. I'm an oddball that still wants cool shadows.

Given the change in formula, I tested this over the course of several days and did multiple looks each day. Unfortunately, I was suffering from allergies so I'll not be posting my red eyes on the Internet to live in shame forever. Hopefully you'll trust my breakdown without an eye look.

I don't know if I would've noticed much of a difference if I hadn't been digging beforehand. However, these do feel "wetter" if you understand how I'm using the formula. Some of Viseart's palettes (especially the glorious mattes) are dry enough that one tap of a brush lightly into the pan is enough product for your eye. I felt like I needed to pick up more product than normal with these. That said, they did perform well.


Bottom Line: Yes, I got in the weeds in terms of formula. I don't hate the palette- not at all. It's not what I was expecting from the line and feel like consumers should be educated about the major changes before