Cargo Emerald City Eyeshadow Palette

Today we're going to talk about Cargo's smaller palette offering for Holiday 2017; I have many thoughts about the Emerald City palette ($34, Kohls/Ulta, spotted en masse at my local TJMaxx for $9.99).

I knew that this Seattle-themed palette was interesting to me, but my feelings changed completely when I found it at TJMaxx. Dear Cargo, you're destroying your brand to me. Current holiday LE palettes at 2/3 off? I feel like a fool for having paid full price.

Let's jump into the palette. It's not very Christmas, but it's lovely. You've got some light neutrals that lean a bit cool, some deeper shimmers, three greens, and a random rich brown.

In other words, this is your typical Cargo palette. I do appreciate the emerald packaging.

Let's open it up. There are a total of four mattes and eight shimmers and metallic shadows.

It's pretty basic, and it's ok. It's nice to have, but not my favorite of the holiday releases. Let's dig into it, and I'll pro/con it for you.

Here's the first row, swatched. It's a nice, cool-toned, neutral palette.

And the second, darker row:

See what I meant about it being a nice, neutral palette? I just don't find it exceptional.

These perform well. I don't find Cargo's formula to last exceptionally long on me, even with primer. I was able to do a number of neutral, work-appropriate looks from the palette.

Now, let's pro/con it.

Pros: This would make a nice gift for someone on your list, especially if you can find it at TJMaxx.  It's neutral and very pretty and does have those 70s vibes (hi, Lake Union?) that are so popular right now.

Cons: This is at TJMaxx, so I don't recommend spending full price. It's also extremely similar to another Cargo palette I spotted at TJMaxx. Take a look:

That's the Wanderlust palette. So you if you can find this palette instead, grab it. Either palette would be nice for the makeup lover on your list.

Cargo Getaway Eyeshadow Palette

Today's post was unplanned until I found myself furiously placing an order on my phone in the Kohls app while standing next to the tester. And at this price, I had to hurry up and play with it to share my thoughts with you.

After not owning any Cargo palettes, this is my third purchase in a little more than six months.I posted a review of the You Had Me At Aloha Palette, but didn't share the awesome TJMaxx find that was a sealed Around the World Palette. Where Ahola was warm with a few pops and Around the World so wearable with cool neutrals, Getaway feels cool-toned with a couple of purple pops.

And we know how I am with purples.

Something about this (perhaps it's the abundance of that color we've come to know as Radiant Orchid) makes me feel like it's an older release. It's the same size as the Around the World Palette, but the newest of the trio (You Had Me At Aloha) is slightly smaller, less boxy.

This is a bit of a rushed review- think playing with it for 2 days and posting my initial impressions. I don't believe in first impressions-type posts unless there's a good reason. There is here. It's still listed at full price ($34) on Cargo's site and in-store at Kohls. However, if you purchase online (even if you do in-store pickup like I did!), it's a cool $17 right now. Score. I wanted this post to go up while the palette's still on sale.

The palette has twelve shadows (the brand suggests 3 quads on the back) that weigh in at 0.8g each. This is a Mica-based formula, and I also spot dimethicone in the list of ingredients. The palette was made in Taiwan, and I see seven shimmers out of the 12 shades.

Nestled in the cardboard packaging there's a small but functional mirror and a small brush. I'm sad to say that I'm not as big of a fan of this brush, but the in-palette brush from the Aloha palette is actually really good and usable.

Top: brush from You Had Me at Aloha (awesome)
Bottom: Getaway Palette brush

Clearly there's a difference. I don't purchase palettes for brushes, but I thought it was worth noting.

Let's jump into the palette, shall we?

Since Cargo is insisting that this is really four quads, I'll treat it as such.

Quad 1:

Quad 1 consists of Roadtrip, a shimmery, cool silver lilac (I love these types of shades); Journey, a mid-toned amethyst shimmer;  Map, a grey-purple matte; Tour, a matte eggplant. Note: my lights pull things brighter and cooler.

Roadtrip and Journey were both dry for shimmers and a bit patchy- but they can easily be built up. My swatches are dry, on an unprimed hand, and using a synthetic brush to swatch (hence the clean edges). I made both of these work nicely as lid shades with a bit of Glitter Glue and with a dampened brush. I tend to foil most shimmers these days, so this wasn't something I was averse to. Map and Tour were the two worst mattes in the palette- they're both very dry and patchy. They blended better on the eyes than they swatched, but this is what happens with purples a lot of the time, sadly. (That's why Lila is so magical.)


Quad 2:

Quad 2 consists of Luggage, a white shimmer; Route, a matte pewter gray; Resort, a classic mid-toned silver metallic; Vacation, a deep charcoal shimmer.

Luggage is sheer but workable; I tend to like it as an accent or foiled on the lid over Glitter Glue. Route is sheer but a better matte formula than anything in the first quad. It's very workable and buildable. I enjoyed blending with this on the eye. Resort is a good shimmer- but a sheer, buildable shades. Vacation is an oddball- it's really more like a black matte that's packed with silver glitter. It's got the stiff texture of some of the mattes in the formula with specks of silver glitter when swatched.

Quad 3:

Quad 3 consists of Passport, a matte mustard brown; Flight, an olive shimmer; Traveler, a cool greigy taupe shimmer; Highway, a deep olive matte.

Passport is the best matte in the palette. It's very creamy and great- the perfect transition shade. It reminds me of the mattes in subsequent palettes. They hit on something with this formula. Flight  is sheer but buildable. It's creamy and one of my favorites in the palette- I'm obsessed with olive shadows right now. Traveler is unique in that it's more like a sheen than anything else in the palette. It's a fabulous formula but not necessarily the most flattering shade on my complexion. Highway is the best dark matte in the palette in terms of formula and performance.


Now that you've seen the shades and my swatches, let's talk about the palette as a whole. I understand why they're promoting it primarily as three quads; there's not much cohesion overall. I also don't think there's enough mattes to do many complete looks- something I really want out of a palette this size.

Is it the best palette I own? Absolutely not. Am I sorry I purchased it? Not at all. There are enough shades that I find lovely that I'll get my $17 out of it. These aren't that large of pans so I may try to pan a few of them next year. I do see evidence of the brand's formula improving between palettes.

I purchased this as a purple-toned palette but quad #3 was far superior to the others- go figure.

This is one that I'd recommend swatching in-store before placing an order. Please note that this generally produces more subtle eye looks; that's something that I've noticed about the brand as a whole. These work better on the eyes with primer than swatched. That said, I'd hesitate to fully tell everyone to grab it. It's worth checking out and I feel I got value for my money.

Cargo Cosmetics You Had Me At Aloha Palette

Today we are going to talk about one of two early summer palettes that I've had for months but procrastinated about discussing.

I can't remember the last time, if ever, that Cargo Cosmetics caught my imagination. Yet I became obsessed with acquiring the You Had Me At Aloha Palette ($34), the brand's Spring/Summer LE offering about three months or so ago. I literally wouldn't stop thinking about it until I had it in my hands. Guess what? I bought it. Yet, I didn't feel compelled to review it in the first few posts back.

So, I thought that I'd review it because I saw it on Ulta.com.

Well.

Here's a screenshot of Ulta's Cargo page from July 3 at 1800 EDT:

But the palette's not on the site.

However, it's still in stock on kohls.com and we're going to roll with it, ok? I try not to feature something that you can't purchase.

The You Had Me at Aloha Palette contains 12 powder eyeshadows, one dual-ended brush (which I used for swatches), and a black eyeliner.

Before we get back to the palette, let's talk about the extras.

Normally, the brushes included in palettes are meh. I actually liked this one, and all of the swatches that are down below are done with the smaller end. I liked it enough that it survived my massive brush purge a few days ago.

Let's talk about the liner. It's your standard black pencil eyeliner, and a bit stiff-looking.

OK, surprisingly good and creamy. I'll actually pop this into my eyeliner stash- which means that I'll use it in the future. I don't use many black pencil liners these days but it's all good.

This is a good sign, right? Now, let's look at some dry swatches. (I specify just because I've been wetting so many shadows as of late)

Row 1: Hula, Waikiki, Hapuna, Jona, Shell, Shaka

These really are in line with the on-trend warm shades. Some of these aren't the most pigmented that I've seen, but I'm not going to be picky. I really like Waikiki.

Row 2: Hibiscus, Island, Kai, Tiki, Lei, Luau

The purple and teal are a little patchy and have less pigmentation than I'm generally looking for, but otherwise I like the palette. This would be excellent for someone looking for neutrals and is a little hesitant about pops of color.

I got better swatches than they translated to the eyes, but I've been working with it. Either accept this is meant for a summery, lightweight look or be prepared to spend some time. I'm not afraid of committing some serious time to my shadow, but I was a little taken aback initially.

I want to go back and keep testing- especially the teal (which is what I was dreaming of). I wasn't happy initially with the payoff along my lower lash line, but it's workable if you're willing to carefully layer.

Do you need this? Not at all. But if you have this and have gotten better payoff on the eyes, please let me know! Do I need to wet? Different base? (I generally use the MAC Paint Pot in Painterly). I adore looking at this palette and want to make it work like I'm hoping for.

Bottom Line: This is a fun summer palette in all facets of that term. It's lighter and has some beautiful on-trend shades. I know purples are hard to formulate as a purple-lover, so I'm willing to overlook that they don't all perform as great as I'd hoped. This is an easy-to-travel-with palette. I'm glad that it caught my eye, and I will be looking to explore more of Cargo's offerings in the future.