FOCALLURE Sweet as Honey Palette Swatches on Dark Skin + Review

First up is Sweet as Honey Palette palette from the brand Focallure and I purchased it through Aliexpress for £5.68 during their Black Friday sale.  Normally I strongly dislike (hate) neutral palettes with pops of colour but this just spoke to me and literally said, "buy me" so as any fiscally responsible and sane person would- I did. I really wanted to review this because I didn't find a lot of unofficial swatches and reviews on google. However, I did find some in the feedback section of its Aliexpress page. While they seem genuine enough though I'd still take the reviews with some healthy scepticism.

Packaging and Layout

The palette is housed in sturdy cardboard packaging with magnetic closure. Inside it has a fair sized mirror and 18 square-shaped pans in three rows of six. The orange to pink gradient packaging isn't a dupe of anything but the layout is reminiscent of Huda Beauty's 18-pan palettes.

Swatches and Shade Descriptions

I don't think the shades in this palette are a direct copy of any palette on the market but the rosey-leaning neutral mattes scream the Modern Renaissance's baby sister. On their Aliexpress page, Focallure notes that there are three finishes in the palette- Matte, Shimmer and my favourite Radiant/Duochrome.

Cosmic Latte is a matte bone shade (Read: Ashy). This has no use to me so I will not be wearing it and therefore cannot speak for the wear time however it feels creamy and has buildable pigmentation.

Champagne is a matte camel shade. Another that will make me casket ready. Has similar texture to Cosmic Latte, buildable as well.

Deep Peach is a matte light peach shade. Is a bit drier in texture than the other mattes but slightly buildable.

Misty Rose is a shimmer  a pink to gold shift. Unfortunately, these duochromes always lean more pale gold on me so I not sure how much I'll use this. It's pretty decent but it definitely has the least oomph out of all the shimmers in the palette.

Pale Chestnut is a matte pale salmon-y pink that looks a bit cooler and lighter on dark skin. Really soft texture and buildable pigmentation.

Turkish Rose is a matte mauve and is my favourite matte in the palette. I wasn't expecting any of the neutral mattes to work for me but this is such a pretty shade. It is also very soft and pigmented.

Cordovan is a matte red, like an actual primary bright red, which is so hard to come by in eyeshadows. It's a bit drier than the other eyeshadows but it is still very pigmented. This shade slightly stains the lids.

Desert Sand is a light peach shade with a soft texture and is quite buildable.

Witchcraft is a shimmer with a purple base packed with purple and blue micro glitters. This is one of the shades Focallure describes as its radiant finish and has "versatile diamond pearls... more three dimensional".  It is extremely soft to the point that you can leave clear indentations on it if you apply pressure. All the shimmers in this palette especially the radiant finishes apply best with fingers.

Danger is a shimmer with a black base and green micro glitters. It is another radiant finish and has the same texture as Witchcraft.

Cleopatra is a khaki shimmer with some flecks of gold. It is very soft but is harder pressed than witchcraft so not as crumbly.

Trevi Fountain is a bright ocean blue shimmer with some blue micro glitters. It has a very soft texture.

Chamoisee is medium gold shimmer. It has a very soft texture.

Pure Copper is well... a pure copper shimmer. It has a very soft texture.

Khaki is a pale gold shimmer. It has a very soft texture.

Rosy Brown is a lighter and cooler mauve than Turkish Rose. It is soft and buildable.

Hypnotism is a shimmer with a black base and pink shimmer. It is another radiant finish and has the same texture as Witchcraft and Danger.

Myrtle is a black matte. Feels a bit drier than the rest.

For this look, I used Turkish Rose and Pale Chestnut on the crease, used Myrtle as a black base and added Danger at the very centre, Hypnotism at either side and Witchcraft in the inner corners. Glitter is notoriously hard to capture on camera and this looked much more sparkly in real life. Application was fine I stamped the crease colours first then blended out with a fluffy brush, I used my fingers to apply Myrtle even though it applies fine with a flat brush, I also used my fingers to apply all the shimmers. I didn't find finger application too messy and there was not a lot of fallout considering how much glitter there was. After four hours I noticed a little creasing but that may have something to do with how humid and hot the weather has been in Nigeria. I will update on the wear time in a more controlled setting.

While I liked the quality and performance of the palette a problem I found shade selection of the mattes. They could be so much better. It almost seems like the mattes were were developed separately from the shimmers because they are just so uncomplementary bar the black. I wouldn't be surprised if they rejects from a prototype of a Modern Renaissance-esque palette Focallure scrapped. I'd have loved if the palette was versatile enough to do more than smokey eyes but there are just too many light matte shades. Besides the fact that they are virtually useless for dark skin I would also think some shades would look too similar lighter skin as well, I wish these were replaced by deeper, more colourful shades like a purple matte, a blue matte and a khaki brown matte.

Delivery 

I thought I'd add this section because of some Aliexpress horror stories I've heard. My experience as quite satisfactory, I ordered this around the 24th of November and had a notification that it was delivered on the 16th of December even though the estimated shipping was 30-50 days. My palette arrived intact, in a cardboard box filled with bubble wrap.  

The Brand

Chinese wholesale brands definitely get a bad rap quality-wise especially with their counterfeit products, it was even reported that some seized counterfeit makeup in L.A. contained traces of faeces and urine. Focallure itself doesn't seem to make copies of any makeup and most the products I've seen so far have pretty unique colour stories, packaging, names etc so it shouldn't have the same problems counterfeit makeup has with fake ingredient lists and copy-paste product claims right? A 2017 review of Focallure's official website from the consumer research site, Highya found that Focallure had lifted the product description of brands like bareMinerals and Urban Decay and used them as its own. I googled a description I found on the Sweet as Honey Aliexpress page, "It offers you a contemporary range, letting you create stunning looks. Whether you're fashioning a smoky eye for date night or just need a little shimmer for the office", and found the exact same description is used by multiple other wholesale brands. The problem with copying claims and descriptions is that important determining buying factors like being cruelty-free, or certain ingredients-free or having sun protection can't be trusted. The Sweet as Honey palette has a cruelty-free claim (from a statement which I found wasn't copied) which I'd like to believe because I found out that even though it is manufactured in China animal testing is not legally required on ordinary cosmetics like eyeshadow however it's also not banned. Animal testing doesn't seem like an extra expense a brand would take and then lie about it I hope. I googled the ingredient list on the Sweet as Honey palette and it showed no signs of copying from an existing eyeshadow palette. This is a relief because I read on a blog that ingredient lists to two different eyeshadow palettes and a pigment from Focallure had completely identical ingredient lists even down to the pigments used, hopefully this has been since solved. A smaller issue/thought to note with wholesale brands like Focallure is the anonymity of it all. The robotic responses, machined Instagram account and the all-around facelessness is so strange in an age of social media and oversharing. I don't want the CEO of Focallure on the thumbnails of every drama channel but it would be nice to know more about the brand.

So am I a reformed Aliexpress snob? Not sure but Focallure has a lot of my attention and I've already made a second order. Stay Tuned!

Hope this helped:)

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