Olivia Palermo x Ciaté London Smokey Suedes Eye Palette

Left side of the palette, Butler at the top, clockwise from top left: Shaken, Verde, Cocoa, Prosecco

Right side of the palette, Butler at the bottom, clockwise from top left: Glazed, Plumberry, Machiatto, Whoopie Pie

Olivia Palermo x Ciaté London Smokey Suedes Eye Palette is the biggest makeup surprises I've had in a very long time. I knew it was pretty and well-edited and I was already impressed by the high quality of Olivia Palermo x Ciaté London lipsticks. What I didn't expect is the spectacular texture of the eye shadows in this palette. Buttery is an understatement here, and something I couldn't tell just from looking at the pans. These Ciaté London eye shadows look quite ordinary until you touch them/dip a brush/get them on your eye lids. Then they become true magic, and I'm not exaggerating. I'm reminded of the very best among MUFE Artist eye shadows with extra butter.

Olivia Palermo's elegant style is is apparent in the choice of a plum, brown, or green smoky eye. There's no black or charcoal here, yet the eye shadows are very pigmented and as you blend them you get a beautiful smoky effect. The combination of matte and shimmer is also excellent and allows you to pick an choose areas to highlight, and create several striking looks from the many possible combinations the palette offers.

Here's what you get here:
Top row-
Shaken- dark gold shimmer
Verde- dill green (shimmer)
Whoopie Pie- matte mauve
Glazed- gold-infused mauve (reddish shimmer)
Middle-
Butler- matte warm ivory
Bottom Row-
Prosecco- a peachy champagne (shimmer)
Cocoa- low-shimmer dark chocolate
Macchiato- matte, brown-based dark mauve
Plumberry- matte plum

The mauve colors can be difficult for me to wear straight, but I've tried them over darker cream shadow bases and they're spectacular. Laura Mercier Caviar sticks are excellent for this, as are MAC Paint Pots. The green color is stunning over a black base, and the shimmery colors are not just for highlighting, but can be carefully applied over other eye shadows and in the middle of the lids. The basic combinations are to look at each side as a quad, the way I swatched them (plus the matte middle color as a base and under the brow bone), or to use each row as a separate quad. But everything goes, and I've added a touch of Plumberry to my favorite Burberry singles. I will have to create two different looks from this palette to show you a couple of options, including a non-smoky eye.

Bottom Line: it's taking all my willpower not to buy the other Olivia Palermo x Ciaté London eye shadow palette (a.k.a the one with the blue eye shadow). My resolve is melting as we speak.

Olivia Palermo x Ciaté London Smokey Suedes Eye Palette ($39, made in Italy) is a Sephora exclusive. The product for this review was a press sample sent by PR.