NEW! Fenty Beauty by Rihanna – The Galaxy Eyeshadow Palette (Holiday 2017)

Photo from Fenty Beauty

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of months, then you’ve probably heard that singer Rihanna recently launched her namesake makeup line, Fenty Beauty. (Fenty is Rihanna’s surname.) The brand is exclusive to Sephora and the Fenty Beauty website.

Although Rihanna has lent her name and likeness to the brand, Fenty Beauty is actually owned by Kendo. Their portfolio also includes some major players in the cosmetics industry such as Kat Von D Beauty, Marc Jacobs Beauty, Ole Henriksen and Bite Beauty.

Aside from the Killawatt Freestyle Highlighter in Trophy Wife, the other products from the initial release failed to excite me.

The Killawatt Freestyle Highlighter in Trophy Wife. I’m envious of anyone who can pull off wearing this on their face, but it makes a nice eyeshadow for lighter skin tones. I have only swatched it since this stunner is almost always sold out in store.

For Holiday 2017, Fenty released The Galaxy Collection which includes the brand’s first ever eyeshadow palette.

Photo from Temptalia

The limited edition Galaxy Collection includes the following:

• The Galaxy Eyeshadow Palette ($59 for 14 x 0.04 oz of product)
• Four Starlit Hyper-Glitz Lipsticks ($19 for 0.34 oz)
• Three Eclipse 2-in-1 Glitter Release Eyeliners ($20 for 0.13 oz)
• Galaxy 2-Way Eyeshadow Brush ($24)

I purchased The Galaxy Eyeshadow Palette with a Sephora store credit. Admittedly, it was an impulse buy, but I wanted to try something from the Fenty line. Plus, I’m a total glitter junkie.

Is this palette worth all of the hype? Read on for my thoughts…

Launch your eye look into a new glittersphere with the limited edition Galaxy Eyeshadow Palette. Hyper-reflective sparkle meets a rainbow of celestial-inspired colors that range from sheer, glittering topcoats to smoky/shimmer-drenched hues. Like jewelry for your eyes, these glimmering eyeshadows and topcoats are the ultimate accessory to every look.

I have a lot to say about this palette, so I thought I’d break it down into pros and cons. This may not be a popular opinion, but I have to stay 100% honest with my readers.

PROS:

• The packaging is absolutely beautiful. The shadows are housed in a sleek, metallic, jewel toned case. The only downside is that every single fingerprint shows up on the palette when handling it.
• The palette features a big mirror inside.
• Shade names are listed on the back of the palette.
• The color selection includes a nice range of both vibrant pops of color and neutrals. This palette includes some really pretty, unique shades.
• The shadows make nice eyetoppers. They work best layered over a base shadow.

CONS:

• There are no matte eyeshadows included in this palette. All fourteen shades are hyper-reflective sparkle shadows. Therefore, you must pull transition and crease shades from other palettes to complete an entire eye look. For this reason, I’d consider it more of an accent palette.
• Lots of fallout. You will definitely want to apply your face makeup second.
• These shadows are more on the sheer side with weak color payoff. Basically, they apply as loose glitter without much of a base pigment or binder. It’s almost impossible to wear these shadows on their own.
• The shadow texture tends to be gritty and chunky due to all the glitter.
• These shadows are difficult to work with. You have to pack on a lot of product over a glitter glue to reach any kind of opacity. Note: Glitter glue is a must-have when using this palette. 
• The shadows aren’t long wearing. The most pigmented shade in the palette, Xtra Terrestrial, noticeably creased and faded a mere four hours after application. My boyfriend even commented that he didn’t care for it.
• The palette doesn’t include a brush. Instead, it’s sold separately for $24.

See swatches below. As usual, I did not use a primer:

(From left to right: The first seven shadows – Midnight Bolt, Lightyear, Ultraviolet, Cosmic Ocean, Mars On Fire, Xtra Terrestrial and Oh-Zone)

(From left to right: The last seven shadows – Milky Way, Sunburst, Space Owt, Jupiter Sand, Planet Ex, Sublime and Meteor Crush)

Final Thoughts: Is this palette worth it? Sadly, I think not. In my opinion, $59 is too high of a price point for a palette of eyetoppers. Essentially, you’re paying for the Rihanna name and pretty packaging. This formula reminds me a bit of the MAC Dazzleshadows or Urban Decay Moondust Shadows, but I much prefer the latter two. To be fair, I don’t think the brand ever intended for this to be a standalone palette.

I’m not a professional makeup artist but I’m not a newbie to eyeshadow application either. I experimented with different brushes and my fingers as well as using the shadows both wet and dry, and I still struggled to make this palette work. FYI: I would recommend using these shadows wet for greater intensity. I also tried pairing these shadows with multiple eyeshadow primers without much success. I think that these shadows are best used as eyetoppers. Ultimately, I think that the palette had a strong concept but a flawed execution.

I hate to sound like I’m bashing the brand or Rihanna because I am interested to try Fenty’s other products. This particular palette was just a disappointment. Hopefully, Fenty will improve the formula for their next eyeshadow palette.

There are so many other great alternatives on the market that it’s difficult to justify my keeping a subpar palette that I may never use. Unfortunately, it looks like I will be returning this one.

Also, I think the new Urban Decay Heavy Metal Metallic Eyeshadow Palette ($55) will be a terrific alternative to The Galaxy Palette. My advice would be to skip the Fenty palette and get the Urban Decay palette instead. It’s cheaper too!

I grade Fenty Beauty’s The Galaxy Palette an A+ for packaging and a C for formula.

The Urban Decay Heavy Metal Metallic Eyeshadow Palette. Photo from POPSUGAR.

Have you tried any products from Fenty Beauty? Will you be buying anything from The Galaxy Collection?

xoxo, Sarah