Brand Spotlight: Milani Cosmetics

Pomz Campos

Jan 6, 20194 min read

If luxe gold packaging and pigment, pigment, pigment, are your thing, you might want to check out Milani's line of cosmetics if you haven't yet. I'm sure you're familiar with how popular their liquid lipsticks, eyeshadow palettes, and baked and rose-shaped blushes are. And for good reason.

I purposely took this in dimmer lighting to highlight how these highlighters pack a punch when built up

Recently, Milani has stepped up and expanded their product line to include larger palettes in the same gold packaging we all know and love. For this review I'm sharing what I think of two palettes that I purchased last year and have been testing out periodically over a few months.

Most Loved Mattes

Let's start this review off with this eyeshadow palette. You've probably seen it around. Maybe your favorite beauty influencer raved about it in a video. Maybe you've seen a 1-minute tutorial done by someone on Instagram.

Before I go into this palette in detail, I will say that this product is not vegan as it might contain carmine (a red pigment made from crushed beetles). If you have an allergy or some other issue with animal-derived ingredients, I want to get that information out there about this palette.

So why do people like this all-matte palette so much? It's certainly not the first of its kind. There is nothing new about its color scheme either. This is a 12-pan eyeshadow palette that features neutral, warm, and cool tones. While it does look similar to many palettes (Stila, UD, and Tarte, to name a few), I don't think it's directly duping anything in particular.

These are your everyday basic colors. If you work in a more professional environment, I doubt your eye looks would deviate much from browns, and if you're daring enough, mauves and oranges.

For added ease of use, the shades are grouped into 3 quads so you can follow it as a guide for no-fail eye looks if you're a beginner or you're in a hurry. (If you love puns, you'll definitely appreciate the shade names.)

Left to Right:

DAYTIME

Fancy Vanilla

My Daily Latte

Toast of the Town

Chocolate Is Life

ANYTIME

Come Up Roses

Bust a Mauve

No Plum Intended

Don't Raisin Your Voice

PLAYTIME

You're a Peach

Catch a Tan

Hiking in Sedona

Umber the Sun

There's a reason why it's so popular, and why it's always sold out. I'm here to tell you that's it's definitely worth the hype. This is a great basic palette full of all the mattes you'll most likely need. They swatch well and go onto the eyes smoothly too. I didn't find blending them out to be an issue and they last a good amount of time.

So what do I think?

I will say that the mauve shades do turn brown over time, even if you do a one-color look. This can be a good thing if vibrant colors are not your cup of tea. It can be a dealbreaker if you were lusting over this palette because of these violets and plums, though.

But because this is meant to be an everyday palette, I'm not too surprised and I still think this palette is worth it. You can choose to wear these shades alone for an all-matte look, or you can glam things up with the next palette.

Stellar Lights Highlighter Palette - Holographic Beams

This is the more colorful of the two versions of this palette, and my, does it deliver. You can see a pink, a blue, and an orange shade. The three highlighters in this palette are finely-milled and pigmented, as they are marketed to be. This product is also vegan and cruelty-free.

Here are the swatches:

Left to Right:

Unicorn Dreams - Holographic White Pearl With Pink Opal Effect

Make Believe - Holographic Icy Blue With Silver Iridescence Effect

Otherworldly - Holographic Peach With Gold Pearl Effect

So what do I think?

I find that the pink and blue work great on my skin tone but I can't get away with the more bronze shade. I do use it on my eyes and it compliments the eyeshadow palette colors well. Since these are more colorful highlighters, I don't think you can really go for a natural or subtle look with them.

They go on pigmented without being hard to work with and give you an soft and ethereal look without looking chunky. If you adore mermaid- or unicorn-themed highlighters or want a small palette to experiment with them, I do suggest you pick this up.

My Final Thoughts

I'm happy to say that I am really pleased with both of these products. Though I cannot recommend the eyeshadow palette enough. The quality of these matte shadows are superb, being soft and easy to blend without losing their pigmentation. The highlighters are not bad products as well. They give a soft ethereal glow to your face without looking like you just put a stripe of product on your face.