Sometime ago, Juvia's Place became huge on YouTube for a number of reasons. Many raved about their bold colors, huge eyeshadow pans, and reasonable prices. It wasn't too long before Juvia's Place began to appear in online stores locally, and I found myself getting more intrigued in what this US indie brand had to offer.
I admit that it took me a while to bite the bullet because the brand's cruelty-free status was up in the air for a while. While they were an indie brand (and most are cruelty-free and even vegan), it was hard to find any sort of confirmation early on. When I saw that it was confirmed by Cruelty-Free Kitty in 2017, and I began to see more cruelty-free YouTubers recommending their products, I decided that the Magic Palette would be a great first palette from this brand.
The Palette
The palette is inspired by the Sun and Moon goddesses in traditional African folklore and each shade name is related to a deity, place, tribe, or an element related to the goddesses. It comes in traditional cardboard packaging with a magnetic closure.
The Magic Palette has 16 shades, half are warm-toned while the other half is cool-toned. This is a predominantly metallic palette, with 10 shimmers and just 6 mattes.
Since I mentioned how big the pans are, here is a comparison of some of them with a Make Up Geek single, the Insomnia pressed pigment:
I will say now that while this is a cruelty-free product, it is not a vegan product as it contains Magnesium Stereate and Palmitate. These two ingredients that can be plant-derived, but because of the lack of a label anywhere (vegan or plant-derived), it's likely that these ingredients were animal-derived. If you are allergic to these ingredients in particular, prefer vegan makeup, or have any other issue with them, I suggest you skip this product.
The Shadows
Here are the swatches by category. All of them were done on bare skin and were built up to show how intense the color can look like when you are applying it on your eyelids.
Warm-Toned (First and Second Rows)
Most of the metallic shades in this palette mostly have a wet and silicone-based texture, especially for the warm-toned side of the palette. The shade "Osun" is the only metallic shadow that has a drier and more crumbly texture. The warm-toned matte shades go well with the shimmer shades and are really easy to blend out on your eye, just make sure to set your eyeshadow primer before you do so.
In terms of pigmentation however, I'd say most of the matte shadows across this palette don't have one-swipe intensity, except for "Kesi". I did have to build up the swatches quite a bit as the formula is dry and firmly pressed into the pan. It could be due to the fact that this palette is rather old (I've had it since 2017), though I don't really think that's a good thing given the size of the eyeshadow pans.
That being said, the matte shades do build up nicely, it might just take a bit more time if you'd like a more colorful and intense look for the mattes.
Cool-Toned (Third and Fourth Rows)
Many of my favorite eyeshadows in this palette are on the cool-toned side, particularly "Faso", "Yara", and "Buzo" for the metallic shades. All three shades have an amazing level of color payoff and ease of use. I also really like how dark and intense the matte shades are too. Though in terms of shadow consistency, I think the cool-toned side does have more issues.
I found "Aja" has a really stiff formula that makes it challenging to put on your lid, and while it's a nice deep metallic color, it just looks flat and dull on the lid. While it can be used like a matte, I find that it's really hard to blend out too. The mattes "Ife" and "Yejide" also feel gritty and do require a lot of building up and blending out. It's best to take your time when you're using them if you want a soft and diffused look.
Also, I found that that "Ife" will stain your eyelids if you have a lighter skin tone as this has happened to me multiple times while using this palette. While I don't really mind it, this is something to keep in mind.
My Final Thoughts
I do love this palette, but there's no denying the fact that I did find a lot of issues with it. I find that the color story is lacking because while the warm-toned side is beautiful and versatile, there are too many metallic shimmer shades on the cool-toned side. One or two of those shades could have easily been switched out for a mid-toned matte or two (like the teal from the Zulu Palette or the Côte d’Ivoire shade from the Afrique Palette).
Overall, I do think this palette is just okay. It was a nice and easy way for me to transition to being more comfortable with using blue and violet eyeshadow. However, now that I have gotten better with makeup and have other palettes with those colors, I don't think this palette has the best quality if you prefer colorful matte eyeshadows like me. If you prefer having a few mattes but want a lot of gorgeous mettalic shades to play with, I do think you'll appreciate this palette though.
This hasn't discouraged me from not wanting to try another palette from this brand. I saw the Tribe Palette (I plan to get it) and the brand is teasing another new palette too. So you will be seeing this brand being featured on my blog again in the near future.
Where to get it:
Other Juvia's Place Palettes I've mentioned:
The Zulu Palette
The Afrique Palette
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