The Coloured Raine Queen of Hearts Eyeshadow Palette is not a new release by any means. When I first got into makeup a few years ago this was the most HYPED up palette on social media. At that time, there was no way I was going to spend $50.00 on a palette when I didn’t even know how to do my eyeshadow but I did think it was beautiful. Recently it was on sale for just $20.00, $23.00 with shipping, and I just couldn’t pass that up. Before I get into the review, let’s talk about the price for a moment because there were/are some discrepancies.

I know nothing about Coloured Raine as a brand except that they are black owned, indie and cruelty free. I haven’t heard about them being in any scandals but they did do something that while it’s not terrible, it IS shady and sneaky. When this palette first released it was $50.00. Within the past few years they dropped the price to $42.00. When I bought this palette it was $20.00 but they had the original price listed as $50.00. I happened to look at the website a few days after I made my purchase and noticed the regular price was actually $42.00! What they did was bump the original price up during the sale so it would seem like people were getting a better deal. Don’t get me wrong, $20.00 for this palette is a great deal BUT it’s not as good of a deal as they tried to make it seem. I don’t like that. I’m not saying that I won’t buy from them again but it definitely makes me side eye them and I will be keeping an eye on the prices from now on. Also, I’m not even sure if this palette is $42.00 because I’m almost positive I’ve seen it listed at $40.00 as well. If not on sale, just assume it will be between $40-45.00. Now that all of that is out of the way, let’s get into the pros and cons!

Pros:

• The packaging is sturdy cardboard with a magnetic closure and a mirror.
• There are twelve shades all together, six matte and six metallic. I love having an even ratio of both.
• This is my ideal color story for fall.
• The metallic shades are STUNNING. They do have to be used wet, however. They also perform best with a flat eyeshadow brush, like this one from e.l.f. Cosmetics.
• I found that all of the mattes needed to be built up for full pigmentation. This was slightly annoying to me but it will be a pro to those new to working with color or those wanting more neutral looks.
• Most of the mattes were easy to blend with very little fallout.
• All of the shades created very little kick up in the pans.

Cons:

• The matte shades Ladyship and Duchess were difficult to blend and patchy, especially Ladyship. It’s very apparent in the swatches how patchy these two are.
• The shade Princess was not as pigmented as I would’ve liked.
• Crown is a beautiful inner corner shade but it’s too thick. All of the metallic shades have a thicker texture, which is fine on the lid or lower lash line, but in the inner corner they can cake up if you’re not careful.
• This is a con based on just my personal taste but instead of the matte shades Princess or Heir I would’ve like to have had a matte burgundy to match the metallic shade Noblewoman. I think that would have truly made this palette perfect for fall.
• This palette is cruelty free but not vegan because Ladyship contains Carmine. This isn’t a con for me but might be for some.

Shade Descriptions:

All of these shades do have names but there are no shade descriptions on the website so I’m going to describe them to the best of my ability. I’ll be going from left to right, top row to bottom row.

• Crown– metallic white base with an intense golden shift
• Royal Highness– metallic taupe
• Your Majesty– metallic copper
• Princess– matte blush with a hint of lavender
• Empress– matte orange
• Queen Mother– metallic royal purple
• Heir– matte tan
• Royal Prerogative– matte mid-toned brown
• Noblewoman– metallic burgundy
• Ladyship– matte plum
• Duchess– matte deep brown
• Dethrone– metallic deep brown

Eyeshadow Looks

I primarily used this palette alone to create three looks. I did bring in a matte cream to set my primer and I used a highlighter in my inner corner for one of the looks. When explaining the looks, I will go in the order of the swatches on my wrist; left to right and top to bottom. You can click on the pictures to see them better. Since these eyeshadows do have names, I won’t be describing where they are in the palette or what they look like.

This was the first look I created with the palette and my favorite. I did have to build up Empress for it to be as vibrant as I wanted and I struggled with Ladyship, as mentioned above.

1. I blended Empress above my natural crease in a semicircle from near my inner corner to the outermost part of brow. This shade was also used to blend out the other shades and what you see around the entire edge of the look.
2. I then blended Ladyship into my crease and up into Empress.
3. I placed Queen Mother onto the outermost part of my lid.
4. I placed Noblewoman onto the center of my lid. I then patted Queen Mother on top just to create a slight shade variation.
5. I placed Your Majesty on to the innermost part of my lid.
6. I used Crown in my inner corner and on my brow bone.
7. I lined my lower lash line with Duchess. I then smudged Ladyship underneath Duchess. Lastly, I blended Empress underneath Ladyship and brought it up to where it joined the shades at the outermost part of my lid.

I liked the way this look turned out. My only issue was Duchess being patchy and difficult to blend.

1. I blended Princess above my natural crease in a semicircle from near my inner corner to the outermost part of brow.
2. I blended Royal Prerogative into Princess but still above my crease.
3. I blended Duchess into my crease.
4. I placed Royal Highness all over my lid.
5. I used Crown in my inner corner and on my brow bone.
6. I lined my lower lash line with Duchess and then smudged Noblewoman underneath it.

This is a very basic look but I do love the way it turned out. I had no issues with any of the shades; I did use Duchess but it was more packed on so blending wasn’t an issue. I used a highlighter in my inner corner.

1. I blended Heir above my natural crease in a semicircle from near my inner corner to the outermost part of brow.
2. I blended Royal Prerogative into Heir and into my crease.
3. I then packed Duchess into the deepest part of my crease. I did blend the edges to make it seamless with Royal Prerogative.
4. I placed Dethrone onto the outermost part of my lid.
5. I placed Your Majesty over the majority of my lid.
6. I lined my lower lash line with Duchess and lightly smudged Dethrone underneath it.

Final Thoughts

If you can get this palette on sale, I highly recommend it. The metallic shades are honestly some of the prettiest eyeshadows in my collection right now. I can fully see myself pulling them in to use with other palettes. The mattes, however, are just not that special. I have mattes that perform the same from Juvia’s Place and Morphe. For that reason and the fact that I love a good deal, I just don’t recommend this palette at full price, whatever full price actually is. This palette does go on sale often so keep an eye out for that. Have you tried this palette? I would love to know what you think about it, my review or the looks I created! Thanks for reading and have a great day!