A Disappointing Experience With Nomad Cosmetics- Hudson Valley Eyeshadow Palette Review

Nomad Cosmetics is an indie brand and one I had wanted to try for a very long time. Their palettes range from $39.00 to $57.00. That’s a bit more than I like to pay for eyeshadow but I finally decided to just do it and bought the beautiful Hudson Valley Eyeshadow Palette. This particular palette is $39.00 and was their 2022 fall release. This palette is also my most disappointing purchase of the year.

The Hudson Valley Palette has cardboard packaging with a mirror and magnetic closure. It contains fifteen shadows, three shimmers and twelve mattes. This palette is vegan and claims to have intense color payoff and pure sourced ingredients. Nomad Cosmetics also donates to a different charity cause with each purchase. With the basic info out of the way, let’s talk pros and cons.

Pros:

• The packaging, theme and color story of this palette is 10/10. It is so stunning and truly unique to my collection. I love the mix of warm and cool tones. I also adore the imprints on the eyeshadow pans.
• The mattes, for the most part, are really good. They’re pigmented, create almost no fallout and are easy to blend.
• The shades Apple Picking, Wine Harvest, Mountain Hike and Bed & Breakfast are very unique to my collection and I’m happy to have them.

Cons:

• The shimmers are the worst I’ve ever tried. I had to build and build and build them to get any kind of decent coverage. I tried to use them wet and they became crinkled and scaly looking. That has only happened to me with SUPER cheap formulas. They’re pure garbage and it’s crazy that they were included in a $39.00 palette.
• While I don’t like the shimmer formula, this palette could have used a cool toned one.
• The shades Fall Festival and Great Pumpkin Patch look identical once blended on the eyes.
• The shade Cider House would disappear off the eyes when blended. I think the only way it would be useable is if it was packed on.
• For me personally, this isn’t a palette I can use on its own because I don’t do all matte looks. It’s a great supplemental palette, though, and I can see myself reaching into it for one or two of the mattes to pair with singles.

Swatches & Shade Descriptions:

These eyeshadows do have names and shade descriptions on the website so I will copy that. However, I don’t really agree with how they described some of the shades, especially the shimmers. I’m not sure what happened when I was swatching but I did it all out of order. I will name them as they appear on my arm, from left to right.

• Wine Harvest– matte wine red
• Oktoberfest– matte red mahogany
• Apple Picking– matte apple red
• Great Pumpkin Patch– matte baked pumpkin
• Fall Festival– matte harvest pumpkin
• Cider House– matte butternut squash

• Leaf Peeping– shimmer golden oak
• Foliage Trail– shimmer sugar maple
• Corn Maze– shimmer corn husk green

• Farm to Table– matte deep roast
• Apple Cider Donut–  matte cool taupe
• Ghost Tour– matte birch wood
• Bed & Breakfast- matte olive brown
• Mountain Hike– matte frosty moss
• Farmers Market– matte autumn sage

Eyeshadow Looks:

I created three looks using this palette. Typically with a palette this large, I would make more looks but to be honest, I just got super frustrated with it. The last look is by far my least favorite. I love the reds on my lower lash line but that’s it.

1. I set my base with Ghost Tour.
2. I blended Farmers Market above my crease.
3. I blended Mountain Hike into my crease.
4. I deepened my crease with Bed & Breakfast. I also applied it on the outermost part of my lid and smudged it on my lower lash line.
5. I applied Corn Maze on my lid and in my inner corner.
6. I smudged Farm to Table on my lower lash line.

1.  I set my base with Ghost Tour.
2. I applied Apple Cider Donut all over my lid and blended it up into my crease.
3. I deepened my crease with Farm to Table and smudged it on my lower lash line.
4. I applied Farmers Market on my water line.

*I used the Looxi single in Latte on my lid, on top of Apple Cider Donut. I also used the Looxi single in Chocolate Cherry on the innermost part of my lid and in my inner corner.

1.  I set my base with Ghost Tour.
2. I blended Cider House into the innermost part of my crease. I also used it to blend the edges of the other shades.
3. I blended Great Pumpkin Patch into the outer half of my crease.
4. I blended Fall Festival above Cider House and Great Pumpkin Patch.
5. I deepened my crease with Oktoberfest.
6. I applied Leaf Peeping on my lid.
7. I applied Foliage Trail in my inner corner.
8. I applied Apple Picking on my water line.
9. I smudged Wine Harvest on my lower lash line.

Brushes Used:

• Crease Brush
• Detail Crease Brush
• Flat Eyeshadow Brush
• Angled Liner/Brow Brush 
• Smudge Brush
• Eye Crease Brush– I use this for inner corner & brow highlights.
• Blending Brush– I use this brush to blend out the edges and set my primer.

If you are curious about any of the other products on my face, you can find these looks in my recent posts on Instagram.

Final Thoughts:

It’s funny, all the Youtubers that received this palette in PR said it was perfect🤔 Nomad Cosmetics is a very hyped brand on social media and at this time, I do not understand the hype. The mattes are good but not so remarkable that I can’t achieve similar looks with other palettes. I did hear that they’ve improved their formula since this palette was released so I’m not saying that I will never try them again. However, it would have to be a beautiful, unique palette and a great deal. As always, I want to know what you think and different opinions are welcome. Thanks for reading and have a great day!