Not all brands are created equal. Some brands just get more hype than others, and this is pretty obvious if you're a UK brand looking into other countries. Barry M and Sleek get a lot of press among US ladies, but brands like Collection 2000 barely get a peep. Collection 2000 is a UK-based drugstore brand, and it has its own website you can browse at http://www.collection2000.co.uk. They're pretty cheap as far as UK drugstore goes, even cheaper than Barry M. And they've recently released two eye palettes, called Angelic and Poptastic. As you might suspect from the names, the Angelic Eye Palette contains more day-neutral colours, while the Poptastic Eye Palette contains the brights and the neons. These retail for 3.99GBP each.
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How are these palettes faring? Well for one they're scoring on the packaging. It's paper, and it's flimsy, but its cute and pop-artsy. I actually ended up getting the Angelic Eye Palette, because it came free with another purchase. And as you can see, I've also started watermarking my makeup pictures in addition to my nail pictures - I may or may not decide to phase this in and make it a permanent thing, depending on feedback.
This is what the palette looks like inside. There are nine shadows in each palette, arranged in three rows of three:
So far, so good. Not too bad for drugstore. But what kind of beauty blogger would I be if I didn't offer you a swatch? So here you go!
First is the Collection 2000 Angelic Eye Palette, which is supposed to contain neutrals:
Neutrals? Really? I don't know if I'd call pink, blue or yellow neutrals, and this palette, despite being touted as a day palette is definitely not for work. However, it does have a nice range of colours, covering most colour bases, and it doesn't fare too badly given the price. The shadows for the most part are decently pigmented, but some shadows are more pigmented than others. You can see that the last two, the bronzey brown and the golden bronze colour, are a lot more pigmented than the pink that's third from the right. Texture-wise, these were alright - they were smooth enough, although not awesomely fantastic. Some of the shades were a little crumbly. I think they're value-for-money given the price, though.
None of the colours are particularly outstanding or unique, but they're good basics to have. The Angelic Eye Palette has a deep hunter green, a shimmery white, a mid-toned pink, a purple that has a bit of blue in it (probably the most interesting colour in the palette), a navy blue, a bright sky blue, a yellow, a golden bronzey with some orange that has a metallic finish, and a bronzey brown with a metallic finish. If you'd use these colours, I think this palette's worth getting. Although I had to build up the colour in my swatches, in general the shimmers in general tend to have better pigmentation than the mattes.
Next up is the Collection 2000 Poptastic Eye Palette, which is supposed to contain neons and brights.
Most of the colours here are indeed brights, and there is a black colour for accenting and shading. Once again the shimmer shades have better pigmentation than the mattes for some reason. Here we have a matte bright primary canary yellow, a matte plum purple with lots of red in it, a pretty shimmery and glowy aqua blue (one of the standout colours in the palette), a slightly muted neon pink, a matte sky blue, a sheer shimmery slightly lemon yellow, a shimmery but sheer-ish yellowed grass green, a matte colbalt blue, and a matte black. I do have to make a qualification though - although these colours are brights, I don't think they're truly retina-searing neons. They do come up a little bit muted once swatched, but I guess for anyone who's just venturing into brights and doesn't want anything to OTT, this would be worth a try. I think a true in-your-face-neon lover would probably prefer something with a greater intensity of pigmentation. But if you're the occasional neon user, this is probably up your alley - it's got a good selection of neons all in one place.
Overall, I do like these palettes, primarily because they're really good value for the price you pay. They're not as pigmented or as soft as the Sleek palettes (which I've swatched in this post,) but they're a little cheaper, and have a good range of colours. If you're on a shoestring budget, if you're just getting into brights, or if you just want a small palette for the occasional use of bright colours, I think these are worth checking out.
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Collection 2000 Angelic and Poptastic Eye Palettes Swatches!
