Monday, November 22, 2010

CARGO Lumières du Monde Palette Winter/Holiday 2010



CARGO is still a fairly new brand to me- I've not used very many of their products so I was really excited to try this eyeshadow palette they've released for holiday 2010. Here's the product description:

"Lumières du Monde - ($29 regular retail value of $175)

This gorgeous holiday palette, meaning “lights of the world”, with original artwork contains eight professional-quality eye shadows and a blush/bronzer duo for an alluring holiday glow. With a retail value of $156 this kit will outlast the wintery weather and take you – or your Secret Santa – well into spring. A collection of matte and shimmering shadows offers an endless number of color combinations for any occasion, day or night. Shades include:

· Eye Shadow in Deep Teal Green

· Eye Shadow in Sparkling Bronze

· Eye Shadow in Periwinkle Purple

· Eye Shadow in Sparkling Electric Blue

· Eye Shadow in Sparkling Brown

· Eye Shadow in Matte Beige

· Eye Shadow in Matte Warm Grey

· Eye Shadow in Glittery Gold

· Blush in Rome paired with Medium Bronzer"


When it arrived in the mail, boy was I surprised! This thing is MASSIVE. Huge. Monstrous. The sheer size alone really makes you feel like you're getting a good deal.


Here's what it looks like inside:


Open palette- indoor and in sunlight. It has a cover that flips open like a book and it has a magnetic closure so it can't open accidentally. I don't know if you can tell from the picture because I haven't included anything for size reference, but these shadow pans are huge. They're the size of a Stila or Make Up For Ever shadow pan. The bronzer/blush combo is about the size of a MAC bronzer compact. If you divide the cost of the palette it comes out to about $3.20 per item.

Here are the colors swatched (indoors and in sunlight, no base):



Smoky teal, shimmery gold, glittery blue, duochrome purple, glittery brown, warm matte beige, matte white, shimmery khaki, bronzer, blush.

The pigmentation is really good on these. Usually when companies do big "value" palettes for holiday the quality ends up suffering (for example Tarte, Lorac.), but not in this case. These all applied smoothly with great payoff. Some of the shimmery colors are a bit flaky- the gold and khaki colors- but the rest are smooth and even.

The description lists a warm grey, but the palette doesn't actually have one. Unless they're referring to the nude beige color? I'm not sure in what universe nude beige equals grey, but can you do?

I haven't used all of the colors on my eyes yet, but judging from the ones I have used, I feel confident saying that the application on these colors is great. I've used the duochrome purple, the blue with glitter, the gold, the khaki and the matte beige and the pigmentation and blending were just right. I had no issues other than a mild amount of fallout, which is really a non-issue in my opinion. The blue with glitter is especially smooth and blendable, but the glitter doesn't really show up on the eye. I'd assume the same for the brown with glitter.

The bronzer turned a little orange on me, especially when I tried to mix it with the pink blush. I'm fair and cool and the bronzer is quite warm. The whole palette actually seems suited more for a warm skin tone than a cool one.

Overall, I really like this palette. It has fun colors and it's enormous. Good combination of mattes and shimmers and even a little glitter. It has a color light enough for a highlight that isn't super frosty (one of my palette pet peeves is including only super frosty highlight colors) and colors dark enough to define the crease. I don't believe I've ever used Cargo's eyeshadows before (except for the Eye Bronzer and a really old palette I used once) but now that I've tried them out and liked them I'm really tempted to try more.

I think this really would make a good gift. The pretty design on the front, inside and on the shadows and the almost comically large size of the palette are really special and the price is right.

(This was sent to me for review.)

10 comments:

  1. I love the packaging! And smoky teal and glittery blue seem wonderful!

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  2. OMG i would buy just for the snow flake pattern!

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  3. I saw this palette in person, and it is so pretty in real life. Now that I have seen your review, I am tempted to grab one.

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  4. You may want to try out Tarte's set for this holiday (the one with the gold necklace). I've not used Tarte before getting this palette, so I'm not sure what their quality is usually like but I found the products to be what I'd expect from professional cosmetics.

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  5. this is unrelated - and i hope you dont see it as spam. but do you think that this photo is edited? http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lcb3nySDyv1qd7rb8o1_500.jpg or how would you go about achieving a nail liek this

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  6. Scrangie, your photos are awesome as usual. I do miss reading your comments on the polishes, though, and especially learning which are your favorites! We enjoy your blog for both your writing AND your excellent pics.

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  7. I bought last year's CARGO holiday palette (Hands of Hope) and loved it, so I just had to pick up the Lumieres du Monde palette! I think the shadow quality is not quite as good as last year's, but still pretty good, and it's a real value! The palette is HUGE!

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  8. I bought this palette a few weeks ago because I really liked the previous holiday palette but found the quality terribly lacking! Actually two of my friends purchased it at the same time, and I actually ended up returning it (though I never return products) I don't know what it was, but we all found the shadows very crumbly and terrible application and wear wise.
    I'm glad you like it though! But it was a miss for all three of us, despite how pretty it is! :(

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  9. I picked this up during the 20% sale so it ended up being $23.20. I think it even came with free shipping too b/c it's in their holiday gift guide? I was stunned when I opened it and saw how huge this palette is!! Now I just need to try it out ;)

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  10. Very pretty palette. The price is really great also. I haven't used any of this brand before. Would love to see some makeup looks with this.

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