Recently I turned 29. Counting backwards, of course.

On this never-before-seen occasion, my friends and family showered me with tons of amazing beauty products. This was definitelly uncalled for (except on every single one of my social media profiles, but let's not split hairs, ok?), and I absolutely loved each one. Need I say my peeeps are the best in the world?

Among the beautiful gifts I received, one in particular got me feeling like a dog with two tails: the latest I <3 Revolution Chocolate Palette in Violet. Advertised as the eye makeup with 18 richly pigmented shades (captivating purples, violet tones, burgundy hues, earthy neutrals and browns / a mixture of mattes, shimmers and satin shades), I couldn't wait to try it. 

PACKAGING AND PRICE

The Violet Chocolate Eyeshadow Palette is packaged within the I <3 Revolution typical dripping chocolate palette design (there are 23 other palettes in this line), with purple chocolate dripping onto the dark. It contains a full-size mirror on the lid and, for the first time, the eyeshadow shade names printed below them. So cute!

Certainly, the Violet Chocolate Palette is just one of the many purple-themed palettes released by both high-end and budget brands during the last several months: it's safe to say that purple is the new trending colour in the Makeup Land. Personally, I don't mind this at all: it is one of my all-time favourite colours, it's great for creating many wonderful autumn looks, and it acts beautifully on both green and brown eyes. But before moving on to my review of this palette's performance, I must underline that the one thing that makes this palette stand out among other similar palettes at the very first glance is its price. Eighteen beautiful shades for only about €13.00 - sounds crazy, right? I must confess I was initially sceptical, too, although you know I am a firm believer that price doesn't always equal quality. However, the palette screamed my name so loud when I unpacked it that I just had to try it out right away. 

And right away was 9 p.m. on a Friday night. 

Which translates to: laziness, unpreparedness, poor lighting, poor shots. And to using all of these as an excuse for not-so-perfect blending. 

Still, none of the above discouraged me. On the contrary, I even decided to do two different eyeshadow looks. One on my left, one on my right eye.

(Halloween is just around the corner, isn't it? I might as well go about looking like a maniac) 

Although it's hard to tell it's autumn here in Croatia with temperatures still around 25°C, I've finally managed to come to terms with waving summer goodbye. And this oddly perfect mid-October weather inspired me to create a new autumn makeup look that the Violet Chocolate Palette seemed just ideal for. And here is what I came up with:
In creating this red-brownish look, I used Wine as the transition shade, Mulberry on the crease, Expedite on my outer eye corner, and Prevail to highlight my browbone. For my inner eye corner, I used another palette (All About Sunrise by Essence) as I wanted a light, neutral, shimmery shade there, so I applied the lightest of the shades included in the Sunrise palette using a wet brush. On the lower lashline I again used a light layer of Wine, Mulberry and Expedite. If you look really closely, you'll notice I also applied some red eye pencil on my waterline and, of course, some black eyeliner and mascara.

The finished look was just amazing! I love how easily these eyeshadows blended and how little fallout there was. Also, I must applaud the pigment - just wow! 

LOOK NO. 2: PURPLES

CONCLUSION

Buying this palette was the best investment ever. Seriously.
The ratio of invested and gained is by large on the side of gained. I mean, €13.00 for eighteen pretty, diverse shades that allow you to create a number of either basic or vamp looks - what's there not to like? If you're a fan of violet and burgundy matte shades like I am, this is the palette you'd probably want.

As I stated above, the mattes are amazingly pigmented, buildable, blendable, and longlasting.
Shimmers are somewhat inferior to the mattes, however: they are not as intense, nor metallic as one might expect them to be. This is something I personally don't mind as I am not a big fan of shimmers anyway.

I have one resent, though: I wish the palette had at least one whitish, shimmery shade. I am positive it would have fitted perfectly with the existing ones. 

Have you had the chance to try out this palette? And which of the two looks I created do you like better?