Happy weekend, beauty lovers! 🙂
Today I am sharing my thoughts about the BeautyBay Book of Magic palette. Sadly, this eyeshadow palette has been discontinued 🙁 I am new to this brand and currently working through my backlog of reviews for the haul of items I purchased around my birthday last year (in December 2020). However, I still wanted to share my thoughts and shopping experience if you too have been curious about this brand based in Great Britain. Keep reading to find out more!
My BB Shopping Experience
When shopping for cosmetics with this company I highly recommend you have patience. My orders travel from GB, through Jamaica and New York before the even get close to the southern states to reach me in Louisiana. If you’re not located nearby, patience is key. However, I will say I have not had ANY of my cosmetics broken or damaged upon arrival. Their packaging is lovely as well. It’s quite the experience opening a BeautyBay box…I won’t spoil it by telling you! Overall, orders usually ship within 1-2 business days and can travel for 14-20 days. Yeah, its quite the wait, but it is worth it for me; especially since their house branded items are so affordable. Shipping is only $6.50 USD (or you can upgrade to the Expedited for $15 USD). You can’t argue with that!
I haven’t shopped overseas for cosmetics in a really long time. Being based in the USA where there are a lot of popular/trendy cosmetic brands has spoiled me. Nevertheless, ever-so-often something will catch my eye and make me willing to go outside my comfort zone to try it. In steps BeautyBay! This company is a distributor of all the top indie brands on the US and UK market, however they also offer their own house brand of cosmetics. I had been watching MakeMeupMissa‘s channel and she frequently mentions palettes she’s purchased from there. I couldn’t resist any longer! I initially wanted only the BPerfect x Stacey Marie Carnival XL palette, but once I browsed the website I saw a slew of other items that enticed me. After seeing a lovely demo of the Book of Magic palette by Tammi Clarke, I knew I had to add it to my cart. You can look forward to a lot of BeautyBay item reviews to come! Now, on to the review!
The Packaging
I usually don’t expect much or even factor in packaging when it comes to affordable beauty products; the costs have to be cut somewhere! However, the Book of Magic was only $15 USD and actually has a unit carton I don’t want to throw away! It features a beautiful holographic design that gives me modern tarot reading witch vibes…which I am all about! The carton is made larger, because the palette is bubble wrapped and placed inside; very much like the technique used for Juvia’s Place’s palettes. I like this added security built into the design.
The Palette
The palette features 20 eyeshadows in matte and shimmer formulas. The shimmer formulas are very similar to the ColourPop Supershock eyeshadows in which they are creamy and can easily be applied with a finger. If you hate this formula, you may want to avoid this palette and other BeautyBay 20 pan palettes like it. I am not a fan of this texture, personally, because I like to use cosmetic brushes for eyeshadow application the most, but it is worth the effort. The matte shades are really pigmented. I have only three looks to share as the fourth got “messed up” because I applied TOO much eyeshadow 😛 Yeah, they are that good! This palette also has a nice sized mirror and the names of each shadow printed on the palette…we love to see it!
Swatches
Since the weather has been unpredictable with natural/outdoor lighting, swatches have be taken indoors with artificial lighting. As it is with most all of my Beauty Bay branded shadows, the mattes do not always swatch beautifully; however be not deceived, they perform magic on the eyes. This color story is one of my favorites!
Vanish – matte beige tone
Stardust – metallic copper
Amulet – matte caramel brown
Alchemy – metallic yellow-gold
Enchanted – matte light lilac
Manifest – matte deep brown
Wish – matte light aqua
Crystal – metallic blue/green shift
Sorcery – matte royal purple
Voodoo – matte eggplant purple
Bewitched – matte turquoise
Spell – metallic turquoise
Hex – matte black
Charmed – metallic purple
Elixir – matte sky blue
Moonlight – metallic silver
Cursed – matte navy blue
Jinx – metallic dark blue/black shift
Trick – matte cobalt blue
Potion – metallic cobalt blue
Makeup Looks
Eyeshadows Used: Wish, Amulet, Manifest, Alchemy, and Crystal
Eyeshadows Used: Sorcery, Enchanted, Bewitched, Cursed and Spell
Eyeshadows Used: Elixir, Trick, Cursed, and Moonlight
Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/5
I really enjoyed my week long venture with this palette! I am disappointed (in myself) that I wasn’t able to feature the beautiful purples, coppers and neutral tones in this palette, but in time, I’ll be sure to update this review with more looks so you can see how versatile it is 🙂 Despite all the ethereal blues, purples and turquoise shades (my faves!) you really can get some soft glam, everyday wearable looks with it as well. I think the neutrals are easily overlooked in this palette because of the bold jewel toned colors. The only low-key bad thing I can say is to beware of a bit of fall out. The matte textures of BB shadows suffers from it, but I think the pigmentation is well worth it. Overall, I really love this palette and I see myself reaching for it in the future pretty often.
If this one ever makes a come back on Beauty Bay (or even a remixed version), I highly recommend snatching it!