The Makeup Box

POP Beauty Plum Popper Palette: Swatches, Review and Tutorial 

(Worn with NYX Pinky blush and MAC Pink Nouveau lipstick)

Pop Beauty Plum Popper palette

I’ve had the POP Beauty Plum Popper eye shadow palette for over a year now, but I’m ashamed to say it’s another one of those things that sits on my shelf collecting dust. 

Since I’m trying to do more product overviews for those who might be looking for information on new products to purchase, this was one of the items I grabbed for. 

This is a square shadow palette in a biodegradable metallic cardboard package. There are no partitions for the shadows and they are all fused together as show above. The palette is magnetised and shuts quite tightly, but I have had experience with a POP palette opening in my bag one day and shadow getting all over my things. 

If you’re traveling with these, it might be a good idea to tape the mouth shut or to ring it with a rubber band.

The shades range from a deep brown to a softer one, 2 plums, a peach, and a pale golden-green. All are pearlescent. The shades are pretty, for sure, and I think they’d be flattering for most eye colors. The problem with it is more that the texture is a bit chalky, so the pale green and peach will also look like off-white on most skins except for the very fair. There will also be a lot of fall-out when you sweep your brush over the shadows.

These are triple-milled pigments, but I think they got the proportion of fillers and pigments a bit wrong, as the shadows are hard and gritty, not smooth and velvety to the touch. I definitely recommend using a proper primer on your lids or most of the pigments will only go on as a very sheer wash. However, it’s not that you can’t build up the color. It just takes a lot of time and layering, and a good base.

POP Beauty Plum Popper shade swatches, over MAC Face and Body Foundation as a base.

For the makeup look below, you’ll see that the eyes look almost neutral, if not for the stronger pale green and purple at the lash lines, which were achieved using netallic pencils rather than the palette itself. Most of the colors are nice once you get them on, with the exception of the pale shades which I mentioned earlier, look very chalky and matte.

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Step 1: I began by applying a sheer silvery base to the lids (MAC Metal X Cream Shadow in Palladium). This will hold the shadow over the day and reduce a bit of fall out.

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Step 2: Dust the pale peach onto the inner 1/3 of the upper lids, making sure to cover the inner tear duct area. (As you can see the shade goes on almost white.)

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Step 3: Using the softer plum shade (top right of palette) run along the crease, smoking out generously.

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Step 4: Add a blend of the dark brown and darker plum right in the outer corners of the crease and run along the lower lash line as well.

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Step 5: Pack the pale golden-green in the centre of the lid for a contrast with the plum.

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Step 6: Run a pale metallic green liner along the water line (Bourjois 44 Golden Grey Session).

Repeat with a deep plum along the upper lash line (Rimmel Exaggerate Pencil 220 Perfect Plum).

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 Step 7: Finish with black mascara!

P.S. Just for fun, I filled in my brows using a plum colored pencil instead of brown.

Smoked Silver-Violet with Peach-tinted Cheeks and Lips

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This is a look that composed of a tri-color eye, combining soft purple, grey, and navy, and the color combination is not only flattering for most skin tones, but also wicked on brown eyes.

In contrast, the cheeks and lips are a warm coral-peach in tone.

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Step 1: Apply the soft purple to the inner 2/3 of the lids.

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Step 2: Apply a soft grey to the outer half of the lids, blending into the purple.

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Step 3: With a dark navy, darken the outer corners and up along the socket line slightly. Then trace along the lower lash lines as well.

Finish with navy blue liner along the water lines. 

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Step 4: Curl lashes, apply fake lashes, and then mascara on the lower lashes. I used longer lashes than usual today, just to emphasize the smokiness of the look without too much heavy color.

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And the finished eye:

For the rest of the face, I used:

• NYX Cinnamon blush (bright matte coral)
• Heavy Rotation Nude Lipstick #03 (try MAC Myth or any other pale orange-based nude)
• Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Coral Reef in just the center of the lips. Press lips together to spread and even out the color a little.

Navy Monochrome Cat-eye

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Step 1: Start with a base all over your lids, then use a navy blue gel liner or pencil (I used MAC Blooz khol) to rim your eyes thickly, both outside and inside the lash lines. Smudge out with a finger.

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Step 2: Take a dark navy blue shadow with a tiny bit of shimmer (I used just one of the navy shades in the POP Beauty Silver Smokes palette) and pack it all over the blue liner, and beyond.

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Step 3: With a soft blending brush and a matte beige shadow, smoke out the top edges of the navy shadow. Keep the bottom edges defined.

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Step 4: Apply false lashes. Mascara will only disappear into the dark shadow, but this eye does not really need too much. Do NOT apply black liquid liner. That will just detract from the monochromatic finish.

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And voila! A one-color party eye that is flattering on pretty much all skin tones. This looks wicked with brown or hazel eyes, and is a more interesting version of the strong black smoky eye.

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P.S. Remember to sign up for the 88 Palette giveaway <here>!