NYX Ultimate Neon Eyeshadow Palette Review

When I say I’ve been on the hunt for my perfect, on the go bright eyeshadow palette for years, take it that I’ve tried my hand at a good few. I’ve mentioned before the Revolution Monster Mattes palette which I do love and use regularly, but its huge and just not practical in everyday rotation. Another one off the top of my head is the MUA Tropical Oceana palette but I really didn’t get on with the formulas in that one and never got the pigmentation I wanted from it.

This NYX palette comes super highly rated on Superdrug, and having never used an eyeshadow from them before, I took the plunge and got this one. The mixture of textures and variety of colours spoke to me, and instantly I could see how I could use all the colours for a variety of different looks. NYX is a cruelty free brand and with sixteen pigmented shades for just £16 its not breaking the bank either.

Swatches and First Impressions

Wow! Firstly, that blue row has my name all over it. All of the colours swatched so beautifully, going just off the hand swatches I’m so impressed. The only two that were a little disappointing were the first one on the top row, a hot pink shimmer, and the first one on the second row a mid purple shimmer. Why those two I don’t know because the other shimmers are beautiful and really impressive too!

Even the matte shades, which are notorious for swatching a bit rubbish, look so smooth and buttery soft. All the shades look just as vibrant as they do in the pan, and they didn’t crumble apart and kickback too much. But if you’ve ever hand swatched an eyeshadow you’ll know, how it applies on the hand and how it applies on the ol’ eyeballs are two very different things, so I set about having a play.

I created a rainbow look with the second in pink, second purple, second blue and first green packed onto the lid and gently blended together. I then added the last yellow to the inner corner, and green on the lower lash line. I was so impressed with how easily the colours packed on with a flat shadow brush, then with a larger fluffy brush the edges blurred out without losing all pigmentation on the lid. The colours merged together so simply whilst remaining vibrant to create the look I had in my head.

My only negative from this look I put together is that the shimmer (the purple shade) didn’t have very much reflect to it. This wasn’t detrimental to what I wanted to create here as it looks cute all matte, but worth noting the shimmer blended away to make it look pretty flat. I didn’t use any primer for this look, but used my fave Collection Stretch Concealer over the lids and set it lightly with a translucent powder.

Please excuse the frankly atrocious lighting, I was playing around on an evening after work and wanted to get a few snaps before I immediately washed it off before bed.

Would I Recommend?

From this first very quick swatch and first play on the lid 100%! I can’t wait to play more with it and make more looks, like I said the blue is so me and I think a whole blue look would be beautiful with these shades. The pinks and purples would make a lovely soft valentines look, and any of the shades could be used as a subtle wash of colour over the lid for something more wearable.

The formulas are lovely and so pigmented, I’ve not tried NYX eyeshadows before but they really really impressed me. I definitely want to try more from them, they have a few other eyeshadow palettes I’ll definitely pick up next time I go in store!

What’s your favourite colourful eyeshadow palette or colour? Any ideas what look I should do next with this palette? I have so many ideas!

Milli x