There aren’t many YouTubers I follow with consistency these days. Life is just too busy, and if I kept up with all of the influencers I enjoy watching, I’d do nothing else. Thus, if a beauty channel makes my list, it has to be really good. Angelica Nyqvist is one of them!
Admittedly, I mostly follow her Sunday “Going on the Wishlist or Nah?” videos, where she reviews new makeup releases. I’d love to watch more, but I just don’t have the time. I do, however, watch her Sunday reviews faithfully. I love that Angelica reviews upcoming products from a mix of established brands and smaller indie makeup companies. The latter is a realm I haven’t explored much until now.
So, when Anglica announced her collab with Devinah Cosmetics, an independently owned and operated makeup company in Los Angeles, CA, I knew I had to get my hands on it. It is a curated collection of eyeshadows ranging from autumnal berries to mossy greens and rich, jewel-toned metallics. Devinah eyeshadows are handmade and hand-pressed in house. How cool, right? I love the idea of supporting a small brand that creates products from scratch.
Unfortunately, this collaboration is no longer available as a set–but, most of the eyeshadows within it are. For that reason, and the fact that (spoiler alert) the eyeshadows are SO good, I wanted to give my review anyway.
Details & Swatches
The Moonwell palette contains 12 eyeshadows that are a mix of mattes, metallics, and duochromes. Most of the shades, with the exception of “Paladin” and “Martini” are part of Devinah’s permanent collection and can be purchased separately. Those two were discontinued but brought back for the palette. Additionally, the two light duochromes, “Zanna” and “Delirium,” are actually highlighters that were downsized into eyeshadows for this collection. If you were to buy those separately, the pan size would be bigger.
Here are the swatches with links to each individual shade:
From top to bottom: Iduna / Chimerical / I’m Just a Dandelion / Paladin.
From top to bottom: Zanna / Meraki / Desma / Tacenda.
From top to bottom: Delirium / Elphaba / Martini / Patina.
The Packaging
The magnetic case this palette comes with is gorgeous and available separately, here! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite so holographic. It’s as if there is a literal rainbow shining through it. When turned back and forth in the light, it shifts vibrantly between red, orange, yellow, green, and blue. I’m impressed.
Even more impressive, though, is the magnet. It is strong. Just as much so as my beloved Makeup For Ever magnetic palette. You have to pry a fingernail under the eyeshadow pans to lift them up, so there is no worry about things moving around.
The Performance
We’ve looked at the swatches and packaging, but how do these eyeshadows work? The first thing to know is that these are not like typical eyeshadows. Because they are hand-pressed, the powder is softer than many eyeshadows are (human arms are not as strong as a power pressing machine). There can be a lot of kick up if you dip your brush into the pan too hard. I found this to be true of the mattes, but I haven’t had a problem with the metallics (though, I typically use my finger to apply them).
Devinah is super transparent about this. A note came with my package explaining why the eyeshadows are softer and how they should be handled. There is information about this on the website, too. Regardless of knowing this, I accidentally broke the shade, “Desma.” I believe this happened because I was holding my palette upside down while it was closed. The eyeshadow “cake” must have lifted up from the pan and settled back down into it, causing the surface to crack. This was easily fixed by pressing down on the eyeshadow gently with my finger. None of the other shades did this, so it may have been a fluke. However, I have been diligent to handle my palette more carefully since then.
Is this a deal breaker? Not at all. Again, it only happened to one shade, and I think the performance outweighs the cons of working with a more delicate product. Also, “Desma” happens to be my favorite shade (such a mysterious, murky mauve it is!), and still works just fine despite the incident.
With the exception of one matte, these eyeshadows blend out dreamily. “Patina” is the only one that gives me a little bit of trouble. But, it is a dark olive green, which I’ve heard are more difficult to work with in general. With a little patience, it blends out nicely. The other mattes? Perfection. They require hardly any work to blend, and I think the soft texture is much to thank for that. The really unique thing is how they layer. If you apply the same shade on top of itself in layers, it deepens so that it almost looks like you’re wearing more than one shade.
The metallics are softer than most of the metallics I’ve used in the past, but this, of course, makes them really easy to apply to the lids. They have that slightly wet look that’s so flattering, and I find each shade has a certain something. “Dimensional” is the best word I can think of. The tone of each metallic just has so much depth. I can’t get over them and definitely want to try more metallics from Devinah in the future.
The duochrome highlighters are quite fun to pop onto the inner corners, brow bones, or even all over the lid. The finish is certainly unique; I’m not even sure “duochrome” is the right word. The pink and green pigments of “Zanna” and “Delirium” glow in a blacklight sort of way. It’s really cool looking!
The Looks
It has been a while since I created these looks, so I’m not going to explain the steps I took to do so. I will, however, try my best to remember what shades were used in each one. Regardless, I think these photos do a good job of showing of the pigmentation and blend of the eyeshadows.
Shades used: Zanna / Meraki / Desma / Delirium
Shades used: Iduna / Martini / Chimerical / Paladin / Tacenda (used under Paladin to create the purplish shade on the outer corners) / Delirium
Shades used: Meraki / Desma / I’m Just a Dandelion / Zanna
Shades used: Elphaba / Patina
Final thoughts? I’m super impressed with Devinah Cosmetics and excited to try out more of their products in the future. There’s something special about knowing your makeup was handmade, and they do it in such a professional fasion. If you’re looking for something unique to get that maker lover in your life who already has everything, Devinah eyeshadows might be a good option.
Hope you’re all having a lovely December so far! Thanks so much for reading 🙂
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