Hello Gorgeous Mermaid Cult Under The Sea Eyeshadow Palette

Hello Gorgeous Mermaid Cult Under The Sea eyeshadow palette review, swatches, and price.

PRICE: P1,350

FROM: Free

OTHER LOCATIONS: Available via Hello Gorgeous distributors; Hello Gorgeous official website

THE VERDICT:

One of Hello Gorgeous' ubiquitous products online is the Mermaid Cult eyeshadow palettes. I've seen a lot of beauty blogger and vlogger friends review, swatch, and make tons of looks out of this palette around 2 years ago; I only got to try it now because I've only looked into Hello Gorgeous this year.

It's actually a pretty good palette, but I have questions.

Before we go to the juicy part, let me talk a bit about the product. Mermaid Cult Eyeshadow Palette has two palettes: Off The Shore, which is a neutral palette and this, Under The Sea, a rose gold/peachy pink palette; both palettes have matte, shimmer, and metallic eyeshadow finishes.

First off, I like the palette compact because I like anything holo and shiny; it's something that's so nice to look at, plus it doubles as an Instagram flatlay tool for me so yay LOL.

INGREDIENTS: Mica, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Argania Spinosa (Argan) Kernel Oil, Punica Granatum (Pomegranate) Seed Oil, Tocopherol, Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil, Leptospermum Scoparium (Manuka) Oil, Sodium Hyaluronate, Eryngium Maritimum Callus Culture Filtrate [+/- Silica, Tin Oxide, Iron Oxide

The packaging doesn't feel flimsy, but you could feel that it's a light kind of cardboard material; good thing the holo mermaid cover gives it a bit of sturdiness. When I received the palette, there were some powder specks around the eyeshadow pans; the palette seemed a bit shaken while in transit, but good thing nothing was cracked or completely crushed. Palette needs to be cushioned well prior shipment.

Check out the swatches:

The metallic shades are buttery! They feel sensually smooth to touch and transfers to the skin breezily; the pigments transfer to the skin seamlessly, creating an even color payoff; they're very pigmented as well and shades are true to the pan and swatch.

The matte and matte with shimmer shades are very smooth as well; actually, I would even go as far as saying that these are exceptionally smooth; I don't remember swatching matte eyeshadows that are this smooth, not even with the expensive brands. As you can see, they're very pigmented.

All the eyeshadows are unscented and very easy to blend; it truly feels like I'm using an exquisite eyeshadow palette.

There are 18 shades in the palette; the selection is very pretty because it reminded me of Huda Beauty's Rose Gold eyeshadow palette, which is something that my heart yearns for, but my mind finds it too expensive for shades that I technically have in all the palettes and singles that I own already.

The first time I swatched this palette, I giddily shared it with the TBJ Beshies in my The Beauty Junkee's Unite! Facebook beauty group because I was pleasantly surprised at how promising this palette is; a few pointed out that it exactly looks like Focallure's We Care Favors Bright Lux Eyeshadow Palette.

So I have searched for it online; I've heard of Focallure before and their cheap yet good eyeshadow palettes, and how they were dubbed by international beauty vloggers as the best eyeshadow palette discovery in AliExpress, but what spurred me to research were the controversial comments made on this palette.

Welcome to the juicy part, btw.

So what I've found is Focallure is a Chinese cosmetics brand that had its start in AliExpress; it rose to fame, thanks in huge part to beauty vloggers and influencers who have been heavily reviewing and featuring the brand in videos, blogs, and social media.

Photo credit: focallure.com

Now this is the We Care Favors Bright Lux eyeshadow palette. Shockingly, the shades, shape of the pans, order of arrangement of the shades, and even the shade names are similar to Hello Gorgeous' Under The Sea palette.

Photo credit: focallure.com

I got the photos from Focallure's official website. The thing is, there are alleged fake Focallure palettes and websites that try to capitalize on the brand's name and fame (so if you will order Focallure, just order from the official website). Apparently, the alleged knock-offs are eerily accurate that even a trained eye can't spot the not right away by looking at photos alone; same goes for the fake website; I read that that the fake websites look and feel like the real site, and would sell the fake palettes at a much higher price.

Check the shade names of We Care Favors Bright Lux palette; it is exactly the same as Under The Sea palette.

Could these products have come from the same source? Most likely. Focallure is just much more affordable than Hello Gorgeous with palettes ranging from P300-P800.

Frankly, I'm a bit shocked by this revelation; Hello Gorgeous seems to be a repackaged version of Focallure, but only with cuter packaging and higher price.

I haven't been to China's factories, but I know that it is the go- to for entrepreneurs for manufacturing, sourcing, private labeling, and mass production. This is an example of private labeling. Hello Gorgeous said it themselves that it is an ODM or Original Design Manufacturer product; ODM is an existing product design developed by a manufacturer; the opposite of this is OEM or Original Equipment Manufacturing, products that are made according to specifications and design and companies that can make products according to client specifications and design.

Private labeling is everywhere, folks; it's also the reason why you can still afford to buy most beauty products in the market; if mass production and private labeling weren't a thing, you would not be buying cosmetics that often because prices will shoot through the roof if everything were handcrafted.

Private labeling is not a crime, per se, but in this case, people started to mind because of Hello Gorgeous' price relative to Focallure's for pretty much the same palette; P1350 is far, far off from P300+ for something that is too similar.

But here's what I found:

Focallure We Care Your Favors Bright Lux Palette ingredients

Hello Gorgeous Mermaid Cult Under The Sea Eyeshadow Palette ingredients (taken from Beauty MNL)

Externally, both products are VERY similar; but the when it comes to ingredients, both are completely different. From my little knowledge on private labeling, you can either private label a public formula right away with zero tweaks or you can do so with little or huge tweaks. 

As you can see, Focallure's laden with cheap ingredients that's why they can afford to sell it at a very cheap price. With Hello Gorgeous' tweak, you can see that they used natural oil extracts instead to align the product with their skin care philosophy. Natural extracts are expensive, plus they also changed the packaging; considering these plus logistics, taxes, volume of purchase (the lower the volume, the more expensive the product becomes) and product margin, I now see why this is priced at P1,350. I just wish that they tweaked the names and arrangement of the shades as well, just like the ingredients; a little creativity will go a long way.

BUT---I'm not here to change your mind. I've just presented my research and some facts. It is up to you whether you will believe me or not. ;)

This brings me now to Huda Beauty's Rose Gold eyeshadow palette. Could it be private labeled as well? Who knows? It's not that far off from Focallure and Hello Gorgeous! :D

Oh yeah, this is a product review. Going back to the palette...

Here's an eye makeup look I came up with; the eyeshadows are very easy to blend and are pleasantly pigmented. No negative skin reaction experienced whatsoever.

I like the sunset vibes of this palette; really reminds me now of Huda Beauty's Rose Gold palette. Staying power is okay, but it needs an eyeshadow primer to stay on the whole day.

Overall, I like this palette; the shades, packaging, and quality. Whether you like this palette or you'll just go for Focallure thinking that it's the same, that is up to you. ;)

HELLO GORGEOUS MERMAID CULT UNDER THE SEA EYESHADOW PALETTE RATING

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