Glitter and Be...Batgirl, Actually: NYX Glitter Cream Palette Review

***Points to anyone who guesses the song reference in the title! Also, not a Batgirl tutorial. She doesn't wear glitter, sad to say.***

I'm going to be controversial today!! Well, as controversial as I get, anyway. (I'm generally pretty easy-going...)

NYX has a collection of glitter palettes on the market, and it seems like you either love them entirely, or you hate them with the fiery passion usually reserved for only people who hit the elderly or kick puppies. Let me preface this by saying, I had no idea.

A couple of weeks back, Ulta ran a 40% off sale on NYX and a few other brands. I'd been eyeing the pretty shinies for a while, but have not been able to bring myself to spend upwards of five bucks a pop on them. I mean, it's not like I have the opportunity to wear full-on glitter every day. But...it was close to Halloween...and they were on sale...and it would almost be buy one, get one...so I bit the bullet and picked up the two that I thought I would use the most (you know, when I actually use glitter). I got Royal Violets, a variety of purples and a bright gold, and Paradise, which is sort of the "neutral" palette. It's a black, white, silver, and gold, with a hot pink thrown in for funsies. Here's a quick pic of the two.

Paradise is on top, Royal Violets on the bottom.
I have not used Royal Violets, yet, so it's still sealed. That's how it comes from the store.

I wore a Batgirl caped shirt to the Disney Halloween Party, and thought it might be fun to add a little glitter into my makeup for the occasion, so Paradise went with me to Orlando. I got to play with it a bit, and wanted to share my thoughts on the palette.

Frankly, I liked it. I can, however, see why this is so polarizing, and I'll explain.

WHY PEOPLE DON'T LIKE THESE PALETTES (taken from numerous bad reviews)
1) It's not pigmented.
2) It doesn't blend well, and it gunks up your brushes.
3) It doesn't look like it does in the pan when I put it on my eyes.

Alrighty. I get that. Every word of that is true. However, I don't think these palettes were ever meant to be pigmented, applied with brushes, packed on that heavily (though you can, and I've seen it done!), or even necessarily used around the eyes. In fact, on the back of the Paradise palette (not the Royal Violets), it flat-out states that it's not intended for use in the eye area. In other words: THIS IS NOT GLITTER EYESHADOW! It is loose glitter in a lightly tinted gel base. It's a less messy, more travel-friendly, infinitely more convenient alternative to just applying loose glitter, and if you look at it in that regard, it's a great product for the glitter-obsessed.

Close-Up of the Paradise Palette

Swatches. Left to Right: Pink Holographic, Black Multi, White Holographic, Gold Holographic, Silver Multi.

Now, I'll be honest. I used this in the eye area, because I am a rebel and I do what I want. Plus, I didn't see the warning on the back. Oops. Of course, I would never recommend that you ignore a warning and use this in the eye area. That would be irresponsible of me, and that's just not how I roll. Please forgive me for not having a picture, but I think the swatches above should tell you all you need to know about how this looks on. There's no difference. It's just glitter, and I used my fingers to mix the glitter with the gel, then place it over a finished eyeshadow look and onto my cheeks. Obviously, the eye area is the most common place for glitter to be used, and it strikes me as silly that this isn't eye-safe. That said, I think there are some ways you can use this to accentuate an eye look without placing it directly in the area. The white and silver make beautiful brow highlights, and you could probably take it down to the crease area without too much trouble. I would be extremely careful about going onto the lid, though. The extreme inner corner is pretty much out, but you could keep it mostly around the bridge of the nose and under the eye. Do not use this as a liner! I didn't have any trouble with fallout or sliding around, and the glitter came off fairly easily with a makeup remover wipe. The only irritation I had came the next day when a couple of errant pieces I missed with the wipe ended up on my right eye's waterline, and I had to try to gently remove them. I also used the pink as a cheek highlight, and it looked really nice.

The Good:
Beautiful colors, easy to apply, travel-friendly, convenient, inexpensive, no fall-out, long-lasting

The Bad:
Not a lot of product in the pan

The Ugly:
Not all are eye-safe

I really like this product for what it is. It's when you try to make it into something that it's not that you run into disappointment, but isn't that true of most things?

Final Verdict: 8.2 out of 10. Bear in mind it's not an eyeshadow palette and shine on!