So, in the middle of my birthday online shopping I came across xobeauty.cz. It's a new eshop, which currently sells Revolution and I just couldn't resist browsing it. And that's how we ended up here.
I've heard about Nabla eyeshadows and I think that from what I've heard they give me similar expectations as Juvia's Place shadows. Not very known brand, great quality, little pricey but worth it. That's what I'm getting from it. Nabla is an italian brand which does not only eyeshadow but lots of products. I decided to get just the pallete, we'll get to why.
The Nabla Soul Blooming Pallete has 12 shades in total, a mirror and absolutelly stunning packaging. I just can't, this is so beautiful. Having it in your hands, you can tell it's something lux, something extra and for the price of whooping 939 Crowns, it better be. I honestly don't know what went into me when I decided to order it. The price is pretty up there. But that doesn't mean it cannot be worth it.
The packaging is very nice, some people wrote in their reviews that it looks like cheap makeup, but I like it. It vibes well with the shades in my opinion. The pallete comes in a sleeve and has a nice sized mirror. The mirror is very nice quality and it's protected with a plastic peel. The eyeshadows also have a little plastic cover for protection.
You get 6 matte shades and 6 shimmers. The eyeshadows claim to be vibrant, blend seamlessly and last all day. I think about every eyeshadow pallete actually claims that. They are also cruelty-free and vegan.
The shade selection was speaking to me on a personal level to be honest, that's why I decided to purchase the pallete in the first place. It doesn't really feel that extra in the photos, but the swatches looked fenomenal and in real life, it looks incredible.
I swatched the mattes and the shimmers separately so you can see the difference in textures at least a little bit. The mattes are inbredibly smooth. There are many brands that have incredible matte shadows, but this is almost cushiony and very creamy. The pigmentation of these is also amazing. Even the lightest shade swatches incredibly pigmented and opaque. Another thing I'd like to mention are the tones of these colors. I cannot even describe these shades. Every shade has a unique undertone to it, it's so difficult to describe or photograph. But the colors are very unique and they look so well thought through.
The shimmers have multiple different formulas. The first shade Honey Drip is a little chunky and glittery but goes on smooth and has a beautiful shine to it. There's a lot of duochorminess in this pallete, but not in a confusing bad way. I've had duochrome shadows which were just such a pain to use, because I couldn't really tell how they'll look. I feel like these are way more user friendly in that direction. We also have the most incredible eyeshadow I've probably every seen, Philosophy. It's similar as Honey Drip, but less flakey and crumbly and it has the most beautiful pink duochrome sheen. I'm so bad at describing these. The rest of the shimmers are very similar in texture, very buttery and smooth and go on opaque and beautiful. Sometimes palletes have very underwhelming shimmers, this one is not one of those.
I read the shade descriptions on beautybay.com and I think I'll have to modify them a little bit, because they don't quite fit. At least according to what I see in these shadows. There's no mention about the duochrome ones and even some of the mattes don't really fit in my opinion.
Honey Drip - white base, cool gold and silver reflect
Gea - peach to coral nude matte
Chamomile - cream matte
Bolero - salmon pink matte
Middle Karma - honey brown matte
Garden Gate - blue/purple duochrome shimmer
Climbing Rose - red/pink duochrome shimmer
Garcon - warm bronze shimmer
Anemone - deep blue shimmer
Flowery - periwinkle blue matte
Philosophy - pale green/baby pink duochrome shimmer
Caravaggio - deep neutral brown
Look 1
I went for an easy and very wearable look in my opinion if you like a little pop of color. I started with Bolero in the crease torwards my brow bone. I deepend the outer V with Middle Karma and then a little more with Caravaggio. On the center of the lid, I applied Climbing Rose with a brush and on the inner portion of the lid I went in with Honey Drip, to add that sparkle. You can go back and forward between the shimmers to build the gradient you want. Then I added a deep brown eye pencil in the waterline, I didn't smoke out the bottom this time. And lastly I added a little bit of liner with the shade Caravaggio in the top outer half of my upper lashline, stamping it very close to my lashes.
Look 2
This look is a lot more bronzy and I added a little situation on the bottom, since that's what I like doing when I feel like the top is a little too boring for me. I think the bright blue goes really well with the top.
I went in with Gea in the crease and above, trying to get it to full pigmentation. These shadows build very well. Then I deepend it up with Caravaggio in the outer portion of the crease. I took Garcon on a flat brush and applied it all over the lid, blending the edges out with Gea again. That created a really nice bronzy smokey subtle look. But I wanted more, so I took the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Peacock and runned it all over my lower lashline and smoked it out a little bit with Flowery.
Look 3
The first day I got this pallete I was playing around with it and I created a look I will be recreating here. The combination of a warm brown and a pale blue is just stunning to me and the shimmers give the whole look such a nice vibe. It's not very structured of harsh, just a simple sparkly look.
I blended Flowery into the inner half of my crease and above and below, quite messily. Then I took Gea and repeated the same on the outer half of my crease. I left a little gap between the two colors rigth at the middle of my crease. Then I took Garcon on a flat brush and pat it on the outer half of my lid. On the inner half of my lid, I pat Garden Gate. I left a little space between then again. Into that little space I applied Philosophy with a tiny brush and my finger to blend the two edges together. I then applied a bit of the two mattes onto the lower lashline, again half and half style.
Look 4
For this look I wanted to go a little more structured and deep since majority of my looks these days are very simple and diffused. This one is still very simple, but I enjoy a nice sparkly cut crease at any given time.
I started this look by building the crease with Middle Karma. It's a very nice buildable medium brown, perfect for a nice brown or warmer gradient. Then I took Caravaggio and deepend up the outer edge of my eye and did a little winged out edge which didn't go too far. I didn't go further in the crease than halfway in with this deep brown. Then I used very light concealer to cut the majority of my lid. I created a more rounded shape, lifting the edge above my actual crease. Then I set it all with Philosophy, which is really impossible to photograph and I really made sure it's packed on. Then I took a very tiny blending brush with Caravaggio and scratched the lid from the deep brown outer edge inwards to create a gradient over the cut portion of the lid. The deep brown blended in with the duochrome green-pink is just stunning. Lastly I just used a bit of nude liner in the waterline and smoked it a bit with Middle Karma, connecting it to the top portion of the eye look.
This look doesn't photograph well, it's just impossible for me to capture it well, but the tone of the deep brown mixed with the duochrome shade is giving me life. It's very structured and multicolored, simple and beautiful. I didn't want to overpower this look with a large wing or lashes so I just kept it at mascara and I like it even like this.
Look 5
This look is so simple I wasn't even sure if I'm going to put it over here into this post. But it is just with the Nabla pallete, so I thought I might as well add it over here. I went for a little korean-vibe kind of an e-girl look. I just feel a little too old for doing that but well, it's not like I'm going anywhere, right?
So, I literally just took Bolero and applied it everywhere. I did a little V-shape on the outer portion of my eye to give it more definition and that's it. Then I took a stark white liner and applied that to my waterline, a little below and on my lashes with a spooley. I ran a little bit of Bolero below that liner to connect it with the top portion of the eye. Then I drew a fat black winged liner on and dabbed on top of it a little bit of the magnetic liner I use, so I can get those lashes going. And at the end I added a nice fluttery lash.
Final thoughts
I really enjoy working with this pallete and even though the pricepoint is pretty steep, I think it's quite worth it. Good eyeshadows tend to be quite expensive but it's not always the case, in this case it's true. These are very good quality, very unique colors, the colorstory is just speaking to me, I love the pallete and I don't feel like I've spend my money on something I won't use. I will get a ton of looks from this pallete.
If I would recommend it for this price is debatable. Once you are willing to spend this amount of money on a pallete, you have to consider what type of pallete you want to go for but if this one caught your eye and you want it, I would recommend it to you. I was overall impressed with these Nabla eyeshadows and I'm glad to have this pallete in my collection.
Have you tried anything from Nabla? Let me know in the comments and thanks for reading!