ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette Review

Hello ladies,

Moving temporarily from eyeshadow singles to eyeshadow palette reviews, today’s review is on the much-hyped Colourpop Yes Please Palette, also mistaken to be the Cute AF palette! I’ll come to that shortly. This one was released right on the heels of the even more hyped (then Limited Edition) Natasha Denona Sunset palette (review coming up super soon) – touted as being the dupe of the Sunset palette. Considering the price tag of the Sunset palette and the whole Beautylish fiasco which happened with its release, the beauty community was smarting and ready to pounce on this one, and they did! The palette got sold out within minutes. Since Colourpop is an Indie brand (soon to go mainstream thanks to their tie up with Sephora) – they produce products in smaller batches than what some of the bigger brands can afford to do. The brand has released 3-4 more batches, each time to have the palette sell out super quick. Is the palette really that good? Let us find out.

ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette full

Product Description:
Pressed Powder Shadow Palette: Our first-ever fixed 12 pan palette is all about that golden hour glow – the hottest shades inspired by our fave time of the day. Limit 2 per order. Highly pigmented shadow that applies evenly and feels ultra-velvety and silky. This long wearing formula contains a unique combination of softer powders which adheres easily to the eyes, gives a soft focus effect, and blends smoothly and evenly.
Finish
Matte, Metallic
Shade
Neutrals, Oranges/Corals, Reds, Golds, Yellows/Oranges
Net Weight
12 x 0.85g (0.03oz)

ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette outer packaging

Application Tips: Apply with your favorite shadow brushes. Flat and firmer brushes will give the most color payoff. Fluffier brushes are great for blending. Use a small angled brush to line the eyes.

Full-Zip: matte warm ivory
Big Cocktails: matte orange
Champs: matte pale peachy nude
Bling: metallic rust
Louie: metallic duochrome red with a gold flip
Butter Cake: metallic pale yellow gold
Spoiled: matte brick red
Gno: matte burnt orange
Mischief: matte warm yellow
Note to Self: matte warm caramel
Chauffeur: metallic duochrome bright orange with a gold flip
French Kiss: matte deep red brown

ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette packaging

Price:
USD 16 for 12 (shadows) x 0.85g / 0.03oz). So, the individual shades are smaller than Colourpop’s eyeshadow singles. However, considering that one is getting 12 currently trending shades in a mix of finishes, I think it is an excellent deal. Do note that the end pricing of the product will not be $16, there is shipping (Colourpop being an Indie brand) and taxes for the US citizens. For others across the globe – there is International shipping and customs charges to pay.

ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette open

Packaging:
Being Colourpop – packaging is fairly simple and low cost; however, not compromising on quality. The palette is kind of smallish; not so small as to be part of the petite palette brigade, but still smaller than the mental image I had. I guess, when you see pictures, you expect it to be bigger – since your mind evaluates the pan size to normal pan sizes and creates image of a bigger palette.

ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette Review

Not surprisingly, the palette is made of cardboard. The cardboard feels quite sturdy and should manage travel well. It has a magnetic closure which is welcome. The face of the palette looks very basic – it’s grey tinted off-white shade with the words “CUTE AF” written on it. The name of the palette is “Yes Please,” but that is mentioned on the exterior cardboard cover of the palette – which, by the way, is a bright yellow hue. This apparently caused a bit of confusion because people kind of assumed the palette name to be “Cute AF” since that’s what was written on the face of it. I’m not going to elaborate what AF means. All I will say is, I hate the colloquialism. I am really starting to agree to the Queen on this one (and only this one) – “There is no such thing as ‘American English.’ There is English. And there are mistakes.” Anyway.

The flip side of the palette has the name of the palette mentioned on it along with the names of the individual shades. I do prefer the shade names to be mentioned under the actual shades because otherwise it gives a very generic feel to it, but considering that this adds to the cost of production and Colourpop has kept the price of the palette so low, I really don’t mind that. At least they aren’t throwing something in a generic looking packaging and charging $42-45 for it! (Yes, throwing shade at Kylie cosmetics)!!

The whole off-white thing can get messy easily because the darker colours can stain the paper around, while dipping the brush into the pan. The good thing is that the pans are removable. You can use a magnet to pull them out or gently tap the palette upside down, and the shades will pop out.

My Experience with ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette:

Background:  Ever since ABH’s Modern Renaissance palette was launched, there has been a flood of warm, red-toned palettes in the market. Each and every brand has launched their version of it, to cash in on the trend. It all escalated pretty fast when Natasha Denona shared a preview of her upcoming palette “The Sunset” palette. Some people groaned at the fact that there was yet another warm-toned palette. However, most of the people fell in love – but for the catch – it’s $129 price tag (plus taxes – mind you!!) Looks like Colourpop was quick (and extremely perceptive) to identify an opportunity. And the, “Yes Please” palette got announced.

People loved the idea:

  • the first 12-pan Colourpop palette.
  • in the currently trending shades.
  • that too a probable dupe of a $129 palette and
  • which is priced at $16.

Seriously, what’s not to love! So, anyone and everyone who wasn’t willing to shell out the King’s Ransom of $129 – wanted to get this palette. Hell, I think, quite a few people just wanted the palette because it was touted as a dupe of the ND palette.

To add fuel to the fire, in an attempt to be more customer centric, Beautylish ended up messing the launch of the Natasha Denona Sunset Palette. Unfortunately, their plan backfired and resulted in a number of customers who were willing to shell the $129 not being able to get their hands on it! People went berserk!! I have never seen people get so upset about makeup! I am ashamed to say, I was one of them! 🙁 So, all these people who desperately wanted to get the ND palette and couldn’t get their hands on it, wanted to reach for the next best thing – the Colourpop Yes Please Palette. Needless to say, the Yes Palette became one of the most-hyped palette and was pretty much instantly sold out. In all honestly, marketing strategy is also in play for a makeup product selling out way to quickly, but I think I will discuss that topic some other day.

So, let us get on with the actual review. The Yes Please palette consists of 12 warm-toned shades in various finishes. There are 8 mattes, 3 shimmers and 1 kind of foiled shade. The mix of finishes gives it versatility and allows you to be able to create complete looks. Out of the 12 shades – 2 are from their existing permanent line while the other 10 are new to the palette. The shades in detail (will discuss row wise):

ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette all shades

Top Row:

  • Full-Zip: This is a light warm beige with ever so slight peachy undertone and a matte finish. The shade is smooth. Finely milled, very easy to work with. It can easily apply opaque or can be used lightly to dust over a tacky base. It is easily blendable.
  • Big Cocktails: This is another matte shade – bright medium orange with warm undertones. It feels less creamy compared to Full Zip and tends to kick up a little dust when you tap your brush in. However, it had good pigmentation and was easy to apply, gave a smooth application and blended beautifully.
  • ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette 12 shades

    ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette top row swatches

  • Champs: This one is another matte shade – a light peach with warm undertones and creamy smooth texture. It again has good pigmentation and applies easily and blends beautifully.
  • Bling: This is a shimmer shade – a beautiful medium copper with more accentuated warm red undertones. This one is again smooth, slightly dense (nowhere close to how dense Juvia’s palettes are) and extremely easy to work with. It applies easily and has excellent pigmentation. It is fully opaque in one go. You don’t need to wet your brush for the intensity to show up.

Middle Row:

  • Louie: This one is again a shimmery shade – a medium warm-toned coral with a golden-coppery sheen to it. This one is quite pretty and eye catching. This too is smooth and creamy. It too has good pigmentation.
  • Butter Cake: This is the more foiled shade – it is a bright light to medium yellow gold shade and leans warm. Even though it feels creamy, when you touch the shadow, you can feel it looser in the pan than the other shimmer shades. Also, it seems to have micro glitter particles unlike a smooth shimmer (like the other shades in the palette). This one needs a more tacky base to hold on to the shadow. So, would work well a damp brush or a glitter glue or a tacky primer.
  • ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette swatches on hand

  • Spoiled: Back to mattes. This one is a the quintessential red in the palette – as is in all warm-toned palettes coming out nowadays. It is a medium, bright, warm-toned red with coral undertones. It isn’t your regular in your face red, or cool-toned red or warm orange toned red. This one is actually quite unique. It’s super pigmented, has a creamy smooth texture and blends beautifully.
  • GNO: This is a medium, warm, rusty orange-brown shade. Very pretty, very creamy, satiny smooth and very easy to work with. It has good pigmentation and is the perfect shade to deepen the crease or just deepen the outer V for a day time look.

Bottom Row:

Mischief: This is the new shade on the block – popping up in quite a few of these warm-toned palettes just offsite. The bright yellow – a shade which normally used to be difficult for people to pull off is bang centre nowadays. This is a light to medium bright yellow shade which again leans warm. This shade has good pigmentation but works well with a primer. Without a primer, on our medium warm skin tones, it will not show up with the intensity in the pan, it will sheer out. But with a good primer, it is easy to make the shade stand out. Again, it was easy to blend and is very smooth and creamy in texture.

ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette bottom row swatches

Note to Self: The quintessential medium brown in the palette. It is a warm toned, brown with slight peachiness to it. It has a smooth texture, good pigmentation and is easy to blend out. This again is a permanent shade from their range.

Chauffeur: An aptly named shade because this one pretty much drove me to buy this palette (apart from all the rage at not being able to get the Sunset palette). This is a stunner – a light to medium warm toned, yellow-gold tinted orange with a yellow gold shimmer. It has good pigmentation which amplifies further when used with a damp brush – though you don’t really need to use it wet every time. The shades is smooth and easy to work with.
French Kiss: The darkest shade in the palette – appropriately a brown and not a black. This is the only deep shade in the palette – a deep warm brown with a matte finish. Like the other mattes in the palette – it is smooth, had excellent pigmentation and blends easily.

ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette colors swatched against the palette

Would I have preferred any other shade in there – yes, I could have done with a light beige satin/shimmer shade to highlight the inner corner and the brow bone but one is never fully satisfied, is one?

In the EOTD, I have consciously shared two looks with you – one is going all out with the yellow and the orange gold, etc – which is what this palette is all about. The other look is a more subtle which can be an everyday look. Just wanted to showcase that the palette can create neutral looks too – you don’t have to feel daunted by the bright reds and yellows.

ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette eye makeup looks

ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette eye swatches

Texture: I have already detailed the texture of the shades while discussing them individually. The mattes are smooth and creamy – easy to apply, non-patchy and build up or blend out easily. The shimmers are beautiful and high quality except for “Butter Cake” which seemed a bit looser in the pan and needs extra effort to make it shine. All shadows have smooth, creamy texture and are so easy to work with – they build well, they blend out easily. They mesh well together without getting thin or patchy or muddy when blended.

ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette colors

ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette texture of the shadows

Pigmentation: Pigmentation is good on all of these and excellent for quite a few – metallic and matte, both. It is rare to come across a palette with so many shades and not get a couple of duds. Its easier when you have a smaller palette – say 4-6 pan. The higher the number of pans, the higher the probability of a mess up. Happy to report that this is not the case with this palette. The yellow shade, Mischief, though has good pigmentation, can tend to sheer out, but nothing a good primer cant rectify for you. The shades blend well together, but do not become a muddy mess. Even though the palette is so small, it will last you a fair amount of time because a little product goes a long way.

ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette all swatches

Staying Power:  Disclaimer – I apply my eyeshadows with a primer because my lids are way too oily. No shadows – and I mean literally no shadows stay put on my lids for more than a couple of hours, if applied without a primer. These shadows wear for good 8-9 hours – if not more. I do take off my makeup by about 9 hours max. Even at that point, the shades look more meshed together – but not really patchy or creasing or muddy. You can pretty much apply these and forget them for the rest of the day.

ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette eye makeup

ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette looks

Pros of ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette:

  • A beautifully compiled, currently trending, warm-toned palette. Interesting array of shades – can create a day look or a evening look with ease.
  • A mixture of textures to allow for a variety of looks to be created.
  • 8 mattes, 3 shimmers and 1 foiled/shimmer with micro glitter – i like the mix coz i prefer more mattes than shimmers.
  • Good pigmentation.
  • Extremely smooth, creamy texture.
  • Zero fallout, long wearing.
  • No creasing.
  • Does not transfer.
  • The colours blend easily and mesh very well together.
  • Did not irritate my eyes.
  • Travel-friendly packaging
  • Easily de-portable.
  • Great for day look right upto full on evening event glam look.

Cons of ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette:

  • Is plagiarism considered a con?? (Keep reading).

IMBB Rating:
4.5/5

If you have been seeing these warm-toned palettes and wanting to buy them, they have been out of budget or you just don’t know if you will get much use out of them, I think this is an excellent option. It doesn’t hurt the pocket as much and it is good quality. Please do note, I do not take price into account while reviewing a palette because we all have our own budgets. So, when i say this is an excellent palette to pick – I am not saying that it is an excellent palette at this price point. No, it is excellent, irrespective of the price point. The fact that it is a budget-friendly brand is a bonus.

Lastly, the most asked question on my Instagram account – is it a dupe of the Natasha Denona palette. For me, dupe essentially means similar not just in colour but also quality – texture, finesse, feel. However, I understand that for most people in the beauty community, it boils down just to similar colour. So, yes, it is a dupe – so much so, that it astounds me. A number of shades are very very similar – though the undertone, brightness or feel is discernibly different when switched against each other. However, for a makeup enthusiast, what would matter at the end of the day is – can I create “similar” looks – not same, but similar. And yes, that is possible with this palette. What amazes me though is the speed with which Colourpop was able to push this product into the market post the initial promos from Natasha Denona for her palette – and be able to deliver something so similar. Palettes aren’t really produced overnight. There is a huge amount of time spent creating the shades, the layouts, the packaging etc before one even starts production. Then comes the production time, logistics etc. Kudos to Colourpop to have been able to manage that and still produce a product which is this high quality.

However, I am not through – one last point. I do find it a bit hypocritical of the beauty community to not be up in arms about plagiarism from Colourpop. While Make Up Revolution is blasted for copying every other popular palette and getting away with it – till Kat Von D called them out, I do not see the same uproar about Colourpop stealing this palette from Natasha Denona. Yes, it is great to have a good quality and affordable dupe of the Sunset palette for everyone, but this palette being so similar to Natasha Deanna’s palette did not happen by chance. It wasn’t that a few (or a number) of colours just coincided with a majorly hyped palette being released by a Luxury Brand. NO!! Considering how similar most of the shades are – this was a planned copy. So, is plagiarism a con?? Would love your thoughts on this.

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4 thoughts on “ColourPop Yes Please Pressed Powder Eyeshadow Palette Review

  1. What a beautiful palette – and I don’t mind plaigarism as long as Colourpop and Makeup Revolution does it – but but my major concern is about fakes. Knowing that colourpop takes care of quality, it;s all good 🙂

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