First Impression Review: Hourglass Modernist Palette in Infinity

[cf-shortcode plugin=”acf” field=”affiliate_link”]

First my two-month-delivery boots, and now this. I really should know better than to order things that aren’t in stock and ready to ship – I get all antsy and impatient. Or maybe I just need to work on my expectations for instant makeup gratification (that seems more do-able). What am I even talking about? Back in October I caught wind of a new eyeshadow palette from Hourglass, and being the fangirl that I am, I hopped right on that train. The Hourglass Modernist Palette in Infinity was released first at Barneys to celebrate their 10-year anniversary together (awww, how adorable), and it was estimated to be delivered ‘in November’. After an interminable wait, and a quick chat with Barneys customer service just to make sure they didn’t forget about me, it finally showed up at my house on November 29th. So their delivery timeframe was accurate, but they cut it pretty close!

It’s back up on the Barneys website for pre-order with delivery expected ‘in December’, so I thought I should hurry up and show you all so you can decide whether it deserves a spot on your holiday shopping list/wishlist.

Before I saw the palette in real life, I was a little afraid it would be the same size as the ALP and blush palettes, which would be a completely unmanageable amount of eyeshadow. Luckily it’s considerably smaller in footprint and product weight. The cute little compact holds .17oz/5g of eyeshadow, 1g per color. What that means, oddly, is that it’s massively more expensive (per ounce) than the old eyeshadow duos, which were $38 for .2oz/5.7g. Still, the product weight and price of the eyeshadow palette are on par with other high end eyeshadow quads/quints.

Aside from being miniature and having the updated font, the compact is nearly identical to the ALP palette. Right down to having a small factory-issued scratch on the lid, in fact. That doesn’t bother me a bit, but if you like things to be totally pristine, just know that they apparently haven’t resolved this manufacturing/packaging issue. Whatever. Otherwise – it’s compact, light and snaps shut firmly so I’m nearly positive it’ll be fine to travel with.

The colors in the palette are some gorgeous neutrals. Side note – the fact that they gave it a shade name (Infinity) makes me think that they’ll be releasing additional eyeshadow palettes with different color stories, which would only make sense. I’ve heard absolutely nothing that would confirm that, by the way, just totally shameless speculation. But back to the colors in this one. There are four mattes and one shimmer, and for once you get actual neutral neutrals – no huge lean toward warm or cool shades here. From left to right you’ve got:

• Light creamy white – this one actually reminds me a bit of Laura Mercier Vanilla Nuts, but maybe a tiny bit lighter and less yellow
• Light rosy beige – the light beige has just a hint of a pinky tone to it, and it will make a great lid color, or crease contour
• Medium plummy brown – this is the only shimmer of the bunch, and it has a very slight purple-y undertone to it
• Medium khaki – this shade alllllmost heads off into warm territory, but not quite; it’s tan with a slight olive cast
• Dark coffee brown – not the darkest of dark browns, but it’s a rich shade that works really well on the outer corner and lash lines

All the colors in the palette work really well together to make a cohesive look. At first I wasn’t sure how well this would fare on darker skin since the colors do trend fairly light, but one of the ladies of Specktra posted swatches, and they’re lovely on her. As gorgeous as they are, there’s a big thing worth mentioning about these shades – I don’t really think any of them are undupeable. I’ll go through and do comparison swatches at a later date to see what other colors I have that are similar. In the meantime, if you already have a big eyeshadow collection you’re pretty likely to have something close to these already.

One thing that isn’t dupeable is the texture. These are the most velvety damn eyeshadows I’ve ever touched. As in literally, they feel like velvet. The powder is very dense and soft, which of course can be a double-edged sword. A light tap with your brush will pick up plenty of product, but it’s definitely possible to kick up some extra powder. As long as you proceed carefully and don’t load up your brush too much, there’s no fallout and the shadow glides right onto the skin. All the colors blend easily and have great pigmentation, though the shimmer color in the center goes on a tiny bit more opaque than the others – I think it clings to the brush slightly better, so it looks more pigmented. I haven’t had a chance to do a full wear test yet, so I’ll update this once I do. Update: The shadows wear beautifully all day with no fading or creasing. That’s over primer of course, since literally no eyeshadow has ever fully survived my primer-less lids. Also, I’ve noticed that a lot of people disagree strongly with me about the texture of the shadows. It’s definitely a fact that they’re extremely soft and it’s easy to kick up powder if you’re not gentle with your brush; if you’re not into that, you’ll hate these. But – it’s not the type of powdery that won’t stick to skin or even adhere to itself (which can make things really difficult to blend). I also haven’t tried these with synthetic bristle brushes, which I’m guessing might affect the user experience pretty significantly.

In Short: The colors aren’t necessarily the most unique, but the texture is fantastic and possibly one-of-a-kind. I’ve got my fingers crossed for more palettes in this range.

The Hourglass Modernist Eyeshadow Palette ($58) is available for pre-order at barneys.com now, and should be available at other Hourglass retailers in January.