CATRICE is my most favourite drugstore brand. Most of the products are below RM20 and some are not even over RM30. When it’s on sale at Guardian, everything is from less than RM10 to less than RM20. Super affordable and good.

A few months ago, CATRICE brought in a few new Absolute eyeshadow palette namely Absolute Rose, Absolute Bright, and Absolute Matt (this one I’m not sure). Within the Absolute family, I am more attracted to the rose-nude shades of Absolute Rose as it reminds me of Urban Decay Naked 3 😀 . I have been tracking Absolute Rose palette down for a while and later on spotted them on 30% discount a month ago at Guardian KLCC.

The palette is originally priced at RM26.90. Even without discount, it is still a pretty decent and affordable eyeshadow palette to get. I wouldn’t worry if I’m you. CATRICE products are constantly on sale, either 15% OFF or 30% OFF (sometimes) so don’t worry if you’d miss out the sale. I just happened to bumped into some crazy sale happening at Guardian where all cosmetics are on 30% discount. In the end, I only paid RM18.85 for this. Score!

CATRICE may be a drugstore brand but their packaging are well-made. This eyeshadow palette are made with thick plastic, not heavy but not too light as well. Absolute Rose has the rose gold embedded prints over the top clear casing.

I got to say, Absolute Rose is the hardest to photograph palette. The shades on the palette turned to neutral shades on the camera especially when there is a bit of sunlight. I have to cut all my camera brightness to get the real shades.

Also known as 010 Frankie Rose To Hollywood (Frankie who?), Absolute Rose is a six shades eyeshadow palette which consists of a combination of matte and shimmering soft nudes and rosé shades.

Not only the palette is a pain to photograph, hand swatches are even worse. That is because the shades are quite similar to each other on camera! I would like to think that they are the same, but in real they are not the same. They are also quite hard to swatch and chalky.

Among the six shades, the 1st and 5th shades are matte. 2nd and 3rd shades are more of a satin, while the 4th shade is shimmery and the 6th shade is matte with shimmer bits.

I find that this palette is a great palette to create a soft smokey look. Do not let the word “Rose” fool you because on me it doesn’t look anything rosey at all. It is more of a greyish purple on me but I suppose the colour turnout depends on your skintone and base. I love the rose base of this palette although it doesn’t translate onto my lid lol.

This palette is a hit and miss for me. I like the cool tone of it but it has a lot of fallout. What I do is to tap away the excess from the brush before applying onto my lid and by that way, I ended up with no fallout on my face. However, I do ended up with a messy and shimmery table. The colour payoff is not that great. I told myself I shouldn’t be complaining about it since I paid less than RM20 for it. Afterall I can always layer on the colour for better payoff.

I always start with sweeping the flesh tone shade (1st shade from left) all over my lid after eyeshadow primer. This will help me to blend easier later. I used the matte shade (5th shade from left) on my ‘imaginary’ crease as transition shade. Then I take a smaller blending brush, lightly dip into the darkest brown and apply onto the outer V to intensify the look. Usually I go super smokey but on the day I did this makeup, I was only going to a new restaurant for food review so I go easy with it. Wouldn’t want to freak everyone out with an intense smokey eye look on a Sunday LOL. Lastly, I used the 3rd shade from the left to fill in the empty space on the lid i.e. from the inner corner to the center of the lid. I’m quite disappointed that the three highlight shades in the palette are not pigmented. Therefore it doesn’t appear as bright as I want it to be on my lid. I suppose wetting the brush will help. I shall try that soon. I never have the habit to wet my brush for eyeshadow.

I thought that the applicator included in the palette, although not that great quality but it is brilliant of CATRICE to make it a different dual-sided application + brush. I prefer to use my own brush so I have no comment on the included applicator as I’ve not use it so far 😛

So what do I feel about this CATRICE Absolute Rose Eyeshadow Palette? Still a hit and miss for me, which I can understand as it is anyway a drugstore product and I shouldn’t be expecting counter product quality for the price I paid. I like this palette on the days where I’m not into brown but still want a soft smokey do. What surprised me the most is the matte shade I used as transition on the crease. I thought it will be too grey as transition shade but it turns out slightly purplish on me and because the colour payoff is not that great, it goes on my lid as a soft purple shade instead. Major love.

CATRICE cosmetics are mainly made in Italy, Germany or Poland and this palette is made in…Taiwan! Never fail to surprised me 😀 . I’m waiting for Guardian’s 30% sale to pick up more Absolute palette 🙂

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored review. I bought the product on my own.