Ariel Storylook Palette from Sephora

I went back and forth so many times on whether or not I was going to order this palette. Since it seemed like forever and a day between the time the Ariel collection was announced and when it was actually released, there was plenty of time for me to read reviews and see swatches online. I finally convinced myself that I didn't need it by the time it first became available on the site for a day before it sold out, but couldn't stop thinking about it. In the end, as soon as the entire collection was released on the Sephora site, I added it to my cart and didn't look back. And you know what? I don't regret it!

The palette comes with 20 eyeshadows, which they have shown on the back of the outside packaging. (Also, again with the cool barcode LOL)

And here's a quick shot of all the colors before I go more into detail on all of them. I think that it's important for me to mention right off the bat that I have never been a fan of Sephora brand eyeshadows. They're very hit or miss, a lot of them have been chalky, not very well pigmented, etc. They recently reformulated their shadows and must be using that same formula for these palettes because they are waaaay better quality than what they used to be!

Let's start with the first row:

Blue Lagoon - shimmery bright blue

Scuttle - shimmery champagne

Flounder - matte pale yellowed peach

Sebastian - matte pale salmon

Flotsam - shimmery deep navy blue

These are swatched with no base. I was actually really surprised with their pigmentation. Blue Lagoon needs a little building up but is an awesome blue, and Flounder and Sebastian need a good base (must be the matte formula) but other than that, good first row of colors!

Sea Shells - shimmery off-white

Les Poissons - shimmery light brown

Caspian Sea - shimmery deep teal

Your Voice - shimmery silver

Unfortunate Souls - matte pale greyed lavender

Caspian Sea is probably my favorite color out of this palette. It is so bright and vibrant, a must for anyone who loves teal. Unfortunate Souls is the most troublesome out of the palette, pigmentation wise - it's a bit chalky and hard to work with but again it's a matte, so I think it may just be that a lot of their matte shadows are difficult to work with.

Atlantica - shimmery pale lime

Fins - spring green with blue and gold shimmer

Sick of Swimmin' - iridescent blue/purple duochrome

Ursula - mauved plum w/slight shimmer

Sha La La - matte wine

This row is nothing but gorgeous. The 2 greens are really unique - Atlantica reminds me of Urban Decay's "Freak" eyeliner shade. Sick of Swimmin' is an awesome duochrome that works well as a highlight or over a really dark shadow to give it more dimension. Sha La La is the only matte that doesn't give any trouble in this palette.

Triton - shimmery yellow-toned gold

Wanderin' Free - shimmery peach champagne

Jetsam - deep shimmery forest green

Sea Witch - shimmery bright purple

Treasures Untold - shimmery cream with gold sheen and pink sparkles

These are really nice shades as well - Sea Witch is an awesome purple. Very pigmented and bright! Treasures Untold is REALLY hard to explain - it's a cream color but has a gold sheen to it, and pink sparkles if you look real close. Pretty awesome.

Every shadow in this palette surprised me. I honestly thought I would be disappointed in it after reading/seeing certain reviews online. And like I said, I didn't expect much out of Sephora brand shadows going into it to begin with. I found that most of the matte shades are more difficult to work with, but building them up over a good base allows them to reach full potential. Other than that, I like the palette far more than I anticipated and I'm really impressed with it. The standout shades for me are Caspian Sea and Fins. I am a huge color lover and these are two that I don't really have dupes for in my collection. They are richly pigmented and so bright, really intense. Very happy I went with my gut and ended up picking up this little gem!

You can see my video about this here: