What I'm Not Buying: Juvia's Place Saharan Palette

Juvia's Place recently released the Saharan palette, and just like everything else the brand has put out, it sold like crazy and is currently out of stock. 

But I won't be buying. 

It's no secret that I really love Juvia's Place. The Nubian 2 palette is a total favorite of mine, and that palette was really my gateway drug into using and loving colorful eyeshadow looks. I then purchased the Masquerade Mini and fell for that one as well. I don't think I have ever liked any eyeshadow look more than the ones I created with those two palettes. 

So when I heard that Juvia's Place was coming out with another palette, I braced myself. Because I knew I was going to like it, I knew it was going to be beautiful, and I knew that I was not going to buy it. 

And you may ask, "Why?" And really, it's because I just don't want any more palettes. And not only that, but if I am honest with myself—really, truly honest—I have to say that I don't like Juvia's Place matte shadows. The mattes are generally fine. They aren't as terrible as Morphe mattes, for example, but they aren't as good as the shimmers. And I find that really disappointing because Juvia's Place does color so well. So I love the color of the mattes, but I don't really like how they feel (dry) or blend. And while I am not a huge fan of the powdery mattes (like in the Lorac Pro or Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance), I like mattes to be a little softer than those from Juvia's Place. 

And the thing that I keep learning about palettes is that they really aren't that great of a bargain if you only like some of it. Knowing that the mattes won't be my favorite is enough to keep me away. But looking at the color scheme, I know I would only really love some of it. 

When I look at the swatches:

Photo: LivingDeadMakeup

I see several beautiful shadows that I already have or won't really wear. 

On the whole, the Saharan palette reminds me a lot, interestingly enough, of my Viseart Bijoux Royale:

Photo: Tempalia

Mixed with the Electric Palette:

Photo: Temptalia

Mixed with warm matte neutral shadows. 

A tactic that has helped me recently in making smart shopping decision is to stop looking at the palette as a palette and look at it as a collection of individual shadows. Seems obvious, right? Well, I think it's fair to say that is a practice that is not implemented all that often. So, looking at this palette, the most interesting shadows to me are the matte hot red-orange, the tarnished gold, and the shimmery dark pink. 

Other than that, there's a shimmery champagne (incredibly common), shimmery cranberry (common),  shimmery dark teal (not as common, but I have one in Bijoux Royale and the Electric palette), shimmery icy white (incredibly common), matte orange (common, especially as of late), shimmery light pink (very common), matte black (so common that most people hate them), and a matte tan/peach (likely the most common shadow). 

I've got the tarnished gold, dark pink, champagne, cranberry, dark teal, icy white, and light pink in Bijoux Royale. I've got the matte hot red-orange in the Electric palette. And I've got the matte orange, matte black, and matte tan/peach several times over. So I literally have everything in this palette, just not arranged in this specific palette. 

The Saharan palette is basically made up of very common shadows paired with a few less common shadows and packaged together in a manner than is uncommon. Juvia's Place shimmers are incredibly beautiful, so I can see how people might justify buying this palette because they want these colors in a foiled finish. But for me, I think it makes more sense to pick a few select colors that you know you will use and love often and buy singles in foiled finishes. Makeup Geek likely has duplicate shades for all of these shadows. 

And while the color scheme of this palette is mostly unique and pretty, I don't think it is incredibly practical for a lot of people to use on a daily basis. This kind of palette reminds me of the palette that you buy because you're bored with all the neutral palettes and you want something a little different. And so you buy it and you love it because the colors are so shiny and pretty and bold. But eventually you'll realize that it's challenging to wear an intense orange every day, and then the palette won't get a ton of use. 

This palette does have several positive attributes, however. First, it really is beautiful. It is pleasing to look at, which tells me that the palette was put together in a really smart way. When we see brands like Too Faced and Tarte come out with the same tired and uninspired palettes over and over again, it's truly refreshing to see something that deviates from that. Juvia's Place palettes also flatter a true myriad of skin tones, from deep to fair. They are not palettes that claim to be universally flattering when they really mean "universally flattering for light skin tones." They are truly universally flattering. 

I thoroughly enjoy the majority of shadows in my Nubian 2 and Masquerade Mini palettes, and I think Juvia's Place is a really exciting brand. The Saharan palette is interesting and beautiful, but I just already have all the colors. And while I think that the combination of colors as a whole is so unique, when I look at the individual colors, they are not unique whatsoever to my collection. When I factor in that I don't really like the matte formula, this palette is just a pass for me. So I will let it go and watch other people buy it and rave about it. But it would just be clutter in my collection. I don't need it, and I won't be buying.