Swatches: Nabla Wild Berry and Metropolitan Cutie Palettes

I bought these some time last spring out of curiosity to try a new brand and because each palette had a couple of shades that seemed like things I didn’t already have. Specifically, Venom, Alchemy 2.0, and Bucolic Baby were the shades that caught my eye from Wild Berry. Metropolitan didn’t call to me as much but in that one, Nothing Personal, and Alaska were the shades I thought would be unique to my collection. In this post I included comparison swatches for those shades in an effort to see if they were actually things I didn’t already have.

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• Incense – Nabla calls this formula “latex matte”. It is almost like a cream but not quite. When I swatch this, it has a chunky texture that I’m guessing is partly because of the sparkles and the emollients in it. The ingredients for this shade lists glass beads… maybe that is what the sparkles are in this. They aren’t as reflective/metallic as what you find in your usual shimmery shadows and any fallout I get is less noticeable. If I apply this over an eye primer that has more of a dry finish to it, the shadow doesn’t adhere as well, and chunks of it will fall into my lashes. It’s not really a big deal because it doesn’t stick to my skin much and brushes away very easily. Used by itself, it does have a somewhat unique texture/look to it. It is similar to a satin finish except what I get is a mostly matte base with what looks like frost. I guess it’s something like what ColourPop tries to achieve with their matte shades that have micro glitter in them but with a different type of texture and less fallout. Adheres best to bare eyelids.
• Venom – VERY easy to blend and blends evenly and smoothly. I can apply this and sheer it out as much as I want without it looking patchy or build it up to the same level of intensity you see in the pan. Works well with all types of brushes. No fallout.
• Bucolic Baby – There is something about this shade that just doesn’t quite do what I was hoping. It’s sheerer than I expected. The effect this has swatched vs on the eye is different. Swatched, it almost looks metallic but on the eye this is more subtle. Whatever you put this on top of will show through. Has an average amount of fallout for a shimmery shade, mostly the larger particles.
• Blackberry – looks much more like a deep brown in the pan but on the eye it is a muted deep purple. Almost like a bruise-y kind of purple. Applies a lot like Venom but, on my skin tone, could benefit from a transition shade. It blends out smoothly, it’s just incredibly dark on me. Almost no fallout.
• Alchemy 2.0 – Very little base color. Mostly blue shimmer. Less fallout than Bucolic Baby.
• Botanic Juice – Applies and blends about the same as the other two mattes. Could benefit from a transition. It is easy to over blend this where you lose whatever shape you’ve tried to create with it and muddy up the the areas where you maybe didn’t intend to apply the color. Looks a tiny bit brighter on the eye than it does in the pan.

• C1 from ABH Norvina Mini Pro Pigment Palette Vol. 2
• Jilted from UD Electric Palette
• Filtered from ColourPop Lilac You A Lot Palette
• Aubergine from Ace Beaute Flair Palette
• Amethyst from Huda Beauty Desert Dusk Palette
• Poet from Tati Beauty Palette

• A La Mode from ColourPop Making Mauves Palette
• Middle row / left shade Huda Beauty Nude Light Palette
• Bottom row / center shade Huda Beauty Neon Green Palette
• Center shade ABH Norvina Mini Pro Pigment Vol 1 Palette
• Giving from Natasha Denona Love Palette
• A5 from ABH Norvina Pro Pigment Vol. 4 Palette
• B4 from ABH Norvina Pro Pigment Vol. 4 Palette

• Daytrippin’ from ColourPop
• Earthshine from ColourPop
• A2 from ABH Norvina Pro Pigment Palette Vol. 4
• Top row / center shade from Huda Beauty Neon Pink Palette
• Bottom row / center shade from Huda Beauty Neon Pink Palette
• Top row / center shade from Huda Beauty Nude Light Palette
• Wavelength from Terra Moons Cosmetics
• Runts from Devinah Cosmetics
• Kazookles from Devinah Cosmetics
• Marshmallow Pillows from Devinah Cosmetics

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• Lord – Performs like the other mattes. Cooler toned brown
• Alaska – Sheerer than expected but very sparkly/glittery. I was expecting maybe a bit more color out of this. It’s supposed to have lilac/pink/aqua in it. I see the pink and what to me looks like blue. I do not see aqua. If it’s there it is very pale, nearly white. Reasonable amount of fallout, not too bad.
• Nothing Personal – Blends about as easily and smoothly as the rest of the mattes but doesn’t have the same problem of being TOO easy to blend. Stays mostly where I want it to. The only shade from both palettes that stains the skin. The stain it leaves behind is very faint though.
• Dissolution – Metallic bronze base with lots of noticeable silver sparkle. More metallic and smoother than most of the other shimmers. Less fallout.  Anomalia is the only other shade that has a similar level of shine and fallout.
• Anomalia – Most metallic shade of all in both palettes. Larger particles than what you usually see in metallic shades but still has nearly full opacity.

• Pearlised from Revolution Pro Night and Day Palette
• Sterling from Kat Von D Shade + Light Glimmer Eye Contour Palette
• Glacier from Kat Von D Shade + Light Glimmer Eye Contour Palette
• Diamond from ColourPop So Jaded Palette
• Daytrippin’ from ColourPop

• Slowburn from UD Electric Palette
• A1 from ABH Norvina Mini Pro Pigment Palette Vol. 1
• Top right shade from Huda Beauty Neon Orange Palette
• Peach Punch from Too Faced Just Peachy Mattes Palette
• Staycation from Makeup Geek

Wild Berry Look:

• Incense – Inner lid, crease
• Botanic Juice – Outer crease
• Blackberry – Outer lid, outer lower lashline
• Venom – Center of lower lashline
• Alchemy 2.0 – Center of lid

Metropolitan Look:

I used two shades from the ColourPop So Jaded Palette (CPSJ) just to start off with some sort of base. I like how light/sheer shimmery shades like Alaska look on the inner corner when applied over a matte skin-tone shade. These kinds of shimmery shades can exaggerate discoloration and dark circles without this step. Everything else is from the Nabla Metropolitan Cutie Palette.

• CPSJ My Precious – Inner corner, brow bone
• CPSJ Rose Quartz – Broadly in the crease
• Nothing Personal – Center of upper lid and lower lashline
• Love Resin – Inner crease
• Lord – Outer lid, outer crease, inner/outer lower lashline
• Anomalia – Center of lid
• Alaska – Center of lid

Wild Berry, Metropolitan + Sigma Bare Palette Look:

The purpose of this look was to use the rest of the shades I hadn’t used in a look from these palettes and also to give my Sigma palette another go before deciding whether to declutter it.

Wild Berry Palette:

• Botanic Juice – Inner lid/crease, outer corner
• Bucolic Baby – Center of lid, layered over black

Metropolitan Palette:

• Dissolution – Inner corner
• Nothing Personal – Used as eyeliner