Mecca Max Sugar Queen Eye and Face Palette

Where I got it

Obviously, I got this from Mecca Maxima but I ordered it online as soon as it was available. I already have and love their precious palettes – Beauty Queen and Desert Queen. This one is the Sugar Queen palette and it was the standard $42. These palettes are limited edition so they won’t stick around forever. UPDATE: I ordered this on 20/8/19, pretty much the day it was launched, and it is still available right now (11/10/19). The palettes would be available for at least 2 months.

What I got

This is the Mecca Max Sugar Queen Eye and Face Palette (30g product in total). Get your sugar fix with the sweetest palette in town! This cruelty-free and vegan multi-use palette can be used as eyeshadow, highlighter or blush. Featuring a combination of sweet pastels, wearable neutrals, versatile mattes, strong brights, shimmery marbles and metallic shades in 15 over-sized pans. 

How I find it

The packaging and material of the palette are exactly the same as the two palettes before, this is in a candy pink theme with the M patterns in this shade of dark candy pink. It comes with a generous mirror and this time all the shades have names (previous two did not).

When I opened it, I noticed that there are similar themes to the last two in terms of finishes and textures. There are 4 matte shades, 5 marbled metallic shades and 6 metallic shimmery shades which makes a total of 15 shades. The colour story of this palette is candy, hence the pinky and red tones. There’s always a special shade in each palette and this time it is the shade “soda” which is a medium blue and green marble shade.

I swatched a couple of shades immediately when I opened it because I couldn’t resist. I picked the shades up on my fingertips and it looked amazing! Pigmented and buttery. But the strangest thing happened when I tried to swatch all the shades on my arm for blog photos…

I got home and opened up the palette again for swatches. On the first row, I started from left to right. I didn’t run into any issues until “rush” which is a deep metallic maroon/red shade. The texture felt really soft and buttery on the finger and surely enough my finger picked up a good amount of product. But when I tried to swipe it on my arm, it did not transfer properly. There was a hint of maroon-red on my arm (see photo above), but the metallic goodness was still on my finger! I tried a couple of times again and again and the same thing happened. The product stuck to my finger refusing to let go until I wiped it off on a piece of tissue paper!

 

I have no idea what happened and what it means, but shade “syrup” and “cherry” we’re almost doing the same thing. Beside the pigment not transferring, when I swiped it down my arm, I could see some pilling (see photo below – syrup and cherry). It was almost like I was doing a cream peeling on my skin! I tried wiping my skin clean with a makeup remover wipe and then wipe it dry with a tissue paper, still did the same thing. I also tried washing my arm entirely and drying it off then try swatching it again, still the same!

None of the other textures did this, the matte shades are exceptionally beautiful and the marble shades as well. I was a little disappointed but I really wanted to know what went wrong? Is it a dud?? I did notice that these metallic shades looked like they were puffing up a little bit, it looked like it wasn’t pressed down fully.

I tried applying the problem shades directly to my eyelids with a brush and it actually transfers properly, despite a little patchy and chunky if I pick up too much. Just need to make sure you take time to blend it out. In this photo, I used the shade “rush” all over the lid area and a bit of “taffy” to the centre towards the inner corner. Then a dab of “cake” to the very inner corners. The shadows stayed on my eyes very well with no fallouts and not much creasing at all.

Overall

Out of the 3 palettes I have from Mecca Max so far, this is my least favourite in terms of texture and quality. I like the shades, but I’m thinking some of the shades are getting a little repetitive. There are some shades that are really similar and there seems to be not enough different matte shades to create different looks. I’ve put them side by side below so you can see…

 

If the next palette that comes out has similar shades, I will probably not buy it, but if it has more blues, greens, purples or browns, then I might consider it.