The Essentials Palette
The Essentials Palette

I’m honestly a bit gutted by Clarins The Essential Palette. I really like Clarins as a brand and love what they do skin care, but The Essentials is, well, not essential at all.

The Essentials Palette
The Essentials Palette

It’s just all round meh. There aren’t any shades in here that anyone who likes a nude palette won’t have covered off about a million times already and the pigment isn’t that great either. Even allowing for the poor lighting of today, these colours completely lack any vibrancy or even any interest.

The Essentials Palette
The Essentials Palette

Clarins The Essentials Palette uses a wet or dry formula, so here are the shades wet. I didn’t find them at all easy to work with as wets and think the shades have all come out rather sludgy, with the exception of the gold colour. Initially, when wet, the colours take on a sheen but as soon as it dries, that disappears. And to get any colour intensity, you will have to wet them – which is messy and requires a brush clean between each application.

It looks absolutely beautiful, but doesn’t perform well enough for a £35 price tag in my view. And I do feel really sorry to say that. I honestly find it hard to believe that nothing a bit more creative and premium could not have come out of the Clarins NPD department – come on, it’s Clarins! And it’s Christmas – who wants a sludgy Yule?

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