Review: Zoeva Caramel Melange Eyeshadow Palette

I've expressed my love for Zoeva eyeshadow palettes many times. So far I find them to be the best eyeshadow palettes out there and they are still not as expensive as some other brands, although they constantly raise their prices. When I saw that they came out with two more palettes, I knew I had to get Caramel Melange. It's the warm variation of shades that I'm lacking in my collection.


As with most Zoeva eyeshadow palettes, this one too comes in a paper box packaging. I find it sleek and great for storage, but not the best for traveling with. It also comes with a sleeve that you put over the palette to keep it securely closed and tight.

Caramel Melange has combination of warm chocolate brown and metallic gold print. It seems similar to Cocoa Blend, but a lighter and warmer variation which is also what it essentially is on the inside.

In it is 10 eyeshadows with 1.5 grams of product in each eyeshadow. Price on Zoeva site is 22.50€. I usually get it from Douglas site (Austria) where they cost 21.95€ and if you wait for a descent discount, you can get it even cheaper.


Caramel Melange is definitely a warmer addition to classic Cocoa Blend. It has 6 matte shadows and 4 shimmery. Actually 3 shimmery and one is almost metallic looking. There is a lot of light and medium warm neutrals and also some warm pops of color. 






Wax Paper - warm matte light beige shade. It's yellow toned and perfect for all over the lid for fair skin tones or as a matte inner corner highlight.
Universal Delight - warm matte light tan shade. It's the best blending shade for fair to light skin tones, because it's really light.
Aftertaste - warm matte medium orange toned red. Perfect shade to warm up the look or use it straight on the lid. It looks intimidating in the packaging, but looks soft enough on the skin.
182°C - warm shimmery light orange with gold shimmer and gold sheen. Gorgeous light orange for the lid.
Liquid Center - warm shimmery medium metallic copper shade. It almost has a bit of rose gold tone to it. It's my absolute winner. This looks like a proper liquid metal on the eyes. 


Alchemy - warm matte medium red toned brown. Yet another one of those medium shades that is perfect for warming up the crease and defining it.
Start Soft - warm medium orange toned brown. This one is similar to Alchemy. Alchemy is redish brown while Start Soft is orange brown. It's again my favorite crease shade for a warm look.
Finish Sensual - warm medium cocoa brown. It's the most neutral looking brown in the palette, but it still has a definite warmth to it. Perfect for a more neutral crease,
Almost Burnt - warm shimmery light yellow gold. One of those shades that can almost look metallic, but not as metallic as Liquid Center. It's a great pop of color on the lid.
Edible Gem - warm matte dark purple brown base with sparse gold shimmer. This looks much more purple in the packaging, but on me it looks like a slightly purple tinted brown. It's still warm toned. The shimmer in it is really sparse and I don't get why the shimmer was necessary. 


In general all these shades have a slightly wet texture to them, which makes them really buttery with almost no fallout. All matte shades (Wax Paper, Universal Delight, Alchemy, Start Soft, Finish Sensual) except Aftertaste have a really lovely buttery formula. Aftertaste it's the only one that feels drier once you swatch it which also means that you can build it up or sheer it down.

182°C and Almost Burnt both have very buttery formula and amazing pigmentation. Liquid Center is the most buttery shade of them all. It almost feels creamy once you swatch it and it has the most incredible pigmentation. Edible Gem is again on the dry side of matte shades like Aftertaste. It has the most fallout, but good pigmentation.

In general these all have amazing pigmentation. Matte shades are definitely comparable to matte shades from Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar palette. The only difference is that sometimes some Too Faced mattes feel even more silky buttery to the touch. Shimmery shades are a lot more pigmented than those from Too Faced. Liquid Center reminds me of Colourpop Super Shock Shadow in Game Face. They almost have the same texture to it, but Liquid Center is opaque in one swipe while Game Face needs to be build up because of sheerer formula.

They are really long lasting. I can wear them for the whole day with no getting into the lines and very minimal fading. I should state that I always use eye primer underneath. Otherwise my lids get too oily for any eyeshadow.

I also compared some shades. 

Wax Paper (Zoeva Caramel Melange) - Bitter Start (Zoeva Cocoa Blend)

Essentially they look identical. Wax Paper is a bit lighter and more yellow toned while Bitter Starts is just slightly darker and more rose toned.

Starts Soft (Zoeva Caramel Melange) - Substitute For Love (Zoeva Cocoa Blend)

Starts Soft is darker and more redish orange based while Substitute For Love is lighter and more yellow toned.

Alchemy (Zoeva Caramel Melange) - Freshly Toasted (Zoeva Cocoa Blend)

I wanted to compare these two, because they both looked red toned. It turns out Alchemy is a lot lighter and almost more orange red based while Freshly Toasted is a lot darker and a lot more brown but with a warm undertone.

Almost Burnt (Zoeva Caramel Melange) - Pure Ganache (Zoeva Cocoa Blend)

Almost Burnt is a very yellow gold while Pure Ganache is light copper gold and therefore more orange based.

Liquid Center (Zoeva Caramel Melange) - Game Face (Colourpop Super Shock Shadow)

Liquid Center looks more like a real copper shade with a bit of rose gold in it while Game Face is brown based copper and looks more orange toned. It also looks darker.

Finish Sensual (Zoeva Caramel Melange) - Mousse (Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar)

These two also look really similar, but have different undertones. Finish Sensual looks warmer and slightly more red toned while Mousse looks cooler and slightly more yellow toned. 


Here are also some looks made with this palette to give you a better idea how these look like on my NC15 skin tone. 

Gold

All over: Wax Paper
Crease: Universal Delight and Finish Sensual
Lid: Almost Burnt
Inner corner: Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Moonstone

Eyeliner: Clio Kill Black Brush Liner
Mascara: Maybelline Lash Sensational
Lips: Revlon Ultra HD Matte Lipcolor - Devotion





Orange

All over: Wax Paper
Crease: Universal Delight and Start Soft
Outer v: Aftertaste
Lid: 182°C
Inner corner: Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed Moonstone

Eyeliner: Clio Kill Black Brush Liner
Mascara: Maybelline Lash Sensational
Lips: Avon 3D Plumping Lipstick Cantaloupe





Matte

All over: Wax Paper
Crease: Universal Delight and Alchemy
Lid: Aftertaste
Inner corner: Wax Paper

Eyeliner: Clio Kill Black Pen Liner
Mascara: Maybelline Lash Sensational
Lips: Avon 3D Plumping Lipstick Truffle and Trend It Up High Shine Lipgloss 150






Smoky

All over: Wax Paper
Crease: Universal Delight and Finish Sensual
Lid: Edible Gem
Inner corner: Wax Paper

Eyeliner: Clio Kill Black Brush Liner
Mascara: Maybelline Lash Sensational
Lips: Essence Lipliner 06 Satin Mauve, Avon 3D Plumping Lipstick Mad For Mauve and Kiko 3D Hydra Lipgloss 27 Pearly Lavender





Copper

All over: Wax Paper
Crease: Universal Delight and Start Soft
Lid: Liquid Center

Eyeliner: Clio Kill Brown Brush Liner
Mascara: Maybelline Lash Sensational
Lips: Avon 3D Plumping Lipstick Cantaloupe






If you're searching for the right Zoeva palette for you, you can also read my reviews of other two palettes that I own.



I can't recommend you Zoeva eyeshadow palettes enough. The price is still much better than other high end brands and you get an amazing quality of shades. It's just the matter of choosing the right shade combination for your taste. I am really satisfied with all that I own and use them a lot. Cocoa Blend was my most used before I got Caramel Melange. Caramel Melange is warm lovers dream and an absolute must have to get if you already own Cocoa Blend because these two compliment each other well. Cocoa Blend is for those that prefer warm tones, but not all the way. It's also very neutral as far as shades goes. Mixed Metals is for you if you're searching for pops of color, but already have enough of neutrals.

My absolute favorite shade from Caramel melange is Liquid Center. The perfect metallic copper. I also adore Universal Delight, because it's one of my lightest warmest crease shades for blending. Starts Soft is my favorite for the actual crease, because it's warm and more orange toned. Finish Sensual is perfect crease shade for when I want something more neutral. I also adore 182°C and Almost Burnt as the perfect pops of color for the lid. The only shade that is unnecessary in my opinon is Edible Gem. I would much prefer a darker matte brown in its place or another great pop of color.

Amazing pigmentation, long lasting, great choice of shades and finishes and reasonable price. I highly recommend you to try one, if you're looking for good palettes that you'll use on daily basis.

12 comments

  1. Te paletke so moj lajf:), tako dobre so. Čisto se lahko kosajo npr. z Tarte. Odlična pigmentacija, nanos, obstojnost, zabrisevanje. Vse štima. Edina stvar, ki jo jaz extra pogrešam je OGLEDALO. Za to ceno bi ga skoraj že lahko imele. No če ga kaj bodo imele bo cena takoj 25 ur ali več :):):).

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    1. Se strinjam, so zagotovo v istem rangu kot večina dražjih palet. Jaz pa začuda ogledal nikoli ne pogrešam. Nekako jih nikoli ne uporabljam :). Je pa res, da je to zdaj že must have v vseh paletah. Imaš prav, potem bi takoj dvignili ceno...I can live without the mirror :D.

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  2. Aftertaste in Alchemy mi izgledata krasno :)
    Čeprav moram priznat, ko so postale malo bolj popularne sem bila nekaj časa prav obsedena z njimi, zdaj pa (čeprav nisem še nobene preizkusila) me je ta obsedenost malo minila :)
    Je pa še vedno luštno pogledat swatche na tvojem blogu :D

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    1. Ta oba sta odlična za warm crease look. Aftertaste lahko dodaš kam koli :D. Na začetku je bil res velik hype okrog teh palet. Meni so vsekakor vredne denarja. Zdaj pa samo upam, da ne bodo hitro novih izdali, ker si bom spet kakšno zaželela :).
      Hvala ;)

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  3. Predzadnji look mi je top :) Paletka mi že od vedno izgleda krasna, ampak ko vidim swatche se vedno ustrašim ker je toliko oranžkastih odtenkov (čeprav bi bili super za mojo barvo oči). Me čokoladna še vedno bolj mika :)

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    1. Hvala :) Imaš prav, na barvo tvoji oči bi ti ti odtenki res odlično pristajali. Čokoladna je malo bolj nevtralna in bi ti bila verjetno bolj všeč. :)

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  4. This is such a pretty palette! Amazing photos, swatches and looks. Love how in-depth you went in with this, if there was any ever doubt that I need this palette you just erased it. Thanks for sharing xxx

    ALittleKiran | Bloglovin

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    1. Thank you :).<3 It really is amazing quality and well worth the money.

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  5. Such an amazing eyeshadow. Loved your eyes.
    http://tipsoye.com/

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  6. Vse so videt naravnost čudovite in mislim, da so vse barve čisto tvoje. :) Jaz bi se vseeno raje odločila za Cocoa Blend, ker imajo bolj nevtralen podton. :)

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    1. Odtenki so res čisto moji. Obožujem taka topla senčila. Cocoa Blend je vseeno bolj nevtralna, imaš prav. Pa še malo bolj raznolik nabor je tam :).

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