Ariel Storylook eyeshadow palette by Sephora Review

As you may or may not know, Sephora has come out with several sets of collections modeled after Disney Princesses. First, there was Cinderella, then there was Jasmine. Then, news hit that the third and final collection would be Ariel from The Little Mermaid. 

As you may or may not also know part two: I have a Disney obsession. I was bummed that I missed the first two Sephora princess collections, but money just didn't permit for me to grab them. 

But Ariel is arguably my favorite princess. I have a mutual obsession with mermaids, so it only makes sense!

I knew from the start that I would need to get my hands on at least something from the Ariel collection. I immediately zeroed in on the large Storylook palette. 

See the story of the release and the rest of my review after the jump! 

Sometime in June, the Storylook palette became available for a very short time for VIB (Very Important Beauty Insiders) only! The internet was aflutter but before you could even whip out your credit card, it sold out. 

Reviews started leaking online, and it only cemented the idea that I really needed this palette. Now, normally I would feel very reserved about buying such an expensive makeup item. After all, I am on a budget! But I decided that my love for both mermaids and Disney/Ariel was a reason to justify spending the $55 on it. 

So the next few weeks were full of rumors and Sephora giving a vague return date for the Ariel palette- mid-summer.

Finally it came back online for good, and once again sold out very quickly. Sephora posted on their Facebook that the collection would be in stores the first week of August. 

I decided that since there is a Sephora near me, I would rather buy it in person. 

On July 26th, I got paid. A true, very lucky, coincidence happened when I decided to call Sephora while at work and see if they had gotten the collection yet. Of course, this is a full week before it was expected to land, so I wasn't expecting much. 

Imagine my surprise when the representative told me "We just got them in this afternoon! Would you like me to hold one for you?" I practically shouted "Yes!!!" 

I know that was long but I felt the need to tell how I got it. I know a lot of people were sad that it sold out so quickly on the website, and might not have had the chance to get it in store. I truly got lucky. I don't want anyone to feel bad because they couldn't get their hands on this, it was hard. With that said, there are quite a few selling on Ebay for semi-decent prices. I can't say for sure that I would pay the price on Ebay for this, but if you are an Ariel fanatic, it may be worth it!

Now, the review!

This is the second photoshoot that made me realize I am not spending enough time on my photos. But it's a learning process! I am applying everything I learn to future photoshoots :)

Ariel Storylook palette packaging

One thing's for sure, the effort that was put into the packaging is great! Above is the outer box. It has a silver "foil" type material that, as you can tell, was very hard to photograph! 

outside of Ariel palette

Inside the box is the actual palette. It is again adorned in beautiful silver metallic designs. Again, hard to photograph! Above Ariel it says "dare to dream"

Now, for the good stuff!

The tray of eyeshadow slides out from the box above with a small tab. Out comes a velvet tray with a corner missing to allow you to lift the eyeshadow pans out of the tray for ease of use. There is a plastic sheet that lays on top of the eyshadow to protect it from rubbing against the box.

Ariel palette

I know this is a funky angle but as you can see it comes with 20 eyeshadows, from matte to shimmery and glittery finishes. They have a good mix of neutral colors and "bold" colors. I myself am a bold colored type of person, but I can appreciate the neutral shades too!

The following are swatched WITHOUT primer. I did one row with primer and did not notice a big enough difference to do all of them. Of course, I would still always use primer before using any eyeshadow. 

row one of the Ariel palette

From left to right we have~

Blue lagoon, a gorgeous shimmering ocean blue with what a little bit of what looks like silver glitter. This is silky and pigmented, one of my favorites.

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Scuttle, a shimmery golden peachy tone. very silky again and quite pigmented for being a warmer, more neutral shade

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Flounder is a matte creamy pastel yellow. As you can see it did not show up well without primer. I don't mind so much because I don't think it's a shade I would wear much anyways.

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Sebastian is a matte coral-y peach shade. Like Flounder, it hardly showed up without primer. This could be an interesting shade to contour a lighter, more summery look with.

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Flotsam did not photograph well but it is actually a dusty black with a blue sheen to it in the light. When the light hits ,this is a great shade. Other than that, it just is a nice darker tone without it being overwhelmingly black.

second row in the Ariel palette

Row 2 is probably my favorite of the whole palette. Everything was nicely pigmented and applied decently. 

Sea Shells is a powdery off-white shimmer that applied very easily.
This could be a decent highlight shadow, perhaps below your brow or in the corner of the eye.
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Les Poissons Honestly I'm not sure what to call this shade. I have seen swatches where it looks mauve, but in my picture it looks like a more golden brown. I think it is actually more true to a soft shading color, and doesn't appear this shimmery golden in real life
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Caspian Sea is hands down my favorite. Can you blame me?
 It is a breathtaking teal that leans on turquoise shimmer that is bright yet versatile. It really is a pigmented shadow and by layering it over black eyeliner, white eyeliner, or other shadows, you could create a lot of beautiful looks
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Your Voice is a silvery white that is very shimmery and sparkling. It works as a decent highlighter if you are looking for shine.

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Unfortunate souls is a matte purple grey. I have seen swatches where, with primer and building it up, got a much deeper purple out of this. However I like it like this, just a dust of purple grey.

row three of the Ariel palette

Atlantica is a light shimmery seafoam green. Without primer and without attempting to build it up, it is a faint color. I could use it like this or build it up more to be more noticeably green. It would be the perfet highlight for a darker green look.

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Fins is one of the only ones that is noticeably glittery. It is an seaweed green with a lot of shimmer and sparkle. When on primer it is the same shade as Ariel's tail. This is one of the first ones that I felt fit the name to a T.

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Sick of Swimmin' is a pearly almost translucent color which layers beautifully with other colors, but isn't so strong on it's own.

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Ursula is a chocolatey purple. It isn't that shimmery and I find it to be quite bland without primer

Sha La La is a cranberry pink shade that should have been brighter, in my opinion. I love the color but I think it should have reflected Ariel's hair, since that is her signature. 

row four of the Ariel palette

Row four is another favorite of mine

Triton is a golden shimmer that is pretty pigmented and easily applicable, even without primer.

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Wanderin' free is a champagne shimmer, which I love. I love most champagne shades, they are my favorite neutral color.  It's a great highlighting shade

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Jetsam is, like the character, the counterpart to Flotsam. It is a charcoal with a green sheen instead of blue. This charcoal also leaned more green than black.  Like Flotsam, it is best when the light hits it

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Sea Witch is a great bright purple, and when used over primer and eyeshadow (either black or white) it becomes the exact color I think of when I think of Ursula the sea witch. This color is the main attraction in a post that will be coming up very soon in which I used only shadows from this palette

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Treasures Untold is a pale pink shimmer. It's not very unique but I still enjoy it, especially because the formula is pleasant

Over all I am glad I bought this. There are a few that aren't too impressive but there are also very unique and themed colors that I would not want to miss. In my opinion, it's a good mix of 'bold' bright colors, and neutral 'safe' colors, that I mostly only use for highlighting purposes. I also love how all of the colors are named after different elements of the beloved Disney movie.

Like I mentioned this palette has been very hard to get ahold of. You may want to try Ebay, because I don't know if Sephora will be restocking at all.

I can't wait to use this palette some more but I really want to save it for more special occasions since it was a pricey one. 

Did you manage to get your hands on something from the Ariel collection? Let me know! Also let me know if there are any colors that you want to see a look or a tutorial for, and I will put one together! I already have  few in mind ;)

Follow your bliss,

Ember Darling