Jeffree Star is one of the harshest beauty critics on YouTube. He's also one of the most controversial figures the industry has ever known.
His new Androgyny eye shadow palette ($45, Jeffree Star Cosmetics) is finally arriving on doorsteps — and the beauty world has a lot of opinions about it.
While I'll never be able to sift through the internet's flurry of opinions about Jeffree-Star-the-person, I can see for myself what Jeffree-Star-the-brand is capable of. So, I embarked on a mission to answer one very important question: Is the Androgyny palette Revelist approved?
I'll start with the packaging. The box it comes in looks so much like a chocolate bar, it makes me hungry.
And like anything your order from Jeffree Star Cosmetics, it comes sheathed in pink bubble wrap with Star-branded tissue paper. Mine arrived with an Androgyny note card featuring that infamous tattoo-less photo, too.
But the palette itself is classic Jeffree pink with snakeskin texture and metallic gold details.
The unit is cardboard — it definitely doesn't have that heavy feeling Star loves in packaging — but it's sturdy. Unlike some of my other palettes, it doesn't feel like it's going to fly out of my hand at any given moment.
I also have to give props for that lifelike snakeskin texture. It looks unique and feels really special — affordable luxury, as J. Star would say.
Inside are 10 new shades of eye shadow, in two finishes: matte and metallic.
As Star always does in his reviews, we'll compare the performance of this product to the brand's own claims. Jeffree Star Cosmetics' description states: "The Androgyny palette is our version of a "neutral" palette. Endless possibilities to create and explore. Experience our 2 finishes: super mattes and metallic. 10 jaw-dropping shades. Extreme pigment."
**EXTREME PIGMENT**
The brand is setting a high bar. Let's keep that in mind, shall we?
Here's every shade in the Androgyny palette, swatched on my arm.
They look a little different than in Jeffree's reveal — but there's only so much you can learn from swatches, right?
To give you an idea of how each of the shades in Androgyny shades performs, I've ranked each color in the palette from best to worst.
Let's start the shade ranking.
10. Swallow
Even on top of my favorite primer — Behind the Scenes by Lorac ($23, Ulta) — Swallow did not play as nicely as I wished it had. Despite my efforts with both dry and wet packing brushes, the pigment simply wouldn't build to the level I wanted. On the bright side, there was no fallout, but it was also difficult to blend.
Also, fair warning: this blue is SO intense, it can stain a bare lid. Primer, please!
9. Military
Military's pigment needed a lot of layering to achieve this opaque green. It was easier to blend than Swallow, but it was still really hard. Thankfully, there was little fallout.
8. Poison
Even though they look really different in the pans, Poison looks nearly identical to Swallow when applied to skin. Poison, however, was VERY pigmented — so much so that it took some muscle to blend it out.
7. Frosting
On my arm, Frosting swatched stunningly opaque and shimmery. On my eye, it was another story — even with a wet packing brush, I couldn't get this color to build to full opacity. Even Lipstick Nick, the makeup artist who created the looks for Jeffree's Androgyny campaign, had to wet this shade with setting spray and pack it on with her finger to get it to pop.
On the bright side, it blended really easily. This would also make a nice, sheer highlighter.
6. Androgyny
Androgyny is a really unique shade — it isn't purple, isn't red, and isn't brown, but it's totally gorgeous. The fallout was minimal, the pigment was sheer but buildable, and blending was time-consuming but not life-ending. The color is great, but the formula wasn't as good as I wanted it to be.
5. Dominatrix
This rusted brown was gorgeous. It was opaque without any layering, and there wasn't much fallout. Blending, however, was still difficult — you COULD get it there, it just takes work. But the result was *so* worth it. I could wear it just like this by itself for an easy neutral smokey eye or just pop it in the crease for daily wear.
4. Safe Word
While Safe Word had more fallout than average, it also brushed away really easily, so it doesn't matter. It glided onto my lids like butter, and blended out in seconds flat. Added bonus: It works as a base for other shadows and by itself. A true classic.
3. Fetish
I was very intimidated by this bold red, but once I played with it, I knew everything was going to be just fine. Seriously bright, and much easier to blend than the other shades, Fetish has me sprung. I felt bolder and brassier upon the first pat of my brush.
2. Deja Vu
I knew Deja Vu was going to be awesome — and I was correct. This metallic burnt-orange was opaque in a single swipe with my brush, and I had none of the blending difficulties that I had with the hyper-pigmented mattes. There was quite a bit of fallout that I had to be careful not to spread, since it IS so blendable; using a fan brush to remove it is your best bet.
1. Charm
I don't like orange *anything,* but I lived and died for Charm. Just one pat of a packing brush made me gasp, because this shade is BRIGHT. You could spot me from space it's so bright, but it blends so nicely that it doesn't look crazy intimidating. There was some fallout in the pan, but none of it landed underneath my eye.
10/10 would wear everywhere/anywhere.
After wearing each shade individually, I tried using a few of them together in a multi-color look. I accidentally discovered my new go-to in the process.
That cat eye is thanks to Front of the Line Pro Liquid Eyeliner in Navy by Lorac ($23, Ulta), by the way.
Like, COME THRU, DUSKY SUNSET.
Here, I outlined my crease with Safe Word, packed my entire lid with Charm, blended Deja Vu into the outer corner, put just the slightest amount of Fetish in the crease, and swiped a little Frosting in the inner corner.
I even gave Swallow a second chance on my lower lash line and was kind of living for it.
SO, is Jeffree Star's Androgyny palette Revelist approved? YES IT IS.
Would I have loved to pay less than $45 for it? Yes. Have I paid more money for worse products, though? Absolutely.
Price point aside, this palette offered me the fun and creativity my makeup routine had been missing. The palette itself is approachable, rather than intimidating — which is really important for eye shadows this bright. Despite the fact that some of these shades didn't deliver the intensity promised by the brand, the shades that did were SO awesome, they totally made up for it.
Overall, I give this palette three and a half Jeffree Stars out of five.
I'm slightly shaken, but I could be more SHOOK.
Did you get the Androgyny palette? What did YOU think?
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