I used to do makeup for a major department store brand and I've tried just about every brand and price range of shadows on the market. In comparison, the Bella Il Fiore line of eyeshadow palettes are just average, with comparable ones being sold for significantly less elsewhere. The colors are appropriate for a Sex Kitten look, but not so much if you just want a nice neutral everyday look. The combinations in the 3 palettes don't really seem to differ all that much, as they all concentrate around a floral theme which limits the range of colors these palettes contain (no blues, one green, one bronze then mostly various shades of pinks, plums, and purples). If you are trying to create a romantic evening "care package" for someone complete with lingerie, toys, and body products, then this might be a little something extra to to top it all off.

I received the "Annabelle" palette which contains eight, 3/4-inch diameter trays arranged in two rows of four colors each. They are packaged in a sturdy, paper/cardboard, flip-top package that has a magnetic closure and is very lightweight, measuring about 4 x 3.25 inches and 1/4 inch thick. It's a great size to throw in a makeup bag.

The shadow colors are all individually labelled and either have a sheen/frost (S) or matte (M) finish. The colors are: Periwinke (S), Lavender (S), Hyacinth (S-a burgundy), Lilac (M), Lily (frost), Daffodil (S), Autumn (bronze-S), and Bliss (gray-S). The Annabelle palette primarily has hues in the berry/plum family with just two neutrals: Autumn (a brownish bronze) and Bliss (a gray), both which could be dampened with a thin makeup brush dipped in water and used as liners. Here are some swatch pictures I took using primer (colors will appear richer) and without one. A Primer (a base) is great to have because it significantly helps to enhance the color as it "grabs" it, holding it in place, making it last longer, and creating less "fallout" (product powder) from flying around. The pigmentation of the shadows is average, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It just means they will show up, but they won't be too intense.



There's nothing special about the ingredients and thankfully there is no fragrance to them either that I noticed. The product does contain parabens, and for the record it's made in China, but the Bella Corporation is based out of Tulsa, OK. The company has a website ,which says their products are found in "fashion-forward boutiques and fine department stores nationwide, including Stanley Korshak, Henri Bendel and the Ritz Carlton Spas". Here is the full list of the ingredients:

I applied the colors with an inexpensive $1 eye primer (E.L.F.) and surprisingly, they stayed on my eyelids all day long without fading. I have drier lids to begin with, so I usually don't have to worry about my makeup fading quickly. At the end of the day, it was very easy to remove with a liquid eye-makeup remover.
An added bonus that would have benefited this palette would have been a small pamphlet showing some "looks" on where to put which colors.

I still feel the same about this product as I did when I reviewed it. And I haven't felt compelled to use it again, because as I said, the payoff wasn't that great and the colors seemed mismatched to me. A nice selection of everyday neutrals would have been much more useful.