Veracious Product Review: Aerin Kaleidolight Palette

As I sit here, I'm feeling pretty patriotic. I'm up at the crack of dawn with seemingly the entire nation watching the Canadian men's hockey team play for the gold medal. Win or lose, days like today work to swell up my national pride. Go Canada!

Olympics aside, I have a lovely makeup product to share with you today! I was at Holt Renfrew a couple of weeks ago, casually peeking at the new Spring offerings. When I walked past the Aerin counter, I literally stopped in my tracks. I'd never purchased anything from the brand and was never intensely interested in their previous offerings. But when I spotted the Kaleidolight Palette, I was instantly mesmerized! It's a unique multicolour face palette with chic packaging and a beautiful, feminine design.

Let's start at the beginning. The Aerin Kaleidolight Palette comes in a soft pink cardboard box with rose gold lettering.

The back of the box features multilingual instructions, which are brief, to the point, and allow you to take some creative license with the palette: "Apply all over face wherever a little light and colour are desired"

It also features a full list of ingredients:

 Upon opening the box, a pretty little pink pouch emerges:

Pulling out the contents of the pouch, a beautiful gilded metal compact is revealed. It looks stunning in the light! Chic, classic, and sophisticated.

The palette opens via a clasp in the front and features the Aerin logo:

Upon opening the palette, six beautifully geometric sections of colour are revealed, some smaller, some more robust in area:

The back of the compact includes a handy map of the shades in the palette:

As you can see, the palette has six slots and five unique shade, as one is doubled. The five hues are:
 
Lavenderlight, a pale, slightly warm lavender pink aimed at brightening the skin
Bronzelight, a mid-tone bronzy brown for contouring or adding serious warmth
Nudelight, a neutral face powder, to balance the more pronounced shades in the palette
Radiantlight, a lighter shimmery golden brown for a sun-kissed glow
Roselight, a warm rosy pink for a pop of colour

The unique thing about this palette is that you can use each shade separately for isolated effects, or you can swirl all five shades together for an overall glow. Quite versatile!

Here are swatches of the five shades on my inner arm (NC15 skin tone):

(L-R): Aerin Kaleidolight Palette shades in Lavenderlight, Bronzelight, Nudelight, Radiantlight, and Roselight

As you can see, all of the shades offer a satin, glowy finish that provide radiance without noticeable shimmer or glitter. I've swatched the shades quite heavily above, but they can also be applied with a lighter touch for a sheerer effect.

Here are some shots of me wearing all of the shades from the Kaleidolight Palette. The only makeup products I'm wearing in addition to the palette are foundation, powder, brows, mascara, and lipstick. The rest of the look is all Kaleidolight!

I first applied Nudelight lightly all over as a setting powder for my foundation. It's a tad dark for my NC15-20 skin tone, but worked when applied with a light hand. I then applied Lavenderlight all over my lid as an eye shadow and Bronzelight in the crease to add some definition to the eye look.

I then applied a tiny bit of Bronzelight as a contour underneath my cheekbones. Next, I swept some of Radiantlight up my cheekbones, onto my temples, along the top of my forehead, and down the bridge of my nose as a glowy bronzer.

I finished the look with a pop of Roselight on the apples of my cheeks for a rosy flush.

I felt like my skin was glowing, which was such a welcome feeling given what a bleak, dreary winter we've been having. It was as if summer had visited!

So you've seen the palette in action; now for a full breakdown of the ups and downs of Kaleidolight:

Pros:

• Chic, sophisticated, sturdy packaging with a unique, eye-catching design
• A beautiful selection of shades that coordinate incredibly well together
• Each shade leaves a subtle, satin glow without any hint of obvious glitter
• Incredibly versatile- outfits face, cheeks, and eyes effortless. A time-saver for sure!
• Sheer, but buildable formulas allows you to wear the shades subtly or more intensely
• Would be perfect year-round for those with medium skin tones and a wonderful summer palette for those with fairer skin

Cons:

• Some of the shades are a touch too dark for my NC15 skin tone, particularly in winter. Bronzelight is quite a deep brown (more suited as an eye shadow than a bronzer for me) and Nudelight is more suited as a setting powder for those with NC25 skin.
• Some of the colour sections are particularly small (e.g., Bronzelight), which makes them difficult to apply with a larger, fluffier brush.
• At approximately $70, this is a splurge for sure!
• May not be the best choice for those with a very fair or deep skin tone

So there you have it!  My full thoughts of the Aerin Kaleidolight Palette. While it may not be a perfect match for my winter-pale skin, I think this will be the most lovely accessory during the summer months. It imparts a subtle, sophisticated glow and really limits the number of makeup products that you have to reach for. It has your powder, bronzer, blush, and eye shadow covered! I've yet to test the technique of swirling all five shades together, but I can imagine the effect will be lovely.

Overall, I think the Kaleidolight Palette has been a wonderful introduction to the Aerin line. It embodies the brand nicely, with its chic, elegant, and totally functional aesthetic. I'm very happy to have it in my collection!

Can you see yourself using and loving this palette? Any other favourites from Aerin?

Thanks for reading! xo