Catrice California in a Box Bronze & Blush Palette

Catrice again launched a ton of new products for spring/summer 2018 and this time they also included some interesting palettes. This one is an all-in-one type with two blushes, two bronzers and a highlighter, all in warm, summery tones. As far as Catrice powder products go, they are usually great quality, especially their blushes, but this palette didn't quite convince me. However, most of my fellow bloggers like it, so I'm in the minority here.

Texture: Quality of the powders varies in palette. The top left coral blush is the second best quality here, but that's mostly because of the shimmer which is finely milled and has a highlighter effect. Blush has a good pigmentation, but it's a bit harder to blend than their Defining and Illuminating blushes (both discontinued). The second blush which looked a lot more my colour than the coral one, disappointed me with its pigmentation. When I tried to swatch it the first time there was no colour on my finger, but after I used the brush once, it became better. Still pigmentation is the weakest in the palette and it needs to be build up on the cheeks. Both of the bronzers have a good pigmentation, especially the right one, but they've got that patchy, powdery formula that's difficult to apply nicely and blend, so it can look muddy on the skin. But all four powders are perfectly useful if you dedicate more time to blending. Highlighter is a completely different story than the rest of the palette. It's a soft, very pigmented metallic formula with a great colour pay-off and a strong glow on the skin. Not all shimmer is finely milled, but most is. 

Like I said a lot of my fellow bloggers like this palette and say it works for them (check reviews of Beautysaur and Memento Mori), but the reason why I think it should be better is not just because I know Catrice is perfectly capable of making great powder products, but also because their (blush) competition, L'Oreal's Infallible Blush palette, has so much better formulas and for 3 € more (again you get five shades, but all are blushes). The matte shades in those palettes are similar to old Catrice Defining blushes.

Shades:

Top Left: an orange coral shade with shimmer. Similar to Wet n Wild Apri-cot in the Middle

Top Right: a matte peachy-pink shade. Only a little bit pinker than the left shade even though it looks more muted and pinker in the pan.

Bottom left: a matte medium tone bronzer with a yellow undertone. Reminds me of most Essence Sun Club bronzers.

Lower right: slightly darker matte bronzer than left and with a red undertone. It's better for my skin tone than the left and it reminds me of Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Soft Matte bronzer due to the red undertone.

Highlighter: a gold metallic highlighter.

Top left blush with the highlighter.

The palette packaging is a classic Catrice quality that's perfectly ok.

Price and availability: Palette costs 10.49 €. I'm not sure, but I think this is one of the items that might only be sold on the large 2 m stands. Those who don't have Catrice in their country can buy it online on kosmetik4less.de.

Apart from the highlighter I'm not a fan of this palette. Catrice can and has done better, especially when it came to matte textures. But it's far from a useless palette and you just need more effort for a nice application. The shades are also perfect for someone with a warm undertone.

Have a great day!

*PR product