Am I Rhapsodized by NYX’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” Palette?

By Wendy Larson

Courtesy of NYX Cosmetics

NYX Cosmetic’s Bohemian Rhapsody eyeshadow palette is one of the 4 new shade selections in their Runway Collection.  

I was pretty psyched to get to play with this one because of some shade similarities to the Urban Decay Naked Palette (that I’m still lusting over) and I had my fingers crossed that this might be a more affordable and more accessible version.  Sadly, it’s not.

The palette itself is really no bigger than my phone, and has a really nice wide mirror that you can actually see your whole face in. There are 5 shimmer shades (ranging from a silver/grey to a copper) and 5 matte shades (ranging from a peachy flesh tone to black).

The best way that I can describe the consistency of the 5 shimmers is that they’re CHUNKY glitter.  They really do remind me of the way that some Urban Decay shadows look like —  they almost have a grit to them. The fall out is incredibly bad with these shades, I ended up with more product on the tops of my cheeks than I actually did on my eyelids. However I can deal with fall out, fall out is a fact of life with shimmery eyeshadows, what I disliked the most about the shimmery shades was that they are really sheer and don’t have much pigment.  In fact they wouldn’t even show up on camera when I tried to takepictures of the swatches.  What you end up with ranges from glowy shimmer to glitter-bomb.  They do really well when applied wet, and take on a metallic, though still sheer effect.

The matte shades fared much better than their sparkly sisters.  They are pretty nicely pigmented and blend like a dream.  I’ve had a tough time finding matte shadows that don’t go on patchy and these do the trick perfectly.  The mattes are just right for a work-appropriate daytime smoky eye.

I did find an alternate use for the shimmers as cheek highlighters. The matte shades stay put all day (used over UD Primer Potion) however the shimmers migrate at about 4 hours in and are completely missing at about 6 hours in. Both of the formulas, when applied wet didn’t get that crust that some shadows develop when mixed with water and when wet last approximately the same time.

Overall rating:  C+  

While I found the matte shadows pigmented and bendable, the shimmers were a big disappointment. They just don’t have the pigment I was hoping for. This would be a great palette if you’re looking for a daytime smoky look or if you’re on the hunt for blendable mattes.  This also isn’t speaking for all of the shades in the full Runway Collection.  I know Sheila is having great results from the Velvet Rope palette, so I think the collection as a whole is worth a look.  

The Runway Collection palettes retail for $9.75 and can be found anywhere you buy NYX products, like Ulta, Nyxcosmetics.com, or Cherryculture.com.

*Product provided for consideration.