Essence recently launched four gorgeous eyeshadow palettes all in a city theme. Paris, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro and New York. I couldn’t make up my mind on which I liked the most so I just got all four to try them out for you!

This is what Essence says about the palettes:

These eyeshadow palettes are sure to appease your wanderlust and convince with their highly pigmented colours. Inspired by the trendiest fashion capitals of the world, the powdery eyeshadows reflect the respective lifestyles. Salut Paris comes with velvety textures in rosé shades, G’DAY SYDNEY stands for earthy tones with metallic effects, Hello New York presents nuances ranging from grey to mauve in partially iridescent textures and Ola Rio offers a selection of metallic shades with a glowy finish that are inspired by the colours of the Brazilian sunset.

I love the theme and design of these palettes. You can find a color story for your favorite city! Well.. is one of these four cities is among your favorites, haha.

Every city is perfect for it’s own shade selection. Rio: bright and warm, Paris: soft and romantic, New York: cool and modern, Sydney: bright and colorful.

Essence G’Day Sydney eyeshadow palette

We are seeing blue, green and brown inspired by the sea, grass and cliffs. This is the palette that can be used to make the most fun eye looks.

The mattes in this palette al alright, the brown shade (fourth from the left) is actually pretty creamy and blends well. The shimmery shades are not that intense but very pretty anyway. The formula is creamy overall.

Essence Salut Paris eyeshadow palette.

This palette has a more romantic vibe going on with the soft and pink shades. Downside of this palette to me is how similar all the shades are especially the matte shades. And also, what kind of shades are the two in the top left corner? Not sure when I would ever use that kind of a weird shade.

The dark mattes are nice, the light mattes are chalky and not so nice. The shimmer shades are actually quite beautiful, especially the two light pink shades.

Essence Hello New York eyeshadow palette.

This palette is all about the modern buildings in New York City.

The dark mattes are of great quality: dense, creamy and smooth. The light blue shimmer is such a unique shade.

Essence Olá Rio eyeshadow palette.

This palette could’ve been such a gorgeous palette but instead the shades are pale and boring with just two gorgeous pops of colors.

This palette does have the most gorgeous swatches though. The two light mattes are a no for me but all the other shades are gorgeous, smooth and pigmented well.

Swatched the shades look way better and colorful than in the pan.

For this look I used the Bonjour Paris eyeshadow palette. The mattes are easy to blend but they do fade quick when blended meaning that you have to build them up and be patient while working on it. The shimmery shades work best when applied with the finger and are nice, but nothing special.

I feel like ‘nice but nothing special’ is the verdict on all four of these palettes. I love the theme and color stories but I think every palette has a couple of misses in the matte shades and could’ve been way more amazing.

I am impressed with the shimmer shades though because of their pigmentation and shine. However, some of the shimmery shades faded rather quickly and loose the brightness that is always important for me. You can see in the look I created that I used a bright and light shade on the eyelids but it looks like it already faded a bit.

If one of the palettes has a new color story for your collection than it is fun to pick up the palette. However, I don’t think the palette would add something to your eyeshadow collection if the shades aren’t new for you. Fun and nice, but not of amazing quality.