Planet Revolution - My Honest Review
Back in June, Revolution Beauty released (yet another) new brand Planet Revolution. As someone trying to be more conscious of their plastic waste, this whole collection seemed right up my street. After spending a few weeks going back and forth on deciding if I really needed anything - I eventually caved it. After spending a while playing around with the products, here are my thoughts.
Planet Revolution Colour Pot Cheek & Lip Tint “Coral Pop” - £6
I really don’t want to start this blog post off negatively, so let’s start with the positives: I love the packaging, easy to use and easy to recycle the glass pot. It also comes with a very generous 12g, which should last absolutely ages.
Unfortunately, there are also a few not so great points, the biggest one being how oily it is. Unscrewing the jar for the first time, I noticed the liquid sat on top of the product. This appears to be oil, and it’s definitely best to wipe this off before using it for the first time. My biggest complaint is that it doesn’t dry down but stays tacky.
As you can see from the swatches above, this product is pigmented. This can either be a good thing or not, depending on the type of cream blusher you like. Personally, I found this just a bit too pigmented to make work without looking too much; in hindsight, this is my fault for buying one of the deeper shades (one of the problems with not seeing them in-store). Next time I will use a very light hand and see how it looks. I am determined to make this work because it didn’t disrupt my foundation at all and actually looked very pretty once I toned it down with some powder.
On another note and maybe just something that bothered me, but when I think of “Coral”, I think of an orange or red based pink; the colour of this blusher feels much more “Raspberry” pink to me. I’ve swatched some of my other cream blushers for comparison - some of them are also called coral or described as it online.
It’s not a massive deal, but something worth noting before choosing your shade. I should also point out that the rest of these all dry down to a matte or non-sticky finish.
Overall, I think this is a pretty decent cream blusher, and had I got a better shade for my skin tone; I could see myself using this regularly.
Planet Revolution Multi-Use Colour Crayon “Orange” and “Dark Brown” - £6
These… I’m not a fan of. They are described as multi-use crayons and are advertised on their website for use on the face, body, hair and lips; however, their packaging just states eyes and face. I wanted to use the orange pencil for my lips - it took a question on Instagram for me to find out that they are safe to use around the mouth area. Kinda think that could have been made more apparent.
While I really appreciate the recyclability of this eyeliner (extra points for an aluminium cap), the product inside just isn’t very good. Unlike the pencil liners I’ve been used to over the past few years, this does not dry down but stays waxy.
Really great colours, I can’t fault them, but they just have zero staying power. Ten minutes after I applied the “Dark Brown” shade to line my eye, it had smudged everywhere. This was very noticeable and made me look as if I’d been stood out in the rain - to be honest, I think I’ve had other eyeliner hold up better in the rain!
While they are pretty useless for use on the eyelid, I will probably use the brown shade up in my waterline and maybe try tightlining. If I’m not worried about my makeup lasting that day, I might even try it as a brow pencil, although I worry that it won’t stay in place. I’ll also try using the orange as a lip liner - would not buy again, sadly.
Planet Revolution Revolutionary Solar Marble Eyeshadow Palette - £18
Now, this eyeshadow palette I was really looking forward to. Despite the number of colourful palettes I’ve bought in the past few years, I do like a good neutral eye look - I also have come to trust Revolution for making reasonable quality eyeshadow at a good price.
This palette from Planet Revolution is both cruelty free and vegan which is described as being made with “only essential ingredients”. The whole “clean beauty” thing is a bit of a buzzword at the moment; it doesn’t influence my purchasing, but I can see why some people would find that a plus. The most interesting thing to note from the packaging is it states that Shade 9 (the shimmer pink in the larger pan) is not safe for use in the eye area - not a big issue to me, but worth noting - for my skin tone, it would make a nice shimmering blusher.
Packaging on this palette is really important, as it feels like something potentially revolutionary (pun intended). Made from wood pulp, the palette is fully compostable once you pop out the mirror. Honestly, this blew my mind when holding the item in my hand. The palette’s quality seems good, and if you didn’t know differently, you would believe this was plastic.
Only complaint I could possibly have is with the mirror. I rarely use one inside a palette and think it would be even more special if the entire body was compostable with nothing left over - I remember Barry M removing the mirrors from their palettes not long ago.
On first swatching the shadows, it quickly became apparent that they are made with quite a dry formula. It’s not a smooth, creamy texture like many Revolution shadows, but feels slightly gritty and firmly pressed in the pan - I’m guessing this probably has something to do with them not being in metal pans. The shadows themselves are well pigmented, and the shimmer shades are foiled looking, packing a real punch with only one swipe. The third shade in is more green than the picture suggests; it’s just very reflective.
My favourite shade in the palette is number 10 (really wish they’d named the shades), a unique duo-chrome shadow that shifts from a deep chocolate brown to a shimmering green/gold - no picture I could take in any lighting would do it justice. The best way to see the difference is by looking between the picture of it in the pan, the first swatch picture (the one at the bottom of my arm), and the one above.
Testing:
My first play around with this palette ended in disaster. I’m not sure if I used the wrong base (Revolution Cut Crease Canvas) or whether the eyeliner I mentioned before just threw me off, but I didn’t like the way it looked. I was so not in love with how it looked; I didn’t even bother to take a picture.
After a few weeks off, I gave it another go - this time with e.l.f Putty Eye Primer, and things went a lot better.
I loved the way the look turned out. It was simple, not too over the top for the daytime, and that shade number 10 sparkled in the light. This whole look took like five minutes, and I felt happy leaving the house like that.
8 Hours Later
After 8 hours of wear, and I hated this palette again. Hate is a strong word, and I hate to say it, but I just can’t find a way to make this eyeshadow work. If this had cost me £5, I would have been able to get over its less than spectacular performance, but at £18, I know I could get something much better. I really appreciate the packaging and the colour story, and if the product inside had been good, it would have been game-changing.
I will keep playing around with the palette and trying different combinations to make it work, maybe even use some of the shades for highlight and blusher, but I was just expecting better.
My Verdict:
Overall, Planet Revolution is a good idea, and some parts of it are executed pretty well - but I can’t get over how disappointed I was with the formulas. This stuff isn’t bad; it’s just not as good as it could have been.
The blusher is reasonably priced, and you get a generous amount, so I give it a thumbs up (although I would probably buy a different shade in hindsight).
Pencils are a big no from me. I’ve much preferred the formulas Revolution have come out with in the past and kind of wished they’d just put that in a more sustainable wooden pencil.
And lastly, the palette. As much as I wanted to love this more environmentally friendly option, I’m just not sold. Like with the pencils, I wish they had used their good, standard Revolution formula in the new packaging.
Would I recommend Planet Revolution to a friend? Probably not - unless you can get it on sale.