Here’s the thing about the beauty universe, it’s always changing. And while some of the recent fads have been questionable to say the least, its only matter of time before they’re on their way out. We’ve all seen the trends shifting away from the warm, fiery shadows for some time now and it looks like we’re fully in the cool zone. There’ve been several taupe themed palettes this year and I’m betting that we’ll see more in 2021. The newly released Colourpop Stone Cold Fox Palette is one of the largest cool toned palettes released so far.
I know I said that I’m kinda over Colourpop’s palettes at this point, and I am. But I’m also digging the new taupe, silver, and gray color schemes and this palette looked like it had lots of it. Ok fine, it also went on sale 🤷‍♀️.
- Colourpop Stone Cold Fox Palette Overview
- Colourpop Stone Cold Fox Palette Review
- Cruelty-free and Vegan Status
- Where to Buy the Colourpop Stone Cold Fox Palette
- Final Thoughts
Colourpop Stone Cold Fox Palette Overview
The Colourpop Stone Cold Fox Palette is a a thirty color eyeshadow palette that retails for $34. There’s a total of 1.16 oz of product and the shadows are the smaller size that’s typically found in Colourpop’s premade palettes. The shadows come in a slim cardboard palette with the shade names printed above each shadow and there’s no mirror. The outside of the palette has a rubberized texture which I kinda like.
Colourpop Stone Cold Fox Palette Review
Color Story
Colourpop released the Bare Necessities Palette earlier this year which was the same format but a warmer brown color scheme. Stone Cold Fox seems like a sister palette, similar to how they had their Fame and Fortune palettes.
My first impression was that the palette is not nearly as cool toned as it looked online. While it’s a visibly cooler color scheme, there’s a lot more pink and mauve shades than I would expect.
To break it down by vertical rows, the first is an assortment of cool pinks and dusty mauves.
The second row is probably the warmest, it’s a selection of neutral browns and there’s one bronze shade.
Row three is pretty much all taupes and cool grays. Even the deepest shade is a very cool toned taupey brown.
The fourth row is a throwback to the classic smokey eye circa 2009. There’s a white, black, silver, gray and the oddball is a silvery bronze.
Row five is sort of a lighter take on row two. its It’s got a few cool matte browns and then a pale champagne and silvery rose gold.
The last row is kind of similar to the first. Again there’s a lot of mauvey undertones but the shades a slightly more neutral than those in row one.
Personally I like mauves and pink tones and I think the cool browns can be more flattering than straight up grays and silvers. What I would have maybe liked to have seen would be some plummy taupe shades and silvery lavenders. I think those would play nicely with the there colors in the palette and there’d be less repetitive shades.
Overall I think this is a good option for someone who normally wears warm shades and wants to transition to cooler colors without veering into icy, gray territory.
Shade Selection
In terms of light to dark there’s a good variety of deep shades for contrast, and a huge selection of mid tones. There’s two matte highlight shades and a few lighter shimmers so you shouldn’t have any problem creating balanced looks.
The matte vs. shimmer ratio is what I’m not too thrilled about. I like having a few options for contrast shades so I’m fine with the amount of deeper mattes.
My real issue is that in a palette of thirty shades only nine of them are shimmer, four are the weird matte with scattered sparkle, and the rest are basically matte. Like, I don’t mind having variety in transition shades but when I add them up there’s about eleven mid-tone mattes and I’m seeing lots of repetition. I would have way preferred had they swapped at least of few of the medium mattes or even the useless sparkle mattes for some gorgeous metallics.
All in all, there’s still enough of a range that I know I can create a variety of looks. This would work well as an all in one neutral palette that can go from day to night and can even be used for brows. There are a few different directions you can take, e.g. more mauve toned, neutral bronze, or taupe etc. so you can get several different versions of a neutral eye,
Formula
Lately, I’ve found Colourpop’s shadows (from their palettes) kind of hit or miss, especially compared to their singles.
The mattes all feel great, they’re smooth, soft, and nicely pigmented. The texture is fairly firmly pressed, there’s still some fallout with some of the shades but not too much.
The shades So Fine, I Dig It, Mystery, Magnetic Moon, Hard Place, and Babydoll are all sort of a standard metallic. Some are less intense like the shade So Fine which is slightly sheer but for the most part they’re all soft and evenly pigmented.
The two shades labeled Gneiss Guy and Caving In are sheer and kind of patchy in pigmentation and they’re embedded with scattered bits of sparkle. It’s almost like they’re trying to be topper shades but they’re more opaque than say, the Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadows.
Lastly are the shades Dreamful, Truffles, For Granite, and Play It Coal. They’re all that annoying matte formula embedded with random flecks of glitter. I’ve never been a fan of this formula and it’s beyond me why brand’s keep including it in their palettes. To me the glitter serves no purpose because it’s too disbursed to provide a sheen. It just ends up looking like you have bits of fallout in your matte shadow. The shades For Granite and Play It Coal in particular, were pretty patchy and didn’t apply evenly.
Swatches
Comparable Products
Stone Cold Fox kind of reminds me of some of the shades in Urban Decay’s Naked 2 Palette which has been discontinued.
Colourpop’s That’s Taupe Palette has a lot of crossover as well. Most the shadows in That’s Taupe have a comparable shade in Stone Cold Fox except for the shades Boa and Constrictor. Obviously it’s a much smaller selection of shadows but if you wanted an edited version of Stone Cold Fox, this would work well.
Colourpop Stone Cold Fox vs. Natasha Denona Glam Palette
There are some similarities between Stone Cold Fox and Natasha Denona’s Glam Palette. While they both contain a mix of cool browns, pinks, and taupe, the Glam Palette has several shimmers and bronzes that you won’t find in the Colourpop palette. There’s definitely not a dupe for each shade and there are some in the Glam Palette that have nothing comparable in Stone Cold Fox. Below, I’ve swatched any similar shades in Cold Stone Fox against the Glam Palette.
Bottom Row: Colourpop Stone Cold Fox Palette
Cruelty-free and Vegan Status
Colourpop is a cruelty-free brand. Both they and their suppliers do not test ingredients or finished products on animals, and neither do any third-parties. They don’t sell their products in countries that require animal testing by law.
The Stone Cold Fox Palette contains carmine and Colourpop does not list them among their vegan products.
Where to Buy the Colourpop Stone Cold Fox Palette | $34
- Colourpop – Free shipping on orders over $30. International shipping available.
Regardless of where you choose to purchase from, make sure to check if Rakuten (ebates) is offering cashback. Sephora offers cashback for anywhere from 2% to 8% so it’s definitely worth looking into. If you haven’t signed up for Rakuten yet, you can do so here, it only takes a minute and you’ll earn cashback every time you shop through their link. They also have an extension which I recommend installing, that activates cash back on all eligible websites with one click. It also scans for coupons.
Final Thoughts
Overall I think Stone Cold Fox is a decent palette. I like the variety of light to dark shades and I like that there’s a mixture of different cool toned color families. It’s not the most amazing formula but it’s workable and probably one of Colourpop’s better palettes. I was disappointed by how many repetitive shades there were particularly among the mattes and I would have preferred a wider variety of metallics instead.
If you’re looking for a palette that gives you a mix of mauves, cool browns, and some taupe this is an ok option, especially considering that there aren’t that many cool palettes to choose from. I do think we’re going to see a lot more brands putting out cool toned palettes in the near future so if you’re not so into this, there’ll probably be something better coming out soon.
Pros
- Good range of light to dark
- Good range of mid-tone and deep mattes
- Overall smooth and pigmented matte shades
- Nicely pigmented metallics
- Compact packaging
Cons
- Repetitive shades
- Includes weird mattes with specks of glitter
- Topper shades are a bit patchy
Thanks for reading, let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Bye now,
