Celvoke Voluntary Eyes

Celvoke started to pop up in my Insta feed in the spring of this year. Being a new kid on the (high-end) block, I was intrigued but wasn't ready to give the brand a try until I saw photos of their Voluntary Eyes (what a weird name!) shadow singles tester board. By the end of the summer, I gave in and picked up 06 Chocolate Brown, 07 Tan, 09 Roshenna, and 12 Dark Purple from the 24 colors available.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

These eye shadow singles come in a translucent gray plastic cases and the compact is sold separately. As usual, I skipped the compact. The compact box pictured above is for the Voluntary Eye Palette 05, which I'll review next. I prefer the singles in their cases so I can just pick out the colors I want at random. This is the reason I prefer clear cases such as those from Addiction The Eyeshadow, whereas with Celvoke I'd have to open each one to see the color inside.

This is going to sound harsh, but I actually regret my entire Celvoke purchase. No, it has nothing to do with the quality of the product. In fact, these eye shadows are fantastic! They're silky smooth, have zero fall-outs, and pigmentation is excellent as you can see from the below swatch photos. To me, they're indistinguishable from Addiction. There lies the very problem. 

May be it's just me, but now that I've tried a few Celvoke eye shadows, I honestly don't see why I would pick Celvoke over Addiction, especially when they're both at the same quality and price point. Take these eye shadow singles for example, Celvoke has 24 colors and Addiction has 99. Whatever color Celvoke has, Addiction can probably match it and then some. Addiction Ready To Wear Eye Palettes (unfortunately discontinued) get my vote over Celvoke's and I'll explain why when I get to that post. I also like that Addiction has a sheerer line of lipstick. Point is, it boggles my mind that they did all that work to create a new high-end cosmetic brand and yet not care enough to distinguish it from another high-end brand.

- 06 Chocolate Brown: shimmer, high intensity. To me, this color is more of a minky brown and isn't warm enough to be chocolate.

- 07 Tan: metallic, high intensity. A metallic tan, true to its name. This color isn't deep enough to be worn on the crease. It's better below the crease.

- 09 Roshenna: metallic, high intensity. A warm golden suede. I like this color below the crease too.

- 12 Dark Purple: shimmer, high intensity. A blackened eggplant. Very pretty!

Top row, left to right: 06 Chocolate Brown and 07 Tan.
Bottom row, left to right: 09 Roshenna and 12 Dark Purple.