Review & Swatches: Etude House Give Me Chocolate Eyeshadows in Salted Caramel and Cherry Truffle

Etude House recently came out with their Give Me Chocolate collection and I bought two of their limited edition shadow palettes - Salted Caramel and Cherry Truffle! There was a third palette, but it wasn't as appealing to me. I bought these products on eBay for around $9, but the price varies depending on what seller you buy them from. 

Salted Caramel on the left and Cherry Truffle on the right

Salted Caramel  - 

The bottom portion is a pinky coral based shade with pink and gold shimmers. It swatches more sheer, but I feel like it'll make a pretty "top coat" kind of shade when paired up with matte shadows. You can build it up to be more pigmented like in the promo shots, but I did 3 layers in the above swatch and it was still lacking in pigment compared to the rest of the shades. 

The top portion is a medium toned golden bronze. It's in the same vein as theBalm eyeshadow in Seductive, Urban Decay eyeshadow in Smog (but less coppery), and the bronze shade in the Wet n Wild Comfort Zone palette. 

Cherry Truffle - 

The bottom portion is a matte medium pinky red. It would also make a pretty blush on certain skin tones. It was more powdery than the other shades, but most mattes give me the same powdery fall out. It leans more pink on my skin compared to the pan though.

The top portion is a darker shimmery brown and has a red undertone to it. It has the same finish and feel to the top portion of Salted Caramel. In the bottom swatches, I used a fluffier brush to apply the color to make it look soft and pretty. You can make also this shade more intense to line and define the eyes though. 

Salted Caramel - Bronze shade on the outer half of the lids and pinky coral shade in the inner half.

For this look, I also used Salted Caramel. The bronze shades in the outer and inner thirds of the eye and the pinky coral shade in the middle. The colors blended together so seamlessly. They kind of look very similar when done like this, but the pinky coral shade brightens up the eye in a more subtle way.

Cherry Truffle - Matte pinky red in the inner half of the lids and the dark brown shimmery shade in the outer half.

For this look, I also used Cherry Truffle like it was demoed in the promo pictures. I put the matte pinky red all of the lids and then lined the upper lash line with the brown shade. 

I'm slightly disappointed in the pigmentations of these shades at first, but I didn't use primer in any of these swatches. The shades do appear better and more pigmented with my Wet n Wild eyeshadow primer though.

I didn't have any problem with creasing or fading with or without eyeshadow primer. 

Not going to lie, the packaging is pretty much 95% why I wanted to get these shadows. The packaging is plastic with a flip up top. It was smaller than I was expecting it to be, but it is still plenty of eyeshadow to use. 

Final thoughts: I'm not over the moon about these shades, but I can't help but think that Salted Caramel is perfect for me. Both shades in the palette work so well together and are flattering on me. The texture is harder than what I'm used to and that plays into why the pigment isn't super opaque at first swipe like Urban Decay eyeshadows, but they're also way less expensive. Personally, I would rebuy them and try out other Etude House eyeshadows based on Salted Caramel and Cherry Truffle. The eyeshadows are decent, not great, but I can definitely build them up to fit my taste. I think they would be great for eyeshadow beginners in that they can build up the color in layers instead of having to be super careful like you sometimes have to be with Urban Decay shadows. 

Would you buy these shades? What have you tried from Etude House?