Hourglass Modernist Eye Shadow Palette Infinity. Is the Hype worth it? Review Swatch & Comparison

It might be the prettiest eye shadow palette designed, like ever. The time photos starting spreading the internet, it has been one of the most talked, most wanted. After its debut at Barney's New York, I was able to get my hands on it thanks to a dear friend. I could play with it the last week and here is my answer to that question, is it worth the hype?

This has to be mentioned, the stars were not aligned for me and my palette came with the lightest shade cracked and spread over the other shades. I made a rescue attempt by pressing back the defect part, which worked very good since the powder is very smooth and loosely pressed. I also tried to clean the rest of the palette to take photos but I didn't want to waste too much product while doing so. Here is the result, I find it gorgeous nevertheless. 

It is an impressive design, breath taxingly beautiful and modern. The compact is also very nice and sleek, great to travel with. If you wonder how it compared to blush or face powder palettes, here I posted a size comparison. It looks smaller but still close to the blush palette. Blush palette has 3.2 g of product and eye shadow palette has only 5 g of product. With its $58 price tag, it is close to Chanel and Dior.

EDIT: I am changing the text above, thanks to a lovely reader now we know it is 5 g in total, not 1 g as I thought it is! Phew, I feel much better about this product!

Below you can see a close up of the palette and corresponding swatches. Although the palette appears brown in the photos, once swatched, it has more of a mauve/taupe hue. None of the shades I would call to be too warm nor too cool, so all in all it is a natural palette which is only slightly cool. It is composed of four matte hues and one complex shimmery finish. It will certainly please matte lovers. 

Left most: Very light off-white with matte finish. It is a great shade to highlight under the brow bone without adding shimmer.

2nd from left: Light mauve with matte finish. It is a great transition color just above the socket for me. 

Middle: The most gorgeous mid-toned pink/purple taupe with ver complex shimmer. I would like to bath in this shade, give me more. Lovely all over the eye. Be aware though, it is rather a darker shade, so if you don't like smokey eyes, or darker eye makeup, it may not be your favorite after all.

2nd from right: Mid toned natural brown with matte finish. I like this shade to deepen the crease and add an dimension to the outer corner. It can also be mixed with the deepest shade to get any intensity you might like. 

Right most:Very deep brown with a tad of plum. This shade also has matte finish. I like the pigmentation in that one, it can be used as a liner or further deepening of the socket. It provides enough drama. 

I was a little underwhelmed during swatching since the shades appeared to be powdery to touch and a little sheer. Most of the swatches above are multiple swipes to get the intensity. During the application on the eyes however, I really liked the consistency. I use a very dense and flexible brush (would you like to read a favorite brushes post soon?). Dense layering brush picked up enough color and color pay-off is great on the eyes. The shimmer of the middle shade is rather low-key.

Below I am wearing the lightest shade under the brow bone and on inner corner, 2nd lightest as a transition color above the socket. Middle shade all over the lid, mid-brown on the socket and outer corner which I intensified with the darkest shade. On the eyes I love the application and the result since mauve shades flatter my skin tone and eye color. If you are close to me in that sense, you might love the color selection of Infinity.

Here is the eye look in context. I am wearing Tom Ford Wicked on the cheeks and Tom Ford Matte Lip Color in Plum Lush on the lips. I was told to wear more bold lipsticks and here we go. I will review this one very soon together with Black Orchid. Just take it as a sneak peak now *wink wink*

First two palettes which came to my mind was Tom Ford Cocoa Mirage and Urban Decay Naked Basics 2. Naked Basics 2 was too taupe/cool once compared and had nothing to do with Infinity, Check out the photo here at Instagram. So the question, I have Naked Basic 2, is it a dupe, answer: not even close!

That said Hourglass Modernist Eye Shadow Palette Infinity is like a tad more mauve version of Tom Ford Cocoa Mirage, which is very close at 3 shades. Only the shimmery shade is warmer in Cocoa vs. cooler more rose/plum in Infinity. I find the intensity and quality of Tom Ford much better, and as I mentioned above it is much cheaper. Nevertheless on me Infinity is more flattering because of its mauve undertones. Cocoa Mirage (reviewed here) doesn't work all that well on my complexion. 

Since Urban Decay Naked Basic 2 was proved to be very different, I decided to check out Naked 3, which has mauve/pink tones such as Infinity's. You don't have all the shades exactly as they are in Infinity in Urban Decay Naked 3, but you can certainly get a similar effect. Below I tried to reconstruct Infinity by using some shades from Naked 3. As you see they are pretty close but Naked 3 has less matte shades which in the end makes a slight difference. The overall eye look with Infinity is more matte, less in shimmer but with Naked 3 you get more frost, more shimmer.

Final thoughts: If you like mauve undertones, matte textures and if you want to splurge on something very pretty but extremely expensive, than go ahead and get Infinity. To me it is not a must have. The price point is same as Chanel, Dior for the amount of product you get 5 g (1 g x5), the shade in this particular palette is rather dupable.

Availability/Price: Right now it is available online at Barney's (link is not affiliated). It costs $58 and it should be available at other retailers at the beginning of next year, together with other colors in Spring.

Do you think how much product you get is important or do you say we never finish a product anyway? I would love to hear your thoughts on that.