LORAC x Pirates of the Caribbean Collection | Review, Swatches, and Demo

OH. EM. GEE!!! You guys, the collection of the year is finally here — LORAC x Pirates of the Caribbean! If you’ve been a long time follower of my blog you know that I am a huge fan of LORAC products. What you might not know is I am also a big fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. So, of course, this collection caught my eye and stole my heart the first time I saw it. But for the skeptics and rational-thinking gals…is the quality that we know and love from LORAC there in this collection? Let’s dive in!

Please grab a cup of coffee, a snack…something! This post is going to be lengthy and I have tons of pictures to share! <3

Press Sample Affiliate Links

LORAC x Pirates of the Caribbean Collection

What’s In the Collection?

Eyeshadow Palette | Retail: $52 | This palette includes 18 brand new shades of their popular PRO-formula, all shades inspired by the film. Also included is a deluxe mini Front of the Line PRO eye pencil in black to help complete any look.

Cheek Palette | Retail: $30 | This palette is inspired by the film’s heroine, Carina Smyth, and this palette includes 6 new shadows from their Color Source Blush and Light Source Illuminating Highlighters.

MOD Lip Cream Duo | Retail: $26 On the lipstick end is a smooth, semi-sheer finish and on the other side is a non-tacky, cream gloss. This duo is designed to be worn alone or together.

Plus a Special “Secret” compartment!

As if the packaging wasn’t enough to steal your hearts, LORAC Cosmetics also created the eyeshadow palette to include a special “secret” compartment that is the perfect size to slide in your cheek palette.

Should You Get this Collection?

Are you a Pirates of the Caribbean fan? You probably do NOT need me to tell you this….but YES! Duh! Of course you do! If you are a die-hard fan of Pirates of the Caribbean and a makeup junkie then — let’s be honest — you probably purchased it on the day it was pre-released like I did!

Let me clarify: I purchased the eyeshadow palette, cheek palette, and one lip duo the day it was pre-released on Tuesday. That Friday this PR package (with everything you see in my pictures) arrived and totally surprised me. Just wanted to explain, to prevent confusion. 🙂

So, yeah, if you are a fan of POC or a die-hard collector of LORAC Cosmetics…then you really don’t need to read this review because you are already eagerly awaiting your purchases. 🙂 <3 For everyone else…well, keep reading to see if you need anything from this release. 🙂

LORAC x Pirates of the Caribbean Eyeshadow Palette | $53

The packaging

I won’t spend much time here. You can see for yourself that the packaging for this palette is stunning. And the quality of the packaging is great, too — very sturdy and will hold up to wear very well. The hidden compartment has a strong magnetic close. The only con that I experienced was that when you open it, the hinge is very tight and closes very quickly.. You really have to press it open wide in order to get it to stay open while you work.

Swatch Time!

Ghostly | A white with the most subtle of shimmers. It isn’t crazy pigmented, which works well to highlight the browbone. If you pack it on the shimmer shows up, but blending it out it appears more as a satin.

Starry Night | The most beautiful, intense shimmery blue! It works amazing with a eyeshadow primer, but holds it’s own even with nothing underneath.

Compass | I had hoped this would be a great shimmery gold (this is a Pirate-themed collection, right?) But unfortunately this looks more of a satin yellow-beige on the lids. Still really pretty, but different than it appears in the pan.

Arrgh! | A brown/black shimmer with gold sparkles. It doesn’t show up as intensely without a primer, but using one it is stunning packed on the lids.

Black Pearl | A beautiful brown/green shimmery duochrome, this shade works well with and without an eyehsadow primer underneath. I like it!

Yo Ho | A taupe shimmer, this shade didn’t really wow me at all. The shimmer doesn’t show up well and it’s so close to my skintone it doesn’t really look like much on my eyes.

Bones | This shade is really pretty, but so close to my own skintone that it works more as an all over base for me. Out of all the mattes I would say this was the most disappointing in pigmentation.

Silvermist | A shimmery silvery, this shade is very pretty and performs so well packed on the lids.

Treasure | A gorgeous maroon shimmer that is very intense and pigmented both with and without eyeshadow primer.

Tell No Tales | A cool-toned muted matte mauve, this shade performs very nicely. It isn’t as richly pigmented as my original PRO palette, but I don’t think it was created to. It’s a very muted color. Overall performed well.

Shiver Me | Something like Yo Ho this is a very neutral shadow with a faint shimmer. Packed on the lids with a base or as an inner corner highlight, it’s very pretty.

Cursed | When you pack it on this is an intense black with beautiful sparkle. Even using it with a blending brush it’s still a very pigmented black with some sparkle.

Matte-y | The perfect creamy matte shade to use all over the lid or to highlight your browbone. I had no issues with pigmentation or blending!

Lost at Sea | A very unique satin shade of pale gray/blue, I used this to warm up my crease and liked it. I don’t have anything else like it in my collection.

Pirates Chest | A warm yellow-brown matte, I liked this to use in my crease over Bones. Nicely pigmented and blends like a dream.

Sea Haze | A beautiful pastel green shimmer, I loved the performance of this shadow. No complaints!

Menace | A matte gray/black. Nothing too intense, but does a great job of smoking out the outer corner or lower lash line.

Silent Mary | A  matte soft taupe, this shade can work well on the very fair to use as a crease shade. For me it took too much building up to bother, I used it all over the lid. Once again, not the most pigmented matte but it would probably show up more on fair skin.

Performance

The matte shades reminded me like some of the shades in the LORAC PRO 3 palette — kinda powdery, but not as pigmented as the matte shades in the PRO 1 palette. I’ve already mentioned those shades above. Because of that, I feel like now that I’ve finished testing out the palette for review, I’ll probably reach for matte shades from other palettes when using this.

The shimmers, for the most part, were stunning and the real stand-out formula in this palette. They’re so beautifully pigmented and very effortless to blend — all the shadows are, in fact, both the matte and shimmers. Which is fantastic — I’ve been testing a few palettes recently that are difficult to blend out the darker shades, so testing the eyeshadow palette from this collection was a welcome break!

Makeup Look Demo

For this eye look I used the shades; Matte-y, Bones, Silent Mary, Sea Haze, Shiver Me, Black Pearl, and Menace. On the cheeks I was wearing Lost Soul, Caribbean, and Star Reader.  On the lips I was wearing both the lipstck and lipgloss from the Trident duo. I will be sharing a tutorial of this on my Instagram page tonight  — stay tuned!

Bulkiness

I heard a few people on social media murmuring about how bulky it looked. And it is more bulky than their other palettes — obviously, since they included the compartment. I took a picture with a gold dollar coin propped up next to it. It IS bulky, but I don’t think it’s that bad. And at least there is a reason for the bulk — you can store something underneath the palette.

To Sum It Up

I almost forgot – the deluxe size sample of the eyeliner is fantastic – a very good black pencil that twists up (no sharpening needed). The compartment inside the palette is also large enough for you to put a full-size liquid liner pen in it — which I like that idea for when I’m traveling!

The quality of the LORAC x Pirates of the Caribbean eyeshadow palette, overall, is very good. I was slightly disappointed that the matte shades were few — and among the ones that are in there, a few are pretty similar. I think this palette will definitely be worth the buy for fair gals out there. If you’re much darker than me I’m not so sure this is a good buy…you’ll probably have to bring in other matte shades for crease, transition, etc.

LORAC x Pirates of the Caribbean Cheek Palette | $30

The Packaging

The packaging is, once again, stunning. The black with gold detail work and the Latin words “verum omnia simul astra’. Which, according to Google, means “but they direct all the stars at the same time”.

There’s also writing on the mirror inside the palette that’s scrawled out in cursive. I had to concentrate a bit, but it says “chart a course for the stars”.

Another special detail that LORAC included in this collection was the plastic film that protects the powders from rubbing off onto the mirror and making it dirty. Instead of the usual clear plastic, there are different phases of the cycle of the moon for each blush/highlighter pan in the palette.The cycle of the moon is so unique and pretty, am I right?! I love that they thought of this little detail! Also, before I forget, the cheek palette is very thin. Reminds me of their PRO palettes in thinness — very sleek and compact.

The Quality

Not going to lie, I had my doubts about the shade Lost Soul. It just seems so light for a bronzer or contour for my skintone — but I was wrong. This worked beautifully as a very light and natural shade to warm up the perimeter of my face. Reminds me of how the Physicians Formula Butter Bronzer performs. The blush, Caribbean, is very pigmented — just like their Color Source blushes.

I like that they included the three most popular highlight prefrences on the highlighter side of the palette: iridecent, gold, and peachy/pink shimmers. All three are so popular right now. I wasn’t sure about Bold Spirit because it looks so shimmery, but appears very pink. However, using it on the face the pink is very faint and it performs just like a highlighter. So in my eyes this palette only has one bronzer, one blush, and four highlight shades. Which I’m not mad at. 🙂

To Sum It Up

I don’t think this palette is for everyone. The bronzer shade definitely isn’t going to show up much for those with a darker complexion than myself. The blush and highlights, though, should work well for most all skintones. They’re just as pigmented and beautiful as I’ve experienced with my single Light Source Illuminaters and Color Source Blushes. The formula is very soft and very pigmented — reminds me of the ABH glow kit formula. I love this palette for myself, but it’ll be up to your person preference/needs/skintone whether it’s a good buy for you.

LORAC x Pirates of the Caribbean MOD Lip Cream Duo | $26

I received the shades Trident and Barboss-y, which I was so thrilled about — both are shades I am drawn to. The packaging for these lipsticks look very impressive. I love the logo and the design on the side.

The clear plastic on the lipstick side felt…well, very plastic. Maybe it’s because I am used to LORAC’s Alter Ego lipsticks, but it just didn’t feel very fancy. Especially when comparing it to the luxurious appearance/feel of the rest of the collection.

The Formula

The lipsticks are a wonderful formula. Very pigmented and creamy — glides on nicely. It wears like any lipstick and feels very comfortable on. I liked them both!

The lipglosses are equally as nice, though the applicator/bottle only allows a little bit out at a time, making me have to dip back in two or three times to cover my lips. The formula itself is very nice, though not extremely pigmented. It’s very nice as a light color or finishing shine on the lips. And it’s not sticky at all, which I like!

Swatches!

I know not everyone will appreciate this, but I like that they added so many natural, “normal” shades in this Lip Cream Duo collection. There are six total, and to be fair LORAC did include one unique blue shade. I think everyone will be able to find at least one shade they like from this collection.

To Sum It Up

This was the least “exciting” for me out of the collection, simply because I didn’t find the packaging to live up to my expectation or even on the level of the eyeshadow and cheek palette. But that’s my own personal opinion. Strictly talking formula and performance, these are fantastic!

Did You Make it To the End?

Are you still here? Still awake? LOL, well thank you SO much for sticking through that 2,000+ word count post! I know it was long, but there was SO much to share. And I really wanted to be as unbiased and thorough on my review of the formula and performance of these products as I possibly could. I hope it helps you make an informed decision about this collection.

I wold love to hear what you think of the LORAC x Pirates of the Caribbean collection! Are you a POC fan? What was your favorite product from this collection? Will you purchasing anything from this collection…or have you already?

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The products were sent to me for editorial consideration. Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning I get a tiny payment if you click through my links. Any questions about my disclosure, read HERE. Thank you for your support!