This Pretty Day palette is a bit of a departure from Clarin's usual golden compacts - instead of the heavy, metallic plastic casing, it sports a cardboard casing which is lightweight in the hand and at once a little more flimsy than I'd like. The addition of an elastic closure makes it a little more travel suitable, but given a choice, I'd far rather the sturdy packaging of old than this newer version.
Packaging aside, the five shadows within are lovely, just as you'd expect from Clarins. Pigmentation is medium, giving you the ability to wear the shades as a sheer wash of colour or to build them up, and the finish on all five is lovely - the two matte shades aren't chalky at all, and the shimmer shades have a lovely almost metallic finish to them.
My favourite of the five, unsurprisingly, is the middle shade - a cool beige taupe which goes well with the darkest brown for a shimmering gradient eye (as I'm wearing above). Although this palette is the day version (there's a Pretty Night available too), the two darker browns can easily smoke a more neutral day look up for the evening.
At £33, Pretty Day is Pretty Expensive - just a fiver more will buy you sturdier packaging, a better brush, and seven more eyeshadows in one of Urban Decay's Naked palettes. The major difference is in the pigmentation - UD shadows are full on, and these Clarins shadows are more forgiving. I'm not sure that quite closes the gap, but if it does for you, you'll find these online now.
Disclosure: PR sample
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This palette has such pretty colors
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