The ColourPop ‘Golden State of Mind’ palette is limited edition. It retails for $26 but is currently on sale at Sephora for $18. This is the first CP palette that I’m not totally in love with. I like it, there’s some really pretty colors in it, but I found the formula to be problematic. The reviews are definitely mixed. I asked people’s opinion on instagram and it was a pretty even split of people who loved it and people who hated it. These shadows need to be either applied wet or with your fingertip and in some cases both. I don’t mind using my fingers but I know it’s a deal breaker for many. I don’t mind having to wet my brush either. I apply a lid color wet 95% of the time. But I’ve never had these issues with CP palettes in the past. I had to swatch this one twice. The first time I did my standard brush swatches on freshly moisturized skin and they looked thick, lumpy and generally terrible. The second time I used wet brushes and occasionally my fingertip and they turned out much better. Let’s go through each shade and I’ll point out the troublemakers along the way!

I ended up finger swatching 4 out of the 5 shades in the top row. A brush just wasn’t doing the trick. These colors are my favorite in the palette, just keep in mind that they’re very difficult to apply smoothly with a brush.

Golden Egg is a pinky beige with teal glitter. It’s a beautiful unique color and it applied well with a wet brush. 

Pay The Piper is a platinum silver with blue glitter. It’s also a problem child. It has a chunky almost crumbly texture that requires a setting spray if you want it to apply smoothly.

GRLFRND is also on the chunky side but it applies pretty well with a finger tip. It has a white base with a glittery pink shift. It’s similar to their discontinued Hope SSS, Monster highlighter and I think there were similar SS shades in their Amanda Steele and My Little Pony collabs as well.

Zero Clue is another chunky monkey that doesn’t like brushes. It’s a sunny yellow gold that applies well with a fingertip

Watch Out follows the top row trend. It has a very emollient formula with large pigment particles that smooth out with gentle pressure and the warmth of a fingertip. It’s a light golden champagne with tons of pink glitter and it’s one of my favorite shades in the palette.

Row Two was more of a mixed bag. One shade was really bad, two were kinda tricky and two were good.

Drizzle is an icy silver pink. Uptight is a bright corally orange with gold shimmer. Both apply okay with a wet brush but better with a fingertip. Uptight stands out to me. 

Can’t Stop is tied with Pay The Piper from row 1 for worst shade in the palette. It’s a pretty champagne taupe color but it’s a crumbly mess. You CAN get it to look good but it’s requires a setting spray, your fingers and patience. And maybe a silent prayer.

Sparkler and Unsupervised are pretty similar in color and performance. Sparkler is more bronze and Unsupervised is more pink. They both applied well with a wet brush. 

The darker shades in the bottom row all applied well with a wet brush

Lust In Time is rose gold.

Mind Tricks is a blackened gray violet.

Wing Woman is a warm bronze.

Heads Or Tales is cranberry with silver shimmer.

Tinker Time is another interesting color. It’s a dark antique gold with purple glitter. It feels like the wicked step sister of ‘So Quiche’ to me.

We’ve reached the end! Let’s recap! This damn formula… in my ig post a few people commented that the packaging of their palettes seemed oily in places. That’s the heavy emollient in these shadows. Emollients are what makes the product creamy and allows it to adhere to the skin. But when you combine a high amounts of emollient and large pigment particles, you get a shadow that requires either moisture (setting spray) or warmth (fingertip) to apply smoothly. There were only two shades that I found really problematic (Pay The Piper and Can’t Stop) but the others were all workable with some trial and error. The only other complaint I have is the abundance of rose golds. Sparkler, Unsupervised, Wing Woman and Lust In Time are all too similar for my liking. I would’ve preferred a lavender and maybe a copper or a more brassy gold. The color selection is just a little monochromatic for my liking. 

So after all that bitching you’ll be surprised to know that I don’t regret getting it. I like about 10 of the 15 colors in this palette and there’s 4 or 5 that I love, mostly in the top row. With the palette costing less than $20, it doesn’t bother me that I probably won’t use a third of the shades. If you like sparkle and you’re not afraid to get your hands dirty then I’d say go for it! But get it at Sephora, that way you can return it if it doesn’t work out.