Christmas Crackers: Art Deco Glam Art Magnum Beauty Box

We've taken a look at one of Art Deco's Magnum Beauty Boxes before and this is the Christmas offering. From the current Glam Art collection, the Magnum Beauty Box is a magnetised palette that's sold empty - you buy it for €16.55 - and then fill it with the shadow shades you like. The collection shades cost €7.45 each so it can work out pretty spendy to fill it, but it's a pretty-looking yoke (they tend to do different patterns on the palettes for each collection) and one that'll make a nice present, so I reckoned it was worth a look.

There's space in here for six shadows but the brand offers other options for these boxes - there are glimmer creams and blushers that can also snap into place, so you can mix and match. There's also a slot for a lipstick and a large mirror. While you do invest up-front in the product, you can re-fill it as and when you need to, which is an advantage. The palette itself is sturdy plastic and will last.

And there's one thing this reminds me of - the forthcoming Ombres Perlées de Chanel Eyeshadow Palette from the SS11 Les Perles de Chanel collection. It's not a dupe by any means, but not a bad approximation.

And here are the swatches. I could take or leave the first three pale, pearlised shades - and in fact would definitely not include them if I was buying this myself (ours was a sample from the brand) and would add in a black, purple and deep gray I reckon, to make this my go-to smokey eye set.

I quite like Art Deco's shadows: they're good quality, have decent pigmentation and wear well. They are definitely best when collected in a kit like this though - I have a few singly in my makeup boxes and because they're so small, I barely use them because they fall to the bottom and I never root down that far. So if you do invest, buy one of the magnetised boxes to put them in to ensure you get the use out of them.

You can also customise your choice of lipstick here which is good - this came with a frosted lilac nightmare I wouldn't allow next or near my face in a fit. A lip-toned nude or a red would be a great addition to this kit though.

If the six-pan offering is too large for your liking, then you can also buy a four-pan version for €10.80 that holds - you guessed it - four shades or a mix of shadow and blush.

Stockist details, including a phone number, are on the stockists page.