Viseart Midsommer + Solstice Palettes | Swatches

Last week, two new Viseart Petit Pro Palettess ($30.00 each) released. There’s a slightly cooler-toned, rosier palette called Midsommer, and then a warmer-toned palette called Solstice, which are both swatched for your viewing pleasure in this post.

The initial announcement of the two new palettes resulted in quite a bit of concern and discussion over color accuracy — there is a big wide discrepancy between the photos of the palette as well as between swatches, particularly with Midsommer (which looks like a pink/mauve palette on deeper skin and… coral and brown on lighter skin per the brand’s photos).

I’m lighter (my arm is lighter than my face by a smidgen normally, though I think they’re close at the moment), but the Midsommer palette definitely appeared more in line with the swatches on deeper skin; in the pans, they align more with a rosy/mauve theme than coral/brown.

With respect to the Solstice palette, the promotional swatches are more similar, though they do not match up so well with the promotional photo of the palette (which reads less orange and desaturated in comparison). The reality ended up being a slightly deeper version, but still more on the desaturated side, of the promotional image–I didn’t get brighter orange tones on me (again, a lighter skin tone) with shades like Crescendo, Ferver (that’s how it’s spelled on the label on my actual palette, though the swatch photo says Fervor, as it is actually spelled…), and Litha.

Right now, the palette is only available online, and obviously, swatching in-person has come to a grinding halt anyway, so it’s more important than ever before to provide more accurate imagery, but it’s definitely important that things line-up visually. It’d also be a good idea to have video filmed, too, to show the palette in motion in case images do not align. It’s ideal for the customer to have a good grasp of what they’re purchasing because when expectations are missed, that’s when people return products or stop trusting brand imagery/swatches–and with people moving shopping online, keeping that trust is imperative!

I think in this instance the original promo images made both palettes look extremely light-leaning, and based on the comments I saw from readers and others in the community, it felt exclusionary to medium and deeper skin tones, which caught me by surprise as I recall Viseart mentioned before that they test on deeper skin tone first to ensure colors work there and then move to lighter skin tones. Then, the brand released swatches and people were very confused seeing the difference in Midsommer swatches between skin tones and the richness in colors for Solstice!

After seeing them in person and swatching both palettes, they are lighter color stories. I would have loved to have seen one more neutral palette and one more colorful one, since they released two together, as Viseart has so much artistry behind them yet so many neutral-heavy releases (like Paris Edit came out earlier and is similar in story to Midsommer). Solstice feels like a lighter Apricotine (and the Spritz Edit). They really do feel like more muted, edited versions from the Paris Edit/Spritz Edit launches, which was just in February and April, respectively, of this year!

Neutrals obviously sell well, otherwise brands wouldn’t keep putting them out, but Viseart’s starting to feel like they’re reinventing the same wheel rather than expanding on it. Where are the earthy neutrals — plums, taupes, olives? Even more golden-leaning browns rather than peach/orange. I’m definitely looking forward to hearing how those with medium and deeper skin tones find these new palettes! Or make these complementary, almost fall-winter takes on Paris Edit/Spritz Edit, so they’d run a bit darker/richer (and maybe Spritz Edit for fall would get redder, rustier, or more olive).