little white truths

The shades and their descriptions are as follows:

There they are in order, direct sunlight (you can barely see the cream shade Bare, far left, on my skintone):

There's a quick, simple eye look below. I used Bare all over the lid, Bubbly as my inner corner highlight, Bliss as my crease/transition shade, Sunset on the inner half of the lid and Gilded Gold on the outer half, with Bubbly in the centre of the lid.

Verdict

This is a great little palette and I use all the shades except Ebony (I never use black) and Luster (an odd shade that can look a little dirty if you're not careful).

My only issue with the shade selection is that I reckon you need another matte crease/transition shade other than Bliss. Indeed, I would have switched Luster for a shade of this nature if I'd had anything to do with the palette's design : )

As I've used the palette over the past week, I've watched dents appear in both Bare and Bliss so I can see those two shades running out super quickly, and then I'd be in trouble because this would no longer be a stand-alone palette that I could eg travel with - and I can see that being an issue for a lot of people.

So what I've decided to do is start pulling shades from this and include them in my Z-palette as and when I need them, since I've made some good progress with some of the shades and figure I may as well keep going.

I'm happy to include these in my Z-palette because the quality of the shadows is very good and I have no issue with things like creasing or wear-time. Also, they don't look overly powdery on the eyes so they're great for mature lids or dry ones like mine (I've found that some eyeshadows look horrible on me now that I'm pregnant and my skin is drier than usual - these don't).

I also find these to be finely milled and they apply beautifully so I don't have any issues with blending or patchiness, except with the two darker mattes (Sandstone and Ebony), which are a touch chalky and a little harder to work with than the others - but they're not terrible so I can live with them.

The pigment is great across the palette, and while the shimmer shades pack the most punch (particularly Kitten), the mattes are reasonable too and I don't need to build them too much to get my desired level of colour.

Do note that if you look for youtube videos on the 'perfect palette' tag, you'll see this palette pop up a lot as the most pigmented palette that people have come across. While I don't think it's the most pigmented palette I've found (if it were, I wouldn't like it as much because I'd have to be too careful with application), but the pigment level is definitely good and it's not too much for those of us who prefer a more natural look.

I also think this is a useful palette because it contains ten neutral, wearable colours that mostly lean warm but there are some cooler shades too so it's a balanced palette in that sense. While I'd prefer another mid-toned matte colour (and I'd switch the matte black for a different, darker colour), it's not too heavy on the shimmers so it's a palette that should appeal to a lot of people.

It's also useful for travel because it's slim and the packaging is a sturdy cardboard, and you can create any number of looks with it without having to reach for another palette (you could even do a full matte look if you wanted to).

All in all, this is a great little palette and I'm glad I own it. You may still be able to find it on special online and, if so, I think you could do a lot worse if you're after a useful, everyday palette that won't date.

Ticks from me : )