little white truths

There's the palette in direct sunlight above and in natural light (outdoors) below. 

You can see it's a nice mix of shades and I definitely use these kinds of colours so I'm sad that I don't love the quality because it would have been a great everyday palette if I did.

There it is again in natural light (indoors):

I've swatched all the shades from left to right, top to bottom below (natural light). Note that I accidentally missed the dark brown matte shade (second from the left, bottom row) when I first swatched it, so I've added that one onto the far end, next to the black.

Indirect sunlight:

And direct sunlight:

Verdict

This isn't a terrible palette but it's inconsistent and only a few of the shades are a good formula. For this reason I've decided to declutter my palette and send it to a better home: I'm already working on a bunch of neutral shadows via Pan that Palette and those are a better formula than these are, plus I have other eyeshadows I prefer so there's no point hanging on to this one.

One thing I like about the palette is that Maybelline has arranged it into quads, trios and duos: the duos and trios run across from left to right, top to bottom, and the quads comprise each duo along the top, coupled with the duos immediately beneath them. This is helpful for beginners who don't know where to start with a palette like this. The quad on the left is neutral, the one in the middle is warm, and the one on the right is cool.

The quad in the centre is the best of the bunch and overall it had the best pigmentation. The best shadow (to me) in the entire palette is the shimmery bronze: it's the fourth shade along in the swatches above and you can see how much it stands out, as compared to some of the other shades. Indeed, I loved this shade so much that I considered depotting it, but in the end I decided to give the palette away whole.

As mentioned above, my issue with the palette is that it's inconsistent and the formula isn't great overall. Some of the shades are super dry and crumbly (eg the white-ish, shimmery shade on the left kept crumbling when I swatched it), while others are dry, lack pigment and are difficult to blend (eg the matte black). They do last well on the eye though, so that's something to consider.

Also, if like me you're over thirty and have dry skin, you probably won't get a good look from these: the shimmers emphasised lines on my eyelids and the mattes dried out my skin and made it look crepe-y when I used them on my hooded eyes. Drying shadows are a big no-no for me because they're so ageing, and this is the main reason why I found the palette unworkable for me. If it weren't for this aspect, I may well have hung onto it so I could use it for Pan that Palette 2018 because it would have been a good product for that challenge.

So in sum, while this isn't a terrible product, I don't recommend it and I think you can find better options at the drugstore/chemist. Particularly because, in Australia, this retails for $25.95 and it's absolutely not worth that amount. If you can grab it half price and you don't have issues with dry, textured skin then this might be a good 'starter' palette, but otherwise I think you're better off looking elsewhere.

Ok.