Review Time: Favorite Palette Series

Review Time: Favorite Palette Series

So, lets be frank here. I'm not rich. Sorry, I just burst your bubble. I don't get products sent to me for recommendation, I don't have a job where I get makeup at a discount- I just wisely spend my money.

And when it comes to palettes, they're usually a pretty penny. I usually just have to stick it out til my birthday, Christmas, or my tax return to be able to really do some makeup damage. To add on top of this, my bathroom and kit storage is pretty small so I usually have to use up quite a bit of stuff to be able to fit more in. So like I said, palettes for me are pretty rare. I currently have a z-palette that holds my singles into the shape of a palette, and then I have a few odds and ends in terms of strictly shadows.

And really, the best palettes I've found come in a series set. They have a handful with the name name, but with the same quality of shadows in different shades. It makes the guesswork easy- as long as you bought one palette from them, the others ARE GOING TO BE THE SAME. At this point, it's just a matter of what color series you like best.

So it's no surprise that one of my favorites costs just under $5 and comes from the drugstore.

Wet and Wild Shadow Palettes

The pigmentation is amazing and you barely have to swipe your brush to get a good payoff. My only gripe is they do have some crazy fallout but honestly, it's not a deal breaker for me. Considering how cheap these are and how GOOD they are, I'm willing to sacrifice a little. They only have one matte palette, but they have a nice mix of neutrals and wild colors in it. Also, Wet and Wild is kind of known for having several dupes of MAC shadows and lipsticks, so I would do some research.

TheBalm's Shady Lady Palettes

Roughly these ring up for $40 a palette and if you sign up for their newsletter, you get 10% off your next purchase!

TheBalm has a few different Shady Lady Palettes

Again, the pigmentation is nice, and the product is buttery- which I love. I've seen a handful of bridal makeup artist use strictly TheBalm and the looks come out amazing and last all day. I'm a really big fan of the products and I haven't found one yet that I didn't like. TheBalm also has a matte palette series called "Meet Matte" and "Meet Matte Nude", and those are AWESOME as well. Again, haven't found a product from TheBalm I didn't like.

Urban Decay's Naked Palettes

Let's face it, these are a cult favorite for a reason. Urban Decay is known for quality products with a buttery soft feel and a strong pigment. There are millions of reviews on all of the palettes, so I'll try and sum it up a little on this one.

I love the shadows, and I love the palettes. They have a price tag of $52 which is high- but considering I've had my Naked 1 for over a year and I STILL only just hit pan on ONE shadow this last month- not bad.

I have only 3 gripes- all of which were taken care of in the following editions. 

1. I hate the packaging on the first Naked palette. Dust covers the velvet outer jacket (which grinds my gears to no end) and the mirror on mine broke after traveling with it- which is weird because the shadows didn't break and everything else was fine, sooooo no idea there. (However, they changed the packaging on the second edition.)

2. They re-used shadows in the Naked 2, that the original Naked Palette already had. Urban Decay is pretty notorious for putting Half-Baked in every single palette they've ever made, but there was a lot of overlap on the first and second palette. (However, the Naked 3 is all new shadows, so there you go.)

3. The fallout from the glitter shadows is beyond insane. I LOVE the color Sidecar from the original Naked palette. It reminds me of Satin Taupe and I love that. HOWEVER, WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH THAT GLITTER? I place it on, taking extra care to apply primer and gently pat it on with a dense brush, and everything looks great and then a minute later after I've you know, blinked and lived my life, the glitter is EVERYWHERE. I do not like looking like a stripper. I do not, sir- so I don't enjoy glitter covering my cheeks.

What I do love though, is that they took extra care to make each set of palettes workable. Every shade in there looks good together and I can make a multitude of looks.

THE Naked palette is all bronze-based shadows. Generally they all have a bit of a warm/golden cast- even the mattes.

Naked 2 followed the "greige" trend- keeping mushroom toned taupes going through it. 

And Naked 3 (which, full disclosure, I have not bought yet) is all rose gold tones. 

It's pretty easy to see in the side by side swatches.

All in all, you could probably just buy one of these and live happy forever, but I am a hoarder and I have a feeling you are too.

-SamanthaK