I recently purchased this Smashbox #SHAPEMATTERS Palette from
Sephora during their VIB Sale. I had been eyeing this baby for a while as I have heard great things about both their contour powders and their Photo-Op Eyeshadow formula, so after much research I caved and bought it. I've only had it for a few days so I'll just share my initial impressions and some swatches.
Review
I'll start with the packaging. It is matte black with embossing on the front. It feels heavy and sturdy while still only having a magnetic closure. It's plastic but it feels like it has a paper covering over it. This palette comes with a huge mirror which stands up on it's own. They also included a little cover over the wax to keep the other powders from contaminating it or possibly to keep it from drying. I have to say I was really impressed with the amount of thought that clearly went into the packaging.
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| In my excitement I forgot to take the plastic off the brush, sorry! |
So the Palette includes a brow wax, two brow powders, a contour, a bronzer, a highlighter, a "glow" powder, nine eyeshadows and a double ended brow and eyeshadow brush. The palette comes with a plastic sheet that contains all of the names (I can't be the only one who hates those sheets) but thankfully all the names are written on the back of the palette. The brush is actually very usable. It's not the softest brush I've ever used but the brow end worked well to fill my brows and the fluffy eyeshadow brush could both apply eyeshadow on the lid and blend it in my crease.
I'll start on the left with the brow products. The brow wax is just a clear wax that works well to set brows. Next is Taupe the lighter of the two brow powders. The darker shade is Soft Brown. I wish there had been a little more variety in the shades as they are both a little light for my brows and very similar but I can make them work. They could also be used as eyeshadows but I did notice a texture difference between these powders and the shadows. The brow powders are much more stiff -less powdery, perfectly suited to their job.
Face powders next! So first is the Contour, a matte, cool toned shade perfect for mimicking shadows. Then the Bronze powder, also matte and it didn't end up being too orange on me. The next shade is called Highlight. This one is tricky for me. It's not completely matte, I'd call it more of a satin, and it's a little dark on my skin tone to use as a highlighter. I do love the next powder, Glow, as it's a shimmery and slightly peachy highlight.
Before I go into the individual eyeshadows I just wanted to say I was super impressed with these shadows. Besides the dark purple and black, all the shades were extremely pigmented and blended amazingly well. These are a completely different texture than the eyeshadows from the Full Exposure palettes which feel stiffer, less pigmented and have much more fallout. With primer these shadows lasted
13 hours on me without creasing and with very little fading!
So the first shade is Vanilla - a really pigmented, matte vanilla shade. Next is Totally Nude - a matte, light peachy pink. Then Champagne - as you could probably imagine it is a shimmery champagne shade. Then Stripped - a satin, pale brown colour. The bright shade in the middle is Posh and it's a shimmery pink. The last shimmery shade in the palette is Platinum and it's a silver that I feel almost pulls a little green. Then we have a dark matte brown called Sumatra. The palette finishes off with Aubergine, a dark matte purple which is definitely the weak link in this palette, and finally Blackout a matte black. You probably have a better matte black in your collection.
Swatches
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| Taupe, Soft Brown |
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| Contour, Bronze, Highlight, Glow |
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| Vanilla, Totally Nude, Champagne, Stripped, Posh, Platinum, Sumatra, Aubergine, Blackout |
Interactive Cards
When I saw that this palette came with interactive cards with tips and instructions about how to use the palette I was not interested, but I actually had a lot of fun with these. If you know a lot about applying makeup there's not going to be much new information but just pulling up the website on your phone is worth it to see the magic of technology.
It comes with 3 cards for brows, face and eyes and the cards briefly explain how to apply the products.
On the other side of the card has a "special ink technology" box and a website to get more tips and how-to videos.
By pressing the box to your phone, it will bring up the appropriate site. I thought this was pretty cool and would be extremely helpful if you are a beginner.
Sorry this turned out to be such a long review. I'll just quickly give you my final thoughts. I really love this palette. You can get most of your makeup done with just this one palette so it would be perfect for travelling. It feels very high quality so it's worth the price in my opinion.
Let me know your thoughts if you have this palette.
