Confessions of a Palette Addict Tag & Palette Reviews

I wanted to do a post about my palette collection and I found a really informative way to do it through the "Confessions of a Palette Addict" tag. There are specific questions to answer and I'll list them below (providing as many photos as possible). I added a few questions of my own because there were some palettes I wanted to highlight, I've marked these questions with an asterisk (*). If you want to see any photos larger, click on them and they will expand to full size!

Questions:

1. How many makeup palettes do you have? I have 51 palettes in total (counting all palettes that have 4 or more wells of product).

2. How many of those are eyeshadow palettes? 50 are eyeshadow palettes, many of my palettes also include blushes (Be Bright & Be Merry, City Color Dreaming of Fantasy, Tokidoki palettes, Jasmine, Balm Voyage, and a custom mixed palette).

3. How many are non eyeshadow palettes? All except for my concealer palette, pictured below (so I own 50 eyeshadow palettes). I purchased this from eBay, it was very inexpensive, is good quality and great for contouring and having a wide range of colors.

4. What are you top 3 favorite palettes?

I have to give first place to my beloved Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland palette (unfortunately this was a very limited edition run). I absolutely love the color selection, you can create dozens of different looks with this and I don't even mind that there are no matte shades. I found my favorite shade with this palette, it is Curiouser in the palette but better known as Grifter eyeshadow single by Urban Decay.

I love Kat Von D's palette "Saint", which is very travel friendly, neutral oriented, but still contains a large range of colors, I can always create a nice muted look with this. The shades are very buttery and smooth and rival Urban Decay shadows in terms of pigmentation.

A nostalgic love of mine is the Disney and Sephora Cinderella collaboration. This palette brings me back to my childhood and combines beautiful and functional packaging with 20 eyeshadows that pack a punch. I am a huge fan of the greens and blues (specifically the light blues) for an ethereal princess look.

5. What are your palette regrets? I don't have too many palette regrets because I usually purchase them when they're on sale (unless they were limited edition) and I get a lot of use out of my palettes.

Although I picked this palette up at Nordstrom Rack for a measly $6 (it normally retails for $30 at Sephora), I wasn't very impressed with the pigmentation of these shades. Although they swatch well, they are not easily blended, buttery, and tend to have chunky glitter fall out. I also don't think the colors in this palette create nice looks together or are complementary. 

Another palette regret is the Tokidoki Arte Palette in Vegas, the pigmentation is just poor on these shades even though the color selection is pretty, so I don't reach for it.

6. How many limited edition or Holiday palettes do you own? So many. Here is a list: Tokidoki  Robbery Palette Trio, Too Faced Joy to the Girls and Be Merry & Be Bright and small holiday palette, the Tarte of Giving, Tarte's Bow n Go, Tarte for True Blood, Sephora Pantone Universe Elements Palette. Urban Decay: Glinda, Mariposa, Deluxe Shadow Box, NYC palette, Alice in Wonderland, Butterfly Book of Shadows IV, ELF Ursula & Evil Queen, Sephora + Disney: Cinderella, Ariel and Jasmine, City Color Dreaming of Fantasy, MAC Devoted Poppy, Estee Lauder Holiday Palette

7. How many of your palettes are custom? 6

I have 2 vintage custom MAC palettes with colors I chose and 1 new regular MAC eyeshadow palette full of Urban Decay singles and miscellaneous others.

 I have 2 Z palettes, one contains my domed shadows and blushes, the other is miscellaneous shadows. I also have a double-sided MAC palette filled with my Wet n Wild depotted shadows.

8. Of the palettes you own which 1 palette would you say wasn't worth the price?

My answer has to be the Dior 5-color shadow palette in 809 Petal Shine. Although the colors are beautifully pigmented and buttery smooth, the color payoff is good, but the price overall doesn't justify the purchase. I think you can find good dupes of these colors at the drugstore.

9. Of the palettes you own which 1 palette was worth every penny?

My custom Wet n Wild palette is extremely useful to me. It has 8 trios (Walking on Eggshells, Silent Era Film [LE], Sweet as Candy, I'm Getting Sunburned, Spoiled Brat, Cool as a Cucumber, I've Got Good Jeans, I'm Feeling Retro) and 3 of the 8-pan palettes (Comfort Zone, Petal Pusher, and Flirting at the After Party [LE]). These eyeshadows are among some of the best, rivaling high end companies. They are buttery, very pigmented, easily blendable, and beautiful all while being so inexpensive!

10. In the last 12 months how many palettes have you given away or returned? 7+ were given as gifts.

11. If for some reason one morning you woke up and all of you palettes vanished, which 3 palettes would you run out and get?
The Naked 1 palette (I feel it has the most variety of warm neutrals which I tend to reach for on a daily basis and for an easy beautiful look), my Wet 'n Wild custom palette for all the same reasons I mentioned before, and Balm Voyage for beautiful pops of unique colors, great quality and large pan sizes.

Naked 1 Palette

Balm Voyage

*12. What is your most loved/oldest palette?
The Estee Lauder Deluxe Shadow Palette (from the Holiday Gift set - I forget which year!), this was my very first palette and I received it as a birthday gift from friends of mine! I absolutely loved it and it's one of the things that got me so into makeup. The colors are so smooth, soft and easy to use, they blend well and go together perfectly for a variety of unique looks.

*13. What is the best palette for special occasion/wedding makeup?
From my collection, I absolutely love the Tarte for True Blood palette for special occasions. It has some wonderfully soft colors which can be pumped up with dark accents. It was absolutely stunning for my wedding makeup (which I did myself!) and it lasted all day. It actually far exceeds the current quality of Tarte eyeshadows, which I'm not too crazy about, partially because the color selection is so poor in their new palettes.

*14. What are some honorable mentions or palettes you'd like to share with exceptional quality?
I have to give a big shout out to my beloved Tokidoki Robbery Palette Trio, which has a wonderful color selection and nice blushes as well, and the City Color Dreaming of Fantasy palette which I snagged on eBay for an absolute steal! This palette is so cute and the colors are only slightly powdery but very soft and pigmented, so worth the purchase... Plus look at the packaging!

Product Review: Anastasia Beverly Hills Lavish Palette

Woohoo, I'm so excited that I finally got this palette after eyeing it for half a year! It went on sale, as I mentioned in a previous post about offers from cosmetic companies. I was so happy to be able to pick this up for just $24 (shipping was free). I've seen bloggers and vloggers rave about this palette so I needed to see what all the hype was about.

Here's a closer look at the shadows (picture taken in natural light):

I'm happy with the range of colors, this is definitely a gem-toned palette.... I love the inclusion of pink, green, various light shades and even a black (albeit sparkly), plus there's definitely a good range of transition shades.

Here are my swatches:

Cream: Light peach beige, matte finish (very close to my skintone so you can barely see it) but it had great color payoff

Antique: Grayish taupe, frosted finish, great pigmentation and color payoff

Rum Cake: Copper brown with orange undertone, frost finish, best color payoff in the palette

Moss: Olive green with golden flecks, frosted finish, decent color payoff

Truffle: Reddish brown, pearl finish, so-so color payoff but good pigmentation

Ballet:  Peachy pink with silver sparkles (on the larger side), sheerest of the palette with fairly poor color payoff because it is the second most powdery

Orange Soda: Light orange, matte finish, most powdery shade with the poorest color payoff even though it has good pigmentation - it tends to blend away 

Sienna: Coppery reddish brown, matte finish, decent color payoff

Pink Sapphire: Pinkish coppery  brown, frosted metallic finish, good pigmentation (disappointing, however, because it is a lot less pink than I had hoped)

Black Diamond: Medium to dark brown with copper and gold microglitter, texture is a little dry and it tends to skip so it's more difficult to blend out, but it has good color payoff

I'll have to do a look to let you guys know how I feel about the shadows overall, but from the looks of it you can get very nice brown, copper, or orange-based looks with this palette.... I definitely think it's a great little beginner palette since the colors are very smooth and buttery and none of the pigmentation is too intense (a la Urban Decay Electric Palette) so you won't mess up your look by accidentally applying too much.

I think the value was very good, it came to about $2.40 per eyeshadow (0.031 oz each) compared to a MAC eyeshadow which costs $10 per pan (at 0.05 oz each) - so you're getting shadows for about 2.6X cheaper per quantity. I do have to say that I was hoping the shade Pink Sapphire was going to be more of a saturated pink rather than copper leaning, but it's still very wearable and one of my favorite colors in the palette.

Great Steals on Eyeshadow Palettes

If you're more a neutral lover, you may want to consider the It Cosmetics Naturally Pretty palette. There's a Friends and Family Sale going on for 25% off their entire site with the code "CELEBRATE" (until 4/8/2104) but it can only be used on purchases over $30. The regular price of this palette is $42 but with the 25% discount you can get it for $31.50 and free shipping (over $25 on their website). This palette is special because you can use the "transforming pearl" shade to make the matte eyeshadows (which are all of the shadows in this palette) have a more shimmery finish - it really seems you can customize your look! The website also boasts that the eyeshadow formula is infused with "ultra-hydrating age reserve and preventative complex"... I would take those claims with a grain of salt - though having an age-reversing palette would be epic!

For a limited time only, you can purchase (and you bet that I did!) the Anastasia Lavish Palette without the holiday set (this came out in the fall of 2013 for $38 originally) and you get 10 amazing eyeshadows for $24. I think this is an absolute steal, especially since shipping in the US is free from the Anastasia website and there's no tax! The gem shades in this palette are super buttery and pigmented (according to swatches I've seen online) and have awesome color payoff. I absolutely can't wait to get mine in the mail to do some looks and swatches for you guys!

Thanks for the heads up to these sales due to one of my favorite blogs Nouveau Cheap