Monday, November 18, 2013

Smashbox Full Exposure Palette Review And Swatches


So I thought I would show you all this before some of the others as it is still easily available and in stock to the best of my knowledge. I picked this up at Sephora during the VIB sale at the Sephora in Eaton Centre. The cost of it is $58 though I did get it for 20% off.


One thing I really like about this is the book that comes with it. Not only does it have diagrams for day looked, night look and a defined look, but unlike many of these guides that come with shadows, this one recognizes not all of us have the same shape eye. Different eye shapes have different guides to help you look your best.





It also comes with a mini Smashbox Full Exposure mascara. I have never tried this one, but according to Sephora it is the second best selling mascara in store coming in just behind Benefit They're Real.


Now I tried to take a bunch of pictures in different lights/angles but its impossible to really tell just how gorgeous this palette is. Its got a matte black palette (think NARS though this one doesn't seem to get the horrid marks and prints like NARS packaging does) with a beautiful holographic typeface spelling out the brand and name of the palette.




And the palette opened. 7 shimmery shades on top, 7 matte shades on the bottom and a full sized double ended brush.


While I have not yet tried this brush, I have 2 other smashbox brushes and I like them. The face and body brush I have of theirs is SUPERB and the eye brush I have is decent. This has two brushes, but its kind of like a three in one as the one brush has two different sides to it. The black side of the other end is meant for the shimmery shades, while the white hair is more adept at picking up the matte colouring. And hten flip it over for blending on the opposite side!




Now when it comes to shadows, I cant say I have tried smashbox much, but since I am the neutral shadow whore lover, I had to pick this up. What I like about it, or at least what made be gravitate towards this is unlike the UD naked palettes, this has a really good 50/50 split of mattes and shimmers. I like that its laid out with one row of shimmers and the other of mattes.

Now to be real, and full honest, the shadow pans are crooked in many places and I HATE that. It just makes it look cheaper to me. Not a big deal if the palette performs well, but something to note and something I hope Smashbox works on in the future.


Now the above swatches are the seven top shimmery shades in the order they fall in the palette. They are all a quick swatch with my finger and no primer. Let me tell you why I swatch this way as I have been asked before. I have some AMAZING brushes that can make even an under-performing shadow look good. Primer will make shadows look better, but each primer is different. To me, this is the biggest test of how a shadow swatches. No gimmicks, no help, and pretty easy to get the same result everytime. Will primers and brushes make these swatches look better? Absolutely. And I would of course do that when wearing them. But if they dont swatch well on their own, I dont want the shadow. These swatch well. The only two that are slightly problematic at all are the olive tinged one (third from the right) which is a little dryer and gives a little bit of drag, and the last one which has a chunkier/more glittery feel to the shimmer which makes it kind of chunky.



And here are the mattes, again in the same order they fall in the palette. These may not look like much swatched in this fashion, bur for mattes, these are GREAT. The first one is the only one that is a little dryer but with a primer it is still lovely.



So what do I think of this palette overall? I LOVE IT! It has the shimmer and glitter that Urban Decay is known for yet the fallout is not near as bad as in the UD line (minus the last black one. that has fallout). They apply gorgeously (though not QUITE as well as Urban Decay if I want to be honest - though it is VERY close), and overall the shadows are consistent and lovely. I think this has great versatility both for those looking for subtle neural eyes (me) and those who want a deep dark smokey eye. I also think there is some nice colours for both those wanting more cool toned shades, as well as those looking for warmer shades.

If you don't already have the UD naked palette (do those people even exist nowadays?!) I think this is a very good alternative. Or if you are like me and simply need to own 12,323,654,564,684 shades of brown!

1 comment:

  1. Wow thank you that is a great review ! I am one of those people that doesn't have a Naked palette yet (although I have their cheaper dupes from MUA) and this palette looks fantastic, I will buy it for sure when it is available in my country. It seems to have everything: several good mattes, a brush that you can use for real, neutral shimmers, a mini mascara (when you're on a budget and don't use make-up too often, mascaras are expensive to buy and replace regularly)...

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