Maybelline recently released something that is really exciting to see in the drugstore: a 12 pan eyeshadow palette! Obviously a full eyeshadow palette is rather common to find at Sephora or MAC, but not so much at your local Walgreens.

The rundown:
12 eyeshadows
A total of 9.6g/.34oz of product (.8g/.028oz per pan if I’m doing my math right)
5 shades that are matte with sparse but extremely fine shimmer
4 shades that are something close to a satin finish
3 shades that are almost a dulled metallic or shimmer finish
None of the shades are overly glittery or chunky or shimmery but none of them are completely matte either. Hopefully this comes. through in the pictures.
Retails for $9.99-$12.99 (I purchased mine for $9.99 at Walmart but CVS was somewhere around the $12.99 price tag)

This palette applies much better to the eye than it appears in swatches. All swatches were done with two passes over the swatch. I’m including swatches both with and without a primer as primer does bring out more of the actual differences in each shade.

Review:

I’ve been using this palette off and on for a few weeks now and I have to say that my overall opinion of the product is really positive. These eyeshadows are not incredibly pigmented overall, and a few of them are a little dry or hard. However; these blend really really easily and can be built up to a decent level of opacity. All of the shadows are easy to work with and I really like the way my makeup turns out every time I use this. The one downside is that there is not a large range of shades in this palette so I find that no matter what color combinations I use, the end result looks essentially the same.

The wear time on this is really good. My eye makeup looks exactly the same at the end of the day as it does when first applied. There is no fading, creasing or smudging.

Now is the part where I blow your freaking mind. I have the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette and I’ve had that for a couple of years. I think I’ve already used the Maybelline palette more often AND I’ve been much more pleased with the end results using the Maybelline palette. I know right?!?

The Maybelline website states that this is a “13 looks, one palette” situation and the website and the back of the palette give extensive examples of different combinations to use with this palette. They have also broken the palette down into three quads or four trios or six duos and they provide instruction on each of these combinations. I actually really dig this and think it’s kind of a fun idea. In reality though, I’m going to use colors from opposite ends of the palette to maximize contrast in my overall look. Mostly that’s because I’m a rebel. Or because I’m boring. I’m gonna go with rebel though.

To sum up: I think this is a great palette at a fantastic price. It doesn’t have a lot of unique shades or fantastic pigmentation but it is easy to work with, produces really lovely looks and is incredibly convenient.