Monday, April 15, 2013

Smashbox Studio Pop Ultimate Palette: Review + Photos (Part 1)

Yesterday I went to Winners and was lucky enough to get my hands on this Smashbox Studio Pop Ultimate Palette for only $25!! I believe this was one of Smashbox's 2012 holiday palettes. It retails for around $70 CAD, so I can't believe I got it for such an amazing price. A friend of mine told me that she got one at her local Winners and knowing I'm a makeup addict, she told me about this amazing deal. So the next day I went out to check my local Winners and they had 3 in stock! I almost should've picked up more than one, this would make an awesome gift!

The packaging of this palette is fantastic. It comes in a red and silver cardboard box (above), and the actual palette is sleek with a silver/mirrored finish saying "studio pop" all over it. The palette has magnetic closing so it won't flip open on it's own. The palette feels very sturdy and seems like it'd be fantastic for travel.

When the palette is opened it has 3 panels. The left side has a mirror and cards demonstrating different eye looks you can achieve with this palette, the middle has 45 eye shadows, and the right has 6 blushes, 9 cream eyeliners, and 6 lip glosses.

The mirror in this palette is amazing. It's large and not distorted in any way (as some cheaper palette mirrors tend to be). If you were to travel with this palette you'd easily be able to do your makeup using this mirror, though you'd have to either stand the palette up, or lean the left panel on something so it'd stand.

There are 4 double-sided cards in this palette showing you 8 different looks you can create with this palette! The looks range from everyday and wearable, to deep and dramatic. I'll definitely be trying some of these out! Let me know if I should make posts showing how I re-create these looks! That could be a fun little series to do!

The palette comes with 2 brushes as well. One dual-ended one, and the other not.

On one end of the dual-ended brush is an eyeshadow brush. This brush feels a bit scratchy and a hair already fell out of it when I was feeling it. I don't see myself using this brush much or at all, but that's okay because I didn't get this palette for the brushes! I have more than enough eye shadow brushes already anyway.

The other end is a small flat-top synthetic brush. This could be used for eyeliner or even lip products. I'll probably give this a try with the cream eyeliners in the palette!

The other brush in this palette is this small tapered synthetic brush. This could also be used as an eyeliner or lip brush. I'm not quite sure how I'll use this brush yet. I'll probably try it out with both the lip glosses and eyeliners in the palette!

Well, that's all for part 1 of my review & photos of this palette! Keep an eye out for parts 2 and 3, which will be posted over the next couple days! 

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