Seeing how cheap this was I decided to give this a go, thinking I couldn't go wrong. This palette went above and beyond my expectations. The palette comes in an attractive white plastic case with a pretty gold font. It comes with a foam applicator which I find useless for applying the product and I use my own brush with these. There's a generous 16 eyeshadows, they are kind of bright odd colours that don't really work in a palette together and there are no matte shades, so in terms of creating an eye shadow look I need to use this in conjunction with other palettes. The shadows have a zig zag indentation on the surface which does make them look a bit cheap but expected for the price.
The shades are all impressively pigmented and stunning, particularly the greens and purples. The shadows have a buttery texture. I was impressed that they applied really pigmented to the lid, with not too much fallout. I used these with an eyeshadow primer as I do with all eye shadow and I was impressed that they lasted all day with no colour fadage and only minimal creasing on my naturally oily eyelids. I was definitely impressed with these and I reccommend giving this palette a go.
When I couldn't afford to restock my makeup after an unfortunate event, I went to the warehouse to purchase some cheap makeup. This is where I found this gem! $5 surely the price tag is wrong? I had used LA Colours makeup before but only generic items. This was my first eyeshadow palette by them. For $5 I was very skeptical but seeing as I couldn't afford anything else this had to do the job.
The case is itself very flimsy and thin but for so cheap I wouldn't expect anything else. The colours are very random but gorgeous. They appeared chalky but in actual fact they are quite buttery and smooth. The pigment is what wins me over every time! I have paid 4 times more for some palettes and they are nowhere near this pigmented! There is next to no fall out when I pick it up with my brush either.....WINNING AT LIFE!!!
Like I said the colours are very random and don't really fit in to the name of smokin. It has everything from green to blue and baby pink. It's not a very cohesive or well thought out colour palette but it in no way takes away from how good they are. I often have to be careful with the darker colours because once applied they are there to stay unless you fancy wiping all of the eye area and starting over with foundation etc.
The colours blend ok-ish. Like I said they tend to stay put and can be hard to blend out to look less mutton dressed as lamb. If you master this part you are good to go!! Move ahead three hours and some has migrated north in to the crease of my lid argh annoying! It's still pretty fierce but I do wish it would stay in place. The next time I tried it with a translucent setting powder and wallah problem solved.....for the most part. If you are on a budget and are a beginner, go for this baby!
Tips: Dust the shadow lightly on the brush because less really is more.