As December has come to an end, as well as 2015, I just had to talk about what the best holiday palette is in my opinion, which is also my highlight of the month. I have previously heard about this palette from the Balm from EmilyNoel83 and I instantly wanted it. I had decided to pick it up during the 50% sale on The Balm website, however the website crashed for several hours and then the palette sold out within minutes, so I simply ended up ordering it from Debenhams with a 10 % off voucher, which amounted to around £30.
This palette comes in cardboard packaging, much like other The Balm products if you own any- personally this was my first product from the brand and it allows me to test several products which is why I think it’s a great product. You will not be disappointed with the print on it, as it has several of the best selling icons, such as ‘Meet Matte Nude, ‘Bahama Mama’, ‘Frat Boy’ and, dare I say, probably most of their makeup products. This gives it a very fun and vibrant look, which I love. Inside you will find a decent size mirror, which is a nice little extra.
Also I feel like the palette is very travel friendly, with a magnetic closure and a very thin yet sturdy packaging.Also I have kept the sleeve that it comes with, as I think it could be useful for traveling, for extra safety. Also in terms of packaging, it very much reminds me of the Zoeva palettes, which are some of my favorite eye shadow palettes this year.
Now let’s get into what’s actually inside this bad boy! This palette, which has written under the main name ‘Greatest Hits volume 1’ is probably the best way to describe it. It contains best selling products all put under one super cute roof. It has 4 eye shadows, 3 blushes, a bronzer, a highlighter, a cream cheek/lip product and a cream lipstick. Also I think it’s safe to assume that they will be coming up with volume 2 next year or sometimes in the future, so look out for that in your news feed!
First up is the top row, from left to right in the palette and top to bottom in the swatch, which features Hot Mama – a shimmery peach shade that lifts skin and can be used as either a blusher or eyeshadow; Instain Blush in Argyle – a pretty, mid-tone pink; CabanaBoy – a deeper, berry shade that can work as both a blusher or a shadow and finally Bahama Mama – a matte bronzer.
The next row down contains the four eyeshadows and highlighter, from left to right in the palette and top to bottom in the swatch we have two Shady Lady eye shadows – Insane Jane which is a stunning, silvery taupe and Mischievous Marissa – a bright copper. Next is Nude’Tude’s eyeshadow in Sexy – a muddy, matte cranberry, which is so great, as I was almost ready to buy that palette for this shade only. The last eye shadow is from the Balm Jovi eye shadow in Lead Zeppelin – a deep khaki shot through with golden shimmer.
Last, but not least is Mary-Lou Manizer, which is the Balm’s best selling product and a cult product praised by makeup lovers worldwide. This is a light gold highlighter which would suit most skin tones up to medium tan I would say.
The final products can be used on the lips; firstly the mid-toned nude shade is from the How Bout Them Apples palette, and the The Balm Girls Lip Cream shade of Mia Moore is an incredibly pigmented red – I was not expecting it to provide such intense colour payoff and I actually loved it so much, that I had to run and grab the full size lipstick! Also I really love that this side of the palette with the cream products has its own lid which means that your cream and powders won’t be mixing up, avoiding one big mess.
Now, on to thoughts after using the palette: I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the face products. I am quite fortunate with a medium, warm- olive toned skin which suits most colors in terms of blush and bronzers so I had a blast with all these colors. Initially I was quite disappointed with my Mary-Lou Manizer as I expected it to be BA BAM in your face sort of highlighter however mine was almost not there in terms of pigmentation and felt scratchy. I am not sure if this happened to anyone else, but mine had a film on top, so I had to use something to scratch it off and only after the product had great pigmentation and felt creamy as expected. I am in love with Cabana Boy and the Instain Blush and I feel like I now also want to pick up Frat Boy and more blushes generally from them.
The eye shadows have great pigmentation and are as buttery and blendable as you would expect. I find all of them to be very wearable and have used several times since getting palette. Also the best part is that the face products can double up as eye shadows so you can have a total of 10 eye shadows if desired, with a mix of matte and shimmery options.
Overall I would say that this is a fantastic product for anyone who wants to try The Balm products for the first time or wants a good round up on The Balm products in one place for convenience or to travel with.
You can still find it at Debenhams here so I recommend to go buy it RIGHT NOW!
Lots of love,
Claudia xx