Full disclaimer; I bought this in a sample sale. Also full disclaimer; I don’t even care, this is still a real, full size, and undamaged Smashbox eyeshadow palette and I’ve enjoyed trying it and experimenting with it… and here we are!
The Smashbox L.A. Cover Eye Shadow Palette is usually £39.50 but I purchased it for £15 in a sample sale in Fitzrovia back in January (even at the time of writing this it’s £19.75). It’s a 16 eyeshadow palette with one full size black eyeliner all wrapped up in this beautiful very L.A. styled packaging!
Packaging
It only seems right to talk about packaging, with it literally staring at you in the face. This is a long, thin but fairly chunky palette made out of plastic. The front of it has an L.A. scene which changes depending on the angle you’re looking at it and it feels weighty.
On the inside there’s a long thin mirror, which makes is capable for travelling (although, also not entirely travelproof with the bulk of it), a slot for the black eyeliner and the 16 eyeshadows laid out in sets of 4. I like the face it’s a slightly less conventional set up, but there’s also zero wasted space in the eyeshadow area.
Shade Range
This is a predominantly nude palette, but with beautiful pops of colour. The long, thing eyeshadows are effectively your inner corner, and the other shades are more designed to go on the lid.
I love how this palette has your stunning warm neutrals in the middle of the palette, to the cooler purple and silvers on the right hand side all the way over to that beautiful and stunning teal colour, purple and coral shade on the left hand side.
I love the shade range!
Formula
These shadows are pigmented, easy to blend, long lasting and genuinely just so beautiful. Almond (the standard neutral brown) is the most stunning everyday all over the lid shade and I can totally envisage this to be the first shade to go. And the shimmers (especially the gold – Drop Top – and the rose gold – Rose Bowler) are beautiful. They obviously look better when applied with a wet brush or your finger, but they also do apply pretty well with a brush.
I would say the stand out shade is definitely the teal colour. I’m not entirely convinced by the other two coloured shadows, they don’t pack the same punch and do take a lot of time to build up and blend out… but I find this is the case with many coloured shades.
There’s a tiny bit of fall out, but nothing major.
Value for Money
For the £15 I paid for it? Great value for money. However, if I was buying it full price, I think I would chose to buy the Smashbox smaller palettes and really hone in on the colour ways I want, as opposed to the whole shabang.
I have to say the only Smashbox product I’d tried before purchasing this palette was the Photofinish Foundation Primer (which I do absolutely love), but I’m glad I opened myself up to the other products this brand has to offer.
What Smashbox products have you tried?
Katie x