REVIEW: Morphe 35D Palette

Whilst I am a self-professed budget beauty hoarder, I must admit I am prone to a few splurges from time to time. The digital world is a hive of beauty YouTubers, bloggers and reviewers and I am currently in no place to match their expertise, but that is exactly why I wanted to do this review – and other beauty reviews in the future too.

I am a very ‘normal’, down-to-earth, can’t-afford-to-spend-a-week’s-wages-on-makeup kinda gal, and I’d say 90% of my beauty product stock cost me less than £10 per item. So a few months ago, when I made the decision to really “treat yo’self” and go a little bit loopy on Cult Beauty, it was a very rare occasion.

A lot of the reviews I watch/read are from the opinion of established make-up pro’s who already know what they’re doing and what they’re looking for in products. Whilst I’m not a complete amateur, I most certainly do not fit the above description and so I’m hoping to produce a review from the eyes of a beauty fantasist, rather than a renowned professional – which I hope will be a refreshing tonic.

I’d been agonising over the array of Morphe palettes for weeks. They seemed to take the social media and beauty world by storm, and I was desperate to try one out for myself. As I already have many a few nude/natural shade palettes, I thought I’d push the boat out a little bit and try my luck with Morphe’s 35D palette. It seemed to have a nice range of semi-bold shades and colours without going completely over-the-top like the 35D palette, which, whilst being stunning, makes me head hurt just from looking at all the bright shades.

PRICE

If, like me, spending over £10 or £15 on one singular product raises your heart rate and causes sweat to bead across your brow, then this palette’s price of £23.50 might induce a touch of angina. BUT, considering you get 35 different shades, that works out at just under 70p per eyeshadow! Which is nothing short of incredible, really. You might struggle to find a decent single eye colour for 70p elsewhere!

PACKAGING

Of course, as with most things in this world, what you gain in costs, you often sacrifice with quality and particularly in terms of this palette’s casing, this is no exception. The entire thing feels very cheap and generally quite flimsy. I wouldn’t trust leaving it at the bottom of my bag on an overnight stay as I feel as though the casing could easily crack. Consequently, I store it on top of everything else in my make-up drawers.

Aside from this bugbear, its aesthetic is generally quite nice. It’s slick and classy, and the actual palette came inside a black cardboard sleeve (which I’ve since thrown away). It’s very clean and minimal, but I really think it would benefit from having a mirror – the inside of the lid is practically crying out for one. Introducing this feature would, of course, drive the cost up slightly, but I think that’s a sacrifice we’d all be willing to make, amiright?

QUALITY

Getting straight to the point, there’s no denying that these eyeshadows are really good quality. They apply very easily, are beautifully pigmented, last a good while on the face and there’s very little fall out. They also blend out really well, and as there’s a mixture of matte and shimmer shadows, it’s suitable for pretty much everyone!

HOWEVER, I’ve noticed that many of the shades, when applied, look very different to the colour they appear in the palette. There’s a shade which I thought to be a shimmery silver, that comes off as gun metal grey on my skin. Also, a couple of the lighter green shades show up to be very dark, almost emerald, and the rich, royal blues have a very deep and inky finish. They are lovely colours nonetheless, but they’re not often true to how they’re presented in the palette.

OVERALL THOUGHTS & RATING

★★★★☆, 4/5

Besides my issue with the colouration, I do really like this product. I’d be interested in seeing how some of Morphe’s other palettes perform and I may have to treat myself to one of their more neutral palettes in the near future – any recommendations?