Hello friends!

Switching it up from my usual lip product reviews, I wanted to try out this amazing palette I snagged while I still received Ipsy bags (I was a total sucker for their addons!). Not only did I snatch up this palette, I grabbed another color way as well! This palette has pushed me out of my comfort zone, but it’s been a fantastic experience!

Packaging: This 5 pan palette is thin and features a metallic copper front. The name of the palette is on the front in white, along with the Dose of Colors logo. The inside has a slot for a brush and comes with a double sided brush, has a shiny black plastic packaging around the shadows, and features a large mirror. The mirror is obviously covered by the outer box, since I didn’t want to deal with the reflections – we all know what a good mirror looks like!

Swatches:

Individual Shadow Reviews:

Oh So Sassy: Plump peach. This color is such a cool take on a neutral! It’s got an orange color to it absolutely, but it’s got just enough brown to turn it into something that feels more approachable as a color. I did struggle to build this color up, as when I tried to it didn’t want to blend out and instead would stick to a few spots, looking patchy. It wasn’t super noticeable, but it was enough for me to want to point it out.

Bossy: Bold burnt orange. I was very intimidated by this shade when I saw it, and so honestly delayed a bit in trying it. However, I was so pleasantly surprised by it! I don’t know if it’s because I have blue eyes, but I felt like the bold orange color looked so nice on me, and while it was certainly bright, it didn’t feel garish or out of place. I found that after around 8 hours, this did crease a bit, but remained vibrant.

Foxy: Burnt sienna. This shade has become a favorite of mine; it’s perfectly down the middle for me in terms of shade and depth. While compared to the first two colors it looks nearly brown, on the lids it still has a distinctly orange undertone; it just isn’t as fluorescent. This was a great shade both on its own and used in the crease, and blended easily.

Brassy: Warm copper. Holy pigment! I tapped my brush into the pan a few times and I got a lot of color on my lid. It blended pretty easily, but I was surprised that it actually looked a lot lighter than the swatch on my arm. I was anticipating a darker brown that would give me a bit of a smokey effect, but I feel like it looked the same bright orange as the rest of the shades. I also found that this did end up fading a bit after about 6 hours in my crease. That said, there’s a distinct possibility I rubbed my eyes and didn’t realize, causing it to fade more than it would have otherwise.

Stay Sassy: Warm cocoa brown. This is another shadow I felt intimidated by, but when I put it on I fell in love! It’s definitely dark compared to the other shades, and not something I’d typically throw on as a casual look, but the undertone was lovely. It was a very smokey looking shadow, but blended on the edges made a very pretty orange brown. I unfortunately did notice a lot of patchiness on one eye with this shade, and I don’t know if it was because I had put too much shadow on, or the primer wasn’t blended as well.

Overall:

Application: Applying these shadows isn’t super hard, but they are WAY pigmented, so beware! The shadows themselves are very powdery, and even when I gently tap my brush into the pan, I still kick up a lot of dust. I recommend very lightly patting the shadow to get it on the brush, blowing or tapping off the excess, then applying to your eye.

It does blend out nicely if you add too much color accidentally, but I still caution application as the formula can get patchy if you add too much and don’t spend the time it needs blending. I would not consider this a beginner friendly formula, and would say this is a great palette for someone who has experience working with makeup and is comfortable with a lot of pigment and color.

Wear: I was really impressed with the wear on these shadows! I noticed minimal creasing about 6 hours into wear, which doesn’t surprise me as I have incredibly oily eyelids. Even with the minimal creasing, the colors remained vibrant through the entire time I wore it. These are some serious eyeshadows!

I opted to try these shadows all on their own as a single eyeshadow look so I could see exactly what I was working with for each individual review, and I think this may have been to the shadow’s detriment. I do not believe this palette is a fantastic “one and done” palette, and instead works best utilized with shimmer shades or liquid shadows.

Do You Need It?

While this is always a subjective question (you need to look at your own collection), I like to include this to provide some context if you’re considering purchasing!

First of all, if you’re just starting out in makeup I do not recommend this palette. Based on what I said above regarding application, I think it could easily scare off a person new to makeup and make it feel intimidating.

If you’ve had a chance to play with makeup and feel comfortable, I definitely think this formula is worth a peek! The next question to ask, however, is how this palette will fit into your collection. With it being an all matte palette, you either need to 1) be comfortable rocking an all matte look, or 2) be willing to use multiple palettes/eyeshadows to create a look you’re happy with.

While I wouldn’t call this a colorful palette, the first two shades (Oh So Sassy & Bossy) are a lot brighter on the eyes than they look even in the swatch. If you’re looking for a truly neutral, every day palette I’d also skip over this one. However, if you’re looking to add a little color and vibrance into your collection without going to rainbow, I’d say this is a great fit! It’s not great as a one shadow look personally, but if you’re looking to use this to supplement single shadows or shimmers you already have, it’s a strong contender.

The palette costs $32, which comes out to a little over $6 per shadow. In my opinion, if you find this palette on sale, it’s worth picking up! I think I snagged it for $18 thanks to the Ipsy add-on program, which brought the cost to under $4 a shade; well worth it to me.