EXPOSED BY SMASHBOX! IYAROCKA!

Yoh! The Smashbox Full Exposure Pallete is hot!  A thing of beauty . . .

In South Africa, larger palettes in this price range are rare. Yes, you can get UD Naked palletes, Lorac, The Balm, Two Faced and other eye shadow palettes, online and on Instagram from private sellers.

Rarely can you walk into a store and find such palettes.

This palette is accessible to everyone and this is one of the reasons I am so excited to own one. There was loads of hype surrounding this palette and it delivered!

There are 14 eye shows in the palette that are off-the-hook. There are gorgeous, must-have neutral shades from nudes to blacks.

You get seven shimmering shades and seven matte shades. With this variety of colours, you can mix and match and create beautiful eye looks from fresh flirty day looks to sultry smokey eyes that shimmer.

The palette comes with a double ended brush, one side for shimmer looks (like a shader brush perfect for packing on colour) and the other for mattes, (looks like a blending brush), perfect for applying and blending transition shades and smoking out eye shadows.

There are no names of colours in the palette. They are divided into Mattes (M) and Shimmers (S)

The numbers run from 1 to 7 in the sequence from left to right as they appear in the palette.

Top row:

S1: Dark golden brown

S2: Light golden brown

S3: Champagne

S4, Light pink with white gold

S5: Taupe with soft gold shimmer

S6: Dark silver with purple undertones

S7: Deep blue/black silver

Bottom Row:

M1, Dark Brown

M2: Tan

M3: Cool tone beige/brown

M4, Cream beige

M5: Taupe

M6: Gunmetal grey

M7: Carbon black

The outer part of the pallete is made of a black heavy duty cardboard. The inner part of the palette that holds the eye shadow pans and brush compartment is a heavy duty plastic. It also has a full size mirror and my heart sang when I draw that. None of my other Smashbox palettes have that, the Smoke box or Soft box.

The top has the brand name and name of the palettes in holographic lettering. Gorgeous.

With the exception of S4, all shades are swatched beautifully in one swipe. S4 needed to be built up slightly to show up but when it did, it glistened with glory. Note that these shimmer shades are a wash of shimmer over the lids, which is subtle yet so beautiful. Applied wet, these shimmers are insanely pigmented and bold metallic, especially the darker shades.

The matte shades are creamy and easy to blend, like Smashbox shadows are known to for. With the inclusion of both cool and warm eye shadow shades, this palette is suitable for all skin tones, eye colours and well, just Game on Point!

The eye shape chart is an added bonus. This chart is a step–by-step guide on how to apply the eye shadows to create the best effect for your eye shape. The eye shapes are: Almond, Round, Upturned, Downturned, Monolid and Hooded. There is also a brief description and picture of each eye shape so if you didn’t know your eye shape, you can find it on this chart. Simply genius.

There are three different looks for each eye shape: Day Look, Night Look and Defined Look. This is great for beginners and I’m glad that Smashbox has once again put in that added extra to show how to use these eye shadows to and get best out of this palette for you.

I think that many companies put out eye shadows palettes focusing on the product itself. Smashbox focuses on YOU, showing YOU what YOU can achieve with the palette.

Yes, in the pan I can definitely see colour dupes from my UD Naked palettes, Smog, Half Baked, Darkhorse, Buck, Naked, Creep, Blackout come to mind,

But this palette doesn’t need to ride on the coattails of another brand. In my opinion, I think it unfair to see this palette as a dupe for another.

Final thoughts on this palette: The formula is a winner, the shade selection is a winner, the extra bits and bobs are a winner and well, it’s Smashbox, that’s a winner for sure! It's ayoba!

Where to buy: Smashbox Counters across the country

Price: R880 (I got a deluxe size Smashbox 24 Hour Photo Finish Shadow Primer when I bought it at Edgars Red Square) I know Woolies does stock Smashbox, so I’m not sure what the deal is there!