LA Girl Smoky Eyeshadow Palette Review + Swatches! *pic heavy*

Hey Beauties! If you've followed me on social media the past week or so you know I picked up the new LA Girl Smoky Eyeshadow Palette and then ran back to my local drugstore and grabbed the Ultra & Neon Eyeshadow Palette's. Since I've had the Smoky one the longest and I've played with that one the most, I thought I would share an in-depth review of this palette including swatches. This post is going to be a little bit different then some of my others because I'm really going to talk about each individual color in the palette because I feel like there all so different in textures and formula. The Smoky Palette retails here in Canada for $10, but I believe its $7 in the USA and prices vary across different counties, but its very inexpensive. It contains a mix of satin, shimmer and matte shadows for a total of 12 in this palette. The shadows are very smooth and apply and blend evenly onto the lids (skin) and you're able to create a variety of subtle smoky looks or more dramatic evening looks (check out my instagram to see future looks using this palette). Each shadow really does have its very own feel and texture and that's why for today's review I will be focusing on the individual shadows in the palette and then telling you my overall thoughts. Lets begin:

The first shadow in this palette is also the same in the Neon's Palette and is a very shimmery sheer white color. It does look more of a champagne in the pan, but comes out more white when swatched. As you can see this color is very sheer and works best when applied over another color or on its own over the lid for a more shimmery finish, I would also say this is a metallic finish and could also be used wet to intensify the shimmer.

The second shade in this palette is a cool toned metallic silver. This shadow is more pigmented that the first at the base but still has the same metallic shimmer throughout. This shade also does have a bit of fallout, so cleanup will be a must after applying this shadow. Also after use this shadow seems to have formed a slight hard pan in the palette so beware of pressing to hard into the shadow. This is also a metallic finish.

The third shade is a cool toned true matte grey shade. This is something that I've been using in the crease a lot as a transition color because it blends out effortlessly. The goes on very matte, obviously, and is a very pigmented shadow however it can be toned down by using less shadow or packed out to its full opacity. This is a very soft shadow so there will be some bits of powder kickup in the pan, but I don't see any fallout once applied to the eyes.

The fourth shade is a cool toned deeper silver metallic with a shine of blue to it. While I believe the base to be grey in this shadow the metallic throughout the shadow is indeed a blue toned color. This contains much less shimmer than the previous metallic shades and applies evenly and smoothly whereas the other colors took a bit more work. 

The fifth shade in this palette is also a metallic finish and is a deep taupe shade with a slight plum finish. Again I believe the base of this shadow to be taupe while the shimmer or metallic to be the plum color. This also is a really nice shade that applied evenly and smoothly in both the swatch and on the eye and would be great used all over the lid for a more glamorous look.

The sixth shade is this palette is another matte and is a deep almost black brown shade. This shadow kicked up a bit of product in the pan but applied nicely to the eyes. I did find this shadow did require some building once on the lid to get the pigmentation that I wanted. I also noticed this was slightly patchy on the eyelids so I took a little bit more time blending this shade out.

The seventh shade is a matte tan color and is pretty much the same shade as my skin. This shadow is best used for someone with my skin tone as a base color before applying any other shadows. Applying a base layer of powder that's similar to your skin tone allows the other shadows to blend out easier on top. I do have to say this was the most powdery shadow in the palette but I didn't notice any fallout on the eyes.

The eight shadow is this palette is a slight warm toned deep brown color and is a matte finish. This was a beautiful shadow as well and worked really well on the outer v for deepening up makeup looks without making them to harsh. This also applied very evenly and blended out nicely and blended into other colors very well,

The ninth shadow in this palette is a beautiful warm toned chopper color with a slight red hue. This was probably my favorite color when I picked up this palette but quickly became one of my least favorites. This swatch is about three layers of product and is your average shimmery deep brown shade, the red didn't really pull through on the skin. I also found that this shadow had a lot of powder kickup and slight fallout on the eyes. 

The tenth shadow is this palette is a really pretty metallic plum shade and is also another one that was really pretty in the pan. This again is about three layers of product and while its workable compared to the other shades it just doesn't live up. This does have a very pretty semi-matte finish on the skin and eyes and did blend out very nicely but it took some layering to get the color to build up. This is another shadow that could be used wet all over the lid for a more night time look.

The eleventh shade in this palette is by far the worst, and its really sad for me to say. This is a metallic deep blue shade and is stunning in the pan but as you can see the swatch is patchy, streaky and not that flattering. I found that little pigment transferred to the eye with this shade and what did just looked like a deep grey shade and wasn't anything special. I also really had to make sure to blend this color as it appeared patchy on the eyes as well.

The twelth and final shade can also be found in the Neon's Palette and is a more grey toned black shade. This is a matte finish and it has really lovely pigmented. This is my favorite shade for using in the outer v and deepening up look because it blends really evenly and its really easy to build the color - with all blacks you want to start out light and with the color up. I find that this color allows much more building and blending out than some other black shades I've tried. This was also the matte shade that caused the least kickup in the pan while at the same time still being smooth and pretty.

Overall this is a really impressive palette for the low price tag of $7-$10! I picked this up one afternoon and after getting home and trying it I immediately ran back to my drugstore that night and picked up the other two they had in stock. I think all of the shades in this palette are or can be really pigmented and most shades blend out smoothly and evenly on the lids. I have also done several looks with this palette now and its really easy to do full eye looks using just this palette because of the mix of mattes, metallic's and satin's in the palette. I also enjoyed that you got 6 cool toned shades ad 6 warm toned shades that can be mixed together to create some pretty beautiful looks. I also loved mixing these shades with other from the Neon Palette and other shadows in my collection. If you're looking for a great palette I think LA Girl Cosmetics got it right and you need to run out and try and find these. I'm still on the hunt for the Nudes Palette to finish of my the collection of four, but for now I'm so happy with this one that it just may become a staple in my everyday makeup drawer! While I don't think these are Urban Decay formula, I think that even the color's that preformed less well than the amazing shades are great to work with and play with to create some looks. Also don't forget to let me know if you enjoyed this more detailed look at the swatches and review or if you prefer shorter reviews, I really want to make this blog all about what your guys want to read and see! Have you tried this palette? What are your thoughts?