Welcome to my happy little blog where talking about makeup helps keep me healthy and happy. Although that may sound absurd, it's the truth and it's an important key to keeping my health stable. So it seems that there was a last minute trip to Ulta on Christmas eve. I had heard wonderful things about the Smashbox Wondervision Mega Palette and when I learned that Ulta had dropped the price from $49 to $39 I began to get excited. Then I learned that I could use an additional 20% coupon which had been mailed to me. Yep, it had to be mine. Currently, this palette is still on sale for $39.00 at Ulta exclusively which is an excellent bargain considering the quality of this palette.
Just in case you don't know which palette it is that I am talking about; please allow me a moment to show you! The Smashbox Wondervision Mega Palette is a gorgeous gem of a palette which contains 30 creamy, buttery shadows, 3 blushes and 1 bronzer.
We need to spend a moment talking about the beauty of just the packaging. I am not certain exactly what it is but this combination of reflective silver combined with pinks, purples, blues and greens that just sucks me right in.
Then when you take the palette out of the packaging, you have this stunning reflective silver simple, yet elegant, palette. That right there is enough for me to open my wallet.
Then you open the palette and your eyes feast on the gloriousness that is this mix of matte and shimmer shadows, blushes and a bronzer. There is a nice mix of colors and neutrals, as well as, bold and smokes.
One of the greatest things about this palette is that is has a large mirror which will stand open at a nice angle when applying your makeup. This would be THE palette to take when you travel. It's compact, has everything you need. and that mirror is perfect.
Let's talk about the shades that are offered in this palette. This first row of shadows are all beautiful shades of brown and they are predominately matte. There is only one really nice mid-toned brown which is a shimmer. These mattes are a beautiful formula which are buttery soft and blend beautifully. There is a touch of fallout which is easily controlled by tapping your brush. This palette includes a rich, deep chocolate brown. Finding a really nice matte black can be challenging enough but finding a rich chocolate brown is like finding a a rare gem.
The next is a row of really warm toned shadows which lean toward neutral. This row just screams fall to me. The lightest shade can be described as a matte with a touch of micro glitter. All the rest are definitely shimmer. The darkest shade in the row is a rich chocolate brown with a blue-green duochrome effect. The deep cranberry color is an absolutely stunning!
Next up is a row of cool toned blues and greens. It begins with a matte light cream color. Next is a light off white shimmer has the slightest touch of lime green in it. It reads as an off white on the skin but has something extra that makes it so special. There are two beautiful mid-toned greens, one brighter and one richer, a mid-toned periwinkle blue and a deep almost navy blue shimmer with glitter.
Next is a row of pinks and purples. The lightest color is an off white, light pink frost. When you apply it very sparingly, you can see that it is loaded with the most beautiful micro glitter. There is a light pink matte with glitter, a bold matte mid-toned pinky, purple and an icy lavender shimmer. There is a deep, smokey purple matte with gold glitter. This is THE purple for a smokey amethyst look! The last shadow in this row is a wonderfully pigmented matte black which is just soft and buttery.
The last and final row of shadows is your smokey look row. It starts with a creamy, saturated silver which could become my all time favorite silver. Next there is a blue based gray satin, followed by a dreamy taupe shade. Then there is a matte chocolate brown with multicolored but mostly gold glitter. There is also a rich gunmetal gray which is just amazing. The final shadow is a lovely dark black with gold glitter.
The first blush is a matte baby pink which shows up beautifully on my super fair skin as a lovely flush of light color. This will be perfect if I am doing a really bold eye. Then there is a matte rose pink which also looks great against my fair skin. The next blush is the only one with shimmer and micro glitter which gives the skin a lovely glow. The bronzer is a medium toned shade which I will have to be careful with as it could easily turn muddy on me.
The interesting thing about this palette is that it has these overlay cards which give simple instructions on how to achieve a particular look. You simply lay this care over any four shadows in a row and it will tell you where to place each shadow. This is great feature for those who might have a limited experience with shadows.
There are actually four different looks which include a soft cat eye, Wondervision color, smoldering eye, and drop shadow. I am really impressed with this feature. I think it's a really neat way of ensuring the purchaser knows how to use the palette to achieve numerous looks.
Overall, I am blown away with the shades in this palette. They are creamy, blendable, buttery shadows made with a great formula. The shimmers are beautifully shimmery and the glitter is all very fine. The blushes could fall flat for some because they are best suited to fairer skin types but they are smooth and almost creamy. I can see this palette easily becoming my favorite palette. It is so beautiful, offers a nice mix of matte and shimmer and a wide range of colors. When I envision a well rounded palette that provides me with a wide selection of colors and finishes, I don't think I could build one better than this. How often do we find palettes that are missing key elements like a mid-toned matte to blend out the crease, a matte highlight, a rich deep color to deepen the outer v or a pop of color to add something special? This palette has everything.
