Hi, friends! Welcome to day ten of blogmas! For today’s post, I thought I’d share a fun palette that I’ve been waiting to get my hands on: the NYX Professional Makeup Brights Ultimate Shadow Palette.
Clear cover 
Opened palette
The reason I’ve been waiting is because this palette is not exactly cheap for a drugstore/drugstore-adjacent brand. It retails for $18 on the NYX website, but Target had it for $9.99 when I purchased it (was about $13 in store but the cashier price matched my cart to the online price). Target actually has it for $8.19 right now, but read this review before you buy to see if it’s something you might like!
The main reason I wanted this palette is the shimmery yellow green second from the left in the bottom row. I bought this palette before I bought the Morphe 35M Boss Mood palette, so at the time, I didn’t have any eyeshadow colors like this. I thought this sickly green was just so interesting, and I’ve wanted it ever since I laid my eyes on it.
Before we dive into the swatches and discuss formula, let’s quickly talk about packaging. This palette is encased in slightly glossy, black plastic with a clear cover showcasing the colorful shadows inside. The palette isn’t exactly thin, but it isn’t heavy and is just larger than the palm of my hand, still making it a nice travel palette if you’re looking to take some fun, bright colors with you. I find that a lot of palettes with this similar color scheme tend to be for artistry use and, therefore, tend to be on the much larger and bulkier size, making it hard to travel with. The everyday person might find that he or she wants an additional palette to pair this with to add some depth to the look, so it’s important that this palette doesn’t take up all the makeup bag space if traveling light is important. Space efficiency is something I always look for in a palette since I want to be able to travel with it.
One thing I immediately noticed when testing out this palette is that there is a lot of kickback with this formula as you can see in the photo above. The shadows are extremely soft. It is a little on the powdery side, which, to be completely honest, I typically don’t prefer. I like a formula that feels like it binds together. The shadows still have pretty good pigment as you can see below. I share swatches below of both when the shadows are applied heavily and when they are blended out so you can see the different effects. As always, these swatches are done purely on bare skin with no primer underneath so you can see how the shadows work on their own.
As you can see above, these shadow can pack a punch when applied heavily. The swatches above show you how bright these colors can look when packed on.
As for the last photo, these swatches show you how the shadows look when blended out. Blended out, the colors look more pastel, which I think is fun. Of course, with any bright eyeshadow, using a white base underneath will amplify the pigmentation if you want that extra pop of brightness to these colors.
While I prefer a less powdery formula, it’s pretty good even for its retail price of $18; however, if you can get it at a good sale, why pay full price? If you don’t mind a powdery texture, I think $8 at Target is a really great deal if you’re looking to delve into the world of bright colors.
Hope you found this palette review and swatches helpful! See you tomorrow for day eleven of blogmas!
Until next time,
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