Smashbox Full Exposure Eye Shadow Palette

I have been hearing rumors of a third Urban Decay Naked palette and I have been playing around with my first two Naked palettes in the anticipation of adding more to my collection.  The expected release will be in early December so I still have a few weeks to wait until I can add more palettes to my eye shadow collection.  I am not the most patient person when it comes to waiting for new makeup releases so I decided that I wanted to pick up a new eye shadow palette full of great neutral hues while I was waiting.  Smashbox just released their "version" of the Urban Decay Naked palettes and Full Exposure contains a full variety of pretty neutral hues.  My last visit to Sephora was supposed to be for gift shopping but I ended up walking out only with gifts for myself...

"A set with increased-pigment and universal, neutral eye shades, a highly-rated mascara, and a get-the-look chart for six different eye shapes.  This versatile palette includes 14 must-have neutral shades—from nudes to blacks—in long-wearing shimmers and velvety smooth mattes. The clearly organized palette—shimmers on top and mattes on the bottom—makes them easy to work with, and the kit also includes a breakthrough eye shape chart to achieve your most gorgeous look, along with a dual-ended brush to use with both formulas, and a bonus Full Exposure Mascara sample.", states the Sephora website.

This eye palette contains fourteen shades, seven of them are matte and seven are shimmer hues.  The palette contains seven actual shades and then expands those shades by offering them each in a matte and shimmer finish. 

The shades contains in this palette are...

- chocolate brown with gold pearl (Shimmer)
- deep gold brown with gold pearl (Shimmer)
- soft gold with gold and silver pearl (Shimmer)
- light tan with gold and silver pearl (Shimmer)
- golden wheat with gold pearl (Shimmer)
- midtone slate with silver pearl (Shimmer)
- rich gray with multicolor and silver pearl (Shimmer)
- warm chocolate brown (Matte)
- midtone brown (Matte)
- soft midtone tan (Matte)
- creamy beige (Matte)
- soft light taupe (Matte)
- ashy dark brown (Matte)
- suede black (Matte)

The shimmer shades are the better quality of the two formulas, the matte shades have a good amount of formula and pigmentation variation.  The easiest way to use this palette to start with the one shade and apply the matte hue all over the lid and up to the browbone.  I then follow it with the matching shimmer shade right on the lid.  The brush that is provided with this palette is really the best way to apply these shades, one side is designed for the matte hues and the other for the shimmer hues.  I ignored this part of the directions when I first opened the palette and used the eye brushes that I normally use.  My favorite NARS and MAC brushes didn't hurt the product or the application but I found that using the recommended brushes from Smashbox made application easier and the pigment payoff much better from each shade.  The only other way that I recommend applying the shimmer shades is with a finger pad method.

I have moved onto the using multiple shades of the mattes together and then multiple shades of the shimmers together.  I prefer the shimmer hues, the majority of them apply nicer and have a better pigment payoff than the matte shades.  My favorite shades are the soft gold, light tan, and golden wheat shimmer shades.  I had the most issues with the application on the deeper matte shades so I would be more likely to use these wet as a liner instead of all over my lid. 

Overall, I like and recommend this palette if you like neutral hues and want a combination of matte and shimmer shades to play with.  I have been getting a lot of use from this palette and I will continue to work with it a lot even when the newest Urban Decay Naked palette releases.

photo courtesy of Sephora