Laura Mercier Artiste Palette For Eyes

Thursday, February 21, 2013

The title of this post really should have been One Palette To Rule Them All. It took me a while to review this palette (still a lot of backlog I'm working through!) but I really love it. There's been a lot of awesome neutral eye palettes released in the last year - the Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette, the Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette and palettes that are aren't strictly full of neutral shades but have a lot of work appropriate, user friendly shades such as the LORAC Pro Palette or theBalm Meet Matt(e). I think the Laura Mercier Artiste Palette falls into that second category since only half of the shades are really neutrals, but the other six shadows coordinate in a really beautiful way.

First, let's take a look at the colors. The top row contains the sparkle/shimmer shades while the bottom row of the palette consists of entirely matte shades. I swatched them all in one row because ... quite frankly I wanted to see if they would all fit. From left to right: Chocolate, African Violet, Sable, Guava, Cameo, Sunlit, Vanilla Nuts, Plum Smoke, Cafe au Lait, Coffee Ground, Deep Night and Rich Coffee.

Some of the sparkly shades (namely Chocolate and African Violet) are a little chunkier and I must advocate the use of shadow adhesive (think Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy, Too Faced Glitter Glue) to really bring out the sparkle. I did notice that the two darkest mattes (Deep Night and Rich Coffee) were a smidge drier than the other mattes but in my experience that did not cause fall out or make them harder to apply in anyway. The other shades are really wonderful; smooth, silky and finely milled.

I really like the packaging quite a bit. Why? I hate palettes with a space for a tiny brush. I really do. It's wasted space and I can't ever recall a time where I liked the accompanying brush. So my hat is off to Laura Mercier for not putting the brush in. The top of the palette contains a mirror on the inside and closes with a magnetic flap. The material on the outside is soft, faux snakeskin. At first I was worried that it was going to be delicate and that if I tossed it in with my brushes and other tools during travel, it would scuff or catch on an implement. I've brought it on many trips and I'm pleased to report that it is sturdier than it looks!

In all, this is a really nice palette. The quality is outstanding. You have your staple shades; matte ivory for brow bone highlight, sparkly brown, matte browns for crease definition, near black for lining. You also have a lot of really beautiful and might I stress uncommon shades such as African Violet, Sable and Deep Night that are really exquisite and allow for an infinite combination of looks.

So the bad news... it took me so long to review this palette (it was purchased during Sephora's F&F!) that it is no longer on the Sephora website. I have however, still seen it in store at Sephora so it doesn't hurt to call and check. It retails for $48.

Product featured was given to me as a gift. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.