Melt Cosmetics Smoke Sessions

Sunday, June 2, 2019

Hey! I'm back. I planned on some posts so things on the blog would continue uninterrupted while I was gone, but that didn't really end up panning out. It happens. Well today I'd like to talk about the palette I bought when I was gone, that I couldn't wait to dig into the day I came home. The extremely sold out Melt Cosmetics Smoke Sessions.

It wasn't easy getting my hands on this beauty. It was sold out last fall during its initial debut, and I had a huge hiccup getting it from Camera Ready Cosmetics, they canceled my order that I placed right after getting an alert email that it was in stock.

I wasted no time trying to check out with @anafterglow tagged me on Instagram on a post that alerted to a Smoke Sessions restock. It wasn't easy! The website was frozen and Paypal was on the fritz.

Along with two cats who were very happy to see me, this beauty was waiting for me at home.

Swatched over primer, with a dry brush.

Gravity OG is a bright orange tinged gold metallic foil. Grand Daddy is a bronze metallic foil. Black Widow is a tarnished bronze with a hint of olive colored glitter. Sour Diesel is a green tinged brown matte that sadly looks just like a cool dark brown on me. Space Queen is a dark blue green matte. Mean Green is a metallic foil green. Sweet Tooth is a kelly green metallic foil. Blue Dream is a slightly translucent chunky light sea foam green glitter.

These shadows seem to have a formula that doesn't buff well onto a primed surface, like if you were to use a fluffy brush to swirl in the shades . The mattes do not look very pigmented if used that way and the two shades with larger glitter particles Blue Dream and Black Widow scatter all over the skin. Because of this limitation, I didn't use the mattes without using shadows from anther brand to blend the edges and I felt the need to use a sticky base with the glitter shades. The metallic foil shades (Gravity OG, Grand Daddy, Mean Green, and Sweet Tooth) should be used with a damp brush for maximum shine.

Neither Sour Diesel and Space Queen look on my skin the way I want them to look. Sour Diesel looks like a dingy dark khaki brown while Space Queen looks more blue when blended out, only looks true to shade when I pack on a massive amount of it.

The six sparkle shades watched over a sticky damp base, NYX Glitter Primer.

For this look I used Viseart Neutral Mattes with the shades Black Widow and Gravity OG. Even with glitter primer, the particles in Black Widow kinda ended up all over.

Here I've used MAC Goldenrod as the transition shade and from Smoke Sessions, Sour Diesel on the lid. In the inner corner I buffed in Gravity OG.

Here I've used Sour Diesel, Mean Green, and Blue Dream. Also used NARS Loaded palette.

Here I've used Space Queen and Grand Daddy, with Gravity OG on the lower lash.

I used Natasha Denona Poison Berry for the purple, and Space Queen plus Mean Green from Smoke Sessions.

Here I've used Viseart Warm Mattes, Blue Dream and Sweet Tooth from the palette.

Ultimately I think I like this palette a lot but I don't adore it. The matte shades don't look true to pan on me, particularly when blended out. I love the color of Black Widow but am not a fan of how it picks up with the brush - you kind of have to dig in and it's chunky in feel. Compare that to Natasha Denona glitters that just glide across the lid and has a nicer consistency.

On the other hand, I love the shades Blue Dream, Sweet Tooth and Gravity OG! Cozzette Niobium is similar to Gravity OG, but a smoother metallic finish. I don't have anything in my stash quite like Blue Dream and Sweet Tooth though. Mean Green and Grand Daddy are nice too, while I have colors like them in my stash, these Melt versions are much more pigmented and vibrant so I consider them superior.

While I really enjoy the beautiful greens, the right half of the palette, for the unusual hues (particularly Sweet Tooth! that sort of shade isn't easy to come by), I'm not sure I would wholeheartedly recommend this palette. There are better formulas of eyeshadows out there that apply more effortlessly. If you really dig the color scheme and don't mind using a sticky base, you might still consider this to be a good purchase. Without some sort of glitter adhesive and also a wet brush for the foils, you might not get the full impact of the shadows.

The Melt Smoke Sessions Palette is $48 for eight shades. It is available directly from the Melt website, through Beauty Bay, and now also from Sephora.

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