Makeup Revolution x Alexis Stone Transformation Palette

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Last month I made a couple trips to Ulta in search of a newly released palette from Makeup Revolution, the Alexis Stone Transformation Palette. I adore transformative toppers, since I already have quite a few matte eye shadows, it opens up the possibilities for endless combinations of color just waiting to be discovered.

Packaging wise, this comes in a matte cardboard that collects dents easily. It's thicker than most palettes I have, and comes in a formation you don't see very often; one row of seven shadows.

Here are swatches applied over eye shadow primer. In no way is this sufficient hold for these migrating particles. Photo was taken under indirect light, it's a bit cooler than the other two photos here.

Here's swatches over a sticky primer and the bottom row is over black eyeliner so that you can really see the shiftiness. These were taken in direct sunlight, mid afternoon.

Numbered from left to right, corresponding to the pans in the palette: 1 has a translucent base and pink to white gold flecks. 2 has carnelian red sheer base with blue shifting to lavender. 3 has a light magenta base with blue to pink shifting flecks. 4 has a translucent base with blue to turquoise to pink flecks. 5 is the most opaque shadow of the bunch, it has a blue base that is pearly looking, combined with with blue to purple shimmer and larger flecks. 6 looks like your typical green/brown duochrome but the base is more rusty red you would guess from looking at the pan, and instead of shimmer, the micro glitter particles are on the larger side. 7 is another translucent base, with gold flecks.

2, 3, and 6 have more of a tinted base than a opaque one which lets the sparkle really shine. Although full opacity is definitely possible, over a thin coat of sticky base (using Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy here), I'm able to get it opaque with no issues.

I like that these shadow toppers don't smell the way some of the other Makeup Revolution palettes do (a couple of my previous ones had a baby powder scent that I couldn't stand). They contain some gorgeous color shifting flecks, not unlike Pat McGrath pigments. And like Pat McGrath flecks, it would be an absolute folly to not use a glitter adhesive like Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy, Too Faced Glitter Glue, or NYX Glitter Primer.

Here I've used Viseart Milieu as the supporting mattes with the topper shade 4.

I took this one on my cell phone and had to crop it down, it looks very textured with the whole 72 dpi thing going on. But color accurate! I've used Natasha Denona Mini Lila, Pat McGrath Ultra Violet, KVD Alchemist shade Amethyst, Alexis Stone Transformation Palette shades 3 & 5.

This is using a shade from Viseart Dark Mattes paired with topper 6 from the Alexis Stone Palette.

ETA this photo (whoops, forgot this look!)

Viseart Warm Mattes for the orange and brows, plus shade 5 from MRx AS.

There's a flaw to this palette, the shadows slick over and hard pan very easily. If you swatch this in person at an Ulta, there's a high chance that due to the fingerprint oils of those who touched it before you and the synthetic oil laden formula of the shadows, the pans will already be very solid. I could see how it would lead one to think that these aren't very pigmented. The blue shade number 5 is particularly susceptible to hard panning, the shades comprised of just flecks (1, 4, and 7) are a bit drier in feel and less likely to do this. An earlier palette I had, the MR x Soph X palette was the same way, almost all of the shimmer shades started to hard pan after just a few uses. I tend to use a coarser goat haired brush or (gasp) a sponge tipped applicator rather than slick Kolinksy or smooth synthetic fibers, both of which pack down the eye shadow pan even more. I would also recommend a zigzag motion when picking up the eye shadow from the pan rather than a straight swipe. I wouldn't accept this from a palette at a higher price point, but at $15 I'm ok with it.

At any other price, you would hear grumbling coming out of me but at $15 for seven shades (and don't forget your Ulta coupon if you're in the US, to bring it down to $11.50), I'm happy with it. You don't often see color shifting flecks at that price point. I can forgive the hard panning. I can look past the need to use a wet adhesive since I'm already on board the glitter glue train anyways.

The Makeup Revolution x Alexis Stone Transformation Palette is $15 at Ulta and also available on BeautyBay (priced at $13 there).

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