Smashbox Shadow & Highlight Palette Set

I'll readily admit that Smashbox isn't a brand that I typically get excited about. I bought last holiday's blush palette and have barely touched it. But I guess having most of the items that interest me combined with spotting a great value led me to be interested in this particular kit ($39, Ulta/Sephora, claims a $77 value).

Smashbox's Shadow & Highlight Palette kit has three small palettes in limited edition packaging:

Hiding in that packaging are two permanent releases and one palette I hadn't seen before: Cover Shot palettes in Ablaze and Sultry, and Spotlight Palette in Pearl. I'd been considering trying the Spotlight palette before (these were created with YouTuber Casey Holmes) and picking up a Cover Shot palette ($29 each), so why not try the trio I thought.

I'm going to spoil my review, but I'm really shocked and impressed. I may have nabbed two additional Cover Shot palettes when I spotted them at a discount because of my experience with this set.

Confession: I'm finishing posts that I've photographed weeks ago, and if I find a deficiency I can't always go back and correct it due to the eye reaction I'm currently experiencing. So there's only one eye look in this review, whereas I'd like to show at least one per palette. Sorry about that, but this is my window of opportunity to get posts completed.

Let's start with the palette that intrigued me the most- Cover Shot Sultry.

As far as I can tell, this is a new release for the holiday bundle. And since I've been craving cool tones recently it's perfect.

Sultry is decidedly cool-toned (yay) and features taupes and some purples.

There's a nice mix of mattes, satins, and metallics in this palette. As I played with it, I noticed some fallout, and I find this formula quite soft in the pan so it's prone to chunking.

Here's one of the eye looks I created with this palette:

Of course I went for the purples.

Here's the swatches, all labeled and everything:

I love this little palette. It's prefect for my NW15 skintone, and I've been reaching for it a lot. It's what made me want to try more of the range.

Next up is what I believe to be the most recent release from the line- the Ablaze palette.

Don't ask me why they put Ablaze in blue artwork. I find these tough to keep apart, although I think the artwork is cute.

I know I'm a little blurry.

I'm just going to guess that you're probably more familiar with Ablaze- the very warm-toned Cover Shot palette.

Again, a good mix of formulas represented here. I did find them soft and prone to fallout, but just do your eyes first and you're good to go.

And Ablaze, swatched:

I'll be honest, I'm so tired of warm palettes that there's no way I would've purchased this on my own. However, I'm glad to have it and can see myself reaching for it. These are decidely travel-friendly, and I've liked the two looks from the palette that I've done to date.

Now, we move to the cheek palette.

If I was going to pick up one of these, it would've been the Pearl palette. I'm glad I got it in a kit.

I'm slowly coming to realize that I'm over the BAM highlighter trend and have been craving a more natural look. If that's you, this palette is completely wrong for you.

The three highlighters in this palette are beautiful and suited for me (mostly), but on the skin they're very noticable. For most people, that's a good thing. But I don't find those formulas to be as flattering on me as more subtle highlighters.

They're quite pretty, but I did see a lot of texture that I didn't even know that I had with them. Just a fair warning. Out of the three, this is my least favorite palette.


Bottom Line: This is an incredible gift for someone- from the teen on your shopping list to the professional looking for office-friendly looks. I'm surprised how often I reach for the eye palettes, and I'm slightly disappointed that I'm so far behind on this particular release. These are pigmented and beautiful palettes worth your beauty dollars.