$20 Gets You What? Say Hello to Milani's Most Loved Mattes & Bold Obsessions Palettes

Sorry, Wet 'n Wild. Your buzzed about relaunch of your shadows has been dethrowned by a stealthy release. The first time the brand teased this release was January 17, having only been beaten by Reddit by one week and bloggers first mentioning it on January 15. By contrast, we've all heard about the Coloricon reboot for months.

These palettes retail for $20 each on the Milani website, but I picked mine up in-store at Walmart for $14.97 each. I haven't spotted these at local CVS or Walgreens stores that carry the line. None of my local Targets carry Milani in-store, so I can't speak to availability there. Ulta likewise isn't carrying these as of the drafting of this post.

These come in a box that looks high-end. That's the start of the luxe feel. I think these are priced perfectly although they're high for the drugstore. The box and the palettes themselves are a reflective gold- which, as you know, is a bear to photograph.

These honestly look like Stila palettes. However, I'll readily credit Reddit's detectives for researching that these are the same formula as the brand's existing small palettes.

That $20 nets you 12 1g pans (or, 0.04oz if you prefer). These do contain carmine, meaning that they're not vegan-friendly, but the brand is cruelty free (cross-checked with three sources I trust).

There are two palettes in this release- 01 Must Loved Mattes and 02 Bold Obsessions. Let's go in order, shall we?

Must Loved Mattes comes with the tag "a matte color for every mood." I'd say ok, but only if you're looking for a rosy/nude look!

This is the top of the palette- they're simple, chic, and easy to tell apart. Full information and shades are on the bottom:

From daytime to playtime? I like this theme. Now, let's take a look inside.

That's beautiful and perfectly on-trend. I can see this being a go-to, a palette I eventually pan. Daytime is brown, anytime is mauve and plum, and playtime is rich warm oranges.

To show swatches, I've done top two rows together and bottom two rows together. Let's look at the first two rows:

And the bottom two rows:

I really love this as a base palette. These mattes last all day and blend out well (as opposed to other palettes I've been testing... yes, that's shade. You'll see what I'm shading soon).

I don't have a full eye to show you, but these looked awesome after 13 hours. Bravo!


Now, the other palette- 02 Bold Obsessions.

This is the first one that I picked up of the two- and the palette that prompted me to pick up the other.

Same beautiful packing, same luxe feel.

Now, unlike the other palette, this palette has more than one finish.

That's a mix of mattes, satins, shimmers, and metallics. I think I recognize some of these shades from Milani's classic line (and why I'm decluttering most of the classic palettes in favor of these two).

I've been reaching for these quite often- let's go to the swatches.

Rows 1-2:

Rows 3-4:

Admittedly, I usually foil the shadow going on my lid- those swatches are all dry.

This palette, despite being called bold, can be used for some muted looks:

Side note: only thing not drugstore there is my liner (Inglot). The drugstore has come a long way. And that one rogue brow hair is driving me nuts.

I didn't photograph a bunch of looks due to the lighting challenges I'm up against (winter + leaving before sunrise + crappy weather = bad reflectivity).

Here's the deal on these- they're totally worth it. I can do bold looks, or I can do subtle work looks. I'm a little sad that these aren't a new formula, because I should've been using my palettes all along. Since I'm trying to streamline, these are likely to be the two Milani palettes that remain in my collection- I can do most looks that I want out of them.

I tested these over the course of multiple days using the Smashbox lid primer, not even the Milani primer (which I like and it's great). I think they're great for a more natural look that can be bumped up at the end of a workday for drinks and dinner. They blend well, and the shimmers foil wonderfully. I can see these ending up in my "to pan" pile- and that says a lot.

I know they're expensive, but they're fantastic. They're well worth the investment.