LORAC Pro Eye Shadow Palette - Review and Swatches

I had hoped to have this post up yesterday, but I have been a bit under the weather I am afraid. Anyway, without further ado, here is my review on the LORAC Pro Palette. Based on the reviews that I have seen on the Internet so far, I think my review will be the most honest that you are going to get!

This palette came out about a year or so ago I think. Everyone and their mother was raving about it. I didn't rush to buy it at first for a few reasons. One, I wasn't very familiar with LORAC products. Two, I cringed when I saw the list of ingredients. Just to name a couple, mineral oil is the fourth ingredient and there are two different types of parabens in there. Three, this palette was sold out a lot at Sephora constantly. Four, it was $55 Canadian or $42 U.S. which isn't bad, just not terribly cheap. I just checked Sephora right now and it is out of stock again as we speak.

 

 

There are 16 eyeshadows in this palette and it comes with a Mini Behind the Scenes Eye Shadow  Primer. All in all, if you are not fused about ingredients, for $55 Canadian or $42 U.S., it's pretty good bang for your buck if you want a lot of neutral, wearable eyeshadows. The colours are from left to right, and top to bottom, White, Cream, Taupe, Lt. Pink, Mauve, Sable, Espresso, Black, Nude, Champagne, Gold, Lt. Bronze, Pewter, Garnet, Deep Purple and Slate. As you can see, LORAC didn't get too creative with the names. The top row are matte eyeshadows and the bottom row are shimmers.  

 

Let's start with the good things about this palette before I get into the not so good things. First of all, all of these colours are neutral and wearable. You have every colour that you need here to create a number of put together classic looks. If you don't own a lot of makeup and want to get a lot of colours and bang for you buck, this might be a good palette to have. Also, the palette is very slim and good for travel. You could seriously take this one vacation with you and not pack another eyeshadow. Quick and easy! If you don't care to own a lot of makeup, wear makeup infrequently, or hate searching for colours to put together, this LORAC palette may be the solution that you have been looking for!

 

Other positives. Most of the colours have very good pigment and blend well together. I will get into the nitty gritty by colour in a moment. Most of them are very long lasting with an eyeshadow primer and will last you all day long. I really appreciate the thought that LORAC put into the colour scheme. I have never seen such a good selection of neutral colours put together in one convenient palette before.

 

Ok, before I get to the negatives, here some swatches which correspond to the top row of the palette:

 

 

 

From left to right we have White, Cream, Taupe, Lt. Pink, Mauve, Sable, Espresso and Black. The below swatches are the bottom row of the palette:

 

 

 

 

From left to right are Nude, Champagne, Gold, Lt. Bronze, Pewter, Garnet, Deep Purple and Slate.

 

So things I don't like about this palette. As previously mentioned, I do not like the list of ingredients. It was almost a deal breaker for me to not buy it. Not impressed about that. Secondly, I find all of the eyeshadows to be very dry in texture. The dryness reminds me of cheap eyeshadows. I am so used to using really good eyeshadows all of the time that I forget how dreadful some can be. These LORAC eyeshadows are the polar opposite of creamy. Not only would I recommend using a primer with these, but also a coloured eyeshadow base with most, if not all of them. I say this for two reasons. One, some of them look muddy after a while without a base and two, it helps keep the dryness of these eyeshadows off of your skin!

 

I found some of these to be a bit itchy. Due to the dryness and ingredients I suppose. I have oily lids. I can only imagine how brutal it would be to use these if I had dry lids. As I mentioned before, some of these colours look muddy without a coloured base or at least some type of MAC Paint Pot. These colours are Taupe, Black, Garnet and Deep Purple.

 

The best colours in here are White, Mauve, Espresso, Nude, Gold, Pewter and Slate. Cream and Champagne have very little pigment and are super dry. Pewter is a mink colour and there is nothing "pewter" or silver about it. Deep Purple looks gorgeous in the pan but is quite flat and muddy without a proper base. Black is chalky and looks a bit ashy.

 

To be honest with you guys, I will be packing this palette away in my stash as soon as I finish this blog post. I really don't like the texture of these eyeshadows and the ingredients are poor. I will not be using this palette again anytime soon. For me, this was a waste of money. I have not tried the eyeshadow primer that it came with yet, but when I do, I will let you guys know what I think. I had to buy this out of curiosity to see what all of the fuss was all about. I am just glad I bought it in the States so I saved some dough on it.

 

Packaging: 10/10 (compact, slim, great for travel)    

Pigmentation: 8.5/10 Overall
Easy to Work With: 7/10 (blends well but dry and some can look muddy) 
Longevity: 9/10 Overall
Colour Stays True: 8/10 Overall
Texture: 1/10 Overall
Price: 8.5/10
Ingredients: 2/10
Travel Worthy: 10/10
Attractiveness of Product: 8/10 Overall
Overall Rating: 6.5/10
Would I buy this again? Definitely Not