Review & Swatches: e.l.f. Studio Eyeshadow Palettes
Out of all the new e.l.f releases, I didn’t really bat an eye at the new Studio Eyeshadow palettes. To be honest, I have had hit-or-miss experiences with the brand’s powder eyeshadows (but those smudge pots tho…) so I went into testing them without much to go off of. No high or low expectations, just curiosity.
First off I wanna give snaps to e.l.f. for putting together a great range of shades and finishes in each palette. The various types of shadows give you more to work with for a load of look options. Besides Mad for Matte, each palette contains a mix of shimmer/satin shades and matte shades that I find to work well together.
There are a total of four palettes, each housing ten shades. Each one has a designated type of mood or type of look you can achieve with them.
Need It Nude
The Need It Nude palette is the more neutral of the four. With mid-to-deep browns, and some splashes of gold and pink, the possibilities are endless for creating both everyday and more dramatic looks.
Mad for Matte
Mad for Matte is, obviously, completely made up of matte shades. I’m a matte lover, so I was pretty stoked for this one. We’ve got mostly neutrals in this palette too, and I’m absolutely loving and appreciating the deep black, which can come in handy to deepen the crease or to use for liner.
Check out swatches of the new Mad for Matte Summer Breeze palette and Holy Smokes palette.
Party Ready
Party Ready was actually what I consider to be the dud of the four palettes. Although it had the most gorgeous champagne highlight color (the first swatched on the left), the shades that I was hoping would pop more (the blue and purple) fell short with sheer pigmentation. The darker shades are nice for a dramatic look, though, and the other neutral shades still perform well.
Everyday Smoky
Lastly, and probably my personal favorite, is the Everyday Smoky palette, housing all cool toned shades like taupes, mauves, browns, greys and another deep black. I’m all about a good smoky eye, especially moving into fall, and I love how this can offer both intense and subtle looks that are going to look great paired with a good berry or vamp lip shade… can’t you just see it now?
Across the board I’m enjoying this shadow formula. In my swatches, you can see that even without primer, they have good pigmentation, and adding a base can really make them stand out. Most of the shadows have a smooth texture; a few of the matte ones kick up a bit of powder, but nothing that bothers me all too much. With primer, I’ve seen the the looks I create with these palettes last about 6 hours before starting to fade or crease minimally.
At only $10, I would say that the e.l.f. Studio Eyeshadow palettes are very competitive with other drugstore shadows— better than some, even. The variety you’re getting in just one definitely beats most palettes I come across at the same price or less, and they are definitely a hit from e.l.f.
Pin your favorite of the new palettes and let me know which one you chose!
Pictures are so clear and helpful to choose the one I need. So thank you!
You’re so welcome! Thank you for visiting!
I just got all 4 palettes yesterday!! and some other items (the smudge pots especially)!! Waiting and excited for the shipment to come in!!
http://www.beautyplaybook.com
Can’t wait to hear what you think! The smudge pots are awesomeeee.
Hi! I’m trying to decide between buying two of this palettes: Mad for Matte and Everyday Smokey or buy the Revealed 1 palette. What do you say? I like cool tones but I dont know if the quality of this palettes is the same as the revealed. Could you help me please? By the way, greetings from Argentina!
Hi Maria! Thanks for visiting! The Revealed palette definitely has better pigmentation and staying power than these do, so if you HAVE to choose one, that’s the way I’d go 🙂 Check out my review on the Revealed palette here.
This look really nice. I didn’t want to buy them till I saw some reviews. Thanks for swatching all of them for us.
It’s my job 😉 Yeah I would say they’re all worth it with maybe the exception of Party Ready just because the great shades in that palette can be found in the Need It Nude palette and the bright shades aren’t so bright.
WOW! I just got these and kind of tossed them to the side thinking the same thing you did. I am busting these open tomorrow!
Right!? Can’t wait to hear what you think.
So many gorgeous palettes in one post. Love affordable color!
Looks like that have great pigmenation!
They do, much more than I had anticipated!
The matte palette packs some nice pigmentation – which is not an easy thing for a drug store product. I think that these are definitely great palettes to try color.
I know!! I have a hard time finding drugstore mattes that perform well.
I have a lot of ELF palettes, but they don’t get as much love as they should – like you said, they can be hit-or-miss. I have higher hopes for this new formulation. I can see the neutral one being very popular. I can’t even tell you how many neutral palettes I have…
I think these are the best eyeshadow palettes from elf by far.
My niece will be happy to own 3 palettes coz this aunt is a spoiler, lol!
I have seen mixed reviews and swatches on these. From your review I would def give them a try!
Everyday Smoky should be mine. These are the shades I reach for all the time.
Need it Nude looks great!
These are pretty palettes. I’m reading very diverse reviews of these, but your swatches look really good.
These are all SO GORGEOUS! Need it Nude is the one I’m getting first!
I’m sad that Party Ready was the dud, because that’s the one I’d be most likely to buy. Darn!
Everyday smokey could easily be my favorite. These shades are somehow quite alike to Naked’s, if not entirely!
It’s definitely a great alternative if you’re into the look but don’t want to jump the gun on such an expensive palette, although the texture of the shadows are very very different– UD makes my all time fave shadow formula 🙂 Thanks so much for visiting and commenting!
I like both Made for Matte and the smokey palette. Great palettes for the price point
These palettes look seriously amazing! At $10 per palette, they are a steal.
These are so gorgeous, I definitely need Need It Nude!
http://arnellavanilla.com/category/home/
It’s a fantastic every day palette!