I picked up the
e.l.f. Mad For Matte ($10) eyeshadow palette a few weeks ago during a late-night e.l.f. haul (just keep me
away from the computer when it gets late because I lose all willpower and just go crazyyy). I really didn't need another eyeshadow palette if I'm being
totally honest... but I rationalized it by remembering that most of my palettes have shimmery shades, and I actually have just two all-matte palettes, the
Tarte Tartelette Palette, and the
Makeup Revolution Flawless Matte. Plus, this Mad for Matte palette is so inexpensive and the colors are just
perfect for fall. Yup, I'm convinced I needed it (but try to tell that to my husband, lol).
So does this one live up to my other matte palettes? Let's take a look and see...
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| e.l.f. Mad for Matte Palette |
The Mad for Matte palette comes in a long slim black case that's perfect for travel- it's probably the least bulky palette I own, but the pans are still a decent size for getting your brush or finger in there.
There's also a full sized mirror, and while it's tough to see your entire face in it due to the palette being slim, it gets the job done, especially if you turn it on it's side for more length.
The shades are beautiful for fall and are a nice mix of warm and cool tones. It's the perfect everyday palette with some lighter highlight shades on the left, some
great transition shades in the middle, and three darker shades on the right side, including a deep chocolate brown, a blue-toned slate gray, and a dark charcoal that's very close to black.
Going into this purchase, I knew that matte shades are notoriously dry and hard to pick up as a rule. I have a lot of palettes that are mostly shimmery shades with one or two mattes and usually the whole palette is soft, buttery and pigmented, except for those darn matte shades! The Tartelette palette is the one exception I've found to this so far, but I still had a little bit of hope for this palette.
At first swatch, those hopes were dashed, as the lighter shades barely even showed up on my skin and the rest were very underwhelming as far as pigmentation goes. There is also a bit of fallout with this palette, not that that's a deal-breaker (for me at least), but I'm just throwing that out there.
Here are my initial swatches on bare skin:
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| Swatched on Bare Skin |
But as I played with this a little bit more, I seem to have broken through some sort of dry top layer, or "crust" as I like to call it and they got a little bit better as far as pigmentation goes. Then I decided to swatch them over an eyeshadow primer, which is something I don't normally do because I don't want my swatches to be misleading. If I show you guys some beautiful swatches and then you buy the palette and get it home and go, "huh? Jen lied to me!", I'd feel terrible, because not everyone uses a primer. I feel that swatching on bare skin gives the best representation of the
actual formula so if it swatches great on bare skin, it'll look even better over primer (and no one is disappointed).
So here's how the
Mad for Matte palette did over Too Faced's Shadow Insurance...and it's a
world of difference!
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| Swatched over Primer |
This set of swatches is what I was hoping this palette would be like overall!
So between breaking through that top layer a bit and then swatching them over primer, this palette was redeemed in my eyes. I'm absolutely in
love with these shades so I'm so glad it wasn't a disappoinment...I was really, really hoping it would work out somehow!
What do you all think of this one? Have you tried it already, or are you thinking about getting one the next time you do an e.l.f. haul?
You can purchase this palette at
elfcosmetics.com
Oh wow, thank goodness for eye primer! Gorgeous colors here. I can't live without primer, as I have oily lids, but they really help out shadows, especially the matte ones. I agree with you on the late-night shopping, my brain goes into this trance, my finger keeps clicking the Add To Cart button, and I end up buying waaay too much stuff LOL (Katherine T.)
ReplyDeleteI love my Mad for Mattes; I thought the pigmentation was great and it performed beautifully. I recently received Everyday Smoky, though, and that had so much fallout. Some of the lighter shades had iffy pigmentation, too. I didn't like it nearly as well.
ReplyDeleteRachel I find it interesting that yours was pigmented because mine wasn't pigmented at all. I have read very mixed reviews, as the ones on the elf site mostly say its very pigmented and a lot of bloggers say it isn't. There must be different batches and not a lot of consistency in the formula because no one would have said the one I had was pigmented.
DeleteThanks for the swatches. I like matte shadow, and the price is right. I will look for those.
ReplyDeleteI loved this palette! I'm a big ELF fan and love trying their new products. I was very impressed with the pigmentation and blendability of this palette and I've been using it to pair with all of my shimmery shades. I love that these shades are so neutral and wearable, yet so unique. I hardly have any dupes of them in my collection.
ReplyDeleteOooh great, honest review, thanks! I am definitely thinking about putting this in my next ELF haul :D
ReplyDeletewhich one you choose? mad for matte or MUR flawless matte?
ReplyDeleteVery nicely and honestly written. So happy to find ur blog.
ReplyDelete