Maybelline The 24k Nudes Palette Review & Swatches

I was so excited to find the new Maybelline The 24k Nudes Palette ($9.99) at Bed, Bath, & Beyond recently, which might sound a little strange considering I wasn't a fan of the previous versions that Maybelline released.  However, I've been hearing on Maybelline's social media that all of their "nudes" eyeshadow palettes are going to be reformulated, including this one. They claim that the new formula will be more pigmented with a buttery feel. I had very high hopes for this considering it's pretty easy to find nicely pigmented shadows at the drugstore price point these days. So was it worth the hype? Let's take a look!


Packaging:
Maybelline didn't revamp the packaging for the new 24k Nudes palette...it's the same as the others, just the outer color is different. On the back there are suggestions for combining shades into quads, trios and duos and the ingredient list is also included. Inside, there's no mirror and it comes with a double-ended sponge-tipped applicator. The palette is made in the U.S.A.

Shade Selection:
Inside, there are twelve shades in a mix of deeper jewel tones and some lighter highlight shades in matte, shimmer, and satin finishes. I do appreciate that the color selection is different than the same old, same old we're seeing out there which is a good thing! However I also noticed (and this will become even more apparent in my swatches below) that this palette contains either really deep dark shades or really light shades without a lot of medium or transition shades.
Also, I found it a little strange that the palette is called 24k (which to me says "gold") but there is only one golden shade in the whole palette.

Formula:
So this is the part you've all been waiting for...what's the formula like? Has it improved? Well, on the plus side it's definitely better than the previous Maybelline Nudes palettes but is it comparable to a high-end palette? Nope.
All of the shades have a buttery texture so that part of the claim was true. I didn't find any of the shades to be dry, dense, or hard to pick up. However, the formulas do vary between the shades. Some are very smooth with hardly any fallout (the gold shade is a good example of this) while others have tons of fallout and powder kick-up and can go on a little bit patchy (a few of the darker shades in the bottom row). I thought the pigmentation was just okay...on dry skin the results were decent but it performed a lot better over primer so I would say primer is definitely a must with this one.
Also, the lighter shades didn't show up well (at least on my skin tone) particularly the two beige matte shades (one in the top row next to the gold and one on the bottom left)

Final Thoughts:
Overall I'm feeling so-so about the new Maybelline 24k Nudes palette. While the formula is improved it's not as great as I was hoping it would be so that was a bit of a letdown. But the good news is, if you use primer every day you'll find the pigmentation to be pretty good. Also, while I love that they took a different approach when it comes to color selection that I think a lot of people will be really happy with, I don't personally wear a lot of darker eyeshadows so I don't see myself using this type of color palette all that often.
What do you think of the new Maybelline 24k Nudes palette? Do you think you'll buy it? Let me know in the comments below! :)

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Purchased