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These palettes are super popular in the makeup world because they’re inexpensive, pigmented, and come with a ton of shades.  The palettes are mass produced in China and are relatively easy to get.  They were also popularized by the online wholesaler Coastal Scents (but I don’t recommend buying from them, I’ll explain that in a post later).  Anyway, I’ve collected a few of these palettes over the last few months and I thought I would review them all at once, give you my honest opinion, and give my recommendations for where to buy them.

The 26 eyeshadow/blush palette is amazing, some of these shades go on so smooth it’s like liquid, I can’t explain it any other way.  The colors are on the neutral side, but not completely.  There are a mixture of plums, corals, taupes, and browns.  The only drawback to this palette is there are no good highlight colors (at least for my extremely pale skin, the lightest blush may work for people with darker skin tones).

The 28 neutral palette is often referred to as the bridal palette because it has such a range of neutral shades.   This one contains a number of highlight colors  as well as crease and lid shades.  And a matte black, which is a necessity.  The pigmentation on the palette is slightly less (very slightly) than the others, but still amazing.   This palette is perfect if you love neutral looks or need work-appropriate shadows, and of course this is perfect for bridal work!

As you can see from the photo above, my 88 ultra shimmer palette is very well loved.  I really like shimmery eyeshadow, so if that’s you’re thing too, I definitely recommend this palette.  This palette only contains very shimmery shades, no matte or satin finishes.  With the 88 palettes, each shadow is about the size of a dime, so they are quite small.  But the shadows are so pigmented that you only need to use a little, so these palettes will last a very long time.

If I had to choose between the two 88 palettes, I would probably choose the 88 Shimmer, but I love shimmery eyeshadows.  If you don’t, the 88 matte palette might be for you.  Like all the other palettes, this one also has awesome pigmentation.  This palette has matte and satin shades, and a few of the matte shadows have glitter but none of the shades are shimmery.  This 88 matte/satin is a very good starter palette.

If you’re going to get just one eyeshadow palette, I recommend the 120 palette.  This one comes with the most shades (120 eyeshadows, obviously haha) and has a mixture of all four finishes – matte, satin, glitter, and shimmer. And the individual shadows are a little larger than the 88 palettes.  One bad thing about the 120 is how fragile it is, the shadows in this palette are a little softer than in the others and they’re contained in two stackable trays which makes the 120 a little more clumsy to work with.  It isn’t available on Coastal Scents or Stars Makeup Haven, but is is available from sites like bhcosmetics.com and bf-beauty.com.  I still recommend purchasing it from a reputable Ebay seller because you will get a better deal.

Although I do like the blush and contour shades in the contour palette, the other three pans (white, yellow, and light pink) are not very useful.  The white (highlight?) shade is very chalky.  This palette is nice, but certainly not a must-have.  You’d be better off buying a few blush shades and a bronzer at your local drugstore.

~As I’ve said before, these palettes are mass produced in China.  So why not buy them from the source and save a buck?

Here are my favorite Hong Kong based Ebay sellers:
jolieeeee and 3act* beauty

Here’s a few things I’ve picked up lately. I’m going to post a rundown of all my palettes (the generic ones) tomorrow, including which ones I would buy again and where to get them!

Top: 26 Eyeshadow/Blush Palette

Clockwise from top left: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Polish in natural, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Polish in vintage frost, NYC Ultra Moist Lip Wear Lipstick in retro red, Annabelle Kohl Eyeliner in white.

I am soooo excited!! My Sigma brushes are here!! They are amazing, amazing quality for the price ($69 USD – without a brush roll, $89 – with). But more on them soon, I’ll be putting together a full in-depth review on them during the next few days, and I’ll hopefully have it up early next week.

Here’s what I’ve picked up over the last few weeks:

Top: Sigma face brushes-  SS187 stippling, SS150 powder, SS194 concealer, SS190 foundation, SS168 contour/blush.

Top: Sigma eye brushes- SS209 liner/lip, SS275 angled shader, SS252 flat shader, SS266 angled liner, SS219 pencil, SS239 shading, SS224 blending.

Top: This is so cute!! A free mini SS217 was included in my package! It’s actually one of my favorites, so I emailed the company and asked when they will be offering a full sized SS217 and they said they’ll have one out in two months!!

Top: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Color in gunmetal, Wet n’ Wild Mega Glo Illuminating Powder in spotlight peach.

Top: NYX For Your Eyes Only 10 Color Palette in smokey eyes, NYX Runway Collection 10 Color Palette in champagne & caviar.

I love the NYX palettes so much I had to order two more!! I’ll be reviewing those in-depth very soon.

My Sleek Palette is here all the way from the UK!~ The sleekmakeup.com website isn’t up and running yet, so these palettes are pretty hard to come by unless you live in the United Kingdom.  I had to order mine from www.ebay.co.uk. But, nevertheless, it’s here now!~ And it’s gorgeous!!

Check out the swatches below:

All swatches were made without a primer or base so you can see this product has amazing pigmentation.  All of the shadows are really smooth as well. I can’t wait to play around with these more!~

This is a new series featuring some exceptional drugstore products at bargain prices!  And what better way to start a bargain finds series than with Wet n’ Wild?  The company has been a successful, affordable, drugstore brand for years.  Recently, they’ve launched some new products and it seems like they’ve really stepped up quality-wise.  One of these new products is the Ultimate Expressions palette.  At the moment, this palette comes in three versions: sand castle, paradise cove, and island. I have paradise cove (shown below, left) and a discontinued/limited edition version called golden shimmers.

These palettes are gorgeous!  The color payoff is unbelievable for the price and the colors are so pretty.  Each palette contains 8 different shades, all color co-cordinated, making it easy to choose multiple colors for your look.  The palettes also come with a range of color intensities, from light to dark, so you have highlight colors, lid colors, and deeper crease and liner shades, all in one convenient package.  There are also a range of finishes, some of the shadows are matte, some are pearly, and some are very shimmery.  The packaging is really cute as well, as you can see in the above photo, there’s a big mirror that slides out of the bottom, making this palette very travel friendly!  This product retails for about $4.99 USD, that’s around 62 cents per shadow!  Amazing deal!  Wet n’ Wild Ultimate Expressions palettes are definitely worth checking out, these palettes are bordering on must-have status! 5/5 stars!~