Make Up For Ever ~ Artist Palette Volume 2

Make Up For Ever Artist Volume 2

I bought this palette when it went on sale as I had never tried a MUFE eyeshadow palette before (their singles are fantastic fyi). When I first saw this palette, all I could see was "cotton candy" goodness and for the enjoyment I've gotten just tooling around with this thing, for $25 (current sale price) it was so worth it.

Make Up For Ever Artist Volume 2

Unfortunately, this palette does take a bit of work to use. The top row of shades are really nice. If you want a good all over satin shade, these are pretty. I really enjoy the shell pink shade in the upper left of the palette. The Gold (middle right) is also really nice and probably swatches the best of the bunch. The colored shades, however, do have some issues. The dark green and dark purple look really similar, as you can see in the arm swatches below. If you use a Mac Fix+ product, they can be differentiated a little better, but without it they appear a bit muddy and look very similar to each other. The bright pink, purple and cyan also take awhile to build up. The swatches on my arm are 4 layers of finger swatching. If you want something brighter, you may have to go with a pigment. Colourpop makes some great, comparable shades (check out Slave2Pink, Dare and Too Shy on the Colourpop.com site). These shades are sparkly though, but worth checking out.

I found that using a synthetic brush that's been sprayed with a Mac Fix+ type product helps pop the color a bit more than using my finger (which is what I usually use with products like Colourpop to get that extra boost of pigmentation). I used It Cosmetics brushes for the all over lid shades, an Urban Decay Karma brush for the crease shade and outer V shades, then my finger for the colored shades, blend, then a sprayed synthetic brush layered lightly on top to pop the color a bit more (can I say "pop"  more lol). The brushes all worked fine for application of most of the shades, but the colored shades do require more effort. 

Make Up For Ever Artist Volume 2

A couple people have heard and then asked me if these shades have a similar consistency to the Colourpop Super Shock shadows. They definitely do not. I'm not sure where that opinion came from but these feel like regular, satin shadows. They don't have that "wet" or "pillowy" feeling that CP shadows do. 

Make Up For Ever Artist Volume 2

The packaging for these palettes is nothing special, and they all look the same. Made from a sleek-ish cardboard style material, it easily fits into my makeup drawer making it easy to grab. While I don't use this palette often, it's a great go-to palette for a needed pop of color.

The downside of this palette? There really isn't much you can do for every day looks. That's kind of obvious just from looking at the palette, but I don't think it was intended to be used for every day looks anyway. The top row and right hand column can be used for this purpose, but as these are all satin shades, it will look a bit sparkly regardless. Other than that, the shades themselves are hit-or-miss. The lighter, more neutral shades are hits whereas the colored ones can be awesome if you're willing to put in some effort to make them work.

Looks Using This Product

Lipstick: Clinique Pop Lip Colour + Primer in "Sweet Pop"
Blush: MAC Cosmetics "Sweet Vision" from the Nutcracker Collection
Foundation: IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC+ Airbrush Perfecting Powder in "Light"
Eyebrows: Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in "Caramel"