James Charles Palette Review

Hi Beginners and welcome back to my blog!

Now I'm going to hold my hands up and admit to being a total Sister and loving the legend that is James Charles. Scandals and all, we sure stan a talented queen don't we girls? Can anyone honestly say they've never been victimised by trying to follow a James Charles YouTube tutorial before leaving the house? I know for sure I can't.

(If you haven't already seen James' palette announcement video please check it out it has details I will be mentioning throughout the article and it will help you to get a better grasp of the palette in general)

Now, because your girl is such a James Stan I have had this palette a long while. Thing is, I don't like to give an early review of things, especially something with such hype, controversy and yes Sister Scandal surrounding it (Hello pressed pigments, how are ya?)

I also have enjoyed some Morphe products in the past. My experience with the brand is somewhat limited. I have previously tried out the 35OM and the 3502 palette, I loved these! I wasn't such a fan of the Jaclyn Hill palette and the 35F palettes I tried, bit that was more about colour story than bad product if I'm being honest. I have a Morphe Beauty Sponge also but I wouldn't choose it over any other sponge I've tried (Real Techniques, Beauty Blender). So that's a little about my previous experiences with the brand.

This palette retails fot £39 in the UK and can be bought from Morphe UK site and Cult Beauty.

So there she is ^ isn't she stunning. I was honestly so blown away the first time I saw this palette. The colours are so eye catching and immediately I'm drawn to THAT red (You're Kidding) and the beautiful purple iridescent shimmer shade on the second row up (Artistry). 

Which leads me right into the top 5 most eye catching colours from this palette. In order to compile this data I borrowed my lovely boyfriend and asked him what his top 5 were. 

He chose:

• 518 - the first brighter orange shade top row
• You're Kidding - that stunning bright red in the second row
• Playground - the second blue across on the fourth row
• Love That - the second shade from the end on the fourth row
• Social Blade - that beautiful green on the start of the fifth row

I then swatched these colours to show off the diversity of  colour and the beautiful performance of this palette.

My 5 most eye catching shades were:

• Artistry - iridescent purple third from the end on the fourth row
• You're Kidding - again this is the red in the second row
• Bee - the brilliant yellow colour on the fourth row
• Ringlight - the second shade across on the first row
• Daddy - the deeper more forest green shade second in on the bottom row

I also swatched these to show off the same.

Now onto the important bits: the breakdown.

Packaging and Pricing

The packaging of this palette is really cute. The outer sleeve has that beautiful photo of James that we have all definitely seen over the past few months since the palette release. In case you haven't its the one at the top of this blog post. The actual pallete itself is done in a matte black colour and the writing is done in  reflective shiny black. While the actual palette packaging isn't as cute as I would like and I would rather have shade names on the palette than on a plastic name sheet, I still like the design overall and for the price you can't be mad right? The price works out at £1 per shade as there are 39 shades. Now THAT is a price you really can't argue with. 

The Shadows

The bit we all care the most about, the actual shadow performance. It's no good buying a palette at ANY price if you're not going to actually use it and enjoy your time using it. The palette is made up of such a broad spectrum of colours that its hard to narrow down which to use sometimes. The mattes I feel perform extremely well overall, the fallout is minimal and the pigmentation is absolutely undeniable. The only matte shade I have any trouble with personally is Bee which is a shame as its one of the colours that I loved the best when I first saw the palette. I find the pigmentation is patchy and it doesn't blend the absolute best I know the others can. However, I am extremely conscious that yellow shades are so hard to make and its still one of the best yellows I've used myself. I also find that the pigmentation can be built up with a little work.  

The shimmers I'm not as excited about, they're good but nothing revolutionary. Some of them are definitely better than the others, personal favourites are Face and Ringlight. They are both great as shimmers and double up as very pretty highlighters. I feel the majority of shimmer shades in the palette are nice but sheer and I've definitely used better elsewhere. The other shade that was an exception to this was the shade Artistry which I don't know how to explain, it's not really a pressed glitter as its much less dense and there is a colour underneath rather than just being glitter. This shade is so pretty used on the top of other colours so I would almost say it's an eye topper.
I've also been following James' advice and using the shade 'So Good' as a blending shade inbetween highlight and blush and I completely agree that it helps to blend it all together and looks so good and pretty. (Photos underneath are showing this.)

Overall Opinion

I believe overall this is a great all round palette and can be used for a wide range of looks. I believe the colour combination and the wide range of eyeshadow finished makes this a product everyone could use whether the are just starting out or are a professional MUA.
For me, the palette performs well and I really don't mind putting in that little extra work to get the formulas to work the way you need to. As James explains in the palette announcement video the palette contains a lot of pressed pigments and you do have to use them slightly differently to standard eyeshadows but once you work with them the pigment and pay off is stunning and they do begin to outperform any shadows I've used.

Below are some photos of looks I've done with the palette.

So that's all for today, let me know what you thought of this review and as always leave a comment down below and have a chat. As James would say, goodnight Kitty Girls and have a good and fresh one.

Siobhaan x