This is an awkward post to create; primarily because I’m doing it for one very specific reason: I’ve never heard anyone ever say anything bad about Morphe‘s products. I feel like since I’ve had such a completely different experience to everyone else that I needed to get my viewpoint out there and share it.

So to get right to the point… I do not feel that Morphe makes quality eyeshadows. I know everyone is bonkers for the Jaclyn Hill palette, but I can only speak to my own experience using the 35B.

I picked up the 35B Morphe palette at IMATS in 2014. It was $20 CAD,  how could I resist? Vibrant, beautiful colours that range from shimmery to matte. I was especially drawn to the bright matte shades because those are the kinds of colours I like to play with the most.

Unfortunately, the quality just isn’t there. Mattes, by their general nature, can be quite difficult to work with. Tough to blend, sometimes hard as a rock, etc. But never in my life have I encountered an eyeshadow that applied as if was made using blackboard chalk.

I first ran into issues when I decided to create a look for Zoe when she was going on vacation and needed some guest posters. She had suggested I do something vibrant, and I knew just want to use, my new Morphe palette! I pulled it out and got to work. I applied my usual Urban Decay eyeshadow primer and then started applying the colours.  I immediately ran into issues. The colour would just not adhere to my lid despite the primer. I tried to pack it on to get more impact, but whenever I’d try to blend the edges, the shadow would just literally fall off my lid. I’ve never seen anything like it. There was just no adhesion to my lid whatsoever.

I tried a few different shades, to see if any of them would stick, but  had no luck. Irritated, I wiped everything off my face and started again. (A smarter person would’ve chosen a different palette, but I’m too damn stubborn.)

This time I used two primers and NYX‘s Jumbo Eyeshadow pencil in Milk to get a sticky base going. From there, I was able to pack on the colour enough to an intensity that was suitable, but blending became the perfect nightmare. I mean, how exactly do you blend chalk? Or a product that treats your eyelid as though it’s made out of teflon?

I know what you’re thinking (or maybe not)… you’ll likely think this looks quite blended and perhaps quite pretty. And I’ll admit, it does. But if you look closely, you can see the patchiness. Nothing is so much blended as it is layered. There are jagged edges that reflect where each colour starts and ends. Hell, there’s even a bald spot in the middle of the bright blue.

And maybe that’s good enough for some people. But I think it’s unbelievable that I had to use three bases to get this. There are brands out there that can do vibrant mattes far better than this and they DON’T require that you spend twenty to thirty minutes on each eye lid. (I’m looking at you Sleek – you and your brights – you’re awesome!)

Even though the price point ($20) of these palettes makes them a very cheap buy, this isn’t the sort of eyeshadows that a beginner should be using. Even if you have a ton of experience, you probably don’t want the hassle of these either. There’s nothing fun about using products that don’t want to be there in the first place.

Well, I had another guest post coming up (this time for Jodi) and I was like “okay, let’s give this another go. There has to be something worthwhile in this palette!” So I tried completely different shades, anxious to make this work.

Once again I had to pack on the bases to get the shadows to stick. While blending the shades together, more and more of the colours kept lifting off my lid. If you look at the shot above, this is a far better example of the pain I had with blending. This isn’t even blended  – this is mashed together in an attempt to make it look like I was able to blend anything.

I want to love this palette so much. The colours are gorgeous in the pan, but they are just not worth the effort. It’s an arduous task to blend out the shades and that’s only if you can even get them to stick to your lids in the first place. I don’t consider myself a total rookie when it comes to makeup, I mean, I was able to get something decent out of these colours after all, but I can’t really recommend this particular palette to anyone. It’s not even helpful if you want to dabble in colour because you’d probably get so irritated with the application you’d be totally turned off of vibrant shades.

If you’ve tried out this palette, or others from Morphe, let me know what your thoughts are. Maybe the shimmers are better?