Product Review: Laura Mercier Eye Art Artist's Palette

This weekend I picked up the Laura Mercier Eye Art Artist's Palette. This palette cost $55 and comes with 12 different shades ranging from pink/purple to taupe/brown colors, all with a cool tone. There are 6 matte shades and 6 shimmer shades, so this is a very versatile palette! It also comes with two much darker shades that could be used as a liner.

The shades include:

Sparkling Dew: shimmering champagne with a slight pink undertone
Vanilla Nuts: matte cream
Guava: shimmering light peachy pink
Primrose: shimmering light rosy pink
African Violet: shimmering purple with a gold shimmer
Fresco: matte mauve
Plum Smoke: matte grayish purple
Bamboo: shimmering taupe
Kir Royal: shimmering purple
Truffle: matte cool-toned brown
Violet Ink: matte dark plum purple
Espresso Bean: matte dark cool-toned brown

The shades that caught my eye when I saw the palette were African Violet and Sparkling Dew. AV is a very unique color, I haven't seen a lot of purple shadows with a gold shimmer and it is gorgeous. SD caught my eye because I am always looking for the perfect highlight shade and I loved the look of this one, especially with the slight pink undertone.

I also loved that this palette came with purples/pinks and also brown/taupe shades. It makes the palette very versatile and easy to create multiple different looks.

First, I played with the pinks and purples. I used Plum Smoke on my brow bone, Kir Royal in my crease, Guava on my lid and, of course, Sparkling Dew for my highlight under my brows and around my tear duct. I also used Violet Ink as a liner.

Second, I played with the browns and taupes. I used Fresco on my brow bone, Truffle in my crease, Bamboo on my lid, Espresso Bean on the outer corners of my eye and Sparkling Dew as my highlighter. Also, yes my hair is different in these two photos! I got my hair done in between them. ;)

Things I Liked:

As I said above, I love the versatility of this palette. I created two natural looks, but I could easily create a heavy smoky eye or something even softer.

I love that they mixed matte shades with shimmer because I like to use matte shadows on my brow bone and in my crease.

There are a lot of unique colors in this palette that I haven't seen much in other palettes. Specifically African Violet and Bamboo. 

I love the shade Vanilla Nuts a lot because it works perfectly as an all-over base color and also can be used as a matte highlight shade.

There was very little fallout which allowed me to apply my foundation first before applying my shadow which is something I prefer. The only time I had fallout was when I was using the darker shades as a liner but I pack quite a bit on the brush when I do that.

There isn't a single shade in the palette that I wouldn't use. A lot of times with other palettes I have, there is a color that I never or rarely use and I have already tried every color in this palette and loved them all.

Things I Didn't Like:

I did not like the price of the palette for what I got. I splurged on this one because I was in love with a couple of the shades, but it was definitely more money than I would normally spend on a palette that I couldn't customize.

I don't love how sheer the shadows go on. I found that I had to layer each shade quite a bit to get the pigment that I wanted.

I had a little bit of a hard time blending with the darker colors, especially with the purple shades. I like a smooth transition between each shade without harsh lines and it took a little extra work with this palette to achieve that.

Overall:
Overall I like this palette. I'm glad I bought it, but for the money I'm not sure it's any better quality than some of my favorite palettes which cost less. If you like cool toned shadows, this is the palette for you. I tend to buy warmer toned palettes so I'm glad I have this one for something a little different. This would be a GREAT palette to use for your wedding day with a lot of shimmering pinks and natural browns. The browns look great with a deep red lipstick and the purples look great with a lighter pink or mauve lipstick. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this palette over some other ones that I have, but I am happy with it and don't plan on returning it!