Morphe X Jaclyn Hill Volume II Palette

This palette has been out for a while now and I did purchase it a while ago, but I have only just decided to really play with it. Morphe palettes in general put me off because of the size of them, no shade names, boring packaging and too many shades in some palettes. The colour story of this palette in particular is really attractive to me. I didn’t buy Volume I as I didn’t want to jump on the band wagon, the size of the packaging and the colour story is just boring to me. I did pick up the Vault Collection (four palettes) and what a massive disappointment it was too (now decluttered)!! I was initially put off this palette due to my past experiences, but the colour story though! Also, a good thing about the Morphe website is that you can always get 10% off your order with an affiliate code.

 

THE PACKAGING

The packaging is a quite large thin rectangular shape. It is made out of glossy white cardboard and it has the branding and information printed in metallic silver font on the front and back. It has a magnetic closing, which you lift up to reveal the circular eyeshadow pans arranged on a silver base with the shade names printed in dark grey font under each pan. On the underside of the lid where you would usually find a mirror, there is actually a dark grey printed message from Jaclyn Hill.

THE EYESHADOWS & FORMULA

You get thirty-five 1.60g eyeshadows/pressed pigments in Matte (M), Satin (S) and Shimmer (SH) finishes.

 

·        4^th Collaboration with Jaclyn Hill

·        Vivid Shades

·        Cruelty-Free

 

THE SHADES & SWATCHES

Certified - pearl (M)

I’m In It - cotton candy (S)

Love Handles - peach cobbler (M)

Comfort Zone - nutmeg (M)*

Perfectionist - nectarine (M)

Ride-or-Diamonds - rosy copper (SH)

Thick Skin - terracotta (M)

No Joke - dandelion yellow (M)*

Taliya - gold leaf (SH)

Feelin’ Myself - tangerine (M)*

Homebody - mahogany (M)

GRWM - natural copper (SH)

Boujee - peach bellini (SH)

Drama Queen - pink diamond (SH)

Flawed & Awed - marmalade (SH)

G-Money - mustard seed (M)

Positivi-TEA - electric coral (M)*

My Man - neon orange (M)*

Grateful - clay brick (M)

Heart On - strawberry daiquiri (M)*

Livin’ My Best - cherry with pink sparkle (M)*

A Moment - lilac (SH)

Therapy Sesh - orchid (M)*

Lolli Mama - fuchsia (M)*

Tipsy Girl - hot pink (M)*

Empowered - raspberry jam (SH)

Next - sangria (M)*

Dance Party - fruit punch (M)*

Stay True - berry (M)*

Not My Journey - amethyst with pink sparkle (M)*

Good Place - purple tulip (S)

Paolo - fig (SH)

Oh, Hello! - black raspberry (M)*

Crazy - merlot (M)*

Temptress - glinting pitch black (M)

 

The shades marked with an asterisk (*) are Pressed Pigments. According to USA Law, Pressed Pigments are not intended for use around the immediate eye area as they can cause temporary staining to the area of skin they are applied to.

 

MY THOUGHTS

·        Primer/Base - The eyeshadows are pigmented enough without a primer or base, but I would always lay one down. I used Too Faced Shadow Insurance and Too Faced Glitter Glue.

·        Pigmentation - The pigmentation is pretty decent, much better than the vault palettes I’ve previously tried.

·        Application (wet/dry) - The eyeshadows can be applied wet or dry. I always use mattes dry, unless I am applying them to my lower lash line or using them as eyeliner. I sometimes apply metallics/shimmers wet, but it depends on the formula and whether they contain glitters. Wet application can max up the pigmentation and help prevent fallout.

·        Blending - Most shades blended effortlessly, but a couple of the darker matte shades were a little patchy and hard to blend.

·        Kick-Back - Obviously, there is always going to be kick-back in your eyeshadow pans as you are disturbing powders. The kick-back was not really a concern for me, but it is more than I have experienced from other palettes.

·        Fallout - I didn’t notice any fallout at all.

 

I am not overly keen on the size of the packaging, but at least it is quite thin and I like that the shade names are actually printed under each shade. I’m not bothered about there being no mirror as I never use palette mirrors anyway, it also makes them more environmentally friendly, especially if it has the cardboard packaging like this one. The colour story is also very warm and attractive to me. The pigmentation and blending is brilliant, but I do wish the shimmer shades were more molten metallic. All of the matte brown shades in the first three rows are totally unnecessary. They all look exactly the same on the eye. There also isn’t much variation between the neutral shimmer shades at the end of the first two rows. They could have included a dark chocolate brown for more depth and some different shimmer shades (champagne, cool toned gold etc), rather than pretty much multiples of the exact same shade. There also isn’t a decent inner corner highlighter shade. The shade I’m In It has a weird pink hue and has a really chalky texture. It just didn’t look right with any look that I created, it also lacks decent pigmentation. The shimmer shades do not apply well with a brush, you definitely need to use your fingertips. Some of the shimmer shades also do not have much of a base colour, just glitter which is a little disappointing because it just looks like plain glitter (different to Colour Super Shock eyeshadows). The darker mattes shades tend to be harder to blend and look a little patchy; I noticed this most with Crazy and Temptress. The shades No Joke and Therapy Sesh also needed a little building up. No Joke needed building up so it would actually show up on my skin tone and Therapy Sesh needed building up so it didn’t look like I had pink eye and so that you could actually tell it was a purple shade. I did notice a little staining on my skin from the pink, purple and red shades, but this isn’t a major issue for me and it is to be expected when working with pressed pigments. My favourite shades are Feelin’ Myself, Taliya, Flawed & Awed, My Man, A Moment, Therapy Sesh and Empowered, which is stunning and looks very regal. It is probably my favourite out of the whole palette!

 

Overall I did enjoy playing with the palette, but although there are a lot of shades it still lacks variety with almost half the palette being the same shades of brown! The shades could definitely be cut down and a couple of different shades that are missing added in. I am satisfied with the overall quality and I would consider trying more Morphe palettes.

 

You can purchase the Morphe x Jaclyn Hill Volume II Palette for £39.00 from UK.Morphe.com.

 

| I purchased this palette for £35.10 from UK.Morphe.com |

 

| Swatch Stencil: Stripes 16 Pan by SwatchPerfect.co.uk |

 

| Use code: ADOPTLOVE to get 10% off your order at UK.Morphe.com |