Smashbox Be Discovered Eyeshadow Palette Spring 2012 Swatches and Review

Springtime. Pastels. For some reason, you just can't seem to separate the two. You can't have Spring without a bunch of pastel cosmetics collections, and you can't have pastel makeup or nails without thinking of Spring. I own my fair share of pastels, and I'll admit... I do feel compelled to wear them in the Spring. It's true, I just can't help equating pastel colors with Springtime. And, to keep the tradition alive, there are plenty of pastel releases this year, including the brand new Be Discovered palette from Smashbox.


Front of the palette. At first glance, I thought this was a floral pattern... Then I looked closer and realized it was light reflectors in a photo studio!


Back of the palette. Features a QR code that you can scan with your smartphone to bring up a tutorial video. I haven't seen the video.

Ingredients. Click to enlarge.


The palette features a full mirror and plastic housing around the shadows.

The shadows, with flash and without. Bliss (matte beige), Rosewater (pink sheen), Opal (opalescent sheen), Mist (shimmering silver mauve), Adobe (matte warm light brown), Champagne (shimmering peach beige), Pebble (matte neutral brown), Lilac (soft lilac sheen). Note: The shade names are not listed on the palette (only on the edge of the outer box); descriptions are taken from Sephora.com.

Swatched heavily over bare skin (no primer), top row: Bliss, Rosewater, Opal and Mist.



Bottom row: Adobe, Champagne, Pebble and Lilac.

The colors look really pretty and promising, but after using them a few times, I'm sad to say that I didn't have much luck with them.

What I liked:

• Sturdy palette construction. I like that the piece that houses the shadows is solid plastic and not cardboard. Easier to clean that way, too.
• The colors are very soft and pretty.
• The QR code on the back is a neat idea.
• The Champagne shade has more pigment than the others and applies fairly smooth and opaque.
  

What I didn't like:

• The shadows are very poorly pigmented.
• The shadows have a powdery texture that doesn't apply evenly.
• The shadows fade and change colors quickly even when used over primer.
• The shadows don't all apply true to pan color.

I had really high hopes for this palette since the one they did for the holiday collection was so amazing, but I was very disappointed by this. The Holiday Flash palette was intensely pigmented, almost too pigmented, really. This palette is the exact opposite. The shadows are very powdery, have very little pigment to them and they don't adhere to the lids correctly. I've tried these over three different primers (Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion, Too Faced Shadow Insurance Lemon Drop and LORAC Behind The Scenes Eye Primer), and they were powdery and sheer over all three. I tried using Pebble and Opal wet, and that helped slightly, but the texture wasn't really right and they were patchy going on.

I don't know why the textures of the shadow palettes vary so much. I've loved some of their shadows and found them to be well pigmented and easy to apply, and I've hated others because they were powdery, patchy, sheer and hard to blend. Be Discovered is definitely one of the sheerer and less pigmented palettes I've tried from Smashbox. I can't get this palette to work for me, but you may like it if you're looking for some office-appropriate sheer, conservative shadows. I know that some people do like to wear a very light, sheer neutral eye, and, unfortunately, that's all this palette is good for.

The Smashbox Be Discovered palette is available from Sephora, $44. It is limited edition.

(This was sent for review.)