Make Up For Ever Fall 2015 9 Artist Shadow Palette - 1

Look at this ridiculous gorgeousness!

The Fall 2015 makeup releases have barely started coming out and I already can say without a doubt that one of my top recommendations this season will be the Make Up For Ever 9 Artist Shadow Palettes.

There are 2 which will be available in Singapore at SGD$69 each (exact release date in July is yet to be confirmed at this point); a neutral palette which is permanent (No 1), and a pop color palette which is limited edition (No 2). I'm a neutral fanatic - and I have a few of the shades in the No 2 palette, so of course this was the one I picked to review. 

First of all, this is just ABSOLUTELY great value. Come on - you don't often find 9 x 1.8g shadows in Singapore (the typical MAC and UD shadows are about 1.5g each) - at this quality - for that price. If you have not tried any of the Make Up For Ever Artist shadows, you really need to. They are all buttery smooth and densely pigmented, and they're pretty much my benchmark for high-impact colors because they are much creamier and luxurious-feeling than typical highly-pigmented brands like Urban Decay and Inglot. 

But it can be a huge investment because MUFE Artist shadows don't come cheap. And to own  a good range of shades would usually cost you quite a bit more than $69. (You can usually only get 2 full-size Artist shadows for that price.)

The palette itself comes in the standard black and white box along with a booklet.

Unlike most cardboard packages, this one is hefty and heavy. You don't get the feeling when you pry open the lid that the paper is going to come apart or unglue itself at the joints after awhile. And the magnet is sturdy enough that you can probably travel with this and it wouldn't open up in your bag.

Ultimately, if you're looking for great products and you'd rather not be paying a ton of money for fancy packaging, this is it.

The shadows themselves come grouped in 3 trios. Each column is one "look", and the booklet shows you exactly which shades go together. 

There are also step by step guides for each of the 3 looks; Chic, Natural, and Smoky. So if you're new to all this and need ideas, they've got you covered.

But I'll say these are useful references. You can by all means mix and match any of the shades. They are neutral, and it's almost impossible to go wrong no matter which ones you group together. If you want a soft look, match 2-3 shades in the top 2 rows. If you want a dark, sexy, smoky look, wear colors in the bottom row.

Ultimately, no matter how many of these extra fancy stuff they include, it comes down to the quality of the shadows for me. And these rock.

The Chic trio is the only one that contains 2 matte shades. And they are super smooth. I don't get much fallout, amazingly enough. These aren't as powdery as a lot of other mattes around.

The Natural Look is more of a highly pearlescent neutral trio. If you want gleaming, dewy-looking lids in the most luscious metallic bronze and taupe tones, you will love this center column.

The Smoky column is more of a warm/gold trio to me. You get 3 metallics with a golden undertone; perfect for a beachy Gisele-esque effect.

And I swatched all these dry, without primer. That's how intense and rich they are. I can't say enough about what great value this palette is. If you were to pick up all 9 shades separately at full size, it would cost you easily close to $300 without a Pro discount. And that's too much of an investment for non makeup artists anyway. (Each full size Artist palette has 2.5g of product so you have to REALLY love a shade and use it to death to want to invest in the full-size vs getting an entire palette of 9 x 1.8g shades for a little over the price of 2 singles.)

I've yet to check out the 9 Artist Palette - 2 up-close, but I do have 2 or 3 of the shades (the neon pink, purple and one of the pale beiges) in a custom palette of my own, so I know the quality is just as outstanding. If you love the idea of having a mix of ultra-bright tones and having a few neutrals thrown in for good measure, then No 2 might be a better and more versatile investment for you.

FOTD wearing the Make Up For Ever 9 Artust Palette - 1 using the "Natural" trio.

The only criticism I MIGHT have if I really had to nit-pick, would be the fact that there are only 2 matte shades in the neutral palette (and what looks like none in the pop one). If they could include just 1 more matte in a pale color for blending, this would probably appeal to a lot more people. 

Still, this is just nit-picking. We can easily buy mattes and many of us probably already own some. The Artist matte shadows are great, but their stars are really the metallic and iridescent shades so I'm really not complaining about getting more of them in the palette.