Smashbox is one of those brands where I kind of skip over when I'm at Sephora or Ulta. Not exactly sure why that is, but I was all smiles when I was gifted this palette from a friend last Christmas. I apologize for the extremely delayed review of this palette as I've been doing some makeup decluttering and didn't get a chance to test out this baby. Even though this is a limited edition palette, those like me, who aren't familiar with the brand, can have a glimpse of how their products perform or what they have to offer. So I hope you enjoy this review.



Art. Love. Color. Master Class ($65 USD) is a 2015 limited edition holiday palette in collaboration with Spanish painter, Yago Hortal Hernandez. The package is housed in a hard plastic casing and is reminiscent of an art book. Inside, you get 32 Photo Op eye shadows, 6 blushes, 2 highlighters and 4 "Get The Look" cards for different colored schemes (pinks, violets, blues, etc.).




Once opened, you are welcomed with an array of colors and textures ranging from mattes, shimmers and glitters. You get a nice spectrum of colors - neutrals and colors. Even though this palette contains colors, it's not over the top or in your face - it's more soft and muted. The pans are protected by a clear cover with names of all the shades - which I love. Makes it so much easier for me to reference if I were to do comparison posts or writing tutorials.



This is just me but I like how the neutral shades are grouped together on one side and it gradually shifts into the colors. Its really nice on the eyes.


I'm quite pleased with the pigmentation in this palette. The shadows are soft to the touch and of course, the more shimmery shades feels much softer and glides smoother. You do get some duds in the palette. Goldenrod, Charmed, Celestial, Silver Moon, Nile, Sea, Steel and Cosmic doesn't translate well on the lids compared to being swatched. They apply patchy and don't blend well - especially Cosmic, Sea and Goldenrod.


The golds, pinks, purples and some of the blues performed much better than the greens in this palette. I found that Gypsy, Spruce, Zoom and Sea weren't as opaque on the lid and when I tried to apply the shadows in layers, it started to crumble and made a mess even when applied over a primer. Orchid, a medium matte purple, didn't blend as smoothly as the other shades.



The greens were a bit of a disappointment as it looked cheap on the eyelid (shown below). It may look like a light application but kid you not, it took a few layers to take a decent pic of it on the lid.


Framboise, Candy, Java, Alabaster, Custard, Breeze, Eggplant, Smoke, and Nutmeg are some of my  favorites in the palette as they were consistent in color, texture and application. The stars in this palette for me were actually the cheek colors - especially the two highlighters, Glow and Shimmer. Both have a beautiful, natural sheen with no glitter.

I think I'll be checking out their face products as I really enjoyed using the blushes in this palette. As for the shadows, it isn't completely a flop - but I think for the price, the shadows should've performed a bit better.