It might not be easy to determine in pictures, but this palette is BIG. It's big in both physical size as well as the amount of product that you get in it. I actually struggled when framing the photos of this palette, because it's so big. This palette contains 17.86g (0.63oz) of product with each pan being nearly 1.5g of product. Because those numbers can seem kind of arbitrary if you aren't really familiar with pan sizes, I want to give you a couple of comparisons:

The pans in this palette are roughly the same size as a full size Colourpop single shadow, slightly larger than a MAC single shadow, and slightly smaller than a Makeup Geek Single Shadow. Also, for comparison, the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance Palette retails for the same price $55CAD ($42US) and only contains 7.98g of product. This palette is HEFTY and a solidly good value at $3.14CAD ($2.35US) per gram of product and $4.67CAD ($3.50US) per pan. (Check out this post to see where that falls as far as value when compared to other popular eyeshadow palettes on the market!)

When you initially look at this palette, I think it can feel a little bit disjointed and perhaps overwhelming. It isn't laid out the way we tend to see other palettes laid out, but like I said with the Colourpop Good Sport palette recently, I personally really like palettes that switch up the way they lay out their palettes because I think that seeing a palette laid out this way visually can help inspire some more creativity. 

The curation of the shades in this palette is really amazing when you actually put it into practice, which tells me it was very thoughtfully put together. Unlike a lot of palettes from the past couple of years that really hit on trends and look beautiful, but tend to really only offer minor variations on the same look, this palette is truly versatile and the shades work really well together for a wide variety of different looks. For me, with a large palette, that's really what I'm looking for. I want to be able to reach for one palette for a solid week and have all different looks, and I really think this palette can do that and still be really wearable for a wide variety of people. 

Initially upon swatching this palette, I was a little bit concerned that the mattes weren't going to perform the way I wanted them to, because they swatched a little bit patchy and for the photos below I did have to build them up with a couple of swipes to get them true to colour. However, when applied to the eyes they have a really buildable and blendable formula that makes them really, really easy to work with. When it comes to the really saturated shades, which are the ones that swatched the worst for me, I actually really appreciate that they're a buildable formula because it makes them so much easier to work with than something that goes on full colour right from jump. I definitely think there's a balance when it comes to pigmentation where you want saturated colour, but in a formula that's easy to work with, and this palette strikes that balance.

Another thing I really want to hit on is how beautifully formulated the three deeper shades in the bottom right of the palette are. Blueberry Muffin and Cherry Juice are the types of shades that always look beautiful in the pan, but in other palettes have often faded to an unimpressive grey when applied. These ones absolutely don't do that, whether you apply them more sheer or build them up, they maintain the intensity of their true colour and don't suffer from a neutral base. When it comes to Blackberry, I feel like this is exactly what I want a black shade to be. Rather than being one of those very intense black mattes that we've been praising for years, but are actually really hard to work with when blending, this one maintains intensity but is also a buildable formula that blends really well to add depth to a look without taking it over. 

• Warm Pie: Matte red brown with gold glitter

•Honey Dipped: Gold foil

I would personally say this is more of a copper shade when swatched, but when I used it in an eye look it did definitely pull more gold. One of three true shimmers in this palette, the formula on this one is really lovely and applies to a smooth metallic when patted on wet. I feel like gold in palettes can feel redundant, but it was called for in this palette because it'll work well in a lot of different looks that the deeper mattes will create.
•Sugar Cookie: Pale pink shimmer

Though this isn't my favorite formula in the palette because it's a little bit crumbly when you pick it up on the brush, I've learned to always apply it wet and I've gotten really good results. One thing that I love about it is that when I paired it with the deep blue, it lost a lot of that pink tone and just came up silver, but when paired with berries I do get a really pretty pink look from it.
•Cranberry: Maroon red shimmer

This type of shimmery cranberry shade is a long time favorite of mine - and was pretty hard to find until the last couple of years, but now might seem commonplace - and I'm really glad that it's in this palette. It's a beautiful shade that brings a lot of light to the eye even though it's rather deep and catches the light really well. I would definitely recommend applying it wet for the best pay off, but this shade is much smoother in texture than Sugar Cookie and applies quite beautifully dry as well.
•Blueberry Muffin: Matte cobalt blue
I feel like this shade, very specifically, is the one that makes this palette stand out because we don't really see deep matte blue shades in mainstream palettes. This is definitely one that didn't swatch very well, but applied really beautifully on the eyes. It's definitely a shade that needs to build, but it maintains that crisp blue colour and doesn't skew grey whether it's applied more sheer or built up. This shade is a massive winner for me.
•Cherry Juice: Matte deep plum
This is another shade that stands out in this palette, though it's not really as unique as Blueberry Muffin. It's another bad swatcher that applies really beautifully with a buildable, smooth formula. It also doesn't lose its impact when applied with a brush. In photos I think this can tend to look a little bit more red than purple, but in person it really does show up purple.
•Blackberry: Matte black

This is absolutely exactly what I want in a black shadow - and I don't think I even knew it until I got this palette. It's a buildable black shade that works really well to deepen up other colours without taking off and killing the colour in them. It's also really easy to work with, building up easily with a blending brush and not really any fall out to speak of.