Review & Thoughts: Morphe Brushes 35O Palette
Hi everyone!
This post is going to be a little different. I've spent the past few weeks gathering my thoughts and contemplating on whether or not to write about this, because I've always avoided featuring any negativity or criticism on my blog. So I'm making a disclaimer: This post might be more of a personal rant to get things off my chest rather than a clear-cut review like I usually write, and this will also be rather lengthy, so feel free to skip reading. Please remember my opinions reflect my own preferences and experiences, and should my statements be erroneous or offensive in any way, shape or form, I sincerely apologize.
If you are even slightly immersed in the world of beauty, then you've probably heard of the Morphe Brushes 35O "35-Color Nature Glow" Palette. This product was released maybe sometime in the middle of 2015, and a wave of popular beauty YouTubers like Jaclyn Hill, Manny MUA, Jeffree Star, and Nikki Tutorials (just to name a few) stormed the internet with a gazillion tutorials, reviews, selfies and product shots, all proclaiming nothing but love for the palette, and anyone lucky enough to have received a PR sample from the company were all aboard the same train of thought. The palette was said to have pigmented and blendable eyeshadows which had amazing quality at such an affordable cost. This created a whirlwind of excitement in the beauty community, and not long after, everyone started clamoring to get their hands on one - including myself. I love me some orange and warm-toned eyeshadows, so when I saw all the swatches and looks being made with the palette, I knew I just had to have it. However, when people started purchasing the palette, it would CONSTANTLY be out of stock that the company even issued a "one palette per customer" limit every time they would restock, and the few times they did, it would sell out like crazy in just a few minutes.
Morphe's marketing tactic to hype up the newly-released palette successfully created so much demand, but the company was unprepared or "purposely" didn't provide enough supply. I was one of those people who constantly visited their website to see if they had it in stock in the hopes that a relative from the US could buy it for me, and I was also one of those people who was constantly disappointed by how fast the product came and went. I understand they're still a growing company who simply wants to expand their reach, but overly-convincing people to buy your product and then having no product to sell is just frustrating for consumers. If they had released it with a controlled degree of hype, or prepared enough stocks for the sudden influx of people ready and wanting to buy the palette, perhaps this wouldn't have been an issue. I didn't seem to think it was because despite everyone stressing out about how hard the palette was to buy, I still really wanted to own one.
Since it was already difficult for most people to get the palette in their own country, I realized early on that I would have to wait until the hype died down a bit before resellers would have a chance to bring it to Philippine shores. On February 2016, with constant searching on Google and Instagram, I was able to track down a seller that offered Morphe Brushes products on a pre-order basis, and I saw the palettes were priced at about PHP 1,400 - just an additional few hundred pesos when converted from the $22.99 US price point - and excitement swelled within me. However, that initial excitement turned into shock when I learned that the 35O Palette I wanted was being sold at PHP 2,700 - almost twice the price because stocks came from a different supplier outside Morphe that sold them at a higher cost. I didn't realize how much money that was because all I could think of was that I really wanted those warm eyeshadows, so I just went with it and placed an order. However, a month later, I found out the box carrying my palette got lost in transit, and though I did get my refund in full, my hopes and dreams were dashed.
But one bad transaction wasn't enough to deter me, so I got back to researching and found another seller who sold it at PHP 2,500. Still rather pricey but less costly than with the first seller, and that pulled me in like a magnet to place an order and wait another month in anticipation. The universe seemed to conspire against me because this time, although my palette did make it to the Philippines, it got here broken - and my heart broke in a similar fashion. After receiving another full refund, I took to the internet one last time and found roxane.ph on Instagram selling the palette I so desperately wanted for only PHP 2,300. I forgave the universe for jinxing my first two orders, and waited patiently and anxiously for this purchase to hopefully push through. It was during this period of waiting that the Morphe 35O Shimmer and 35O Matte Palettes were released. And while the whole world was going crazy over the fact that Morphe released two new versions of their most in-demand and coveted palette, I was confused at first; then after a while, I was pissed.
Morphe knew the demand for the 35O Palette was high because they "purposely" made and kept it that way, and to appease their consumers, they decided to create two separate palettes so everyone could now spend twice as much money. WHAT A HEAPING PILE OF BS! If they simply took the shadows from all the shimmer and matte palettes they made and put them in a single palette, then they would've had been able to produce more of the original! This just made me so frustrated since there were still so many people eagerly waiting and anticipating for restocks, but the company decided to prioritize their greed. A month later in June, I forgot about my frustration when I came home one evening and saw a package resting on our dining room side table. I hungrily ripped the package open because at last, after four months of waiting and two failed transactions, I finally owned my own Morphe 35O Palette. I was beyond exited and in disbelief that for the next few days, I simply took the palette out of the bubble wrap and cardboard box packaging just to stare at it in awe.
When I decided to test it out on my eyes, I found the shadows to be okay. Just okay. They were nicely pigmented and blendable, but I experienced a lot of fallout with the shimmers and powder kick-up with the mattes. Not the best or the worst eyeshadows out there, but with the amount of love it got from all those big YouTube names, I expected a lot more. I also found small hairline cracks above the second eyeshadow in the palette. I have handled this baby with utmost care, even keeping it in the original box and bubble wrap, so I figured the only logical explanation would be that the damage was already there before I received it. The packaging itself feels rather cheap and flimsy, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.
What did surprise me though was that a lot of the shadows looked so similar to one another, with just minor variations: one was lighter / darker / warmer / cooler / etc. The entire palette consists of warm neutrals and browns with a bit of orange-y shades thrown in. After emailing my boyfriend a photo of the palette, he told me I had all of those colors in my collection already, and he was right. I'm sure everyone who has a pretty established eyeshadow collection does too. But if a palette is named "35O", then there should more "O" in there, right? A week later, I bought the NYX Ultimate Shadow Palette in Warm Neutrals (another palette I've been wanting since it was released) and after several people on Instagram said it looked like the Morphe 35O, I did a side-by-side comparison.
Although the NYX palette has only 16 shades, if the oranges and repetitive colors were taken out of the Morphe 35O, THEY'RE PRETTY MUCH THE SAME THING with both palettes sharing that similar warm neutral color scheme. The NYX shadows themselves have a much better quality with a softer and smoother texture, easier blendability, and less fall out. Price is also a huge difference between the two palettes as I only paid PHP 880 for the smaller palette - less than half the price of what I paid for the Morphe one. Granted I also get lesser quantity and fewer shades to play with, but I highly doubt I'll ever hit pan on every single shadow in there with my already expansive collection. And if I do, repurchasing wouldn't be an issue since it's cheaper and easier to get.
So would I recommend getting the Morphe 35O eyeshadow palette? If you really like the shades and see value in following online makeup tutorials to a tee, then go ahead. But with the exaggerated hype, hefty local price tag and so-so quality, I honestly don't think it's worth it. Don't get me wrong - it's a nice palette I'll continue to use since I've invested a lot of money, time, effort and emotions to get it. However, I feel somewhat obligated to like it because of that. Hahaha! Should I be able to go back in time and redo my purchase fully knowing what I do now, I would spend that money on a high-end palette, or several affordable palettes with the same if not better quality. Or something else entirely like food because food always makes me happy.
EDIT July 3, 2016: I wore the some shades from the palette for my makeup look today and yesterday for practice, and both times the eyeshadows faded after about 6 hours. It seems the mattes lost their pigmentation while the shimmers lost their shine, and everything looked like a muddled mess despite wearing them over my Milani Eyeshadow Primer - one of the best affordable eye primers out there. None of my I Heart Makeup or Coastal Scents palettes have faded into oblivion like this; therefore, I change my mind: the quality of eyeshadows from the Morphe 35O palette are subpar and I do not recommend them at all.
And that's it for this extra long blog entry! Congratulations if you made it this far, and I hope my opinions and experience help you make better decisions on whether or not to buy this particular product. And should anyone be interested in affordable alternatives, there's an upcoming post on that already so stay tuned. Thank you very much for stopping by and I hope you visit me here again soon. Till next time! Take care! :)
♥♥♥
All opinions and photos on this blog are my own, and all products reviewed have been purchased with my own personal funds, unless stated otherwise.
