The Morphe x Kathleen Lights Palette ($14.99) is the only palette from Morphe Brushes I have ever purchased. I got it directly from the Morphe website and paid a shipping fee ($21.47 – I know that’s ridiculous). Altogether, therefore, I paid a total of $36.46 which works out to £29.20 GBP for the whole palette which contains 15 eyeshadows, thus making it approx £1.95 per shadow. Of course, this is only relevant if you too are considering buying it in the UK, in the US I am sure it is much cheaper and of course you can use a code to get 10% off. Stupidly, I forgot all about the many Morphe codes that exist even though there has been an ongoing “scandal” about them.
The reason I wanted to buy this palette is because it just looks like a really nice palette, with all the colours I would use. I only just subscribed to Kathleen’s YouTube channel a few months ago and she is honestly one of my favourite YouTubers to watch. I love her voice and accent, she always looks so pretty and she seems to share her honest opinions about things and be genuine. I really like that. She did a few videos on her palette and I ran to the Morphe site only to find it had been sold out, on their second re-stock I grabbed it because the swatches in her videos are so swoon worthy that I fell head over heels for it. I loved the looks she created with it and the colour scheme is so pretty.
The packaging is quite basic and cheap in areas. The actual palette comes in cardboard (different from their usual plastic palettes, which I like), there is no mirror, it is black in colour and has red lettering on the front. You get what you pay for and although it isn’t much to look at, at least from the outside, it travels well and hasn’t broken so far. The actual box is substandard, but then most people throw it away anyway. The picture and message on the back are a nice touch, but the font is stretched and the exclamatory sentences just feel really juvenile. I could have made this box at home and I think for a reputable company and brand they should know better than to house their products in a box like this. It’s just bad form, a plain black cardboard box would have been a more attractive option than this clumsy hasty attempt. It’s a little embarrassing, in my personal opinion.
That being said, who cares about the stupid box? No one. Onto what really matters: the shadows themselves. As mentioned, there are 15 eyeshadows in total and they all look phenomenal in Kathleen’s video – which I will insert at the end of this post so you can compare my swatches to hers. Just looking at it, I still think this is a really nice palette with well thought out colours. There isn’t a single shade here that I wouldn’t personally wear. It looks like a pretty, neutral palette with some greens and purples which make it especially flattering for brown, hazel and green eyes. Just so you know this is a similar collaboration as the Jaclyn Hill Favorites Palette, most shadows are available individually from Morphe, I will link the ones that are, if not they are from past palettes.
FIRST ROW
As always, these are finger swatches done on bare skin, sans primer with just one swipe and one dab into the product. I tried swatching them all on my arm but it was too difficult so we’re going to go through row by row, from left to right. Let’s start with the first and top row: (1) Cream Puff ($2.29) – shimmery beige pink shade; (2) matte cream bone shade; (3) Deep Skin ($2.29) soft warm orange-brown satin; (4) coppery orange-gold metallic (custom shade); (5) cranberry satin shimmery brown with a hint of purple. I love the custom gold shade and the warm cranberry shimmer (4 and 5). The mattes aren’t very pigmented in the top row and it might be due to my skin but the first shimmer shade, that looks so kapow in Kathleen’s video was very underwhelming on my skin.
SECOND ROW
The second row, from left to right: (1) Trouble cool toned brown matte; (2) purple taupe shimmer; (3) bronze shimmer; (4) purple cranberry matte; (5) Secretive ($2.29) purple maroon matte. I like the first three shadows, but the two purple mattes are so sheer, they swatch terribly. I have heard that purples and reds are the hardest pigments to work with but these really do look awful and disappointing me. Another issue I have, is that they are so similar with Secretive just being a smidgen darker than the other cranberry shade so I wish she had put a more diverse shade in there.
THIRD ROW
The third and final row: (1) moss green metallic shimmer (custom shade); (2) bright Irish metallic green shimmer (custom shade); (3) warm brown matte shadow (from 35O palette, she also says it is very comparable to MAC’s Brown Script); (4) medium caramel shade (also from 35O palette, comparable to Bobbi Brown Camel Eyeshadow – £17.50); (5) Coal ($2.29) described as a true black matte. Again, the mattes were disappointing, two custom green eyeshadows are probably the best shadows out of the whole palette. The black and camel mattes are extremely lacklustre.
Overall, I see now what people were saying all along. The shimmers massively outperform the matte eyeshadows in this palette, they are strongly pigmented and creamy. They are also very soft so if you dig your brush in it will make some indentations but apart from that I really like the shimmer shadows. The mattes are soft and although they are not very opaque they blend easily in the crease. The matte black, if it can even be called that, works great as a deepener. I can’t use it as a liner as it takes too long to build the required intensity. You can see the four mattes from the bottom two rows (look above) swatched together below, these are the ones that swatch the worst, to me, again although disappointing they are wearable. I will say that the purples swatch really badly but they actually look more true to pan on the eyes and appear richer in pigment, thank goodness.
Do I think the palette is worth $14.99? Absolutely.
Do I like the colour scheme? A thousand times yes.
Would I repurchase it? No, the shipping fee and lack of pigmentation in the mattes are major drawbacks to me.
Do I regret buying the palette? No, as I do love the colours and lusted after this for ages.
Would I recommend it? Honestly, no. I do like it but it’s nothing to shout about. I think Morphe definitely cut corners to make it so affordable. Their shimmers are really nice, but you are better off buying a full shimmer palettes from Morphe in that case. I much prefer Zoeva eyeshadow palettes and I have heard great things about Juvia’s place as well.
Overall Rating: a generous 3/5 because I can get these shades to work. They don’t look bad on the eyes at all and are actually very flattering, I just had higher expectations.
KATHLEEN’S VIDEO
Thank you for reading this review, I hope you enjoyed it. I know eyeshadow palettes aren’t for everyone but I am addicted to them. I have many more reviews for you all, I need to get them up before I forget and they cease to matter so bear with me. On top of that, I want to do a Valentine’s Day makeup inspiration post, I posted a poll on my Twitter to see what kind of looks you guys are into. Please vote and follow me if you like, I will follow you back, just search @alittlekiran. I would love to hear your thoughts on this palette, I know I said I didn’t want to spend money on collaborations anymore but I really do enjoy Kathleen’s videos and her personality so didn’t mind nearly as much. Of course, find me on Bloglovin’ to stay up to date with my blog, it’s completely free. Hope you have a fab weekend, come back here on Sunday for some Valentine’s looks. Take care.
Have you tried anything from Morphe?