palette fail: almay the complete look

Sometimes, an item is just too good to be true. Take Almay's The Complete Look palette as an example. It included six eyeshadow shades, four lip products, and a blush. Best of all? It was on sale for just $5. I couldn't understand why they were so eager to clear this particular set from their stock...but now I know. At a glance, this set had it all. You really could create a complete look with just one palette. If it worked well, this would be a wonderful set for travel or to toss into your purse. There were so many possibilities! Except for one small detail: the quality was seriously lacking.

This particular set included six eyeshadows (they are unnamed) but they were mostly shimmery, with a mixture of purples, taupe, and deeper shades like grey and black. The colours themselves looked decent in the pan and swatched decently but when applied to the eyelid.....were downright terrible. The eyeshadows applied patchy, muddy, and in some cases, colourless. It was as if any pigmentation just blended away in an instant. Out of the six eyeshadows there was one that I would say is decent. That is that deep purple colour. It isn't fabulous but it can be built up enough to create a so-so makeup look. The others, in my opinion, are not good at all. The shadows lack intensity. Such a let down!

(Note: all swatches were double swatched )

Top row: six eyeshadow shades and one blush

Bottom row: lip products

Now for the blush shade. It is extremely dry and considering how deep and warm it looks in the palette itself? It is not at all. This colour is very sheer and requires a lot of building up to see any colour payoff whatsoever. Even if you are someone who doesn't like an intense blush, I have trouble believing this product will satisfy. There is just no pigmentation and the texture is disappointing. 

As for the lipstick shades? These look really beautiful inside the palette itself. However, as you can see from the swatch photo above, there just isn't a lot of colour happening there. The deep red is the most impressive but it doesn't look like much when you apply it to the lips. (Which you will see in the finished look photo below.) These are shimmery, lightly pigmented, and certainly nothing to write home about. There are better quality products out there both at the drugstore and in high end stores. Heck, there are better at the dollar store. 

Needless to say, I was not impressed with this palette. I haven't tried too much from Almay over the years with the exception of their Healthy Glow Foundation but this set doesn't exactly instill confidence in the brand for me. It's been a long time since I have been so disappointed. The eyeshadows weren't good, the blush wasn't good, and the lip products weren't good. There really wasn't anything redeemable about this palette for me. That being said, I did my best to create a makeup look using the products. It took a lot of time and patience but I tried.

Rating: 1 / 5 

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Have you tried this eyeshadow palette? Any makeup fails you want to share?