The Smashbox Full Exposure Palette was on my Boots shopping list a few weeks ago and after playing with it for a little while I have finally made up my opinion about it and who this palette is best suited for. It is a limited edition palette and not easily available online however my local Boots still has it fully stocked. If you are wanting to see my thoughts and a day and night look then read on...


 The Smashbox Full Exposure palette contains 14 eyeshadows: 7 Shimmers and 7 Mattes which range from warm to cool. It includes a sample of the Full Exposure Mascara, a brush and an eye guide. On base value I think that the palette is incredibly well priced at £36. 


Onto the quality of the palette itself, personally, it is a hit and miss and a little bit "meh". The most impressive aspect is the amount of mattes you get in the palette. A whole seven! The matte shades aren't incredibly pigmented which makes blending easy as sometimes mattes can be tricky to blend. As they aren't highly pigmented it makes a great palette for a newbie however for eyeshadow experts who want to strengthen their matte eyeshadow collection, you may be a little disappointed. Being a novice eyeshadow applier I quite like the formulation of the matte shadows, as my priority is blend-ability. The shadows are great tones to create natural shadows and smokier looks and the only real disappointing shade in the mattes is the cream/white shade (M4) as it really has to be built up to show up on me.

Onto the "shimmers", I use quotation marks as only one of these shades can be described as a shimmer (S4). The central Shimmer shade is a beautiful shimmer that can be used to highlight or all over the lid. The other shades however are most certainly glitters and not shimmers. Had all of the shimmer shades been the same texture as the central shade I would have give this palette 99.9% however they really let this palette down. Now, for those who hate glitters, look away as you will hate this entire top row. Even though I quite like a little glitter on the eye these do disappoint as they do fall out and the colours aren't particularly pigmented. The best glitter shades that are true to pan are the darkest end shades (S1 & S7) however the other shades deposit mostly glitter rather than any colour. Don't use a fluffy brush with these shadows, as they will fall out and give you a disco-ball face. However, if you apply them with a dense flat sided brush onto a tacky base (such as a cream eyeshadow) then they will lock into place and really look quite beautiful. So, yes they do disappoint but with a little work they can actually look rather good.

 Day Look


For the day look I wanted a widened and slightly contoured effect to the eyes. I started with the central shimmer shade (S4), applying it to the inner third of the eyes, making sure to brighten the tear-duct area. I also applied this lightly on the brow bone. Following that I added the light grey shade (M5) on a small fluffy brush and blended it into my crease to create a natural shadow. To further intensify the crease I applied the darker grey shade (M6) on a small brush into the outer corner of the eye and ran it softly onto the lash line. I topped it off with the Smashbox mascara to widen the eyes. A simple widened eye look for every day. 


 Night Look


This palette is great for amping up looks as it contains some beautiful matte shades to smoke up the eyes. I started with the pink-toned shade (M3) and blended this lightly in and above the crease, so that the darker shades will blend easier and create a more diffused look. I followed that by adding the lighter brown shade (M2) all over the top and bottom lids. I blended this all the way into the crease to smoke the eyes up. At this point you will have the "druggy" look going on but as soon as you add the darkest brown shade (M1) onto the outer third of the eye and blend you will create a smoky brown look. As this is a little, in my opinion, boring, I wanted to add some glitter! Instead of adding glitter onto the lid, I decided to keep the lid fully matte and instead add the dark brown shimmer shade (S1) onto the lower lashline. To apply this I used a small dense brush and really packed the shadow onto the brush then sprayed it with some Mac Fix Plus to avoid any fall out. Keep applying until you are happy then add lashings of the Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara and a bronze eyeliner and you have yourself a smoky eye with a twist.


Overall, this is a good palette. It has some amazing matte shades which have already made a huge change to my eyeshadow game however the shimmers let this palette down. I know I will get my use out of it, as I enjoy a little glitter in my life, but it may not be the one for you...

What do you think of the Smashbox Full Exposure Palette?

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