The Morphe 35D Desert Bouquet Eyeshadow Palette launched last week as Morphe’s latest eyeshadow palette, and I have to admit, I fell in love with the colour story almost instantly, and knew I wanted to try it.
I’ve tried a lot of Morphe palettes since I first started trying their makeup five years ago, and as a whole, they’re consistently great.. until now.
BUY HERE: ULTA / Selfridges
Morphe 35D Desert Bouquet Eyeshadow Palette
Before I get into my review, I just wanted to preface my Morphe 35D Desert Bouquet Eyeshadow Palette review by saying I have been testing Morphe products since the beginning of 2015, when I tried their rose gold travel brush set.
That was when they were known as Morphe Brushes, and I have 24 Morphe palettes in my collection, so I really can say I’ve tried a lot of Morphe eyeshadow palettes, so I’m really sad that the Morphe 35D Desert Bouquet Eyeshadow Palette is as disappointing as it is.
“Retreat to a desert garden getaway with this versatile palette full of earth tones, vibrant desert flower brights, and green succulent hues. With creamy matte and sparkling shimmer finishes, your blooming desert looks are just a swipe away.”
The Morphe 35D Desert Bouquet Eyeshadow Palette is the latest palette within the Morphe 35 pan palette series, and features cardboard packaging.
The palette has a photograph image on the front and back of the palette of a purple succulent, which complements the desert theme of the palette really well.
I decided I wanted to try the Morphe 35D Desert Bouquet Eyeshadow Palette, as I felt like the colour story was unique for Morphe. There were a lot more mattes than ‘normal’ and the purples looked so pretty, but I also liked that the rows appeared to have cohesive shades to create full eyeshadow looks with too.
Row 1: Light Linen, Sand Dunes, Adobe, Yucca Yum, Sun Hat, Prickly Pear, Cacti Love You
Row 2: Villa Vibes, High Noon, Under The Palms, Aloe Goodbye, Phoenix Flora, Hot Nights, Water Me
Row 3: Big Saguaro, All Sun, Plant Mom, Terrarium, Sundress Season, Agave My Heart, Rock On
Row 4: Sweet Sage, Yes I Canyon, Take A Hike, Mud Mask, Desert Garden, Mojave Heat, Hottest Ever
Row 5: Succ On That, Temp Check, Joshua Tree, Plant Zaddy, Cactus Fruit, Rich Clay, Midnight Bloom
So they are all thirty five swatches of the entire Morphe 35D Desert Bouquet Eyeshadow Palette. Whilst Morphe palettes are relatively affordable for the amount of shadows you get for the money, I usually find their palettes are consistently great with good colour pay off, nice textures, and they blend well too.
The Morphe 35D Desert Bouquet Eyeshadow Palette is definitely the exception which is a real shame, as the colour story is lovely, but the formula and pigment was definitely not true to other Morphe palettes.
Hopefully the swatches show you, but the first three rows are dry, very dusty, lacking in pigmentation and feel like powdered chalk. I really struggled to swatch many of them, and even with multiple swipes, the pigmentation just wasn’t there.
Swatches usually give you a good representation of how a shadow will perform, and the finish they’ll have, and the shadows perform just as disappointingly on the eyes as they do in swatches.
The last row of shades is definitely the best. They’re pigmented, soft and smooth, just how Morphe shadows tend to be, but they’re all very staining on the eyes. That is to be expected with bright, bolder shades, but Cactus Fruit stained my lids terribly, and made my eyes sore too.
I do find it a little ironic that it’s called the Desert Bouquet Palette, as the shades are so dry and dusty. I don’t know what went wrong with this palette, but I am going to declutter it today, as it’s too disappointing to use.
Even with primer, the colour payoff and dry textures don’t work well on the eyes, and to me, it’s a big waste of £25. I wanted to love this palette so much, otherwise I wouldn’t have bought it, but in all honesty it’s a palette I’d recommend avoiding completely as 28 of the 35 shades are really, really bad.
BUY HERE: ULTA / Selfridges
All images belong to me.
Hi, my name is Gemma, and I’m the owner of MakeupMuddle.com. I’m a true beauty obsessive, and love writing about anything to do with beauty – I have been a beauty writer since 2012.
As well as owning Makeup Muddle, I also own GemmaEtc.com, and love sharing my thoughts and feelings about the greatest (and not so great) beauty products!