What I'm Not Buying: Morphe 35O2

Morphe is releasing a follow-up to the palette that first made them relevant in the beauty community, which they have named the 35O2.

And I won't be buying. 

It's never my favorite thing to write about Morphe, because the brand and its products are inexplicably tied to YouTube personality Jaclyn Hill. I guess it can be explained, and that is that Jaclyn is pretty much the reason anyone knows about Morphe or that they have become a very successful company. If anyone wonders just how much influence these "influencers" can have, they should just look into Morphe. And even though this particular palette has nothing to do with Jaclyn (that I am aware of, at least), because she works so closely with Morphe and is essentially their ambassador, diehard Jaclyn fans tend to get upset whenever someone criticizes Morphe. 

Here is my unpopular opinion: While I certainly think the rise of YouTube has made the makeup industry grow and become more interesting and inclusive than what it was 10 years ago, I also think the inauthenticity of these "influencers" is the main contributor to the out of control consumerism in the industry. 

It goes hand in hand. I'm thrilled that there are so many outspoken people on YouTube calling for more inclusive shade ranges and calling out brands whose darkest foundation shade is tan. I'm glad that there are so many men on YouTube who wear makeup and showcase their hobby and passion with a lot of pride. Since so many makeup brands typically marketed their products on white women, it's exciting to see a platform like YouTube where diverse consumers can see people who look like them. 

But at the same time, THIS is the new way of marketing. When we see a CoverGirl commercial with Katy Perry, most of us know that Katy Perry most likely does not use whatever mascara she is advertising in real life. We know that she has a team of makeup artists who decide what she wears, and she is simply working for CoverGirl. But when we see a person we have watched on YouTube for years and therefore "trust" like a friend in our own lives rave about a product, we typically take that at face value. But this is marketing now. And it's not really all that different from the Katy Perry CoverGirl commercial. However, that is difficult for a lot of people to see because there is still this perceived authenticity. 

Personally, I have never been subscribed to Jaclyn Hill. I've watched a few of her videos, and her personality just isn't for me. That is not to say anything negative about her whatsoever, I just don't fit her fan demographic. So, it never really impacted me that she hyped Morphe so much. What did affect me is how much other people hyped Morphe because of the hype she created. 

Because of that, I purchased two Morphe palettes: 35T and 35OS. Now, I will say that Morphe shadows are not the worst shadows in the world. The shimmers swatch beautifully, and some even apply to the eye with the same amount of pigment and intensity. The mattes, in my opinion, are not great, but they are better than some at the drugstore that I have seen. And when you look at Morphe prices (for the exception of the very marked up Jaclyn Hill palette), I would say they can fall into the drugstore category. I have and enjoy several Costal Scents singles, but those are hit and miss. Morphe mattes remind me of "miss" Costal Scents shadows. 

They are not terrible shadows, and I won't say that they are. But, they are also not incredible, and it feels (to me, at least) like you are using a lower quality eyeshadow. I first depotted my Morphe shadows because I found the packaging cheap and the 35 shadows overwhelming. What was interesting to me is that when I started depotting, I was able to see just how many repeat shades there were, and I ended up only keeping about 10 shades from each palette. I kept those shades in my custom palette for a while, but eventually I decluttered all of them. And here are my honest reasons why:

• They smelled cheap and toxic. I don't know how else to explain the smell, but they were unlike any other shadows in my collection. They smelled of generic "chemicals," and because of that, I shied away from using them. 
• They irritated my skin. The first time I noticed this was when I swatched the shadows on my arm. Immediately, my arm became itchy, and when I removed the swatches, I had redness underneath where each color once was. When I applied them to my eye (it's important to note that I always used a primer, putting a block between the product and my skin), they were usually pretty ok, but then my eyes would water a few hours in, and I would always have to remove my makeup hours before I normally would. 
• I had better alternatives. When I removed the shadows from the palette and looked at them as singles in my collection, I found that I had a lot of suitable replacements. And I would always reach, without fail, for the other shadows. 

Now, obviously a lot of people have and use Morphe shadows, so the experience I had may not be the same for everyone. I will say, however, that I have not had the smell or irritation problems with any other eyeshadow. Most of the products I own were made in the USA or Italy, and Morphe shadows are made in China. I will say that the NYX Elements palettes that I have and enjoy were also made in China. Morphe shadows have also been noted as being private labeled, and I will leave Stephanie Nicole's video on the subject here. 

So, the 35O2. Let's take a look:

My first thought when I saw this was, "Wow, that's a lot of brown." And my second thought was, "How is this different from the original 35O?"

Here is the original:

The biggest difference that I can see is that the original has more lighter shades. And the O2 has a black. That's about it as far as I can tell. 

I'll cut to the chase with this one: You absolutely, unequivocally do not need this palette. And the main reason is because it is a palette made up of the same shade dozens of times. No one, and I seriously mean no one, needs that many brown shades in one palette. Even if there are minor differences between shades (and it truthfully doesn't even look like there are minor differences), they will all still look the same on the eye. Undoubtedly, you will gravitate toward certain sections of the palette because the entire thing is overwhelming and repetitive, and you would be better off spending your money on a few singles. 

Expensive palettes that have a similar color scheme include:

Natasha Denona Sunset:

And Viseart Warm Matte:

A middle-range palette with this color scheme is Smashbox Ablaze:

And a slightly cheaper option is NYX Fire:

Finally, the cheapest option out of all of these, including the Morphe palette, is Colourpop Yes, Please!:

If you have any of these palettes and a couple of brown shadows, you absolutely do not need the Morphe 35O2. And if you don't, I would absolutely recommend getting Yes, Please! as it is only $16 (therefore cheaper) and the quality is fantastic. 

I've talked about this in recent posts, but no one needs a palette with this many shadows, especially a palette with this many repeated shadows. Even though this palette is $23 (before shipping), it is still a waste of money because of how much repetition there is. 

Part of me feels like the hype around Morphe is starting to fade with people coming out of the woodwork to say that they felt really duped in purchasing from this brand as they were promised phenomenal quality and were given something cheap. But then I still get messages from time to time from people telling me how wrong I am to not want to buy the Jaclyn Hill Morphe palette and that the quality is super amazing. Temptalia gave the palette a B– rating, and while there are certainly products that get a lower score, a B– is still no where near great and not something I would want to buy, especially for upwards of $50 when you include (domestic) shipping. (For comparison, Colourpop Yes, Please was given an A– rating.) 

There is a store in NYC that sells Morphe in-store, and that is where I have purchased all of my Morphe products. In addition to the two palettes, I have also purchased a few brushes, and I find their quality to be fine, comparable to Sigma. I still prefer to use MAC brushes, except for my blending brushes. 

All of that is to say that, again, I don't think Morphe is unusable or complete crap. That is not the experience that I had with the products. With that said, when given the choice between purchasing from Morphe or other brands within similar or cheaper price ranges, hands down I would choose other brands. Before Colourpop came out with their pressed shadows, I wasn't a fan of the brand or their products, but their pressed shadows have really impressed me. I feel like I use their shadows on an almost daily basis at this point, which is really saying something. And their products are so inexpensive. 

I think Morphe also brings up discussion of quality versus quantity. And this is something that varies from person to person. I have always chosen quality over quantity, but I have seen other people who just want to have as much makeup as soon as possible. And if that's the case, then Morphe might be really appealing, and that is totally okay. For me, I have tried so many brands at this point, and I don't really want to waste my time and money on Morphe shadows. The quality is just not there for me when compared to other brands. 

I think the hype, at least at some point, was entirely out of control with Morphe, and they built an entire business off of it. That is staggering to me. But then I also contributed to it because I got caught up in the hype as well. And with hype, sometimes you feel like you have to ride the train in order to know that you didn't have to ride it, if that makes sense. And I think that is a lesson a lot of people have learned with Morphe. 

To sum all of this up, this palette is just a bunch of repeated shades, and you would be better off putting your money into a different, smaller palette or some singles. When I look at the 35O2, I just see a whole bunch of brown, and that is the one color in my collection that I am not lacking. I don't want this palette, so I won't be buying.