What I'm Not Buying: Smashbox Matte Cover Shot Eye Palette

Of the seven Cover Shot Eye Palettes Smashbox recently released, one of them is an all-matte palette. 

And I won't be buying. 

My thoughts on the concept, size, and price of the Cover Shot Eye Palettes can be found here. 

Honestly, if there was ever a rehab for buying matte eyeshadow palettes specifically, I should probably check myself in. I don't need this palette. I don't need any more shadows and certainly don't need any more matte shadows. But still, when I saw this palette and saw that the tones were slightly pink and purple, I had a moment where I thought maybe, just maybe, I could buy it. 

And then I woke the hell up. 

Looking at the swatches on Temptalia, this is what the Matte palette has to offer:

• Yellow-toned cream 
• Pink-toned cream
• Mid-tone peach
• Mid-tone milk chocolate brown 
• Mid-tone brown 
• Peachy-pink
• Eggplant 
• Black

Yep, guys. That's what this palette has. And I challenge most everyone to look at their collections and tell me that you don't have every single one of these colors already. Personally, I have these colors probably (not even joking) at least ten times over. 

These are the matte eyeshadow palettes I currently own:

• Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye
• MAC C'Est Chic
• Viseart Neutral Matte
• Viseart Dark Matte
• Tarte Tartelette in Bloom (honorable mention)
• Becca Ombre Rouge

And I have previously owned:

• Tarte Tartelette
• theBalm Meet Matt(e) Trimony
• Too Faced Natural Matte Eye
• It Cosmetics Naturally Pretty
• Sonia Kashuk Eye On Neutral 
• Urban Decay Naked Basics 

Because of my clear insanity with matte eyeshadow palettes, I feel like I have a certain understanding of matte palettes that most people do not. And I would like to share that knowledge below. 

But to really hammer my point home, I'm going to show some matte eyeshadow palettes. 

From my own collection, the palettes least similar to the Smashbox Matte Cover Shot Eye Palette (though still very similar) include the Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye:

Photo: Temptalia 

Viseart Neutral Matte:

Photo: Temptalia 

Viseart Dark Matte:

And Tarte Tartelette in Bloom (honorable mention):

Photo: Temptalia 

Outside of my collection, the palettes least similar (but still similar) to the Smashbox Matte Cover Shot Eye Palette include theBalm Meet Matt(e) Nude:

Lorac Pro Matte:

Photo: Temptalia 

Too Faced Natural Matte Eye:

Photo: Temptalia 

Sonia Kashuk Eye On Neutral:

Now. These are the palettes most similar to the Smashbox Matte palette. 

From my own collection, there's the MAC C'Est Chic:

Photo: Temptalia 

And Becca Ombre Rouge:

Photo: Temptalia 

Palettes outside of my collection that are most similar to Smashbox Matte include Smashbox's own Photo Matte Eyes: 

Photo: Aiishwarya

And the Photo Matte Eye Mini:

The It Cosmetics Naturally Pretty:

Photo: Makeup by Tiffany D

Stilla Eyes are the Window to the Mind:

Photo: Sicilianna Beauty

Viseart Cool Mattes:

Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye Quad in Plum:

Photo: Temptalia

theBalm Meet Matt(e) Trimony:

Urban Decay Naked Ultimate Basics:

Photo: Temptalia

And the most similar, Tarte Tartelette:

Photo: Temptalia

Sorry for the bombardment of photos. But I really felt it proves my point without having to say too much myself. 

Here's the thing. I have no idea why I am so drawn to matte eyeshadow palettes. I don't like an all-matte eye look, so these are really just companion palettes for me. But how many companion palettes can one person really use? 

And it's funny that I have a large number of matte palettes still in my collection because it really doesn't feel like I have that many. The Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye is really my go-to companion palette, and then I use the Viseart Dark Matte for my darker, more colorful looks. And that feels like all I have. I currently have the MAC C'Est Chic in an end of the year declutter pile, but I'm not totally decided on what I'm going to do with it yet. I treat the Tartelette in Bloom as a standalone palette. The Viseart Neutral Matte has been depotted into a large Viseart palette, and the Becca Ombre Rouge is dedicated to when I need to wear professional/conservative makeup. So it honestly only feels like I have two—one for neutrals and one for colors. 

I am honestly embarrassed by the amount of matte palettes that I have owned and honestly still own. And what I can tell you from having owned so many of them is that they aren't special. None of them. Some of the formulas are gorgeous, of course, and are of much higher quality than others (for my recommendations, see the ones still in my collection), but the color selection—for the exception of the Viseart Dark Matte and maybe the Viseart Cool Matte—is just nothing special across the board. Once you have one, that's really all you need, and that's if for some reason you're not satisfied with all the mattes in your collection already. 

I love matte eyeshadows. I love what they can do to a look, I love how they compliment, emphasize, or tone down shimmers and glitters, and I love when they blend seamlessly. But really, in all honesty, when you find some good matte shadows that you love, you really don't need to search for any more. The Shade and Light Eye has become the most used palette in my collection, and I might even like it more than the Viseart Neutral Matte (maybe). The only thing it's really "missing" for me are plum shades, which is why I purchased the MAC C'Est Chic palette. But I have plum/berry matte shadows in:

• Lime Crime Venus palette
• Ciate London Pretty palette
• Ciate London Smokey Suedes palette
• Inglot custom palette 
• Anastasia Beverly Hills custom palette 

And because of this, I absolutely do not need to buy another matte palette just because it has some pink, plum, or berry tones. 

I haven't seen or read many reviews of the Matte Cover Shot Palette yet, but based on swatches that I've seen, the colors do not look impressive whatsoever. I also find it disappointing that this palette looks so similar to the existing Smashbox Photo Matte Eye palettes. As I've mentioned, it seems as though Smashbox copied the color scheme of popular palettes throughout their Cover Shot line, and with the Matte palette, it's like Smashbox copied their own stuff. I do think this palette has the potential to work for many different skin tones, but I think it still skews primarily for people with fair skin. 

On the whole, I think the Matte palette has a really uninteresting color scheme. I think at this point, if a brand wants to add a matte palette to the already saturated market, it has to have a functional and interesting color scheme; be of the best, unimaginable quality; or be of unimaginable quality with a very inexpensive price tag. And the Matte Cover Shot palette isn't any of those things for me. At $29, I think the price is not bad, but I also think that within the same price range, it would be a better buy to go with the Lorac Pro Matte. The swatches of the Smashbox Matte palette look dry and potentially patchy, so I doubt the formula is anything noteworthy. Personally, I hope that my matte palette buying days are over. I have every color I could ever want, and I'm just not interested in adding more, especially a palette that has a common and uninspiring color scheme. There's just nothing special about this palette other than the fact that it has only matte shadows, and I won't be buying. 

What I'm Not Buying: Smashbox Bold Cover Shot Eye Palette

Photo: Temptalia 

The Bold palette is another Smashbox Cover Shot Eye Palette that really caught my attention. I really like the color scheme and like that this is a slightly sized-down bright palette.  

But I won't be buying. 

My thoughts on the concept, size, and pice of the Cover Shot Eye Palettes can be found here. 

I've mentioned many times that I had never really been a color person until recently. And even now, I apply color with caution (I use a lot of brown). Still, using color at all is an improvement for me.  Because of my previous aversion to color, I was never even a little tempted by a bright, colorful palette. But then I started experimenting with color, bought the Juvia's Place Masquerade Mini palette, loved it, and have grown increasingly more interested in color. 

So when I saw the Bold palette, for $29 and not an overwhelming amount of product, I was interested. And honestly, I don't have anything in my collection that duplicates or is close to the colors in this palette. The closest I have is the Masquerade Mini:

And the Viseart Dark Matte:

And while there are certainly bold colors in these palettes, both are still quite neutral. 

So, if I don't have any palettes or shadows that duplicate the Bold palette, why am I not buying? 

• I don't need or want any more eyeshadows 
• I likely wouldn't wear bright matte eyeshadows often 
• I am completely satisfied with the colorful eyeshadows I currently own
• I don't think the Bold palette has the best quality 

While the first three reasons are the most important, I would like to touch upon the last reason, which is still a big one: quality. Of the few reviews I've seen, people who were sent these palettes have all raved about them. And that's not surprising. But when I've seen swatches of the Bold palette, they don't look that smooth to me. They look patchy and like they would be difficult to blend. 

Let's look at palettes with similar color schemes. 

There's the Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca Remix (no longer available):

Urban Decay Alice Through the Looking Glass (no longer available):

Urban Decay Electric (currently $24 at Sephora, but may be discontinued soon):

Photo: Temptalia

Urban Decay Full Spectrum (limited edition, $55):

Melt Cosmetics Radioactive Stack ($48):

Viseart Editorial Brights ($80):

Viseart Boheme Dream ($80):

Makeup Revolution Color Chaos (£4):

Photo: Thou Shalt Not Covet

Wet N Wild Poster Child ($5):

Personally, out of all of the above palettes, if I were to buy one it would either be Viseart Editorial Brights, Viseart Boheme Dream, Wet N Wild Poster Child, or Makeup Revolution Color Chaos. And I know that might sound crazy since they are at the highest and lowest ends of the price spectrum, but if I am going to buy a specific kind of palette, I want it to either be of the highest possible quality or at the lowest price. 

In researching for this post and looking at swatches of palettes that I previously passed over as too bright and colorful and nothing I would ever want, I could really see a difference in quality between the Smashbox swatches and most everything else. I would say the Bold swatches are in similar quality ballparks as Urban Decay Alice Through the Looking Glass, Melt Cosmetics Radioactive Stack, and Makeup Revolution Color Chaos. Alice Through the Looking Glass received generally "meh" reviews, the Radioactive Stack was said to be the most patchy of all the Melt stacks (but was generally given a pass for how neon the shades are), and from what I can tell, the Makeup Revolution palette is hit or miss with the shades (but is again given a pass for the price). 

What the Bold palette has that most of the other bight palettes do not is a shimmery pink and a shade that looks like a shimmery reddish purple blue duo (trio?) chrome. I assume (though I could be totally wrong) that the shimmery pink shade is potentially a transforming shadow to place atop the matte shadows. Or the shimmers are in the palette to offset all the matte shades to create more diverse looks. Even though these shadows seem to be an addition to most existing bright palettes, I don't think they are special enough to make this a selling point for the palette. The shimmery pink looks like a sheer pink that is offered from nearly every brand, and the duochrome looks like a cool, purple-toned take on the classic blue-brown shadow that can be found in:

• Wet N Wild Comfort Zone
• Makeup Geek MannyMUA palette
• Tarte Tartiest Pro palette
• MAC Club eyeshadow 
• MAC Blue-Brown pigment
• Makeup Geek Insomnia Pigment
• Ardency Inn Peacock eyeshadow
• Buxom No Faux eyeshadow 

Overall, I'm glad that Smashbox included a "Bold" palette within their Cover Shot line. Like I mentioned in another Cover Shot review, however, this palette is just another example of Smashbox recreating already popular color schemes. The Urban Decay Electric palette has been out for several years at this point, and now that there are so many colorful palette options, I feel like a palette has to do something to really stand out from the rest. But for me, all of the Cover Shot palettes just miss the mark and fall short of the original palette they are based on. 

Personally, I could not be happier with my Masquerade Mini palette as I feel it is the perfect "bold" palette for me. There are ample gorgeous colorful shades (most with a shimmer finish like I prefer) and plenty of neutrals to help me build a colorful look while still in my comfort zone. And yes, I could decide to branch out and try more electric and matte shadows, but why should I spend the money and add yet another palette to my collection when I am entirely satisfied with what I have? 

For people who want to experiment with bold colors, I think the $29 price point of the Bold palette is good, especially if the Electric palette is being discontinued and won't stay at its sale price. If someone doesn't have access to the Makeup Revolution or Wet N Wild palettes, I can see the Smashbox palette being a good option without having to shell out a lot of money. I just don't personally have a need for this palette, so I won't be buying. 

What I'm Not Buying: Smashbox Smoky Cover Shot Eye Palette

The third Smashbox Cover Shot Eye Palette to catch my attention was Smoky. And I actually do think there are some pretty and "unique" properties about this palette. 

But I won't be buying. 

My thoughts on the concept, size, and price of the Cover Shot Eye Palettes can be found here. 

While Ablaze was the first palette to catch my attention, and I was really drawn to Golden Hour, the Smoky palette was the palette I had to actually tell myself "no." I like the layout of this palette. I like the way it looks. And I even had a difficult time coming up with similar-looking palettes. This palette has a sense of uniqueness to it that I appreciate, but for me and my collection, this sense of uniqueness is false. 

I've mentioned several times before, I fall for the "group attractiveness effect" where a collection of items together holds more beauty than each individual piece. I've also mentioned how my brain tricks me into thinking something is unique when the colors are arranged in a way that I haven't seen before, even when I have all of the colors individually. Both of these things happened with the Smoky palette. 

I always think it's important to check out swatches of a product before purchasing or to swatch the product on yourself in-store. And that's because promotional images tend to be saturated and misleading, which is what I believe has happened with several of these Cover Shot palettes. The colors look incredibly rich in the promotional pictures, but when I see swatches, they look liked a toned-down version of what I expected. Don't get me wrong, the colors are still pretty, and it's not as though they look of particularly bad quality, the colors in the photos are just a little misleading. 

Based on swatches, the Smoky palette has the following colors:

• Mid-tone brown matte
• Yellow-based cream matte
• Purple shimmer (it looks cranberry in the promotional images but purple in swatches)
• Bronze-brown shimmer
• Green/gold/silver shimmer
• Forrest green shimmer
• Dark gray matte
• Black matte

The only shadow that seems actually unique is "Rock Me," which looks to be a green/gold/silver. It reminds me of Telepathy from the Kat Von D Monarch palette as well as maybe a mixture of the "Browbone and Eyelid" shades in the Wet N Wild Comfort Zone. Fortunately for me, it's not a shadow that really calls to me as something I want. I'm sure if I had it and used it I would think it looked interesting, but it's not something that I am particularly drawn to. 

Otherwise, I absolutely have all of those shadows. All of them. And that's exactly what I mean about the group attractiveness effect. Even though I have every single one of these colors, my brain still tricked me into thinking this palette was unique. 

The most similar palette I own is the Ciate London Smokey Suedes palette:

But there are also several similar shades in the Juvia's Place Nubian 2 palette:

And though certainly not exact, my Natasha Denona custom palette has some similar tones as well:

Outside of my collection, the Make Up For Ever Holiday 2016 palette shares similar tones:

Photo: Temptalia 

As well as the drugstore classic, Wet N Wild Comfort Zone:

Photo: Temptalia 

I'll give Smashbox credit that I don't have any palettes that are extremely close duplicates, but that still doesn't mean the collection of colors is unique. And frankly, when applied onto the eyes, I doubt there will be much of a difference whatsoever between the dark gray and black shades. Because of this, I feel like there is absolutely a wasted shade in this palette. Dark shadows are typically used less than all other shadows, so to give two of them—even in a smoky palette—feels overkill. 

I'd like to come back to my point about looking at swatches. As I said, the swatches of these palettes don't look necessarily bad or poor quality, but they also don't look special at all. The mid-tone brown matte, for example, looks very light, and I don't know if it would really work as a crease shade on most skin tones. I've mentioned already how the color that looks as though it would be a gorgeous cranberry is actually a pretty standard purple shade, and the bronze-brown shimmer is also nothing special. I have seen better and more complex bronze shades from Urban Decay, Too Faced, Anastasia Beverly Hills, MAC, Makeup Geek, and even Morphe. 

The Smoky Cover Shot Eye Palette is pretty, but I don't know who would be its target audience. I think this has the potential to be a good option for people looking for a smoky palette and who don't want to spend a ton of money, but I also think there are better options. There are only a few shades in here that really make it a "smoky" palette, and I think most people would be better off buying a few select singles to complement what they already have. And for smoky eye lovers, again, I think there are better smoky palettes available that have a more interesting color scheme. And frankly, most smoky eye lovers probably already have more than enough shadows to create a myriad of smoky eye looks. 

The Smoky Cover Shot Eye Palette then feels to me to be the option for people who like to collect makeup or who just like to try everything. I'm not passing judgement on that mentality because it would be a blatant lie if I said I didn't like to try things, but I have also seen that shopping in this manner is a waste of my money. This is a pretty palette, but I feel like the majority of people who will purchase it are those who already have their share of smoky shadows a few times over. They will add this one onto the growing pile of tried but largely unused shadows and will mark the Smashbox Cover Shot Eye Palettes off their "to try" list. That mentality just doesn't hold any value for me. I already have all the colors in this palette, and I won't be buying. 

What I'm Not Buying: Smashbox Golden Hour Cover Shot Eye Palette

The second of Smashbox's newly released Cover Shot Eye Palettes that most appealed to me was Golden Hour. 

But I won't be buying. 

I certainly hope that these posts don't become repetitive, but since Smashbox released seven palettes, I would like to take the time to talk about my thoughts on each one. I noticed today that these palettes have all come back in stock on Sephora's website, after all selling out almost immediately, and I'll be curious to see if there will be another insane rush for people to buy them. 

My thoughts on the concept, size, and price of these palettes can be found here. 

Beyond that, I would like to talk about the color schemes these palettes have to offer. As I alluded to in my post about the Ablaze palette, I think in the Cover Shot Eye Palettes, Smashbox has essentially copied the color schemes of several palettes that are currently popular or have remained popular for the past several years. 

And again, there are two ways to look at that. On the one hand, people who have wanted to buy some of these popular palettes but didn't because of price or size can now have the option of getting a really similar color scheme in a compact size with less product for almost half the pice. And that's great. But on the other hand, for people who already have these popular palettes, buying the Smashbox palettes will just be redundant to their collections. 

I'm not at all surprised that I was drawn to Golden Hour. It looks like several palettes that I have perviously owned or have considered purchasing. The first palette it reminded me of is one that I've been lusting after for a long while but have never pulled the trigger on—Buxom Dolly's Wild Side:

It also looks like the Lorac Pro 3:

Photo: Temptalia

As well as the Lorac Unzipped:

Photo: Glow of Grace

Marc Jacobs About Last Night Style Eye Con No 20:

And, of course, the original rose gold palette, Urban Decay Naked 3:

Photo: Temptalia 

The Naked 3 has been duplicated so many times in the years since it was released. In addition to the above palettes that follow a similar color scheme, there are several less expensive palettes that have tried to outright copy it.

There's Costal Scents Revealed 3:

Maybelline The Blushed Nudes:

Makeup Revolution Iconic 3:

Photo: Meg Says

And CoverGirl Tru Naked Roses:

Photo: Budget Beauty Blog

I have owned Naked 3, Lorac Unzipped, and CoverGirl Tru Naked Roses. I no longer own any of these palettes. Of all of these, I liked the Lorac Unzipped the best, but I found I only really loved a couple of shades and it wasn't worth it to me to own the entire palette when I didn't love most of the shadows in it. 

Golden Hour has the following shades:

• Light peach matte
• White/cream matte
• Light gold shimmer (looks pink in the pan but translates to gold on the skin)
• Golden bronze shimmer
• Pink-gold shimmer
• Burgundy shimmer
• Dark magenta shimmer
• Light brown shimmer

The most "unique" shades in this palette are the pink-gold (it looks more pink than rose gold), burgundy, and dark magenta shimmers. The rest of the colors are very ordinary and standard, and I would imagine that even people with minimal collections have these colors. With that said, the "unique" shades aren't that unique whatsoever. I would imagine that the majority of collections outside the realm of minimal have these colors as well. Again, within my own collection, I certainly have duplicates for these shadows—probably at least three times over. 

Now, it is my recommendation that people not purchase shadows that they already own, but I also understand wanting to have shades that you love in different formulas or within a different collection of shadows. But I can also say that I think what happens is the group attractiveness effect (known more colloquially as the non-feminist-friendly "cheerleader effect") where the collection of colors is better looking and more alluring than any of the individual shades. What I think happens (at least with myself) is that I see a collection of colors that I already own but arranged in a way that I haven't seen before, and it tricks my brain into thinking that this is something unique and new instead of seeing that I already own all those colors and don't need it. 

Personally, I have so many of these colors in my collection, between Makeup Geek singles, the Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons, and the Ciate London Smokey Suedes:

And it would be gluttonous, excessive, and unnecessary for me to add Golden Hour to my collection. It's a pretty palette, and as evidenced in this post, it has a well-loved color scheme, so I can understand people who want to buy it. But it has just come a little too late in the game for me. I have seen this color scheme time and time again, and it just doesn't interest me anymore. I have the few rose gold, pink, magenta, and burgundy shades that I love, and I don't need to add any more. So I won't be buying. 

What I'm Not Buying: Smashbox Ablaze Cover Shot Eye Palette

A couple weeks ago, Smashbox released seven (yes, seven) brand-new "Cover Shot" eyeshadow palettes. The one that immediately caught my (and everyone else's) attention was the Modern Renaissance- copied inspired Ablaze palette. 

But I won't be buying. 

I'll be honest—I'm not entirely mad at Smashbox about these palettes. I think they are actually really cool in concept. All seven released at the same time, so it's not like Smashbox is going to drag out every release (like Urban Decay and Too Faced), and consumers will likely be able to get a palette with colors they like and that flatter their skin tone. 

I also like that Smashbox released these in a kind of nonchalant manner without crazy hype and fear of missing out tactics. 

The size of the palettes is small, and I don't exactly hate that either. But, I can see this going two ways. I can see someone buying one of these palettes—picking their favorite—and having that be maybe their only eyeshadow palette. And because the palettes are so small, I can see them running out of product fairly quickly, which would be annoying if this was their one palette. However, I can also see this someone who has a fairly large collection of palettes (like me) buying this palette and being grateful that it doesn't have a ton of product because it is something they will realistically get use on. 

But, here's my main issue with these. The palettes cost $29 each, and for eight shadows, that gives the guise that this is a good deal. However, these palettes contain 7.65 grams of product. To put that into perspective, my absolute favorite compact travel palette is the Ciate London Pretty Palette:

This palette is just a little longer than the length of my palm, and it only has one shadow more than the Smashbox Cover Shot palettes. However, the Ciate London palette contains 16 grams of product. That's more than double the amount of product in the Smashbox palettes and is only $6 more. I therefore think the Smashbox palettes could have been slightly less expensive. 

I first saw the Cover Shot palettes in the Sephora email about Cyber Monday "deals." I was curious to look at the palettes, and as soon as I clicked onto the page, I saw that Ablaze was already sold out. At other times in my life, seeing that would make me crazy and feel like I absolutely needed to get my hands on it. But at this point, when I saw that, it made me not at all interested in buying. Because it just reminded me of this insanity of buying within the beauty community. The reason Ablaze sold out so quickly is because it looks exactly like the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance palette. And I would bet significant money that the people who clamored to buy Ablaze right as it became available are also people who already own Modern Renaissance. 

Let's look at Ablaze again:

And Modern Renaissance:

And from my own Collection, Lime Crime Venus:

Let's also look at the Kylie Burgundy Kyshadow palette:

And the Makeup Geek Autumn Glow bundle:

And the Tarteist Pro palette:

These palettes all look the same. Everyone seems to credit Anastasia Beverly Hills for coming out with the trendiest color scheme imaginable, but Lime Crime released the Venus palette nearly two years before that. And of course I understand that Lime Crime is an incredibly problematic brand, so people were thrilled when Modern Renaissance came out that they could get the color scheme they wanted and not feel guilty about supporting the brand. But this color scheme has been around for a couple of years now. And just because you like the color scheme, it doesn't mean you need to buy it from every single brand. 

And frankly, a few select single shadows would really be all that anyone would need, as is evidenced by part of my singles collection:

I didn't even mean to try and replicate the color scheme of these mega popular palettes; this is just how I organized my singles. 

If you break down Ablaze, you've got:

• A matte cream
• A shimmery golden bronze
• A shimmery rose gold
• A matte pink-toned berry
• A shimmery burgundy
• A matte orange
• A matte brick red
• A matte dark brown 

My guess is that most collections cover all colors other than the berry, orange (maybe), and brick red. That's more than half the shades in the palette that most people already have. Personally, I have at least two of every shade in this palette. I think it would be much wiser to just pinpoint the colors in this palette that you most like, look in your own collection to see if you have something comparable, and then just buy one or two singles that fill any gaps you have.

I've mentioned these colors before, but just off the top of my head, to supplement the rest of your collection, you could buy MAC Rule:

Photo: Temptalia 

MAC Cranberry:

Photo: Temptalia 

And Make Up For Ever Morello Cherry:

Photo: Temptalia 

And with the addition of these three shadows, you would be able to have your own version of any of the above palettes. 

Another thing to keep in mind is that most palettes cannot flatter everyone. And it's potentially a much smarter idea to look at a color scheme that you find appealing and then find single shadows that will flatter your skin tone so that you can build your own perfect version of that palette. Another idea is rearranging your single shadows to fit the same order of a palette that you find appealing. When you do that, it's shocking to see how in some cases you already own a palette you're lusting after. 

The swatches I've seen of Ablaze look fine, but nothing spectacular. I can appreciate the thought behind the Cover Shot Eye Palettes, but I feel no need to rush out and buy Ablaze. I was most drawn to the color scheme of it because I already own this palette a few times over (therefore I obviously like the colors), and it's important that I remember that and don't continue to purchase the same things again and again. Seeing the Smashbox palettes sell out well before anyone was able to give any honest and thorough reviews tells me that people are just trying to get their hands on it because they know they will be hyped. I assume—based on this—that they are the next "big thing" in the beauty community for a moment. But for me, my collection is already so stacked that something would need to be truly unique in order to get my attention. Ablaze literally looks like a carbon copy of Venus and Modern Renaissance. I own Venus and previously owned Modern Renaissance (and found it redundant), and I certainly don't need to buy this same palette yet again.