Smashbox Master Class Eyeshadow Quad in Brown: Review, Photos, & Swatches

 What it is:
A beautiful palette of four earth-toned eye shadows.

What it does:
Handpicked by Smashbox pros to play up brown beauties, these flattering shades can also work with any eye color to create everything from naturally pretty to high-glam smoky looks.

 Where to Buy: Sephora.com, $10.00

 Smashbox Master Class Eyeshadow Quad in Brown ($10.00 for 0.273 oz.) is a limited edition online exclusive palette that consists of a matte skin tone, a matte navy, a shimmery deep bronze, and a shimmery wine shade.

Texture:

 I've never used Smashbox shadows before so I wasn't sure what to expect, but each one of these including the mattes are so buttery smooth! I was surprised that the matte ivory shade didn't even look chalky when applied (which those lighter matte colors are known to do). The only shade I had an issue with when applying to the lid was the navy shade. It comes off a bit patchy and really looses its vibrancy when you blend out, so you need to reapply. With that said, each shade blends wonderfully and with ease. The purple wine shade did cause a bit of fallout, but nothing extreme that couldn't easily be cleaned up. Now these shadows are soft, but not annoyingly so that when you dip a brush into them they leave a crumbly mess in the pan.

 Pigmentation:

The ivory skin tone, shimmery wine, and shimmery deep bronze are all fantastically pigmentated, you won't need to dip your brush in multiple times to get the beautiful colors you see in the pan. But again I had issues with the navy blue. Its nice and vibrant when swatched, but when you use a brush it comes off as more of a washed out blue color, not that dark navy in the pan.

Staying Power:

I tried all of these colors with and without a primer, and they surprisingly did great in both tests! I usually don't last an hour without creasing when I don't use a primer, but I was able to get away with 3 before the shadows significantly started fading. With a primer, I can get away with 8 hours before things start to look dull and crease. The navy blue was the little trouble maker yet again, all over the lid it had the least amount of staying power out of the four shadows, it creased after 2 hours without a primer and 6 with a primer. Another thing to note is this particular color seems to migrate a bit during wear, I had some under my lash line (over a primer) and it still ended up making a mess under my eye after an hour and a half that looked like I had a black eye!

Packaging:

The Master Class Eyeshadow Quad comes in a circle rubberized container with a see-through lid that twists off. I've never actually touched anything form NARS so I cant tell you if its like their packaging, but I would assume so and now I understand why everyone complains about it! I've only had this quad on my vanity for a few days and its already covered in all sorts of gunk, the rubber collects absolutely everything it comes in contact with! I do enjoy that you can see through the lid so you can easily identify what colors are in the quad, but the twist off top gets irritating after a while. When you're in a rush its just so much easier to flip open a palette instead of twist off, and I'm always worried I'll drop it while trying to twist the top on/off. Probably the best thing about the way this Smashbox Quad is packaged is that its very minimalist, no extra unneeded parts, its simply a round palette with shadows that fill the entire thing, no extra space!

Final Verdict:

 My first experience with Smashbox eyeshadows has been a great one! Even with the navy shade being a little bit finicky, the Master Eyeshadow Quad is still worth picking up because the other shades are outstanding in terms of their smoothness, longevity on the eye, and fantastic pigmentation. My only complaint is that this palette isn't necessarily one you can do an all-in-one look with, the combination of colors is a little odd. Granted they are all great fall shades, I would just need to pair them with some other eyeshadows in my stash to get a cohesive look. Honestly I'm surprised the Smashbox Master Class Eyeshadow Quads aren't already sold out on the Sephora website, they're an absolute steal at $10.00, so if you want them, make an order quickly because they are limited edition!