A Morphe 12S: a real stand-out palette |Smugnificent

I have recently reviewed my first Morphe palette, the 35D and although I found it a good choice for its price, I was still not completely head over heels with it. One of the main reasons was the size of these large 35 palettes, I find them impractical and I tend to forget them in the back of my makeup drawers.

That is why I went with a smaller 12-pan palette this time. I saw the 12S (Soul of Summer) palette at a Cosmetics Obsession event and my mind immediately went to the 35O palette which I have always been on the fence about. Could this be a smaller version of the 35O in all its shimmery goodness?

Starting from the packaging the 12S looks very similar to the larger 35 versions. Black plastic;  not very expensive looking but much smaller. The size is actually perfect, about the size of my hand, light, easy to carry around and maybe because it is more compact it also feels more sturdy than the large ones.

This one also doesn't include a mirror which is not a problem for me but might be an issue for some. What I like a lot is the square shape of the pans and the fact that the"wasted" space between them is minimised. Each of the 12 pans has a size of 2,5x2,5cm.

This is a very warm toned palette, filled with golden, bronze and orange toned shades. It is a wonderful choice for summer. One can immediately notice that there are not any matte shades in here. Although at a first glance I thought that shade 8 looked a bit boring and out of place for this palette, it has become a favourite. Other shades I love is 5, 6, 10, 11 and 12. Six favourites out of a 12 pan palette is not bad at all especially since I like a lot the rest too. To be honest I would prefer a lighter shade in the first row as 1 and 2 as well as 3 and 4 look quite similar with each other.

As you can see from the swatches, all 12 shades swatch amazingly, they are very smooth and pigmented. In contrast with the 35D palette that had a few missed, I was not disappointed not even a little with any of the shadows in this one. All colours are rich, very flattering and the variety is really satisfying.

The strongest argument against this palette is that this is not really a stand alone palette. I always need to use a nice matte shadow for my crease and a light highlighting shade (preferably also matte) to compliment my makeup when I use the 12S. Again, for me this is not a problem as I have many shadows in my collection and I usually don't think if a palette could be used by itself when I am choosing products. But this is an important factor for many so you need to keep it in mind.

In summary I am really happy with this palette, I find the quality of the shadows really good, excellent for its price point and certainly comparable with the best ones from my 35D palette if not better. I got mine for 21CHF from Cosmetics Obsession and I think it retails for 15 dollars in the Morphe website. After trying this one I am not that sure that I want to try more of the 35 palettes but I know I want to get my hands in some more of their 12 ones.