Am I a little late to the party? I received this absolutelly iconic pallete at the worst time possible, just when I was finishing my master's thesis. That all study stuff ended up well and I am indeed an engineer now, and I finally have time to write a review on this bad boy.
The Jeffree Star Cosmetics x Shane Dawson Conspiracy Pallete was accompanied with the whole Youtube series, I was watching everything, living for the whole series and couldn't wait for the launch. Let me tell ya, the launch was a drama. Army of computers, falling websites everywhere, it was intense. But I manages to get my hands on the pallete bundle, one for me and one for my sister. It took eternity to arrive, about 5 weeks I think, but at the end everything ended well. And I had my palletes. I will make a review on the Mini Controversy in a separate post, because I think it deserves its own spotlight.
I've been using both pallete for quite some time now, so I'm pretty sure how I feel about them now, but I was a little torn at first. There are 18 shades, 10 mattes and 8 shimmers. The colorstory is not for everybody, to be honest I still think this pallete is very much a collector's item, but I actually like the color selection. The shade names are killer, you probably know that already if you watched the series. It retails for $52, which is the same price as other palletes of the same size from JSC. I think the price is fair, when you break it down it comes to almost $3 per shade and absolutelly killer packaging. That seems like a good price to me.
The packaging is absolutelly stunning. It looks so much better in person than in photos. It's a large trunk, every detail is worked through, it feels luxurious, it looks beautiful. The sleeve it comes in is a little meh, I wasn't too much about the quality of that but sure, I get that the pallete needs to be protected. I love the size of the mirror and the vibe of the packaging. Every imprint in the shadows is on point. It's really a work of art and I just love the pallete as it is.
When it comes to the color story of the pallete, I was intrigued by it, but there are things I would change slightly. Some shades also don't perform as well as I would expect them to. Online, it seems that people have almost a different pallete when I look at how their shadows perform. I'm talking mostly about Food Videos, which is probably the driest eyeshadow I own. It's impossible to make the color payoff worth it and doing a neon cut crease is just not the case with my pallete. It's pressed so hard, it's super difficult just to get any pigment on the brush. But looking online, I don't think every pallete is like this.
Look 1
I wanted to incorporate the deep green in this looks and it's such a perfect color for a smokey eye, that I had to do a smokey eye. The green lip is creating such a vibe and I would never think that green and yellow can make such a fun look without looking muddy.
I started with a crease base made of Tanacon and Diet Root Beer. Blendin both across the whole crease creating a base to lay down more shadow. I packed Illuminatea on the whole lid with a flat brush and blended the edges with the same brush I used for Diet Root Beer to blend the green into the crease. I repeated this until I was happy with how vibrant the shimmer on the lid was and then moved on to the very edge of the look. I took Food Videos on a very small skinny blending brush and slightly scratched the edge of the look, where I had leftover Tanacon with the brush. That created a nice gradient. I then applied bright yellow liner to my waterline and blended it out with a bit of Diet Root Beed and Food Videos under that. I took my magnetic liner from Amazon and created just a line above mu lashes to place the magnetic lashes, I didn't go for a wing. I chose quite sparse spikey lashes and I think they really go with the look.
Look 2
This look is a little more structured and I really enjoy the color combo. Warm eye look with a cool-toned shimmer on the lid just gets me. I started with placing the crease colors starting from the inner corner and working outwards. First I placed Flaming Hot and blended it well everywhere in the first half of my crease. Then I continued with Not a Fact which I blended into the outer half of the crease, creating a winged shape. After placing these two shades in a shape I was happy with, I took Pig-ment on a tiny blending brush and blended out the edges of the placed colors. Then I took My Ride's Here on a small flat packing brush and deepend the outer V with it continuing the leftover shadow on the brush into the crease. That created more definition in the crease which I enhanced with a liner brush and the black shadow again. I basically cut the crease with a black liner. I placed Diet Cola onto the whole lid, keeping the shimmer under the black crease line and patted more black on top of it on the outer portion of my lid. Then I took black and silver liner and lined my waterline. I smoked out the pencils with My Ride's Here, Not a Fact and Pig-ment working from the waterline down. I just placed a little more of My Ride's Here very close to my lashes on the top to define the eye a bit more and that's the look.
Look 3
This look is more of a natural everyday warmer look I would do when in a hurry. It's very simple, flattering and doesn't translate well on camera. But it still looks great in person. I've made this look many many times with this pallete and I really like it.
I started by buffing Cheese Dust all over my crease. To add more depth in the outer corner I took Diet Root Beer and packed it on the outer lid and slightly in the crease to crease some more definition. When I was happy with the overall shape and depth of the look I took Just a Theory on my finger and packed it all over the lid. To crease more of a gradient on the lid itself, I took Diet Root Beer again and stamped it between the shimmer and the matte shade. I took a nude liner onto my waterline and buffed that out with a bit of Diet Root Beer and Cheese Dust. I finished off the look with a little bit of Spiraling stamped on the lashline immitating a liner and adding even more definition.
Look 4
This is another softer one, I just really enjoy diffused simple looks these days. Especially since I've got literally nowhere to go and I don't need to care if it's visible through the glasses.
For this one, I started with Tanacon at the outer edge, because I planned a little pop of color in the inner portion. I blended it into a somewhat winged shape, not too far, not too harsh. Then I started working on the inner portion by taking What's The Tea? And blending it into the inner crease and on the id. I then decided, it's time to make it deeper, so I deepend the outer portion with Diet Root Beer. I kept a little space inbetween the beiges and the blue and packed Sleep Paralysis in that space. That created an effect similar to halo eye, but way less structured. I took it all the way up to the crease. And I love how that looks. On the lower lashline, I just have a nude liner with some Diet Root Beer, not going too far down. Then I decided to add a little definition and added Spiraling to the upper lashline as a somewhat liner.
Look 5
For the last look I wanted to go a little more colorfull and a little more playfull. I started by packing Cheese Dust on the inner third of the crease. Then I took Flaming Hot on the middle of the crease, diffusing it out with My Pills. That created a softer red-pink. I mixes What's The Tea and Pig-Ment which created a subtle purple and blended that into the outer third of the crease. Then I worked kind of back and forward between these three colors to crease a nice gradient. After creating the gradient, I took a little bit of P.Louise Base and cut the crease about 2/3 in. I started packing Conspiracy on the lid to set the base and stopped about 1/3 in. Then I took Trisha and started packing it on the middle of the lid. This one is a little tricky because is takes time to do a nice transition between the green and the pink shimmer. What worked best for me was taking both on the brush and lightly packing it on the transition line. Then I took the What's The Tea and Pig-ment purple and packed it a little more on the outer portion of the crease and on the lid. That created a more subtle transition between Trisha and the mattes. I ran the Tea-pig mixture under my lower lashline and added a sparkling gold-green liner. I went with more Conspiracy into the inner corners and applied a magnetic liner not creating any wing. I wanted the outer portion of the look to stay more pastel. I grabbed a bold lash and went for a coral lip and that's it. I am fully obsessed with this look.
Final thoughts
This pallete is a staple, it's a collectible, a work of art and an item I love to have in my collection. Many people weren't fans of the colorstory but this pallete was really not means to be ground breaking in this sense. Sure, it broke the internet and brought the series which tells you a lot about the whole beauty industry. But still, it's a work of art from Shane who has a vision for the pallete and whatever he came up with is fine by me. I love this pallete.
The quality of the shades is very similar to other Jeffree Star Cosmetics palletes, the mattes are really great quality, the shimmers are buttery but the metallic payoff sometimes lacks. However, that is something I find with all JSC palletes to be honest. The only shade I'm not that happy with is Food Videos, because I just think my pallete maybe has a too hardly pressed shadow or something like that. It just doesn't perform that well. Still though, it's possible to work with it, it's just more complicated and neons in general aren't easy shadow to make or to work with.
Overall, I would say that if you're considering it, go for it. I don't think it's a limited edition pallete so once you think you need it, it will probably be available. It's a beaufitul pallete to have just as a part of colleciton and the price is fair, very comparable to the other Jeffree Star palletes.
How do you feel about the collaboration? Let me know in the comments and thanks for reading!