Jaclyn Hill Palette or Makeup Geek

​Ok guys, I finally got the Jaclyn Hill palette.....yes I know, bit late to the game there Erin. I got it because, if you don't know, some of Morphe products are sold in store and online at Ulta Beauty. So the reason that I don't have Morphe palettes in my collection aside from the Kathleen Lights and Morphe collab is because the shipping was ridiculous. Like forget the 10% code Morphe, give me a free shipping code and I'm cool with it. Not to mention a regular palette costs around $23 I think, Jaclyn Hill's palette costs $38. So add in roughly about $12 in shipping, which I find weird because you can buy a whole crap load of brushes and ship it USPS for $4 but buy a palette and it's like $12 and FedEx. Not sure if you think FedEx is safer because they nearly broke the glass on my door from throwing a package so hard against it.....but I digress.

​So like I said it's at Ulta now, I had a 20% off and FREE shipping. So that brought it to $30.40 before tax. I got another Morphe palette the (3502) which is $23 making it $18.40 before tax. So I can get on board with that.  I also have the new palette with the different packaging. Which I know is a sore subject. They say the formula is no different and I believe that because I believe it would've taken much longer to redo a formula rather than just re-doing the packaging, if that makes sense. 

So the thought process for this she talked about, which I will link her video here, was: " completely custom, completely different, new shades created by me, new textures, new blend-ability, but I have creative control" I'm paraphrasing there. The reason I'm mentioning this will come together at the end of this review. She also said she "wanted to come up with her own colors, her own shades, to make a completely different palette". Also in the beginning they started off with over 100 shades in "paint chips" of what colors she wanted. As you probably know this palette took two years to make because she rejected so many formulas and colors before it was perfect.

Now that we've got through how it came to be lets get down to how it does and what it's like. Ok first off, this is a good palette. I'm going to make that clear right now. It's a palette I will travel with because if it gets broken it won't break my heart but it does have basically everything you would need for the most part. It's what I would use on clients because again, it has all you need. The reason it has everything you need is because the transistion shades in this literally are maybe an undertone or shade different. Meaning they virtually look the same with just a slight difference. In the beginning that really annoyed me. I felt like it was a major opportunity missed to be something really different. 

The reason I feel like that is because about a year ago or maybe longer she did a video on all her favorite shades that were in a z palette. I will link that video here. Plus, plenty of other videos like when she introduced Makeup Geek Foiled shades and talked about the ones that were her favorites from that line and then watching her talk about shades she was obsessed with and used frequently in her looks. I mean how many times have we heard her say MAC Copper Ring and MUG Peach Smoothie. So as I looked over the shades she talked about the most plus her "go to" palette she made of MAC, MUG and ABH. I noticed that the layout and similarities were nearly a replica. 

I'm not saying this to cause drama my point is I have over 50 MUG shades most of them bought because I heard Jaclyn talk about them so much. Then I have another 30 in ABH shadows. Not so much influenced by Jaclyn though. The point is, had I known that I had these shades, I wouldn't have bought this palette. That's all I'm saying, because even though Makeup Geek is an affordable brand it's still $6 for their shades unless they're foiled and then it's $10. So roughly my entire collection of Makeup Geek alone is over $300, which I bought myself for the record. 

I had basically every shade except for some of the MAC that she mentioned. I also have the Ardency Inn shades that she talked about a lot including Royal which she used often and Rose Gold. They did send those to me though. I have most of the ABH shades she included in her "go to" palette she made. 

So I'm not saying this to be mean, I'm saying from a practical stand point it just wasn't necessary for me. Now, if you don't own any of those single shadows and you wanted to try her favorite shades, definitely get this palette because I think the formula is better in this than most of the shades she constantly used before. So it definitely is her favorite shades and I definitely do think it was meant to be a "gift for her subscribers" as she said because now you have her favorite shades too. I understand the shades being so similar for transition shades because as you know she likes to build up the crease and really layer shadows for depth and I do the same thing. Also, she mentioned in her z palette of shades she had put together (the first video I linked)  that a lot of the highlight shades were depending on what kind of mood she was in and that thought process is very evident in the Jaclyn Hill palette as well. 

So I get the concept, I think the shades are true to Jaclyn's style and definitely is a palette of her favorites. However, it kinda feels to me like it's all Makeup Geek's shades and colors with a little bit of Ardency Inn and ABH thrown in. Even though she stated that she used paint chips to decide her colors in the beginning and wanted to create new shades and colors, the dupes are kinda insane. With saying that though there is a dupe for pretty much every color out there and definitely for every transition shade out there. So I really believe in every brand there will be another brand that has the exact same color. 

Like I said earlier though, this is a good palette. The formula in this is better than most of her previous favorite shades except for the foiled shades those are on par pretty much. I don't really feel like the formula between their new palette 3502 is the same as the formula in Jaclyn's palette, I think hers is better and I believe that's why there is quite a price jump. 

Final verdict, yes I like it and I will use it and travel with it especially, but do I think it's new and original, no I don't. If you happen to have a lot of Makeup Geek I would totally pass on this palette.  I'm going to leave a picture below of just a few of the dupes and similar shades there are. Actually, there was only one shade in the palette I couldn't find a dupe for. All the dupes I found were "favorite" shades she had mentioned in previous videos from different companies.