I don't think I've ever used Studio Gear cosmetics before at least not that I remember, so when they offered to send me a palette for review, I thought it would be a great opportunity to try the brand.

Studio Gear is sold at my local Ulta, but I have to admit that until I was explicitly looking for it, I hadn't noticed.

The festive little package arrived, and had a nice tutorial on the inside cover when I flipped it open.  I have my own technique for applying shadow, which if you've been visiting here for a while you know too me quite a lot of time and experimenting to find a technique that I feel suited my now droopy eyes.  But since I didn't have anything to lose and since their steps describe doing something very similar to what I do for trying to draw the eye up, I decided to follow their guide to applying the shadow.


The colors are definitely a special occasion selection with a really nice silvery shimmer.  My favorite is probably the dark Coal shade, which also has some shimmer.  I was really happy that none of the shades are glitter though just a really good party type shimmer for the holiday season.  This photo is actually a pretty good depiction of the shadow colors, but the blush is a tad bit more peachy than it looks here.  That was the one color I thought would not work on me, but I've been trying to embrace more and different blush colors into my routine, so I went for it.  I do have to say that the color payoff and pigmentation for these products is pretty good.


I blended quite a bit, so I think it's a bit more subtle than it could be.  I would probably go darker when really going out for the evening.  I quite like adding the gold shimmer under the brow bone.   That's not something that I usually do, and I do like the lifting effect it gives, so I might be trying more of that in the future.  Since I wasn't sure about the blush, I just went for a light dusting, and I do think I could have been a little more aggressive with it.  Overall, it's a good holiday palette that is reasonably priced and versatile.  As I was playing with it, I thought of at least three more ways that I want to combine things for looks.  Now that I've tried the products, I'll definitely be picking up more to play with, and to make that even easier, Studio Gear is offering all of us a discount if we use the code SGHOLIDAY on our online orders.  The code is good for 10% off your entire purchase not just on this palette.

I received a sample for review and no other compensation for this post.  The opinion is my own.