TheBalm Shady Lady Vol. 1 Eyeshadow Palette

Top row: Caught in the Act Courtney, Shameless Shana, and Luscious Lani

Middle row: Jealous Jordana, Risqué Renee, and Curvy Cami

Bottom row: Jet-Setting Jennifer, All About Alex, and Easy Wheezie

So, sometime last summer, I purchased a bunch of products from TheBalm. The whole thing that spawned this mini shopping spree was their promotion that was going on at the time: Buy all three Shady Lady eyeshadow palettes for the price of one! And you know I had to jump on that deal. Of course, a week after I received these palettes, I sort of... forgot about them. But I promised myself to actually use all of my unopened make-up products this year, so I made sure to bust these guys out. Shady Lady Vol. 1 comes in a slim cardstock case and has a magnetic close. It comes with a mirror that spans the length of the lid. The cover design of this palette features a cheetah print background and the silhouette of a girl along with the name of the palette and the brand in light grey. Each palette contains nine eyeshadow shades, a total of 19.4 grams of product, and retails for $39.50 USD.

Caught in the Act Courtney, Shameless Shana, and Luscious Lani

Caught in the Act Courtney is a dark warm chocolate brown with red undertones in a satin finish with gold shimmer particles. It has a soft, silky, finely-milled texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is less reddened than MAC Swiss Chocolate, and more golden than MAC Make Your Mark Pro Longwear Eyeshadow. 

Shameless Shana is a medium golden brown with shimmer-sheen in a frosted finish. It has a soft, finely-milled, almost buttery texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is more frosted than MAC Texture, and less copper than Urban Decay Chopper. 

Luscious Lani is a light pinked beige with shimmer-sheen in a frosted finish. It has a soft, finely-milled, almost buttery texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is more pink than MAC Jest, and lighter than MAC Naked Lunch.

Jealous Jordana, Risqué Renee, and Curvy Cami

Jealous Jordana is a dark cool-toned forest green in a frosted finish with gold shimmer particles. It has a soft, finely-milled, almost buttery texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is more cool-toned than MAC Humid, and lighter and more green than Urban Decay Loaded. 

Risqué Renee is a dark smoky indigo blue with purple undertones in a frosted finish. It has a soft, finely-milled, almost buttery texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is darker and more purple-toned than MAC Contrast, and dirtier than MAC Thru the Night Pro Longwear Eyeshadow. 

Curvy Cami is a medium-dark pinked plum with red undertones in a frosted finish with gold shimmer particles. It has a soft, silky, finely-milled texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has medium-high pigmentation and semi-opaque to opaque buildable colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is more pink than MAC Trax, and less brown than MAC Star Violet.

Jet-Setting Jennifer, All About Alex, and Easy Wheezie

Jet-Setting Jennifer is a light yellowed wheat beige with shimmer-sheen in a frosted finish. It has a soft, finely-milled, almost buttery texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is slightly warmer than MAC Retrospeck, and more golden than Urban Decay Midnight Cowgirl. 

All About Alex is a medium-dark sage green with shimmer-sheen in a frosted finish. It has a soft, finely-milled, almost buttery texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has high pigmentation and opaque colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is cooler than MAC Sumptuous Olive, and warmer than MAC Greensmoke. 

Easy Wheezie is a medium greyed cornflower blue with shimmer-sheen in a frosted finish. It has a soft, silky, finely-milled texture, and goes on smoothly and evenly. It has medium-high pigmentation and semi-opaque to opaque buildable colour pay-off. It can be layered and blended out easily. It is darker and more greyed than MAC Moon's Reflection.

The formula of these eyeshadows is phenomenal across the board — soft, smooth, pigmented, easily blendable. What I like about the Shady Lady palettes is that there is enough variety in the shades that keeps it interesting without being unwearable. They're great for those who want to experiment with colour but not overwhelm themselves, and these shades will work well on most skintones and undertones. On that note, I do think this palette could benefit from more of a variety in finishes (all of these shades are frosted or shimmery) to make it even more well-rounded. However, the price is incredibly reasonable, even at regular retail price, and works out to be much less expensive than comparable brands like MAC and Urban Decay. I still don't understand why TheBalm isn't more widely available than it currently is; their products certainly perform at the same level or higher than many much more popular brands.