Jeffree Star’s Alien Palette

from alittlekiran.co.uk

Jeffree Star fairly consistently comes out with interesting and flamboyant products. Every release he’s had in his now 4-year-old company has seemed to take the beauty community by storm with it’s originality and fun concepts. From his first launch of wearable matte liquid lipsticks, to the bright red palette Blood Sugar, his products greatly appeal to makeup artists and those that lean toward more colorful looks in general. 

This year’s “holiday” collection, if I’m honest, feels somewhat disjointed. I’m not unhappy with the color stories or anything, but the new eyeshadow palette theme doesn’t really seem to “go with” the theme of the lipstick shade names or lip scrub names. Now, that’s just something I’m personally being nitpicky about, and doesn’t say anything about his products. What I was able to try of the new line feels very similar to the formulas he’s had for previous launches (which I LOVE), and though the themes don’t seem to be matching up, the color story is pretty awesome for cool-tone lovers. As usual, the palette is $52, the lipsticks are all $18, and the scrubs are $12. For those that aren’t familiar, this brand is vegan and cruelty free, which means any given product is safe for whatever your artistic streak desires. I personally love using his liquid lipsticks and eyeliner! 

The Alien Palette has 18 shades, similar to both the Thirsty and Blood Sugar palettes from earlier this year. The shadows are unbelievably soft, with the exception of the bright, matte purple shade Area 51 – which is fine, because purple pigments are incredibly difficult to make viable products from, and the fact that he was able to formulate a vibrant, usable matte purple at all is pretty impressive in my book. All of the shades are cool-toned and pack a punch. This is definitely a palette that you will want to use a little at a time and build it up, unless the end-game is an intense, bold, color-packed look. In my opinion, these shades are much softer than Blood Sugar. This is definitely a palette to be careful with – don’t dig those brushes in!

The mattes are all very soft and blendable, the shimmers are even softer all apply well on dry or wet brushes, and overall I’ve been incredibly happy with this palette. I think anyone who is obsessed with cool tones, loves the aesthetic, and wants to try some pigmented and easy-to-use shades would enjoy this palette. *Quick disclaimer, I have only used this with a primer (I used MAC paint pot in soft ochre, both set and unset it worked great), but I have not tried this without a primer. 

I wasn’t able to get all of the liquid lipsticks, but the ones I have feel like the same formula I know and love. Jeffree’s velour liquid lipsticks have been my ride-or-die for about three years now, and I’m glad to see that the formulation isn’t changing. A few of these have some glitter in them (Triggered and Scandal) but they don’t feel gritty at all. I personally avoided the metallics but my friends love them, and haven’t seen a ton of issues with streakiness or patchiness (at least, not any more so than any other metallic liquid lip they’ve tried). Also, the bullet lip toppers are STUNNING. I haven’t had any issues with them smearing the underlying liquid matte, or any grittiness.

Overall, if this brand has a formula you like, or even just a color story you’re interested in, I would give this collection a shot. This brand feels very unique in an incredibly saturated market, and continues to grow at ludicrous speed. His packaging always feels very sturdy, and generally there’s a ton of product per item, so the price per gram/oz is actually quite low (not drugstore low by any means, but definitely a great value). 

Have you tried this collection? What did you think? Sound off below!

Subculture

Listen, I know this palette was not well received. But it continues to sell, and is still on the shelves. Why?

Because it just wasn’t that bad.

The Subculture palette from Anastasia Beverly Hills, released last year, was a great palette with a beautiful color story (especially for fall). It’s a little on the powdery side because the shadows are pressed pretty loosely. But knowing that, if you go in with a light hand, these shadows are stunning. This palette continues to be a favorite of mine, especially from an artistic point of view.

Quick disclaimer, I am by no means a professional makeup artist.

I definitely see why this palette would be tricky for someone new to makeup, or even someone who is more used to/prefers a hard-pressed shadow like Morphe. But I’ve learned a few tricks to make this palette workable, fun, and worth the $42 price tag:

{ Use a base, but either set it with powder before applying these shadows or use a base that isn’t sticky.

These shadows will stick to anything because they are so crazy pigmented, and a sticky base will make them look patchy. Setting a solid base with a translucent powder (I like the Cover FX setting powders) will give these shadows a soft and blendable base to work on top of. This is the best way to avoid a patchy blend! (*I don’t necessarily recommend this for every palette – hard pressed shadows, foiled shadows, glitters, etc do better on top of tacky bases like MAC paint pot)

{ Take the time to build pigment and blend.

Start with way less shadow than you think you need, seriously. Even if you dip back into that color four times to get the intensity you want, going soft on the application will make everything blend better. If you’re looking for an unblended power look, by all means pack it on. But if you want soft edges, or even just an overall soft look, less is more with this palette. My impression is it’s basically the closest you can get to loose pigment without actually being loose. With that in mind, it may be better to treat this palette as if the pans were actually tiny pots of loose pigment.

{ Know which brush to use to get the look you want.

I always throw down my transition with a medium sized, fluffy-ish, flat-ish shader brush. You want one dense enough to actually hold the color, but fluffy enough to really spread that pigment and blend it to the soft edges I like for day to day looks. My go to came in a Morphe kit, but a similar single I see on their site is the MB25. For the shimmery duo-chromes Cube and Electric, I use a flat concealer brush sprayed with some kind of setting spray (usually Fix+, but I also have bottles of the Cover FX mattifying spray around). For colors I’m putting into the crease, I like using tapered, fluffy, thin blending brushes like the Morphe M506. Of course if you have brushes you like for certain things already, I’m sure you can make whatever it is work. But it’s worth doing a little research into the explicit purposes of various types of brushes. Side note, synthetic bristles seem to work best with this formula.

What do you think of this palette? Have you had a chance to try it? Leave your thoughts below!