Today is Episode 2 of the Holiday 2017 Reviews series, with a highly anticipated new makeup product: Huda Beauty Obsessions Palette in Smokey. Is it worth buying as a gift or as a holiday treat for yourself? You had a sneak peek in my Stories if you follow me on Instagram, now it's time to find out!

Huda Beauty launched the Obsessions Eyeshadow Palettes a few weeks ago just in time for the holiday season, although they are not currently listed as limited edition. These small palettes contain 9 shades in a compact that's about the size of a classic eyeshadow quad, and come in 4 different color combos: Smokey, Warm Brown, Mauve and Electric. Having never tried Huda's eyeshadow formula I thought they would be an affordable way to test it, since the price tag is only $27. I picked Smokey, the only one I would wear: Warm Brown is full of reds, Mauve is absolutely not mauve but basically full of cool reds, and Electric is all neon colors.




First, a word about the size. Although this is a mini-palette that almost fits in the palm of my hand, the eyeshadow pans themselves don't feel particularly small at all. The 9 shades are packed together with very little space in between them, so the limited size is utilized very efficiently. I have no problem fitting any of my regular eyeshadow brushes or my fingers in those pans.

The palette is made in China and contains a total of 0.35oz of eyeshadow (10g) according to the back of the compact (Sephora has listed different info). As a comparison, the popular Modern Renaissance palette by Anastasia only contains 0.28oz of eyeshadow in total. So yeah, this tiny palette contains more shadow than a full-size, $42 14-pan palette!




The Huda Beauty Smokey Obsessions includes the following shades (not named):
- a matte black. It's velvety soft but swatches a little patchy, and it's my least favorite of the matte shades. It's just not quite as blendable as the others. It still works perfectly well as a liner (including the waterline) or to darken the outer corner.
- a mid-tone peach matte. This is a great transition shade for my complexion, it really helps the deeper browns blend into my crease without harsh lines. It's also very soft and blends beautifully.
- a mid-tone rosy champagne foil. A bit chunky like all the other metallics in this palette, but very shiny.
- a glittery silver. It's actually not as chunky as I expected once blended onto the skin. This one is super sparkly and reflective.
- a dark brown foil. Not as chunky as the other metallics.
- a gold copper foil with very warm undertones.
- a dark brown matte with neutral to cool undertones. Soft and easy to blend.
- a mid-tone brown with cool undertones, almost mauve-y. Also super soft and blendable.
- a rose gold foil that's quite similar to the third shade in the top right corner. This one is just a little lighter.




Overall I find the mattes fantastic. The black is a little more finicky but that's not unusual, and considering how little I use it (to line or darken the outer V) I don't have too much trouble working with it. The other mattes are silky, nicely pigmented and blend seamlessly with very little effort.

The foils are a little more labor-intensive for me. They have a stunning metallic shine, but you have to use the right tools to get the result you expect. Natural hair brushes simply don't pick up the thicker, chunky texture. You have to use your finger for true-to-pan color pay-off, or a stiff synthetic brush and pack it on. I don't like to wet my brushes so I didn't use that technique, but it should work as well. Because they're so sparkly, those foils can also be a little hard to blend properly into the mattes. There is fall out, and the glitter can travel to my crease. They are certainly high impact, but they require some work.




I have done 3 looks with Smokey Obsessions in the past few days, and they all turned out bold, smokey and shiny. I did a true smokey eye using the black around the eye rim and glittery silver on the inner corner, a gold look with browns in the crease, and the most wearable look was using the rose gold on the lid and medium brown in the crease. There is a rather wide variety of looks I can create with just these 9 shades - in fact I could do a fully matte, everyday look pretty easily by just adding an ivory for the brow bone!





Overall, this palette was a good introduction for me to Huda Beauty's eyeshadow formula. I think it's fun to play with, but not something I'd want to wear every day. The mattes are great but the foils take some practice, and the palette is more geared towards metallic evening looks. That being said, if Huda Beauty released more color combinations of the Obsessions Palettes in the future, I might purchase them. The foil finish is unique in my collection, the mattes are really lovely to work with, and for $27 I think it's an excellent value.


Good gift for someone who:

- already has some experience with makeup. I don't think this is a beginner-friendly palette with the chunky foils that require patience and skills.
- likes bold metallic looks.
- has medium to deep complexion. Don't get me wrong, it works on my light skin tone, but I just think it would look fantastic, and possibly be easier to wear, on someone with a skin tone deeper than mine.
- cares about the contents more than the packaging. It looks tiny and the cardboard compact isn't particularly pretty (although it does include a mirror), but it packs a ton of highly pigmented shadow.
- is looking for harder-to-find foil finishes but not for unique colors.



The product featured in this review was purchased by me. I received no compensation to write this post, which only reflects my personal opinion. This post contains affiliate links. I receive a very small commission when you click on those links, and the money generated covers a small portion of my expenses to purchase products for review. Clicking on those links helps ensure that Beaumiroir continues to publish reviews of new and exciting high end French products - at no cost to you!