Morphe 35OS Palette Review and Swatches

With the leaves finally starting to turn, I want my eyes to match those gorgeous warm brown/red shades on the trees! Perhaps the perfect palettes for this time of the year are from the Morphe 35O collection, including the original 35O, the 35OM, and my most recent purchase, the Morphe 35OS.

While the 35O has certainly received a lot of hype for being an affordable palette that packs a punch, I’ve always been a bigger fan of shimmer shades so when I saw the 35OS palette available on Hautelook I added it to my bag and checked out as quickly as I could!

For the price, I’d been expecting the palette to contain small shadows and be fairly compact, but it’s actually the largest palette I own. It’s about the size of a hardcover book and the 35 shadows it contains are larger than MAC refill pans. It lacks a mirror but I wouldn’t travel with a makeup item this large anyway, so it isn’t a big deal to me. Even at full price, this palette would be a steal.

The packaging is matte black with the Morphe logo on it. If you own multiple Morphe palettes this could be an issue because there wouldn’t be anything to distinguish them from each other, but I only own one so again, this doesn’t matter to me. If I did get more Morphe palettes in the future I would probably put labels on them. The packaging feels sturdy and I think even if I dropped it the shadows wouldn’t break, which is perfect for my fellow accident-prone people out there!

Now onto the important part: the shadows themselves. There are 35 and they are all shimmery but they have different textures. Some have a foiled, metallic finish while others have more of a sheen and aren’t as opaque. The colors are all fairly warm tones and this palettes includes champagnes, coppers, oranges, golds, and many different brown shades. Most of them are very wearable if you’re accustomed to foiled shadows. If not, there are still plenty of regular shimmers to choose from. The only colors I can’t see myself reaching for are the really orange ones. I don’t wear orange clothing and I definitely don’t want it on my eyelids.

                                                                                First Row

                                                                           Second Row

                                                                             Third Row

                                                                           Fourth Row

                                                                         Fifth Row 

These swatch so well that it’s unbelievable! They are, for the most part, pigmented, opaque, and creamy. Most of the shadows feel smooth, although the intensely foiled shades feel a little chunky and have some fallout. However, these are the most impressively pigmented shades and are the standouts in the palette. I swatched each one once without any primer and took the photos in natural light with only a little sharpening to make the texture more pronounced. 

I wish the shades came with names so that I could tell you my favorites, but basically I use the light browns and golds the most often. I love the pale rose gold shade in the third row and I’ve been wearing it alone quite often. If I want something a little more out-there, the copper and burgundy/bronze shades are beautiful as well.

The foiled shades are very similar to Makeup Geek’s foiled formula and I swatched some of the similar colors below using the bottom right copper Morphe shade and the pale rose gold shade in the third row.

              Makeup Geek Starry-Eyed vs Morphe, Makeup Geek Flamethrower vs. Morphe

These shadows wear beautifully and the creamy texture makes them last better on the eyes than a more powdery eyeshadow. I personally like to use this palette on the lids and for highlighting the inner corners/browbone and then use another palette with a matte shade for the crease. I think that they last a long time without primer and I haven’t experienced any creasing with them. Fallout is probably the biggest concern with this palette, but I haven’t experienced it with all of the shades and it’s fairly easy to get around.

Overall, I think this is a great value and the shadows are amazing! If the matte shades are anywhere near as good as the shimmers then I can see why there was so much hype around the original 35O. If you have a choice between the two, I think the original would be better for a complete eye look but if you like shimmers you will still get a lot of use out of the 35OS. I definitely want to try more from Morphe, particularly the mattes, so if you know of any other great palettes from them feel free to help a sister out!

You can purchase the Morphe 35OS palette here!

What do you think of this palette? Would you use an all-shimmer palette?

Xx Katie