Holy Grail by Violet Voss

   Violet Voss was a brand I was familiar with but hadn't given a try until I saw a glimpse of their limited edition, summer staple - the Holy Grail palette - because it made my heart excited for fall (?!?!). It sold out during pre-orders on the Violet Voss website, but when I contacted the company curious about when it would restock, they had me head to the Ricky's NYC site because they had them in stock (and they were slightly less expensive)... I received my package in one week, between processing and shipping, and noticed that the palette was wrapped in bubble wrap inside the box packaging; odd, but super effective.

   The box packaging is identical to the palette itself, other than the box having a short paragraph on the back about Violet Voss. The palette is similar to the smooth texture of the Lorac Pro palettes, but less soft, and ten times more likely to look dirty... Oh my goodness, it has been bothering me so much, because I try to keep my palettes so clean and neat, but UGHHH... This palette is lucky I like it so much because that is legitimately grounds for me to return it in some instances (I'm that serious about keeping makeup clean and crisp - it'll drive me mad)... But keeping the plastic sheet that came covering the shades helps to prevent some of the internal smudging!
   I hadn't seen the colors swatched when I ordered this palette - just in pan, and on good word from some other bloggers who like the Violet Voss formulas... Want to know the only color that blew me away and I NEEDED to try, thus ordered the palette? Wine N Dine... One color was so beautiful I ordered a whole palette to be able to have it, but lucky for me, photos don't do justice to the other colors and there are several impressive and unique shades in the mix.

   The other predominant reason I ordered this palette is due to how large it is, and being full of warm tones and shimmer... I usually wear neutrals with some sort of winged liner, and I really want to broaden my eye makeup looks/confidence.
   Since I hadn't seen these colors swatched before, I was wonderfully surprised at the color payoff! These colors match their pans beautifully, and it was a lot of fun seeing so many unique colors for the first time. When I say unique, you may think I'm just fluffing this review, but I promise you that I'm not - this palette was honestly so full of surprises, and although it is a warm palette there are cool toned versions of warm colors (which I was ecstatic to see)... The formulas for the mattes, shimmers, and metallics in the Holy Grail palette are all very silky. I do want to caution that Wine N Dine is not as soft as the others and not to press too hard on the shimmers... I'm going to get a bit more descriptive with my favorite shades for this palette because without the swatch photos, its hard to really get a feel for these colors - like So Jelly is a gorgeous metallic, light baby pink with an iridescence to it so it looks different in one form of lighting to another in a very delicate way (yet in the photo above it just look like a sparkly, peachy pink).

• Wine N Dine - Although its the least smooth to the touch, it wears beautifully and honestly my dream berry-red shade of eyeshadow.
• Glamping - Its just the perfect warm brown for summer and fall, and blends like a dream.
• Cool Beans - A to-die-for cool toned gold, bordering rose gold, and looks gorgeous in direct sunlight... And most of you know how I'm much more into silver tones than gold tones (other than rose gold), so this is obviously a bomb af shade.
• Crystal/Ploof - The inner corner/hightlight shades of inner corner/highlight shades... I'm saying both because I mix them or use them in some sort of gradient, rather than alone.
• Teddy Bear - My dream brown shade come true with amazing staying power.

   So, is the Violet Voss Holy Grail palette a holy grail item for me? Not yet, because I'm still learning to use it to its potential and become comfortable with more color in my eye makeup, but it will be - I'm sure. I have been loving learning more about eye makeup lately and highly recommend this palette if you are looking to expand your makeup style and/or collection.
   I hope you all have enjoyed this Palette Week theme, and I promise to get the swatch photos taken/put up as soon as I am able to use makeup on my arms/hands again!

Note: The ingredients for this palette can be found HERE!

*This post is in no way sponsored and all opinions are my own.*

xoxo Elle