Next to the Urban Decay NAKED eyeshadow palettes, the LORAC Pro palettes are probably the most talked about eyeshadows on the beauty blogosphere and YouTube-land in the past year or so. It seems like every blogger and her mother has one of ’em palettes. But is that going to stop me from talking about here on BA?

Uh duh, you’re reading this post now, aren’t you? 😛

When I first saw the eyeshadow palette raved about on beauty blogs and videos, sure, I was intrigued. It came so highly recommended and the fact that they’re almost always sold out in the US makes them even more covetable. During Mum’s previous trip to the US, I asked her if she could pick one up for me. If not, eh no biggie. She and my auntie went from Ulta to Ulta without success. It was fully sold out. My auntie remembered that there was an Ulta store not too far away that opened just a week ago and so the two of them headed to that store. Whaddyaknow, they just had a new shipment of the LORAC Pro palettes in! The sales assistant told them that they were lucky to be able to pick those up that day because those palettes were selling like hot cakes.

Now when it’s so damn popular, I had to wonder if these really were as good as they’re made out to be. After trying them out, I came to a conclusion. This palette is freakin’ amazing!

In terms of packaging, it’s nothing to cry about. It comes in simple cardboard packaging with hidden magnetic closures. There are 16 colours in the palette. The upper row are fully matte shades and the bottom row fully shimmery shades. It’s a neutral eyeshadow palette without any crazy bright hard-to-wear shades. There’s a mixture of warm and cool-toned eyeshadows in the palette.

You wouldn’t think much would come out of the simple packaging and, quite frankly, nothing out of the ordinary shades by just looking at the palette. Heck, you might even think that US$42.00 is a lot to pay for such a simple-looking palette. Here’s the kicker: the quality of the eyeshadows are simply spot on. I can’t even rave enough about how buttery smooth and creamy the eyeshadows are. When I was just swatching this on the back of my hand, the first thing I thought was “wow”. When I applied them on my eyelids, it was “WOWZA!!”.

They apply so beautifully on the eyelids. The shimmery shades are so highly pigmented that you don’t even need to layer them to build up the colour. One swipe and voila! Instant gorgeousness. The LORAC Pro Palette also came with an eyeshadow primer but I haven’t used it yet. I used the eyeshadows with my NARS Smudgeproof Primer and they last for hours on my eyelids without smudging or fading. My eyelids are practically oil slicks and these eyeshadows stay on without a single crease. It’s so ridiculously good.

Now you know how much I love my Urban Decay NAKED eyeshadow palette. It may be overhyped and overestimated but to me, it really was the best eyeshadows I’ve ever used. I said “was” because guess what? The LORAC Pro palette has totally trumped the Urban Decay NAKED palette! As the Urban Decay NAKED palette has mostly warm tones, I like that the LORAC Pro Palette has cool tones as well to be able to create a wider variety of looks compared to the NAKED palette. I still love the NAKED palette but LORAC Pro, you have captured my heart and eyes big time.

There’s also a LORAC Pro 2 palette but I decided to skip that one as that contained shades that I find more difficult to wear. The 2nd palette is still beautiful but I’m glad I stuck to a safer option that is the LORAC Pro.

If you’re based in the US, lucky you! I can’t recommend this eyeshadow palette enough. If you’re not based in the US and are thinking of getting the palette, I still say YES, GO FOR IT! When you think about it, it’s US$2.63 per shade which is a total steal compared to MAC eyedshadows. Plus the LORAC Pro eyeshadows are so much better.

Okay, I’ve sung enough praises about it so I really should stop now lest you think this is a sponsored post for LORAC 😛 (it’s not). Unfortunately, this is not available in Australia so fellow Aussies who would like to get this will need to buy it online and do the whole parcel forwarding thing to get it delivered here. Sephora US no longer stocks LORAC products so you’ll need to get them from Ulta or Kohl’s.

What I like about it: High quality eyeshadows that are buttery smooth, soft and creamy. Great staying power on oily eyelids (with eyeshadow primer) without smudging, creasing nor fading.

What I do not like about it: It’s not available in Australia.

Have you tried the LORAC Pro eyeshadow palette or anything else from the LORAC line? Do you like it as much as I do?