I didn't intend on buying this palette at first. Once I started seeing all of the swatches and makeup looks being posted, I quickly changed my mind. The colors he created are some of the most stunning shadows I have ever seen, plus they were inspired by Sailor Moon characters. I am a Sailor Moon fan from way back, and Sailor Mars is my second favorite. Anyways, I caved and bought the palette when it was restocked. I am happy that I did. It has earned a spot as one of my top favorite palettes. Second only to the Too Faced Peanut Butter and Jelly Palette.
There are 9 shadows in the palette, five of which Manny created (Artemis, Luna, Sora, Mars, and Aphrodite), four are available as singles, and the last one is available as a loose pigment.
Shades:
- Artemis: shimmery yellow toned champagne. It is a gorgeous highlighting shade, but not for the faint of heart. It packs a frosted punch.
- Beaches and Cream: matte light peach. This shade makes an excellent transition color for light skin tones.
- Luna: foiled rose gold. If you twisted my arm and forced me to pick my favorite shadow from the palette, Luna would be it. But please don't make me choose.
- Cosmopolitan: shimmery, rosy copper with gold shimmer. I love this shade a lot, too. If you like warm toned shadows, Cosmopolitan on the lid with Sora and Frappe in the crease makes a great everyday look for the summer.
- Sora: medium matte orange, almost a terra cotta. This is another great crease shade, or a transition shade depending on your skin tone. Sora is also the only shade in the palette that contains talc.
- Frappe: matte maple brown
- Insomnia: STUNNING red brown with blue reflects and a foiled finish. Insomnia is available as a loose pigment, but for the palette, the made it into a pressed pigment. It is beautiful and intense.
- Mars is a matte cranberry. This one feels kind of rough, but it has a ton of pigment and it applies easily. It does kick up more product than the other shades.
- Aphrodite: matte plum brown. When you first look at it, Aphrodite looks like it will lean more plum. However, the more you blend it, the more brown it looks.
I love this palette so much. It is extremely versatile. You can achieve the most subtle of looks, or you can go for all out drama. For the last couple of weeks, I have pretty much only been using this palette or the Too Faced Peanut Butter and Jelly palette. I am fairly new to Makeup Geek. I started using the shadows at the beginning of the year and I reach for them more than anything. The shadows are nicely pigmented, but my favorite part is how easy they are to blend. In fact, I did swatches with and without primer. I couldn't even tell a difference. The blendability combined with the pigment cuts down on the time it takes me to get ready. All of that also applies to the MannyMUA palette as well, even the exclusive shades. With the exception of Mars, they are all buttery and smooth. Even though Mars felt rough swatched, that did not translate to the eyes. This palette is phenomenal. It has earned a spot in my everyday makeup bag. Well, it is technically "my most used product" bag because it is too large to be classified as everyday. But that isn't the point. The point is that if you like Makeup Geek shadows and do not already have Frappe, Cosmopolitan, and Beaches and Cream, you need to get this. Of course it is out of stock at the moment, but you can sign up for email updates. You can do that here.
The packaging for the palette is pretty, too. The outer box features Manny's logo with falling stars. The background is a matte black and the print is holographic. The shade names of the packaging are on the back of the palette inside crescent moons, which is a cute touch.
The palette does have a magnetic closure, and a pretty good mirror. I always appreciate those two things. It makes a palette more travel friendly. It is made out of sturdy cardboard.
It is $45 for 9 0.064 oz, which is the size for all Makeup Geek eyeshadow pans. I definitely recommend this palette. It is limited edition, so if it is something you are even remotely considering, sign up for the updates so you can get it.
