Review : LORAC Pro Palette

Today I shall be reviewing one of the most coveted and most sought after palettes of the year...the LORAC PRO Palette... a gorgeous melange of daily wear neutrals that can take you from a day office look to a night time glamorous look in a couple of strokes...Please note that I am not including swatches (to show my hairy hands) but will include links where one can see them. Subsequently the looks will follow.

For those who are new to the brand or never heard before, LORAC is a brand started and developed by Celebrity makeup artist Carol Shaw who wanted to fill the lacunae of not having the right products that she needed for her Oscar and Golden Globe Clients. With the likes of amazing Hollywood Celebs and a brand that is so skin friendly and infused with Botanicals, LORAC has carved a niche in the world of beauty. What more to say, the products that they make can just let anyone be on the 'Red Carpet'!! So lets have a look at the LORAC Pro palette................... Our beloved Sephora has something to say........... What it is:
A professional palette featuring 16 ultra-pigmented eye shadows infused with soothing botanicals and a mini Behind The Scenes Eye Primer for stay-true color that lasts.

What it does:
Created by celebrity makeup artist Carol Shaw, this PRO artistry palette is packed with eight shimmer and eight matte eye shadows in all the shades you need to create the hottest looks straight from the red carpet. LORAC’S velvety smooth shadows are infused with soothing botanicals and are ultra-pigmented to perform wet or dry so you can shade, shadow, line, and define your eyes, just like a pro. With 16 shadows to contour, line, define, and create any look you desire, you have everything you need for your eyes and brows in one sleek palette!
This set contains:
- 0.17 oz Mini Behind the Scenes Eye Shadow Primer
- 0.32 oz PRO Eye Shadow Palette (Top row matte colors: White, Cream, Taupe, Light Pink, Mauve, Sable, Espresso, Black; Bottom row: Nude (Shimmer), Champagne (Sparkle), Gold (Shimmer), Lt. Bronze (Shimmer), Pewter (Shimmer), Garnet (Shimmer), Deep Purple (Shimmer), Slate (Shimmer)) 
What it is formulated WITHOUT:
- Sulfates
- Petrochemicals
- Phthalates
- GMOs
- Triclosan

What else you need to know:
Pro Tips: Create an everyday matte eye using Cream Eye Shadow from lash to browbone, Taupe in the crease and Sable or Espresso along top and bottom lash lines. Get a sexy, shimmering eye using Nude Eye Shadow from lash to browbone, Gold or LT. Add Bronze on the lid and Garnet or Deep Purple in the outer corner, crease, and along top and bottom lash line

PACKAGING LORAC Pro palette is very sleek and slender and looks quite PROfessional and handy rather than decorative and girly Too Faced palettes. The black box is basic and studded and laden with all the important information one needs to know about the brand (in English and French). Carol Shaw knows how to package her products and make them look Red Carpet worthy. The red of the inside packaging is almost like a Christian Louboutin Stiletto (the sole is red). Enclosed within is LORAC PRO palette and a mini size of their famous BEHIND THE SCENES eyeshadow primer. Its not a hefty packaging and still looks amazing. The palette itself is made of thick cardboard and is very sleek and travel friendly. They have 16 eyeshadows in the palette and a medium sized mirror to look at the magic that is being created. I would not need the mirror though...LOL INGREDIENTS LIST I wanted to photograph the Ingredients list to show that there are none of the harmful stuff included in the formula. Eyeshadows with botanical extracts may not do anything dramatic in treating the eye but at least they are soothing to the lids and more and more soothing mentally. They do have Cucumber extracts and antioxidants like Echinacea as well as some other fruit extracts. The reasons for including botanicals is varied and somehow I am not going to bother about it. FORMULA The eyeshadows are in 2 rows of 8 colors each. The first row is all creamy mattes while the second is a mish mash of shimmer and sparkle shades (with pearl in them). The entire palette would weigh 8.8 gm that is 0.6 gm of eyeshadow per pan (which seems tiny but it isnt). They are very very highly pigmented, soft and almost creamy feeling powders that are picked up very easily on the eyeshadow brush. A touch is all that is needed. The matte shades are literally called creamy mattes because they are not at all powdery or chalky in texture. They glide on well on the eye lid directly and are amplified when used over the fabulous primer. The shimmer shades are intense sparkles and a little bit goes a long long way. The BEHIND THE SCENES primer is nothing like I have ever seen. Its so fabulous and does win and outrun over the UDPP and TFSI. COLOR There are 2 rows of 8 eyeshadows, upper being 'creamy mattes' and lower being 'shimmers'. Although the names of the colors are self explanatory yet let me give you a description of them. 1st ROW

• White - Pearly bright white matte (satin almost)
• Cream - Pink toned white with a hint of beige
• Taupe - Pink based medium brown with a hint of gray (neutral toned) - almost a mink color
• Lt. Pink - Lightest pink 
• Mauve - Mauve
• Sable - Reddened Sequoia brown
• Espresso - Deep grounded coffee brown
• Black - Almost charcoal black

2nd ROW

• Nude - Light white beige shimmer with a nuance of pink
• Champagne - Soft pink beige
• Gold - Bright gold with a tinge of orange
• Lt. Bronze - Shimmery pearl whitish bronze
• Pewter - Warm shimmery mauve
• Garnet - Emblazoned shimmery red brown
• Deep Purple - Almost aubergine black
• Slate - Shimmery Grey

The colors are a mixed variety with a lot of neutral tones in them so that they appeal to a wider clientele and ethnicities. Each eyeshadow is 0.6 gm which is decent as they are extremely pigmented and less goes a long way. 
For the detailed swatches kindly click on the links mentioned below...Here and Here
The 'smileys' show the eyeshadows that I loved the most. All are just beautiful but I can see using these specific shades a lot many times. 

COMPARISONS

I was asked about the LORAC palette being compared with Urban Decay Naked and Naked 2 palette and here's the comparison. First of all I must mention that there are hardly any mattes in the Urban Decay palettes and they stick to a certain theme of major warm colors or cooler colors so its can be a bit dicey to find dupes. But lets see....

Its mentioned in the following formation (LORAC Pro) - ( UD Naked 2) - (UD Naked)

1. White - Foxy (creamy with some yellow) - None
2. Cream - Foxy - None
3. Taupe - None - Naked (light)/Buck (dark)
4. Lt. Pink - None - None
5. Mauve - Tease (similar) - None
6. Sable - None - None
7. Espresso - None - None
8. Black - Blackout - None
9. Nude - Bootycall - Sin(slightly peach)/Virgin(slightly white)
10. Champagne - None - Sin
11. Gold - Half Baked - Half Baked
12. Lt.Bronze - Suspect - Side Car
13. Pewter - None - Hustle
14. Garnet - None - None
15. Deep Purple - None - None
16. Slate - None - Gunmetal

There are hardly any dupes if you see the list carefully. Carol Shaw has designed this palette in the smartest way and I think this should be a top priority on your wish list. 
PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
LORAC Pro costs 42$ + Taxes and can be found on their LORAC Website, Sephora or ULTA. Since they do not ship to India, you can order them from my lovely friend Shivani Chedda of Order Makeup UK.
Hope you liked this review. Do let me know in the comments. I shall be posting the looks very soon.
Till then,
Ciao

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