Sadly, I don't have the original Mega Pro. That one didn't really catch my attention, at least not until it was too late. To start off, I am going to post swatches of each individual palette, then I will post swatch comparisons of the Pro 1 and Pro 2 to the Mega Pro 2. With the exception of black, there were no duplicates and I was shocked at the variety between the three palettes. Even all of the light shades had varying tones.
My favorite shades from the original Lorac Pro Palette are Cream, Champagne, Light Bronze, and Taupe. It is also the warmest out of the three palettes.
I don't really use the Pro2 a lot, and I am not sure why. The shades are gorgeous and the quality is great. I just tend to prefer warmer tones, I guess. My favorites out of this palette are Rose, Mocha, Light Brown, and Nectar.
I haven't used the Mega Pro 2 enough to determine any favorite shades. This palette has just about everything you would ever need in a palette, except bright colors. There are 16 mattes and 16 shimmers.
Now for the comparison swatches. For the first batch, I swatched the mattes of the Mega Pro 2 and compared to both rows of mattes in the original Pro Palette. I did this in two separate sessions since I only have so much room on my arm, and I think it makes it easier to see the differences between each palette. I did the same thing for the Pro 2 palette. I added text directly to the pictures, and I hope that makes things a little easier.
I thought Tawny or Burlap from Mega Pro 2 would be very close to Taupe from the original. That was not the case at all. Taupe is cooler than the other two, and darker. Sable from the original look pretty close to Saddle from Mega Pro 2, but it is actually has a lot more red in it. Cabernet from Mega Pro 2 is also very similar to Sable, but it has just a touch less brown in it. No two shades are exactly the same. Except black, which is in all three.
Now on to the comparison with the Pro 2 Palette. In the first set of swatches, there are no repeats or even similar shades. The mattes of the Pro 2 are much more cool toned than the first row of mattes in the Mega Pro 2.
I expected there to be some similarities between Purple (Mega Pro 2) and Plum (Pro 2). But I was wrong. Plum is warmer, and just an overall better performing shade. Ash (Mega Pro 2) is darker than Charcoal (Pro2), and it has a slightly purple undertone. Sorbet (Mega Pro 2) is lighter and more pink than Nectar of Pro 2, which has more coral to it.
The only similar shades out of the bunch in the picture above are Mocha (Pro 2) and Cinnamon from Mega Pro 2. Cinnamon is warmer than Mocha, and its more of a coppery shade. Sandstone is actually lighter than the swatch indicates and it has a more silvery cast to it in natural lighting.
Seashell (Mega Pro 2) and Beige (Pro 2) are pretty close, but Seashell is just a touch warmer. Peony (MegaPro 2) is fairly close to Rose (Pro 2), but it has a little less gold.
That is it for the comparisons. I'll post an in depth review once I try out more shades in the Mega Pro 2. So far, the shadows seem to be on par with the other Pro Palettes. One thing I have noticed is that some of the mattes in the Mega Pro 2 are not quite as good, specially Lavender and Purple. They are not the most pigmented and appear to be a little bit patchy.
Please let me know if would like to see more posts like this! I will be back tomorrow with another post for you. I think it is going to be an FOTD using some new Lancome products, but I am not sure yet.
See you soon!