FREEDOM Pro Artist Pad
I've had these palettes for a little while but really hadn't made use them of until putting together these swatches. I'm a big fan of budget eyeshadow palettes but regardless of cost a huge collection tends to turn me off. I think it overfaces me, too much choice. I even swap my favourite MAC shadows in and out of a quad for regular use rather than reaching for the larger selections I've put together, so these monsters from Freedom were never going to get a look in, were they?
Once I played around with them however I realised I was silly leaving them untouched, as is to be expected the quality is great and there's just about every conceivable neutral combination to be had.. but I think that's part of the problem. I can't shake that niggle that it's just too much of too little. I wonder if we'll ever tire of the naked trend, I feel like it's been done to death at this point and these larger palettes are great examples of that. You'd think at least one of them would have some colour. I know there are rusty shades and the odd steely grey but REALLY.. it's not much is it? If you are truly an artist looking to create a vast aray of neutral eyes on a multitude of skintones these will probably be great for you and I'm certain that's what they're designed for but the average joe just doesn't need this many shades of nude. Not when you tot up the countless others they definitely already have.
Gun to my head I'd say the Black Arts is my favourite as I prefer the selection, although it lacks the 'do-it-all' element of the Studio To Go it's just got something about it for me.. it's also £5 cheaper in the sale right now but don't let that affect your judgement. I would really like to see more matte, more colour and something other than the standard bronzer, blush and highlight shades. I'm sure there's method to the madness and they're the most universal colours they could pick but why be the same as everyone else? Why not do something different? I've been really impressed by Freedom as a brand and by many of their products but I really do hope there's something exciting coming soon!
*PR Sample