theBalm Shady Lady Palette

Released in 2008, the Shady Lady palette contains 9 eyeshadows, with 6 of the shadows coming from theBalm's already existing line. The other 3 shadows are new and are exclusive to this palette. Each shadow is about 1" in diameter and is about the same size as a regular MAC eyeshadow. The eyeshadows are housed in a somewhat tacky looking cardboard palette with a mirror and retails at $38 at Sephora only. 6 eyeshadows and 3 shadow liners, All 9 colors have decent pigmentation, and the shadows are very soft and blendable...the liner shadows are less blendable than the regular shadows and heavier in pigmentation.

The colors are as follows, with their web descriptions in parentheses:

• Caught in the Act Courtney (rich brown with gold sparkle)- is one of the liner shadows. It is a pigmented brown color with a lot of gold sparkle in the pan. however, when I applied it as a shadow, not much of the sparkle was transferred to my lids, which was a plus for me. As a liner however, the gold sparkle does transfer, making it nice sparkly liner.
• Shameless Shana (tahitian bronze)- is a nice wearable bronze color that does not come out too orange on me
• Luscious Lani (icy pink champagne)- a gorgeous light pink shade that is exactly like it's description, can be used as a nice wash or lid shade....probably my favorite out of the 9 colors
• Jealous Jordana (rich shimmering green)- is the second liner shadow shade and is a super pretty green color in the pan. When applied however, it is closer to a black shadow with green sparkle. As a liner however, it is a gorgeous deep green color similar to that of Bobbi Brown's Ivy Shimmer Ink
• Risque Renee (dark navy blue sheen) is a navy blue that is matte when applied as a shadow, and only takes on a sheen when applied as a liner.
• Curvy Cami (plum shimmer with gold flecks)- almost exactly as described, though it is not quite as dark as it is in the pan when I swatch it on my arm. The gold flecks are subtle and not OTT, thought you could also argue that the gold flecks barely show as well.
• Jet-Setting Jennifer (pale gold shimmer)- is exactly as described, though it leans very much towards a light shimmery yellowAll About Alex (olive shimmer)-gorgeous somewhat grayish green shade. A close second as a favorite color in the palette and seems to be exclusive to the palette for now.
• Easy Wheezie (gunmetal gray shimmer). -gunmetal with blue undetones when swatched on skin...very pretty color, but I wish it were more gray.

Swatches were done on NC30 neutral skin in warm indoor lighting at night

I liked all the colors, but personally I feel like I would need a separate color as a base shade. Luscious Lani is probably passable as a base lid color but I would not want to use it as one all the time. Personally, I returned this palette as I don't wear a whole lot of color and found that I never reached for this palette, but it would make an excellent gift for someone who loves colorful eyeshadows. At any rate it's worth keeping/buying at the price of a little over $4 per shadow if you don't already have 300+ eyeshadows like I do.