Lorac PRO Palette 2 Review and Swatches!

IT'S HERE! Lorac has literally become a game changing brand in the beauty community in a record amount of time. Across the board, the brand really does offer a lot of great products - but the PRO Palette range is what ignited I think really ignited that hype. Long story WAY short - in terms of pigmentation, variety and value; Lorac's PRO palettes are really a product range that I believe in.

Given the hype in the beauty community regarding the original Lorac Pro Palette, when Lorac's social media started the announcements for the Lorac Pro Palette 2, the hype went through the roof! I can definitely admit that when I saw Lorac's first instagram announcement I wend a little buck wild. Do you remember Tom Cruise's couch surfing escapade on Oprah??? - Which was in 2005, by the way. Nearly TEN years ago now! What the?? - My reaction may have mirrored his...just a tad.

What differs the Lorac Pro Palette 2 from the original is the color composition. The original was about 99% neutral, whereas the Pro Palette 2 is more of a 50/50 blend of neutrals and pops of colors. The great thing is, just as the original, it is set up in the same "top row of mattes, bottom row of shimmers" outline - and the allure of this palette really stems from the choices the brand made as to which shades are matte and vice versa.

Musings aside, I'd like to share my review and swatches of the palette alongside my general...well? Fangirling. That would pretty much cover it.

The Lorac PRO Palette 2 is housed in the same packaging as the original PRO Palette - a very thin, sleek magnetized palette made out of heavy duty cardboard. Inside is a mirror that takes up about 80% of the lid. I find storage for the PRO Palettes very easy since they are so thin - I stack my large palettes in a letter organizer and these take up very little space.

As with the original, the PRO Palette 2 contains a top row of 8 matte shades and a bottom row of 8 shimmer shades. The palette retails for $42 and for 16 shade it would be like spending less than $3 for each eyeshadow.

And now the moment we've all been waiting for - THE SWATCHES.

From left to right - Buff, Lt. Brown, Cool Gray and Nectar

 Buff - Don't let the photo fool you, because this shade has PHENOMENAL pigmentation for such a light shade. It's just literally the actual color of my skin, maybe with a smidgen more yellow. This was a wonderful browbone shade, neutralizing redness in the lid shade and I actually even used this to set my undereye concealer in a pinch. #dontjudgeme

Lt. Brown - This is one of those iconic transition shades and it has a wonderful texture. It is warm enough to not pull ashy, but isn't one of the warmest of the transition shades that I've worked with. It was a pleasure to apply.

Cool Gray - This shade looks MUCH more gray in the pan and conversely much more brown on the skin; I think that's why I like it so much. I'm just going to go ahead and call this one more of a matte taupe because it truly does have a taupe's dimension to it. Strong pigmentation but a very blendable texture led to me using this in the crease a LOT.

Nectar - Where my pale girls at? This shade literally has me swooning. Lorac could charge me nearly the full price of the palette for this shade alone - not really, but...kinda... - if you have fair skin, this will be your favorite transition shade forever and ever, amen. End of story.

From left to right - Plum, Navy, Charcoal and Black

 Plum - This shade is a warm aubergine; and a phenomenally executed one at that! Purple shades are already hard to master and when you throw a matte texture into the mix, things get even further complicated. Apparently, Lorac knows how it's done because this is perf!

Navy - If any shade is going to help me overcome my deep-seated fear of blue eyeshadow, it'll potentially be this one. If you refer to the swatch, let me inform you. That's one swipe. No building or blending to even it out. There is magic at play here...

Charcoal - Charcoal is Cool Gray's "cooler" sister, surprisingly. If you take Cool Gray and lean it a bit more gray, and darken it up just a tad - you'll have Charcoal. Not as universally usable for every single look under the sun as Cool Gray was, but very close.

Black - Are you sure? I wouldn't call this one a true black; rather more of a smokey, blackened brown. The lack of inkiness doesn't detract from the texture - it still is an amazing (yet not aptly named) shade and is perfectly smokey.

From left to right - Snow, Beige, Rosé and Mocha

 Snow - Holy Guacamole! This was one swipe! Snow is just that - a pure, frosted snow white with phenomenal pigmentation.

Beige - This shade suffers from the inability to photograph well - this one is a true sand beige color and applies much better than the photograph would imply. Because it is fairly neutral toned, it makes a wonderful all over lid shade with a whole lot of different looks.

Rosé - The rose gold hype is still alive and well so it does not surprise me that this shade was included. Rosé photographs a bit warmer and golder than it truly is, but it definitely is one of those shades that transforms to fit with whatever it is paired with.

Mocha - I feel like I don't appreciate this shade as much until I start playing with it. Mocha is a warm brown with a bronze-y golden frost to it and the warmth of it really pairs it with a lot.

From left to right - Chrome, Silver, Jade and Cocoa

Chrome - Ah, Chrome. This shade might be up there in my list of top taupes of all time. Literally, this is what I think when I hear the word taupe.

Silver - Let me just start by saying that this shade does have phenomenal pigmentation...its just not too great of a shade for me personally. Since I have pale blue eyes, I feel like all light, cool toned silver shades turn too baby blue on my skin unless I apply them with a very specific look. Great execution, just my personal preference gets in the way of this one.

Jade - When I first saw the promo photos, this was the shade that stuck out to me. We all know how I love my olive greens - and while this is a cooler toned take on the shade, I still do really enjoy it.

Cocoa - This is the kind of shade I've been wearing a lot lately - I've been doing a lot of super smokey looks with really saturated brown shades and it translates very well to my skin. This is going to be another shade that's perfect for just that, and the golden shimmer adds a nice bit of interest to it.

Overall, my opinion of the Lorac PRO Palette 2 is VERY positive. I feel like in terms of the shades that were included, that they work together quite well but are still a very unique grouping of choices - especially with the pops of color. It has unexpected shades, but not ones that you're worried about how to use them with the rest of the palette. The pigmentation, in my opinion is on par with - and potentially even better - than the original Lorac PRO; the mattes seem more buttery and the shimmer shades have even stronger pigmentation than the already phenomenal formula. The only issue that I can gather is the amount of fall out with this palette. I will say that, in terms of both the mattes and shimmers, the high level of pigmentation does lend itself a bit to causing fallout - which was not something I encountered with the first palette. Otherwise, I'm finding it of utmost difficulty to find a complaint about this palette. It is wonderfully executed as well as forward thinking in terms of color selection.

I purchased mine (on the release date because I'm "dedicated" or "obsessed") from Ulta and it is still listed as available on their website!