It is the one year anniversary of 20 year old makeup artist James Charles’ first makeup launch. James Charles “X Morphe Unleash Your Inner Artist” palette. It came out on November 13th, and as everyone had expected, he had come out with a follow up launch. 

This second launch just the same palette as his first release a year ago, except it’s a “mini” version. It has all the same 26 shadows and pressed pigments but in a smaller compact size so that it is easier to travel with. This new palette also comes with a mirror, something its predecessor was lacking.

In this mini palette there are eyeshadows and pressed pigments. Pressed pigments are used in the same way as eyeshadow, but it is just the pigment pressed into a pan. The bottom two rows have the blues, greens, pinks, and purples. The middle row pans are slightly larger than the rest of the pans because they are the shades that are anticipated to be used the most. They are black, white, and neutral transition shades. The top two shades are the dark browns, reds, and golds.

Now, as someone who has never purchased his previous palette, I was excited when this smaller, more affordable palette was released and I bought it the day of the launch. When I got the package, I immediately noticed the box had an image of the look that James made with his palette, a rainbow smokey eyed look with white all over his face made to resemble paint that was applied to his face. 

The next thing I immediately noticed when I first opened the palette was that unlike his first launch, this palette has a mirror, something the first, larger palette was looking but very much needed. When I apply eyeshadow, I like to be able to have a mirror close to me so that I can blend precisely. It is a hassle when I have to grab something separately, so having a mirror included in the palette is a major plus.

James Charles’ first palette was known for its creamy formula. All these eyeshadows and pressed pigments in the palette are extremely pigmented and full of color. James states in his YouTube videos where he is campaigning for his palette, how this palette is easier to use and blend out when using an eyeshadow primer as the base instead of concealer and translucent powder which is what a lot of makeup users tend to do. I back up this statement because when I tried blending out colors when my base was only a concealer, I lost a lof of the pigment unlike when I used the primer and the pressed pigments were much easier to blend out and did not have as much fallout under my eyes.

Another thing I like about this palette is that it has pretty much every color you need to make any look. You can do a rainbow look with bright, bold colors or you can do a neutral toned smokey eye with browns and golds. This is one thing that James expressed multiple times in his campaign that this is a good starter palette for people wanting to practice their makeup and want to expand on their MUA skills.

Lastly, it is the perfect starter palette and size for anyone that is just starting out in the makeup journey and want to experiment with multiple different colors.