What I'm Not Buying: Lorac Mega Pro 4

It's October, which somehow means it's the holiday season in the beauty industry, and that means that Lorac has released yet another Mega Pro palette. 

And I won't be buying. 

I don't really know what's going on wth Lorac lately, and I'm not sure Lorac knows either. Their recent releases have all been lackluster, uninspired, or confusing, and the drop in performance quality has also been noted. 

Personally, I am not a huge fan of Lorac. I never owned the original Pro palette as it was always sold out when I was first interested (right when it was released and hyped), and then when it finally was in stock, I thought the color scheme was incredibly basic and I had moved on. I briefly owned Lorac Pro 2, and after being in denial about it for a beat, I admitted to myself that I completely hated the formula. 

Lorac Pro shadows, at their best, remind me of the formula of Anastasia Beverly Hills shadows in palettes (not the singles). I've written about the ABH formula many times, and I feel the same about Lorac. The shadows are far too powdery for my preference, and the formula is so thin that it muddies terribly on my eyes. Instead of layering well and blending softly and seamlessly, the shadows blend together and look dark and muddy. No matter the technique, brushes, or application, this always happens, so this is just a formula that I do not enjoy and that does not work for me. 

This year, Lorac seems to be going through an identity crisis, or at the very least, they appear to be struggling to keep up with all the trends and other major brands. And I personally feel like it shows. In addition to seemingly odd releases (I love Brunch, Pirates of the Caribbean, Beauty and the Beast, etc.) the quality of Lorac shadows has appeared to declined (noted even by those who are fans of the formula). 

Each holiday season, Lorac releases a Mega Pro palette. The first year the Mega Pro was released, the demand was huge and there wasn't enough stock for everyone to get a palette—classic hype tactic. And I fell hard into that hype and lusted after the elusive palette for months. When they released the Mega Pro 2, I was disappointed that it wasn't more like the original, so I didn't buy it. And last year, Lorac released my favorite Mega Pro color scheme, but I knew I already owned all those colors, and I was able to successfully resist buying it as I knew as soon as the hype wore down, so would my love for it.

And this year, when I saw the Mega Pro 4, I feel like I finally had a moment of clarity, which was, "Who needs a palette with this many shades?"

Let me explain.

My two largest palettes are the Sephora Pro Editorial (28 shades) and my custom palette (27 shades). I really enjoy a lot about the Sephora palette—enough to keep it—but there is also quite a bit that I don't enjoy. With a quick glance at the palette, I can see about 10 shades that I am not interested in or that don't perform well. And of the reminding shades, there are a handful that I own elsewhere in my collection. So there are, what, 15 or so shades that I actually want in that palette? With my custom palette, I selected all of the shades, so I know they are colors that I use and love, and even then, I rearrange the colors on a pretty frequent basis. So when I look at large palettes like the Mega Pro, which has 32 fixed shades, I can't help but think it is overkill.

Let's look at the palette:

If I am being completely honest, I do not understand what is happening with this palette and color scheme. It looks like Lorac took two of their palettes, recycled the colors, and smashed them together. 

It looks like I Love Brunch:

Plus Pirates of the Caribbean:

It has a lot of similar shades to the Mega Pro 2:

(Though I admit Mega Pro 2 is a lot more appealing to me personally.)

And it has several shades that appear in the Pro 2:

Parts of the palette also remind me of Urban Decay Smoked:

And from my own collection, I have Viseart Bijoux Royale:

Now, full transparency, I don't even know if this is a hyped item because I haven't heard too many people talk about it. And I don't know if that's because people aren't too excited by this color scheme or maybe they are losing interest in Lorac as a brand. (I know I personally have lost most of my interest in them as a brand.)

One positive that I can give this palette is that I can't really think of many other palettes that have the same color scheme, other than ones from Lorac. And while I think that's actually a tough thing to do in an industry this saturated with products, I can't help but think there may be a reason we haven't seen this color scheme before. Now, this will all depend on personal preference, but the color scheme of the Mega Pro 4 just doesn't inspire me. If anything, it confuses me. Some people might be excited by the challenge of that and of finding new color combinations that you wouldn't have thought of before, but this palette doesn't do anything for me. 

And I know that's the worst kind of an anti-haul because simply saying, "I don't like the colors" isn't a very compelling read for those who are debating purchasing this. But, that's the truth. I don't like the color scheme of this palette and I don't like the Lorac formula, even when it was the original, "good" formula. 

Beyond that, I'll say that if you are tempted by this palette, you should evaluate what about it is tempting you. Because, despite what I personally think is an odd assortment and arrangement of colors, there is also a ton about this palette that is neutral and is guaranteed to already exist in most collections. 

For matte shades, I see creams and an assortment of warm, cool, and neutral mid-tone and dark browns. For shimmers, there's champagnes, taupes, bronzes, berries, and plums. I would guess that the majority of makeup enthusiasts have these colors already in their collections. Other than those, the only really "interesting" or "unique" shades that I see are blues, greens, and, you guessed it, blue-greens.  

Now, I personally don't wear green eyeshadow all that often (though I am wearing three green eyeshadows today). And a quick glance at my collection tells me that I have at least 17 green eyeshadows (that realization actually made me a bit sick). That number includes singles, shadows in palettes, and indie shadows. So, if I was drawn to this palette because it has these odd pops of color I don't normally see paired with neutral shadows, it would be unwise of me to purchase because I clearly have an abundance of those pops of color already. And if you don't have some of those colors but have the vast majority of the other shades, then it would be a much better use of money to invest in a few select single shadows rather than spending $60 on a giant palette. 

I would like to talk about the serializing of makeup products, specifically palettes. The first time I personally saw this was with the Naked palettes. When brands have a successful product, it seems like now they have to capitalize on it by making a sequel. And we as the consumer expect it. In fact, a lot of the criticisms I heard about Anastasia Beverly Hills Subculture was that it was marketed as the "sister palette" to Modern Renaissance but it was a totally different formula and color scheme. And before Subculture's release, for the better part of a year, I heard people say they couldn't wait for "Modern Renaissance 2" to come out. Brands have started naming products "Volume 1," and people get excited thinking about what the next volume will look like and deciding that they will purchase it and add it to their collection before the sequel has even been conceived. 

And that's just it. We like one thing, so we want more of that thing we like. We want more of the same. We don't want it to be too different. We expect it to be similar and to like it just as much as we liked the original. And instead of just using the one product that we enjoy, we want more. That one product isn't enough. We have been conditioned to want and expect more iterations of the same thing. 

I did a bit of decluttering/depotting of my collection today, and now I "only" have nine pre-made palettes. I say "only" because nine is still a crazy amount for one person, but that is significantly less than half of what I had only a few months ago. Of my remaining palettes, none of them are serialized. I don't have any more Naked palettes or Chocolate Bars or Tartelettes or Lorac Pros or Unzippeds. I have palettes that were released as part of a set of other palettes (like my Sephora Pro Editorial and the NYX Elements palettes), but I no longer have palettes that inspired a sequel or more. 

And of the nine palettes I've kept, all but one are colorful: Sephora Pro Editorial, Urban Decay Electric, NYX Fire, NYX Air, Colourpop Yes, Please!, Kat Von D Pastel Goth (please see this post if you're wondering why I own this palette when I have an anti-haul post on it), Viseart Dark Matte, and Viseart Bijoux Royale. (Please note, this count does not include my two Tom Ford quads, small Milani palette, and Melt Rust Stack—all are favorites.) And I realized that the reason I've decluttered essentially every neutral palette is because the shades are just not that unique or interesting. I have a select number of gorgeous, well-performing neutral singles, and that's all I really need and want. 

So, serialized palettes really just don't do it for me. Because it's essentially asking a company to make us the exact product that we already own except to make it a little different. And it's because of this that I think I find so many makeup products to just be overly repetitive. The Lorac Mega Pro 1 was very beautiful, and because it was so popular, it makes sense that Lorac would want to capitalize on that success. But at this point, with a Mega Pro coming out for the past four years, I personally am bored. It's exciting when a brand changes up the monotony of the industry, but I feel like Lorac releasing this palette that seems to be an odd combination of two palettes that weren't huge successes (I Love Brunch and Pirates) is anything but exciting and innovative. 

To end this post I would like to offer a personal anecdote. I'm glad that I don't have any of the Lorac Mega Pros. Even if the formula was something that worked great for me, I am still happy that I didn't purchase these palettes. Because I know that my attention span with them would have been very short. They are limited edition holiday palettes, so no one really talks about them after the holidays, and in the declutter videos I have seen, unless people are hanging onto them just because they want to maintain their entire "Lorac Pro collection," most people declutter them. I think the palette falls into the classic case of looking like a good deal because you get so many shadows, but when you realize how generic most of the shades are, it's no longer a good deal. 

I don't think I'll ever stop "curating" my eyeshadow collection, but the more I actually use my existing products and say no to buying whatever is new and shiny, the more I really learn about my preferences. I never would have thought when I first started my blog that I would have so many colorful palettes or that I would declutter all the staple neutral palettes. But that's what I've learned by actually using everything in my collection. 

The Lorac Mega Pro 4 doesn't inspire me, and it certainly doesn't add anything to my collection. This product feels to me like Lorac is catering to those who buy the Mega Pros just to collect them. That's not me, so I won't be buying. 

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What I'm Not Buying: Lorac Unzipped Desert Sunset

Lorac has released three new palettes in their Unzipped series, and immediately the one I was most drawn to was the Desert Sunset palette, which is the palette I'll be talking about today. 

Because I won't be buying. 

I have owned two Lorac palettes—Unzipped and Pro 2—and both have been decluttered from my collection for at least a year. I haven't been impressed with a lot of what Lorac has been releasing lately, and feel like a lot of their palettes have been a miss, for me at least, including Pro 3, Mega Pro 3, Pirates of the Caribbean collection, Beauty and the Beast collection, and I Love Brunch. But with the release of their new Unzipped palettes, I think they are doing something interesting. 

Admittedly, the Desert Sunset palette is the least interesting palette offered (even though it was still the one I was drawn to), because it looks like so many other things. But I wanted to write about it precisely because of that. Because I think a lot of people, like me, will be drawn to it because of the familiar colors as well as the one deceiving pop of color. 

Let's look at it closely:

When I look at this palette, I see a lot of colors that I would love using. I see champagne, berries, gold, burgundy, peach, warm brown, chocolate brown, and violet. And with the way that I used to approach buying makeup, that's all I would need to know going in to buying this palette—that I would get use out of all the colors. And then if I found out that the quality was good (and from reviews I have seen, it seems as though the quality is not bad), that would just further fan the fire that I needed this palette. 

But here's the thing. I already own this palette. And my guess is that a lot of people who are lusting after this already do too. 

Let's look at swatches from Lorac:

I've said this before, but I find swatches provided by the brand to be largely unhelpful most of the time because it seems as though product is so heavily applied to show PIGMENT that we actually lose any idea of how these colors might translate onto the eye. But swatches in general can be very deceiving and often don't provide good context for how a shadow will work on the eye. Shadows from Anastasia Beverly Hills palettes, for example, swatch incredible on me but don't at all work on my specific skin and eye shape, while Viseart mattes barely show up in a swatch on me and are incredible shadows to work with. 

Swatches used to be a visual aid to best gauge the quality of something without actually buying it first, but now it seems as though brands just want their shadows to be touted as "pigmented" and they do whatever they can to achieve that illusion. 

But here's the reality with Desert Sunset: if you take the violet shade out, you are left with almost every warm-toned palette of the moment. It looks like so many other plates. 

Like ABH Modern Renaissance: 

And Lime Crime Venus:

Violet Voss Holy Grail:

Kylie Cosmetics Burgundy:

Zoeva Cocoa Blend:

Smashbox Ablaze:

Tarte Tarteist Pro:

Urban Decay Naked Heat:

Natasha Denona Sunset:

theBalm Nude Beach:

And Colourpop She:

And if you take out the top colorful row, it looks like Juvia's Place Masquerade:

From my own collection, I have Tom Ford Honeymoon:

Coloured Raine Queen of Hearts:

A custom Inglot palette:

And one of my custom palettes that includes part of Lime Crime Venus, Natasha Denona shadows, Viseart Neutral Matte, and parts of Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons:

Let's get back to that one violet shade. If you remove the berry shades from Desert Sunset, but keep the violet, you have Too Faced Peanut Butter and Jelly:

For me, when I look at Desert Sunset, the violet shade is what tricks me into thinking that this is a unique color scheme. But it's not. And if you're like me and you have a plethora of warm-toned neutral palettes, but you are still drawn to that one shade (and you don't have Too Faced PB&J), I highly recommend looking into single shadows. 

In addition to the one I have in my custom palette (Natasha Denona Nina's Orchid), I also have and love Ardency Inn Orchid:

For a less expensive option, there's Makeup Geek Masquerade:

I know I've mentioned this before, but building a singles collection can be a much cheaper alternative to buying an entire palette when you know you have the majority of colors in the palette and are just drawn to one or two unique things about it. 

If Desert Sunset was released several years ago, it would have been the absolute perfect palette for me, and I would have used and loved it. So I can certainly see the appeal of this palette, and I think if someone doesn't have a lot of shadows already and is really, really drawn to this palette, this could certainly be a great buy for them. But, I think the majority of people who are interested in this palette are the makeup obsessed, like myself, who very likely already own all the colors in this palette. Because there are just so many palettes out that look like this now, and most people probably own at least one if not more of the palettes listed above. 

As far as Lorac's take on this, I feel two ways about it. On the one hand, I do think it's cool that Lorac is trying to branch out and provide some more interesting color schemes, especially color schemes that will work for people with deeper skin tones. And on the other hand, I feel like I have no idea what Lorac is doing right now. Their Pirates of the Caribbean and Beauty and the Beast palettes looked (to me) uninspired and like an easy way to make money by capitalizing on people's nostalgia. With the I Love Brunch palette, it looked as though they were jumping on the pastel band wagon, but the quality of that palette really fell short. And with Desert Sunset, I feel they are about two years too late releasing this palette. And that's been something interesting for me watching all these brands put out their warm-toned berry palettes because I feel they are so late to the game. But even then, these palettes are selling out. Desert Sunset is currently out of stock online at Lorac and Ulta.  

I am obviously not a person who has a small makeup collection. And while I want a manageable collection, I don't want a "small" collection. I like having tons of different colors, ranging from bright to dark and covering the spectrum. But I don't need to have the exact same colors over and over and over again in different packaging from different brands. And I feel like that is how the makeup community is currently headed. Due to hype, fear of missing out, and marketing tactics that induce both of these things, such as having intentionally low stock, people are buying all these palettes that they just don't need.

To go off on a tangent here about makeup collecting, have you ever seen a foundation collection or declutter video on YouTube? I know for a lot of people YT is either their job or they are trying to make it their job, and as a result, they amass a ton of products to review. But it is a really intense thing to see someone with a collection of 25 or 30 bottles of foundation—most of them largely unused. And the person continues buying more foundations, because they want to try something new or they want to experience a new formula. And if you are a reviewer, I can totally see how having a huge collection is kind of necessary, so that you can compare formulas and give as detailed a review as possible. But for a lot of people, it seems as though they just want to try the new thing and experience different formulas.

And I guess this is what eyeshadow palettes and now starting to look like to me. People who owned Lime Crime Venus and the Kat Von D Shade and Light Eye still purchased ABH Modern Renaissance because of the hype and because they wanted to try the ABH formula. And, sure. Finding the best eyeshadow formula for you is a really great feeling, but I don't personally find that high quality formulas vary so greatly that it justifies (for me, at least) owning multiple palettes with the same colors just to try out the different formulas, especially when you have palettes/formulas that work for you. Because no one walking on the street is going to know that you are wearing Modern Renaissance or Venus or Naked Heat or Desert Sunset. They will likely just notice that your makeup looks nice.

For me, I just don't have any more space in my makeup collection or my mind to own any more warm neutral palettes with some red and berry tones. And I certainly couldn't collect them all. I just can't do it. I would feel so overwhelmed by all the clutter and sameness. Plus, I find building a singles collection to be much more fun and rewarding. I love finding unique colors that I don't see everywhere else, and I like that I don't have to pay for an entire palette that is filled with colors I already have because of the idea that when you buy a palette, it is expected them to be "complete." But I feel like after you own a palette or two, you don't really need a "complete" palette anymore. Obviously this is personal preference as I know plenty of people who have makeup collections much larger than mine who still want a palette to be a complete, perfect palette. But that is not my preference. That is too much repetition for me. I don't want to own fifteen mid-tone warm brown shadows or fifteen cream shadows or whatever. And building a singles collection lets me get all those unique colors without having to amass the same colors over and over.

Desert Sunset is a lovely palette. Really, it is. And as someone originally from the desert, I appreciate the color scheme and how it works with the theme. But this palette is $42, and I already own every single color in it several times over. So while it is pretty and hyped and currently sold out, I don't care. I don't need it, so I won't be buying it.

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What I'm Not Buying: Lorac Pirates of the Caribbean Palette

Lorac has come out with a palette "inspired by" the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie. 

And I won't be buying. 

If there was ever a makeup item that I would buy for bullshit nostalgia reasons, it might be something related to Pirates of the Caribbean. This was a worldview-changing movie for me (we're only talking Curse of the Black Pearl), and it remains one of my all-time favorite movies. 

There was no way in hell I was going to see that movie when I saw previews for it—it seemed "old timey" for lack of a better word, fantasy-esque, and violent, which were three things that I hated when I was high school–aged and not something I love now. My friend saw it and loved it, but she and I had vastly different tastes at the time. A bunch of my friends got together for a movie on my birthday—which was supposed to be the Lindsay Lohan Freaky Friday—but this same friend pulled a coup and instead bought a ticket to Pirates. (On my birthday!) I was so upset and begrudgingly bought my ticket, despite her reassurance that she was doing me a favor.

And instantly, it became the best movie I had ever seen because I had not been exposed to many "quality" movies at all. I went back to watch it in the theater another three times, bought it on DVD the moment I could, watched and rewatched it and all the special features (this remains the ONLY DVD that I watched the special features), and I even (and this is true) wrote the dialogue of the entire movie from memory while bored and not paying attention in my history class. 

Curse of the Black Pearl hit me so hard that I sought out every movie Johnny Depp had ever made, which then made me seek out Tim Burton's entire catalogue, which in turn was responsible for my entire graduate education and career path. 

For the record, I saw the second and third movies (I don't even remember what they are called) one time each and hated both, and I haven't seen any of the rest. I'm not even sure what number movie they're at now. But Curse of the Black Pearl is still in my top five favorites and is responsible for many choices I've made in the direction of my life. 

So, again, let me reiterate that if there was EVER a makeup item that I would buy for nostalgia, it would probably be something like this. But I'm not buying it. And do you know why? 

Because I don't need it! 

Adding this expensive, bulky palette to my collection would not enhance my love for that (first) movie, and it would not emphasize the incredible impact it has had on my life. It would just be me giving money to Lorac for the crappy move of capitalizing on my heartstrings to give them money. 

NOPE. Not doing it. 

Let's look at this palette:

This is probably the least-inspired palette I have seen in a long time. This is a collection of neutrals with one orange and one blue. This is also a palette with a ton of browns and creams, because who doesn't have enough of those? 

This is touted as a "Pro" Lorac palette, and I have to call bullshit on that. Lorac isn't my favorite brand for a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest complaints I have is that there is a massive quality control issue within the brand. The Pro 1 and Pro 2 palettes have been praised for their great quality, which then made everyone ask the question: "Why aren't all Lorac palettes this good?" The answer was that these palettes had the "pro" formula and all the other ones didn't. The prices on the admittedly lower quality ones were just as high as the Pro, which really rubbed me the wrong way. Then the Pro 3 came out, and there was a formula change. And people started reporting that it wasn't nearly as good as the first two pro palettes. And now it seems that whatever Lorac comes out with, they are claiming it has this better "pro" formula. But, reviews have proven otherwise. Lorac knows that the "pro" formula sells better than anything else in their line, so instead of actually making all of their products high quality, they just claim that they are high quality. Awesome. Way to go. 

This 18-shadow palette is a whopping $52 for 0.36 ounces of product. Let me put that in perspective for you. The Lorac Pro palette is $42 for 16 shadows and 0.51 ounces of product. So, even though you are getting two more shadows, you are getting significantly less product (and Lorac Pro shadows don't have much product in the first place) and you are paying $10 more. I'm sorry, what? In comparison, one of my favorite palettes, Ciate London Pretty, has nine shadows and 0.56 ounces of product for $35. 

The reason for this ridiculous price gouge is because of the Pirates of the Caribbean branding. They have to pay Disney to license the name and likeness, and they still want to make money, so they cut costs in production by making the palette subpar (while claiming that it is the "pro" formula), cut the amount of product you get, and then raise the price. 

All so I can, what? Go down memory lane with one of my favorite movies? I don't think so. 

Frankly, if you wanted to buy a Lorac Pro palette and liked the color scheme, you might as well just get the Lorac Pro 2:

The color schemes aren't exact, but they are pretty close. 

If I bought this palette, it would basically be for this:

Which is to say, just the idea of it. And the thing that pisses me off the most about a release like this is that had this palette come out while I was in high school and scribbling down the entire Curse of the Black Pearl in my history notebook, I would have HAD to have this. I would have bought it the second I could, and probably would have preordered it if that was an option. Lorac would have totally preyed on my love for this movie and sold me an overpriced, underperforming piece of glorified memorabilia. And that makes me disappointed. 

If I want a nostalgic piece of memorabilia for a movie I love, I'll buy a poster or a trinket or something that is made to be looked at and displayed. I won't buy overpriced makeup that it so bulky and uninspired that I'll never use it. Sorry, Lorac, but you're gonna have to try a hell of a lot harder than that. 

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