Jeffree Star Conspiracy Palette Review

Hello from your inconsistent blogger friend. The end of the year has felt like a whirlwind and therefore keeping up a blogging schedule has seemed like an impossible task. But since I'm sure many of you have had a busy season too, you probably haven't had time to miss my posts too much. And to shamelessly self-promote, you can always find me on Instagram. I'm pretty active there more or less daily and was just scheming for upcoming things next year. 

Anyway, let's get into the reason why you most likely clicked on this post. The infamous Conspiracy Palette. I was going to do a first impression on it, but since it's been a couple of months since the release, this turned into an actual review. Hope this will help you out in case you missed the first launch and are figuring out whether or not get it. And also at the end, there are examples on how to use the palette in case you need inspiration. 

conspiracy palette

conspiracy palette

Experience with Beautylish

If you're reading this, you most likely know about the mayhem around the launch, and how the record-breaking sales nearly broke the internet. Or at least they broke the retail sites. I was teaming up with my bestie for this launch, and we promised that the one who gets through first buys for both if we can at all. I had all the retailer sites open on different windows, and each one crashed the minute they launched the collection. Finally, the Beautylish site let me through and let me pay, and I even got the confirmation. At this point, I still wasn't believing I made it since I had to be skeptic due to the sheer volume of orders. But I got myself and my bestie the palettes, and they came in about 10 days (8 or so business days) from the launch. Now that's very impressive, and unlike with some other retailers, the palettes were packed impeccably and they were in mint condition when they arrived. Even the emails from Beautylish were very detailed and attentive although surely being mass emails to everyone who bought from the launch. Nevertheless, the experience was very positive, and the price I paid (with faster shipping, too) included taxes and customs, so I didn't have to worry about that after purchasing. Would recommend Beautylish for sure if you're buying from a new Jeffree Star launch, they really come through.

conspiracy paletteJSC x Shane paletteShane Dawson x Jeffree Star

First Impressions

I was nervous if I would like the color scheme in person, because I prefer seeing palettes in real life before committing to the purchase, and eve swatching some shades if possible. I know I may seem like a Jeffree Star fanatic who'll buy just anything from him, but I do like to see if I really connect with the palette before buying. Luckily, the palette did look fantastic in person, and I couldn't stop staring it when I brought it home. It looked much more wearable for everyday use than I thought, but also it has statement colors in it like the bright pink shimmer Trisha or the neon yellow matte Food Videos. Overall my first thoughts were that this is a nice palette, quite unique one but not too out there for people who prefer more toned down looks than I do. 

Conspiracy swatchesConspiracy swatchesConspiracy swatches

Thoughts about color story & how the palette swatches

I've seen all sorts of opinions about the color story, and I can see both sides of this. Many of the shades here can be somewhat closely duped even within Jeffree's own range (see Annette's Makeup Corner's video here for more - the dupes are towards the end of the video), but to me, that isn't that big of an issue. If you prefer to not have dupes in your collection, you need to think if you already own most of these shades before purchasing. There are colors I wouldn't normally necessarily use, like What's The Tea, which doesn't do much for my complexion. But I've made each shade work on some look one way or another, so I guess that means the colors are workable. Unlike Blue Blood (which is my absolute favorite and therefore the measure of most things when it comes to eyeshadow), Conspiracy isn't too out there and I think that's part of the reason for its charm. I do personally prefer more color most days, which is why this one won't rank over Blue Blood any time soon. But that's my personal preference, I think most people I know would prefer this more neutral color scheme. 

Swatching with a finger, this palette swatched really good. As you can see from the pics, the colors came out nice and vibrant, and the shimmers look stunning. If you're new here, or new to makeup, I know finger swatches tell close to nothing about how the shadows will perform on the lid with brushes, so never fully trust my swatches or anyone else's to tell the whole truth about the colors. I do swatches to showcase the shades on pale skin when built up to the max. Sometimes swatching also gives me an idea if the color is pressed pigment, if it has fallout, whether it needs one or three layers to look the best and so on, so when I use them on my eyes, I have some faint idea what I'm dealing with. 

All in all, I like the color story, some colors look stunning to me, others are nice but don't really awaken any super big feels within me. 

conspiracy palette

How the palette is to use

So how it actually works on the eyes? At least mine has been exceptionally good, I haven't had issues with any shades to the point I'd be complaining. The trickiest shade seems to be Food Videos, which is to be expected from a super bright neon yellow. That one is so easy to get muted and muddy on the skin, and it seems that it's super chalky on some people's palettes. I expect chalky from shades like that, and have never had a super bright (vegan) yellow that hasn't been at least a little on the chalky side. But that too is something you can work around with techniques, so I don't find that as a big issue - but maybe something to think about when you consider a purchase. For the shimmers, you get the best potential when working with dense brushes, your finger and even a wetted brush. I usually apply them with dense brush, and then pat on a little more with finger if necessary.

The neutral mattes work like a dream, the brighter ones require a tad more work to look immaculate, but that's often the nature of vegan shadows. The shades have a ton of pigment each - maybe besides the Food Videos one if I'm being very picky - and for some shades that means there's a bit of fallout. Especially Trisha, Illuminatea and Spiraling have been the shades that at least on my palette have a little fallout, so that's something I have to keep in mind when working with them. And talking about Trisha, that shade stains. Like really, truly stains. It's nothing a good cleanser doesn't fix for the most part, but it's something to keep in mind especially if you're prone to get reactions from cosmetics. Other shades I haven't found yet to be that staining, but the packaging lists all the shades with vegan red pigment in them to be "not eye-safe" which is the US authorities' way of saying they might stain. Here in EU, those shades are totally fine, no warnings whatsoever about them.

Conspiracy palette

Overall thoughts

I'm really happy I got the palette from the first launch, which you probably know if you follow me on Instagram because most of my looks for the past two months have been with Conspiracy palette (alone or with another palette). I was in the market for a neutral staple palette, and for now, I think this meets my needs especially when combined with Alien's neutrals. I can see how it would be a go-to palette for some, as it's definitely fun to play with and one can really do both neutrals and colorful ones with it. I prefer it with a more colorful palette to really let my creativity flow because unlike more sane people, I don't have a go-to everyday makeup look. Sounds crazy coming from a makeup enthusiast, I know. 

But the question you probably have is whether this is worth your money. If you love JSC eyeshadow formula and do need a more neutral palette in your collection, then yes, I'd say this is a good choice for you. If on the other hand you already have your staple neutrals, maybe go swatch this somewhere first and see how you feel about the shades. If you passionately love colorful palettes and don't need more neutral shades, you may want to sit out on this one, and rather get Jawbreaker or Blue Blood if you don't already. Whether or not this one is for you strongly depends on your preferences, for me this was a good purchase due to getting the neutrals I wished for (Diet Root Beer honestly being my favorite neutral shade currently), but had I already owned the perfect neutrals, this would've been more a merch buy for me. 

Lastly, I want to include some looks I've done with the palette to inspire you to create with your own Conspiracy palette, or similar colors if you have those in other palettes. If you recreate and post the looks, I would love to be tagged in them so I can see your creations. 









What are your thoughts about the Conspiracy Palette? Let me know in the comments!

That's it for today's post, I hope you got some inspiration or information out of it. As for the next post, I will be doing a recap of this year and on January 1st, I will set some goals for the first year of the new decade. And not to sound like an achiever, but this time I want to make a list I at least mostly complete. If you care to see more content from me, I strongly recommend following my Instagram @silvertigo, where I post outfits, makeup and some lifestyle pics almost every day - sometimes excluding weekends if I rather do stuff offline. I'll see you tomorrow with the last post of the year!

Have a wonderful day ♥

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