The full list of links to my various Huda Beauty reviews can be found HERE, but today I am also including mini reviews of the three palettes I purchased during the brand’s Pre-Black Friday sale for 2023. I’ll be sharing my initial impressions of the new additions to my collection. I would normally never include them so soon in a ranking post, but because my experience was so distinct, I don’t think my opinion on these will change with time.
Because the brand is having such deep discounts on the website, up to 80% off, I decided to post this early instead of my usual Mondays for anyone wanting to see additional opinions before making a purchase. For this reason, there will not be a post on Monday November 27th, but I hope to have another up the following Monday. There’s no guarantee as life is so chaotic right now (but in a good way)!
DISCLOSURE: Other than the Gemstone Obsessions palette that was gifted by Sephora and not Huda Beauty (and not even for PR reasons), I purchased everything else with my own money and I’m not an affiliate of the brand.
MY CURRENT HUDA BEAUTY PALETTE RANKING
- Wild Obsessions Jaguar
- Nude Obsessions Rich
- Lovefest Obsessions
- Naughty
- Empowered
- Nude Obsessions Medium
- Brown Obsessions Toffee
- Precious Stones Obsessions Amethyst
- Brown Obsessions Caramel
- Gemstone Obsessions
I wasn’t sure if I should include the Glowish quad since it’s technically from a separate Huda brand, but if I were to throw Moss into the rankings it would place at number 6 and everything else would be shifted down on the list. It doesn’t have impactful shimmers, but the performance is great. Because there are only four shades, I can only get two looks that I really like, whereas I can make at least a few more good ones with Naughty and Empowered despite all their flaws. So, if Moss was expanded into a 9-pan along the lines of the Nars Climax palette, there could have been potential for it to rank 4th place instead.
Jaguar reigns supreme because it’s the one I keep thinking about the most after reviewing it. It’s the one with a concise yet complete color story, and has great quality mattes and shimmers. Jaguar is specifically one I would love to get more use out of, but I’m constantly testing other palettes, so I can’t. However, I plan to change that in 2024.
The Rich palette has the same great quality and a variety of depths to be able to make complete looks as well without needing to reach for other palettes. It’s like a mini of the Naughty palette without the unnecessary extras. Lovefest is like the other three, but shades 2 and 6 are too similar on me and although shade 3 is very eye-catching in the pan, it’s lower impact on the eyes than I want. So, it gets third place for being slightly more limited than the other two.
An eyeshadow looking more fun than it is useful is the theme of the two full size palettes I own from the brand. Naughty has exceptional mattes and beautiful shimmers, but some of the experimental textured shadows don’t quite work for me (like Slippery and Hard) and some of the matte and shimmer shades are a little too close to each other. This palette could have been edited down. For the same reason, Empowered is a bit lower because although the mattes are all fantastic, the right side has so many that look the same on my eyes because of my skin tone. We have more of those “innovative” formulas of shadows that work better than in the Naughty palette, but I didn’t necessarily want them in practical use. I go back and forth as to which of these two rank higher because I think Empowered is more successful with the formula and texture variety, but with the exception of the deep smokey look I can create from Empowered (that I can also get out of Jaguar), I think my eye looks with the Naughty palette turn out prettier. I ultimately decided for this list to choose the end result over performance.
The Medium palette earns the next spot because there isn’t enough depth for me to be satisfied. I’d need to grab another palette to deepen the outer corner of my eye looks, as is my preference. I know it’s called a Medium palette and is filled with mainly medium toned shades, but the Rich palette had the full gamut of options, so this one could have had at least one deep one as well. I’ll save the rest of my thoughts in the review.
I loved the look of the Brown Obsessions Collection, but I didn’t hear the best reviews for them after they launched. Because they were priced at such a good deal, I was willing to risk getting them in the hopes that people were wrong and they’d be just like the other Obsessions palettes, but they’re not. I’ll write more about the issues with Toffee in the review section, but it places here because of one specifically problematic shade and the drop in quality from the rest. Amethyst sneaks in between the two I own because it has a beautiful color story and I loved it at the time, but the newer Obsessions palettes have even better quality mattes and my deepest shade is patchy. Plus, I’m not into those tones of mattes. I loved satins a lot more in the time period that I first had Amethyst, but they’re just not as interesting to me now. It’s the three shimmers in the center column that make this palette still a good one even though I’ve had it for five years. Caramel is brand new (at least in when I purchased it though I’ve no idea if I have a newer batch or old stock), but I have even more problems with it than Toffee so despite it being one of the most beautiful color stories Huda has created in my eyes, it pains me to have to put it so low. And ranking at the very bottom is Gemstone which I received for free from Sephora ages ago as a thank you gift for being part of their beauty community forum before they changed the website and archived a lot of those past posts. There’s a reason I never bought this palette myself because even though the colors are pretty on an individual level, it makes no sense put together except as a purely supplemental palette intended to be used with other palettes to make cohesive looks. The shimmers in here are more impactful than the satins and metallics in Amethyst, but those center shimmers in Amethyst still so greatly surpass the Gemstone ones that I had to put this at the very bottom. The lack of mattes solidified this decision.
If my ranking of Jaguar is any indication, I would say it’s probably safe to assume the quality of the palettes in the Wild Obsessions Collection is excellent, though I can’t confirm it personally as I just have one of the three. I kept saying I wanted to get the other two, but the color stories just aren’t perfect for me, especially with the too-similar-of-tones problem. So, even though I recommend them most, one would have to ask themselves how useful will these tones and colors and formulas actually be? The same goes for the Nude Obsessions line, though I only have two of the three. They’re great, but did I really need them? This becomes even more poignant when it comes to the larger palettes with their various textures, formulas, and finishes. How much someone loves it is less of a quality issue and depends entirely on their personal preferences. For instance, the cream liner shades in Empowered work fine and could be a base for the duochromes, but it’s not so good if I need something that’s fully transfer-proof or something that’s easier to glide onto the lids to line them. So the pros for one person could be a con for someone else.
Huda’s newest palette, Pretty Grunge, looks gorgeous. However, I know it’s not perfect for me either which is why I’m going to pass on it and try to be more conscious about the future additions to my collection that I make from this brand.
Huda Beauty Nude Obsessions Eyeshadow Palette in Medium
I took the palette photo at night, and for some reason the shadows look darker in the pan than they should, so the photo just above the swatches is a more accurate representation.
Medium is a mix of light and medium toned eyeshadows. Shade 6 is the darkest in the palette, but it isn’t dark enough to give me the depth level in the outer corner that I prefer, so that automatically makes this a supplemental palette for me.
Shade 1 is close to my skin tone so it doesn’t show up very well, but the tiniest bit darker Shade 3 is the one I’d need to reach for as the transition shadow. 4 and 8 are the same depth with Shade 4 being slightly warmer and peachier pink whereas Shade 8 is a cooler pink. The matte quality is nice, but my options are limited.
The shimmers are pretty and thankfully don’t give me any issues with longevity. Because Shades 2, 5, and 7 are in the same color family though, I’m not getting wildly different looks. So, the combination of similar mattes with shimmers that are close enough, it really cements the fact that there isn’t enough variety for me as a standalone palette. The quality of this palette is good, but is in the middle of the ranking list specifically for these reasons.
Huda Beauty Brown Obsessions Eyeshadow Palette in Toffee
I think gold shades and warm tone neutrals are pretty, so I couldn’t resist this palette any longer. Shades 1, 3, and 9 are similar matte quality to the other Obsessions palettes, but not quite the same level, and I’m not sure why that’s the case. They’re a little more dusty in texture, but they blend well enough not to bother me. I just notice the slight difference. The pigmentation level is the same for all except Shade 5 which had to be built up in multiple layers to last on my eyes. This is still a better performing yellow than some in my collection that are usually made too thin and dust away, or are mixed with too much white base, so I’m not unhappy with it. The only matte that gives me considerable trouble is Shade 7, which is patchy. I had to tap on quite a bit of product to get it to cover the bald spot and by the end of the night I still ended up with it looking strangely. Because I still have Shade 3 as a deepening option, I can forgive Shade 7 being a bit of a dud. I also give props for having distinctly different matte colors.
From just swatching the shimmers, I correctly guessed which ones were going to give me the issue where it moves out of my crease line. Shades 6 and 8 resemble the standard Huda metallic-shimmers to the naked eye, but they’re more emollient feeling than the others. To be fair, they didn’t move or crease as much as I expected, but there was still a little movement. The amount I had at the end of the night was tolerable to me. However, some palettes don’t have any shimmers that crease on me, nor patchy mattes, so that’s why this is so low on the ranking list.
Shade 4 has a fun pattern and feels like a stiffer version of a Super Shock shadow, but the more it’s rubbed, the harder it gets compacted into the pan. I can already tell this shade is going to be tough to pick up on a brush or even my fingers in the future. Shade 2 is dry feeling and has visually interesting patches of larger particle silvery/white sparkles called a “pearl flake texture” that adds more drama and shine to eye looks. It doesn’t swatch the best, but looks super pretty on the eyes.
Toffee is pretty and workable, but I don’t really recommend it. Perhaps the current sale price of $9.60 makes a different, but perhaps not.
Huda Beauty Brown Obsessions Eyeshadow Palette in Caramel
This actually came in a “Caramel Brown Obsessions Kit” which had the palette, four mini liquid lipsticks, and a bag for $13.50. I’m just going to focus on the palette in this review.
This color story is absolutely stunning! It’s such a shame that the quality of this one is the worst of any other Huda palettes I own. It’s still not the worst palette I’ve ever used, but it doesn’t live up to the expectations I have for the brand’s eyeshadows. It was already difficult to pick up Shade 1 from the very first time I used it and swatched it, so that doesn’t bode well for future usage. Shades 2 and 6 are the metallics, but Shade 6 is way wetter feeling than the rest and it’s so difficult to build up. It looks pigmented at first, but when I try to smooth it out to create the shape I want in the outer corner, it fades significantly to the point where there’s hardly enough color left. So, I had to keep building it up. Shade 5 looks flakier than the metallics, and looks like it should be a standard shimmer, but it’s as creamy as Shade 1 and hard pressed as well, though I’m able to get decent payoff for now and it’s just a matter of time. Shade 7 has that fascinating pearl flake texture, but for some reason is wetter than that same formula shadow from the Toffee palette. Of course, all this emollience leads to moving issues on my eyes. In the demonstration photo below, I showed what it looks like 7 hours later, but it was noticeably looking that bad already when I looked in the mirror 5 hours in. It didn’t get significantly worse and I’ve still had worse performances from other eyeshadows before, but this one really disappointed me.
Part of the issue is that the mattes, which can help keep the area dry despite my semi-oily lids/crease, is that these particular mattes in the Caramel palette are all thin and don’t build all that well. It took me quite a few extra swipes to get a decent swatch of the colors in the swatch photos. I would normally do no more than 2 swipes for swatches, but considering this is one of the few palettes with mattes that don’t all look the same on me, I wanted to make sure those colors could be seen properly. At least, how the colors should have looked on me if they were able to build up since they’re thinner with less pigment.
I should note that I used the same primer with all three of these palettes, but the only one that has zero longevity issues for me is the Nude Medium palette, which supports what I heard about the Brown Obsessions collection being unequal in quality to my favorites from the brand.
I love this color story so much that I considered even bringing it to Germany with me despite the performance. However, I thought about my Natasha Denona Bronze palette and Metropolis. Between those two, I could very easily recreate this look. So, I’m leaving it behind.
That’s everything for today! I hope this has been helpful and I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it), Black Friday, and Cyber Monday!
-Lili ❤
Lili's Beauty Blog 