Let’s talk about an iconic palette for a minute shall we? The Lorac Pro palettes are infamous as much as they are famous. I already reviewed the Lorac Pro 2 and Lorac Pro 3 palettes previously. Out of the three, this has my least favorite color scheme. This is quite warm toned and smokey, and we all know how I feel about that.  

Lorac Pro 1 eyeshadow palette

The Lorac Pro palettes are quite affordable compared to some of the Urban Decay Naked palettes. They retail for $44 each, but if you’re in Europe they are notoriously hard to get. Only available at Ulta and Kohl’s in the US, Lorac is a brand that is badly accessible online. However, Nordstrom also sells the brand, be it only a small selection of products and they ship to The Netherlands. That does make this palette a lot more expensive than if you were to be live in the US.

The Packaging

One thing I love about the Lorac Pro palettes is how slim they are. These palettes are incredibly well packaged for travel. They are super slim and they contain all shades you may need to do every imaginable look. There is a mirror, but that is a bit flimsy and I have seen many people with broken mirrors in these particular palettes. It also isn’t super big. When you buy these, the palette also comes with a mini of the Lorac eyeshadow primer which I enjoy.

The Palette

This palette was the first one of its kind. It features an entire row of mattes and an entire row of shimmers. The palette has a very neutral color scheme if you have a medium/ tan to deep skin tone. While the first half of the palette still works for me quite well, many of the deeper shades are too dark for my taste. Deep Purple for instance, while stunning, pulls black the minute I start blending it out with a brush.

Just because it is a bit dark on me, doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy this palette. It is just not my favorite. Still, I have plenty of favorite shades in this palette. Mauve is a standout shade for me. As are Pewter and Garnet. Nude and Champagne are a bit too samey samey for my liking and I don’t understand the addition of that taupe shade as that is one of the few cooler toned shadows in the palette. I wished there were more mid tone shades in this palette. To me, it goes from light to dark too quickly.

The Swatches

The Lorac formula is notoriously powdery and therefore easy to pan. You also don’t get a whole lot of product in this palette and combined with that powdery formula, it just makes you waste a lot of product too. The texture however, does feel amazing. These are some of the smoothest, easiest to work with eyeshadows on the market. They stay well and with these, a little does come a long way.

The Application

Look 1: Garnet
Lid | Garnet
Crease | Sable
Lower lash line | Deep Purple
Inner corner | Champagne
Liner | Espresso
Brow Bone | Cream

For my first look, I knew I had to show you Garnet. This look also shows you very well how smokey this palette looks on me. It’s just a bit much for everyday, but for night time this is a gorgeous look to wear. Garnet is easily one of the best shades in the palette too. It is a gorgeous copper, but I feel too few of the mattes go along with it the way I’d like. But this palette is worth just getting for Garnet. While I have many coppers in my collection. I have nothing quite like that.

Look 2: Cool Toned
Lid | Pewter & Lt. Bronze
Inner corner | Nude
Brow Bone | Light Pink
Crease | Taupe & Mauve
Lower lahs line | Slate

When I want to use this palette, and my go to look whenever I use it, I like going in with the more cool toned shades in this palette. I like Pewter: it is a great shade for the lid, but I like to brighten it up with a bit of Lt. Bronze for some extra highlight. Mauve is a great shade for blending out the crease and works really well on my skin tone. What I like most about this look is how quick and easy it is and how nicely defined my eyes look while wearing this.

Look 3: Gold
Lid: Gold
Crease | Espresso & Sable
Liner | Black
Lower lash line | Garnet
Brow bone | White
Inner corner | Nude

This third look is all about the Gold eyeshadow. I am not a fan of gold eyeshadow. I find it often too dark and yellow against my skin tone, which is why I prefer to wear silver jewelry for instance. This gold has that same issue for me. While a stunning shade, don’t get me wrong!, it just doesn’t work well on my fair skin I find. Again, the look turned quite smokey on me too, which is not something I wear all day every day.

The Conclusion

The original Lorac Pro palette is an absolutely gorgeous palette. It is simply not my favorite because the colors aren’t exactly made for my skin tone. It is too dark, too sultry and there are too few everyday looks I can pull out of this. When I use this, there is one look I go for every single time, with just minor variations. If I feel like using Garnet, I will put in another palette to make it work for me. This is a great palette, but only if your skin tone is deeper than mine.

What do you think of Lorac’s eyeshadow palettes?
Have you tried their newest one yet?