Marks & Spencer Golden Goddess Holiday Palette Pix and Swatches

Marks & Spencer Golden Goddess Holiday Palette Pix and Swatches
By Beaut.ie  | Jun 20, 2011

S'all a bit Missoni really, isn't it, I thought of the lovely-looking Golden Goddess Holiday Palette from Marks and Spencer. Then I checked the press release they'd sent along with the sample just to make sure it really was from M&S. Phew - it's a budget-priced version though thankfully and at €10 this isn't exactly gonna break the bank.

Still, €10's only good value if you can get good use from the shades in the collection, so we'll have a gander at them and then investigate the quality of the pigmentation, shall we?

Looks nice, doesn't it? You get three shadow shades in fairly narrow strips, a bronzer - in a very bleedin' narrow strip for a bronzer - three sheer glosses and a couple of not-that-useful brushes.

Time for some closeups.

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Shadows are simply named soft peach, gold and golden brown, the bronzer is monkiered just so and the glosses are nude, coral and chocolate. Quality-wise, these wouldn't be the most beautifully silky shadows I've ever tried - gold and golden brown are a little rough-textured and have quite obvious glitter, but peach is a good bit smoother, as is the bronzer.

How's payoff?

Sheer, definitely.  You're looking at golden brown, gold and soft peach plus the bronzer (which has quite a nice copper hue to it) thickly swatched here. The finishes are shimmers - and as mentioned, there is glitter so I reckon fall out's going to be an issue. But hey, lets recap that price - this palette is a tenner.

Is the pigmentation any better with a lick of UDPP beneath it, then?

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MOS DEF. This transforms into quite a decent little bit of space-saving holiday kit if you bung in a tube of Primer Potion too. Payoff's dramatically improved and the shades start to pop. Obviously you can't use UDPP under your bronzer - well, eh, you can, but ... y'know - so it might not be the best-performing bit, but the shadows are far nicer when used over a base.

And how about the glosses?

Now, they are very sheer, so I dug a good chunk out so you could see the colour. On my pale hand, you can see the shades well  - bear in mind lips are much more naturally pigmented and the finish will be much more hint-of-a-tint.

All in all though (pretty packaging aside) from a disappointing start, with a bit of finangling - but only if you already have some eye primer to hand - this could work out well as an affordable all-in-one for a holiday in which you're only packing hand luggage. Oh - and if you're a fan of bronzey browns too, of course.

What do you think? Would you buy it?