I'm a huge fan of NYX Cosmetics and bright colours, so after seeing so many people I follow creating some gorgeous looks with this palette, I knew I had to add it to my growing repertoire of colourful palettes. I've created a couple of looks with it now, and wanted to share with you all my thoughts and first impressions on everything about it - from the shade range, to the pigmentation, versatility and price!

COLOUR RANGE

I have a lot of colourful eyeshadow palettes, but I've often found that the shades don't really measure up once they've actually been applied onto the skin. They often lose their vivid colour and fade terribly once they've blended out, and that was my biggest concern with the Ultimate Brights palette. However, after watching many a tutorial with this palette I felt fairly confident with the range of shades and how strong they seemed when they were applied on the skin. What I really love about this palette is the range of shades, NYX doesn't just stick to the seven colours of the rainbow, the brand give you lots of beautiful in-between shades like coral, the beautiful turquoise shades, orange / yellow and the range of pink shades too! 

SWATCHES

As you can see, some of the shades do flake, most noticeably the blue shades in picture two, and there was a lot of fall out from the more vibrant and bright shades. I do love the shade range in picture one, and I could definitely imagine creating some looks with those. Overall, I'm not totally disappointed with the quality of the shades, there are some gems among the duds but it does defeat the purpose of a "brights" palette when the darker shades are better quality than the lighter shades, the pigmentation leaves a lot to be desired. 

VERSATILITY

Although the shades aren't exactly "natural" as I work in quite a colourful place, to me they are every day shades. I have created a couple of looks with them already, stupidly forgetting to take pictures, and I have to say the shades in this palette definitely stand the test of time. They are easy to blend out and hold their pigment once they have been blended, which is exactly what I was looking for! I'm very impressed with this palette in that respect; the shades are long-lasting, easy to blend and the colours compliment each other extremely well. 

VALUE FOR MONEY

At £16 I feel like this palette is quite cheap considering the range of other high-end, colourful eyeshadow palettes in the market at the minute, and I feel like it's a fairly standard price for NYX. With that being said, the product is quite small, as are the pans of shadow, so who knows how long the colours will actually last, especially when you consider how many of the shades are going to need a lot of building to improve the pigment quality. I don't know if I'd spend as much money on a small palette like this again, considering how many other companies out there do unique, original palettes that are good quality for a slightly lesser price. 

Overall, I do really like the Ultimate Brights palette. The colour range is fabulous, although I do wish there were less pink shades and more greens / reds / blues, the shades themselves are great, with some being slightly better than others, and the durability / how long they last on the eye for is wonderful. I managed to survive a full day at work without my shadow moving or fading an inch - that has to count for something! I do wish that some of the shades were ad vibrant on the skin as they are in the pans, and the amount of fallout from some of them is going to irritate me. As much as I like the palette as a whole, I think in future I might just choose some of the single shadows over a palette.

What do you think of this palette? And NYX Cosmetics make-up in general? 

Thank you for reading, until next time!

Rachel